News Taffy

I spent the summer of 1992 in London studying theater and everything remotely connected to it which included music, art, people watching and pub crawls! Anything for the arts, right? And I was up for anything that got me out of the heat of Arkansas even if it meant I had to spend four hours of the day in a classroom in Europe. That summer in between watching Shakespeare in the round and trips to Stonehenge , I heard Eric Clapton play at Wembley Stadium. He was playing along with Elton John, Bonnie Raitt and Chris Isaak. As you'd imagine, it was an amazing show in an extremely large venue.

When I recently found out my fabulously amazing neighbor had scored tickets to the Clapton's Crossroads tour in New York City, I was of course excited about it. I marked the date on my calendar and didn't give it much thought really. As the date drew near, I finally checked out the line-up and was blown away. The list was a who's who in the guitar world.

I'd mentioned before the show that I would have expected to see Keith Richards among the list of players. The concert and festival is a benefit for Crossroads Centre Antigua, a drug and alcohol rehabilitation centre on the island on Antigua. So my concert going crew laughed out loud at my mention of Richards being part of the line up, pointing to his very public battle with drugs and alcohol! He isn't exactly the poster child for sobriety! Sorry, Keith, but it is true.

The show started at 7:30 p.m. at Madison Square Garden and the music didn't stop until after midnight. The line up was incredible. Jeff Beck, Buddy Guy, John Mayer, Jimmy Vaughn and Los Lobos were some of the acts that started out the evening.

I am not a country music fan AT ALL, but I have to tell you that one of the best sets of the entire night came from Vince Gill, Keith Urban and Albert Lee. My other favorite was Gary Clark, Jr. This guy can play a guitar and I highly recommend you listen to his work.

The biggest shock of the night came after a quick ladies room break. Let me back up a bit. The first surprise for me was walking into a wall of smoke in the restroom. Seems that was THE place to smoke a joint. I guess some things never change when it comes live music shows.

As I walked backed to my seat to join my friends, I laughed thinking about our previous conversation about Richards' drug use and the irony of concert go-ers smoking pot at a benefit for a drug rehab facility. So I stopped dead in my tracks when I popped back into the arena and saw none other than Keith Richards on the giant screen playing alongside Eric Clapton! Was I seeing things? Had I meandered too long in the smoke filled ladies room? Nope. That was Keith on the stage. He played several songs with Clapton and received a long standing ovation before leaving the stage. So much for my friends theory on why Richards was left off the list.

One thing missing though from the evening was female guitar players. Someone mentioned that Bonnie Raitt had performed at one of the benefits before but she was not in NYC. It would be great to see a female on stage in the lead role at the next Crossroads tour.

Keep up with DJ's adventures by following her on twitter @mrsdjduckworth and on Facebook and Instagram. DJ is a contributing writer for New York Family magazine. Find out more www.iamdjduckworth.com DJ lives in Manhattan with her two boys; husband, Corbin and Leo - woof, woof!