Saw the new WP on the rack at Borders and Shuggie was on the cover. An Interview? Dayam. Hold all calls and rescedule the appointments- I've gotta read this.

(Spoiler alert for those who may want to read it on their own).

It's an interview from Sept., just two months ago and a good long one too! Man, my mouth started to water with anticipation. I aint read nothin' new about the Shug in ages. I know the liner notes on his albums almost by heart but new stuff? Hell yeah!

Shugg's 53 now and he made some general comments that hint at what happened to him since he quit recording in the mid 70's but damn, no details at all. The dude is still enigmatic as hell.

Well, I can't say NO details. There were a few tidbits but not much.

Highlights were him talking about Strawberry Letter 23 and how he's heard all these stories over the years about it's secret meaning. LOL. He didn't mean shit except a boy and a girl in love and how they would escape to a world all their own in thei minds. He said he was trying to write a pop song he could get paid for and he did it.

The perfunctory story of turning down the offer to join the stones was in there but he told another about why he turned down Quincy Jones' offer to produce a new record for him.

All in all I came away with the 2 main ideas that he was afraid of success and that growing up in a family in the music business blinded him to how special he was and how special the turned down opportunites were.

It was kind of disappointing that there were no recent pics of him. I'm guessing that was at his demand. Hell, doncha wanna see what he looks like now?

One thing did get cleared up though- the pronounciation of his name is 'Shoogie' as in Sugar, njot Shuggie like shrugging your shoulders.