News Archive
New
picture added to the Picture Gallery
Wednesday,
30. January 2002 - 14:11
Source: Wolfgang Guhl
Corrected
Lyrics
Saturday,
26. January 2002 - 08:27
Source: Rick Bergemann
Chuck
Berry and Little Richard at "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno"
Saturday,
26. January 2002 - 08:27
Jan 24th 2002. Tonight Show with Jay Leno:
A five minute performance on a late night talk show might not seem enough
to
warrant a review, but when its a first-time pairing of two of rocks founding
fathers,
then thats a different story.
Chuck Berry and Little Richard, promoting their upcoming performance at the
Universal
Amphitheatre two days later appeared on the show together. Jay Leno introduced
them
by mentioning that appearance, and an upcoming one at the MGM Grand in Las
Vegas,
and saying this was their.."first time ever performing together on
TV........". Their gig at
the Universal , Jan 26th, is being billed at their first time ever performing
together, so
thats why Leno probably made the TV reference, as to not interfere with the
Universal plug.
So with Lenos intro of ..."heres Chuck Berry and Little
Richard".........we see Little Richard to
the left, in a shirt like the American flag, and in the center was Chuck with a
cool red shirt,
and his now ever present sailors hat. They were backed by Richards regular band,
and also
Jim Marsala, Chucks long time bassist.
The band kicked into "Keep a Knockin". The press release had stated
they were going to do
Chucks "Back In The USA". Richard cranked on the keyboards, and Chuck
strummed along on guitar.
Richard did his usual yelps and yips, and howls. It seemed Richard was trying to
take over the spotlight.
He kept looking up into the monitors to make sure he was in prime camera
location. His horn player got
a lot of tv time too, as he took an extended solo, briefly going up into the
audience.
Richard kept yowling and yelping. Dont think he was doing it on purpose. He just
cant help it. Richard is
a parody of himself. He seems to be more interested in "being Little
Richard", than getting onstage and
showing his musical chops. Im sure he can still do it, but hed rather spend alot
of time of saying shut up
to the audience. Heck he wont even do his two biggest hits anymore. On one he
has his horn player sing it,
and on the other, he only does the chorus. Guessing having to do with his
religous side. He needs to make
the money, so he needs to the hits, but then again he doesnt want to comprimise
his beliefs. But thats
my small editorial on that.....back to the jam.......
Knockin' ended, and then Chuck kicked into Back In The USA. He sang lead, with
Richards horn players
singing backup. Richard was up in front kinda just dancing around and warbling
something in the mic.
Clearly trying to hog the action. Chuck remained cool and calm, trying to sing
louder, to have his
moment.
Only those two know for sure, but it seemed they wre trying stay ahead of each
other, if you know what
I mean. Richard, gyrating, and more yelping, Chuck, trying to sing ouder, with
emphasis. Chuck even
encouraging Richard at one point to "play your piano"......either to
keep it rockin, or I think to get him
to shut up, and give Chuck a chance. Chuck was even doing a little back and
forth with his guitar and
Richards piano, for an oh-so brief moment. That was cool. As the song was
winding down, and Richard
was doing his thing, Chuck threw in a little Johnny B Goode at the end, just
singing ...."Go Johnny Go Go"........a few times,
I think to try and say
"Hey this was supposed to be a duo kinda thing".
He even threw in a quick duckwalk.
Chuck then lifted his leg up in the air, to end the song, and it kinda staggered
to a stop. I dont think they
rehearsed too much, as it wasnt a clean finish. Again, not to demean Richard, I
just think he spends too much
time trying to put on the "act". That might be ok for Vegas, but it
looks like he is hiding behind that 80 member
band (ok it SEEMS like that many, does he really NEED two drummers?).
He needs to tone down the makeup, Strip down the band, and go back to the basics.
Hmmmm, Just like
Chuck does! Chuck is no angel, we all know hes in it JUST for the cash. But at
least hes honest about it,
and when the planets all aligned, he still rocks the dump.
So that was the show. Im also going to the gig on Sat, so Im curious how it will
go if they do perform toether.
If so, I think it will be completely different, with no TV cameras.
I had my VCR rolling, so if anyone wants a copy, email me, and Ill see what we
can do.
Jeff Staudinger Anaheim Calif
Source: Jeff Staudinger
Chuck
Berry and Little Richard performing together for the first time ever
Thursday,
24. January 2002 - 16:35
Chuck Berry and Little Richard are performing together at:
24.01.02 - Burbank, CA -
Tonight Show With Jay Leno
26.01.02 - Universal City, CA - Universal
Amphitheatre
---
"The Tonight Show With Jay Leno" (January 24th 2002)
2203 - MICHELLE PFEIFFER, DR. PHIL McGRAW,
CHUCK BERRY & LITTLE RICHARD 01/24/02
Guests include actress Michelle Pfeiffer, Dr. Phil McGraw and music by Chuck
Berry and
Little Richard.
Rock'n'roll legends Chuck Berry and Little
Richard are teaming up for a pair of appearances.
First the duo will show up Jan. 24 on NBC's "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno,"
where they
are set to perform Berry's "Back in the U.S.A." Two nights later, they
will play what's being
billed as a "Legends Concert" at Los Angeles' Universal Amphitheatre.
While the two have
performed on the same bill in the past, they have never before performed a song
together,
according to Little Richard, and have not yet determined what songs they will
collaborate on
during the Legends Concert. Tickets for that show, which is sponsored by L.A.
radio outlet
K-EARTH 101 FM, are available via Ticketmaster. (The Hollywood Reporter)
Source: Jeff Staudinger
New
published article about the new album
Monday,
21. January 2002 - 13:13
SWEET LITTLE SEVENTY-FIVE
Issue of 2002-01-21
Posted 2002-01-14
It was not precisely a secret
that Chuck Berry spent much of last spring in a place
called the Four Seasons studio, not far from the airport in St. Louis, his home
town.
But few people besides family members and friends were aware that he was
recording his
first studio album in almost twenty-five years, or that the album, which will be
released in
early summer, will include a dozen new songs.
One day not long ago, Berry
took a break from recording and drove from the Interbelt industrial
park, where the studio is situated, to a nearby Wendy's. He drives a silver
Toyota Avalon XL,
with a string of purple Mardi Gras beads swaying from the rearview mirror. He
wore a bolo tie with a
black silk casino jacket and his trademark sailor's cap. "It keeps the sun
out of my eyes," he said.
"Baseball caps are better, but Chuck Berry is no hip-hop salesman."
Berry, who is seventy-five, lives in a stone
manor house in Ladue, a suburb inhabited mainly by
Monsanto and Anheuser-Busch executives. He stays in shape by lifting bricks,
mowing the lawn,
and working in his carpenter's shed. Once a month, he performs in the basement
of Blueberry Hill,
a music venue near Washington University that is owned by his friend Joe
Edwards, and he still follows
the St. Louis Cardinals. It's a low-key sort of life for a publicly angry man
who spent three years in
reform school after an armed-robbery conviction in his teens, and who, in his
thirties, served twenty
months for violating the Mann Act.
When he arrived at Wendy's, two young fans
approached, carrying yellow napkins to be autographed.
Berry obliges autograph seekers, who are mostly white college kids; he usually
draws a smiley face next
to his signature. At the counter, he asked for a double cheeseburger, chili,
fries, and a Frosty. "France has
the worst restaurants of all," he said. "They have scrawny chickens in
their windows and serve horrible onion
soup that tastes like dishwater. And then the European press has the nerve to
say I'm difficult. Man, there is
nothing funny about being hungry in a foreign land and reporters asking you dumb
questions about your hits.
Of course you're going to snap. Do you know what I miss over there? Chili,
steaks, pork, oatmeal, buttermilk,
and good hamburgers. My dad used to grow vegetables when I was young: cucumbers,
squash, tomatoes—you name it.
The vegetables in Europe don't compare."
He brought the food in a bag back to the
studio, and as he ate he talked about the new album.
A song entitled "Big Boys" seems likeliest to get radio play, and
might well become the vehicle for
Berry's first music video. Like many of his songs, "Big Boys" takes
issue with pecking orders,
reminding us that today's teen nerd may someday be the guy who signs our checks.
"I was
participating in the Las Vegas life style when I wrote it, and thinking about
winners and losers,
how John Gotti's power went up and down," Berry recalled. "But,
basically, I wrote the song for
commercial purposes, to make money."
He appears to worry more about money than about
his legacy. After lunch, he took a call from his
longtime agent, Dick Alen. "Tomorrow night in Seattle?" Berry asked.
"For how much?" He liked the figure
quoted. "Book it and get me a morning flight." Jerry Lee Lewis had
become ill and Berry had been asked
to replace him. Berry has always been enterprising about playing to a broad
audience. He learned a long
time ago that just mentioning a city like Albuquerque or Birmingham or Houston
in a song guaranteed the
song relentless radio airplay in that city. Berry performs approximately eighty
shows a year, and it distresses
him that audiences want to hear only oldies.
Berry is a devotee of the digital age, and he's
keeping a journal on his computer. He is infatuated with aromas
and maintains a tally of them in his journal. For example: "The scent of
burning oak leaves in October in Missouri;
an oncoming breeze laden with the smell of mint plants; a Chinese restaurant
while waiting in line for a table;
a passing pipe smoker using rum-and-maple tobacco; the uncontaminated breasts of
a female companion;
the brewing of coffee in the winter; the interior of a new automobile I just
purchased; and, although I detest
the smell of liquor, somehow I'm carried asunder by the surprise of liquor on
the breath of a strange lady."
This side of him is evident in "Darlin',"
the most introspective song on the new record. It's a country-tinged
ballad to his daughter Ingrid that begins, "Darlin', your father's growing
older, I fear; strains of gray are
showing bolder each year. Lay your head upon my shoulder, my dear: Time is
fading fast away." He goes on
to sing of death and tells how tired he's grown of playing his ancient hits and
doing his trademark duckwalk
for the pleasure of baby boomers. In record stores, his CDs are always in the
"Vintage" section. "It's an insult,"
Berry said. "But this new album should help me bust out of that ghetto."
— Douglas Brinkley
Source: Glenn Robertson
Chuck
Berry News hacked
Thursday,
10. January 2002 - 15:37
One of the greatest websites ever in Internet
history, CHUCK BERRY NEWS,
edited by number one fan Johan Hasselberg from Sweden has been hacked.
Every Chuck Berry fan will certainly regret that. Here's a message from Johan to
you:
Chuck Berry News don't exist any
more. I really don't know, but I think
people has break up my accounts and deleted my website. These pages was
originally from 28nd May 1999 and comes to yahoo server in 2000. I had more
than 2000 hours work on it. The address was www.geocities.com/allaboard70.
My email account is also deleted with all the addresses to my frends around
the world. If people want to have contact with me again, they must send
email to my new address: hasselberg75@hotmail.com
all the best wishes / Johan Hasselberg
Chuck Berry News
Box 156
SE-95222 Kalix
Sweden
Source: Johan Hasselberg
Little
Richard replaced by Jerry Lee Lewis at New Year's Eve in Estoril, Portugal
Sunday,
06. January 2002 - 18:16
Little Richard's orginally planned New Year's Eve show in Estoril,
Portugal has been cancelled. Richard was
replaced by Jerry Lee Lewis. Check out these websites:
www.casino-estoril.pt
www.pratica.iol.pt/id44.html
Source: Wolfgang Guhl
Artist
of the Month
Saturday,
05. January 2002 - 12:44
Source: Wolfgang Guhl