Bo Diddley house, 4746 S. Langley on 9/20/21. Image courtesy of Chicago Fire Department.
There is a gritty beat to the music of Chicago.
It is deeply appointed, carries no pretense, and is something to hold on to. Forever.
In 2004 the late Bo Diddley told me he developed his famous beat when he heard Gene Autry’s “(I Got Spurs That ) Jingle Jangle Jingle” on the radio on the south side of Chicago.
Diddley was born Ellas Bates McDaniel in Mc Comb, Miss. just north of the Louisiana border.
His family moved to 4746 S. Langley in Chicago when he was seven. They wanted him to escape the sharecropper’s [...]
The Stax Museum of American Soul Music in Memphis, Tn. is one of my favorite music museums in the country. I’ve been chronicling the museum since 2003 when it opened on the site of the original Stax studio, which was razed in 1989.
I’ve leaned into the way the museum connects with local students through their Stax Music Academy. I had some of the inspired students on my WGN radio show in 2017 as they prepared to go to France, England, and Ireland to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the historic Stax/Volt European Tour.
I’ve also made a minor nuisance of myself wondering aloud for 25 years why Chicago hasn’t been able to [...]
Courtesy of National Blues Museum
ST. LOUIS–The National Blues Museum is in a former department store in downtown St. Louis. The museum got a lot of love even before its April 2 grand opening, as the $14 million center was named a top travel destination by the New York Times and Smithsonian Magazine.
I waited until the doors opened to get my mojo talkin’.
The National Blues Museum is a snappy, well told story with lots of panels, posters and photographs. It has an ambitious vision. It is billed as the only institution of its kind dedicated exclusively to preserving [...]
The world keeps spinning.
And since the mid-1960s a group of socially conscious Chicagoans have met for dinner at the city’s soul food restaurants to talk about politics, food and moving forward against strong winds. Many are gone now: the restaurants and the members.
The survivors call the group “The Round Table.”
The unofficial leader of the group is Gene Barge, who was a spry 87 years old in November, 2013 when I was early into research on my book “The People’s Place.” Barge has a remarkable pedigree. He was arranger, producer and sax player at Chess Records, 2120 [...]
