Rock great Chuck Berry falls ill during New Year's show (84-year-old entertainer feeling fine)

Yahoo ^ | 1/2/11 | Eric Johnson/Reuters

[NormsRevenge]

CHICAGO (Reuters) – Rock 'n' roll great Chuck Berry was feeling fine and headed back to his hometown of St. Louis on Sunday, hours after falling ill during a New Year's performance in Chicago.

An assistant for Berry said in a telephone interview he was feeling fine on Sunday morning and was planning to return to his home outside St. Louis in the afternoon.

Hotel staff at the Hard Rock Hotel in Chicago, where Berry was staying, told Reuters they saw the performer on Sunday morning and that he looked good.

The 84-year-old entertainer slumped over his electric keyboard on Saturday night while playing for a crowd of about 3,000 at Chicago's Congress Theater, and was helped off the stage by two assistants as fans shouted "We love you, Chuck!"

Berry returned to the stage about 30 minutes later, waved to his fans, thanked them and said he was OK, according to concert-goer Jim O'Malley.

[Erasmus]

If people listening to Chuck Berry listened to his music back then as we do his now now, they would have been listening to music from... 1905 (Johnny B Goode was recorded in 1958, 53 years ago)! That period skips Ragtime, Big Bands, Crooners, and the origins of Blues and Jazz!

A slight historical quibble. The ragtime craze effectively began with the 1899 publication of Scott Joplin's Maple Leaf Rag, and 1905 was in the middle of its golden era. It lost popularity only during WWI when jazz, arguably its progeny, developed.

[dfwgator]

And the first message from the Aliens will be....”Send More Chuck Berry!”

[eyedigress]

Or Cow Bell

[freedumb2003]

>>A slight historical quibble. The ragtime craze effectively began with the 1899 publication of Scott Joplin’s Maple Leaf Rag, and 1905 was in the middle of its golden era. It lost popularity only during WWI when jazz, arguably its progeny, developed.<<

“Ah, Arithmetic”

OK, It didn’t skip Rag, but the rest...

[gonzo]

.................... FRegards

[gonzo]

Or this: ............ FRegards

[eyedigress]

Dammit Gonzo, you’re killing me. ;^)

[6SJ7]

If people listening to Chuck Berry listened to his music back then as we do his now now, they would have been listening to music from... 1905 (Johnny B Goode was recorded in 1958, 53 years ago)!

That's an amazing fact! Pretty good for music that is a half-century old!