PUBLISHED IN THE KITCHENER WATERLOO RECORD on July 04, 1997

By Nick Krewen

GUITAR SHORTY flips over his audience.

He also somersaults, executes windmills and stands on his head, but at the age of 58, draws the line at cartwheels.

No one can deny that the show stopping Florida-raised blues guitarist -- born in Houston as DAVID KEARNEY -- is still a vital force who knows how to entertain an audience. He learned his craft during his apprenticeship with another master: EDDIE JONES, a.k.a. GUITAR SLIM.

"Guitar Slim used to take his guitar at the end of his show, where he'd climb on the shoulders of his valet, who would walk out into the crowd while Slim was playing his guitar behind his head," recalled Shorty from his hotel room yesterday morning just outside Detroit.

"When he got back to the bandstand, he jump off his valet's shoulders and run back the same way he came. One night I was feeling good and I said if he could do that, I could do the flips.

"My show is a take-off of Guitar Slim's. I just fortified it more."

Christened one day out of the blue by a hopeful club owner, Guitar Shorty hails from an era where blues greats mingled regularly, where it wasn't unusual to watch people like WILLIE DIXON and BUDDY GUY mingle together, jam and cut sides in Chicago studios. Shorty used to tour with RAY CHARLES, OTIS RUSH and SAM COOKE, and there's also a surprising connection with rock guitar god JIMI HENDRIX.

Not only did Shorty marry Jimi's stepsister MARSHA, but he claims he was Hendrix' chief inspiration. There's enough aural evidence in the acid-toned chops of "She's Built, She's Built To Kill" and "Hard To Stay Above The Ground" -- from Guitar Shorty's fine and recent Black Top album Get Wise To Yourself -- to suggest a competitive game of "Spot The Jimi."

"Jimi learned a lot off of me," says Shorty. "He used to watch me all the time from dark corners of the clubs. He even went AWOL from the army to watch me play."

Although it was Hendrix who won all the accolades, Shorty claims not to be bitter.

"I'm proud of it, man. Jimi took what I had, got a break, and did something with it," says Shorty, who is bringing a four-piece band with him for his two-night stand at Mrs. Robinson's.

It's only later in the conversation that Shorty admits he wishes that some of the breaks that befell fellow bluesmen Buddy Guy and ROBERT CRAY would float his way.

"Sometimes, it does bother me a little bit.," he admits. " I wonder sometimes how come these guys get the breaks, and for some reason I'm still going on, struggling on the highway, trying to make it.

"I'd like to be on a big tour," says Shorty, who won a W.C. Handy award for his 1992 album My Way Or The Highway.

"I'd like to play with either THE ROLLING STONES or ERIC CLAPTON. But my career is going uphill now since I recorded with Black Top."

Hopefully that day will come, but whether Guitar Shorty is playing Texas or Turkey, he promises to keep delivering knockout shows in the meantime.

"The blues is a very spiritual experience," he says.

-30-

DISCOGRAPHY

1992 -- My Way Or The Highway

1994 -- Topsy Turvy -- Black Top

1995 -- Get Wise To Yourself

1998 -- Roll Over, Baby

FAST FACTS

In the '50s, Guitar Shorty toured with Ray Charles, Sam Cooke and Otis Rush, and has worked with Johnny Copeland, Lowell Fulson, B.B. King, Little Milton And Aaron "T-Bone" Walker.

THANKS: PHILIP BAST

©1997, 1999 Nick Krewen, Octopus Media Ink.

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