Cut to the chase...

January 19th – I hope I’m not betraying a trust with this tale. It may even be apocryphal but I’ll tell it as I heard it and wait for the avalanche of either ridicule or law-suits.

An amazing blues guitarist, Jeff Healey (and anyone who’s seen him live will know ‘amazing’ doesn't even begin to cover his extraordinary ability – YouTube, Jeff Healey, Montreux 97, ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’) took three ‘Maple Blues Awards’ and the ‘Entertainer of the Year’ honour today in 2009. Look him up if you've not come into contact; you’ll not be disappointed, honest.

What makes him stand out in the blues field, a field packed with ridiculous talent, is that Jeff Healey is blind and, using the guitar he plays like a Hawaiian or steel type guitar, he sits on stage with the instrument across his lap and just…eats it up. So, on to the tale. 

The Jeff Healey band came to Wolverhampton Civic Hall as part of their U.K. – European tour and I went in to have a look at the fit-up, you know, what lights they were using, what l/x desk and extra dimmers (Avolites – of course) sad bugger that I am. I worked in the entertainment business in Wolves at the time and so could gain access to things like this; ‘dog – bark – self’ come to mind. 

Anyhow, I got talking to some of the tour crew and they let me look on stage at the kit they were using and I chatted to the drum tech about the skins and various drum tensions (sadder and sadder) and eventually my eye was drawn to a tall metal stand, much like a lectern, that was made of either aluminium (or, as the band were American, aluminum) or stainless steel, the top of which (where, let’s say, the good book or some such other would be placed but which was facing away from the reader) was cut into the shape of a guitar body with a support edge at the bottom. 

“Oh, that?” said the guitar tech to my enquiry. “We made that as a surprise present for Jeff a while back, so that he could actually stand on stage and play, not have to sit all the time. We made it over several weeks in secret, cost a lot and took a lot of finishing and effort…and an awful lot of love.”

“Bet he was thrilled.” I said. “And surprised.”

“Yeah. Sort of. When it was complete we set his guitar on it brought him on stage, led him to it, put his hands onto the guitar and stood back to await the reaction. Jeff sort of twanged the strings a bit and asked what the guitar was mounted on. We explained and he said, 

“Well, that’s great, fellas, thank you…but…why didn't you just buy me a strap?” 

You can see glimpses of the very stand – YouTube, Jeff Healy, ‘Lost in Your Eyes’… so, not such a waste of effort after all then guys.