Chuck Berry loved real country music.
He always demanded cash for every performance.
US currency.
And carried a .38 to enforce the demand, which he did often...according to Keith Richards.
Between Keith and Bob Dylan, you have the entire history of American Rock and Blues history.
No other two individuals know as much.
So it will be written.
Funny anecdote was when the Rolling Stones, who obviously admired Berry and reaped money and success from his songs and influences on their own writing, were on the same stage for a show with him, they didn’t get the shipment of their own amps, speakers and vocal sound system in time. Chuck Berry consented to let them borrow his. After the show they learned he had sent them a bill for the loan.
There is a movie called “Hail Hail Rock n Roll” with Chuck Berry, and the funniest bit is when he his jamming with Keith Richards (of the Rolling Stones) and keeps stopping the song and correcting Keith on how to play.
I think I remember him getting busted for a toilet cam several years ago.
My brother-in-law once took a TV camera to a Chuck Berry concert by order of his local NBC affiliate. Based on the artist’s response, to this day he refers to Berry with a word that rhymes with “Chuck.”
The other Chuck Berry lawsuit of which I’ve personal knowledge was when he was sued for allegedly videotaping the women’s restroom at his restaurant in Missouri. He mounted a good defense but had a hard time explaining why on one of the tapes a large black hand appeared in front of the camera on which one of the fingers a large gold ring was clearly visible with the initials “CB”. Granted, that’s purely circumstantial and the initials of lots of people, but enough to prompt a big settlement.
To emulate my FR community around here. I need to point out that Chuck was a BLACK guy and is NOT to be appreciated...
If you are going to stick to it, then don’t give exceptions...
Too bad he had to creep out with the potty cams.
I went to a Rolling Stones concert at Auburn University in 1969, their Sympathy for the Devil tour, and the opening act was Chuck Berry.
It was scheduled for 8:00 or 9:00 pm, but no one showed up onstage. Everyone sat there chattering and fidgeting. Around 10:45 pm, there was an announcement on the loudspeaker, that the "young women of Auburn University" must observe their 11:00 pm curfew, and report back to their dorms. You can imagine the shrieks and groans, but the proper southern ladies obediently left and some of their boyfriends left also to escort them.
I was in my 20s and was there with my husband, who was stationed at a nearby base preparing to go to Vietnam. Although it would be a spectacularly memorable evening, I sincerely do not recall if there were blacks as well as whites in the crowd—we were military, had previously been living up north, and to us it would have been a feature, not a bug. We rushed forward to grab a couple of the vacated seats in the front row.
Chuck Berry soon appeared to rock the house, and he was the best part of the program, better than the Stones who would follow him. We stood at the rim of the stage with several other young people and rested our arms on the stage near his feet, slapping along with the beat. He was an awesome performer and made friendly but not salacious eye contact with those of us within inches of him.
Everyone just assumed that the delay was the fault of the Stones, who were notoriously late. It never occurred to me that Chuck's appearance might have been manipulated so the white southern girls didn't get to see Chuck. That's just horrible to think about.
They still don't like it, thus the constant race instigators like Omaba, and Gayle King and Jesse Jerkson and Al Sharpton. Kids don't have race prejudice, the teachers unions have to teach it.