MICHAEL BLOOMFIELD, in a sense, was the Marlon Brando of guitarists. Brando had a tremendous gift for acting, but throughout his career was nagged and haunted by a recurring feeling that he ought to have been doing something "more important" with his life.

Bloomfield, whose talent on the guitar places him alongside B.B. King, Jimi Hendrix and other all-time greats, was a voracious reader and a seeker, one who lit up the Sixties on stage with his electric guitar prowess.

But he, too, once his talent had been recognized and singled out, did not feel fulfilled at having made it to the top of his profession. Few players have ever mastered the instrument and thrilled audiences the way that Bloomfield did, yet later on he seemed to have lost his direction and his passion for playing.

At one point as a young man he defined himself almost as strongly in declaring what he did NOT want: Michael Bloomfield had no inclination whatsoever to become a businessman like his father. He was a son of upper-class privilege, whose father owned and ran a multi-million dollar restaurant supply manufacturing business. But Michael's only true interest was music.

He loved many types of music, including folk, country, rockabilly and rock 'n' roll, but his primary passion was for The Blues. Michael Bloomfield not only loved and studied the original blues of his home town of Chicago, and learned directly from the masters of this art form (Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Little Walter, among others), he also had the blues deep down in his soul.

BARRY GOLDBERG suffered the loss of his own father at an early age. He dealt with his feelings of sadness by listening constantly to Chicago Blues on late night radio, and dreamed of using his talent as a piano player to have a career in music.

But his father's younger brother, Arthur Goldberg, was an influential man, who eventually was appointed to the Supreme Court by President Kennedy. Observing his uncle's stature in the world, Barry perceived life's possibilities.

He knew he was not cut out to be a lawyer like his Uncle Arthur, yet his family discouraged his musical ambitions. Meeting Bloomfield in high school, Goldberg was energized and inspired to find a friend, whose background and heritage was very much like his own, who would take a stand alongside him in their mutual love of Blues music.

Barry was a close friend of Michael Bloomfield's for 20 years, and knew him just about as well as anyone did during Bloomfield's brief but sometimes-brilliant career in music.

Michael Bloomfield and Barry Goldberg:

Two Jewish Kids from the city of Chicago,

Two dedicated musicians,

Two lives,

Two Friends...

TWO JEWS BLUES

DYLAN ON BLOOMFIELD

"The guy that I always miss was Mike Bloomfield.He could just flat-out play. He had so much
soul... He could play like Robert Johnson way back then in the Sixties.The only other guy
who could do that in those days was Brian Jones, who played in the Rolling Stones."

--Bob Dylan, from The Rolling Stone Interview, Issue #1078, May 2009

Early review of Two Jews Blues by Barry Goldberg and Stephen Roeser

"...highly recommended."

--Dan Neer, host of Deep Tracks on Sirius/XM satellite radio, and former longtime DJ on WNEW-FM in New York City

LINKS

BarryGoldbergMusic.net (official site)

Barry Goldberg (Wikipedia article)

The Rides (featuring Barry Goldberg and Stephen Stills)

MikeBloomfield.com (official site)

Mike Bloomfield: An American Guitarist (tribute site)

Mike Bloomfield (Wikipedia article)

Michael Bloomfield Box Set - a review/overview of the new box set From His Head to His Hands (Sony Legacy 88765476342)

The Electric Flag (Wikipedia article)

Mike Bloomfield and Barry Goldberg videos (YouTube search results)

Mike Bloomfield and Barry Goldberg photos (Google Image search results)

Two Jews Blues album review and track listing (AllMusic.com)

BobDylan.com (official site)

Rock's Back Pages: Steve Roeser's articles