He Fought to Keep the Blues Alive But Couldn't Stay Alive Himself

“Over and over again, I would tell him about a great blues legend passing. He was very philosophical about it. He’d say, ‘It’s going to come to all of us. That’s one thing we know for sure.’ "
--Ms. Dorsey, station manager of WEVL

Today, the daddy, along with Memphis, is still feeling the loss of Dee Henderson (known as "Cap'n Pete" by many), a well-loved DJ who was shot in the backyard of his home apparently by his grandson, whose blues radio program "Cap'n Pete's Blues Cruise" gave the bitter life of poverty, hard work and low pay in Memphis a little bit of sweetness, making the rise out of bed each morning less difficult to do.

Yes, Mr. Henderson is dead, but Ms. Dorsey said she plans to continue Cap'n Pete's Blues Cruise in some form. She said she taped many of the shy Henderson's programs without his knowledge and plans to play them. So "little Cap'n Pete", Henderson's grandson, will continue to hear grandpa keep the blues alive in Memphis.

Yes, the blues on radio will continue in Memphis, where life is hard, crime is rampant but pockets of sweetness lie and persist just beneath the surface.

Here's more info on Cap'n Pete's passing:
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The Blues Silence a DJ Who Knew Them Well

By JOHN M. HUBBELL
published August 3, 2008

MEMPHIS — Violence and heartbreak have long shaped the music that makes this city synonymous with the blues. But when the police were alerted to the slaying of Dee Henderson, a disc jockey whose soft voice piloted “Cap’n Pete’s Blues Cruise” on the city’s volunteer radio station, WEVL, for 26 years, the death seemed more like the lyrics of the Howlin’ Wolf and Muddy Waters songs he so loved than his friends and fans could stand.

The silencing of Mr. Henderson, 72, a man whose gentle demeanor was far removed from the raucous Beale Street nightclubs where legions of blues players got their breaks, came during an especially violent period for the city.

In March, the city endured its largest multiple killing in 15 years when six people — including two children — were found dead in a home. That and other lesser-noted killings have made Memphis’s violent crime rate the second highest in the nation, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

“Memphis has a nasty old crust on the outside,” said Steffen Schreiner, 49, a fellow D.J. at the radio station. “But if you dig underneath, there are these pearls, these diamonds — and WEVL is one of them.”
For the full story, see the New York Times.