While watching Letterman tonight, I learned via a very rare and touching tribute that Hiram Bullock has passed away July 25th from complications of throat cancer. Damn. Hiram was one of my guitar influences early on- not in a stylistic sense, more, in a soul type of thing- let me explain; I first saw Hiram as the barefoot lead guitar player on Letterman that just seemed to be having a great time…eyes closed, head swaying and playing some of the most complex and tasteful guitar around. Later, he went on to Saturday Night Live and the great Later with David Sandborn and Jools Holland- his spirit just seemed to grw and grow. You can read all about his career via the Wiki entry. I really urge you to chekc out some of his solo stuff to get a full feel of his tremendous talent.

I will close this sad post with my meeting Hiram for the first of several times in the mid-late 90’s. I was frequenting a bar in Baltimore’s funky/seedy Fell’s Point area that my brother worked at for around 7 years as bartender, me as sous chef and occasional bouncer, called the Admiral’s Cup (RIP). My brother worked a shift that a friend of ours, Ed Lauer, played every week- covers and such, but, this guy is good, no, great at covers- he can mimic any singer, any range, and is a hell of a guitar player. Well, one dead-of-winter week, he’s playing and in walks this funky dude with a local girl we all knew- I knew who he was immediately- Hiram! I walked up and struck up a conversation with him- he was very, very approachable. The girl brought him to see our friend play since he was on a break from the Sting tour he was currently on and he was looking for a guitarist to join him with is solo band. A more humble man, I never did meet. I told him how he was a huge influence for me and we talked guitar for a bit. He wasn’t drinking, so, he didn’t stay long. About a month or two later (I think), he was back, but, this time, he had his trusty old (trademark) Strat (I think it’s a ‘57) and his pedal board. His came in and plugged in and just jammed with our friend Ed all night. Groups of frat boys and the occasional bachlorette parties wandered in and out and were treated to renditions of pretty much any great guitar tune you could think of- his “Little Wing” version nearly made everyone cry. The entire night, he just sat in the corner on a stool, head swaying, eyes closed…just being “the guitar” player…never overplaying…letting Ed do his job. Jesus, I just got chills writing this. Anyway, the last song of the night just absolutely tore the roof off of EVERY building in a 5 mile radius- Prince’s “Purple Rain”…which was both bitter and sweet, as it has long been rumored that Hiram played the lead on the track as an uncredited hire gun by design. Regardless, this humble and larger than life guitar god packed up, said goodbye and out he went. He returned a few times to just listen and gave up when Ed decided he couldn’t leave his steady gigs, from what I gather.

RIP Hiram.