Hail, hail, rock and roll

Happy birthday to Mr. Chuck Berry. The king of the duck walk, the man who made Elvis look like a rock ‘n’ roll wannabe, and greatest of the bathroom peepers turns 79 today. Yeah, that last bit was a bit of a cheap shot, but I meant it in good fun.

I love Chuck. His 16 Greatest Hits is one of my favoritest records of all time, and I find a way to work “Maybellene” onto any old school rock / race music / r&b comp cd I make. He came up with licks that were hotter than Bo Diddley’s, and he was a whole lot less likely to talk about himself in his songs, too. He’s also the subject of one of the coolest stories I’ve ever heard.

Stacy “Big Daddy Cadillac” Daugherty (proprieter of Big Daddy Cadillac’s Tattoo in Lawrence, KS) was telling me this story about going to the Los Angelese Hootenanny several years back. Thanks to connections and such, he was able to get backstage. One thing leads to another as he’s talking with various folks, and he ends up sitting in the back of a black Cadillac with Chuck Berry as Chuck’s eating a bbq sandwich. Shortly thereafter, he’s outside the car, smoking a cigarette, when a security guy comes by and starts hassling him about leaning on the Caddy. Chuck rolls down the window, tells the security asshat that “he’s with me”, and the guy just walks off.

You can’t get any cooler than that. So, once again, happy birthday to Mr. Berry, and may he continue rocking for another couple of decades.

Johnny B. Goode
Roll Over Beethoven
Maybellene