Monday, June 02, 2008
BO DIDDLEY 1928-2008
This one hit me hard -- kinda like losing a favorite uncle.
I saw Bo Diddley in concert about seven times between 1987 and 1998. Pretty much every time he came to town, I was there.
You'd probably think, why seven times? Because his shows were amazing. That Bo Diddley beat, that "shave and haircut" groove, got your feet moving, got your ass up, and it was just a hell of a lot of fun.
And then there was Bo.
He talked to everybody. I know that I had conversations with him every time I saw him. They ranged from one sentence to several minutes. Back in 1991, I caught him at a bar called the Jar (it was where Bo played most of his Valley shows). Chess Records, where Bo had made most of his hits, had just put out a CD box set with a nice booklet and I wanted Bo to sign it.
When I got into the Jar, Bo was already there, chatting people up. I walked up, waited my turn for an audience and then presented the book and a pen to him. He took the booklet rather gingerly and said: "Do you mind if I look through this? I haven't seen it before."
He hadn't SEEN it before? "Gee, Bo, be my guest! Didn't Chess bother to SEND you a copy or two?"
"Man they don't send me nothin'. I don't own those songs, THEY do. And they do whatever they want to with it and don't send me shit."
Bo opened the book and for the next 10-15 minutes, he told me stories about every picture in it -- where it was taken, the vehicles in some of the photos ("damn, I miss that car") and a lot more. He made my day and I guess I made his.
A couple of years later I saw Bo at an outdoor show held on Central Avenue. He'd just been recuperating from a back injury, and had to play the entire show in a chair. He apologized for that, because a big part of a Bo Diddley show was to watch Bo dance while he played.
Like this:
Anyway, at that show, Bo was talking about his injury and at one point he said, "For a while there I thought you all were gonna lose ol' Bo Diddley."
Well, now we have. He had his share of health problems in the last year. A stroke took his voice a while ago, and this morning his heart gave out. It's just gonna be a sadder world without Bo Diddley in it.
One more story about the kind of guy Bo Diddley was: In 1989 or so I took my son Adam, who was about three, to see Bo with Ronnie Wood of the Rolling Stones. This was an outdoor show in a then empty industrial park with a stage set up, thousands of people sitting on the grass or standing on the pavement. Ronnie, Stone that he is, walked on stage from backstage. Bo Diddley, on the other hand, walked through the crowd to the stage. From the back. High-fiving, "how ya doin' man?" and all that.
What a guy.
TT
This one hit me hard -- kinda like losing a favorite uncle.
I saw Bo Diddley in concert about seven times between 1987 and 1998. Pretty much every time he came to town, I was there.
You'd probably think, why seven times? Because his shows were amazing. That Bo Diddley beat, that "shave and haircut" groove, got your feet moving, got your ass up, and it was just a hell of a lot of fun.
And then there was Bo.
He talked to everybody. I know that I had conversations with him every time I saw him. They ranged from one sentence to several minutes. Back in 1991, I caught him at a bar called the Jar (it was where Bo played most of his Valley shows). Chess Records, where Bo had made most of his hits, had just put out a CD box set with a nice booklet and I wanted Bo to sign it.
When I got into the Jar, Bo was already there, chatting people up. I walked up, waited my turn for an audience and then presented the book and a pen to him. He took the booklet rather gingerly and said: "Do you mind if I look through this? I haven't seen it before."
He hadn't SEEN it before? "Gee, Bo, be my guest! Didn't Chess bother to SEND you a copy or two?"
"Man they don't send me nothin'. I don't own those songs, THEY do. And they do whatever they want to with it and don't send me shit."
Bo opened the book and for the next 10-15 minutes, he told me stories about every picture in it -- where it was taken, the vehicles in some of the photos ("damn, I miss that car") and a lot more. He made my day and I guess I made his.
A couple of years later I saw Bo at an outdoor show held on Central Avenue. He'd just been recuperating from a back injury, and had to play the entire show in a chair. He apologized for that, because a big part of a Bo Diddley show was to watch Bo dance while he played.
Like this:
Anyway, at that show, Bo was talking about his injury and at one point he said, "For a while there I thought you all were gonna lose ol' Bo Diddley."
Well, now we have. He had his share of health problems in the last year. A stroke took his voice a while ago, and this morning his heart gave out. It's just gonna be a sadder world without Bo Diddley in it.
One more story about the kind of guy Bo Diddley was: In 1989 or so I took my son Adam, who was about three, to see Bo with Ronnie Wood of the Rolling Stones. This was an outdoor show in a then empty industrial park with a stage set up, thousands of people sitting on the grass or standing on the pavement. Ronnie, Stone that he is, walked on stage from backstage. Bo Diddley, on the other hand, walked through the crowd to the stage. From the back. High-fiving, "how ya doin' man?" and all that.
What a guy.
TT
Comments:
Post a Comment
