Wisdom comes in many forms but you KNEW you would find it here . . . . .

TAJ MAHAL

“It’s never been about ‘Watch me,’ said Taj Mahal during an interview from his home in Berkeley. “The audience is part of the performance. It’s not like I’m up here on stage and they’re all down there. I’m just one man trying to make a global connection that anyone can plug in to.”

“I’ve always seen the bigger picture, that a majority of people in this world don’t know that the Top 10, Top 20, or Top 100 even exist,” said Mahal, who cites Freddie King, T-Bone Walker, Sleepy John Estes, Jesse Ed Davis, Mississippi John Hurt and Blind Willie McTell as his biggest musical influences. “There are 7 billion people on this planet and what’s considered commercially viable doesn’t interest the majority of them. So why would I limit myself to what record executives think will sell?”

“I’m in this thing for the long haul,” Mahal declared, “and for me, that means ignoring conventional wisdom and just playing music for the love of it. I’m hard-headed and will continue doing this for as long as I’m breathing. Just like Lightnin’ Hopkins, I learned early on (that) playing music is what I do.”

Source: John Roos / Patch

Photo: Jay Blakesberg

 

Don's Tunes

Might sign off the day with these pearls of wisdom from the great man himself, 

The Taj