Last Show in St. Louis

When I was visiting Alabama back in May I was having a conversation with some old friends about music. One of my friends told us in her heavy southern accent that her life-long dream was to learn how to play "boogie woogie piana". I thought about her last Wednesday when I was watching Chuck Berry and his band at the Duck Room in Blueberry Hill. Chuck has a standing gig there every month and I have been saying for four years that I was going to go. I was glad before seeing this performance that I had recently watched the documentary Hail Hail Rock n Roll which was filmed twenty years ago in St. Louis. It explained a lot about Chuck's performance. Basically Chuck Berry does whatever the hell he wants to and his band has to watch him intently to keep up. Chuck's son plays guitar in his band and also acts as guitar tech. When Chuck broke a string, Chuck Jr. took the guitar from his dad, handed him another, and exited the stage to re-string. Chuck's daughter also performs with the band, singing the blues and playing harmonica. She is a force of nature. The other members of his band, including a boogie woogie piano player have been playing with him for a long time. While I imagine at 80, Chuck's performance is not as energetic as it used to be, it was an amazing night of blues and old time rock and roll. To hear him play the beginning of Johnny B. Goode sent the room into a frenzy. The audience included college students as well as people who could have been those college students' great grandparents. It was truly an experience. --J