Fillmore Slim brings his Players' Ball to Howlin Wolf, his first Fresno show since 2015

A week after he turns 92, the Bay Area blues veteran plays an early Sunday show in Fresno with a live band, a Q&A and a DJ.

The show starts at 5 on a Sunday afternoon, which suits the man on the bill. Fillmore Slim plays Howlin Wolf in Fresno on Sun, Nov 15, at 5pm, and tickets are $20 through Eventbrite. It's billed as "Players' Ball – Secret History of the Blues," and the event listing promises a live band, a Q&A session and a DJ, so this is more than a straight blues set.

It's also overdue. The last time Fillmore Slim played the Central Valley was July 24, 2015, at Fulton 55. He turns 92 on Nov 7, a week before the Fresno date: Wikipedia gives his birth date as Nov 7, 1934, and his given name as Clarence Sims.

He turns 92 on Nov 7, a week before he plays Fresno.

The Players' Ball title isn't just a gimmick. Fillmore Slim's nickname, the "Pope of Pimps," came from a players' ball in Los Angeles, and he still collects trophies as a guest of honor at those events around the country, as the East Bay Express has noted. He has never hidden that past. His records on Mountain Top Records tell that story across three discs, *The Game*, *The Legend of Fillmore Slim* and *The Blues Playa's Ball*. A show with a Q&A built in is a chance to hear some of those stories straight from him.

The room fits that too. The show is at Howlin Wolf, 920 East Olive Avenue, with doors at 4 p.m. An evening that starts at 5 also means you can catch the whole thing and still be home at a reasonable hour on a school night.

Fresno doesn't get many chances to hear a blues singer of his generation in person, and it has been more than eleven years since this one came through. If you know the records, go hear the stories behind them. If you don't, a Sunday afternoon with a 92-year-old bluesman who has lived the whole story is a good place to start.

Sources: Eventbrite: Fillmore Slim – Players' Ball – Secret History of the Blues (Howlin Wolf, Fresno) (eventbrite.com); Wikipedia: Fillmore Slim (en.wikipedia.org); East Bay Express: Fillmore Slim (eastbayexpress.com); STLBlues Reviews: Fillmore Slim (stlblues.net); Amazon: Fillmore Slim – The Blues Playa's Ball (amazon.com)