A Few Minutes With Dusty and Elvin - Contemporary Blues Men Articles

A Few Minutes With Dusty and Elvin
June 2010
Bruce Jenkins
SF Gate

There are times when Dusty Baker's office feels like the back room of a night club. The man's influence reaches out to so many worlds, you never know who you'll find in there. Yesterday afternoon, with the Reds in town to play Oakland, it was the great Elvin Bishop and his band, talking blues, fishing and baseball.

It was a pleasure to sit there and share a little time with two of the coolest cats around. Dusty and I are about the same age, and we've both followed Bishop since his days with the Paul Butterfield band in the Sixties. As the two of them reminisced, I couldn't help but marvel at the difference between Baker and every other manager in baseball. Who were we going to find in Bob Geren's office -- some tax attorney?

Bishop's career reads like a who's-who of blues greats. A product of the Chicago blues scene, by way of his early upbringing in Tulsa, Bishop worked with Lightnin' Hopkins, Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker -- the list is endless. And that forged his connection with Baker.

"I was over at John Lee's house (in Los Altos) one night, early 90s, and I saw this Dusty Baker jersey hanging on his wall. John Lee was a big baseball fan; had 3-4 televisions all over the house, so he could keep track of all the games. He says, I'm throwin' a party over here Saturday night -- why don't you come over, and I'll introduce you to Dusty."

It was a memorable night -- as usual, Hooker had the place filled with musicians -- and as they talked, Dusty and Elvin realized they shared a love for fishing. "A few years later, Elvin calls me up, asks me if I'd like to be a presenter at the Blues Music Awards in Memphis," said Baker. "Well, hell yes. I went down there, and everybody showed up. It was like seeing 30 concerts in two days. One of the best times I ever had. The next day Elvin and I went fishing at Morgan Freeman's place about 50 miles south, in Mississippi."

So Dusty knows Morgan Freeman, too? Of course he does. I'm not sure there's a classy celebrity he doesn't know.

"Buddy Guy, Carlos Santana, BB King, those guys have all been over to my place," he said. "The thing about musicians, especially blues guys, they hook up in together in a minute. Guys show up out of nowhere, next thing you know, they're all jammin'. I used to go over to Sweetwater (Mill Valley) a lot, and one night, Bonnie Raitt came in. Clarence Clemons came in that same night.

"So I'm hangin' out, and later this girl comes up to me, like (dreamily) 'I love your music' (laughter). Later, somebody said, 'Did she really say that? Who did she think you were?' I said, 'Doesn't matter, but I better move on, before she asks me to sing.'"

One thing I've found over the years is that musicians revere athletes, and vice versa. "The thing about blues, there's so much teamwork, the camaraderie," said Baker. "I love that. A lot of rappers do that now, tapping into each other's stuff. I've got an 11-year-old son (Darren), so I have to follow that music. I just tell him, hey, get the clean version (laughter). Or if you don't, just skip every other word." Bishop has a daughter who just graduated from Cal, "and she's the nicest girl in the world," he said, "but she's running around the house in the morning, singin' rap music. And I'm like, did I hear those words right?"

Bishop, still going strong in his mid-60s, has a new CD out ("Red Dog Speaks) and continues to cherish the Bay Area lifestyle. He moved to San Francisco in 1968, bought a house in Lagunitas (Marin County) in 1974 and settled there for good. He's been following baseball since he was a kid in Oklahoma, watching the old "Game of the Week" with the all-time country broadcaster, Dizzy Dean, at the mike. He's not a regular at the ballpark, but when there's a chance to visit someone like Dusty Baker, he's right there.

Quite a few minutes, it was. Next time Dusty's in town, I'll be sure to stop by the visiting manager's office. I'll expect to see the Pope, Bill Clinton and Bobby Blue Bland.