History in the making: Steve Winwood and Eric Clapton at Madison Square Garden, 2/25/08

Last night, I was sitting behind the stage at Madison Square Garden, feet from two of my earliest and most impactful musical influences, Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood.

It was during their run-through of "Little Wing," the Jimi Hendrix tune, and minutes before they launched into his "Voodoo Chile (Slight Return)," that it occurred to me just how monumental this moment was.

This was no ordinary concert. It was truly history in the making. And I was there.

Many of the fans at Madison Square Garden were older and probably have impressive stories of seeing these musicians decades ago in what was considered their heyday. I'm too young to have those stories myself, but I wonder why it's so common to believe that the heyday has passed.

Clapton is playing guitar as well as ever, and the multi-talented Winwood amazes with just as much conviction as ever, whether he's strapped on a guitar, seated at his Hammond organ or grand piano, or belting out a tune he's been singing since his teen years.

Is it possible performers can have more than one heyday? Either way, Monday's concert at Madison Square Garden was one for the history books.

Winwood has a voicemail system at 212-784-6085. He is supposed to return the call of one lucky fan who leaves him a message asking a question. I just submitted to him a question with a long biographical introduction. You can listen to me recite my full question online here. I said the following:

Steve, my name is also Steve, and I'm a keyboard player. What are the odds of that? I had the pleasure -- more like the honor -- of seeing you and Eric Clapton at the first Madison Square Garden show. The way you guys paid tribute to Jimi Hendrix and Robert Johnson, J.J. Cale, Buddy Miles, and Derek and the Dominos and Traffic -- it truly was history in the making.

I mentioned I'm a keyboard player. You and Paul Shaffer are my biggest influences on keyboards. I actually came straight to Madison Square Garden immediately after leaving the Ed Sullivan Theater for the taping of an episode of "The Late Show with David Letterman." I was honored to hear both of my biggest influences on keyboards, you and Paul, play right in a row in the greatest city on earth. And you both played "Them Changes" too! Chris Stainton is no slob either; some of his piano solos with Joe Cocker also made early impressions on me as a player.

Briefly, I'm going to play for you an organ solo I recorded only this Friday night with my Baltimore/DC area band the Usual Suspects. This is from our version of "I Wish" by Stevie Wonder. [The clip plays.] Yeah, that's smokin'.

So, I auditioned for that group by playing "Gimme Some Lovin'." And I actually sang that too when I auditioned. I'm a struggling singer. Your voice has always been great, and it is all the more impressive today since it has held up so perfectly through the years. I'm at age 28, I'm a non-smoker, and I have no idea how to sustain the high notes the way you do. If I ever figure it out, I owe you even more. Are there any pointers or tips that you can give for a struggling singer like myself?

Again, thanks. Buh-bye.

This was my first time seeing Steve Winwood in concert but my third time seeing Paul Shaffer live by attending a taping of Letterman's show. The episode is the one scheduled to air this Friday, Feb. 29, 2008. I'm as much a fan of Dave as I am of Paul. The episode includes the "Late Show Fun Facts" and "Will It Float?" segments that I find funny at home. The studio audience is instructed to laugh at every joke. Basically, the warm-up folks tell the crowd that if it seems funny but you're on the fence about whether or not it really is, give it the benefit of the doubt and assume it's hilarious. Give it a good belly laugh. I think "Late Show Fun Facts" is a really funny segment, but it is usually not the kind of uproarious laughter that would have someone falling out of a seat. It's more of the wow-that-was-random-and-worth-a-mere-chuckle kind of comedy. On top of that, two consecutive jokes were a little bit morbid: One was about war fatalities and the next was about Eisenhower's death; it's tough to laugh at those. But since I was in I-recognized-the-punchline-so-now-I-must-trigger-a-laugh mode, you'll hear me laugh at the war fatalities joke when the show airs Friday night. I'm not sure, but I might have been the only one laughing.

As for the rest of the weekend, I was pretty much a wreck on Sunday. Although I was visiting folks in Pennsylvania I rarely get to see, I was falling asleep on their couches at every chance I got. Woke up and hung out with Patty and Brivis in their living room. After we ate, what'd I do? Fell asleep on their couch, watching "Def Jam's How to Be a Player" on Comedy Central. They dropped me off at the Philadelphia train station, and Mom and Dad picked me up at Lancaster's. After we ate, what'd I do? Plopped down on their couch, watching a 1934 movie on AMC On Demand, and promptly fell asleep. Then they took me to my brother Mike's so I could crash at his place before going up to New York City together the next day. So obviously it wasn't long before I slept there too.

Why such a lazy Sunday? Because of my lazy Saturday. All I did then was eat and drink with a bunch of college buddies, many of whom I hadn't seen since college. That was a great day and part of a truly historic extended weekend.