Critical Review of Lucky and Tamara Peterson Performance

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Lucky Peterson is a blues musician I had never heard until a couple of weeks before the show. I began to research him as the show approached and found out that Lucky had been performing since he was five years old. Performances such as The Tonight Show with Ed Sullivan in 1964, the same year that The Supremes and The Beatles made their first appearances. The earliest performance I could find of Lucky was when he was seven years old playing a Hammond B3 electric organ. Tonight almost 40 years later he would play at the Epcor Centre in Calgary with his wife Tamara Peterson.

We filed into the theatre at around 7:30 for the 8:00 show since tickets we general admission. I managed a seat in the front row and once I was settled I started to wonder what an incredible inconvenience hauling around this enormous vintage Hammond B3 organ must be. Quietly thanked god that I am in University and that loading and unloading this organ was not my problem. Five minute warning was given in the lobby, the Engineered Air theatre quickly filled to capacity and then the lights dimmed.

A spotlight beamed down when a woman was standing at a microphone, she thanked the sponsor PCL for their generosity and thanked Music Centre Canada for a last minute donation of “the use of a Hammond B3” for Lucky’s show. Right then I realized we would be a part of a very special show that evening. Lucky Peterson was introduced came on stage with a beaming expression on his face. Clearly Lucky was excited to play the Hammond for us.

Upon entering the stage Lucky smiled and waved as he sped over to the organ sat down said “Hello” and began playing immediately. The first eight or so minutes were purely instrumental and quite honestly, amazing. The percussion line is played via the pedals on the organ, bass line via left hand and melody via right hand. It is incredible to watch, maybe more so for me since I have a heck of a time getting my hands to tap and two different speeds. Lucky played a couple more songs on the organ and then switched over to his guitar and played “Three Handed Woman”. Lucky called his wife Tamara on stage, she gave him heck for bringing her out on stage right after that song since the chorus is “She’s a left handed, right handed, underhanded woman”.

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