I know that this has come up before, but as I was setting up the ol' Christmas tree a couple of nights ago, PBS had this on TV. It was actually my brother who called me and said, "Turn your TV to PBS, you won't believe who's on".

Well, I flipped the channel just in time to see Johnny Winter, who my brother knows is one of my all time favorite guitar players. Johnny was looking kind of rough from his bouts with heroin addiction and disease, but some of the old spark was still there.

I especially enjoyed the set where Stevie Winwood joined Eric Clapton on stage. Clapton said he'd been trying to get together and play with Stevie again for 25 years, and it was finally happening. Had To Cry Today sounded great, like they'd been playing it together all along. Presence Of The Lord was good too, although since they'd recorded it together as Blind Faith as well as solo by Clapton, each took turns singing the verses. It was good to hear Low Spark Of High Heel Boys again too.

Clapton had said that he plays differently when he's home alone, in the studio, and on stage. Having all those great guitar players around him made him play outside of what he normally does; he had to play harder because of them. Well, it really showed, because the tone I heard coming from Clapton was definitely better than most anything I'd heard him record in recent years. He cranked it on Tell The Truth. It was great to see him play like the Clapton of old who we all love so much.

Anyway, Christmas music took a backseat as I was putting up the tree that night....I was listnin' to da' blooz....