the john lee hooker story

After my then-wife Rebecca and I moved to San Francisco in June 1992, my visa would only permit me to work for overseas companies, and my photography career was already hanging on by a thread. However, I was still getting assignments from the U.K.’s Vox magazine, and in early November they dispatched me to photograph John Lee Hooker at his home in Redwood City, some thirty minutes south of San Francisco. Arriving at his house at the end of a cul-de-sac, we were greeted by the dapper eighty year old Delta blues guitar genius, impeccably attired in a shiny wide-lapeled golden brown suit, his head topped with a beautiful brown fedora. John Lee ushered us into his living room, and we made small talk. So it went for a few minutes, until it dawned on me that damn, John Lee Hooker is hitting on my wife, while I’m standing right here!

But I just figured, OK.. It’s John Lee Hooker.