Pinetop Perkins picture September 15 2008 Kennedy Center Washington DC

Fascinating performance on many levels.. first of all when was the last time you've seen a 95 year old man rocking a dance party?! ANd not just any man but the man who played the piano for Muddy Waters and gigged with people like the original Sonny Boy Williamson! One of the last living -and performing- links to the early days of the blues. He played for about 30 minutes backed by local rock and roll band the Nighthawks and went through some standards (How Long Blues), a song or two of his own and Muddy's Got My Mojo Workin' which he must have played hundreds of times as part of Muddy's band in the 1960s...Oh yeah and he was sporting a pretty snazzy red outfit from the hat down to the shoes! I hear Pinetop makes his home in the DC area and it was truly an honor..This particular event formed part of a Dance series at the kennedy center (millenium stage event) so some people were dancing directly in front of Pinetop and the Nighthhawks... oh yah kudos to the nighthawks -who opened with apparently previously Chuck Berry pianoman Darryl Evans- for playing Chuck Berry's Thirty Days..