In my next life I want to come back as Freddy King. Rocking out on “The Beat” TV show in 1966, backed up with a smoking hot horn section and go-go dancers to keep the energy going – not that King didn’t have enough of that. He was the complete package: the suit, the pompadour hairdo, a Gibson ES-345 slung over the right shoulder rather than around his neck and a stock of blues riffs without end. This is far cooler than allowed by law.

Once one gets past the amazement of the opening scene with the Joker-style set and painted piano, you are hit right away with King’s unique right-hand technique. With picks on his thumb and index finger (more typical for banjo or steel-guitar players) King lights up his Gibson guitar. He pulls and slaps and picks and pokes the strings jolting the amp with each note. And his singing voice … straight from the Pantheon of blues deities.

This is a video that keeps getting better with each passing minute. The energy level builds through the verses and choruses of the first number “She Put a Whammy on Me” and climaxes with an explosive instrumental jam at the end. If I had a time machine, I know where I’d be right now.