Chadwick Boseman said that there would have not been a Black Panther if not for Denzel Washington. His life serendipitously intersected with Washington’s two decades ago when he was still a college student at Howard University. Boseman had been accepted to a summer acting program at Oxford, but he couldn’t afford the tuition to attend. Determined to help the talented student, Boseman’s teacher implored an actor she knew to help with paying the way for the future Panther and eight of his classmates to be able to pursue that incredible opportunity. Only upon returning home from the summer program did Boseman discover that his inspiration, Denzel Washington, had been his secret benefactor. After keeping this secret from the public for 20 years, Boseman paid tribute to his idol at the American Film Institute in 2018, sharing that “there would never have been a Black Panther if not for Denzel Washington”, but Boseman wasn’t talking exclusively of his Oxford sponsorship; he was speaking of the inspiration that the iconic actor fostered in him over the years. He was speaking of the spark that was lit inside of him as a young man to watch, learn, and emulate. He was speaking for himself and the entire cast of actors influenced by Washington’s vast catalog and award-winning performances. Art inspires art. For every artist out there, there was an artist before them that drove them to take interest in the art, fall in love with it, and ultimately pursue it.
Lately, I have been listening to a lot of Gary Clarke Jr.’s music. He is a modern blues/rock guitarist and vocalist whose sometimes psychedelic riffs can time-travel you straight back to Woodstock. Clarke is clearly inspired by Jimi Hendrix. His initial exposure to the artist was from a gifted videotape of the historic Monterey Pop Festival where on stage Jimi actually played the guitar with his TEETH.. According to Clarke, “At that age anything can change your DNA, but that was it for me.” That’s all it takes...that one moment to ignite a spark that can light a fire for a lifetime. Gary Clarke Jr. is a ridiculously talented musician that you should definitely put in your queue, but I want to take a little time to tell you about a man I once met that inspired the man who inspired the man.
When I was 21 years old, I was already married and attending college full time at the University of North Florida. I was driving back and forth to Jacksonville for classes full time while working nearly 30 hours a week waitressing at the local Golden Corral in small town Palatka. I waitressed to pay for my books and transportation costs to get through school while acquiring student loans for the tuition. I met so many interesting people while working at the restaurant, but very few stand out or stick with me after such a long passage of time. One particular customer who did was a very pleasant, older, black gentleman. He struck me as a little unique, in his personality and style. He was a bit heavyset, with slightly longer hair and sideburns, and he wore a cowboy hat. We made chit chat as I was known to do with customers, much to the chagrin of my managers. This friendly guy told me about how he was in town visiting family and after a while he introduced himself to me as “Guitar Shorty”, and he told me he was famous. I chuckled a little inside, because if you have to tell someone you’re famous, are you really? Guitar, or “Mr. Shorty” handed me a card and told me to look him up, but as the internet was only budding at the time and as content was limited, there wasn’t much to find, and that encounter became just a distant odd memory, until this week that is.
As I said, I have been listening to a lot of Gary Clarke Jr. and Spotify recommended a playlist with similar artists old and new. I like to put Spotify on in the background while I’m working or writing, like right now for example. Well, the other day, I played that custom list and after about 20 minutes this groove came on that I felt in my bones, and I had to pop over to the playlist and see what it was. As it turns out, the song was, “Betrayed” by none other than my one-time-customer, and truly-famed blues musician, Guitar Shorty.
Now that the internet has blossomed, full of troves of information, and I have become more of a Blues enthusiast, I decided to finally find out more about this man I met in a short exchange so many years ago. I’m so glad I did, but I couldn’t keep it to myself.
Guitar Shorty was born David WIlliam Kearney in Houston, TX. He was raised in Kissimmee by his grandmother and began playing guitar at a young age. He started so early that by the time he was in high school he was playing underage in clubs in Tampa, where a fellow musician donned his younger counterpart, “Guitar Shorty.” After seeing his new moniker on the marquee, it stuck.
Guitar Shorty worked steadily as a young man, touring and traveling all over the United States, with pauses in New Orleans and California, with legendary artists from the blues world and beyond, including even a year on the road with Ray Charles. Over the course of his career, he toured and recorded with many famous artists, too many to list now, but really developed his own sound later in life, hitting his stride in the 90s when he happened to sit at one of the tables in my section. He really was famous, just not to me, just not yet. He was in his very early sixties when I met him, and I had no idea that the friendly gentleman in front of me was an extremely respected blues guitarist best known for his electrifying performances which included flips across the stage, guitar-in-hand (well into his late 70s). A performer and a showman, Shorty caught the attention of a young woman in Seattle when he was still a young man. His new bride had a brother in the military who seemed to be infatuated with Shorty’s guitar playing, and even went AWOL a few times to catch him performing in the club. As boys do, they would sneak off to the basement to play music and conspire to create. Shorty had married a girl named, Marcia Hendrix, step-sister to THE legendary Jimi Hendrix. In that basement, Shorty introduced Hendrix to his first wah-wah pedal, “Crybaby”.
After my internet exploration, I’m left in awe. About fate. About art. About influence.
I spent some time at the gravesite of Hendrix when I visited Seattle a few years ago. There were others there as well, paying tribute, thankful for his legacy. Jimi’s ability to inspire is the thing that brought us all to that place decades after his light went out.
Chadwick Boseman said that Black Panther would not exist if not for Denzel Washington. It seems as though the Jimi Hendrix we know might never have been but for the spark ignited by Guitar Shorty.
Guitar Shorty is in his eighties and up until the pandemic, he was still actively touring.
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