Professor Webster works in the music department at Leland University. He's an Eddie Dupre fan who successfully convinces Dupre to perform in the blues show Webster is putting on at the High Notes Cafe. When Webster and Dupre meet in person just before the show, Webster tells Dupre that "Pawn Shop Blues" has overtones of the Aeolian cadences in Mahler's "Das Lied von der Erde," that Dupre is the absolute epitome of the American spirit, and that his music is as important to American culture as Huckleberry Finn. Dupre is annoyed by the attention.