The first time he saw Howlin' Wolf perform, he said to himself "This is where the soul of man never dies." He recorded Jackie Brenston and the Kings of Rhythm's "Rocket 88", the first rock 'n' roll recording ever made (featuring, by the way, a very young Ike Turner on guitar.) On that recording, incidentally, he jury-rigged a fix for Turner's broken amp and made it sound unlike any electric guitar on record up till then. He tried to solve the Cuban Missile Crisis by calling Havana and trying (unsuccessfully) to get Castro on the phone. He launched the careers of Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, and not incidentally a young truck driver from Tupelo who wanted to make a record for his mother.

We've lost one of the people that made rock 'n' roll into the powerful force that it is today.

And I see from Czeltic Girl that the telephone lady is gone as well. RIP.