I haven't seen him, but I'd bet this is your last chance to see him. I think he lost a foot to Diabetes last year - You'll have to let us all know how it goes.

I'll bet he can still play with fire in his soul.

have you ever seen the Bo Diddley clip of him performing on the Ed Sullivan Show? It was 1954. The faces of the audience are hilarious - He blew their minds. they'd never seen anything like that before!

Chris

"You can't tell where you're going if you don't know where you've been"

What little I have heard of Bo Diddley I will admit is super cool. I really like that trademark rhythm he's got, and it seems to lend itself to really good covers. Plus, I always thought his instrumental "Aztec" would make for a cool surf cover in the right hands.

Klas
I saw Bo Diddley live in Stockholm sometime in the mid 80s. Can't remember much as it was a long time ago and I assume I was totally drunk too. Something tells me it was a pretty good show though. Anyway, over the years I've learned to turn down my expectations on acts that started out in the 50s/60s and who are still performing today. I've been disappointed more than once including 3 Dick Dale shows.

Bo Diddley 1965: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4QSCLccu08
Bo Diddley 2006: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=va70nQVt934

On a similiar note, saw Little Richard a few weeks ago performing here on the UT campus - his between song banter and comments were actually the best part of the show!

I saw Bo a few months ago and he was looking bad. He was barely able to walk out and sat on a chair the whole show. His guitar playing is gone but his voice is still top notch. Dispite it being a bit sad, I had a really good time.

Enjoy the show. I have a feeling this is Bo's last as well.

Tiki

Well it was a good night, the Basment is a great venue - very small club with a seated dining section around the stage and a teared horeshoe behind it. Bo played for about and hour and a bit, lots of talking - jokes and stories of his life. His guitar tone was very distinct, thick and shimmery. He hit a few bum notes here and there, his style was very economical. His voice was very good, and he was entertaining, funny and very relaxed.

The band suprised me, with an organ/keyboardist being one of the highlights - a lady in her 50's at least, could have been playing in a retirement home but she was rocking the joint, really cool, she played maraccas too. The bass was and older lady too. Solid groove, she did the musical coversation thing with Bo.

He did a rap number, played who do you love not like i imagined he would, kinda more country, and he finished off the set with a climatic drum and cowbell duo on the drummers kit. No encore, and he could drop off the face of the earth soon. I guess his whole set was an encore. Very happy i went to watch the man perform, was not dissapointed one bit.

Adam

Glad th hear it was a good show -

Ya know, seeing that clip from '66, Bo was a real bad man - super cool. I'd forgotten how dynamic he was. Good stuff.

Chris

"You can't tell where you're going if you don't know where you've been"

I heard about it, never heard it, but i reckon the "Bo Diddley Beat" is great for surf music, like in "surfin' drums" by The Surfaris!!

adam

pointbreakspy
The band suprised me, with an organ/keyboardist being one of the highlights - a lady in her 50's at least, could have been playing in a retirement home but she was rocking the joint, really cool, she played maraccas too. The bass was and older lady too. Solid groove, she did the musical coversation thing with Bo.

That's kind of a Bo Diddley (Ellas McDaniel, originally Ellas Bates, 1928-) trademark. Check out the Duchess and Lady Bo et al. I'm not all that up on Bo Diddley, but there's a mangled hint of this in the Animals' The Story of Bo Diddley, if anyone remembers that, and I recently stumbled on a note on Lady Bo by Phil Dirt. Some Googling has clarified matters for me. See below. The backchat and maracas were originally Jerome Green, who began as the hat passer in the street corner version of the act - Bo and his wife. The dialog in Say, Man (a musical version of the dozens) is probably the model for the Journeymen's Surfers Rule (on Rare Surf Vol 1).

Incidentally, I've just learned that the nickname "bo diddly" is a variant of the expression "diddly squat" as in "The Duchess is red hot. Your gal ain't diddly squat." It means "not much."

My candidates for honorary instrumentals are You Can't Judge a Book by Lookin' at the Cover and, of course, Road Runner. There really is an album called Bo Diddley's Surf Party, and I've seen a pixture of the cover, but I've never heard it.

The Duchess
Lady Bo
Jerome Green
Musicians
Wikipedia

Last edited: Apr 12, 2007 14:16:04

I saw Bo back in '93 in a tiny dive bar with a great rockabilly back up band and it was awesome. He went into "I'm a Man" and a fight broke out which I thought was about the best thing ever. I mean if there is ever going to be a knock down brawl in a bar (and this was) can you imagine a better man on stage playing a better song?

I was crestfallen when he stopped in mid song and started a big "Why can't we all get along" speach. I asked him after if he didn't realize the song he was playing at that time was and he just looked at me like I was goofy. Oh well. For half a song it was the best rock and roll moment ever.

Spanky
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