Deacon Jones Is Not With Us Anymore. My wife and I went to see John Lee Hooker on Sunday March 3, 1985 at The Asheville Music Hall on Wall Street in Asheville, NC. We had seen him the year before at UNC-Asheville. We had seen a great show then, and captured some memorable images. We also had the opportunity at UNC-A, along with the rest of the audience, to meet him after the show up on the stage. It was a great moment for us; but, what happened on March 3rd at The Asheville Music Hall has been embedded in me through these years even more. . The Asheville Music Hall venue was smaller than the university's auditorium, and more suited to me for concert photography. I had brought with us some reprints from the previous year's show. The intention was to at least have an opportunity to give them to one of the band members.. The band had taken a break in the show, going off to a room sidestage. During this time one of the band members (I believe that it was the bass player) had passed by us going back to the bar area. On his way back I stopped him and offered the photos, asking if he would pass them along. He seemed to be agreeable; but, then he said, "Why don't you give them to him yourself". ..and he proceeded on. I wasn't sure if he was serious, or if it was just sarcasm. Then after taking a couple steps he stopped, turned around, and with a sweeping motion of his arm toward the stage he said, "Well...c'mon"! My wife Kathy and I just looked at each other, somewhat surprised, and got moving fast to catch up with him.. We entered the room sidestage where the band was just lounging around on break, with a table full of prepared cold foods and a half-barrel full of iced drinks, untouched...this has always stuck with me, how that big spread was all laid out there...but no one had jumped in yet! To the right side of the room there were two old naugahyde chairs, John Lee Hooker sitting in the right one of the two. I was offered a seat in the other chair beside him, Kathy standing nearby behind me.. Even though I had met a few performers and roadies backstage at other shows, I just didn't know how to act! I don't remember exactly what I said to introduce us, and state our intentions; but, at some point there, we shook hands. Again, there was this moment of recollection about that time, that has been embedded in me ever since...how soft the palm of his hand was. Here was this man, weathered through his time as I cannot begin to imagine! His features testifying to this...the roughened skin, the whites of his eyes long since darkened...a walkin' talkin' blues legend...and he was talkin' to us!. We passed the photos around, and talked a little about them. The drummer had gotten a big kick out of the photo that I had taken of him sticking his tongue out at me...I was just eatin' this stuff up!. I had also started asking about the band's line-up, noticing that three members weren't present, that had been with them last year. Specifically, the one I was familiar with, from his road and studio work with many other musicians, was a keyboardist named Melvin "Deacon" Jones. I remarked about this to them. Well, the Boogie Man himself turned to me and said, "Well...Deacon Jones is not with us anymore". It immediately felt that it had gotten so deathly quiet in there.. Now this was for me one of those awkwardly difficult moments where you've messed up...saying the wrong thing by not having all the facts. You see, Deacon Jones had been a player in his band for a long time. I thought that he meant that Deacon Jones had passed away, that he was no longer living in this world...and that I just hadn't been keeping up with the Blues News. Well after what seemed to be a very long silence, I attempted to speak. "Uh...uh, I'm sorry...I didn't know". Now, with what was to bring on to me a most indescribable sense of relief, he says, "Oh no, he's doing real well! He has his own band. They're on the road touring right now"!. ...and, again, I can't emphasize enough...as the room for me began to replenish itself...a most indescribable sense of relief!!!.
Peaches and Willie.
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