Memphis, Tennessee

A pretty cool day. We got up way too early and took off to Memphis. I wrecked things a bit by suggesting we take the scenic route.  (If you want a macabre laugh, ask me about the Tourist Information Center.) 

Scenic Route

The good part about getting up too early was that we got there early. Our first stop was Sun Records.

Since the tour didn’t start for 45 minutes we decided to see other sights and drove to the Lorraine Motel, a depressing reminder that I’m glad is still there, exactly like we’ve seen it in so many photographs, but now a civil rights museum. 

We didn't go to the museum, but took note that Bob Lohr's favorite breakfast stop is close by. Thenback (life can be like this) to the place where Howlin’ Wolf recorded his first record, and, by chance, the first Howlin’ Wolf record I ever heard, “Ridin’ in the Moonlight.” (Okay, other important songs were recorded there, too.)

It was a great tour. Then off to Royal where we got the Royal tour. (Remember, Chuck Berry recorded "Back to Memphis" in that room!  And then there's the rest of them-- Al Green, and Ann Peebles, etc.)  Thank you Boo Mitchell.

We saw Stax, too, but I’ll wait until tomorrow to visit in more depth.


Then I rested while Doug shopped. He’s got carloads of stuff for his family. I better get busy.

Then back to Beale Street for ribs and catfish (fries, cole slaw and beans). Then across the street to B. B. King’s for a set of Memphis soul and blues.

I liked watching the drummer, who provided a graduate seminar for undergraduate me.

A pretty cool trip, and worth the drive.

He Was Moving All Night

So We Cruise Past Royal Studios in Memphis...

...and I lean out the window to take a picture.  The little building was ground zero for one of my favorite sounds in the world-- that Willie Mitchell sound that made Al Green and Ann Peebles sound even more amazing than they arleady are.  It's a little brick building that changed my world, yours, even President Obama's we learn recently, in powerful ways.

So I lean out with my camera, and since there are two men conversing in front, I have to ask, "May I?"  And the younger one smiles and says "Go ahead!" and then says "Would you like to see inside?"

Our rental car screetched into the parking lot and we jumped out.  How can you pass on that?

So who is our host?  Boo Mitchell, son of Willie Mitchell, who just the night before, had recorded a couple of the Hodges brothers from the HI Rhythm Section.

He showed us the studio.  He showed us Al Green's microphone ("We make everybody else use this other one,") he showed us the control room and some of the original vintage equipment.  He showed us carboard boxes holding tapes with names like Ann Peebles scribbled on the sides.  He took us to the cluttered office of his father (for whom the street is now named.)

Incredible. 

Thank you Mr. Mitchell. 

(BOTH of you!)

Back to Memphis

For Doug, anyway.  For me, to Memphis for the first time.  But first, bad waffles, yogurt and bananas in the motel lobby.

Chuck Berry at Blueberry Hill, February 15, 2012

A couple of pictures from tonight's show.  More when I have time!

Packed Up And Prone To Go

Got a booking
With the airline
Packed up and prone to go
Gonna leave here by plane darlin'
Cause railway's much too slow.

It really would be, since the show starts in 13 hours.  Anyway, I'[m at the airport in Seattle, using the free wi-fi (truly a cultural advantage of the Port of Seattle) trying not to listen to the guy across the carpet as he jabbers.  We slept three hours last night.  This may be one of the rare times I fall asleep on the plane.  I even have a window seat with a wall to lean against.

This trip was a gift from my wife.  She isn't with me now, but will join me later for a second show on Saturday. 

As a lawyer I learned to hate airports and travel.  I don't travel so often now, but I still don't like the process.  I'll be happy when I'm in my rental car on the other end heading to Blueberry Hill. 

It should be a pretty cool trip.  Tonight, Doug, Karen and Judy at Blueberry Hill.  (We'll all get together for lunch when my wife gets here-- at a place Judy and Karen turned us on to that is owned and run by one of the Ikettes!)  Tomorrow, after that delicious free breakfast at the Best Western, Doug and I will be off to Memphis.  (He's making us stop at some place where they throw rolls at you.)  We nintend to follow in the footsteps of Mr. Kaleta and at least do drivebys of Stax, Royal and Sun Studios.  We'll eat more delicious and unhealthy food.  (Hopefully they don't throw it.)  I might jog past Graceland, but I still have some hard feelings there and don't need to stop.  (We're staying down the street.)  Then back to St. Louis to pick up Rebecca, look around a bit, and get ready for the next show (her first) at The Argosy.

Oh good!  It'll be a "very full flight."  In fact, we have "an overbooked situation" and they're offering $400 if I want to take the next flight.

I'll pass.  Much too slow.

The Music Lives On: Richard Dial's Sculpture of Chuck Berry

A show of Alabama folk art celebrating folk music features a sculpture of Chuck Berry by artist Richard Dial.  The show is called The Music Lives On: Folk Song Traditions told by Alabama Artists and is currently at the Kentuck Art Center in Northport, Alabama.  Read about it and see the rest of the art (including a piece by Dial's father celebrating Chess label mate Howlin' Wolf) HERE.

Richard Dial is a machinist (born the year Maybellene came out) who went on to start a business designing and building wrought iron furniture, then began turning the furniture into art.

Richard Dial

Leonard Cohen Tells Tchaikovsky the News.

"The thing I liked about this award was that I'm sharing it with Chuck Berry," said Cohen. "'Roll over Beethoven and tell Tchaikovsky the news' – I'd like to write a line like that."  Leonard Cohen, on getting the Pen New England songwriting award with Chuck Berry.  Read about it here.

And see him perform a great song of his own, here:

Son Jack Jr. and Michael Wilde to Open for Chuck Berry at Blueberry Hill

It took prodding from Bob Lohr in St. Louis for me to learn about the Seattle Blues duo Son Jack Jr. and Michael Wilde.  Now I'm traveling two thousand miles to see them perform.  The two will open for Chuck Berry on February 15, 2012, at Blueberry Hill.  They each took time to respond to some questions.

Are you excited to be opening for Chuck Berry next month?  How did it come about?

Son Jack: Hellz yes! It’s beyond a dream come true actually as Chuck Berry is the reason I first picked up a guitar in 1972!

Michael:  We are extremely honored and excited to be opening for Chuck Berry.

Son Jack: The story of how the gig came up defies logic in numerous regards.  Believe it or not, the first “domino” was when I walked into the wrong meeting room at work and struck up a conversation with  a couple of guys that were inside, one of whom, Robert Koester, was originally from St Louis.  About a week later I ran into him again and he asked me for some recommendations on somewhere to take a visitor out that night.  It just so happens we had a show that night (opening for Matt Schofield at the Triple Door) so I mentioned it thinking they probably wouldn’t make it.  Lo and behold not only did they make it but they sat right up front and loved the show.  Over the course of the next few weeks we chatted more and he mentioned that he’d recently been friended on Facebook by Bob Lohr and had written to Bob about my music. We joked about me writing to Bob to inquire about a show and eventually I did thinking “what heck – nothing ventured, nothing gained."  Bob was incredibly gracious and utterly  instrumental in connecting us with the Duck Room who in turn were just the nicest people to work with. 

Is Chuck someone who influenced your music at all?

Son Jack: Immensely.  I taught myself guitar listening to his records (yep, Vinyl) and damn near wore out the needle trying to get Johnny B Goode down.  Even today, when I’m just playing for relaxation I will play that, Too Much Monkey Business or one of my favorites of his – Brown Eyed Handsome Man.  Always a good work out.

Michael: I grew up in the 60’s/70’s and was not aware of the depth of Chuck Berry’s contribution until I dug a little deeper into the past. The first tune of his I remember hearing was “My Ding-A-Ling”, hardly one of his best tunes. The next was “Johnny Be Goode”. That was another matter entirely.  Like many other white musicians who came to love R&B, early Rock and the Blues, I learned about the great blues artists from popular  bands that covered them, such as The Beatles, Led Zepelin, Allman Brothers, Paul Butterfield and the Rolling Stones. It was the Rolling Stones who made me aware of Muddy Waters and Chuck Berry. When I would find a tune that the Stones covered by one of these giants, I would seek out the original recording. Gradually I began forming an awareness of the music that led to Rock and Roll. Chuck Berry was a bridge between those worlds. The fact that Chuck recorded at Chess Records is evidence of that beginning.   Chuck Berry took country, R&B and Blues and created something unique. He came up with an alchemy that has left an indelible mark on American Popular Music. As we look back we now can see how strong his influence has been on countless musicians. He is a living legend and we are lucky to have him amongst us.

Son, If I understand it, you’re from Great Britain.  How did you wind up in Seattle?  Any important stops in between?

Oh, nothing too exotic to tell here – I transferred over with my job as I worked for a US company over there and the chance to spend time working in US was another long term goal I’d had for many years.  I’d originally planned to spend 2-3 years and then return to the UK.  That was 15 years ago and this is now definitely home J.

You seem especially influenced by music from the Mississippi Delta-- and it looks like you’ve played there.  Can you talk about that?

I’ll admit that it took me a little while to develop a taste for delta blues but when it did finally bite it bit hard and I found myself getting immersed not only in the music but also the history of the area and civil rights.  With delta blues especially, the two are so inextricably intertwined and understanding one helps you appreciate the other so much more I think.

We’ve been very fortunate to play in the South in various clubs in both Memphis and Clarksdale over the past few years and hope to do that again soon.  We competed at the International Blues Challenge twice (2009 & 2010) which was a blast and made so many great friends and met so many amazing and interesting people.  In addition, we’ve played at the Ground Zero in Clarksdale and at Red’s Lounge round the corner.  The experience and reception you get down there is very different from the Seattle crowd and I was always acutely aware that we were playing in the heartland where it all started and where standards and expectations are incredibly high.  Yes, certainly a bit nerve racking.

Can you tell us about others who have had a big influence on your music or your playing?  Have you had the opportunity to work with them?

These days I’m happily and deliberately myopic in my listening tastes – pretty much delta and hill country blues.  With that of course the key influences are RL Burnside, Mississippi Fred McDowell, Charley Patton, Tommy Johnson, etc – you get the idea.  More contemporary players that I watch are T-Model Ford and Robert Balfour.  We opened for Charlie Musselwhite last year which was an incredible honour – he’s a true gentleman and I don’t need to talk to his musicality I’m sure.  Over the years I’ve also jammed with Honeyboy Edwards, Louisiana Red, John Cephas, and John Dee Holeman to name a few.  All treasured memories and sadly many of them have since passed on.  Michael has shared the stage with Pinetop Perkins, Hubert Sumlin, Lee Oskar, Jody Williams, Coco Montoya, Charlie Musslewhite, Candy Kane, Paul Delay, John Nemeth and others. 

Will you bring a band to St. Louis?  Solo show?  Duo?

We’re coming as a duo for this show as we figured it would be a better contrast plus it’s way easier to coordinate J.  We’re going to play acoustic and that often turns people off as it conjures up an image of a sleepy, almost reverend “woke up this morning”” kind of groove.  We on the other hand play it the way we believe it was meant to be played – energetic and entertaining juke joint grooves.  People often remark that our sound is akin to a band which I consider a compliment.

Where can people find your records?

Best place is in person at a show J.  Other than that we are pretty much everywhere online as we sell physical and digital via CDbaby.com, iTunes, Rhapsody, last.fm etc etc

Will you tell us more about your Blueberry HIll experience afterwards?  Readers would love to know what it’s like from the performer’s perspective.

You bet - we would be delighted and honored to! 

Keith Richardson Talks About the Library, The War, Chuck Berry, Drugs and the Joy of Collaboration

Chuck Berry in Paris, 18 Mars, 2008

So, I'm heading to St. Louis to see Chuck Berry and couldn't be happier.  Unless, of course, I was heading to the place where the other Peter, and Jan, and Jean all saw him.

Thank you Peter K for the photos, which I stole.  

 

Chuck Berry to Receive PEN Award for Songs of Literary Excellence

Chuck Berry and Lenard Cohen will receive the Pen New England award for Songs of Literary Excellence in Boston on February 26.  Judges include Pal Simon, Roseanne Cash, Salman Rushdie, Bono, and Elvis Costello.  Read more HERE.  You can read more about PEN New England and maybe even get yourself admitted to the ceremony HERE.  Pretty cool!  Read my take on it Right Here.

Got a Chance, I Oughta Take It!

So my Christmas present got better.  Now, instead of a 36 hour trip to St. Louis and back to see Chuck Berry at Blueberry Hill it's become 100 hours, two shows, at least two states and maybe three, or four, or five.  The highlight, for me, will be a chance to see Mr. Berry at the Argosy Casino in Alton, Illinois in the company of Rebecca, the sweetie who planned the trip.  She's never seen him.  (She's never even watched "Hail! Hail! Rock 'n' Roll" with me!  It seems to be a point of pride with her.)  But she has always supported my habit.  She sent me to Blueberry Hill the first time, and let me go again in 2010.  And she has gone with me to see B. B. King, Macy Gray, Dr. John, Cassandra Wilson, Taj Mahal, Sonny Rollins, and more.  So it's fitting and proper that, at least once, she go with me to see my surrogate dad, the Father of Rock and Roll.  

But here's the deal-- there are two shows!  One on Wednesday, one on Saturday.  Rebecca can't attend both.  Something at work prevents it.  But I can!  The luxury of it overwhelms me.  And in between, I might have time to squeeze in a mad dash to Memphis, a town I've never seen.  I won't see much if I do-- I'll have to be back in 30 hours to pick up Rebecca at the airport.  We'll eat out.  We'll honeymoon at the Moonrise.  The next day we'll tour city.  And then we'll cross the Mississippi and see another Chuck Berry show.

Life is short.  The first of these two shows will start 41 years and 48 hours after my very first live Chuck Berry show on February 13, 1971.  Seems like a long time ago, and like yesterday.

RIP Etta James

Tulane's Ancestor, Joe.

The title of this blog comes from the Chuck Berry song "Tulane."  Jean in France posted this clear predecessor from Chuck's hero Louis Jordan on Facebook today.

Alas...

No trip to St. Louis this month.  Got too complicated.  But maybe next month.  Maybe TWO Chuck Berry shows, and a quick side trip to Memphis and Clarksdale.  Here's hoping for splendid mid-February weather in Missouri, Mississippi and Tennessee.

Enrique Berry Let it Rock

To Chuck from Fred Bellow

Okay, I'm jumping to a conclusion...

Chuck Berry Fans Will Enjoy This

http://www.peajaymusicblog.com/Pages/Chuck%20Berry.html

Omar Sharriff a/k/a Dave Alexander

The video of Chuck Berry on ABC's Wide World of Entertainment (below) aired December 8, 1972.  I remember watching it.  The song St. James Infirmary, above, was recorded three days prior, on December 5, 1972.  You should listen.  I would see Dave Alexander the first time a few months later at an on campus coffee house at San Jose State University, where I did time in 1973 and 1974.  The coffee house was free.  It was run by someone smart enough to bring in Alexander and Mark Naftalin for shows that spring.  And Alexander's show was seared into my brainstem.  It was some very serious blues.  He had a serious demeanor that day.  (Maybe it was the crowd, which numbered about half a dozen.)  He didn't smile much, or chat, or try to "entertain."  But there was a fine piano, and he played some extraordinary blues and boogie woogie on it. A few days or weeks later I found the promotional album you see in this video-- "For Review Purposes, Not For Sale"-- which I bought for less than $3.  Dave Alexander got nothing from me at the show, nothing for the record.  That's the way it too often works.

When I told my sister Maggie about Dave Alexander the next weekend I learned that she and her husband were fans and went to see Alexander often at Minnie's Can Do Club in San Francisco's Fillmore District.  That was undoubtedly a happier place to see him, with a trio, and dancers.  I was too young, but they got my sister Ann in one time because, hey, the rules weren't made for young women, they were made for boys.

I saw Alexander one more time at the first or second Sacramento Blues Festival.  It was a great festival, with Alexander, L.C. "Good Rockin'" Robinson and Queen Ida Gilroy, but though big hearted, the organizers were not so good on details.  Alexander was given one of those blond wood uprights you'd see at primary schools. He grimaced and grumbled, but played great music.

For a while Alexander actually moved to Sacramento.  I didn't live there any more, but I googled him and learned that he was living and performing there under the name Omar Sharriff and the nickname Omar the Magnificent.  I think that one of the articles I read mentioned a history of mental and emotion difficulties.  I wrote about him on my other blog, Can't Be Satisfied.

Then one day last December I found a tiny newspaper article explaining that Omar was moving back home to his hometown in Texas, a place called Marshall, where he'd been given the position of Artist in Residence. The town was giving him a place to stay and steady work.  Once he did a show with Robert Baldori, who played on Chuck Berry's "Back Home" and "San Francisco Dues" albums.  (The show was actually with Seeley and Baldori-- Baldori's current two piano boogie woogie group.)  I followed Alexander's progress as best I could, and enjoyed the videos from Marshall.  Here's the last one I saw:



I love this video.  I love the "easy" way Omar has of playing such difficult stuff.  I love the drummer.  I love the repartee.  I love the way the kid on guitar looks like he might die when told to play a third verse.  (He was blessed, undoubtedly knows it, and will probably never forget his apprenticeship in the blues.)

When I saw the video, a few weeks ago, I actually looked up Marshall again, saw it's proximity to Shreveport, Memphis, New Orleans and St. Louis, and tried once again to mentally chart my cross country drive to musical nirvana.  (If I were a kid without kids I'd have done it years ago.)

Anyway, Omar Sharriff ended his own life yesterday, at the age of 73.

I don't know anything about Sharriff, but I was hoping he'd found some real happiness back home in Marshall, a town he'd fled as a youth.  I know that he was a man of huge talent.  My guess is that, like many great artists, he lived in poverty at the edge of greatness.  This is a man who played with Muddy Waters and T-Bone Walker, and who, in his prime, probably got $50 or $75 to entertain a handful of us at a coffee house in San Jose.  (A few minutes after posting, I found a great article by Alexander on Facebook.  Check it out HERE.)

It's weird that December, 1972 came up twice for me yesterday.  Must be the stars.

And I thank the people of Marshall for their efforts to support one of their own during his last year.  It's what every community should do.

In the meantime, I'm getting ready to go to Missouri.  And still planning the road trip.  Maybe with a kid.

Chuck Berry Wide World of Entertainment, December 1972

For me you can't beat those shows from the days I first saw Chuck Berry.  My first show was February 1971.  Here he is 20 months later, enjoying the thrill of victory after The London Sessions.  I'd see my last 1970s show about a year and a half later.  When I see performances like this, all the elements that drew me in are there.  And you've got to admit-- the practice of constant touring made him pretty perfect in those days!



By the way, it wasn't 1973.  I figured that out a long time ago but forgot.  It was December 1972.

1950s Radio in Color by Christopher Kennedy

I'd seen the photographs circulating around on the internet, but had no idea of their historical context.  Chuck Berry in a wood paneled room, with a strange guitar, short blue pants, and a pale blue jacket.  Same string tie. Behind him, the usual assortment of children on backup.

What amazes me, now that I've found the source, is that this picture was taken at the very beginning, mid August 1955, a month after the release of "Maybellene," by Chicago deejay and photographer Tommy Edwards.  Check out the story, and some of the photographs HERE.  It's part of a whole bunch Edwards photographs found in a basement and turned into a book by Christopher Kennedy.

I'm Charles Berry, Jr.

Why you should have a good time and not misbehave!

Chuck Berry in Pistoia, Italy, 2005

Doug sent this, interesting in part for its view from backstage as Chuck and company enter.

Chuck Berry, Mean Old World 12-31-2011

There's loads of clips out there, but I always like hearing him play and sing the blues.  (Missing something on stage right, though.)  (Or is it stage left?)

You Never Can Tell: Bonne Annee!

The best of the many tidbits posted by a fan at B. B. King's on New Years.  (But the lack of a piano just SHOUTS!  Need to plan ahead Mr. Berry!)

Covers

How many millions of times has this song been played?  Anyway, here's a good one.

Which led me to his earlier hit, "Carol."

Tools, you know. Deductible!

Which would lead some people to think about just possibly carrying two, and hiring a kid or just asking some happy stage crew member to tune whichever one was not being used.  But he isn't anybody's some person-- so he keeps taking one, and cranking it out of tune, and then borrowing someone else's.  Ah well-- I guess that's why we love him?  (In his relative youth he is said to have snatched one out of the hands of Howlin' Wolf and had to apologize on stage!)  But in his old age he's going to start being known as Mr. Fender!

Thanks to Ida May for the picture from last night at B. B. King's.  Wish she was there!

The Little Things: Chuck Berry: How You've Changed

The LAST time I went to Missouri to see Chuck Berry (October 2010) I was lucky and saw two shows.  The first, at The Pageant, was spectacular.  Berry was feeling good and played the guitar well.  The second show, four nights later at Blueberry HIll, was fun but fell apart for a few minutes when Berry untuned his guitar.  Both nights he played the riff you hear behind the singing in this song.  The way he plays it (from a barre chord at the root position) requires fingers a yard long and a little finger with the strength of ten ordinary men.  (Well, anyway, it makes my finger hurt in the key of C and becomes nearly impossible for me in G, where he so often plays slow blues.)  Both times he played it while his daughter Ingrid sang.  The first time it worked beautifully.  The second time it was immediately after he'd cranked every knob and the riff became unrecognizable-- a series of strange bleats from his Gibson that he stubbornly refused to stop playing.  But it's a reason I enjoy seeing him.  Each time I learn something.  In olden times (a phrase my daughter used to use while discussing my youth) I was too overwhelmed by the scoots, the laughs, the splits and the songs to see or hear the littler things.  Now I can pick and choose-- and always seem to walk away with something.