A Tribute to Chuck Berry

Chuck Berry Oct 1926 - Mar 18, 2017 

RIP

Photo courtesy of Getty Images

I’ve wanted to write this post since I read the devastating news of his passing on Saturday, 18 March 2017.  We used to listen to him as teens and when we took up the guitar, growing up, we tried to learn his songs on the guitar.  I still have a close friend who plays the guitar very well.  He grew up playing tunes by Chuck Berry.  I was so sorry to hear of his passing, but I know none of us lives forever and at least he made it to the age of 90, which is longer than most musicians.

Now I’d like to tell you a little about his life.  He was a pioneer in the rock and roll genre.  His career spanned seven decades.  That’s a long time to play music, but that’s what he loved and it’s always nice to be able to make a living at what you love to do.  How many of us really get to do that?

I know some of you have heard some of his best hits, which are “Johnny B Goode,” “Roll over Beethoven” and “Sweet little Sixteen.”

 Chuck Berry

 

Chuck Berry was born Charles Edward Anderson in October of 1926.  He actually transformed the music industry in the 1950’s by taking R and B and creating rock and roll.  John Lennon, Bruce Springsteen, the Rolling Stones and Huey Lewis were all influenced by this man who helped shape their own careers.

Chuck Berry is survived by his wife and two children.

On Saturday, April first, we start the A to Z Challenge again, so I wanted to post this now because the next post will be part of the challenge, which runs the whole month of April.  I hope to keep up with that along with working and my police class.  We’ll see how well I can manage my time and multi-tasking.  Of course, you all know determination is my theme song, so somehow I’ll manage to get it all done, I hope.  During the challenge, I'll be posting whatever crosses my mind.  Hopefully, it’ll be worth reading.

I is for the Idols we had as Teens

My sister, Scherri, and I were close growing up and many times, we had the same set of friends.  We’re only a year and a day apart.  Once we finally moved to town and off the farm, we got our own room for the first time.  Boy did we have fun decorating it to our liking.  I was about fifteen and she was fourteen.

Our decorating included plastering the walls with photos of “hot” rock stars we found in the teen magazines in the fifties.  We didn’t have any money to save from cotton picking then, but occasionally we would babysit and we always saved some of our lunch money, as there was no such thing as an allowance in our house.  We got about thirty-five cents a day for a cafeteria lunch, so we usually always had about twenty cents a day left over to put toward our records and teen magazines.

 Teen Magazine cover - 1965

Back then, we existed on cokes and a bag of chips from the cafeteria at school.  Looking back, I imagine this wasn’t very healthy but you do what you have to do.  We had a goal in mind.

We got a small square blue and white record player one year for Christmas.  We were ecstatic.  We would crank it up, listen to records, and dance in our room amongst the poster-covered walls while we talked about boys.

We didn’t allow any of the younger kids into our space.  It was our escape from the mad house.  Yes, our house was noisy and bustling with activity all the time because of so many kids and we could actually bring friends home once we were living in a small town and off the farm.

I guess we worked off all our horrid lunches by walking all over town.  It was nothing to go out and walk ten or twelve blocks each way to look in the stores.  Those were the days and some good times.

A Shout out for the Best Rock and Roll Band of all Time

Pic Courtesy of Photo Bucket



Okay people, this is very different than most of my posts, but I had to write this up because this is really the truth, as I see it. What prompted this post was a concert I watched on TV on Dec 1 – the Rolling Stones live during the Steel Wheels tour in 1991 performing in London, Berlin, and Italy. A friend in CA called me to tell me it was on and to tune it, saying it was fantastic, and he knows I like the Stones. I’m glad he did call me because I had no idea this was on. I don’t watch a lot of television and usually not concerts. This show didn’t disappoint me, but the Stones never do.

The Rolling Stones - Public Domain

I’ve seen them live three times so far. The first time was 1972, the last time was 1998, and they hadn’t changed at all. I was shocked and not let down in any way, which is a good thing because my husband had never seen them perform, ever, and I really wanted him to. For me, it was worth standing in the rain for two hours. This is because the crowd in San Diego was so excited that if you wanted to see anything you had to stand up. They didn’t have a venue big enough for all the people wanting to go to the concert, so they held it outdoors at the stadium and put on two shows. Of course, this was in February, hence the rain and it was rather chilly as well, especially after you got soaked, but I just went home and took some extra Vitamin C for awhile and we were both fine. I learned that early on from all my wild jaunts in the rain to watch concerts in the wintertime.

We had to stand in line for over an hour for tickers the week before the show. Actually, I did that, my husband is not happy about standing in line at the grocery store, much less to obtain concert tickets.

What made this concert even more fantastic was that the Stones kept performing in the rain the whole time, running around jumping everywhere from one end of the stage to the other, even down long ramps that extended into the audience. They had such a grand lightshow going on that I was afraid somebody could possibly be electrocuted, or slip right off those ramps in the rain and break something, but thank goodness, that didn’t happen.

Yes, in my younger days I used to be quite the concertgoer, waiting in line for tickets, sometimes for hours. During that time, I was really into rock and roll music; I still am, but usually listen to calmer things these days, unless I’m in a wild and crazy mood. Even though I’m from TX, I don’t care for western music and never listen to it, if I can help it.

Mick Jagger - Public Domain

Now, I do have to confess that, besides about every big band performing in the 60’s and 70’s, I have been to a Willie Nelson concert and it was good. However, the thing that stands out about the Rolling Stones is all that energy and enthusiasm; you really get your money’s worth because those guys can perform two hours straight going non-stop. Not only do they put on a great performance, but also the guitar playing by Keith Richards is some of the best I’ve ever heard and Mick Jagger has to be the best showman around, prancing from one end of the stage to the other while he belts out their tunes.

Keith Richards - Public Domain

That is why it is so great going to one of their concerts. These guys don’t just stand around and strum guitars; they really get into the tunes big time and evidently love what they do. They are an inspiration because they are still going strong after fifty years of performing together. I think that is so awesome and such an encouragement to me that you can still get out there and do what you love to do as you age. How many of us could put on a performance like that at 70?

The old saying “finding what you love to do, and you won’t work a day in your life” must be true.

I realize that this may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but in my book, it definitely deserves a mention.