Chuck Berry … Hail! Hail! Rock and Roll

Chuck Berry … in my opinion, the Man who put Rock and Roll on the Map! The man who successfully made the transition of Blues and Rhythm n’ Blues into Rock and Roll. Rock and Roll, a new concept and new driving beat that took the Nation to a new level, musically … some said it would never last … unlike so many styles of music that lasted a short period of time … Rock and Roll was here to stay … and guess what … it still exists to this very day! When I think of Rock and Roll, Chuck Berry comes to my mind … how many guitarists to this day can step on the stage and play “Johnny B. Goode”? It’s like the National Anthem of Rock & Roll! Well as you can imagine, Chuck Berry is one of my all-time favorites … I had the honors of working with and becoming friends with the Father of Rock & Roll. Today is the birthday of Chuck Berry. On this day back in 1986, a day that honored Chuck Berry with a documentary of his 60th birthday and a concert at the Fox Theater in St. Louis featuring a mixture of music legends. The documentary was called … Hail! Hail! Rock and Roll! Among the artists performing with Mr. Berry were Eric Clapton, Keith Richards, Linda Ronstadt, Robert Cray, Etta James and Johnnie Johnson to name a few. It’s a Rock n’ Roll Classic … so I thought I’d pop the concert/documentary in my DVD player… and that took me back to the year 1964 and a Movie Called the T.A.M.I. Show. The T.A.M.I. show is another Rock n’ Roll Classic hosted by Chuck Berry that featured Rock and Roll, POP and Soul Stars of the day filmed at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium … do yourself a favor and check out this historic movie. It’s amazing to see the talent that came together for that Movie, the likes of: Chuck Berry, the Beach Boys, Marvin Gaye, the Miracles, the Supremes, Gerry and the Pacemakers, Jan and Dean, Lesley Gore and an explosive finally with James Brown and the Rolling Stones … I’ll save that story for another future BLOG! Happy Birthday Chuck Berry … and … Hail! Hail! Rock and Roll!

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