South African horn man Hugh Masekela is winding down his farewell tour of the US; he plays tonight (Sunday) at Berklee in Boston and this Friday at Town Hall in NY City. After that, he plays 3 dates in Hawaii, but after that will never play the US again. His excuse? "I'll be 70 next year, and I can't be on the road in my 70s."
I've met and chatted with Hugh many times over the past 15 years, and he's good people, he is. I had a free ticket to see him tonight but the weather (snow changing to ice!) prevented it, which I am not terribly bummed out about, as I wouldn't have gotten a chance to talk to him anyway due to the size of the venue.
My final memory of seeing Hughie perform live will be the big bear-hug he gave me as he left the Scullers stage after his 2004 show, followed by another bear-hug after the show when we talked about non-music things, especially growing veggies in our gardens!. He always remembered me because we both have Scottish first names, and also because I once asked him if he had ever eaten the great Scottish delicacy HAGGIS. He laughed and said "no way, man!" Happy trails, Bra Hugh!
Watch Hugh at work here:
