Where: Rock & Roll Hall of Fame's Foster Theater.
What: Film screening and panel discussion about the film that celebrates the intergenerational and interracial musical influence of Memphis and the Mississippi Delta.
Who: Panelists will include director-producer Martin Shore, Hall of Famer Jerry Harrison of the Talking Heads, Grammy-winning producer Boo Mitchell, rappers Frayser Boy and Al Kapone and newly minted Grammy winner Bobby Rush.
Tickets: Free to Rock Hall members, $5.50 for nonmembers, available at the box office and online at tickets.com.rockhall.
CLEVELAND, Ohio - "At last.''
Bobby Ray Rush didn't wheeze the words or shout them out or even hint at bitterness. But he did laugh when congratulated on his first Grammy Award, which he received at last at last Sunday night's awards ceremony.
When you've been on this ol' Earth for 83 years, and you've been through the kind of life that once earned you the title of "King of the Chitlin Circuit,'' you learn patience. And you find joy where you can.
Such as in winning a best traditional blues album Grammy for "Porcupine Meat'' more than 65 years after launching a career.
"When you mention 'at last,' it makes me laugh a little bit, too,'' said Rush, who will be in town on Thursday, Feb. 23, when the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame screens the blues documentary "Take Me to the River,'' in which he played a key role. "I won a Grammy 300 some-odd records later, from my first record in 1951 to now.
"I believe I've been up for awards 29 or 30 times, and won 17 or 18,'' said Rush, in a telephone interview. "This is my fourth time up for a Grammy, and my first time winning.''
Now you might think a guy who played his way from his birthplace in Homer, Louisiana, to East St. Louis to Memphis to Chicago, was pals with Howlin' Wolf and Muddy Waters, calls Robert Johnson and Albert King the best he ever personally saw, picked up Etta James when she arrived at a Chicago bus station for the first time in 1957 and got great joy out of watching Sonny Boy Williamson tap-dance on the streets of Chicago while wailing on a harp, might be a little sad that Grammy recognition took so long.
As part of its Black History Month observances, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame will screen the documentary "Take Me to the River'' at 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 23, followed by a panel discussion featuring documentary star Bobby Rush, rappers Frayser Boy and Al Kapone, writer-producer Martin Shore, Hall of Famer Jerry Harrison of the Talking Heads and Grammy-winning record producer Boo Mitchell.Courtesy of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame"It brings some joy to my heart,'' said Rush, who punctuates his conversation with laughter and interjections of "you know what I mean?''
"Even when I won, I pinched myself about 20 or 30 times,'' he said, cackling. "My attitude was that if I was in the race, I was already a winner, so I didn't have any bad feelings when I didn't win.''
That being said, he's got his own ideas about "Porcupine Meat.'' Among its dozen songs are 10 or 11 he sees as single-worthy. But . . .
"To me, the way I perceive it, I think it's the best [whole] CD I've recorded, but not the best record,'' he said. That distinction probably goes to his 45 rpm "Chicken Heads,'' released in 1971.
Still, the win helped him reach a decision:
"After about 60 years of recording, I think I'll stick around for another 60 years,'' he said with a guffaw.
That longevity made him perfect for "Take Me to the River'' - the "river'' being the Mississippi, the common denominator in just about all forms of blues, from Delta blues to those of Memphis and Chicago.
"I can tell you, they ain't that much different,'' said Rush, talking about styles of blues.
That's because the typical bluesman of the era followed his same path - from Louisiana or Mississippi, to Memphis and Beale Street, on to East St. Louis and then Chicago.
Along the way, a bluesman added a little flavor from each local geography. But the base is, was and always will be the Delta blues, even if Chicago-style blues is a little slicker and is seasoned with a touch of jazz.
"You take a little of each place, and that's a Bobby Ray soup!'' he said.
Bobby Ray Soup ended up being a nice little entree in the 2014 documentary that will be screened at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame on Thursday night. He'll be there along with director-producer Martin Shore, Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Jerry Harrison of the Talking Heads, Oscar-winning rapper Frayser Boy (with whom Rush cut two tracks on the movie soundtrack) and rapper Al Kapone, who also is on that soundtrack and appeared in the film.
Rush said his place in the movie, which is billed as showcasing the soul in music, from blues to hip-hop, turned out to be larger than was expected when production began.
"My take on it was to have me be part of the performances, but after we got into it, I brought a lot to the table,'' he said. "I was the oldest one living in it.''
The biggest surprise to Rush was just how respectful - and knowledgeable of the importance and impact of the blues - the hip-hop artists were.
"Snoop Dogg and the others, I liked what they were doing, even if they were stealing from me and James Brown, but I liked WHAT they were stealing,'' he said with more of that laughter.
"I didn't know them guys knew anything about us and thought they didn't know what we did, but Snoop Dogg looked up to me and all the guys, and said they had a feeling and a love for what we were doing, man,'' he said.
Even so, it's hard to imagine Snoop and today's other hip-hop artists on that "Chitlin Circuit,'' a derogatory name that was given to the travel route between juke joints in the South and East in the 1950s and '60s where black artists were welcomed.
"The 'Chitlin Circuit' [meant] we were playing for what we could eat,'' he said. "They'd feed you chicken and chitlins [segments of fried pig intestines]. I was making $12 a month in 1951, plus tips and all the chitlins you could eat.''
Today, Rush willingly takes ownership of the "King of the Chitlin Circuit'' sobriquet, but he remembers that time for what it was, and knows that while some might think it "cute'' or even homespun, it was just one more part of Jim Crow America.
And in a way, his ability to see then and now for what they are may be why the blues is his genre of choice.
"Blues ain't nothing but a feeling, but it's part of life,'' he said. "You can have the blues because your woman left you, but you can also have the blues when they stay too long,'' he said, with another burst of laughter.
"When I was picking cotton, I could get off work on Friday night and go to play the blues, and I'm happy, and then Sunday night about 8 o'clock, when it's time to close the juke joints, I'm feeling bad,'' he said.
"The same song that I played Friday night when I was getting off work, I'm playing Sunday night, and it's a sad song,'' he said.
It's the blues, baby. Just the blues.
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