Wilson Pickett Goes Surfing at The Midnight Hour

During summer vacations in the late 1950s and early ‘60s, for a couple of weeks each year my family rented a second-floor flat just south of Boston in Nantasket. I loved it as it was not a far from the area’s amusement mecca, Paragon Park, directly across the street from the beach and nearly directly across the street from the legendary Surf Ballroom.

During my pre-teen years, I was more interested in the beach and Paragon Park than the upstairs ballroom. I loved the beach and the sea, as I still do, and Paragon was fun and fascinating. I recall meeting the renowned pro wrestler Haystacks Calhoun there, a huge man who knew my grandfather and who picked me up and put me on his shoulder, which was a big deal for a little kid.

I also remember the huge, dark stairwell (well, huge to a pre-teen) leading upstairs to the vaunted venue called The Surf. Long before I attended a show there, I was fascinated by the place. In my earlier years, it was mysterious to me whenever we’d walk past it on the way to the beach or to grab a burger or some fried clams. “What is up there?” I wondered. I’d heard that it had been a dance hall in the early part of the 20th century and functioned as one into the late ‘50s, when rock ‘n’ roll shows started coming through and the name changed to The Surf. At some point in the early ‘60s, I was told, local promoter and Surf owner Bill Spence began hosting regular concerts there, sometimes with national acts headlining. Boston-based bands like The Rockin’ Ramrods, Teddy & The Pandas, The G-Clefs, The Huns and The Remains all played there.

I’d already been playing acoustic music for a few years in Cambridge and recently had gotten my first electric bass. First, a semi-hollow single cutaway Harmony H-22, then a baby blue Hagstrom solid body, both purchased at the long-gone Lechmere retail chain. When I was younger, classical music and later folk and bluegrass were the focus of my existence, but when I first heard Howlin’ Wolf and Muddy Waters (and had the pleasure of watching both through a tiny window on Palmer St. in Cambridge), my life was changed. Son House, Bill Monroe, Tom Rush, John Hammond Jr., Spider John Koerner and a multitude of folk-blues artists had been staples of my existence, but my world suddenly broadened to include electric blues and R&B. The music of New Orleans, Chicago, Memphis and Muscle Shoals became my focus.

One summer in the mid-‘60s, the owners of The Surf started doing matinee shows. I begged my mom (and dad) to let me attend what would be my first concert – a very big deal! – and bought a ticket to see Wilson Pickett, my favorite R&B singer (who ruled the charts in ’65 with “In The Midnight Hour”). The opener was a local act, The Pilgrims, who also played R&B and a couple of whom, Jocko Marcellino and Lennie Baker, went on to play together in the prototypical ‘50s tribute band Sha Na Na (who I watched perform at the original Woodstock a mere four years later). The Pilgrims were great and I was very impressed that other locals were onstage with someone like Pickett.

It was a low stage and I’d positioned myself just right of center, practically on the stage itself. As soon as Wilson and his incredible band came out, I was blown away. I’d been playing little gigs at local dances, in high school gyms and CYO’s in the area for a couple of years, but this was something else. Completely inspirational. For an hour or so, I was worshiping in the “Church of the Wicked Pickett” (The Wicked Pickett from 1967 is still one of my favorite records). To me, it was almost like a Southern Baptist Church, music blasting, bodies moving, life changing. I could already play a shuffle and swing the blues, but this show shot me in another direction.

I don’t recall them being there, but I was later informed by a reliable source that Band of Gypsies bassist Billy Cox and the great Jimi Hendrix were in Wilson’s band on that tour. I do recall being super impressed with the bassist and from then on wanting a Fender Jazz like the one he was playing. The Rascals from New York City were also hot at the time and helping to introduce R&B to a wider audience. I saw them later at The Surf (and would later record with Rascals singer and Hammond organist Felix Cavaliere), but Wilson and band were it for me. A huge inspiration.

In 1993 I finally got the chance to play with Wilson while in the house band at the Rhythm & Blues Awards, held that year in what for many years had been The Hollywood Palace. The band that year included a number of musicians who had recorded with Pickett, primarily Booker T. and Steve Cropper of The MG’s. The band also featured legendary drummer James Gadson, Ry Cooder on second guitar and the horn section from Billy and The Beaters. James Brown, Martha Reeves, Little Anthony, Lowell Fulson, Erskine Hawkins and Panama Francis, Hadda Brooks and others were at that show that night, but finally getting to play “In the Midnight Hour” with Wilson and “Green Onions” with Cropper and Booker is what did it for me.

(by James Hutchinson)

Bassist extraordinaire James “Hutch” Hutchinson has toured the world playing with many of rock’s biggest names, including his 40-years-and-counting run as part of Bonnie Raitt‘s band.