Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Bluesman Bill Magee turns 70

“You gotta have a passion for it. That’s got to be number one. Number two? You got to be willing to pay your dues by practicing day and night.” We meet up for lunch, Bill Magee, a mutual friend named Lane Rider, and I. Over corned beef and chicken soup, I get a blues lesson from the gravel-voiced guitarist and bandleader. “The first six months, everybody’s gonna tell you to shut up and stop making that noise, that you ain’t never gonna ever make no music. But you gotta not listen to that.” What you have to listen to, he says, are other blues musicians. “Influences. What’ll happen is you’re gonna pick up some of their sounds, but you’re gonna start to make some of your own sounds, too.”

Magee, who will turn 70 soon, claims to be a veteran of such classic bands as James Brown’s Famous Flames. Part of the Bill Magee experience are the apocryphal tales he spins about gigs with royalty: BB King, Muddy, Jimi Hendrix, and so on. But his own guitar chops cannot be disputed.

Sponsored
Sponsored

Magee says he practices for hours a day.“I watch football. That game’s gonna last four hours. I have my guitar in my hand the whole time. I can watch television and practice at the same time.”

To this day, Magee refuses to make a pre-show set list. “I learned that way back. When you make a set list, you’re pre-judging your audience. How you gonna be at home and know your audience?”

What does Bill Magee disdain in a fellow blues traveler? “Someone playin’ a whole lot of notes,” he says. “BB [King] could hit but one note and make the hair on the back of your neck stand up.”

Bill Magee: 70th birthday party celebration, Humphreys Backstage, Thursday, March 28, 7 p.m. 619-224-3577

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Navy solves San Diego homeless crisis by retiring four locally moored ships

Decommision Accomplished

“You gotta have a passion for it. That’s got to be number one. Number two? You got to be willing to pay your dues by practicing day and night.” We meet up for lunch, Bill Magee, a mutual friend named Lane Rider, and I. Over corned beef and chicken soup, I get a blues lesson from the gravel-voiced guitarist and bandleader. “The first six months, everybody’s gonna tell you to shut up and stop making that noise, that you ain’t never gonna ever make no music. But you gotta not listen to that.” What you have to listen to, he says, are other blues musicians. “Influences. What’ll happen is you’re gonna pick up some of their sounds, but you’re gonna start to make some of your own sounds, too.”

Magee, who will turn 70 soon, claims to be a veteran of such classic bands as James Brown’s Famous Flames. Part of the Bill Magee experience are the apocryphal tales he spins about gigs with royalty: BB King, Muddy, Jimi Hendrix, and so on. But his own guitar chops cannot be disputed.

Sponsored
Sponsored

Magee says he practices for hours a day.“I watch football. That game’s gonna last four hours. I have my guitar in my hand the whole time. I can watch television and practice at the same time.”

To this day, Magee refuses to make a pre-show set list. “I learned that way back. When you make a set list, you’re pre-judging your audience. How you gonna be at home and know your audience?”

What does Bill Magee disdain in a fellow blues traveler? “Someone playin’ a whole lot of notes,” he says. “BB [King] could hit but one note and make the hair on the back of your neck stand up.”

Bill Magee: 70th birthday party celebration, Humphreys Backstage, Thursday, March 28, 7 p.m. 619-224-3577

Comments
Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

2024 continues to impress with yellowfin much closer to San Diego than they should be

New rockfish regulations coming this week as opener approaches
Next Article

Flowering pear trees in Kensington not that nice

Empty dirt plots in front of Ken Cinema
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.