My bother spent years in California where he managed the Guitar Center in Hollywood. He has hundreds of stories surrounding the epicenter of music in the 80's. He now lives in Green Bay.

Link
http://www.greenbaypressgazett...-his-grass/99450138/

This is only a small excerpt from the original story.

Green Bay blues musician Jimmy Crimmins had several encounters with Berry in the early ’80s when he was working as the sales manager at the Guitar Center Hollywood, which was a destination on the Los Angeles music scene and frequented by celebrities.

“He had a reputation for being a little strange,” Crimmins said. “Until you actually meet a guy like this ... He started that whole what I call electric rock ‘n’ roll. Nobody was playing guitar like him.”

Berry’s signature guitar was the Gibson ES-355, which came out in 1958, the same year as Berry’s “Sweet Little Sixteen.” He came into the store one day and asked to meet with Crimmins to see about getting a specific guitar. When Crimmins didn’t have what he was looking for, he stormed out.

Six months later, he came in with a 1960s catalog of Fender amps. He wanted a Fender Showman that was popular in the ’60s and ’70s but had since been discontinued. Crimmins told him he knew the people at the Fender custom shop and, if he waited, he would call and see if they could make him one. Berry wanted his now, Crimmins said.

“He was so impatient, agitated. It was weird. I had never seen anyone that short,” he said. “I guess that’s why he never really put a band together.”

Chuck Berry performed in Green Bay in 1974 and 2009.
Chuck Berry performed in Green Bay in 1974 and 2009. (Photo: Marc Andrew Deley/Getty Images)
In 1984 or ’85, he came in to buy a guitar strap. Looking at the same display of straps was jazz player George Benson. It was also the same day “Entertainment Tonight” was shooting in the store. Neither artist acknowledged the other.

“That was weird to me,” Crimmins said.

Crimmins would often see Berry at neighborhood restaurants in Los Angeles, always wearing one of his signature bolo ties. He remembers him as “very, very standoff-ish.”

His talent and influence, however, are undeniable.

“He was just very agitated around people, but he alluded to the fact, and I had heard it before, that if he had been white he would’ve been Elvis. That’s a true statement. No question. He would’ve been the king of rock ‘n’ roll,” Crimmins said. “... He was bending strings (on ‘Maybellene’ in 1955). Nobody was doing that. He started it all.”

I'd heard years ago that he was somewhat of an a-hole off stage. Probably pissed that others made a lot more $ off his licks than he did.

quote:

Originally posted by mikeyspizza:
I'd heard years ago that he was somewhat of an a-hole off stage. Probably pissed that others made a lot more $ off his licks than he did.

I've seen it first hand, most recently a few years back at the Tupelo Elvis Festival. Original deal was for a friend of mines band to play backup for him. Once Chuck arrived, with his band, he wanted to change the deal and refused to play more than TWO songs. Kind of a prick move.

I've seen him several times, but that little event soured me on him a bit... RIP Chuck.

Ah...Elvis had THE voice. To me only Roy Orbison could compete with Elvis...but again that is just my opinion...shared by millions.

Chuck Berry was a rock and roll pioneer. So was Ike Turner. They were also psychopathic perverts. You have to separate/compartmentalize those concepts to have any respect for them.

I saw Chuck Berry perform in 1975. He arrived with only his guitar and proceeded to try to play with a band of young guys he had obviously never played or rehearsed with before. The performance was predictably mediocre, and he got pretty exasperated with the group backing him, as if it was solely their fault. I still like and listen to his old recordings, but never bothered to see him again in concert.

quote:

Originally posted by mcrimm:

“He was just very agitated around people, but he alluded to the fact, and I had heard it before, that if he had been white he would’ve been Elvis.

Yeah, that's it, because you were black you weren't as famous as you wanted to be.

Sounds like an angry man with a bad attitude and a big black chip on his shoulder.

Adios.

I was at this one.

quote:

Originally posted by roustabout:
I saw Chuck Berry perform in 1975. He arrived with only his guitar and proceeded to try to play with a band of young guys he had obviously never played or rehearsed with before. The performance was predictably mediocre, and he got pretty exasperated with the group backing him, as if it was solely their fault. I still like and listen to his old recordings, but never bothered to see him again in concert.

A known cheapskate, Berry did not want to pay for a seasoned band to travel with him, and he usually picked up random players in each town. He often used the band that opened for him, after meeting them just hours before the gig.
This resulted frequently in mediocre live performances. He also only played if he was paid 100% in cash upfront. Can't blame him for that however, as it was common for promotors to welch on payments to traveling musicians on the "Chitlin Circuit" back in the day. Many bands started their gigs while promotors ran out the back door with the evening's cash proceeds, as soon as as the music started.

This is a good book, if you have any interest.

http://books.wwnorton.com/books/detail.aspx?ID=20549

quote:

Originally posted by Aquabird:
Ah...Elvis had THE voice. To me only Roy Orbison could compete with Elvis...but again that is just my opinion...shared by millions.

Yep. You want to be a first class front man, you need to be versatile and you need to have a hell of a voice, or at least a particularly pleasing and unique one. Let's hear Chuck sing something like Love me Tender. Elvis wasn't a world class guitar player. No doubt about that, but he deserved his place over Chuck (IMO).

Chuck berry was a monthly regular on the radio show in town over the 8 years i listened. They had him on cause he would say the wackiest stuff. After hearing no less than 20 conversations over the years ill tell you he puts the mad, in "mad genius". And i dont believe his comments to be staged, he carries alot of hate.

I know a guy here in town who Chuck Berry borrowed some guitars and amps from for a concert he did here in town. The guy brought the equipment and asked to say "hi" to Berry. He was told in no uncertain terms "no." Kind of a jerk move if your using someones stuff.

If you listen to T-bone Walker you will hear many of the riffs Berry made famous. The opening to Johhny-B Good is taken from a Louis Jordan song.

Vince

quote:

Originally posted by FishOn:
Chuck Berry was a rock and roll pioneer. So was Ike Turner. They were also psychopathic perverts. You have to separate/compartmentalize those concepts to have any respect for them.

That's my view of Steve McQueen, he was an abusive husband and shitty friend, but, he exuded that irresponsible, give-a-shit charm that can be at times endearing.

I was listening to a BBC tribute or, Life of.. segment about Berry. Pretty dry however, the Beeb had to emphasis the racial sentiment angle with regards to Berry's sex with a minor incarceration and his return to the spotlight by traveling to the UK to reestablish his career. If I recall, Jerry Lee Lewis had his own scandal as a result of sex with a minor so, not restricted to race issue.

FWIW don't forget - from Wikipedia (Talk) - "In 1990, Berry faced a class action lawsuit from woman alleging that he had videotaped them, while undressing and using the washroom on his property." His property being a club he owned in a St.Louis suburb. He would have been 64 at that time.

quote:

Originally posted by corsair:

quote:

Originally posted by FishOn:
Chuck Berry was a rock and roll pioneer. So was Ike Turner. They were also psychopathic perverts. You have to separate/compartmentalize those concepts to have any respect for them.

That's my view of Steve McQueen, he was an abusive husband and shitty friend, but, he exuded that irresponsible, give-a-shit charm that can be at times endearing.

I was listening to a BBC tribute or, Life of.. segment about Berry. Pretty dry however, the Beeb had to emphasis the racial sentiment angle with regards to Berry's sex with a minor incarceration and his return to the spotlight by traveling to the UK to reestablish his career. If I recall, Jerry Lee Lewis had his own scandal as a result of sex with a minor so, not restricted to race issue.

Yep Lewis married his cousin when she was 13.