Johnny Winter slowly walked onstage, joining his band as they warmed the crowd up. He looked like a Texas blues specter, dressed in black, his cowboy hat shadowing his eyes, his face framed by long, white hair, his arms covered with fade...

After more than 40 years on the road and a career colored by both hard knocks and critical accolades, Johnny Winter is considered a vintage blues artist—one short step away from the status of personal idols such as Muddy Waters and John Lee Hooker. Winter, along with his brother, fellow musician Edgar Winter . . .

Thursday, Aug. 14, Love in October w/ Luminol @ Points East Pub, 10 p.m. Though Minneapolis’ Love in October prefers to shroud their album covers and Web site in images from the early 20th century, their take on bittersweet, Saturday-afternoon alt-rock is distinctly modern.

One would think that a 64-year-old blues musician who performs sitting down due to ongoing recovery from a hip broken in 2000 wouldn't be hard to track down. But it took several weeks and numerous trans-Atlantic phone calls before Johnny Winter finally surfaced in a club in a suburb of Rome, Italy. Winter and his three-piece backup band were on the last leg of a southern European tour, having just finished a late-night set performed before what the Albino blues guitarist thought was a fairly reserved crowd . . .