Yesterday I spent the day with my husband and sons at Eric Clapton’s Crossroads Guitar Festival. It was eleven hours of non-stop music on a beautiful summer day in Chicago! There were many things that struck me, separate from the brilliant guitarists and all ’round fun atmosphere. It was interesting to see Eric Clapton, Buddy Guy and BB King appreciating and giving time and honor to the younger guitarists such as Jonny Lang and Derek Trucks. And, then seeing the younger players give such respect to the artists who had paved the way for them. Side note, everything is relative – in the statement above I put Clapton in with the older artists and BB King, who is 84, puts him in the group of younger musicians.
At the very end of the evening BB King came out for his set and spent quite a bit of time talking with the crowd. He said that he always looked forward to being invited to events such as Crossroads because he loved watching the young guys and learning new things from them. I have been thinking about that statement since last night and it is still as thought provoking as it was when he said it. Not only do the masters teach the young people, but the young people teach the masters! We have so much to learn from one another when we open up to the possibilities.
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