Misa Digital Guitar

Being a guitarist this just gets me very interested. A electronic guitar that runs on Linux.

It is run on Linux Gentoo, but is compatible with any OS since it is actually a MIDI controller.

Specifications: Linux kernel 2.6.31 (Gentoo); 24 frets; touchscreen; MIDI out; Ethernet; and SSH server

I do not really know what to think of this. I think in a lot of ways this is cool as hell, but on the other hand, you will not get the same feeling as a real guitar. With it being digital you can program it to sound pretty much like anything you want and play the drums on it at the same time. I do not see a price for it, but I am sure it is not cheap, also MISA is a Australian company based in Sydney. Because I would love to see how it works better and how it sounds.

here is a video.

Originally posted at73 Wire Business and Technology

My ax

Just testing some more on the phone
Here is my ibanez

Hail, Hail Rock & Roll – Bo is gone but Chuck Remains

We lost a big one.  I remember Bo Diddley’s first hit back when I was in the 6th grade.  Not long after that we were rushing home from school to watch American Bandstand in a friend’s basement.  Lots of younger folks don’t realize what Bo added to rock and roll.  Here’s an article taking Rolling Stone magazine to task for failure to include the iconic "Bo Diddley" as one its best guitar songs.

Originally posted: June 2, 2008

Rolling Stone’s Bo Diddley snub

In a strange way it’s fitting that Bo Diddley died while Rolling Stone’s “100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time” issue was fresh on newsstands. He’s not on the list. His omission underscores 1) how underappreciated Bo Diddley was, and 2) how wrongheaded Rolling Stone’s list is. The magazine shows its interest in recognizing rock’s heritage by choosing Chuck Berry’s “Johnny B. Goode” (1958) as No. 1 instead of a song by one of the more towering guitar-hero types like Jimi Hendrix (No. 2 with “Purple Haze”). Berry earned the top spot by essentially inventing riff-rock guitar playing. Keith Richards and the Rolling Stones owe their existence to his rhythmic style. But then for the next 99 spots, no Bo Diddley? Let’s hear how the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (spearheaded by Rolling Stone publisher Jann Wenner) describes 1987 inductee Diddley: “Bo Diddley broke new ground in rock and roll’s formative years with his unique guitar work, indelible African rhythms, inventive songwriting, and larger-than-life persona. He will forever be known for popularizing one of the foundational rhythms of rock and roll: the Bo Diddley beat. He employed it in his namesake song, ‘Bo Diddley,’ as well as other primal rockers like ‘Mona.’” The beat sounds something like this: BOMP-and-BOMP-BOMP-pause-BOMP-BOMP, and it was picked up on Buddy Holly’s “Not Fade Away,” Johnny Otis’s “Willie and the Hand Jive,” the Strangeloves’ “I Want Candy,” the Who’s “Magic Bus,” Bruce Springsteen’s “She’s the One,” the Pretenders’ “Cuban Slide,” U2’s “Desire” and many other songs. Tribune rock critic Greg Kot does a great job describing Diddley’s instrumental interplay on his Turn It Up blog: “His drummer focused on the tom-toms and bass, rarely the snare or the cymbals. Jerome Green’s hypnotic maracas were mixed way out front on the recordings so that they were made to sound unusually full and vibrant. They danced in and out with Diddley’s guitar lines, which were drenched in reverberation. Other percussion instruments also factored into the mixes, all orchestrated by Diddley into rhythms that anticipated the bottom-heavy thunder of heavy metal, the clipped syncopation of funk and the lighter skip of reggae.” Rolling Stone’s list is for “greatest guitar songs,” not guitar solos or virtuosos, so the omission of “Bo Diddley” (from 1955, the same year as Chuck Berry’s first single, “Maybellene”), “Hey, Bo Diddley” or “Who Do You Love” is tin-eared and dunderheaded. These are groundbreaking guitar songs performed by one of the all-time great, driving rhythm players. And I’ll take head-boppin’, body-shakin’ rhythm over solos any day. Hear for yourself as Bo Diddley tears into “Hey, Bo Diddley” and “Bo Diddley" in 1966’s “The Big TNT Show”: That video was recorded in the 1960s 6 years before Stix was even born.  But here’s yet an even earlier look at Bo and his compatriot Chuck Berry in the 1950’s at the start of it all.  [by the way, if you are ever in St Louis, Chuck Berry still performs now and then in the Duck Room at Blueberry Hill not far from Washington University.]

The guy on the couch in the clip on Chuck Berry is a guy called Jimmy Clanton who was famous for a ballad "Just a Dream" in the 1950s.  The clip of him and Sandy Stewart is from a 1959 movie called "Go, Johnny, Go" that features performances by Chuck Berry, Jackie wilson, Ritchie Valens, The Cadillacs, The Flamingos & Eddie Cochran, among others.

Here’s a video of a tribute to Bo Diddley many years later – see if you can recognize the famous musicians playing back-up. Did you know Frankie Avalon was a trumpet player before he started singing?

I’d post more, but I’m afraid it would extending blog loading time.   Look on YouTube for more Bo Diddley.  There are clips of him with Ron Wood and all kinds of folks.

Rock & Roll will never die.  btw  I saw Ike & Tine Turner and also Chuck Berry live in East St Louis as a kid before they hit the big time.  That’s back in the day before tracks were recorded separately and musicians lip-synched. 

Julia

Hail, Hail Rock & Roll – Bo is gone but Chuck Remains

We lost a big one.  I remember Bo Diddley’s first hit back when I was in the 6th grade.  Not long after that we were rushing home from school to watch American Bandstand in a friend’s basement.  Lots of younger folks don’t realize what Bo added to rock and roll.  Here’s an article taking Rolling Stone magazine to task for failure to include the iconic "Bo Diddley" as one its best guitar songs.

Originally posted: June 2, 2008

Rolling Stone’s Bo Diddley snub

In a strange way it’s fitting that Bo Diddley died while Rolling Stone’s “100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time” issue was fresh on newsstands. He’s not on the list. His omission underscores 1) how underappreciated Bo Diddley was, and 2) how wrongheaded Rolling Stone’s list is. The magazine shows its interest in recognizing rock’s heritage by choosing Chuck Berry’s “Johnny B. Goode” (1958) as No. 1 instead of a song by one of the more towering guitar-hero types like Jimi Hendrix (No. 2 with “Purple Haze”). Berry earned the top spot by essentially inventing riff-rock guitar playing. Keith Richards and the Rolling Stones owe their existence to his rhythmic style. But then for the next 99 spots, no Bo Diddley? Let’s hear how the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (spearheaded by Rolling Stone publisher Jann Wenner) describes 1987 inductee Diddley: “Bo Diddley broke new ground in rock and roll’s formative years with his unique guitar work, indelible African rhythms, inventive songwriting, and larger-than-life persona. He will forever be known for popularizing one of the foundational rhythms of rock and roll: the Bo Diddley beat. He employed it in his namesake song, ‘Bo Diddley,’ as well as other primal rockers like ‘Mona.’” The beat sounds something like this: BOMP-and-BOMP-BOMP-pause-BOMP-BOMP, and it was picked up on Buddy Holly’s “Not Fade Away,” Johnny Otis’s “Willie and the Hand Jive,” the Strangeloves’ “I Want Candy,” the Who’s “Magic Bus,” Bruce Springsteen’s “She’s the One,” the Pretenders’ “Cuban Slide,” U2’s “Desire” and many other songs. Tribune rock critic Greg Kot does a great job describing Diddley’s instrumental interplay on his Turn It Up blog: “His drummer focused on the tom-toms and bass, rarely the snare or the cymbals. Jerome Green’s hypnotic maracas were mixed way out front on the recordings so that they were made to sound unusually full and vibrant. They danced in and out with Diddley’s guitar lines, which were drenched in reverberation. Other percussion instruments also factored into the mixes, all orchestrated by Diddley into rhythms that anticipated the bottom-heavy thunder of heavy metal, the clipped syncopation of funk and the lighter skip of reggae.” Rolling Stone’s list is for “greatest guitar songs,” not guitar solos or virtuosos, so the omission of “Bo Diddley” (from 1955, the same year as Chuck Berry’s first single, “Maybellene”), “Hey, Bo Diddley” or “Who Do You Love” is tin-eared and dunderheaded. These are groundbreaking guitar songs performed by one of the all-time great, driving rhythm players. And I’ll take head-boppin’, body-shakin’ rhythm over solos any day. Hear for yourself as Bo Diddley tears into “Hey, Bo Diddley” and “Bo Diddley" in 1966’s “The Big TNT Show”: That video was recorded in the 1960s 6 years before Stix was even born.  But here’s yet an even earlier look at Bo and his compatriot Chuck Berry in the 1950’s at the start of it all.  [by the way, if you are ever in St Louis, Chuck Berry still performs now and then in the Duck Room at Blueberry Hill not far from Washington University.]

The guy on the couch in the clip on Chuck Berry is a guy called Jimmy Clanton who was famous for a ballad "Just a Dream" in the 1950s.  The clip of him and Sandy Stewart is from a 1959 movie called "Go, Johnny, Go" that features performances by Chuck Berry, Jackie wilson, Ritchie Valens, The Cadillacs, The Flamingos & Eddie Cochran, among others.

Here’s a video of a tribute to Bo Diddley many years later – see if you can recognize the famous musicians playing back-up. Did you know Frankie Avalon was a trumpet player before he started singing?

I’d post more, but I’m afraid it would extending blog loading time.   Look on YouTube for more Bo Diddley.  There are clips of him with Ron Wood and all kinds of folks.

Rock & Roll will never die.  btw  I saw Ike & Tine Turner and also Chuck Berry live in East St Louis as a kid before they hit the big time.  That’s back in the day before tracks were recorded separately and musicians lip-synched. 

Julia

Hail, Hail Rock & Roll – Bo is gone but Chuck Remains

We lost a big one.  I remember Bo Diddley’s first hit back when I was in the 6th grade.  Not long after that we were rushing home from school to watch American Bandstand in a friend’s basement.  Lots of younger folks don’t realize what Bo added to rock and roll.  Here’s an article taking Rolling Stone magazine to task for failure to include the iconic "Bo Diddley" as one its best guitar songs.

Originally posted: June 2, 2008

Rolling Stone’s Bo Diddley snub

In a strange way it’s fitting that Bo Diddley died while Rolling Stone’s “100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time” issue was fresh on newsstands. He’s not on the list. His omission underscores 1) how underappreciated Bo Diddley was, and 2) how wrongheaded Rolling Stone’s list is. The magazine shows its interest in recognizing rock’s heritage by choosing Chuck Berry’s “Johnny B. Goode” (1958) as No. 1 instead of a song by one of the more towering guitar-hero types like Jimi Hendrix (No. 2 with “Purple Haze”). Berry earned the top spot by essentially inventing riff-rock guitar playing. Keith Richards and the Rolling Stones owe their existence to his rhythmic style. But then for the next 99 spots, no Bo Diddley? Let’s hear how the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (spearheaded by Rolling Stone publisher Jann Wenner) describes 1987 inductee Diddley: “Bo Diddley broke new ground in rock and roll’s formative years with his unique guitar work, indelible African rhythms, inventive songwriting, and larger-than-life persona. He will forever be known for popularizing one of the foundational rhythms of rock and roll: the Bo Diddley beat. He employed it in his namesake song, ‘Bo Diddley,’ as well as other primal rockers like ‘Mona.’” The beat sounds something like this: BOMP-and-BOMP-BOMP-pause-BOMP-BOMP, and it was picked up on Buddy Holly’s “Not Fade Away,” Johnny Otis’s “Willie and the Hand Jive,” the Strangeloves’ “I Want Candy,” the Who’s “Magic Bus,” Bruce Springsteen’s “She’s the One,” the Pretenders’ “Cuban Slide,” U2’s “Desire” and many other songs. Tribune rock critic Greg Kot does a great job describing Diddley’s instrumental interplay on his Turn It Up blog: “His drummer focused on the tom-toms and bass, rarely the snare or the cymbals. Jerome Green’s hypnotic maracas were mixed way out front on the recordings so that they were made to sound unusually full and vibrant. They danced in and out with Diddley’s guitar lines, which were drenched in reverberation. Other percussion instruments also factored into the mixes, all orchestrated by Diddley into rhythms that anticipated the bottom-heavy thunder of heavy metal, the clipped syncopation of funk and the lighter skip of reggae.” Rolling Stone’s list is for “greatest guitar songs,” not guitar solos or virtuosos, so the omission of “Bo Diddley” (from 1955, the same year as Chuck Berry’s first single, “Maybellene”), “Hey, Bo Diddley” or “Who Do You Love” is tin-eared and dunderheaded. These are groundbreaking guitar songs performed by one of the all-time great, driving rhythm players. And I’ll take head-boppin’, body-shakin’ rhythm over solos any day. Hear for yourself as Bo Diddley tears into “Hey, Bo Diddley” and “Bo Diddley" in 1966’s “The Big TNT Show”: That video was recorded in the 1960s 6 years before Stix was even born.  But here’s yet an even earlier look at Bo and his compatriot Chuck Berry in the 1950’s at the start of it all.  [by the way, if you are ever in St Louis, Chuck Berry still performs now and then in the Duck Room at Blueberry Hill not far from Washington University.]

The guy on the couch in the clip on Chuck Berry is a guy called Jimmy Clanton who was famous for a ballad "Just a Dream" in the 1950s.  The clip of him and Sandy Stewart is from a 1959 movie called "Go, Johnny, Go" that features performances by Chuck Berry, Jackie wilson, Ritchie Valens, The Cadillacs, The Flamingos & Eddie Cochran, among others.

Here’s a video of a tribute to Bo Diddley many years later – see if you can recognize the famous musicians playing back-up. Did you know Frankie Avalon was a trumpet player before he started singing?

I’d post more, but I’m afraid it would extending blog loading time.   Look on YouTube for more Bo Diddley.  There are clips of him with Ron Wood and all kinds of folks.

Rock & Roll will never die.  btw  I saw Ike & Tine Turner and also Chuck Berry live in East St Louis as a kid before they hit the big time.  That’s back in the day before tracks were recorded separately and musicians lip-synched. 

Julia

Hail, Hail Rock & Roll – Bo is gone but Chuck Remains

We lost a big one.  I remember Bo Diddley’s first hit back when I was in the 6th grade.  Not long after that we were rushing home from school to watch American Bandstand in a friend’s basement.  Lots of younger folks don’t realize what Bo added to rock and roll.  Here’s an article taking Rolling Stone magazine to task for failure to include the iconic "Bo Diddley" as one its best guitar songs.

Originally posted: June 2, 2008

Rolling Stone’s Bo Diddley snub

In a strange way it’s fitting that Bo Diddley died while Rolling Stone’s “100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time” issue was fresh on newsstands. He’s not on the list. His omission underscores 1) how underappreciated Bo Diddley was, and 2) how wrongheaded Rolling Stone’s list is. The magazine shows its interest in recognizing rock’s heritage by choosing Chuck Berry’s “Johnny B. Goode” (1958) as No. 1 instead of a song by one of the more towering guitar-hero types like Jimi Hendrix (No. 2 with “Purple Haze”). Berry earned the top spot by essentially inventing riff-rock guitar playing. Keith Richards and the Rolling Stones owe their existence to his rhythmic style. But then for the next 99 spots, no Bo Diddley? Let’s hear how the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (spearheaded by Rolling Stone publisher Jann Wenner) describes 1987 inductee Diddley: “Bo Diddley broke new ground in rock and roll’s formative years with his unique guitar work, indelible African rhythms, inventive songwriting, and larger-than-life persona. He will forever be known for popularizing one of the foundational rhythms of rock and roll: the Bo Diddley beat. He employed it in his namesake song, ‘Bo Diddley,’ as well as other primal rockers like ‘Mona.’” The beat sounds something like this: BOMP-and-BOMP-BOMP-pause-BOMP-BOMP, and it was picked up on Buddy Holly’s “Not Fade Away,” Johnny Otis’s “Willie and the Hand Jive,” the Strangeloves’ “I Want Candy,” the Who’s “Magic Bus,” Bruce Springsteen’s “She’s the One,” the Pretenders’ “Cuban Slide,” U2’s “Desire” and many other songs. Tribune rock critic Greg Kot does a great job describing Diddley’s instrumental interplay on his Turn It Up blog: “His drummer focused on the tom-toms and bass, rarely the snare or the cymbals. Jerome Green’s hypnotic maracas were mixed way out front on the recordings so that they were made to sound unusually full and vibrant. They danced in and out with Diddley’s guitar lines, which were drenched in reverberation. Other percussion instruments also factored into the mixes, all orchestrated by Diddley into rhythms that anticipated the bottom-heavy thunder of heavy metal, the clipped syncopation of funk and the lighter skip of reggae.” Rolling Stone’s list is for “greatest guitar songs,” not guitar solos or virtuosos, so the omission of “Bo Diddley” (from 1955, the same year as Chuck Berry’s first single, “Maybellene”), “Hey, Bo Diddley” or “Who Do You Love” is tin-eared and dunderheaded. These are groundbreaking guitar songs performed by one of the all-time great, driving rhythm players. And I’ll take head-boppin’, body-shakin’ rhythm over solos any day. Hear for yourself as Bo Diddley tears into “Hey, Bo Diddley” and “Bo Diddley" in 1966’s “The Big TNT Show”: That video was recorded in the 1960s 6 years before Stix was even born.  But here’s yet an even earlier look at Bo and his compatriot Chuck Berry in the 1950’s at the start of it all.  [by the way, if you are ever in St Louis, Chuck Berry still performs now and then in the Duck Room at Blueberry Hill not far from Washington University.]

The guy on the couch in the clip on Chuck Berry is a guy called Jimmy Clanton who was famous for a ballad "Just a Dream" in the 1950s.  The clip of him and Sandy Stewart is from a 1959 movie called "Go, Johnny, Go" that features performances by Chuck Berry, Jackie wilson, Ritchie Valens, The Cadillacs, The Flamingos & Eddie Cochran, among others.

Here’s a video of a tribute to Bo Diddley many years later – see if you can recognize the famous musicians playing back-up. Did you know Frankie Avalon was a trumpet player before he started singing?

I’d post more, but I’m afraid it would extending blog loading time.   Look on YouTube for more Bo Diddley.  There are clips of him with Ron Wood and all kinds of folks.

Rock & Roll will never die.  btw  I saw Ike & Tine Turner and also Chuck Berry live in East St Louis as a kid before they hit the big time.  That’s back in the day before tracks were recorded separately and musicians lip-synched. 

Julia

Hail, Hail Rock & Roll – Bo is gone but Chuck Remains

We lost a big one.  I remember Bo Diddley’s first hit back when I was in the 6th grade.  Not long after that we were rushing home from school to watch American Bandstand in a friend’s basement.  Lots of younger folks don’t realize what Bo added to rock and roll.  Here’s an article taking Rolling Stone magazine to task for failure to include the iconic "Bo Diddley" as one its best guitar songs.

Originally posted: June 2, 2008

Rolling Stone’s Bo Diddley snub

In a strange way it’s fitting that Bo Diddley died while Rolling Stone’s “100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time” issue was fresh on newsstands. He’s not on the list. His omission underscores 1) how underappreciated Bo Diddley was, and 2) how wrongheaded Rolling Stone’s list is. The magazine shows its interest in recognizing rock’s heritage by choosing Chuck Berry’s “Johnny B. Goode” (1958) as No. 1 instead of a song by one of the more towering guitar-hero types like Jimi Hendrix (No. 2 with “Purple Haze”). Berry earned the top spot by essentially inventing riff-rock guitar playing. Keith Richards and the Rolling Stones owe their existence to his rhythmic style. But then for the next 99 spots, no Bo Diddley? Let’s hear how the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (spearheaded by Rolling Stone publisher Jann Wenner) describes 1987 inductee Diddley: “Bo Diddley broke new ground in rock and roll’s formative years with his unique guitar work, indelible African rhythms, inventive songwriting, and larger-than-life persona. He will forever be known for popularizing one of the foundational rhythms of rock and roll: the Bo Diddley beat. He employed it in his namesake song, ‘Bo Diddley,’ as well as other primal rockers like ‘Mona.’” The beat sounds something like this: BOMP-and-BOMP-BOMP-pause-BOMP-BOMP, and it was picked up on Buddy Holly’s “Not Fade Away,” Johnny Otis’s “Willie and the Hand Jive,” the Strangeloves’ “I Want Candy,” the Who’s “Magic Bus,” Bruce Springsteen’s “She’s the One,” the Pretenders’ “Cuban Slide,” U2’s “Desire” and many other songs. Tribune rock critic Greg Kot does a great job describing Diddley’s instrumental interplay on his Turn It Up blog: “His drummer focused on the tom-toms and bass, rarely the snare or the cymbals. Jerome Green’s hypnotic maracas were mixed way out front on the recordings so that they were made to sound unusually full and vibrant. They danced in and out with Diddley’s guitar lines, which were drenched in reverberation. Other percussion instruments also factored into the mixes, all orchestrated by Diddley into rhythms that anticipated the bottom-heavy thunder of heavy metal, the clipped syncopation of funk and the lighter skip of reggae.” Rolling Stone’s list is for “greatest guitar songs,” not guitar solos or virtuosos, so the omission of “Bo Diddley” (from 1955, the same year as Chuck Berry’s first single, “Maybellene”), “Hey, Bo Diddley” or “Who Do You Love” is tin-eared and dunderheaded. These are groundbreaking guitar songs performed by one of the all-time great, driving rhythm players. And I’ll take head-boppin’, body-shakin’ rhythm over solos any day. Hear for yourself as Bo Diddley tears into “Hey, Bo Diddley” and “Bo Diddley" in 1966’s “The Big TNT Show”: That video was recorded in the 1960s 6 years before Stix was even born.  But here’s yet an even earlier look at Bo and his compatriot Chuck Berry in the 1950’s at the start of it all.  [by the way, if you are ever in St Louis, Chuck Berry still performs now and then in the Duck Room at Blueberry Hill not far from Washington University.]

The guy on the couch in the clip on Chuck Berry is a guy called Jimmy Clanton who was famous for a ballad "Just a Dream" in the 1950s.  The clip of him and Sandy Stewart is from a 1959 movie called "Go, Johnny, Go" that features performances by Chuck Berry, Jackie wilson, Ritchie Valens, The Cadillacs, The Flamingos & Eddie Cochran, among others.

Here’s a video of a tribute to Bo Diddley many years later – see if you can recognize the famous musicians playing back-up. Did you know Frankie Avalon was a trumpet player before he started singing?

I’d post more, but I’m afraid it would extending blog loading time.   Look on YouTube for more Bo Diddley.  There are clips of him with Ron Wood and all kinds of folks.

Rock & Roll will never die.  btw  I saw Ike & Tine Turner and also Chuck Berry live in East St Louis as a kid before they hit the big time.  That’s back in the day before tracks were recorded separately and musicians lip-synched. 

Julia

Hail, Hail Rock & Roll – Bo is gone but Chuck Remains

We lost a big one.  I remember Bo Diddley’s first hit back when I was in the 6th grade.  Not long after that we were rushing home from school to watch American Bandstand in a friend’s basement.  Lots of younger folks don’t realize what Bo added to rock and roll.  Here’s an article taking Rolling Stone magazine to task for failure to include the iconic "Bo Diddley" as one its best guitar songs.

Originally posted: June 2, 2008

Rolling Stone’s Bo Diddley snub

In a strange way it’s fitting that Bo Diddley died while Rolling Stone’s “100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time” issue was fresh on newsstands. He’s not on the list. His omission underscores 1) how underappreciated Bo Diddley was, and 2) how wrongheaded Rolling Stone’s list is. The magazine shows its interest in recognizing rock’s heritage by choosing Chuck Berry’s “Johnny B. Goode” (1958) as No. 1 instead of a song by one of the more towering guitar-hero types like Jimi Hendrix (No. 2 with “Purple Haze”). Berry earned the top spot by essentially inventing riff-rock guitar playing. Keith Richards and the Rolling Stones owe their existence to his rhythmic style. But then for the next 99 spots, no Bo Diddley? Let’s hear how the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (spearheaded by Rolling Stone publisher Jann Wenner) describes 1987 inductee Diddley: “Bo Diddley broke new ground in rock and roll’s formative years with his unique guitar work, indelible African rhythms, inventive songwriting, and larger-than-life persona. He will forever be known for popularizing one of the foundational rhythms of rock and roll: the Bo Diddley beat. He employed it in his namesake song, ‘Bo Diddley,’ as well as other primal rockers like ‘Mona.’” The beat sounds something like this: BOMP-and-BOMP-BOMP-pause-BOMP-BOMP, and it was picked up on Buddy Holly’s “Not Fade Away,” Johnny Otis’s “Willie and the Hand Jive,” the Strangeloves’ “I Want Candy,” the Who’s “Magic Bus,” Bruce Springsteen’s “She’s the One,” the Pretenders’ “Cuban Slide,” U2’s “Desire” and many other songs. Tribune rock critic Greg Kot does a great job describing Diddley’s instrumental interplay on his Turn It Up blog: “His drummer focused on the tom-toms and bass, rarely the snare or the cymbals. Jerome Green’s hypnotic maracas were mixed way out front on the recordings so that they were made to sound unusually full and vibrant. They danced in and out with Diddley’s guitar lines, which were drenched in reverberation. Other percussion instruments also factored into the mixes, all orchestrated by Diddley into rhythms that anticipated the bottom-heavy thunder of heavy metal, the clipped syncopation of funk and the lighter skip of reggae.” Rolling Stone’s list is for “greatest guitar songs,” not guitar solos or virtuosos, so the omission of “Bo Diddley” (from 1955, the same year as Chuck Berry’s first single, “Maybellene”), “Hey, Bo Diddley” or “Who Do You Love” is tin-eared and dunderheaded. These are groundbreaking guitar songs performed by one of the all-time great, driving rhythm players. And I’ll take head-boppin’, body-shakin’ rhythm over solos any day. Hear for yourself as Bo Diddley tears into “Hey, Bo Diddley” and “Bo Diddley" in 1966’s “The Big TNT Show”: That video was recorded in the 1960s 6 years before Stix was even born.  But here’s yet an even earlier look at Bo and his compatriot Chuck Berry in the 1950’s at the start of it all.  [by the way, if you are ever in St Louis, Chuck Berry still performs now and then in the Duck Room at Blueberry Hill not far from Washington University.]

The guy on the couch in the clip on Chuck Berry is a guy called Jimmy Clanton who was famous for a ballad "Just a Dream" in the 1950s.  The clip of him and Sandy Stewart is from a 1959 movie called "Go, Johnny, Go" that features performances by Chuck Berry, Jackie wilson, Ritchie Valens, The Cadillacs, The Flamingos & Eddie Cochran, among others.

Here’s a video of a tribute to Bo Diddley many years later – see if you can recognize the famous musicians playing back-up. Did you know Frankie Avalon was a trumpet player before he started singing?

I’d post more, but I’m afraid it would extending blog loading time.   Look on YouTube for more Bo Diddley.  There are clips of him with Ron Wood and all kinds of folks.

Rock & Roll will never die.  btw  I saw Ike & Tine Turner and also Chuck Berry live in East St Louis as a kid before they hit the big time.  That’s back in the day before tracks were recorded separately and musicians lip-synched. 

Julia

Hail, Hail Rock & Roll – Bo is gone but Chuck Remains

We lost a big one.  I remember Bo Diddley’s first hit back when I was in the 6th grade.  Not long after that we were rushing home from school to watch American Bandstand in a friend’s basement.  Lots of younger folks don’t realize what Bo added to rock and roll.  Here’s an article taking Rolling Stone magazine to task for failure to include the iconic "Bo Diddley" as one its best guitar songs.

Originally posted: June 2, 2008

Rolling Stone’s Bo Diddley snub

In a strange way it’s fitting that Bo Diddley died while Rolling Stone’s “100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time” issue was fresh on newsstands. He’s not on the list. His omission underscores 1) how underappreciated Bo Diddley was, and 2) how wrongheaded Rolling Stone’s list is. The magazine shows its interest in recognizing rock’s heritage by choosing Chuck Berry’s “Johnny B. Goode” (1958) as No. 1 instead of a song by one of the more towering guitar-hero types like Jimi Hendrix (No. 2 with “Purple Haze”). Berry earned the top spot by essentially inventing riff-rock guitar playing. Keith Richards and the Rolling Stones owe their existence to his rhythmic style. But then for the next 99 spots, no Bo Diddley? Let’s hear how the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (spearheaded by Rolling Stone publisher Jann Wenner) describes 1987 inductee Diddley: “Bo Diddley broke new ground in rock and roll’s formative years with his unique guitar work, indelible African rhythms, inventive songwriting, and larger-than-life persona. He will forever be known for popularizing one of the foundational rhythms of rock and roll: the Bo Diddley beat. He employed it in his namesake song, ‘Bo Diddley,’ as well as other primal rockers like ‘Mona.’” The beat sounds something like this: BOMP-and-BOMP-BOMP-pause-BOMP-BOMP, and it was picked up on Buddy Holly’s “Not Fade Away,” Johnny Otis’s “Willie and the Hand Jive,” the Strangeloves’ “I Want Candy,” the Who’s “Magic Bus,” Bruce Springsteen’s “She’s the One,” the Pretenders’ “Cuban Slide,” U2’s “Desire” and many other songs. Tribune rock critic Greg Kot does a great job describing Diddley’s instrumental interplay on his Turn It Up blog: “His drummer focused on the tom-toms and bass, rarely the snare or the cymbals. Jerome Green’s hypnotic maracas were mixed way out front on the recordings so that they were made to sound unusually full and vibrant. They danced in and out with Diddley’s guitar lines, which were drenched in reverberation. Other percussion instruments also factored into the mixes, all orchestrated by Diddley into rhythms that anticipated the bottom-heavy thunder of heavy metal, the clipped syncopation of funk and the lighter skip of reggae.” Rolling Stone’s list is for “greatest guitar songs,” not guitar solos or virtuosos, so the omission of “Bo Diddley” (from 1955, the same year as Chuck Berry’s first single, “Maybellene”), “Hey, Bo Diddley” or “Who Do You Love” is tin-eared and dunderheaded. These are groundbreaking guitar songs performed by one of the all-time great, driving rhythm players. And I’ll take head-boppin’, body-shakin’ rhythm over solos any day. Hear for yourself as Bo Diddley tears into “Hey, Bo Diddley” and “Bo Diddley" in 1966’s “The Big TNT Show”: That video was recorded in the 1960s 6 years before Stix was even born.  But here’s yet an even earlier look at Bo and his compatriot Chuck Berry in the 1950’s at the start of it all.  [by the way, if you are ever in St Louis, Chuck Berry still performs now and then in the Duck Room at Blueberry Hill not far from Washington University.]

The guy on the couch in the clip on Chuck Berry is a guy called Jimmy Clanton who was famous for a ballad "Just a Dream" in the 1950s.  The clip of him and Sandy Stewart is from a 1959 movie called "Go, Johnny, Go" that features performances by Chuck Berry, Jackie wilson, Ritchie Valens, The Cadillacs, The Flamingos & Eddie Cochran, among others.

Here’s a video of a tribute to Bo Diddley many years later – see if you can recognize the famous musicians playing back-up. Did you know Frankie Avalon was a trumpet player before he started singing?

I’d post more, but I’m afraid it would extending blog loading time.   Look on YouTube for more Bo Diddley.  There are clips of him with Ron Wood and all kinds of folks.

Rock & Roll will never die.  btw  I saw Ike & Tine Turner and also Chuck Berry live in East St Louis as a kid before they hit the big time.  That’s back in the day before tracks were recorded separately and musicians lip-synched. 

Julia

Hail, Hail Rock & Roll – Bo is gone but Chuck Remains

We lost a big one.  I remember Bo Diddley’s first hit back when I was in the 6th grade.  Not long after that we were rushing home from school to watch American Bandstand in a friend’s basement.  Lots of younger folks don’t realize what Bo added to rock and roll.  Here’s an article taking Rolling Stone magazine to task for failure to include the iconic "Bo Diddley" as one its best guitar songs.

Originally posted: June 2, 2008

Rolling Stone’s Bo Diddley snub

In a strange way it’s fitting that Bo Diddley died while Rolling Stone’s “100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time” issue was fresh on newsstands. He’s not on the list. His omission underscores 1) how underappreciated Bo Diddley was, and 2) how wrongheaded Rolling Stone’s list is. The magazine shows its interest in recognizing rock’s heritage by choosing Chuck Berry’s “Johnny B. Goode” (1958) as No. 1 instead of a song by one of the more towering guitar-hero types like Jimi Hendrix (No. 2 with “Purple Haze”). Berry earned the top spot by essentially inventing riff-rock guitar playing. Keith Richards and the Rolling Stones owe their existence to his rhythmic style. But then for the next 99 spots, no Bo Diddley? Let’s hear how the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (spearheaded by Rolling Stone publisher Jann Wenner) describes 1987 inductee Diddley: “Bo Diddley broke new ground in rock and roll’s formative years with his unique guitar work, indelible African rhythms, inventive songwriting, and larger-than-life persona. He will forever be known for popularizing one of the foundational rhythms of rock and roll: the Bo Diddley beat. He employed it in his namesake song, ‘Bo Diddley,’ as well as other primal rockers like ‘Mona.’” The beat sounds something like this: BOMP-and-BOMP-BOMP-pause-BOMP-BOMP, and it was picked up on Buddy Holly’s “Not Fade Away,” Johnny Otis’s “Willie and the Hand Jive,” the Strangeloves’ “I Want Candy,” the Who’s “Magic Bus,” Bruce Springsteen’s “She’s the One,” the Pretenders’ “Cuban Slide,” U2’s “Desire” and many other songs. Tribune rock critic Greg Kot does a great job describing Diddley’s instrumental interplay on his Turn It Up blog: “His drummer focused on the tom-toms and bass, rarely the snare or the cymbals. Jerome Green’s hypnotic maracas were mixed way out front on the recordings so that they were made to sound unusually full and vibrant. They danced in and out with Diddley’s guitar lines, which were drenched in reverberation. Other percussion instruments also factored into the mixes, all orchestrated by Diddley into rhythms that anticipated the bottom-heavy thunder of heavy metal, the clipped syncopation of funk and the lighter skip of reggae.” Rolling Stone’s list is for “greatest guitar songs,” not guitar solos or virtuosos, so the omission of “Bo Diddley” (from 1955, the same year as Chuck Berry’s first single, “Maybellene”), “Hey, Bo Diddley” or “Who Do You Love” is tin-eared and dunderheaded. These are groundbreaking guitar songs performed by one of the all-time great, driving rhythm players. And I’ll take head-boppin’, body-shakin’ rhythm over solos any day. Hear for yourself as Bo Diddley tears into “Hey, Bo Diddley” and “Bo Diddley" in 1966’s “The Big TNT Show”: That video was recorded in the 1960s 6 years before Stix was even born.  But here’s yet an even earlier look at Bo and his compatriot Chuck Berry in the 1950’s at the start of it all.  [by the way, if you are ever in St Louis, Chuck Berry still performs now and then in the Duck Room at Blueberry Hill not far from Washington University.]

The guy on the couch in the clip on Chuck Berry is a guy called Jimmy Clanton who was famous for a ballad "Just a Dream" in the 1950s.  The clip of him and Sandy Stewart is from a 1959 movie called "Go, Johnny, Go" that features performances by Chuck Berry, Jackie wilson, Ritchie Valens, The Cadillacs, The Flamingos & Eddie Cochran, among others.

Here’s a video of a tribute to Bo Diddley many years later – see if you can recognize the famous musicians playing back-up. Did you know Frankie Avalon was a trumpet player before he started singing?

I’d post more, but I’m afraid it would extending blog loading time.   Look on YouTube for more Bo Diddley.  There are clips of him with Ron Wood and all kinds of folks.

Rock & Roll will never die.  btw  I saw Ike & Tine Turner and also Chuck Berry live in East St Louis as a kid before they hit the big time.  That’s back in the day before tracks were recorded separately and musicians lip-synched. 

Julia