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Hubert Sumlin made his transition at the age of 80 on December 4. He was a respected and accomplished bluesman who will be remembered as one of the all time great blues guitarists. He helped shape and define the Chicago Blues sound,getting his official start with the legendary Howlin’ Wolf.The first video above portrays Sumlin performing “Come On In My House” at Buddy Guy’s Legends.

Sumlin not only made the blues circuit of clubs,but was a regular at Eric Clapton‘s Annual Crossroads Guitar Festival which regularly drew crowds in excess of 25,000. Sumlin was revered by younger generation bluesmen and performed as a featured guest of John Mayer‘s during one of his annual blues concerts which were held at New York’s Webster Hall. The second video above is a memorable performance of “Sweet Home Chicago” by blues royalty Sumlin,Buddy Guy,Eric Clapton,Johnny Winter, Robert Randolph joined by Rolling Stone guitar god John Mayer a newly anointed and respected blues guitarist of his generation.

Below Sumlin talks about his experiences as a  guitarist with Howlin’Wolf

Public services for Hubert Sumlin will be held at Festa Memorial Funeral Home,111 Union Blvd,Totowa, NJ 07512.Special viewing times are scheduled as follows:

Sunday, December 11th – 2pm–4pm & 7pm–9pm
Religious Service
Monday, December 12th – 10am

Private services will be held in Homewood, Illinois at Washington Memorial Gardens,701 Ridge Rd on Tuesday, December 13th at 12pm.

For further information,please go to the official website www.hubertsumlinblues.com

Special prayers go out to John Mayer who has been recently diagnosed with a throat condition called granuloma, which is a non-cancerous lesion that results from continuous irritation or some sort of trauma to the area, and can take months to go away. Mayer had to cancel his singing duet with Tony Bennett in Los Angeles as well as his concert appearance at tomorrow’s iHeart Music Festival in Las Vegas. Read more about it on his Tumblr blog.

John ever the trooper has had nearly perfect attendance over the years for concert appearances even when under the weather. He has hardly missed any shows, always energetic and eager to perform for his fans. The iheart festival and the Bennett concert will not be the same without John’s presence.

Please keep John lifted up and send your warm thoughts and healing prayers his way without ceasing until he feels better.

New song…sounds interesting because Mayer has a new record coming out entitled Born and Raised. The harmonies on Suite: Judy Blue Eyes would be the ones to match. And, if I had any input into some songs the guys could collaborate on Mayer’s “Waiting on the World to Change” with a sample of Graham Nash’s circa 1968 “Chicago” mixed in would be quite a treat for those Baby Boomers out there and their children whom they have passed their musical tastes on to. I’m just sayin…

                    The Great Invocation

From the point of Light within the Mind of God
Let light stream forth into the minds of men
Let Light descend on Earth.

From the point of Love within the Heart of God
Let love stream forth into the hearts of men.
May Christ return to Earth.

From the centre where the Will of God is known
Let purpose guide the little wills of men-
The purpose which the Masters know and serve.

From the centre which we call the race of men
Let the Plan of Love and Light work out
And may it seal the door where evil dwells.

Let Light and Love and Power restore the Plan on Earth.

John Mayer is seen outside the Roger Room on July 30, 2011 in West Hollywood, California with a lady friend. The club,which is known as a place of reverse snobbery i.e., where people go to avoid the bells and whistles of celebrity,is one of West Hollywood’s hottest clubs. In other news…John’s voice coach, Roger Love, recently tweeted “Been spending evryday working w/John Mayer on his next CD.He is an amazing artist. Do u know how he got so good? PRACTICE!!” John’s upcoming record “Born and Raised” is scheduled for release sometime in October. Good to see him taking a much needed break and hanging out with regular people. Smile John…God loves you and so do we!

Ben Harper performs a version of “Never Tear Us Apart”, Train’s Pat Monahan provided vocals on “Beautiful Girl” and Nikka Costa sings a new incarnation of
Kick.

The new record has been described as a tribute album by band members and features re-imagings of notable INXS songs such as “Mystify”,”New Sensation” and “Never Tear Us Apart”. “We’ve re-invented these songs. “Some have been done by an orchestra, some [are] stripped down and some tracks may take you a while to recognise what it is,” said Jon Farriss. The project led INXS to think about how they could approach their own music which they’ve performed live in front of millions of people.

Perhaps in forgiving the changes on the old songs, they have opened up the door for even more musical inspiration.If you’ve listened to the old version of any song no matter how much you become attached to the melody or rhythm a new version can be refreshing.,especially when the artist makes it their own. When another artist takes it to another time and space by speeding up or slowing down the tempo or topping it with a moving instrumental or vocal signature what a difference…

In one of the more quirky language scenes in the “Friends with Benefits” movie starring Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis, John Mayer’s “Your Body Is A Wonderland” gets a rather graphic mention.  See Red Band trailer above. Warning: Parental Advisory.

After a little intense reflecting you figure out what it means…that she actually loves the song. It took a while. It takes a bit to digest if you are a language purest running slight on a raunchy and raw sense of humor. But if you are a Mayer music lover who was initially won over by the song, it might be a bit much to take. Excellent shock value effect, however.
You have to watch the trailer and form your own opinion about the nature of the reference. It is definitely an attention grabber which at the very maximum could be viewed as cryptic. One thing for sure after watching the scene his Grammy winning debut song will have a slightly different association for those who have not heard it and for those who have and enjoy it immensely,their views will likely remain unchanged. It will also probably spark an interest in researching the preferred writing genre of the screen writers.By the way, the trailer is age sensitive.

I look forward to seeing it and writing a well-informed review.Stay tuned.