Fate smiled down on me tonight when I stopped by the Tea Bazaar to pick up some things I’d left there over the weekend. Inside, a couple of friends were sitting with an incredibly old man—who goes by T-Model Ford, an 89-year-old Delta curiosity from the Fat Possum roster—who was talking about what’s the right way to treat a lady. Ford stood and, with the help of a cane, walked to the stage and proceeded to pick and growl out two transcendent hours of blues.
Straight out of Mississippi: T-Model Ford made a welcome, unannounced visit to the Tea Bazaar last night.
It was one of those if-you-build-it-they-will-come kind of events that makes living in town feel special. Ford’s a charmer. On stage, he said that he refuses play the acoustic guitar so that his fingers would stay soft—that’s how the ladies like them, and even as he nears his 90th year, Model-T Ford is a ladies man. (Wikipedia alleges that he has 25 children. And judging by the way he was eyeballing the ladies, I’d be surprised if it weren’t true.)
While I was horrified to wake up on Monday to find that it was already March 2010, the bad feelings went away as soon as I realized that March 2010 means Audio March at the The Bridge. It’s the latest in their once-every-13-months music series. The first event is on Thursday, and it looks pretty awesome: The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari with a live score by Matt Marshall and the Reel Music Trio. Check out the full schedule at the Bridge’s website for all sorts of other treats. I’ll be writing more about it as I get the chance to check out each of the events.
