HOLY CANOLA OIL, BATMAN!

Less than a week between postings. That might be a world record or something for me.

Unfortunately, as often seems the case with my blog, it's not a happy circumstance that brought this quick follow-up to the blog from March 15.

2016 wasn't a great year for musicians as we lost a host of people who were not only major contributors to the music scene in terms of content, they also contributed vastly by serving as major influences on other musicians. That winds up as a train of contributions that never ends. An artist from 1930 influences an artist from 1945, who influences an artist from 1960, who influences some guy or girl from '75. 

Then, the representative from 1975 is a big part of what becomes a star in 1990, then 2005. Then 2015, and on and on it goes. Or, to quote a gentleman who freely admits many artists who have had an influence on him (and in turn has had major influence on many artists in his own right);

    And so it goes and so it goes

    And so it goes and so it goes
    But where it's goin' no one knows
    And so it goes and so it goes
    And so it goes and so it goes
    But where it's goin' no one knows

                                           *Nick Lowe "So It Goes" from the Jesus of Cool album.

The point I'm getting at is that 90 year old Chuck Berry died on Saturday March 18, 2017. He's a man who has influenced about every type of artist at every type of level. 

John Lennon (of The Beatles, obviously) said something to the effect that "If you gave rock and roll another name, that name would be Chuck Berry." John Lennon? He was a little influential, wasn't he?

Have you ever heard of this English guitarist Keith Richards? He's in this band filled with old people; The Rolling Stones. He's had Chuck Berry kick him off of the stage, punch him in the face, throw a lit match down his shirt, and further assault him on numerous occasions both verbally and physically.

Keith Richards... He qualifies as probably an influence. In fact, as long as he's been around, he will probably have been a direct influence on about three distinct generations of musicians if not more.

One brief personal aside regarding both of these guitarists (Lennon and Richards); I've been into music HEAVILY for over 40 years now. Two of the most popular bands in that time period have been The Beatles and The Rolling Stones and I take a lot of grief for admitting to being a KISS fan and admitting to NOT being a Stones or Beatles fan.

I really like most of John Lennon's stuff (Yoko Ono exempted) outside of The Beatles. Some of his musical output has been filed directly in the folder of "Some of the best music with which we may ever be graced!" Obviously there is some Lennon music that I don't much care for. Well, to be fair, I like to think I'm a musician and there's a percentage of MY music for which I don't particularly care.

With the sentiments described above, it probably won't make sense to you to hear that I really don't care for 'The Beatles' as a whole. I may be biased here, but even though the Beatles tune "Back in the U.S.S.R." is a really good song, my band mates and I did what I still think was an awesome remake of it (Back in the U.S.S.R.) 'all those years ago' back in college in 1978.

There was some George Harrison that I kinda liked. Not a whole lot, but there was some. "While My Guitar Gentle Weeps" is an absolutely spectacular song! "My Sweet Lord," "All Those Years Ago," "Got My Mind Set on You," "Here Comes the Sun," "If Not for You," "When We Was Fab," and probably a few more I really enjoyed.

I liked much of what Ringo has done post-Beatles, but he's probably been one of the Beatles with a kind of lower output. I don't know why, but I don't care for Paul McCartney at all. Sure, there are a number of songs put out between him as strictly a solo artist and as Paul McCartney and Wings. Surprisingly, with the relatively large output, there's very little by McCartney for which I care.

Keith Richards is another story entirely. I have all that I can find of his solo stuff and I really like it. Basically, what I can't figure out is how can I like Keith Richards so much and like the Rolling Stones so little. His attitude - even after 50 years of playing guitar for a living - still shows he's having fun with it.

Lyrics in a lot of his solo songs show he's still having fun with it. It's good to see one of the best-known guitarists in the world not taking himself so seriously. 

And wasn't that what this whole installment of "Me an' my Opinions" supposed to be about? One of the best known guitarists in the world?

Chuck Berry's got his first studio album in about 38 years due to be released in 2017. I'm very sad to see him go, but I hope it doesn't hamper the release of the CD. It's comprised of original songs, and frequent Chuck Berry band mates took part in creating the record.

The supporting band includes Charles Berry Jr. on guitar, Ingrid Berry on harmonica, Jimmy Marsala on bass (including 40 years of experience with Chuck), Robert Lohr on piano, and drummer Keith Robinson.

The new CD (I read somewhere some time ago that it was due to be released sometime in April 2017, but I cannot find that reference anywhere) will be released by Dualtone Records, which is an Entertainment One company. For a little more information about this new release (which I knew I HAD to have sometime in the last half of 2016 when I first found out about it), check the following site;

http://shorefire.com/client/chuck-berry

It's got a bit of information on Chuck Berry as well as the new release. Please keep in mind as you read that I DID say '...a little more information...'

You can also check Mr. Berry's official site at;

http://chuckberry.com/

There you have it. After celebrating his 90th birthday several months ago and (hopefully) completing the music for his first original release in 38 years, Chuck Berry has moved on. If “Rock and roll heaven..." didn't have a hell of a band yet, they surely do now!