Blues Legend, Bobby Rush, Will Rock Watseka
Bobby Rush Will perform at the Historic
Watseka Theatre on Saturday June 11, 2016!
June 9, 2016
Dennis Yohnka
Daily Journal
Bobby Rush, the award-winning 80-year-old bluesman, found a way to work the Watseka Theatre into a schedule that will take him to Atlanta next week, then Dallas, followed by a four-concert tour of Italy and Spain in July.
Rush will play at 7 p.m. Saturday at the historic theater.
Clearly this guitarist, harp player, songwriter and singer isn't ready to slow down. As he tells it, he hasn't let anything deter him since he first fell in love with this music, even before he owned a real guitar.
"My first guitar was a piece of wire nailed up on a wall, with a brick keeping it raised up on top and a bottle keeping it raised on the bottom," as he tells it. "One day the brick fell out and hit me in the head, so I reversed the brick and the bottle.
"I might be hard-headed," he said, "but I'm a fast learner."
That incident, he said, took place back in Homer, La., where he was born Emmitt Ellis Jr. He has since made Jackson, Miss., his home and the stage name Bobby Rush has been part of his identity for more than a half century.
Since the 1960s, he shared the stage with blues legends such as Muddy Waters, Little Walter and Howlin' Wolf, but it took some time to be recognized as being a part of that blues mythology.
"I didn't ever think it would come to this," Rush told the Daily Journal in a phone interview. "I always dreamed of having something great, but not of this magnitude. I didn't know to dream this big.
"I dreamed I'd have a lot of fun making music and doing what I love, but didn't dream I'd be this popular."
He noted that he has made some concessions to his age this year. "I'm probably only on the road 20 days a month. If I work Friday, Saturday, and Sunday — even if it's in Chicago — I leave on Thursday and get back on Monday or Tuesday. I only spend a day or two at home. I spend more time traveling to and from the gigs then I do playing the gigs themselves.
"So, I'm still on the road 75 percent of the time, but sitting still would be more difficult for me, because this all I know is... always up going. All I know is hard times and hard work, so I feel at home doing it. I can't visualize me having nothing to do. I don't know what I'd do other than this. Sometimes it gets rough trying to make ends meet, but the love for what I do overshadows the hard nights I go through.
"Thirty minutes with the crowd will erase any eight hours that had it hard."
Rush says the music business has taught some hard lessons, and maybe given him fodder for songs.
"I've taken my friends, people I trusted, into the business, that's who took advantage of me," he said. "You trust these people because of what they seem to know about something and think they may be helpful to you, but they weren't often that helpful. The people who took advantage of me weren't necessarily in the record business … they just took me into places that took advantage of me."
Chuck Gomez, the co-owner of the Watseka Theatre, noted that Rush has a very strong local fan base here.
"He's played here many times, but not for many, many years," he said. "We're pleased to be able to lure him back and to present him in an intimate venue. The Kankakee Community College radio station [WKCC] had done its best to keep the blues alive with the Friends of the Blues show. But the station was been sold and the show is now off the air.
"So, we're pleased to be able to step up and offer great blues to those fans."
Tickets are $35 for reserved seating. They also are available with a preconcert dinner for an additional $12.50. Gomez noted that the band and Rush's backup singers and dancers also will enjoy the meal. Saturday's offerings include a slow-roasted pork and Tuscan-style chicken in a white wine cream sauce.
The doors open at 5:30 p.m. The show starts at 7 p.m. The Watseka Theatre is at 218 E. Walnut St., in downtown Watseka. For additional ticket information, call 815-993-6585 or visit watsekatheatre.com.
Bobby Rush Will perform at the Historic
Watseka Theatre on Saturday June 11, 2016!
June 9, 2016
Dennis Yohnka
Daily Journal
 |
| Blues Master, Bobby Rush will perform at the Watseka Theatre in Watseka, Illinois on Saturday, June 11, 2016. |
Rush will play at 7 p.m. Saturday at the historic theater.
Clearly this guitarist, harp player, songwriter and singer isn't ready to slow down. As he tells it, he hasn't let anything deter him since he first fell in love with this music, even before he owned a real guitar.
"My first guitar was a piece of wire nailed up on a wall, with a brick keeping it raised up on top and a bottle keeping it raised on the bottom," as he tells it. "One day the brick fell out and hit me in the head, so I reversed the brick and the bottle.
"I might be hard-headed," he said, "but I'm a fast learner."
That incident, he said, took place back in Homer, La., where he was born Emmitt Ellis Jr. He has since made Jackson, Miss., his home and the stage name Bobby Rush has been part of his identity for more than a half century.
Since the 1960s, he shared the stage with blues legends such as Muddy Waters, Little Walter and Howlin' Wolf, but it took some time to be recognized as being a part of that blues mythology.
"I didn't ever think it would come to this," Rush told the Daily Journal in a phone interview. "I always dreamed of having something great, but not of this magnitude. I didn't know to dream this big.
 |
| Blues Master, Bobby Rush will perform at the Watseka Theatre in Watseka, Illinois on Saturday, June 11, 2016. |
He noted that he has made some concessions to his age this year. "I'm probably only on the road 20 days a month. If I work Friday, Saturday, and Sunday — even if it's in Chicago — I leave on Thursday and get back on Monday or Tuesday. I only spend a day or two at home. I spend more time traveling to and from the gigs then I do playing the gigs themselves.
"So, I'm still on the road 75 percent of the time, but sitting still would be more difficult for me, because this all I know is... always up going. All I know is hard times and hard work, so I feel at home doing it. I can't visualize me having nothing to do. I don't know what I'd do other than this. Sometimes it gets rough trying to make ends meet, but the love for what I do overshadows the hard nights I go through.
"Thirty minutes with the crowd will erase any eight hours that had it hard."
Rush says the music business has taught some hard lessons, and maybe given him fodder for songs.
"I've taken my friends, people I trusted, into the business, that's who took advantage of me," he said. "You trust these people because of what they seem to know about something and think they may be helpful to you, but they weren't often that helpful. The people who took advantage of me weren't necessarily in the record business … they just took me into places that took advantage of me."
Chuck Gomez, the co-owner of the Watseka Theatre, noted that Rush has a very strong local fan base here.
"He's played here many times, but not for many, many years," he said. "We're pleased to be able to lure him back and to present him in an intimate venue. The Kankakee Community College radio station [WKCC] had done its best to keep the blues alive with the Friends of the Blues show. But the station was been sold and the show is now off the air.
"So, we're pleased to be able to step up and offer great blues to those fans."
Tickets are $35 for reserved seating. They also are available with a preconcert dinner for an additional $12.50. Gomez noted that the band and Rush's backup singers and dancers also will enjoy the meal. Saturday's offerings include a slow-roasted pork and Tuscan-style chicken in a white wine cream sauce.
The doors open at 5:30 p.m. The show starts at 7 p.m. The Watseka Theatre is at 218 E. Walnut St., in downtown Watseka. For additional ticket information, call 815-993-6585 or visit watsekatheatre.com.
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