Hubert Sumlin, There At The Creation (A Creator Himself) AND YOU CAN SEE HIM LIVE!

Legendary Blues Guitarist Hubert Sumlin will be at B.B. King's in New York City on May 13.  Tickets are just $32 in advance.  $32!  If you're nearby, go!

Sumlin was the object of a turf war between Howlin' Wolf and Muddy Waters.  Wolf won.  He also played on "Deep Feeling," one of Chuck Berry's few truly killer blues pieces.

Here he is passing on a guitar lesson on "Smokestack Lightning."


Here he's playing it with Wolf himself.  Willie Dixon's on bass:



That version was a little too gentle.  Here's the original 45:

B.B. and C.B. (Three B's in a Pod)

I bought B.B. King’s autobiography years ago, skimmed it, dipping here and there, but never read it until last fall, after visiting Indianola, Mississippi during my 24 hour visit to the Mississippi Delta. At the time I didn’t know much about Indianola except for the name, which I recognized without knowing why. And I wound up stopping there largely to ask directions to Yazoo City. I was driving without much of a map, and the highways and byways of the Mississippi Delta can be confusing to a newcomer. So I stop at a little restaurant in what appears to be a restored cotton gin mill. It is shiny and bright. The menu is, too. I order a Chicken Philly sandwich and an iced tea. There’s a stage off to one side with amplifiers and a couple of guitars hanging from the wall. There are pictures and posters of B. B. King everywhere. One says “Welcome Home B. B.!” (I assume at the time it might be a rare occurrence for B. B. King to show up in Indianola.) Since my waitress seems to be sweet 16 and shy I get up to ask directions of the bar tender.

I learned (over the course of 24 hours) that in Mississippi a question like that can lead to a lot of conversation. I’m asked where I’m from, why I’m here, and how I like Mississippi. When I explain that I have always liked the blues, new shoots of conversation open. The men at another table must have overheard. They begin offering tips and directions through the bar tender. “They say there’s a blues heritage marker down the road in such and such a village. Turn left after the part store and follow the signs.” We talk for a while, and then I’m off, towards Yazoo City, and Jackson, and home, where, a few days later, I started reading B. B. King’s book in earnest.

Unlike Chuck Berry’s Autobiography, this one is ghost written—but the ghost-- David Ritz-- has credentials. He wrote the Marvin Gaye hit “Sexual Healing.” That’s good enough for me.  And he has helped write some other great books.  He co-wrote Ray Charles' autobiography, too.

And every word of the book seems clearly to be in B. B. King’s voice.

I first saw B. B. King at the Sacramento State Fair. It was probably 1969. They had an area for “youth” and King played an outdoor show there. It was, I now understand, towards the beginning of his "crossover" to general acceptance.  I was mesmerized. I’m relatively certain I saw King before Berry, although I haven’t managed to find dates for either concert. I’ve seen King and his bands a number of times since, at a Lake Tahoe lounge, a couple of Seattle night clubs, and at the Seattle Opera House.

(King's website is easy to find: http://www.bbking.com/)

For me it’s impossible not to compare Berry’s book and this one.  Heck, King even quotes a line from Berry, ending one chapter with the line "Long distance information, give me Memphis, Tennessee."

They are about the same age. If King seems more “mature,” maybe it’s because he was born a year earlier, in 1925—but more likely it’s because Chuck really is a rock and roller. Because they’re the same age they share some of the same idols—notably T-Bone Walker, Charlie Christian and Louis Jordan.  Both admire Lonnie Johnson, Count Basie, Nat Cole and others. They even started learning from the same book of guitar chords by Nick Mannaloft. (These stories are so parallel that Berry talks about it on page 42 of his book, and King on page 44!)

Both held day jobs as they began achieving some success in music. Berry worked as a carpenter and studied hair dressing. King picked cotton in the morning before his radio show, and drove tractors on a plantation. Both worked with or near Ike Turner. (That man got around!)

Chuck (as his songs would imply) had more cars in his early years. He talks about driving the girls in high school. 

King drove his dates to town on a tractor!

Berry chose at a certain point to dispense with a band and tour as a solo. King was forced by promoters to go solo after his first big hit song and fought hard to get back to travelling with a regular band.  (Happy to say that Berry also travels with his own again these days.)

King was on the “losing” side of the battle between Rock and Roll and Blues. He laments that his audience got older and older, and that he could never have the mega hits of Berry, Elvis and Little Richard. He even remembers getting booed by crowd that was waiting for Sam Cooke to perform. (Cooke was from Clarksdale, Mississippi—an hour or so from Indianola.) It seems impossible-- but not surprisingly he won them over.

Then again, he remembers receiving acclaim from jazz greats like Miles Davis and Dizzy Gillispie, while Chuck remembers feeling dissed by Chess jazz producer/photographer Esmond Edwards. (http://ctsimages.com/edwards.htm)  (Both King and Berry share a certain degree of sensitivity about their music. King knows the blues is an art form and resents when critics or promoters debase it; Berry often laments that his music wasn’t as blue as Muddy Waters, or as refined as Nat Cole.)

Both were extremely ambitious and hard working. They wanted it.  They got it, despite the odds.

Both had trouble with the IRS. King managed to escape prison; Berry didn’t. Both played shows in prison, though it seems to be a regular thing for King, and a personal thing for Berry.

Both spend more time discussing their sex lives than some of us want—but then again, it probably sells books.  And both had late stage circumcisions! Yikes!  I turned those pages quickly.

Both are described by themselves or others as quiet off stage-- maybe even loners.  On stage not at all.

Both had careers that were revived by British rock and rollers and U.S. hippies. Both had a giant super hit in the early 1970s (King had the thrilling “The Thrill is Gone” and Berry, [thrill having absolutely departed] unfortunately had the novelty “My Ding-a-Ling.”)

They both wound up playing Gibson semi-hollow bodies.  Berry needs to have one named after him. 

It’s interesting that two men with so much in common were ultimately so different.

I’ve seen them both a lot of times.

I last saw King about five years ago. He played at the Opera House in Seattle and (although he talked a lot more than in the old days, and played sitting down), he put on a polished performance consistent with what I’ve seen over the years ever since I first saw him in 1969 or 1970. He says in his book that he sees himself as a “rhythm and blues” performer, and takes pride in the power of his backup band. It shows. He has active management and says he likes being told what to do. Berry doesn't seem to like being told what to do.  He manages his business himself, with a bit of help.  His performances are more ragged and rebellious, pure rock and roll that, when I last saw him at Blueberry Hill, was boiled down to a hard core, garage type sound that was almost punk despite some pretty elegant backup. That night, at least, the guitar virtuosity was gone, but the power of the music, the voice and the charisma were definitely still there.

King keeps making good records. I've liked his last two a great deal-- both simple, straight forward blues records.  Berry seems to have kept recording, too, but he’s hiding it all from us for now.  I wish he'd put it out there-- but alas, that stubborn streak of his might keep us waiting a while.

Amazingly, both men are still going strong at 82 or 83, performing all over the world, taking their music out there the only way they really can, with live performance. In fact, Chuck Berry will play at B. B. King's New York club this June 25!  (http://www.bbkingblues.com/schedule/index.shtml)

We owe both a huge amount of thanks and respect.

B. B. King in the former Zaire

This is about the right time-- maybe 4 or 5 years later, at the Rumble...

Longevity

(Picture by "wonderham."  Thanks!  See link below.)

It just occurred to me that the first two blues acts I ever saw, (and the first two concerts that really affected me and changed my life), were by young men, or young middle aged men, who are still playing today, and who can still outplay the younguns.

B.B. and Chuck.

I once wrote about all their similarities.  (I'll repost it nearby.)  But what a privilege for me, and what a coincidence that the two continue to thrive.

I'm sure I saw B. B. King first.  It was at Cal-Expo, the California State Fair, then new.  There was a momentary dream to make it a year-round rival to Disneyland, with monorail, and futuristic edifices.  Chuck Berry described his own dream for Berry Park in "Hail! Hail!"  He said something like, "I wanted it to be like Six Flags.  Ah-- turned out to be one flag."  That's how it was for Cal-Expo, too.  It turned out to be just a new location for the same old State Fair, with a counties exhibit, and a midway, and fireworks at the end of the night.  But for one summer, it was magic-- six flags, and B.B., too.

I don't know how I got there.  I had to be about 13 or 14.  But I remember standing in the crowd, mesmerized.  I was an idiot child from the Sacramento suburbs, and some part of me thought there might be something threatening or uncomfortable about a B. B. King blues show, (he probably felt the same about a crowd of Sacramento suburban teenagers,) but what I found was the magic of B. B. King.  (I'm sad to say that what I remember best from that night was the schtick-- where B. B. let his wrist go limp imitating a woman.  But I heard the music, too.)  Since then I've seen him at least four more times in venues ranging from bars to an arena and an opera house, and I've never been remotely disappointed.

And then came Chuck Berry, in a performance at the Sacramento Memorial Auditorium that I've written about elsewhere.  Most of the show was his rock and roll hits, but when we walked into the near empty room he was playing the blues for sure, alone at the mike with a red guitar, blue jeans, and an orange shirt.  We bought our tickets at the door and sat six or sever rows from center stage.  I'll never forget it.

The other day, in Sacramento for family business, I parked and walked around that beautiful old brick building, trying to peek in and remember.  Like so many spots around the country, it's a place full of history and memory, magic and loss.  I couldn't see much, but I felt a lot.

I wondered how Chuck Berry got into the building that night, or on the nights he played there with Louis Jordan or the big rock and roll shows.  I wondered where Stevo sat with Bo Diddley, or where Danny found the crowd chanting Stevo's name. 

I remembered seeing Albert King and Freddie King in the same building, warm up acts for lesser acts that I've forgotten.

And tonight?  Just amazed that those first two geniuses that I got to see alive on stage endure, still play, and still outplay the younguns. 

83 years old!

Dang!


(I borrowed the picture from chuckberry.com.  Thank you wonderham.  Here's the post.  http://www.chuckberry.com/messageboard/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=2744&p=5975&hilit=wonderham#p5975

Don't the Beat Overcome You...

I don’t have flying dreams. But at least three or four times that I remember, I’ve dreamed that I found a room with amplifiers and musicians and a drum set just sitting there, and I sit down…

Then I wake up.

I don’t actually recall playing the drums in these dreams, but I always approach the set with the confidence that I’ll be able to at least play a beat.

I used to play drums when I was teenager. I was a simple 'boom-chuck" drummer back when people surrounded themselves with dozens of tom toms and played ridiculous solos.  (I was born under a bad time.)  And I played my last beats about 36 years ago. But I kept the drums—always hoping there’d come a time when I could pound them again without bothering the neighbors.

I’ve even been working on a soundproof room in the basement. But I’m even less of a builder than musician, so it’s taking a while.  (Maybe by the time I get Social Security.)

But yesterday the dream came true.

I was with a group of amateur musicians. One was semi-pro. We’d rented a room with three amps and a drum set. A drummer came, but he was having trouble keeping the beat.

So when he left the room, I couldn’t resist.

There was a bass player and a guitarist. I sat down at the drums—and for the first time all afternoon we had a little vibe going. I couldn’t do much, but I could keep time, work the pedals, and smack the snare two or three times every measure.

I loved it.

Today I spent some time polishing my old drums, which have been in our basement soaking up dust and grime for decades.  It got me thinking, and I looked the set up on line.

Turns out, it’s vintage.

It’s a set called Ludwig “Club Date.”  The small tom tom was manufactured three weeks before my 11th birthday.  I got them when I was 16 or 17 for $150.

The cheapest set they sold, painted black—but someone was selling the bass drum alone for $275 on e-bay.

I’d never sell mine—but it’s nice to know that the drums have appreciated.

Now I got to make them feel that way.

We’re going to rent the room again, and I’m going to put down the guitar for a while and try to drum.

He Nails It

I shouldn't be surprised.

No Particular Place To Go!

I'd never seen this one!

LL, JJ, BB, DD and RL

Fans of Superman will remember that many of the important people in the hero's life had LL names, like Lois Lane, Lex Luther, and Lafayette Leake. 

Wait!  Leake was a Chess piano player, who backed up Chuck Berry on lots of the big hits-- "Rock and Roll Music," "Sweet Little Sixteen," Johnny B. Goode," and, of course, "Tulane!"  I think Leake is also featured in the Montreux session that produced one of the best moments in Chuck Berry film history-- Chuck Berry backing T-Bone Walker on "Every Day I Have the Blues."

Of course, not all the Chuck Berry piano players had two Ls in their names.  Take Johnnie Johnson, for example, or Bob Baldori, or Daryl Davis or ... Dang!  Except for Robert Lohr, four of Chuck Berry's five long-standing piano players have double initials!

But that's nothing.  After all, 40% of them are lawyers.

Robert Lohr-- the exception that proves the rule.

Big Joe Williams and Chuck Berry, Luthiers

When I was at the Delta Blues Museum in Clarksdale I saw Big Joe Williams' nine string guitar-- a do-it-himself sculptural and musical masterpiece.  Chuck Berry's ES355 is beginning to take on a bit of the same luster, with it's scratches and duct tape, electrical tape and bits of hardware screwed on.  You know he did it himself, too.  After all, he started out as a carpenter.

Chuck and Ludvig, BFF

It was an amazing act of precognition (is that a word?) for Chuck Berry to tell Beethoven to "roll over."

It was the tenth song he ever recorded-- about two years into the odyssey that we call rock and roll, and less than a year into Berry's own public life. And there he was, telling one of the most important composers of all time to get lost.

He wasn't the first young person to get boastful. But he sure pulled it off.

The United States has produced a number of composers who equal the classical masters. Duke Ellington, for sure, and Thelonious Monk. But even they didn't have the overall cultural clout of Chuck Berry.

His influence is just everywhere.

He's not a composer, and never pretended to be. But he's a cultural giant up there for eternity with the biggest and best ever.

Riding Along In The Automobile (Leonard Chess Lights Up)

"[W]e were riding along in the car and all of a sudden we heard Chuck Berry’s first record – 'Maybellene' on WIND – the pure white station and my Dad just lit up. My Dad always used to say that if Chuck Berry was white he’d have been bigger than Elvis."  Marshall Chess, speaking to Simon Cooper and clashmusic.com.  You can find the full interview by clicking the link here.  (Photo taken from the same website.)

I found the clashmusic interview because I was looking for a photo to go with this very recent Reuters interview.

Ann Arbor Michigan-- Almost Live!

Here's a great shot of Chuck Berry and "Boogie" Bob Baldori in Ann Arbor, Michigan in 1981 or 1982.  The shot comes from Baldori's website, http://www.boog.com/.  Baldori and his band The Woolies backed Chuck Berry throughout the 1970s and beyond, and also on the album San Francisco Dues.  (Baldori also played harmonica on the Back Home sessions.) 

Recently a sound recording of the Ann Arbor show turned up on youtube, and it's a beauty.  You can hear it below.



Here's another picture from Baldori's site.  Looks to me like the color photos on the youtube are from the same show.  Pretty cool. 

Like Nobody's Business

One of my favorite singers:




Otis Spann was on a couple Chuck Berry records, and a LOT of MuddyWaters records, and his own, too!



Gladys, Chaka, Etta, and B.B.




She's 13 or 14.

Blessed

This amazing picture of Chuck Berry serenading a woman before leaving the April 2010 Blueberry Hill show was taken by fan Rob Couder.  Dang! 

(If you're a fan of the man, you need to get to St. Louis.)

Mindin' Stefano's Business

In a comment on my posting about family and privacy, Stefano, from London, mentioned the Chuck Berry song "It's My Own Business." 

Here's a link Dave Edmunds doing it.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ox1aHQsf7CA

Here's a group called the Boogie Ramblers doing an energetic version.  (Stefano, if this is their facebook link, sono tutti italiani!)



And here are the lyrics:

I am tired of you telling me what I ought to do
Stickin' your nose in my business and it don't concern you
It's my own business.  It's my own business.
Seems like the ones that want to tell you
They don't ever know as much as you

If I go buy a Cadillac convertible coupe
And all I got at home to eat is just onion soup
It's my own business.  It's my own business.
If I would rather ride around
In my own Cadillac convertible coupe


If I's a dignitary on Capitol Hill
And up and married me a waitress in a hot dog grill
It's my own business, it's my own business
Because I am not a juvenile
And I can go out at my own free will

After workin' on my job and then drawin' my pay
If I want to go out and have a ball and throw it all away
It's my own business, it's my own business
'Cause I don't wait until tomorrow
To do something I could do today

He might have added that if he was a rock star and wanted to give a girl a job at his club, etc.  But the song comes from a long line of American Blues and Country songs.  Here's the wikipedia on "Ain't Nobody's Business if I Do," a song from the 1920s.  And here's the great Freddie King playing it:



(Yes, Freddie, I can feel it!)

Hank Williams wrote a good version, too.  This is a terrible video, but a great song, so who cares.

Check Out Reason Number 9

Not the Beatles' song.  Rolling Stone, April 29, 2010, p. 62.  (Gonna be harder to get tickets.)

Maybe I'll Go!

Here's the LINK.

"Just him and his guitar"

There's a scene in "Chuck Berry: Hail! Hail! Rock and Roll when Keith Richards and Chuck Berry are rehearsing "Carol!" Keith wants to play lead. Chuck wants to play lead. And Keith says something like: "You don't want to play lead and sing at the same time, do you?"

"Well I did it," says Chuck.

And how. This clip shows him in England at his peak of virtuosity in the early 1970s-- with rhythm, lead and singing all intertwined. The best moments come when the band gets quiet and it's "just him and his guitar." ("Got it and Gone").

When people talk or write about Chuck Berry doing short uninspired shows with bad pickup bands I know I've been lucky. At South Lake Tahoe and in Monterey, California I saw him like this, playing inspired music with great pickup bands. (I saw some less inspired shows, too; but he always pulled it out in the end.)

Another thing about this song: it's proof that you never see Chuck Berry play a Chuck Berry song the same way twice. He's like Bob Dylan in that respect. The songs are alive. They only exist while he's playing them. There aren't "tunes" per se-- there are chord changes. The lyrics morph. (I like how the car becomes a Mercedes here in Europe). The guitar just happens. The band may or may not have played with him before. It's never the same.

Nowadays he doesn't play with the virtuosity you see here.   (The difference may simply be not doing a show ever day of the year.)  Some days his playing is strictly garage style punk-- loud, honking, approximate. But it still works. What he lacks in fine motor skills he makes up with experience, chunking out weird rhythm chords that are as much a part of his playing as the famous intros.  And every now and then you see him light up and hit the old notes the same old way.\

This one, though, is pretty special.

Self Deprecation

Chuck Berry was quoted in a great article in the British newspaper The Independent.  (There was a link, but it faded with time.  Alas.)

"Look, I ain't no big shit, all right?... My music, it is very simple stuff. I wanted to play blues. But I wasn't blue enough. I wasn't like Muddy Waters, people who really had it hard. In our house, we had food on the table. So I concentrated on this fun and frolic. I wrote about cars because half the people had cars, or wanted them. I wrote about love, because everyone wants that. I wrote songs white people could buy, because that's nine pennies out of every dime. That was my goal: to look at my bank book and see a million dollars there. That satisfy you?"

Well, except that, Mr. Berry, you are a big... 

Well, a really, really, really important man.  Up there with Muddy, and George Washington, whether you like it or not.

Picture courtesy Sky.

A Nice Version of Maybellene From Las Vegas

This next one wasn't doing to well on my computer, but it's nice, too-- a relaxed version of "Roll Over Beethoven" in front of thousands of knowledgable fans.  The man's having yet another "comeback."  But he never left-- he's kept playing, week in, week out, for 60 plus years.

It Came a Long Way from St. Louis: A Great Photograph of Chuck Berry and his Guitar

I just received an 8 by 10 original of this photo by U.S. Mail.  Thank you Busseybootleger!  It's a great picture that becomes even better when you look at the real thing.  You're first drawn to the face, of course, and the sweep of the hands.  But it doesn't take long to find the guitar, all battered and bruised.  This guy really was and is the Father of Rock and Roll.  Think how much a second generation rocker might pay for an old beauty like this, with it's battle scars and scratches.  And has there ever been a less elegant, more beautiful use of duct tape?  I saw the big yellow strip when I went to Blueberry Hill, but I hadn't seen the nuance-- the bits of blue and black above the lower f hole.  The gold plating on the pickups is practically gone.  I don't know if that's a scratch going from the center of one knob to through a knobless knob and on down to the bottom, or is just some hanging debris?  (I'll have to check other photos.)  The photograph also brings out the color.  You'll see it described as wine red below.  I always thought of it as brown but it's not at all brown. 

There were a lot of guitars in between ("Tools, you know?  Deductible!")  but two are supreme in Chuck Berry's performance career.  The first is the big blond Gibson enshrined at Blueberry Hill.  You can tell that was a well loved, well cared for guitar.  It's in nearly perfect shape.  And then there's this one, which I have seen several times over the decades, also well loved and well cared for, but probably played a lot more times than the blond, which seemed to be retired from condert use within 7 or 8 years.  Chuck Berry's son describes this one as purchased in the late 1970s.  He would know-- but I know I saw him play one a lot like it in Monterey in 1974.  (Can't make that one any bigger.  I hope to get to the source of it one day.  I was standing next to that right foot!)

Ah!  News flash.  I just poked around the chuckberry.com/forum and found the following comment from CBII:

"I can remember 2 of the "Wine Red" 355's. The one you guys have seen him playing is a 1978 and the other a 1972. This footage has to be with the 72. That guitar is still in the inventory but has been retired due to the neck having a crack in it. I guess it could be fixed and put back in service but the 78 is the better sounding guitar." 

Read it HERE.

So I probably saw the '72 in '74 and the '78 in '89, '98, and '09!) Anyone interested should check out the Chuck Berry website and read what CBII has written about Chuck Berry's guitars over the years.  He gives this one special praise for it's sound.

 At any rate, thank you Doug.  If I make it to Blueberry HIll again, I will line up with this one and hope!

And wouldn't you like to see "the inventory"!?!?

Sheer, Delirious Speculation

My wife and I went out tonight, and spent the last hour or so at a neighborhood restaurant that features live music on the weekends. And at some point the band leader took out a tiny recorder and said “We’re going to record it. It’s the only way we’ll get better. Not that I’m going to listen to this. But someday when the biographies are written…”

It was a pretty funny.

Then Rebecca said “Imagine if Chuck Berry had recorded his first shows!”

And it hit me.

Who’s the man who recorded “Memphis” at his office?

What did he take to Chicago?

Who wore the same $8 trousers at least 25 years?

Who’s the guy with the list of all the shows he’s ever played?

THE GUY WHO RECORDED SHOWS AT THE COSMOPOLITAN!

And he’s still got the tapes!  (That's the speculation.  Sheer and unadulterated.)

I’m betting he’s still got Ida Red—the one he played for Leonard Chess in 1955!

I'm betting there are shows recorded before "Maybellene," with blues and country and Louis Jordanesque material.)

Lordy!

Like an early draft of the Mona Lisa.

Oh, please let it be true!

And if it is-- oh please, let us hear it.

It Goes To Show You NEVER Can Tell! (A recycled post about Family)

When three generations of Berrys and probably several branches of the family tree showed up on stage at the Pageant Theater the other day, it made me think of that consistent theme:  Family.  (Think "Memphis."  Think "Back To Memphis."  Think "Rain Eyes."  Think of Johnny's mother and the pawn shop loans.  Think of the family "standin' and waivin' at the kitchen door."  Think of the "hurry home drops" and the "tears from her happiness."  Think of the great scene with Chuck's own father in "Hail! Hail!)  So here's a repeat of an earlier post.

Chuck Berry’s often described by tired writers as a quiet, closed up, surly sort of fellow, a loner who’s stingy with interviews and stingier with details of his personal life. (This despite a 300 page Autobiography).

There’s a famous scene where he shuts down an interview with his wife during “Hail! Hail! Rock ‘n’ Roll!” (Good for him. The interview was turning into a sensationalized surprise attack worthy of Fox Cable “News.”)

My theory is that everything he really wants to give us is in the music—either on record, or live.

But shutting down the impudent questioning of his wife shows another side of the man. And it’s there in the music, too.

One of his early songs is bouncy, sweet instrumental called “Ingo.”

My guess—and that’s all it is—is that the song is named after his daughter, Ingrid, who was featured in the movie “Hail! Hail!,” on the album “Chuck Berry,” at the inauguration of Bill Clinton, and who frequently performs with Berry in St. Louis and elsewhere, singing backup and blowing harmonica-- right next to her brother, Charles, Jr., who plays backup guitar, emcee, and personal bodyguard to Berry at every show now. Charles, Jr. is always there to help his dad with a forgotten lyric, and sidles close when, at the end of the show, the women and girls get on stage and dance for Chuck Berry’s attention.

Charles, Jr. is the very accessible moderator on www.chuckberry.com/forum, where he often shares the enthusiasm of fanatical fans, and sometimes offers amazing tidbits of history. My favorites have been his descriptions of a an old redish brown Gibson that Chuck Berry has played for the last 35 years or so (as old as those red pants he’s worn half the times I’ve seen him!) The guitar is bandaged, taped, scratched, busted, with missing knobs and other parts tossed as useless for the purpose.

Charles, Jr. says it’s the best guitar ever made—an accident of the assembly line, probably, with the tone of a railroad airhorn. (There’s a video on youtube of Charles, Jr. and the band doing a sound check in France. With the Gibson in hand, the genetic link becomes clear. Charles bends those double string notes in a way that would make me jerk with recognition from down the street.)



When Chuck Berry celebrated his birthday at the Pageant Theater in St. Louis last fall, Charles, Jr. brought his own son to play. The trio were featured in a wonderful photograph in Rolling Stone. And the kid can play. Search chuckberry.com/forum, and you’ll find a home movie of (Charles III?) playing blues like an elder. Watch out for that one.




Other grand kids have shown up on news shows. One granddaughter is evidently a singer. Another described what it’s like to have such a famous grandfather.

There are less public kids, too. Just a couple weeks ago I read somewhere about a daughter named Isalee. That’s also the name of Chuck Berry’s music publishing company.

It’s nothing new. Chuck’s sister sang backup on some of his records. And check out the family scenes in Hail! Hail!, with Chuck and his sister surrounding their dad and telling stories. (I’m doing this from memory, but the man was either deaf or blind as a child, until they pierced his ear, and cured him!)

There’s a British news segment about Chuck Berry with a short interview of Charles and Ingrid. It’s pretty wonderful. Again, I’m doing this from memory, but they talk about their dad still mowing his own lawn at age 82. And then, I think I heard something like:

"Yeah, he makes crop circles!"
"Pretty weird, right?"
"I think they’re beautiful."

Me, too. And I haven't even seen them.

This is What YouTube (and Television!) is all About (Dear Dad!)

Since we've been talking about family, here's a letter from son to father...

Looked at My Watch and it was Quarter to Four-- (every time I look up there's another Berry more), and they roll

Here you've got four Berrys in the field of view-- Chuck, Charles, Charles, and Ingrid.  (In our family we spent a week or two trying to say the "family rosary" together, but we never got this many together to sing raunchy songs).  (Another video clip from the Pageant.)



I made my case on www.chudberry.com/forum-- but here's the thing: Someone needs to do another documentary and capture some of the best of these latter day Chuck Berry performances on professional guage videotape.  Maybe they could even get him to say a few things.  There's something magical about the way Chuck Berry is winding down his performance career.  It would be nice to see it preserved.

An Interesting Blog Post About "Brown Eyed Handsome Man"

Here's a link to a blog called Brown Eyed Handsome Man-- and the interesting post that evidently started it.  http://browneyedhandsomeman.blogspot.com/2007/04/1st-anniversary-it-was-brown-eyed.html

A Man Could Get Pretty Full of Himself Up There With 100 Girls and Women

But we have to remember-- he never did catch Nadine!  (I don't think.)



This is live from the Pageant-- an all ages (and evidently all female) show last Friday night.  Oh, to be 83!

People's Television: Three Generations, Chasing that Remarkable Girl

Here's a sweet version of "Nadine" from Chuck Berry's show last night at the Pageant in St. Louis (one of her biggest fans was there to hear it) with a solo by "Junior"-- Chuck Berry's grandson.  The middle Berrry, Charles, Jr., is playing rhythm and giving the thumbs up. 



As they say on real television-- stay tuned!

Worse Television! (Look What They Done To My Song, Ma!) (But Chuck Comes to Save the Day.)

Bad Television, Great Singing: Chuck Berry Fields Forever

(Wish I could Understand!)