I met Dave Meyers in Long Beach California. I was going to play with him on the Long Beach Blues Festival and Gary Chiachi ( the festival's producer ) thought it'd be a good idea for us to hang out some. Turned out it was Dave is one of the founding members of the Aces. The legendary Chicago Blues band that included his brother Louis, drummer Fred Below and a couple of good harp players Little Walter and Junior Wells. In those days the second guitar player would play the bass line on the low strings to simulate the sound of a bass. Eventually Leo Fender would introduce the Fender bass and the music world would change drastically, but that early Chicago style sound, in my mind, will always be cool. But that's not what this story is about.

Like I've told you in the past, there's a lot to get from the old bluesmen and not just the music. They had a handle on this thing we call life. Here's a story that'll offer you yet another handle.

Dave and I were sitting in the Blue Café listening to some blues on the Friday night before the festival having a taste or two when Dave asked me if I=d take him to another club. I said sure let's go. We drank up, paid up and then headed to the parking lot. As we were we getting close to the car, and man that said he was homeless approached Dave. I thought Dave would blow him off, but instead he listened to what the man had to say. When the man finished, Dave reached into his back pocket, took out his wallet, and gave the man what turned out to be a five dollar bill. I told Dave I was sorry the guy bugged him, there are a lot of panhandlers that hang around the Blue Café.

He said "ain't nothing to be sorry about."

I said, "Why?"

Dave replied, "The man needed it."

"Needed it?"

"Hell yeah he did. I don't know what he'll use the fiver for, but he needs it tonight. I got some money, I can walk, talk. I ate. I can work and I get paid and I got a place to stay tonight with a good bed. Hell, man, 'scept for the grace of God that could be me. You never know what might happen to you or how it happens to you. All you know is that it fuckin' happened. Ain't gonna hurt me to give him five bucks and it ain't the money anyway. I listened to him. I heard what he had to say. Like I said, five ain't much to me, but it's a lot to him. So why the fuck not?"

We got in the car and headed down to ( if memory serves me right ) where Carey Bell was playing. Ten or twelve years later I was walking back to my hotel in Brighton England after a gig. Brighton reminds me of San Francisco and Amsterdam. Tiny cool shops, clubs and restaurants huddled together on busy narrow streets. It's a town that's loaded with the pop culture of today and the kids are expressing it. Reminded me of the sixties, you understand.

Well, like they say, the more things change the more they stay the same. So I'm walking and it's a little chilly, but a nice clear November night. England has a curfew so the pubs and bars close at 11pm or midnite at the latest, so there's not a lot of people on the streets at quarter past midnight. I'm strolling uphill on this street where most the shops and bars were closed and I didn't notice this woman blended into the darkness sitting on the street. As I passed her she reached out her hand and asked, "Spare change sir?"

She looked all the world like a character out of a Dickens novel. A lost waif with a knit cap over her hair that looked like it hadn't been washed in weeks. She wore tattered pants under a torn skirt, with flimsy sneakers on her feet hat could never keep the chill out much less the rain. An old tan coat covered a stained grey sweatshirt. She wasn't crying but her eyes were watering and her teeth were so yellow they looked brown and very sore. I shook my head and passed her by. I walked about 20 steps more and then the thought of Dave Meyers hit me. I stopped and turned around and walked back to the lady on the sidewalk. I noticed that a guy who was walking in my same direction on the opposite side of the street stopped and watched me. When I got to the lady, I reached in my pocket and gave her all the pounds and pence that I had. She put the money in a little box and then reached her hand up to me. I took her hand and she said "A God bless you sir."

I replied "And may God bless you."

As I walked back up the street heading to my hotel and warm bed I saw that fella look at me with disbelief.

I forgave him.

I figured he never met Dave Meyers.