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Little Arthur, continued
Every week was different at the Artesia. In fact, the weekend
usually started on Thursday Nights. He'd have Smokey Smothers
Band and Little Huck and the Ghetto Blasters play a set or two for
about 10 people with Little Arthur playing the last set, usually doing
his trademark songs, "Scratch My Back" and "Leaving Mississippi,"
which was his version of Little Walter's "Thunderbird."
Friday's and Saturday's were fun. Little Arthur had his regular
working "Band," which was Prez Kenneth on bass, Lovie Lee on
keyboards, Mort Dukes or Twist Turner on drums. On guitar, well
that was by committee - anybody who Arthur called, or anyone who
walked through the door. Mostly it was Sonny Carter, but it could
be Johnny Littlejohn, Pete Crawford, Little Smokey Smothers, or a
one-legged guy named Little Alf.
I realized from the get-go that the Artesia had a special sort of
audience that only blues folk can understand. If you hung on the
West Side or South Side enough, there was always that certain
feeling. Don't get me wrong, going over there and coming home
every night - even if Arthur got me a ride home - I still felt like a
fugitive from the Law of Averages, but once I stepped foot on
Arthur's turf, I was one of the regulars and therefore 'special.'
After a couple of months, Arthur made me his early shift bartender
from whatever time I got over there until his regular bartender and
hostess showed up. Most of the time I shot pool, answered the
phone and served the walk-in customers who were a bit looped
before they walked through the door. It was bizarre, and I loved
every second of it. There were those nights when anarchy was in
charge. I went along with whatever was happening. One night
when Arthur had gone to Sportsman's Park to chase of couple of
hot horses, he left Sonny Carter and Prez Kenneth in charge. It
was cool, until this guy pulled up in a van with a tuxedoed but
obvously stoned BB Jones and demanded we give him the stage.
He kept announcing "Here he is the Great BB Jones" as we waited
and waited while the guitar was tuned. Then, he started to play a
medley of early BB King and slowly, one inch
at a time, he fell to the floor and went to sleep.
For the most part, I looked at every weekend
like I was getting away with something. I was
part of a crowd and an existence that was
starting to fade into history. If the weekend
was slow, we wouldn't even start rearranging
stuff for the band to set up until 11 pm. Prez
Kenneth or Lovie Lee would instruct me to
throw a 120- minute cassette into the deck and
Arthur's son would man the turntable, then we'
d go to Necktie Nate's, Big Dukes or the
infamous Rose Lounge on Madison, where it
was always Pimps and Players Night. By the
time we got back, Arthur was waiting. It would
be about 12:30 and he'd just play one long set
until closing or until everybody just cut out.
Somewhere along the line, Arthur got gas for
cooking. We started having a menu of what I
referred to as "West Side Ghetto Fast Food."
It was great - collard greens, chicken wings,
ribs and salt port - he loved corned beef and
cabbage but couldn't make corned beef to
save his life. When we had birthdays and
special occasions, he'd let the women do their
thing and he'd just supervise or as he put it
just make sure the place didn't blow up!
Actualy the Artesia did come to its noble end
because of a gas leak/explosion.
So then flash forward a couple years to around 1993, I get that
phone call and that familiar voice "Hey Rody, my man Rody, I got a
new place on Madison and Cicero." Arthur called it the
"Backscratchers Social Club." I had gotten a part-time job at Out of
the Past records at Madison and Kostner. So I had two part-time
jobs. The last one I finished straight at midnight - so I'd go over to
Arthur's and hang out.
His regulars from the Artesia had followed him over there. He didn't
have as much music at the Backscratcher's Social Club as he had
at the Artesia but he did have a pool table and Mickey's Bar BQ
where bluesman Willie Buck did the honors. Arthur said the reason
he had the bar was so he'd always have a place to play. He could
do serious touring and still have a steady gig to come back to.
Arthur hadn't given up music. He didn't have it often at the Social
Club but he worked down the street with Tail Dragger at The Beverly
Social Club or at the 5105 on North Avenue. When the weather was
warm, we'd get lawn chairs and sit in front of the place like we were
waiting for the sun to rise over the Pacific. To this day, I still miss
those strange nights/early mornings between midnight and 3 am,
when we were just hanging out in our 'beach chairs' on notorious
West Madison Street - watching the traffic go by like it was the most
natural thing in the world.
The one thing I did know about Backscatchers was that Arthur was
just barely surviving. I'll never know exactly when he decided to
chuck the whole thing and just retire from the bar business. That
neighborhood is still a holy land to me. Whenever I travel around
Chicago, I'm always nostalgic for the Artesia Lounge and
Backscratchers - the vibe was welcoming and tolerant - of course,
due to Arthur's generous personality. I probably saw Arthur lose his
temper maybe twice in all those years. Most of the time it didn't get
that serious You'd hear about a shooting somewhere else in the
neighborhood but most of the time Arthur's clientele were on their
best behavior.
Prez Kenneth was Arthur's bass player for
as long as I knew Arthur. He had a total
sense of balance. Time to work. time to
play, time to drink and always time to
have faith as he saw fit. When he died of
pancreatic cancer, we held our own wake
at Backscratcher's through the late night
and early morning. Few words were
exchanged.
I thought that night about how musicians
like Little Arthur, Prez Kenneth, Willie
James Lyons, James Scott Jr., Tyrone
Davis and all the great musicians I've met
in my 50 years on earth should never be
forgotten and instead relegated to the
genius/legendary pantheon, their spirits
immortalized.
Arthur passed away August 20, 2008.
[The latest issue of Living Blues has an
excellent article on Arthur by Justin
O'Brien: Issue #197 www.livingblues.com]
Photos this page: Little Arthur Duncan at Jazz
Record Mart Blues Brunch, June 10, 2007.
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