Fade to Black...

Going Dark

Turns out my life situation was even more dire than I had thought, and I'm going to have to give up writing in this space every day. There will be new daily images and music posted for a little while longer, while I figure out what to write for the curtain call (sort of hoping I make it to May 19, the blog's two-year anniversary), but in the meantime, thank you for your attention...

Requiescat In Pace...

Berry with his Gibson ES 350T in 1957

Yesterday was basically a relentless barrage of bad news, one gut-wrenching event after another. Haven't had a day like that in quite some time...

Just when I thought my Saturday couldn't get any worse, late last evening I heard of the death of the legendary Chuck Berry.

If you don't know who Chuck Berry was, nothing I say here will matter to you, and if you do know who he was you don't need me to tell you what a tremendous loss this is to those of us who love rock and roll music.



All of the awards and accolades aside, Berry was that rarest of artists in any medium: Someone whose work actually changed the world for the better.

Yesterday was the ugliest day in a week full of them...

Until Next Time...

Chuck Berry was such a gifted and prolific songwriter that he is one of the few artists for whom the term "signature song" has little usefulness. For all intents and purposes, virtually his entire catalog of songs is Berry's signature. Six of his songs can be found on Rolling Stone magazine's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time list, for instance.

That said, of course his passing calls to mind his 1958 Top 10 hit "Johnny B. Goode," the song guitarist George Thorogood calls "the Rock and Roll National Anthem."
The song was chosen for inclusion in both the Grammy Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and places high on every list of greatest rock and roll songs, greatest guitar songs, etc. It was the only rock and roll song included as part of the famous Voyager Golden Record carried by both of the Voyager spacecraft that were launched back in 1977.

It is also one of the few songs which has appeared in this space on more than one occasion. Since today's blog is announcing Chuck's departure (as well as my own,
in a manner of speaking), I'm inclined to feature the sequel, "Bye Bye Johnny," which tells the story of how Johnny's mother scrimped and saved until she could afford to send him to Hollywood to seek fame and fortune...