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

The Guitar Shorty story

The backflipping bluesman from Texas

Shorty once won the Gong Show by standing on his head while playing his guitar.
Shorty once won the Gong Show by standing on his head while playing his guitar.

David William Kearney, from Houston, tells many entertaining stories about music-industry luminaries such as Jimi Hendrix and Buddy Guy and Guitar Slim, and for all I know, they’re true. Even though his own star never burned as brightly, Kearney’s influence on blues-rock can’t be denied. For decades he covered the road driving a burgundy panel van with lettering on the sides that spelled out his stage name in cursive, like the way he’d maybe sign a check: Guitar Shorty.

Sponsored
Sponsored

Video:

Guitar Shorty

...live at Dutch Mason Blues Festival

...live at Dutch Mason Blues Festival

He comes from that era when the competition among black bluesmen was so thick that it wasn’t enough to just stand up and play great music. No, one had to be entertaining, and to that end Shorty perfected the art of doing standing backflips — all the while singing and playing nasty guitar leads somewhere between B.B. King and John Lee Hooker.

The melodious gymnastics made an impression on a young soldier named James. Shorty, I think, dated the soldier’s stepsister for a time in Seattle during the 1960s. Her name is Marsha Hendrix. Years later, after James became Jimi the arena headliner, his own show was similarly festooned with extravagant costumes and stage gags like the burning guitar. No cartwheels, but Jimi certainly came with his head full of Shorty’s guitar licks, which in turn were on loan from just about every other blues guitar player going back to shotgun shacks and Delta dirt.

Past Event

Guitar Shorty

  • Friday, May 6, 2016, 8 p.m.
  • Belly Up Tavern, 143 S. Cedros Avenue, Solana Beach
  • 21+

Blues is a specific language, meant to be passed down, and in the re-telling of it, a guitar player develops his or her own voice as per tradition. Shorty, who once won the Gong Show by standing on his head while playing his guitar, does not do backflips anymore — he’ll turn 77 this year — but the Ray Charles band veteran can still stab you right through the heart with a single note. Do your own summersaults.

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

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

Pastor Lisa Perry finds God in dive bars

Conversations about tattoos turn into conversations about grace
Next Article

Hill Street Donuts makes life sweet

A little bit of local love for a longtime confectionary
Shorty once won the Gong Show by standing on his head while playing his guitar.
Shorty once won the Gong Show by standing on his head while playing his guitar.

David William Kearney, from Houston, tells many entertaining stories about music-industry luminaries such as Jimi Hendrix and Buddy Guy and Guitar Slim, and for all I know, they’re true. Even though his own star never burned as brightly, Kearney’s influence on blues-rock can’t be denied. For decades he covered the road driving a burgundy panel van with lettering on the sides that spelled out his stage name in cursive, like the way he’d maybe sign a check: Guitar Shorty.

Sponsored
Sponsored

Video:

Guitar Shorty

...live at Dutch Mason Blues Festival

...live at Dutch Mason Blues Festival

He comes from that era when the competition among black bluesmen was so thick that it wasn’t enough to just stand up and play great music. No, one had to be entertaining, and to that end Shorty perfected the art of doing standing backflips — all the while singing and playing nasty guitar leads somewhere between B.B. King and John Lee Hooker.

The melodious gymnastics made an impression on a young soldier named James. Shorty, I think, dated the soldier’s stepsister for a time in Seattle during the 1960s. Her name is Marsha Hendrix. Years later, after James became Jimi the arena headliner, his own show was similarly festooned with extravagant costumes and stage gags like the burning guitar. No cartwheels, but Jimi certainly came with his head full of Shorty’s guitar licks, which in turn were on loan from just about every other blues guitar player going back to shotgun shacks and Delta dirt.

Past Event

Guitar Shorty

  • Friday, May 6, 2016, 8 p.m.
  • Belly Up Tavern, 143 S. Cedros Avenue, Solana Beach
  • 21+

Blues is a specific language, meant to be passed down, and in the re-telling of it, a guitar player develops his or her own voice as per tradition. Shorty, who once won the Gong Show by standing on his head while playing his guitar, does not do backflips anymore — he’ll turn 77 this year — but the Ray Charles band veteran can still stab you right through the heart with a single note. Do your own summersaults.

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

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

Pastor Lisa Perry finds God in dive bars

Conversations about tattoos turn into conversations about grace
Next Article

Live Five: Deaf Club, Ed Kornhauser, Little Dove, Kinnie Dye, Adam Wolff

Residencies and one-offs in Little Italy, Del Mar, Ocean Beach, Mission Beach, Coronado
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.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader