News Archive - October 2002

BO DIDDLEY launches new website and online store
Wednesday, 30. October 2002 - 16:10

Hey, BO DIDDLEY Fans!
BO DIDDLEY has announced the launch of his new website and online store.

"I'm gonna show people a whole new side to BO DIDDLEY. In fact, I think I'm
probably gonna shock a few people! I gave the record companies a lot of my
material over the years, but I kept the best stuff! I'm currently fixin' to
release recordings available exclusively from off my new "Bo Bo Diddley's Turnup
Root" website of me playing classical music, for instance. I also have a brand
new song comin' out titled "We Ain't Scared", that will also be available
exclusively from my new "Bo Bo Diddley's Turnup Root" website, and that I just
know is all set to get people talkin'!"

In conjunction with the "Bo Bo Diddley's Turnup Root" website, BO DIDDLEY is
currently also shaping up to release CDs from off his website of both brand new
recordings as well as a series of exciting limited edition collectors' CDs of
previously unreleased archive material recorded in his various home studios
during the past 40 years.

Right now, visitors to his website can shop online at "Bo Diddley's Online
Store" powered by CafePress.com and purchase a range of cool-looking and
exclusive limited edition items including T-shirts, sweatshirts, BBQ aprons and
vehicle license plate frames that will make perfect gifts for the forthcoming
holiday season.

As we mentioned to you in an previous newsletter, BO DIDDLEY and the funk/soul
band Munkeez Strikin' Matchiz have just recorded and are set to release a brand
new and hard-hitting song titled "We Ain't Scared".

Recorded at the Skylab Recording Studios in Gainesville, FL, the track is one of
three produced at a recent 10 hour recording session by BO DIDDLEY's long-time
producer Scott Free and features BO DIDDLEY on lead vocals, Bodetta on keyboards
and vocals, Jozon Mezak on bass and vocals, Shadow on drums and vocals, Jo C on
percussion and vocals and Scott "Skyntyte" Free on guitar and vocals.

"We Ain't Scared" was written to capture the feelings of patriotism that BO
DIDDLEY's fans have expressed to him at his US concert performances since the
terrorist attacks of September 11th 2001.

To listen to an exclusive 2 minute audio sample of "We Ain't Scared" and to read
the transcript of a no punches pulled interview with BO DIDDLEY on the occasion
of the recent broadcast debut of the song, you are invited to visit the
newly-launched "Bo Bo Diddley's Turnup Root" website at
http://www.turnup-root.com/ After they have listened to the audio sample,
visitors are encouraged to e-mail the website with their thoughts and comments
or to place an order for a copy of the song on CD.

And finally, for any of you fans living in the north-central Florida area of the
US, the funk/soul band Munkeez Strikin' Matchiz, which includes in its line-up
BO DIDDLEY's daughter Bodetta on keyboards and vocals and his long-time record
producer Scott Free on guitars, keyboards and vocals, are playing at Eddie C's,
1315 S. Main St. in Gainesville, FL this Friday (November 1st), beginning at
9.00pm.

A federal judge has dismissed a royalties lawsuit against legendary rocker Chuck Berry
by his former bandmate pianist Johnnie Johnson. U.S. District Judge Donald Stohr of
St. Louis ruled that too many years had passed since the more than 30 songs in
dispute were written.

Johnson sued Berry in November 2000, claiming he was owed royalties because he co-wrote
many of Berry's biggest hits from 1955-1966, including "Roll Over Beethoven,"
"No Particular Place To Go," and "Sweet Little Sixteen." Johnson also claims to be
the "Johnny" that inspired the rousing song "Johnny B. Goode." Because Berry copyrighted
all of the songs in his name alone, Johnson received none of the royalty payments.

Berry's attorney Martin Green said Berry, 76, has no hard feelings toward Johnson, 77.
"He likes him very much, considers him a friend, and expects to play with him in the future,"
Green said. "He doesn't blame Johnnie for the lawsuit. He blames some of Johnson's advisers,"
he added. Specifically, Green said, Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones and blues legend
Bo Diddley (news) recommended Johnson pursue the lawsuit, St. Louis Today reports.

Under the federal Copyright Act, the statue of limitations to seek royalty claims is
normally three years. Johnson's attorney Mitch Margo claims his client was so muddled
by years of excessive alcohol abuse, he was incapable of understanding he had a right
to the decades of royalty payments Berry was collecting.

In his 19-page order dismissing the case, Stohr said that he was "unpersuaded" that
Johnson was not competent to recognize his rights. He also threw out Berry's own
challenge to Johnson's trademark of the phrase "The Father Of Rock And Roll."

ST. LOUIS (AP) - A federal judge has thrown out a royalties lawsuit against
Chuck Berry (news) by former collaborator Johnnie Johnson, ruling that too many
years had passed since the more than 30 songs in dispute were written.

Johnson, a piano player, sued Berry in November 2000 in U.S. District Court here
over royalties generated by songs written from 1955-66. They include some of
rock 'n' roll's most famous songs, including "No Particular Place to Go,"
"Roll Over Beethoven" and "Sweet Little Sixteen."

The lawsuit argued that Johnson and Berry were co-writers on many of the
songs Berry made famous, but because Berry copyrighted them in his name alone,
Johnson got none of the royalties.

After the lawsuit's dismissal Monday, Berry attorney Martin Green said his
76-year-old client, now living in the St. Louis suburb of Ladue, has no
hard feelings for Johnson, 77.

"He likes him very much, considers him a friend and expects to play with him
in the future," Green said. "He doesn't blame Johnnie for the lawsuit. He blames
some of Johnnie's advisers," specifically the Rolling Stones' Keith Richards (news)
and bluesman Bo Diddley (news) for recommending that Johnson pursue the case,
Green said.

Johnson attorney Mitch Margo said his client had not yet decided whether to appeal.

So it goes in St. Louis, where a federal judge has tossed a royalties lawsuit filed
against the rock icon by former sideman Johnnie Johnson, the pianist immortalized in
Berry's classic "Johnnie B. Goode."

Johnson sued Berry in 2000 claiming to have cowritten the music for 52 of Berry's
songs from 1955 to 1966, including such rock 'n' roll staples as "Sweet Little Sixteen,"
"Roll Over Beethoven" and "No Particular Place to Go." Johnson said he had come up with
the rollicking piano riffs and trademark rhythm backing Berry's lyrics.

Through his suit, Johnson was attempting to recoup potentially millions in unrealized
profits from Berry and his publishing company, Isalee Music.

But in a 19-page opinion issued Monday, U.S. District Judge Donald Stohr determined
that under the federal Copyright Act, Johnson, 77, was not entitled to anything because
he had simply waited too long to pursue his case against Berry, 76, who copyrighted
all the songs himself.

Johnson's attorney, Mitch Margo, had argued that decades of excessive alcoholism
coupled with a low IQ had hindered his client's ability to comprehend the situation
and was easily manipulated by Berry. "Johnnie is a man who is a genius at the piano
but has troube doing other things," Margo told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Stohr, however, said he was "unpersuaded," and challenged Johnson's claim that
he was incapacitated.

For its part, Berry's camp was psyched about the outcome. But Berry's lawyer
says the rocker is sympathetic to his former pianist's struggles.

"He likes him very much, considers him a friend and expects to play with him in the future,"
attorney Martin Green told the Post-Dispatch. "He doesn't blame Johnnie for the lawsuit.
He blames some of Johnnie's advisers."

According to Green, those advisers include Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards
and blues great Bo Diddley, who, the lawyer says, convinced Johnson to take on his former mate.

Richards has been championing Johnson's cause for years, producing the pianist's
Grammy-nominated 1987 album Blue Hand Johnnie and launching a petition drive to
get Johnson inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. (Johnson was enshrined
last year in the "sideman" category.)

Johnson and Berry first hooked up way back in 1952, when the latter took over as
frontman for the pianist's small combo and became the house band at the
Cosmopolitian Club in East St. Louis. Berry's showmanship was a big draw,
and the outfit was renamed the Chuck Berry Trio.

A recommendation from Chicago blues man Muddy Waters led to an audition and
deal with Chess Records. And the rest is rock history.

But Johnson wants to be remembered as more than a footnote. Margo says the pianist is
still weighing whether to appeal the decision.

Chuck Berry performs tonight in Northampton, England, Chicago Rock Cafe
Tuesday, 22. October 2002 - 14:01

Chuck Berry European Tour 2002
22.10.02 - Northampton, England - Chicago Rock Cafe

John Collis: "Chuck Berry - The Biography"
Saturday, 12. October 2002 - 08:16

Book Description:
Chuck Berry is one of the greatest talents in popular
music, and also an individual legendary for his difficulty
and capriciousness. It's no exaggeration to
say that, with songs like "Roll Over Beethoven",
"Johnny B Goode, "No Particular Place to Go" and a
whole host of others, he invented rock and roll.
Literally dozens of his songs are now timless classics
still performed by bands in clubs and pubs every night
across the world. As a wordsmith he also set a
benchmark for intricate, dazzingly witty and memorable
lyrics unequalled by perhaps anyone apart from Bob
Dylan. And he invented the duck walk.

But as a musician he has been respected rather than
ever loved by his peers - after producing the
birthday-tribute film "Hail, Hail Rock and Roll", for him,
Keith Richards even remarked that he "wouldn't
warm to Chuck Berry if he was cremated next to me".
Berry would always tour by himself, and use a
different clutch of pick-up musicians in every town,
to avoid the expenses of keeping a band on the road;
he would always insist on payment in cash up front
before he'd even go on stage; he'd usually perform the
contractual minimum of a short set; and he'd not only
invest his considerable wealth in property and a
stable of cars but also shamelessly congratulate
himself on his acquisitiveness. And his career has
been overshadowed, and more that once stalled, by
trouble with the law, and time in jail for a
relationship with an under-age woman.

Until now, Chuck Berry's own maverick autobiography
has been the main source for anyone wanting to read
about the life of this extraordinary genius, for there
is no other word. But now, John Collis has interviewed
Berry's fellow musicians, as well as former promoters
and tour managers, and researched the truth about
Berry's life back in his home city of St Louis, to
produce the first rounded, objective and sometimes
shocking portrait of a man who, even in his seventies,
is still treading the boards and singing of "Sweet
Little Sixteen".

About the Author:
John Collis was the author of the legendary "Rock
Primer" back in the seventies and has also written a
biography of Van Morrison and a history of Chess
Records, the American blues label. He lives in London,
England.

Bruce Pegg: "Brown Eyed Handsome Man: The Life And Hard Times Of Chuck Berry"
Thursday, 10. October 2002 - 15:06

The book is scheduled for publication on October 29.
Bruce Pegg started a web page that will contain information
about the book--reviews, media attention, etc.--at

Jerry was kept for observation at the Memphis hospital until yesterday afternoon.
He is doing fine, and he's back home at the ranch. (01.10.02)

Concert Review of Chuck Berry's show in Northampton, MA added
Wednesday, 02. October 2002 - 08:51

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