A Real Champion

Shortly after arriving to Los Angeles back in 1995 some friends of mine took me into Compton to a little but infamous blues bar called Babe and Ricky’s. Although I grew up walking the streets of Washington D.C. (voted most dangerous city in the US for a few years in a row), driving down to Compton kind of scared the hell out of me. The Rodney King riots were still in my mind and the neighborhoods still showed the effects of fires.

Regardless, we arrived to the bar without a scratch. The bar, small and intimate, was half filled with people who welcomed us and made us feel right at home.

A singer took the stage (well, from what I remember, there wasn’t much of a stage). The singer was a short aging woman with a gold baseball hat on. I really didn’t expect much. Although I guess I was vaguely aware of LA’s R&B history, I really didn’t have much respect for it as a Blues town. The singers name was (and is) Mickey Champion. Mickey began to belt out some songs. I don’t remember exactly what she sang, but I was definitely impressed. At one point in the performance, I turned my head to order another beer and when I focused back on Mickey I had noticed that she had placed the mic on a chair and was singing “unplugged”. Amazingly, I could hear no change in volume, in fact she might have sounded louder. Such a tiny woman, such a shiny gold cap, such an amazing voice.

This was one of many early experiences that made me grow to love the city that many people back home were sure I’d despise.

Well, we all agreed that we needed to come back to Babe and Ricky’s to see Mickey belt it out again. But for some reason, as time went by we forgot about Mickey and the bar and focused on venues closer to home.

Earlier this week I received a posting about a tribute to Mickey at a bar called Little Pedros. Much to my dismay, Mickey is certainly still singing it like nobodies business. I missed the tribute, but Mickey plays at Pedros just about every Tuesday (where chicken and corn bread is served) as well as still making appearances at Babe and Ricky’s as well as a few other venues.

Although it seems as though Mickey remains to be an immortal voice, I fear that the body can only remain so long. So get off your butt and check out Mickey Champion at one of many venues around town. She also has a new CD out that should probably be played at 11 to really get the full effect.