Willie is a blues guitarist and vocalist. When he's sober enough to find his way there, he sits in with the house band at Flat Foot Susie's.

Willie is 6'2" and about a deuce and a quarter on the scales. His skin varies in color between olive and mocha brown, depending upon the season and how much outdoor weekend work he can get as a day laborer. He supplements his regular income this way to feed his addiction for expensive guitars.

Willie, however, did recently pawn one of his beloved Gibsons to purchase a Glock 22, which he carries on his belt in a black leather holster with no attempt made at concealment. It holds 15 rounds of .40 caliber S&W hollow-point death, which he is not at all squeamish about propelling toward anyone he considers a threat.

Willie's wife of 20 years, Odetta Mae, is a constant inspiration for his blues. She's intensely jealous of his activities away from home, even while she, herself, has been known to frequently entertain gentleman callers while Willie's at work.

Willie's much older than he'd like to acknowledge, but he's a contemporary of Jimi Hendrix and considers himself to be more Voodoo Child than the Voodoo Child himself.

Willie's father, Stosh, was the Polish immigrant son of a Warsaw sailing man. Stosh, after traveling to America as a 22-year-old stowaway on a cargo ship, married a coal-black Jamaican woman, Wanda, he'd impregnated during what began as a one-night stand and blossomed into a full-blown love affair.

Stosh moved his new family to Chicago's Polish district, where neither Stosh nor Wanda was accepted by their neighbors. Wanda, despondent, left Stosh and Willie alone, stealing away while Stosh and Willie slept one cold night, to Detroit with a Jamaican man of no means and great hunger for the needle. Wanda fed her new man's habit, and her own, by prostituting herself on the worst streets of her new city. Stosh nor Willie ever saw her again.

Stosh fell apart and climbed into a bottle of vodka, never to climb out. He held a series of parking lot attendant and convenience store night clerk jobs, but never held onto any of them for more than a few weeks. He moved from seedy apartment to a succession of even seedier ones. Willie suffered frequent beatings from the toughs in the neighborhood because of his half-breed blood. He suffered more frequent beatings from Stosh, who somehow blamed Willie and his dark skin for all of life's miseries.

Willie, unhappy in his Polish neighborhood, ran away at age 15 and lived on the streets of Chicago's tough south side, sleeping in alleys and abandoned factories. By day, he would earn money with any day labor he could scrounge and by night he'd roam the mean streets. Passing a juke joint one night, Willie was drawn in by the most raunchy, sexy music he'd ever heard. The owner gave him a job busing tables and the house band took him under their wings, teaching him how to play the blues. Willie bought a cheap electric and hasn't stopped wailing since.

Willie has worked for the past 25 years at a coal-fired power plant in Calumet. He commutes from the south side via rail daily and is covered with coal soot on his way home. Hence, the nickname "Smokestack."