News Archive

BO DIDDLEY launches new website and online store
Wednesday, 30. October 2002 - 16:10


Hey, BO DIDDLEY Fans! 
BO DIDDLEY has announced the launch of his new website and online store. 

Named "Bo Bo Diddley's Turnup Root", the new website is located at 
http://www.turnup-root.com/
"Bo Diddley's Online Store" #1 powered by 
CafePress.com is located at http://www.cafeshops.com/bodiddley and "Bo Diddley's 
Online Store" #2 powered by CafePress.com at http://www.cafeshops.com/bodiddley2 

"I'm gonna show people a whole new side to BO DIDDLEY. In fact, I think I'm 
probably gonna shock a few people! I gave the record companies a lot of my 
material over the years, but I kept the best stuff! I'm currently fixin' to 
release recordings available exclusively from off my new "Bo Bo Diddley's Turnup 
Root" website of me playing classical music, for instance. I also have a brand 
new song comin' out titled "We Ain't Scared", that will also be available 
exclusively from my new "Bo Bo Diddley's Turnup Root" website, and that I just 
know is all set to get people talkin'!" 

In conjunction with the "Bo Bo Diddley's Turnup Root" website, BO DIDDLEY is 
currently also shaping up to release CDs from off his website of both brand new 
recordings as well as a series of exciting limited edition collectors' CDs of 
previously unreleased archive material recorded in his various home studios 
during the past 40 years. 

Right now, visitors to his website can shop online at "Bo Diddley's Online 
Store" powered by CafePress.com and purchase a range of cool-looking and 
exclusive limited edition items including T-shirts, sweatshirts, BBQ aprons and 
vehicle license plate frames that will make perfect gifts for the forthcoming 
holiday season. 

As we mentioned to you in an previous newsletter, BO DIDDLEY and the funk/soul 
band Munkeez Strikin' Matchiz have just recorded and are set to release a brand 
new and hard-hitting song titled "We Ain't Scared". 

Recorded at the Skylab Recording Studios in Gainesville, FL, the track is one of 
three produced at a recent 10 hour recording session by BO DIDDLEY's long-time 
producer Scott Free and features BO DIDDLEY on lead vocals, Bodetta on keyboards 
and vocals, Jozon Mezak on bass and vocals, Shadow on drums and vocals, Jo C on 
percussion and vocals and Scott "Skyntyte" Free on guitar and vocals. 

"We Ain't Scared" was written to capture the feelings of patriotism that BO 
DIDDLEY's fans have expressed to him at his US concert performances since the 
terrorist attacks of September 11th 2001. 

To listen to an exclusive 2 minute audio sample of "We Ain't Scared" and to read 
the transcript of a no punches pulled interview with BO DIDDLEY on the occasion 
of the recent broadcast debut of the song, you are invited to visit the 
newly-launched "Bo Bo Diddley's Turnup Root" website at 
http://www.turnup-root.com/
After they have listened to the audio sample, 
visitors are encouraged to e-mail the website with their thoughts and comments 
or to place an order for a copy of the song on CD. 

And finally, for any of you fans living in the north-central Florida area of the 
US, the funk/soul band Munkeez Strikin' Matchiz, which includes in its line-up 
BO DIDDLEY's daughter Bodetta on keyboards and vocals and his long-time record 
producer Scott Free on guitars, keyboards and vocals, are playing at Eddie C's, 
1315 S. Main St. in Gainesville, FL this Friday (November 1st), beginning at 
9.00pm.

David Blakey, Webmaster, 
Lynn Cameron, Technical Support, 
BO DIDDLEY-The Originator 
http://members.tripod.com/~Originator_2/index.html

A Celebration of his unique contribution to Popular Music.

Source: David Blakey

Chuck Berry vs. Johnnie Johnson
Friday, 25. October 2002 - 15:28


 

Chuck Berry Royalties Case Thrown Out By Judge
http://music.yahoo.com/chuck-berry/news/chuck-berry-royalties-case-thrown-out-by-judge--12055406

 
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Judge Dismisses Lawsuit Vs. Berry

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Johnnie B. Tossed
http://de.eonline.com/news/johnnie_b_tossed/44068

Chuck Berry performs tonight in Northampton, England, Chicago Rock Cafe
Tuesday, 22. October 2002 - 14:01


Chuck Berry
22.10.02 - Northampton, England - Chicago Rock Cafe

Chuck Berry European Tour 2002
22.10.02 - Northampton, England - Chicago Rock Cafe

Source: Wolfgang Guhl

Chuck Berry celebrates 76th birthday
Friday, 18. October 2002 - 13:45


HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!
CHUCK BERRY TURNS 76

Source: Wolfgang Guhl

New pictures added
Sunday, 13. October 2002 - 09:34


Pictures of the following Chuck Berry shows were added to the Picture Gallery:

Source: Wolfgang Guhl

John Collis: "Chuck Berry - The Biography"
Saturday, 12. October 2002 - 08:16


New book release: 

"Chuck Berry - The Biography"

By John Collis (hardcover) 

Released: September 26th / 2002 
Aurum Press - ISBN 1854108735 

Book Description: 
Chuck Berry is one of the greatest talents in popular 
music, and also an individual legendary for his difficulty 
and capriciousness. It's no exaggeration to 
say that, with songs like "Roll Over Beethoven", 
"Johnny B Goode, "No Particular Place to Go" and a 
whole host of others, he invented rock and roll. 
Literally dozens of his songs are now timless classics 
still performed by bands in clubs and pubs every night 
across the world. As a wordsmith he also set a 
benchmark for intricate, dazzingly witty and memorable 
lyrics unequalled by perhaps anyone apart from Bob 
Dylan. And he invented the duck walk. 

But as a musician he has been respected rather than 
ever loved by his peers - after producing the 
birthday-tribute film "Hail, Hail Rock and Roll", for him, 
Keith Richards even remarked that he "wouldn't 
warm to Chuck Berry if he was cremated next to me". 
Berry would always tour by himself, and use a 
different clutch of pick-up musicians in every town, 
to avoid the expenses of keeping a band on the road; 
he would always insist on payment in cash up front 
before he'd even go on stage; he'd usually perform the 
contractual minimum of a short set; and he'd not only 
invest his considerable wealth in property and a 
stable of cars but also shamelessly congratulate 
himself on his acquisitiveness. And his career has 
been overshadowed, and more that once stalled, by 
trouble with the law, and time in jail for a 
relationship with an under-age woman. 

Until now, Chuck Berry's own maverick autobiography 
has been the main source for anyone wanting to read 
about the life of this extraordinary genius, for there 
is no other word. But now, John Collis has interviewed 
Berry's fellow musicians, as well as former promoters 
and tour managers, and researched the truth about 
Berry's life back in his home city of St Louis, to 
produce the first rounded, objective and sometimes 
shocking portrait of a man who, even in his seventies, 
is still treading the boards and singing of "Sweet 
Little Sixteen". 

About the Author: 
John Collis was the author of the legendary "Rock 
Primer" back in the seventies and has also written a 
biography of Van Morrison and a history of Chess 
Records, the American blues label. He lives in London, 
England.

Source: Johan Hasselberg

Bruce Pegg: "Brown Eyed Handsome Man: The Life And Hard Times Of Chuck Berry"
Thursday, 10. October 2002 - 15:06


The book is scheduled for publication on October 29.
Bruce Pegg started a web page that will contain information 
about the book--reviews, media attention, etc.--at

http://writing.syr.edu/~bpegg/BEHM.html

Source: Bruce Pegg

Jerry Lee Lewis condition updated
Wednesday, 02. October 2002 - 08:51


JERRY LEE RELEASED FROM HOSPITAL

Jerry was kept for observation at the Memphis hospital until yesterday afternoon. 
He is doing fine, and he's back home at the ranch. (01.10.02)

Source: Oyvind Stolefjell

Concert Review of Chuck Berry's show in Northampton, MA added
Wednesday, 02. October 2002 - 08:51


The following Concert Review has been added:

Source: Errol Bull