R.I.P. Chuck Berry

He must have just rolled up to the fair and met his band for the first time.

 

I'm pretty bummed about this one. Since the blues were probably a much greater influence on my early adult years, King's death was more saddening to me, but this one sucks, nonetheless.

Mrs. t_b_f and I had tickets to see Merle Haggard the night after he died, and had agreed to hop over to St. Louis this summer when I get back from Honduras to see Chuck.

*God, please let Keith and Mick live till the next tour*

 

That's what he did. He didn't tour with a band, because he'd have to pay them. He'd meet a band of guys who grew up playing his music, and would play for a little bit of nothing to play a gig with Chuck Berry. He'd insist on cash money, up front, or he wouldn't walk on the stage. He got screwed too often as a young man, and those became his policies.

 

That's one ticket I got punched really well. I saw the '72 Tour of the Americas, which was the tour for "Exile" and that's about the peak. The Fox Theater in Atlanta seats 3,700 and I caught the "Some Girls" tour there. Caught them a couple of more times but those were the peak.

I don't know if you've seen the show, but there's a guy named Matt Sweeney who plays guitar and did a couple of seasons of a show where he interviews and plays with well known guitarists. Some of it is pretty mundane, some of it is "How the hell do you get that sound?" and some of it is really good and interesting sounds and interview work. He did one with Keef that was so successful that they released the outtakes as part two. Keith talks about Chuck a bit in part two. I love how Keith keeps doing that old man grunt, MMmmmhmmmm. That and his rheumy old laugh. LOL.

This is the same guy with Billy Gibbons, over at Kid Rock's house.

 

I saw Chuck - for five songs anyway - before I walked out figuring if he didn't give a shit why should I, Roy Orbison, Little Richard, Ronnie Hawkins and the great Hank Ballard. Late friend of mine saw Buddy Holly, Fats Domino and Elvis and he saw Johnny Cash well north of 125 times.

 

That might be a fun one, but my favorite Bruce cover of a Chuck Berry tune is this one (although the description has the wrong date - it was Feb. 5, not Feb. 2)

 

Southside Johnny's live album has an absolutely smoking version of "Back in the USA"

 

Ha, was looking for a link online and couldn't find one!

 

A friend had a similar experience with Chuck. From his FB post:
Final note on Chuck Berry. In 1990 Chuck played the local Balloon and Wine festival in Podunk. He was a last minute replacement for another act that cancelled.

Chuck showed up in a big Cadillac and stayed in his car until my friend, who was in charge of festival entertainment, showed him a brief case full of money, which assured the legend he would get paid. One can imagine Chuck had been burned a few times over the years.

 

That habit was the root of his problems with the IRS late in life.