My run in with Mississippi John Hurt.

When I was a kid, growing up in San Diego in the 60's, there was a bookstore/music venue/movie theatre in La Jolla called The Rising Sun -- unless, in my memory, I've conflated several different places into one.

I used to go there sometimes with my sister and my older brother, both of whom could drive. I remember it as a kind of magical place. The store carried European chocolate bars, which I'd never seen before, and they made non-alcoholic beverages with exotic flavors like orgeat.

I loved going there.

I think that's where I first saw Ingmar Bergman films, though that might have been at the Ken theatre instead. But The Rising Sun is definitely where I saw Mississippi John Hurt perform, and, another time, Lightning Hopkins.

It was a small, intimate music venue -- a great place to watch masters of the acoustic guitar, like Hurt and Hopkins. I think that's also where I saw Hoyt Axton play. I went backstage to his dressing room after the show, where he autographed my arm! But my mother made me wash off the autograph the next day. I went back that night, saw him perform again, and explained that I'd been forced to wash my arm. So I bought his album, and he autographed the back of it.

I still have it.