I learned via my friend Troy’s Twitter feed that Koko Taylor died yesterday. In case you don’t know: Koko Taylor was the “Queen of the Blues,” born in Memphis but really a Chicago singer/performer.
Taylor has kind of a special place in my heart because I saw her in concert in 1988 when I first moved to Richmond, Virginia to start my MFA program. I can’t remember who I was with when I saw that show (I can imagine though), but I remember it was in some sort of gym on the VCU campus and I also remember meeting Paule Marshall at that show. Marshall was teaching in the creative writing program at VCU when I was there, so I ended up having some classes with her.
Anyway, if you get a chance to listen to some Taylor today, do so. Good old-fashioned blues.