More Blues, Jazz and Near Blues from Barcelona

A week or so ago I told about blues in Madrid.  Yesterday, when we climbed up to Parque Guell in Barcelona we found someone named Robert playing excellent slide guitar just below the peak. 

I wish I could tell you his name-- just looked at the cd's he was selling, and it said "Robert Live at..." (add name of club.  But he played some very good blues on that old resonator.

My bet was that street performers in Barcelona have to pass some sort of licensing exam. The ones we saw were all great.  One group outside the Cathedral played a sort of gypsy-tinged, new agey jazz.  You can see people were digging into their pockets.  They were really good.

Not far away was a brass band playing traditional Catalonian music.  Maybe my video will work here.  Unfortunately, it's reallllly short.

I could go on and on.  On the steps of the other cathedral (what city has two?!) there was a great choir.  Then behind that, a kids performance, with baby drummers, baby clarinetists, and a rapper.  All in all a great city.  But of course, you come here to see THIS guy!

Ah-- but he wasn't there.  That was a year ago.  In St. Louis.

Chuck y Pablo

Our last day in Barcelona and we went to the Picasso Museum.  The last time I was there I was 19, and my Chuck Berry problem was still in it's original full flower.  That was 36 years ago.  The hotel I shared with my brother Danny cost $2.  But in those days I wouldn't have made the connections I made today.  As I walked through the museum I saw that the series of paintings Picasso did on Las Meninas was made in 1957.  Pablo was already a superstar.  Chuck was getting there.  And I saw that a couple were painted in late August, 1957.  This one, on the 27th.

I knew that date!  When Pable was painting, Chuck was probably still enjoying the pleasure of having done a show in Sacramento with his idol Louis Jordan.  Heck, given the time difference, his ears were probably still ringing.

Picasso kept working on the series, and Chuck kept touring.  Picasso's life looked easier.  He was living in Cannes with a balconey overlooking the Mediterranean.  In October he was painting red versions of Las Meninas. 

What Pablo was doing was similar to what someone like Chuck did when he covered "Time Was" three or four times (probably the same year!)  Picasso was playing with a famous painting by Velasquez-- one we saw for the first time in Madrid a few days and several lifetimes ago.  In the painting, a little princess stares at the viewer while people paint her, and fuss over her, and enter the room to gaze upon her.  Picasso painted a dozen different riffs on it, often several in a day.  Here's the original.

Chuck, meanwhile, had joined up with the Fats Domino tour and by the time Picasso was seeing red, Chuck was back in Sacramento for what might have been the first of so many birthday shows.  The little town never had it so  good.

 

I Want to Be Your Driver The Blues Project

I love finding evidence that Chuck Berry remained an influence after his "golden decade" had more or less passed.  If memory serves, my brother Stevo (who introduced me to Chuck) was a fan of The Blues Project. 

He Hit a High Fly into the Stands. Three Times!

Hey-- you could hear the pop across the Atlantic.

Of course, regular readers know that he was inspired by another 'brown-eyed handsome man's' visit to the Pujols foundation a few weeks ago. 

Or maybe by the stirring National Anthem a few weeks ago.

Everywhere

The thing that interests me is that, last night, sitting in a tiny place in Madrid, Spain, talking to my wife, that riff starts.  It's on the jukebox or soundtrack.  It isn't Chuck Berry-- it's someone doing Chuck Berry.  But it's there, 4216 miles and 55 years from when he first recorded it.  (I know he's not the first to play it-- but he's the first to play it that way, and it's his.)  Pretty cool.

Wine, Beer, Salty Meat, and Blues

So I'm in Madrid with my wife, and we have vague plans to attend a concert of Flamenco and Baroque music tonight, but we're too late.  So we spend the evening getting wine and beer at tapas places along the Calle de la Cava Baja and in the Plaza de Santa Anna. This is, by itself, a good time.  You order a drink. They give you food.  You order another bit of food and you might get lucky again.  We stopped at three places and got a lifetime supply of delicious sodium and fat in the form of olives, cured meats, cold soup, cured meats, and meatballs.  Then on the way home we see "Blues" at a nice looking bar.  We drop off our shopping at the apartment and head back down the street to the Cafe Jazz Populart on Calle de la Huertas where we get a small beer and wine and stand at the bar for a while.  The star tonight is an American drummer, Rico McClarrin.  When we arrive he's asking if anyone's seen the movie Cadillac Records.  Since this is a Chuck Berry blog you know my hand is waving.  "Remember the big guy?" he asks.  "That's Howlin' Wolf."  Then they start into the Wolf/Wille Dixon song "I Ain't Superstitious."  We quickly realize that we have stumbled into something good here.  If you read this blog you may remember that I once saw Memphis Slim and Booker T. Laury in Paris.  (Read about it HERE.)  Tonight we didn't hear legends, but we heard good music, with Marcos Coll on harmonica, Carlos Delelane on bass, and __ o guitar.  These guys are good. (Here they are a month ago at a different club in Madrid.)

As they play in walks a man with dreadlocks and a trumpet case.  McClarrin yells out "Here's arranger and trumpeter Barney Fields."  (If Google has served me properly Mr. Fields is a co-owner of Highnote Records.  (See here.)  At any rate, the man can play.  A few minutes later Fields is on stage leading the band through "Further on Down the Road."

I said that Mr. McClarrin was starring-- but Marcus Coll was also wailing. 

What can I say?  Pretty nice night.  And a bit unexpected.  

Oh Say Can You See...

Jimi Follows Chuck, Chuck Follows Jimi

Gotta find the video!

More From The Bootlegger

Daryl Davis on Chuck's guitar...



This clip, which features Ingrid on vocals and Karen and friends on stage, shows why going to Blueberry Hill can be a fun time...



And watch Daryl end it Chuck Berry style with that left leg lift!



Cool that Johnny Rivers, who made Memphis, Tennessee so famous, was there to celebrate.

It Ain't Long, but...

Doug took it from the front row...

Help Me Find The Party!

I first learned Chuck Berry through The Beatles and Johnny Rivers.  The Beatles didn't show up at the Blueberry Hill birthday show, but Johnny Rivers did.  That's him in the middle.  And that's Daryl Davis  filling in on this number on keyboards.  Thanks to Robert Lohr for the the shot, which I swiped from Facebook.

Chuck (and Jimmy) Had to Miss It...

... but for his birthday we can all be Cardinals fans.  (What?  You think I'll ever root for the Rangers?)

It Happens Again Tonight! (Please don't check the math.)

Tonight, Chuck plays again at Blueberry Hill, and a few days later, at a Casino across the river.  How often has this happened?  

There’s no authoritative or complete listing of the shows he has performed in his 60 years as a professional-- at least not in public.  Morten Reff lists as many of the international shows as he could find and it is a bigger number than I care to count—well over 500.  But I can make some reasonable (and I think reasonably conservative) estimates.  Let’s assume that from 1955 until 1961 he did an average of 200 shows a year.  That makes 1200.  Let’s say that from 1963 until 1971 he worked a little harder—say 225 a year.  That’s another 1800.  Then comes his “Ding a Ling” and even more work—let’s say 750 shows over three years.  We’re up to 3750.  Then let it cruise at 150 shows a year for the next 10 years.  That’s probably conservative, but it’s now 1986, and we’re at 5250 shows.  But he’s only 60 and still going strong.  Let’s assume 100 shows a year until he turns 70, 75 a year until 75, 50 a year till he turns 80, and then slow him down to something like 25 shows a year when he enters his 80s.  By my reasonably well educated (and carefully manipulated) fantasy count we’re at 7000 shows and counting.

It’s guesswork on my part, but you get the idea.  The man worked.  This isn’t some superstar who plays golf 300 days a year and then regroups for a tour every ten years to refill the coffers.  If there’s nothing else you take from this reading, take this: the man worked, and still does. 

So tonight, if you're one of the lucky 350, it's number 7001.  


Or thereabouts!


Have fun.  And Happy Birthday Mr. Berry!

Daryl Davis to Direct Centrum Blues Workshop

Here's a little post in the Seattle Times.  You can find my original post about seeing Daryl and friends at the spectacular festival that ends the workshop HERE.

Looked at my Watch, it was Kinda Scary

The place he sang his "Ding-a-Ling" is now the library!

Here's the story from Fred Rothwell, author of Long Distance Information: Chuck Berry's Recorded Legacy.  (A book you ought to get if you're a Chuck Berry fan.)

I wanted to find the exact address of the Locarno Ballroom in Coventry and took advantage of a business trip to visit the city to check out the local archived papers in the central public library.  After about two hours I'd read every contemporay report of the concert (which wasn't a lot because the Ding A Ling phenomena was still in the future) but still didn't know the address of the venue. In frustration I asked the female librarian, who was of similar age to me and therefore might know, where was the Locarno Ballroom. 'You're standing in it' she said. I gazed around me in wonderment and saw the whole thing, the dance floor and the balcony, all that was missing was the mirror ball hanging from the ceiling. The ballroom had been converted into the library later and I'd sat for two hours searching for the location I was actually sitting in!

I always envision places and people I've never seen.  I always imagined the Coventry show happening in some giant barn of a place with thousands and thousands of people, but it was probably hundreds and hundreds in a big dance hall.  Here are some pictures and a Link.

  

Chuck Berry Does a Benefit at Lindenwood University

Thanks to Doug for this one.  (The date is really 10-3-11; otherwise I slept longer than I thought.)



Set list is below.  Tickets were $20.  Student ticket's were $5!  All to benefit the Chuck Berry scholarship fund.  (The school has a branch in Wentzville!)  http://www.lindenwood.edu/

Happy Birthday!

The song is called "Ingo."  I always figured it was written for his daughter Ingrid, who had a birthday recently.

And They Said It Didn't Exist

A set list for a Chuck Berry show!  (Now I know Bigfoot and UFO's are real!)

This is courtesy Bob Lohr on facebook.  I experience heart palpitations seeing Havana Moon on the list, but evidently it didn't get played.  Ah well.  C'est la vie, I say.

R-E-S-P-E-C-T : Aretha and Chuck

Aretha was in St. Louis and had some nice words for our man.  Read about it HERE.

Seeley and Baldori at Rock in Rio

If you read this blog you know that my favorite latter day Chuck Berry album was "Back Home," which featured the harmonica of Robert Baldori.  (Baldori's group The Woolies backed Berry in innumerable concert appearances and on the record "San Francisco Dues.")  Here he is with Bob Seeley at the Rock in Rio festival.



You can read Baldori's interview with Go Head On! HERE.

Ronny Elliott and a Very Famous Man (some things are meant to be.)

If you read this blog a lot you've probably bumped into Mr. Elliott, who described his early days backing Chuck Berry and whose friend Ed Brown tells the best Chuck Berry story you'll ever hear (you can find it on this blog.)  Well, Ronny Elliott met Chuck, and even got invited to Berry Park.  But he also met this guy.  And has a very good story to tell about it (he's in Ed Brown territory) right here.

(By the way-- it's not Ghadaffi.)

Report of the Chuck Berry Astronomical Society Committee on Historical Investigation and Minutiae

Members present: Peter K. and Peter O.
Question raised: Was he observing, or simply posing?
Working Hypothesis: Actual Astronomical Observations.
Evidence: Shadows, Aperture, Apparent Age, Apparel.

The Committee observed that all shadows are directly behind the subject.  This would indicate that his telescope is pointing directly at the Sun.  Committee also observed that aperture of scope appears to have been reduced significantly at front end.  This would indicate use of antique solar filter.  Use of filter also supported by current absence of blindness in left eye of subject.  Mr. K. presented data showing two annular solar eclipses visible from State of Missouri during subject's adolescence: April 19, 1939 and April 7, 1940, each of which seems consistent with subject's apparent age in photograph prior to major growth spurt.  Subject's identity confirmed by shoes, which are substantially similar to shoes in painting below (by el padre de Enrique).  Subject's other clothing appears consistent with spring weather conditions.  Subject is located on roof of building-- a perfect location for solar observations.  Additional spooky anecdotal evidence: Eclipse Restaurant's location directly between Pageant and Blueberry Hill.

Conclusion: Evidence indicates that Mr. Berry was an amateur astronomer, making observations of a partial solar eclipse in the spring of 1939 or 1940.  Evidence also indicates that both the photograph, and the painting, are quite wonderful.

Michael Lydon in the New York Subway:La Vie!

One of my favorite writers on the music and significance of Chuck Berry is Michael Lydon, who once published a great piece on Chuck in Ramparts Magazine, and who also wrote the liner notes to the album Back Home.  (Mr. Lydon's Ramparts piece was reprinted in his excellent book Rock Folk, which you can find easily on line, and which you'll enjoy for its equally good essays on folks like the Rolling Stones and B. B. King.)    Lydon gave me two lines I will never forget.  The first was a description of Chuck's guitar style on Back home.  Lydon wrote: "his guitar, when not ringing like a bell, has the bitingly fine quality of etched steel."  It can't be said better.  The other line I'll never forget is one that Chuck uttered when escorting Lydon back to his car after he refused an interview at Berry Park.  Says Chuck, "So, standing in the sun ain't my shot."  And then he walks away.  Lydon went on to write a great essay about the man-- but you can't imagine how many times I've tried that line out for myself.  "Standing in the sun ain't my shot."  I'm not sure what my shot is.  It ain't standing in the sun.  But the words don't fit me at all, and I repeat them with a bizarre fascination, the way you might stare at photos of a crime scene.

Anyway, Michael and I have become imaginary friends.  He read my efforts to create a book of my own, and sent me one of his.  And then this-- an ancient documentary that just resurfaced showing Michael playing guitar and singing in the streets of the New York subway in 1991.  You'll note that the song owes more to Edith Piaf than Pierre and the Mademoiselle.  But check out the guitar!

The Boogie Ramblers Play Let it Rock!

When You Google Chuck Berry...

... the stuff you find!

The Stuff You Find...

...when you google Chuck Berry

Still a Pioneer! (More from San Bernadino)

This is interesting-- after he hands off his guitar he tells the crowd that he's got an ear problem that makes it difficult to hear some of the keys.  I wrote some time ago about the book Musicophelia, by Oliver Sacks, which talks about this-- a common problem for musicians with longevity.  When your hearing goes (mine would be gone forever after one day in front of Chuck's Dual Showman) pitch can go, too.  A properly tuned instrument can sound out of tune.  Oliver Sacks wrote about a composer who thought his piano was out of tune-- but it wasn't.  It's an incredibly tough thing to deal with for a musician-- but Chuck seems to be doing it.  Lately his guitar playing is sounding better than it has for several years.  I think they're learning to adjust the sound so that it works.  He's been a pioneer all his life, and, as his friend Daryl Davis once told me, he's being a pioneer in his old age, laying down the law about how to play when you're 85 years old!  Go, Chuck go!  (Obrigada Ida May.)

John Davidson Interviews Chuck Berry

My First Chuck Berry Experience

(Excerpted from a book I hope to publish some day.  E-mail me and I'll send it to you!)


One day I’m listening to the beginning of The Mike Douglas Show, a day time talk show and after school favorite of mine.  I like Mike, who seems genuinely nice, and who takes time to talk to the musicians on his show.  I first saw B. B. King talk about his guitar Lucille on the Mike Douglas show.  And this day, I see Chuck Berry for the first time.


It is October 22, 1970.  


(I learn the date 40 years later from a reference book called “The Chuck Berry International Directory” by a Norwegian named Morten Reff, a man, by all evidence, even more obsessed with Chuck Berry than I am.)


And because of the miracle of YouTube, I’ve watched the performance again.


Mike Douglas sits with Cher and Sonny.  He says: “In the rock era of the fifties he was an innovator, with tunes like “Maybellene,” “Rock and Roll Music” and “Johnny B. Goode.  Here is Mr. Chuck Berry!”  Sonny and Cher applaud without enthusiasm.  


Chuck is standing on a series of risers that look like giant building blocks about four feet tall and three feet square.  He’s crowded by the mike stand.  One misstep and he’s an innovator with a limp. 


He’s wearing yellow pegged slacks that tighten about three inches above his shoes and show skinny ankles.  He’s got the purple paisley shirt I’ll see in hundreds of pictures and at a couple of performances over the next 20 years or so.  His upturned pencil mustache is mimicking Salvador Dali or Chaplin’s Monsieur Verdoux.  He has giant sideburns and slicked back hair.  He has the high cheek bones I envisioned, and he might have freckles, but the pompadour is not blond.  


The guitar intro is flawless.  When he starts to sing he recoils from the volume, but someone adjusts it and he settles into a grim, nearly joyless performance of “Johnny B. Goode.”  No wonder I wasn’t overly impressed.  The band plays a lifeless arrangement with bass and drums that are too neat and horns that are dorky.  (A comment posted on YouTube says : “Man, that band is really dragging Chuck down. That bass player flat sucks!”) During the instrumental break Chuck has to climb down from the riser without tripping over his guitar cord and killing himself, all the while picking a complicated solo.  You can see his relief when he finally gets to the stage where he can dance and do his “scoot.”  With his shorty short pants he looks a bit like what Michael Jackson will look like 10 or 11 years later at the Motown 25^th anniversary show except that he’s totally uncool.


I remember this much distinctly: I watch, interested, but unchanged.  


Why I remember that show I’m not sure.  The actual obsession wouldn’t hit until I saw him live, four months later.  It is a testament to whatever Stevo told me about the man, and how he told me, that I remember a performance that otherwise didn’t do it for me.  Stevo’s words were like an injection of live virus for which I had no antibodies—cells that would multiply and become a chronic disorder.


And here it is.

Write up of San Bernardino Show

Itsy-bitsy review of our man in San Berdoo.