When some people hear the musical term "the blues" they may get the idea that it's an overall very depressing genre to listen to. I’ve heard some call it repetitive and even boring. This attitude has always annoyed me so allow me to give you an example of how these misconceptions could not be further from the truth.

Friday night, my band, Red Lotus Revue was playing in a Cajun restaurant in the San Diego neighborhood of Pacific Beach. This restaurant is called Chateau Orleans. Recently Chateau's owner had decided to undergo a major overhaul of the interior of the restaurant making a larger bar and stage in the main room. On this Friday night, only half of the restaurant was done and there was also dining outside. My band was relocated from what would have normally been our incredibly small indoor stage to underneath a tent outside the restaurant entertaining the outside guests. Most of the folks dining inside could hear us as well.

Given the outdoor stage setting, this gave many people walking on Turquoise Street a chance to hear us as they were strolling by. Some folks decided to come in and listen.

One of these people was Suzanne. Suzanne who lives nearby had decided to take her Golden Retriever for a walk that night. She heard us playing as she was walking down the street. After stopping in and catching our last set, she made it a point to come up to me after the show to tell me how she wasn't having the best day. She went on to tell me that she recently was given word that her longtime husband was terminally ill with cancer. After telling me this, she grabbed my hand and said she wanted me to know that hearing us play really made her day and she wanted to thank us for doing what we do.

I was trying my hardest not to get choked up in front of her. In the long and sometimes very tiring and grueling path to become a professional musician, sometimes it can be easily forgotten why we do what we do. It's not to get girls or to make money. The latter should be obvious if one chooses the path to be a blues musician. We do it to make people feel good. Suzanne coming up to me that night and sharing how she felt with me and the rest of the band was priceless. We offered her a CD and she told us she'd be back to see us again at our next gig.

Blues music is sung and played to help people feel better about their problems. The musicians feel better after sharing their story and the people who listen feel better because they can relate to those stories. It's a universal language and it's because of this language, that Suzanne and I were able to feel connected to one another. I'm going to be listening to this music and playing it for the rest of my life.