A CHUCK BERRY MEMORY
It was the first day of June in 1987 and the HARD ROCK CAFE in Dallas had set aside the afternoon to celebrate and honor the pioneer of Rock n’ Roll, Chuck Berry.
How did they propose commemorating the legendary inventor of the ‘duck walk’?
A stained glass window was to be unveiled by the man himself.
I was there with a last minute substitute photographer for ROLLING STONE magazine, my newly wedded wife, Leslie. She had special equipment which needed carrying and perhaps a bit of moral support through all the frantic hubbub which attends such public events.
There was a schedule published in the Dallas newspaper, but that didn’t mean it was really organized by anybody who knew what was going on or who had the experience necessary to ride herd over the ensuing chaos!
In fact, it soon became all too obvious that Chuck Berry was his own man who, after landing at the airport, submitted a list of demands as to what sort of car was allowed to pick him up and carry him to the HARD ROCK CAFE, what he wanted to eat when he got there, where he would be staying, and on and on…
One by one these demands were met. What choice? He was THE EVENT!
From The Dallas Morning News, June 1, 1987
As fans, friends and diners applauded, Berry pulled a rope to reveal the colorful, ceiling-high window picture that shows him in a familiar, wide-legged pose, playing guitar. Berry's picture joins stained-glass murals of Elvis Presley and Jerry Lee Lewis.
Introduced by club owner Isaac Tigrett as "the living king of rock 'n' roll,' Berry nodded, waved and blew kisses at the audience, but did not speak. Later, the bemused veteran said he always wonders, "Why is that my (stained-glass) window and not the guy's next door?'
More than 300 patrons, including actress Linda Gray of the Dallas television series, were on hand as Berry, 60, unveiled the window and also removed a velvet cover to reveal a brass star bearing his name on the "walk of stars' on the sidewalk outside the club. Berry's star took its place between stars for Presley and Lubbock rock 'n' roll legend Buddy Holly.
Later, Berry recalled that his first appearance in Texas was in a Houston nightclub 30 years ago. He said he no longer tours, and plans to release in September what he believes will be his last album. The record will be released in conjunction with an autobiographical book and movie, he said.
The two-record album will contain "a couple of spirituals, a couple of country-and-western songs and lots of new rock,' said Berry, well-known for such hits as Maybelline, Sweet Little Sixteen and Memphis.
Berry said he disapproves of current efforts by some citizen groups to label, and sometimes censor, adult lyrics in rock songs. He also criticized "the 3 percent' of singers who produce such songs.
"It's not necessary in the music,' he said.
In the 1970s, Berry did record a song -- My Ding-a-Ling -- with racy lyrics. He noted that the song is more than 13 years old and said he never performs it unless it is requested. "After all, how old can a ding-a-ling get and still perform?' he asked.
As Berry held court, Ms. Gray came in to proclaim her admiration. Asked to pose for a picture, Berry immediately stood, swept the Dallas star into his arms and directed the photographer to "send me an 8-by-10 in color.'
Berry declined to speculate why his music has attracted a following that continues to grow.
"I don't make the hit,' he said. “People who buy the albums make the hit.”
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After all the photos had been posed, flashed, posed, flashed, and mailed off to ROLLING STONE in the pre-internet days when snail mail was THE mail, Leslie and I made our way back to Fort Worth to reflect on the overwhelming sense of history we’d witnessed and participated in.
For instance…
After the official ceremony noted above, the press and photographer were gathered in a “secret room” upstairs at the HARD ROCK CAFE where the reporters asked banal questions and completely missed the humor of every witty quip from Chuck Berry’s lips.
I laughed at everything, but nobody else seemed to get it.
The last question seems to me today to be rather poignant, yet still amusing.
A pretentious young reporter in solemn tones asked Berry this question.
“What do you want on your tombstone?”
Chuck Berry looked straight into my eyes as he grinned and replied,
“A smooth finish.”
Now, that man is gone. His impact on the world is phenomenal.
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Writer Stereo Williams said it best in an article for The Daily Beast.
“Chuck Berry is the greatest rock ’n’ roll artist of his generation. Elvis Presley may have become the hyper-branded icon and Little Richard may have the larger-than-life persona, but it’s Chuck with the richest body of work. His distinctive guitar riffing made him a fixture on the charts in the 1950s and it made the instrument rock ’n’ roll’s definitive symbol. Unlike Elvis, Berry wrote and played his classic tunes, and unlike Richard, Berry managed to extend his career past his 1950s run with a string of strong singles in the early 1960s. Berry’s influence is impossible to overstate—as a songwriter, lyricist, and guitarist, he’s the most complete summation of what “rock ’n’ roll” is at its purest.
“Chuck Berry, he just leapt out of the radio at me,” Keith Richards said while honoring Berry at the 2013 Polar Awards in Sweden. “I ate him basically, I mean I breathed him—it wasn't just food, he was the air I breathed for many years when I was learning guitar and trying to figure out how you could be such an all-rounder. Such a great voice, such a great player and also such a great showman… it was all in one package.”
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Post Script: The 35mm slides were rejected by ROLLING STONE as unusable.
Faulty synchronization between the light flash and shutter speed, as I recall.
Sigh.