Lightnin' Hopkins_ His Life and Blues - Alan Govenar [124]
Benson felt Lightnin’ became cantankerous because he didn’t like being away from Antoinette, and he wanted to be at home. But when he got home, Antoinette advised Benson to ‘give him a little room, and he’ll look for you again.’ She’d say, ‘Lightnin’s the kind of guy that if he wants you and needs you first, he’s going to treat you better than if he’s got you under his thumb.’”24
Lightnin’s mood swings bothered Benson, but in part he attributed his behavior to his drinking. Lightnin’ often had a “nip” in the morning and continued drinking throughout the day, sipping Pearl beer, and consuming untold amounts of gin or whisky from his pocket flask. Whenever possible, Lightnin’ avoided driving and preferred to have Benson and others take him to and from his gigs. But on October 8, 1977, Lightnin’ was arrested for speeding, driving under the influence, and carrying a loaded gun in Centerville, Texas. “So, when his court date came up,” Benson says, “we went to this courthouse and it was a real throwback to the past. You could almost hear the ghosts of people [who] had gone through there and been tried. It was kind of an eerie thing. But everyone knew who he was of course, so the judge told him, ‘You had a weapon on you, from now on, leave your gun at home, and stop drinkin’,” and they gave him probation and we went on back to Houston.”25 Times had really changed; had Lightnin’ been arrested for the same offenses when he lived in Centerville in the 1930s, he would have been sentenced to a chain gang or prison.
Whenever anyone mentioned going to Europe, Lightnin’ was skeptical, especially about the air travel. He preferred driving, but he liked the “idea of Europe,” Benson says. “He liked the reception that he got, because there was a tremendous reception. But he always complained there wasn’t enough to eat.”
Norbert Hess, a German blues aficionado and concert promoter, contacted Harold about organizing a European tour for Lightnin’ in the fall of 1977, but had some difficulty convincing him. However, when they agreed to pay him several thousand dollars, Lightnin’ finally agreed. Benson wasn’t able to go, but his friend Ron Wilson (the future Texas congressman) was available to travel with Lightnin’. They left Houston first for the Netherlands, where Lightnin’ appeared at the Rotterdam Jazz Festival on November 12. From there they went to the Dortmund Jazz Festival, headlined a concert in Berlin with Duke Ellington’s Orchestra and James Booker on the bill, and then traveled to Sweden, where he played four concerts at the Gothenburg University Students’ House.
In Dortmund the concert was taped for television for a program called Homage à Lightnin’ Hopkins, and according to Hess, “Several modern jazz groups paid tribute to the old master. James Booker played a short solo set and backed Hopkins for three numbers. Hopkins was accompanied by George Green on drums and Ewald Warning on bass, two black musicians who lived in Munich and had only ever played modern jazz. They knew nothing about Lightnin’ Hopkins. So, as an homage, it was one of the worst concerts I’d ever attended. As road manager for Lightnin’, I must say I enjoyed him very much but he was hampered by the bass player and drummer, who didn’t really understand his blues.”26
In 1978, Benson traveled with Lightnin’ to Japan and toured six cities in thirteen days, but once again he had some trouble persuading Lightnin’ to go. “Some guy got in the car one day in the Third Ward,” Benson says, “and told him that they had dropped an atomic bomb in Japan and there was no food. So Lightnin’ said he wouldn’t go to Japan. So I told him that was during World War II; that was thirty years ago.