Saturday night I decided to go see Barry Richman at the Wild Wing Cafe. My three readers are already familiar with Barry Richman, but for the few surfers who may crash here: Barry Richman is an Atlanta guitar virtuoso, comparable to Eric Johnson in skill and style. Quite an amazing show to see.

After the first couple of songs Richman said, "We have a special guest tonight. As you know, it's rare for me to hand a guitar to someone, but this guy is one of my favorite guitarists. Please welcome Mr. Buck Dharma!"

Buck Dharma? I had heard that name for sure, but I couldn't place where. Jefferson Airplane? Did he have something to do with Paul Kantner and Jack Cassidy? Or no, maybe he was one of Gram Parsons' contemporaries in the Flying Burrito Brothers. This guy was famous, indeed, but...exactly where had I heard of him?

They did a couple of tunes and then Barry Richman said, "We really should do one of your tunes. Hmm...we do have a cowbell." THEN I knew who it was! This guy was in Blue Oyster Cult! Holy shit! And here he was jamming at a wing restaurant in the suburbs of Atlanta! Wow!

Buck finished up "Red House" and then said, "I hope you guys realize what you have here. This guy is a treasure," then he and his family left.

Later in the set break I heard Barry Richman's band saying, "So who was that guy?" When Richman said he was from Blue Oyster Cult the drummer said, "That guy was from Blue Oyster Cult!? Now I know why you were so excited!" The girl singer said, "Now I feel like a jerk for not wanting to do 'Don't Fear the Reaper!' I didn't know that was that guy's song!"

I wish I'd gone over to shake Buck Dharma's hand but I didn't know what to say except, "I really like 'Don't Fear the Reaper' and 'Godzilla'," because I'm sure he's heard that a few zillion times. But that was pretty cool.

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