Staying Home This Coming Holiday Weekend? Don't Fret...

THE RADIATORS are coming for one night in Key West on July 3rd, and the next two nights at the CULTURE ROOM in Fort Lauderdale.



Here's some trivia to bandy about when you're having conversation over cocktails. Ask who can name a band that's still intact 30 years after its inception. Better yet, ask how many they can name that still have the entire original line-up. The Stones? The Who? The Allman Brothers? Nope. These groups may retain the names, but none can provide a pedigree.

Then there's the Radiators. Yeah, that's right... the Radiators, a New Orleans-based band known for an eclectic blend of rock, blues, funk, and finesse. Granted, they can't claim the high profile accorded those aforementioned megastars. Still, there's something to be said for a group that still boasts all its original members, is still touring tirelessly, and still makes new music. "Death and ego have eluded us," Radiators guitarist Dave Malone says when queried on the subject of the band's longevity. "We've never pulled the fake break-up or final tour ploy. We find the great musical moments far outweigh the bad."

Appropriately, the album they're currently touting is a two-disc compilation called Wild & Free, one that gathers various rarities and live tracks culled from every phase of their career. Several songs can be traced to the band's beginnings, shortly after a jam session involving the principals -- Malone, Ed Volker (vocals/keyboard), Camile Baudoin (guitar), Reggie Scanlon (bass), and Frank Bua Jr. (drums) -- encouraged the five musicians to start a group. When the Radiators were initially formed in 1978, they started off sharing stages with Crescent City legends like Professor Longhair, Ernie K-Doe, and Earl King, before they established their own enviable reputation within New Orleans' hallowed music scene.

In the decades since, the Radiators have released numerous albums (first for Epic and later for their own Radz Records label) and crisscrossed the country incessantly, playing nearly 150 dates a year. In the process, they've garnered a devoted fan following in far-flung locales all over the country, including right here in South Florida.

New Times recently spoke with Malone during a brief respite between shows in Colorado and an upcoming jaunt that will bring them back to Broward for a two-night stint. He was eager to reflect on the band's past, present and future.

New Times: So how do you account for the Radiators' ongoing popularity?

Malone: It's probably apparent that we're enjoying ourselves onstage, and the infection spreads. Having good songs and great fans to feed back energy certainly helps.

It seems that Florida has always had an affinity for you guys. Any explanation?

Possibly the Gulf of Mexico connection, but more likely the Caribbean and Spanish influence and the vibe of the music... and the mutual respect and fear of hurricanes.

You guys have known each other awhile, right?

Ed and Camile have known each other since kindergarten. I first met Ed at Tulane, where he was one of those "hang-out-with-the-philosophy-majors" guys. We first played together in the piano room of the student union. There was a piano in there that he particularly liked, and I brought an acoustic guitar. We worked up some songs to go play at the children's' hospital to cheer those little people up. But we probably scared the crap out of them.

It would seem the Radiators were a jam band phenomenon even before anyone knew what a jam band was. What do you think of how the genre has grown and expanded?

The reality is that we were, and still are, a band that "jammed" within the setting of the songs. The songs were always infinitely more important to us than the jamming. I don't really hear a lot of great songs out there in Jam-ville. Great jamming though. I think the whole genre came about to fill the void left by the Dead not being around, and also because of a revitalized interest in bluegrass-type stuff.

How much of your music is structured and how much is improvised?

Some of the songs are pretty structured, with sections within for jamming, and others are looser and can go off in any direction. I have no idea what the percentage of each is.

How fluid is your set list? Do you know what you're going to play any given night, or is there a lot of spontaneity?

Very fluid... more like a flood, but with song flow instead of water flow. It's been a very rare thing to actually follow a set list from beginning to end. Ed always writes one out, and he and I refine it right before the show, and then we usually change it anyway. The decision to veer is certainly not scientific. Crowd reaction can influence it and so can a random idea.

Were you in New Orleans when Hurricane Katrina hit?

I evacuated when it became apparent that moving to higher ground was the right thing to do, especially with kids in the picture. I'm the only band member who had three to four feet of standing water in the house. August 29th was my birthday, and I ended up with a T-shirt from Piggly Wiggly and a cake from K-Mart. I actually now live an hour and a half west of the city. My wife was afraid of being in New Orleans with me being on the road so much.

What are things like there now?

The New Orleans I loved is gone and will probably never return. I'm really shocked and hurt that more Americans aren't livid about how GW handled -- or not -- that whole thing. The club scene is still going strong. But remember -- this is a city that attempts to solve most problems by having a parade.

Are you still as eager as ever to go out and tour?

For the first time ever, traveling is a complete nightmare... and a very expensive one at that. We've been doing this so long that our families are quite used to it. The traveling headaches make the time on stage even more precious. We get along fine, but don't hang out as much as we used to.

The new album's liner notes are attributed to "Zeke Fishhead." Who's that?

Ed [Volker] used to write a music column for a local rag under the pen name "Zeke Fishhead." Since he writes most of the songs, the fans started calling it "Fishhead Music"

What would you tell folks who are not that familiar with the Radiators to expect?

Hooky songs with a danceable feel, played by guys enjoying themselves who also happen to know how to play their instruments.

So what are the plans for the next 30 years?

Keep doing what we do till we don't do it no more! As they say: "The first 30 are the hardest."

From NewtimesBpb
http://www.browardpalmbeach.com/events/the-radiators-533339/


PETER MURPHY - Saturday night July 5th at Revolution in Fort Lauderdale




With black lace-up boots and corsets being sold in Hot Topic mall outlets across the country, it's no laughing matter to carry the mantle of the Godfather of Goth these days. Yet that's the situation in which the deep-voiced, high-cheekboned Peter Murphy finds himself, 30 years after the release of the 1979 single considered to be the start of gothic rock, "Bela Lugosi's Dead."

Sure, there were bands who formed slightly earlier and were tagged as "gothic" by the British press -- Siouxsie and the Banshees, Joy Division, The Cure -- but "Bela," with its nine minutes of dub-laden, minor-key gloom and lyrics about virginal brides filing past the movie vampire's tomb, became the lyrical and thematic standard on which this subcultural wave emerged, carving its own niche in the post-punk scene and making its way to the States with seminal bands like Christian Death and 45 Grave.

Influenced primarily by '70s glam acts like T. Rex and David Bowie, Bauhaus' tendency to rise from coffins onstage and drive around in a hearse gave birth to the Batcave movement in the UK, and after "Bela" spent nearly two years on the country's indie charts, it went on to record four albums and cement a loyal fanbase before breaking up in 1983. Guitarist Daniel Ash and drummer David Haskins went on to form Love and Rockets, known for the hits "No New Tale to Tell" and "So Alive."

Meanwhile, Peter Murphy had embarked on a solo career, and after a slow start, his early '90s output on the albums "Deep" and "Holy Smoke" produced a couple of modern rock radio hits.

Then out of the blue, Murphy, who was raised Irish Catholic, made a life-changing decision that probably explains why so many goth girls these days are interested in whirling dervishes and bellydancing. Murphy fell in love with a Turkish woman (his wife, Beyhan, leads a modern dance company) and became fascinated with Sufi mysticism, soon converting to Islam and moving to Ankara, where he lives today.


When Murphy fell back into the Bauhaus fold for its 1998 "Resurrection" reunion tour he kept his religious obligations by refusing to perform some of the classic goth anthems that he regarded as blasphemous.

"Holy Smoke" already showed traces of Middle-Eastern influence, but when he discovered the music of Sufi-inspired Turkish techno producer/Montreal resident Mercan Dede in a pile of CDs that his wife was listening to for her troupe, Murphy offered to collaborate with Dede immediately. The result was 2002's "Dust" on goth staple Metropolis Records, an album that straddled East and West with elements of trance music, prog-rock, classical and pop, and thoroughly confused longtime Murphy fans.

"I wanted to ... bring in some of the flavours that I was hearing here in Turkey," he told the Web site Postwave, "and I think that worked really well, and there were some beautiful songs on it."

Despite his world music inclinations, Murphy returned to the pop arena for his 2004 release "Unshattered," touring the U.S. with members of darkwave icons The Mission U.K. and Skinny Puppy in his band. It also became clear how much of an influence he and Bauhaus exerted on the second generation of goth-industrial artists: Nine Inch Nails took their boyhood heroes on tour in 2006.

Recording brand new material, Bauhaus released its first album in 15 years, "Go Away White," in March. Listening to the finished product, it's obvious that there were differences pulling the results in several directions. Some tracks sound like Love and Rockets, others resemble Murphy's pop material, and there are a few flashes of Bauhaus' abrasive brilliance, as well as an outright nod to Bowie.

But a tour to promote this record was simply not to be. Despite getting along during the initial recording, Haskins mentions only that "an incident" that occurred. And since the other three members of Bauhaus are still planning to play Lollapalooza as Love and Rockets, one can only assume that the instigator was Murphy.

"In any group, there are constant incidents, so what?" Murphy responded in his Myspace blog. "Committing to a band takes tolerance, love and a massive commitment. If I'd let some disagreement ... distract me from the goal, then I'd have to question my integrity. There is no love where there is no love."

So Bauhaus now rests in the grave, but one place where Murphy knows there will be lots of love is on his solo "Retrospective" tour, which stops here Monday. He'll be mining his entire career for material, drawing on both old and new Bauhaus songs and his solo oeuvre.

Monday Night Jazz Jam & Theater of the Underground at Churchills Pub

Every Monday I go to Church. Not just any church. A Church where the regulars know the characters of crack heads and homeless with their yellow fingernails, missing teeth, and always a new set of cds or a new bike, by name. The homeless, mute, woman on the streets can read every word coming from your mouth. She survives on the roads where I would never walk through at night...through the dark lanes of warehouses from 53rd St. to 60 something St. It's a land of shadows and a wanton supply of every drug imaginable.



Oh Churchill's Pub. How many nights I've spent giving you my quarters to wash my clothes in your smelly Laundromat and playing pool with large biker men and punk rock sub-culturites.

Every Monday I forgive myself of my filthy sins in the filthiest bar in town as my thoughts scat with the blues and jazz scales. Churchill's on a Monday night is a crashing of the parallel universes of Ginsberg, Gillespie, and Picasso in a modern day Miami better known for our plastic world of South Beach. It is a place where people sit like flies at the Miami River on bar stools around the island of spunky bartenders and their concoctions of drinks that you can drown in until even the smelly 40-year-old drunk has conversation that is stimulating.

You can sit for hours at the candlelit tables and imagine yourself in the Beat Era as brass horns slow dance to the soft singing of the guitar and the stand-up bass sounds like the prancing of elephants in the Everglades. Mike Gerber's fingers frolic on the black and white canvas of the piano as he sways his body back and forth, his mouth hung open, shades falling off of the tip of his nose as his inutile eyes, glazed over, stare at some imagined point in the ceiling and a hearing aid droops from both ears. Blind and almost completely deaf he inherits your soul while the music lasts. The drummer with his brushes and mallets gives groovy beats as he pangs his pieces of metals and stretched material like raindrops hitting asphalt.

If you walk outside, pass the person dealing with the sound system and pass the bathrooms with pee puddles and freshly written graffiti, you will find another world of interaction between artists and the admirers of the creators (a.k.a. supporters?). This is where the open-mic of Theatre De Underground is held and anyone with loose lips, the desire to perform, and a creative itch can entertain a backyard full of open-minded bohemians. This place is more of like a support group of artists. It's a comfortable place to just let go and test your performance skills. Mind you, there are some brilliant poets, musicians, actors, etc. that come here, but with them come the not-so-talented poets, musicians, and actors. As both a compliment and a critique to Theatre De Underground, I've observed that the crowd is too forgiving to the excruciatingly painful pieces that we're forced to sit and listen to out of courtesy. They will clap and cheer and tell the performer that they were fabulous. If they had the ability they would throw confetti and roll out a red carpet for each of them. Where is the honesty?! If I finished a performance that had people searching their pockets for things to throw me off the stage with I would appreciate at least one, "God, you suck!" or "Pardon me, but I would like to point out an observation I've made that listening to your work that you've kindly exhibited to us this lovely, lovely evening was like sitting in a patch of thorns while a flock of ibis incessantly dropped feces on my face from the infinite, azure sky." Maybe supplying whipped cream pies to the audience would inspire such honesty.

Churchill's, Churchill's, Churchill's...it's like my dirty living room. I can kick my feet up, sit on the tables, but never do I sit on the toilet seats. Strange characters conglomerate on Monday nights from 40 year-old single moms, to supermodels, to electrical engineers, to your favorite Miami-Made maniacal bus driver, to a 3rd grade teacher or Univ. of Miami Professor. I feel like I fit in quite nicely. You probably would too.

MUSIC = GOOD HEALTH

We have come a long way from the time man first learned to make music using a primitive, home made drum or hollow stem cut from a tree. Today, it could be said that making music is a high-tech industry where digital, even computerized instruments of one sort or another, form a large part of the scene.

From the days of primitive man our emotions have been influenced by musical rhythms, an exhilarating beat makes us tap our feet or encourages us to dance or move in some other way to the rhythm. We feel happy and uplifted, our worries and cares seemingly washed away by the ebb and flow of the sounds. Although you may not realise it, music has power - the often irresistible power to dominate our thoughts and the way we behave!

Scientifically, ongoing research has found that music can stimulate lethargic brain function, encourage the will to exercise after some major operations, help treat depression, stress, and some mental conditions. It is also being used to clinically treat insomnia. heart palpitations, hyperactivity and some psychological problems, to name but a few.

Based on the concept that music can conduct and move energy in the body (very similar to the principles of acupuncture without needles), an innovative form of musical therapy has been developed by Janalea Hoffman, an expert in the musical therapy field. According to Ms Hoffman, beautiful music composed at exactly 50 beats per minute has proven to be particularly effective for chronic pain such as arthritis, back pain, headaches, and as an aid to relaxation.

Although scientific research into the manner in which music affects the workings of the mind and body (psychoacoustics) is relatively recent and ongoing, findings to date suggest that there is, indeed, evidence to show that music has various physiological effects. For example, it has been found that certain types of music can excite the peptides in the brain and stimulate pain-killing endorphins, natural opiates secreted by the hypothalamus. Such being the case, these findings could be said to echo those of pioneering musical therapists, to date.

As a practising psychologist, I am convinced that music has a profound therapeutic effect on the mind and body. Indeed, I have used gentle, soothing, non-obtrusive background music for some years to great effect when treating patients. I also find that many patients using specially selected musical therapy CD's at home between consultations, even after treatment is finished, derive great benefits, both in physical and mental health. .

If you believe, as I do, that "prevention is better than cure", musical therapy can help you keep a calm mind, aid relaxation and positive thinking. It is also known that many chronic aliments are psychosomatic by nature, such as arthritis, rheumatism, asthma and some chronic skin problems and ailments.
Even if you think that musical therapy is far too simple a remedy, my honest advice is....think again. Try it for yourself, you may be pleasantly surprised - indeed, thankful!
Biography.

To find out more about musical therapy- click here;

http://www.clanpublishing.com/

To find out more about Musical Therapy and its potential to heal the body and sooth the mindClick Here: http://www.clanpublishing.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=James_Keith

RIP GEORGE CARLIN

He would tell you himself that he had a good run.
I just cant be sad for the passing of someone who truly lived...

And in my very personal opinion, Mr. Carlin was the greatest comedian.
We will miss this man. RIP GEORGE CARLIN





From a 1980 Playboy Interview

GEORGE CARLIN: As much as I love my family, I enjoy it when the house is empty, because then I know I'm truly alone, as we all are on the planet, after all. You know, every atom in us is originally from a star. And during my moment of aloneness, I'm most mindful of that; that I'm just another group of matter randomly but wonderfully arranged. That's when I feel my internal immortality.

PLAYBOY: Your immortality, as in afterlife?

CARLIN: Not in the christian sense, but I do believe in the survivability of the human spirit. We were all part of a giant explosion once, and we've come a long way. The incredible distances of past and future internal time, the history of this whole fucking, vibrating, internal resonating mother mass - that's what I read and think about more than anything else.

PLAYBOY: Of all the values you rebelled against as a child, what was the one you most despised?

GEORGE CARLIN: Religion. When the Catholics start laying their trip on you, you notice very early in life what a load of shit it is. The hypocrisy is just breath-takingly apparent, even to a child. But what I hated most was seeing those priests and brothers getting so much pleasure out of inflicting pain. I wondered what was wrong with them.

PLAYBOY: Do any other religions interest you?

CARLIN: None of the christian religions do. They're all outer-directed. "Who can I convert?" "Let's go to this country and make them christians." "Wear this." "Do that." "No, don't worship that way. Worship this way or I'll kill you - for the good of your soul, of course." Meanwhile, followers of Eastern religions are sitting in the middle of their minds, experiencing a bliss and a level of consciousness that Western man can't begin to approach. Christianity is all external, all material. Gold. War. Murder. The big churches operate, morally and economically, just like the big corporations. Yet they don't pay taxes. Let them pay their fair share, those fucking religions.

SOUTH FL MUSIC UPDATE: MODEST MOUSE & THE DIRTY DOZEN BRASS BAND

Monday Night June 23rd
Fillmore Miami Beach


MODEST MOUSE



Issaquah, WA, indie rock trio Modest Mouse was formed in 1993 by vocalist/guitarist Isaac Brock, bassist Eric Judy, and drummer Jeremiah Green. After honing their muscular sound in "The Shed" -- a makeshift practice space built by Brock on the land next to his mother's trailer -- Modest Mouse entered Calvin Johnson's Dub Narcotic Studios to cut their 1994 self-titled debut single, released on Johnson's K Records label. Following a move to the Up label, the trio issued two 1996 LPs, This Is a Long Drive for Someone With Nothing to Think About and Interstate 8. After returning to K, Modest Mouse released The Fruit That Ate Itself in 1997; its follow-up from later that year, The Lonesome Crowded West, was the band's breakthrough, and in the wake of a major-label bidding war, they signed to Sony. The rarities collection Building Nothing out of Something appeared on Up in early 2000, followed later that year by their long-awaited Epic debut, The Moon & Antarctica. In 2001, the band issued the Everywhere and His Nasty Parlor Tricks EP and K released Sad Sappy Sucker, a "lost album" that was intended to be the group's full-length debut back in 1994. Brock kept busy with his Ugly Casanova (see below) side project, which delivered Sharpen Your Teeth in 2002. Modest Mouse finally returned in 2004 with Good News for People Who Love Bad News, their best-received record and a Top 40 hit as well. For their next record, Brock enlisted the help of former Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr, who not only added his songwriting and playing skills to We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank -- which was released in early 2007 -- but also toured with the band as a member.

The Origins of Ugly Casanova

One evening at Denver’s Bluebird Theater, where Modest Mouse was playing on a bill with fellow Northwesterners Built to Spill, Graham broke a second-floor window and stole into the backstage area. As Modest Mouse came off stage, he was excitedly waiting for them, blood streaming from cuts on his arms and face that he’d received from stray shards of glass. Chanting “This’ll do it” under his breath, Graham introduced himself to the source of his enlightenment.

Here again the facts become obscured. While each band member remembers Graham saying “This’ll do it” repeatedly, they disagree on how he referred to him-self. According to Brock, he introduced himself as “Ugly Casanova.” Green remembers Graham saying “I’m Isaac,” and Judy remembers “I’m Ed.” Perhaps the only deciding factor would have been tour companion Chris Majerus, who had run off to get towels and bandages for Graham’s wounds.

Though Graham was obviously unbalanced—or because of the fact—Brock, Judy and Majerus all took an immediate liking to him. In an enchanted tribute to Graham, Modest Mouse began to use Ugly Casanova as their publishing name. The three even persuaded a few labels to release limited-edition 7-inch singles of the songs Graham had sent them. But after briefly visiting each label in the summer of ’98 to deliver his efforts, he disappeared and has not been seen since.

A year later, in the summer of 1999, the labels received belated thank-you notes from Edgar Graham in enve-lopes that had neither postmarks nor return addresses. At the same time, Isaac Brock received a sheaf of letters which profiled the running mental state of Graham/Casanova. Like the others, these letters had no indica-tion of when they had been written or delivered, except one which had been dated a week earlier. The first fifteen pages were filled with nonsensical rants indicating that Graham had lost all touch with reality. The remaining 13 pages contained 13 songs about Graham’s life and his barren home, his hopes and his delu-sions.

The lyrics and music were practically illegible, but over the next few weeks Modest Mouse tried to make sense of them. Starting from Graham’s scratchy messages, the band began to assemble their new album. Due to that illegibility, the resulting collection of songs have become more a illustration of Modest Mouse’s own musical and lyrical style than of Ugly Casanova’s submissions. But the spirit of the album is believed to be that which Graham/Casanova had meant to convey. The Moon and Antarctica is the name of the album.

Themes of lost identity, spiritual betrayal, social and mental isolation, occasional self-loathing and ques-tions to the origin, nature and intent of fate abound—as do the figurative portrayals of Graham’s own past. The opening track, “Dark Center of the Universe,” is an introduction to the frustration and social isolation felt by a man whose potential search for his own soul resulted in the adoption of all the facets of another’s life. Consequently, the song stands as a realization of the fragility and futility of his situation. Yet the album does not simply dwell on a feeling of isolation, but reveals---just as did Edgar Graham’s letters—the path and progress of his various transformations.

“The Cold Part” is the point of origin, the departure from a frigid physical surrounding and the hope for a change from all which fate has dwelt. “3rd Planet” traces the evolution of loss, as paranoia encroaches upon Graham’s psyche and a distorted vision of creation ends up as a lack of self-identity. While a sense of self-loathing is evident in the only set of lyrics Modest Mouse were able to recover (“I Came as a Rat”), Graham most often expressed a carefree nature in the face of obvious adversity. Always present behind “Paper Thin Walls,” it was this side of him that Modest Mouse first saw in Denver, and the one by which he will hopefully be remembered.

With Edgar Graham’s disappearance came feelings of personal betrayal on the part of one whose emergence had raised so many questions and concerns. Thus ended a melancholy existence, one ultimately led under the title of a “Perfect Disguise.”

Dropa Casts its First Stone!!!

The Dropa Stone is an up and coming experimental rock trio stationed in Orlando, FL. Featuring an Avant-Garde Alternative Rock sound, they apply their creative prowess to establish a powerful live show highlighted by melodic vocals, spacey-textured guitar and an inventive punching rythym section. The Dropa Stone takes its listeners through a diverse musical background ranging from experimental hard rock, funk, blues and jazz. The trio prides itself on continuing to evolve their live shows with tons of improvisation, extended jams and collaborations with their favorite local musicians.

The band recently finished up recording their debut self titled E.P., which was produced by Justin Thomas at Gridlock Studios. The E.P. spans over many different topics, such as: a programmed society, media industry, political awareness and a call to action regarding the state of the current musical paradigm, just to name a few.

Check out a superb rendition of The Dropa Stone performing Led Zeppelin's Kashmir, watch the video below:



For more on The Dropa Stone, check out: www.myspace.com/thedropastone ; www.youtube.com/thedropastone ; and http://www.thedropastone.com/ (Coming Soon)

TOUBAB KREWE THIS TUESDAY NIGHT AT THE A1A DIVE BAR IN FT LAUDERDALE

With extensive touring throughout the U.S. and Europe, and plans to release its much anticipated sophomore album, 2008 is shaping into an incredible year for the fast-rising band credited with "setting a new standard for fusions of rock 'n' roll and West African music" (Afropop Worlwide).



Since forming in 2005, the magnetic instrumental quintet has been credited with bridging the gap between West African and American music unlike any group before them, quickly winning a diverse and devoted following at top venues such as the Bonnaroo and Voodoo festivals to the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Their live shows and self-titled debut album have won international acclaim from the New York Times, Global Rhythm, fRoots, NPR and more.

The members of Toubab Krewe developed their unique sound over the course of numerous extended trips to Mali, Guinea, and Ivory Coast, where they immersed themselves in the local culture and studied and performed with luminaries such as Lamine Soumano, Vieux Kante, Madou Dembele and Koungbanan Conde. In 2007 the band played at the the legendary Festival of the Desert in Essakane, Mali, known as the most remote festival in the world.


MUSIC BINDS US ALL

Madman, Bummers, Better Days and a New York City Serenade ( for Danny Federici)

An elegy for the man with the keys to the storied rock clubs on E street
where South Side Johnny shuffles with the wild and the innocent.

The Stone Pony beckons with it's cast iron mane and hubcap sized nostrils.
There are horseshoe prints all over these badlands.

What started out as private salvation has become the church of rock!-
Open all night to those who wish to be blinded by the light-

Not to have your eyes taken but to have your sight given-
A gift like junk across the horizon- A real highway man's farewell



All the usual bandits are in funeral attendance
and wild Billy's circus stories sound like a symphony.

The mile long boardwalk is surrounded by crazy cats in coonskin caps
and the waves beat the sleepy shore flat and shiny

filling foot prints with water- erasing evidence of human involvement-
but what evidence we have!

We had a twinkle toe thimble thumb
who was born to run with an organ on his back.

A man who took one moment into his hands-
a man that howled louder than the dogs on main street-

A man who knew no retreat, no surrender
and would have no problem proving it all night!

Such a man could never mistake oil for blood,
get lost in the flood or take fame for granted-

The proof is in the man at peace with the fatigue
of life on the road for a labor of love.



As I am writing this elegy I found out that Bo Diddley
has traveled beyond this physical realm

and so my work for the dead is not done-
in fact it has clearly just begun and I guess it can never end.

Death is the green wheel of existence
verdant with vines of wisdom in it's cracked wooden glory.

Death is the most well trodden road-
the path that is always taken-

a true triumph of the soul
over a lifetime of vast materialism.

It is the last scraped knee-
the last stick caught in the spoke.

It was Independence Day for you Danny
and the spirits in the night were calling you all the way home.

They wanted you to laugh and cry in a single sound.
They wanted you to worm your way through the maze and find the womb.

From the days tomb of thoughts
music you made floods my minds gate-

Music that mends with a familiar caress
like nothing that's fondled my psyche before-

Death flags us all down with agility and candor-
and sees to it our final hours

are chock-full of ghosts, rhapsodies, relatives
and cherubs of all races with angelic baby faces.

HEY RUBES

From Oscar-winning director Alex Gibney and producer Graydon Carter comes a probing look into the uncanny life of national treasure and gonzo journalism inventor Dr. Hunter S. Thompson. A fast moving, wildly entertaining documentary with an iconic soundtrack, the film addresses the major touchstones in Thompson's life—his intense and ill fated relationship with the Hell's Angels, his near-successful bid for the office of sheriff in Aspen in 1970, the notorious story behind the landmark Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, his deep involvement in Senator George McGovern's 1972 presidential campaign, and much more. Narrated by Johnny Depp.



MUSIC BINDS US ALL

Cinema Paradiso Presents "Chicago10", "Berkeley" and "Body of War"

Cinema Paradiso in Ft. Lauderdale Presents: Chicago 10, Berkeley, Body of War

Cinema Paradiso 954-525-FILM (3456)



SOUTH FLORIDA'S PREMIERE INDEPENDENT CINEMA Cinema Paradiso in Ft. Lauderdale Presents: "Chicago 10", "Berkeley", "Body of War". The theatre is located in the heart of downtown Fort Lauderdale at 503 SE 6th St, on the south side of the New River, one block East of the Broward County Courthouse.

"Berkeley" ........June 11 - 15
"Chicago 10" ......June 25 - 29
"Body of War" .....June 30 - July 1

Berkeley- the Movie Trailer http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3P1M8hLKFQs

CHICAGO 10 - OFFICIAL TRAILER http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9uJL7lWdFg

BODY OF WAR Trailer http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HZuQkITY64


MUSIC BINDS US ALL

THE HEAVY PETS at the Dive Bar in Ft Lauderdale on Thursday June 12th

"The Heavy Pets combine elegant songwriting with blazing chops, thought-provoking lyrics and a heavy, danceable backbeat."- HighTimes.com













Based in Ft Lauderdale, FL, The Heavy Pets have played over 450 shows together under various names, and have shared the stage with acts such as Particle, Oteil Burbridge, Tea Leaf Green, and George Clinton and Parliament/Funkadelic. Guitarist Jeff Lloyd made his South Florida debut jamming with George and P-Funk at Revolution New Years Eve '04-'05 and has since appeared with the funk legend twice, including an April 20, 2005 rager at the Culture Room with Bernie Worrell. The Pets first blipped on the national radar screen when they were selected to play the 2006 Langerado Music Festival, where they performed alongside acts like Ben Harper, The Disco Biscuits, and the Black Crowes. They followed the festival with a tour of the Northeast, hitting venues like NYC's the Knitting Factory, The 8X10 in Baltimore, and Albany, NY's Red Square. The High Times “Unsigned Band of the Week” (May ’06), followed the Northeast run with an amazing weekend at the Green Parrot in Key West, where they performed 8 sets of material with no repeats. In September, The Heavy Pets performed at the Symbiosis Gathering in Angel’s Camp, CA, and October brought them to the Maple Leaf in New Orleans to perform with Johnny Sketch and the Dirty Notes. In addition to priding themselves on impeccable musicianship, the band has a staggering catalog of original material. March ‘007 will bring their double-disc debut album entitled “Whale” - a 21-track behemoth that ranges from progressive, high-energy, guitar-driven rock n roll, to funky reggae, to inspired, reflective folk music.

The Dive Bar, Ft. Lauderdale, FL
3233 No Ocean Blvd (A1A)

The Heavy Pets are:
Joe Dupell-bass/vocals
Mike Garulli –guitars/vocals
Jeff Lloyd-guitars/vocals
Ryan Neuburger-drums/vocals
Jim Wuest-keys/vocals


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FUSE BECOMES EXCLUSIVE TV PARTNER OF 2008 BONNAROO MUSIC & ARTS FESTIVAL

FUSE BECOMES EXCLUSIVE TV PARTNER OF 2008 BONNAROO MUSIC & ARTS FESTIVAL
Three-Year Partnership Brings Premier Music Festival On-Air For First Time

Fuse, the national music television network, has signed a three-year agreement with the Bonnaroo Music Festival, to become the exclusive television partner of the Festival, which takes place on a 700 acre farm in Manchester, Tennessee, June 12-15. The deal marks the first time in its seven-year history that Bonnaroo has ever aired on a national television network and will include live on-air programming and on-demand content, as well as extensive marketing and promotion. This year's Festival will feature performances by Pearl Jam, Metallica, Jack Johnson, Kanye West and Alison Krauss & Robert Plant, along with more than 100 other bands.

"Fuse recognizes that some of the biggest events in the music calendar are festivals, and when you think about premier music festivals, you can't get much bigger than Bonnaroo. This partnership becomes a major event for Fuse and reinforces our commitment to bringing the biggest and most popular music events to our viewers," said Eric Sherman, president, Fuse. "If you can't make it to Manchester this year, Fuse is providing viewers a unique opportunity to experience the energy and music of Bonnaroo, past and present, and Fuse is the only place on TV you can get it."

With more than six hours of programming, fans will get an insider's view into Bonnaroo like never before. "Fuse Live from Bonnaroo," will provide viewers with live primetime weekend coverage from the grounds of the 2008 Festival, including highlights of each day's performances taken from the main stage, artist interviews and exclusive behind-the-scenes access. "Best of Bonnaroo Vol. I" showcasing some the best performances and happenings from the seven year history of the Bonnaroo, will air on Fuse just prior to the Festival and Vol. II and III will air quarterly thereafter. Fuse host Steven Smith will be shooting "Steven's Untitled Rock Show" episodes from the grounds of Bonnaroo and be reporting back live to the Seventh Avenue Studio in New York City on Festival happenings, exclusive interviews and behind-the-scenes action, which will also be available on www.fuse.tv and Fuse Mobile.

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Blue Moon OF Kentucky

2008 Bill Monroe Memorial Bean Blossom Bluegrass Festival

One of the best bluegrass festivals of the country is just around the corner. 8 Days and over 50 Bands are scheduled to perform during Bean Blossom which runs from June 14-21, 2008. Are you ready for the biggest bluegrass week of the year? The legends of bluegrass are rollin' into town!
Throughout the week, festival patrons can enjoy the fun and educational music and instrument workshops planned on the Workshop Stage located at the top of Hippy Hill. There will be a wide variety of workshops including: beginning-advanced levels on banjo, guitar, fiddle, mandolin and bass; mountain and bluegrass vocals, group harmony, songwriting, band promotion, Bean Blossom history and more. All workshops are taught by the artists performing at this year's event!
There will be plenty of things to do at Bluegrass Now's Youth Activity Tent hosted daily by teen columnists, Stephanie Dilling. Kids and teens can get up close and personal with many of bluegrass's great musicians; Steve Dilling, Greg Cahill, Skip and Molly Cherryholmes, just to name a few. Learn technique, ask questions or just jam.

Youth Bluegrass Boot Camp will take place Tuesday-Thursday, June 17-19. Interested youth ages 6-18 years of age will be allowed to sign up prior to June 1st for the fun but structured camp. The Youth Bluegrass Booth Camp consists of professional instructors and will teach students in small group and one-on-one sessions-brand new through advanced. There will be over 15 hours of hands on instruction (banjo, mandolin, fiddle, guitar and bass) covering topics such as: basic instrument care and handling, vocals and harmonies, stage presence and working with microphones, songwriting, jam etiquette-you name it! Click here for more information. Additional Admission charged: Youth Bluegrass Boot Camp (Single Child) $35. Youth Bluegrass Boot Camp (Multiple) $30

CYBERGRASS
BLUEGRASS MUSIC NEWS NETWORK




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BLUE MOON OF KENTUCKY

BO DIDDLEY GETS A ROCKIN SEND OFF

BO DIDDLEY gets a rocking send off at Fla. funeral
Published: 6/7/08, 11:14 PM EDT
AP
Copyright 2008 Associated Press. All rights reserved.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) - Bo Diddley's funeral rocked and rolled Saturday with as much energy as his music.

For four hours, friends and relatives sang, danced and celebrated the life of the man who helped give birth to rock and roll with a signature beat that influenced Buddy Holly, Elvis Presley, the Rolling Stones and many others.

As family members passed by the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer's casket, a gospel band played his namesake song. Within moments, the crowd of several hundred began clapping in time and shouting, "Hey, Bo Diddley!"

Diddley, 79, died of heart failure Monday at his home in nearby Archer.

"In 1955 he used to keep the crowds rocking and rolling way before Elvis Presley," Diddley's grandson, Garry Mitchell, said before kicking his legs sideways, high up in the air, the way Diddley did onstage. Mourners cheered.

"I'm just telling it the way it is," Mitchell said.

Diddley, who was born Ellas Bates and became Ellas McDaniel when he took the last name of a cousin who raised him, was remembered for much more than his songs. Friends recounted his generosity, manifested in concerts for the homeless and work with youth groups and other charities; and the way he loved to talk to just about anybody he met.

Gainesville Mayor Pegeen Hanrahan referred to one of his most famous hits as she told the crowd, "When the question is asked, 'Who do you love?', it's you, Bo."

The funeral was followed by a tribute concert featuring his touring band and other musicians.

Eric Burdon, leader of the rock group The Animals, attended the service, and flowers were sent from musicians including Jerry Lee Lewis, Tom Petty, George Thorogood and others.

Burdon, also a member of the Rock Hall, called Diddley a big influence.

"I've been a fan of his since 16, 17 years of age. Probably one of the first records I ever owned," Burdon said, recalling that his attention was immediately grabbed when he saw an album cover with Diddley sitting on a scooter with a square guitar.

Burdon said he saw Diddley play last year at a concert in Australia, and even though he could tell his health wasn't great, Diddley put tremendous energy into the show. He was known for his stage moves, which some presume influenced Presley.

"He's always been jumping around and very aggressive; if he was onstage with the Stones, he was obviously putting Keith Richards in his place," Burdon said. In describing the "shave and a haircut, two bits" rhythm Diddley made famous, Burdon said, "I call it bone music, because it goes to your bone."

But stories of another side of Diddley were told repeatedly at the funeral. A man who loved God and his family, who would always stop to talk in the grocery store and was always smiling.

His brother, the Rev. Kenneth Haynes of Biloxi, Miss., said Diddley always asked how he could help and what he could give.

"There was one thing he wouldn't give me. That's his hat," Haynes said, referring to the black hat the musician was also known for.

But Haynes said his brother grew weary of life on the road.

"'But this is what God gave me to feed my family,'" Haynes recalled Diddley saying. "'I have to keep doing it until God says it's enough.'"

Diddley was born in McComb, Miss. He moved to rural Archer in the early 1980s and had a recording studio on his 76 acres. Mitchell joked that Diddley got up so early, he would tap the roosters on the shoulder to wake them up. And he always sang at breakfast.

Diddley's friend Roosevelt Hutchinson described how the musician would wrap meat in several layers of tin foil, bury it and light a fire on top to cook it. Once the fire was lit, he would grab his guitar.

"He just enjoyed playing that thing under those trees," Hutchinson said.

But he enjoyed his family even more, friends said. He had four children, 15 grandchildren, 15 great-grandchildren and four great-great-grandchildren.

"Please know this, because I know Diddley," the guitarist's business manager, Faith Fusillo, told his family. "As much as you loved him, he loved you more."

More On Sympathy for the Devil: Art and Rock and Roll Since 1967

Not unlike blues legend Robert Johnson, considered by many to be the granddaddy of rock and roll, Dominic Molon must have found himself tempted by a Faustian deal.

Five years ago, the curator was at the crossroads between rockers and artists, confronting the daunting task of exploring the deep-rooted and primal alliances between rebellious spirits haunting both the sonic and visual realms.




Molon's nearly pitch-perfect twanging of these complementary chords is on view in "Sympathy for the Devil: Art and Rock and Roll Since 1967" at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MoCA), featuring more than 100 paintings, drawings, installations, and videos by 56 artists and artist collectives.

The show was organized by the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, where it drew stadium-size crowds, and judging by the throngs attending opening night last Thursday, MoCA's turnstile numbers will skyrocket as well.

Capturing the angst and transgressive nature of the raw underbelly is an unenviable task for a museum, let alone shoehorning the four-decade flirtation between musicians and artists across the globe into one exhibit. For the most part, though, "Sympathy for the Devil" riffs heavily on the New York, Los Angeles, and London scenes, with the exception of a few jarring notes in between.

Molon says he was thrilled at how the show jelled at MoCA, given that its first incarnation in the Windy City was more sterile and lacked some of the amped-up energy exuded here.

"In Chicago, because of the larger space, everything was more manicured," Molon explains. "Here it was more go-for-broke and more frenetic. It's interesting what we were able to accomplish in this space."

David Muller's There Are Known Knowns and Unknown Knowns (With a Hefty Dose of Negation) is a work that addresses the difficulty and bias of such an exhibition. The site-specific mixed-media mural takes the shape of rock's family tree with its subgenres overflowing from its roots. At the center of the piece, a large chunk of history (1975-1992) is swallowed by a black cube reflecting Muller's notion that the period was ripe with wooden one-hit wonders, or perhaps plain tone deaf.

Molon also readily admits a fanboy's appreciation for the music of his youth: "I grew up listening to postpunk music and cut my teeth on the Pixies and Sonic Youth."

Although the show takes its name from the iconic Rolling Stones tune, few works cover either the Stones or the Sixties.

At the rear of the museum, Ronald Nameth's trippy 22-minute film Andy Warhol's Exploding Plastic Inevitable, documenting the pop icon's early collaborations with The Velvet Underground, is projected onto a steel storage space door. Twitchy dancers, a yowling Lou Reed, and a psychedelic light show capture the radioactive dissonance of the times.

Across from it are Andy Warhol's Screen Tests (1966), featuring four-minute video portraits of Velvet rockers John Cale, Lou Reed, Sterling Morrison, Maureen Tucker, and Nico, who were part of the light show during Exploding Plastic Inevitable events.

Another work that directly references the avant-garde band is Jason Rhoades's Velvet Underground Perfect World (2000-'05), engulfing a wall with orange, blue, green, white, and pink neon signs vomiting street slang for the word vagina. Priceless terms for female genitalia — "mind flaps," "phat rabbit," "crankum mucker" — split the sides while conveying a sense of the influential band's gritty vibe.

Led Zeppelin fans will enjoy Slater Bradley's noisy 2004 video The Year of the Doppelganger, in which a scrawny ringer for the artist thrashes out the drum riff to Zep's "When the Levee Breaks" at the UC Berkeley football stadium while befuddled jocks run wind sprints on the field.

Even though the show is freighted with videos and installations, some of the drawings and photos pack a wallop all their own. Some highlights include Raymond Pettibon's searing early-Eighties drawings created for flyers and album covers for his brother Greg Ginn's band Black Flag. The works mirror the intensity of L.A.'s punk scene.

Chicago's Pedro Bell distills the irreverent nature of funk-rock with his four original drawings for Funkadelic's 1981 album The Electric Spanking of War Babies. Because of protests, the record company eventually censored his sexually charged futuristic depiction of women.

A striking gelatin silver print by Richard Kern, which ended up on the cover of Sonic Youth's Evol, captures actress Lung Leg in a feral pose as she crouches, snarls, and draws her claws. It's one of the more startling images, encapsulating the confrontational veneer of the aggressive punk scene.

In another Kern photo, Sonic Youth's Kim Gordon brandishes a shotgun while standing in front of a pickup truck. It's a production still from Kern's video for the band's 1984 single "Death Valley '69" and alludes to the Manson Family's Tate-LaBianca murders that year.

Marnie Weber's spooky 24-minute video fiddles with a barnyard séance mood. Visitors can watch A Western Song while sitting on a hay bale. The bushwhacking video is screened on a wall inside a rustic wooden frame, where members of Weber's imaginary all-female rock band, Spirit Girls, have returned from the dead wearing bizarre animal costumes and knocking back hooch from a jug or jitterbugging on a saloon bar.

Molon leads spectators to a display documenting Throbbing Gristle, a band he calls one of the most critical and influential marriages between art and music to evolve from England in the Seventies.

"They invented industrial music, and their transgressive performances and subversive and confrontational style still influence contemporary artists today," Molon says. He explains that the outfit's notorious reputation was enhanced by the fact that band member Cosey Fanni Tutti often appeared in porn, shocking the Brit upper crust. Unfortunately the band's postcards, 'zines, and album covers are sealed in vitrines, which give the items an air of precious objects.

Tucked around a corner, Robert Longo's iconic Men in the Cities drawings — depicting Gordon Gekko-esque drones contorted under Reagan-era power-hungry ambition — get retweaked as spastic symbols of New York's downtown scene of the Seventies and Eighties, in which the artist was active.

One of the show's strongest hooks is a cell phone audio tour boasting tunes related to works on display, such as the New York Dolls' "Personality Crisis," the Ramones' "Do You Remember Rock and Roll Radio?" and Sonic Youth's "Kill Yr. Idols." It even has an introduction by the curator himself.

The show also features Rirkrit Tiravanija's Untitled 1996 (Rehearsal Studio No. 6 Silent Version), which offers local musicians free recording time for the duration of the exhibit. Located at the entrance to the show, the Plexiglas cube includes a guitar, bass guitar, electronic drum kit, microphones, and recording equipment.

Visitors can listen through one of six pairs of headphones outside the space while musicians cut their demos inside.

They can find inspiration in artist Tony Oursler's amazing Sound Digressions in Seven Colors, a video installation featuring experimental rock performers jamming on separate screens and assailing the peepers.

With so much going on, it's impossible to absorb everything in only one visit. The good news is that this show is worth seeing again and again. Best of all, MoCA has slated a lineup of events to keep the exhibit fresh during the summer. While you're there, pick up the show's impressive catalogue, a treasure trove of information about the subject matter.

And kudos to Molon, who had no problem choosing Douglas Gordon's grainy, slow-mo bootleg videos of the Cramps, the Rolling Stones, and the Smiths, which reflect the jolting spectacle of the rock experience.

"If I had a really big place, Douglas Gordon's bootleg videos are what I'd have in my home," the curator says.

Despite the fact that some knuckleheads will bitch about holes in Molon's rock history, you can't leave without thinking you have to give this devil his due.

Sympathy for the Devil: Art and Rock and Roll Since 1967 Through September 7 Museum of Contemporary Art770 NE 125th St., North Miami305-893-6211www.mocanomi.org


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Chance Gardner-This Friday Evening at Luna Star Cafe in North Miami

This Friday night at 8pm, Luna Star Cafe presents CHANCE GARDNER UNPLUGGED. AN INTIMATE ACOUSTIC EVENING WITH FOUR TIME HAWAII MUSIC AWARDS WINNER CHANCE GARDNER. WELL KNOWN AS A SINGER-SONGWRITER AND A BLUESMAN, CHANCE WILL BE PLAYING ORIGINAL SONGS FROM HIS 2 ACOUSTIC RELEASES AND THE THIRD SET WILL BE A TRIBUTE TO JOHN LEE HOOKER.
Please visit www.chancegardner.com

Luna Star Cafe is a cozy, friendly little coffee house/beer bar nestled in downtown North Miami. Luna Star Cafe offers a small but delicious food menu, a fantastic beer selection (thank you Alexis, poetry, storytelling, folk music, blues and jazz.
www.lunastarcafe.com

Barack Obama is Officially the Democratic Nominee

Congratulations to Barack Obama for making history tonight.

This from his speech earlier tonight:

"America, this is our moment. This is our time. Our time to turn the page on the policies of the past. Our time to bring new energy and new ideas to the challenges we face. Our time to offer a new direction for the country we love.

The journey will be difficult. The road will be long. I face this challenge with profound humility, and knowledge of my own limitations. But I also face it with limitless faith in the capacity of the American people. Because if we are willing to work for it, and fight for it, and believe in it, then I am absolutely certain that generations from now, we will be able to look back and tell our children that this was the moment when we began to provide care for the sick and good jobs to the jobless; this was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal; this was the moment when we ended a war and secured our nation and restored our image as the last, best hope on Earth. This was the moment - this was the time - when we came together to remake this great nation so that it may always reflect our very best selves, and our highest ideals. Thank you, God Bless you, and may God Bless the United States of America".


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JAZID 12 YR ANNIVERSARY JUNE 6th & 7th...

Jazid is proud to be the longest-running nightclub on Miami Beach, this year celebrating 11 years of live music every damn night of the week. Jazid’s diverse music includes a multi-cultural mix of Latin and American jazz, funk, cumbia, reggae, rock, and more. Jazid’s upstairs lounge offers a completely different vibe with DJs spinning deep house, funk, down-tempo, hip-hop, and other rare grooves. There is plenty of room for dancing or to relax on the plush white couches in the Jazid lounge. This intimate nightclub has been newly remodeled, upstairs and down, giving it a complete makeover for the upcoming year. Jazid has developed a reputation for being consistent, for its intimate setting, and for its uniqueness. Bringing South Florida the best of live music every damn night.

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Neil Young - Don't Let It Bring You Down

Old man lying by the side of the road
With the lorries rolling by,
Blue moon sinking from the weight of the load
And the building scrape the sky,
Cold wind ripping down the allay at dawn
And the morning paper flies,
Dead man lying by the side of the road
With the daylight in his eyes.

Dont let it bring you down
Its only castles burning,
Find someone whos turning
And you will come around.

Blind man running through the light of the night
With an answer in his hand,
Come on down to the river of sight
And you can really understand,
Red lights flashing through the window in the rain,
Can you hear the sirens moan?
White cane lying in a gutter in the lane,
If youre walking home alone.

Dont let it bring you down
Its only castles burning,
Just find someone whos turning
And you will come around.

Dont let it bring you down
Its only castles burning,
Just find someone whos turning
And you will come around.


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Farewell To The Founding Father Of Rock "n" Roll

By RON WORD, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 16 minutes ago

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - A founding father of rock 'n' roll whose distinctive "shave and a haircut, two bits" rhythm and innovative guitar effects inspired legions of other musicians, died Monday after months of ill health. He was 79.
window. He died of heart failure at his home in Archer, Fla., spokeswoman Susan Clary said. He had suffered a heart attack in August, three months after suffering a stroke while touring in Iowa. Doctors said the stroke affected his ability to speak, and he had returned to Florida to continue rehabilitation.
The legendary singer and performer, known for his homemade square guitar, dark glasses and black hat, was an inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, had a star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame, and received a lifetime achievement award in 1999 at the Grammy Awards. In recent years he also played for the elder President Bush and President Clinton.
Diddley appreciated the honors he received, "but it didn't put no figures in my checkbook."
"If you ain't got no money, ain't nobody calls you honey," he quipped.
The name came from other youngsters when he was growing up in Chicago, he said in a 1999 interview.
"I don't know where the kids got it, but the kids in grammar school gave me that name," he said, adding that he liked it so it became his stage name. Other times, he gave somewhat differing stories on where he got the name. Some experts believe a possible source for the name is a one-string instrument used in traditional blues music called a diddley bow.
His first single, "Bo Diddley," introduced record buyers in 1955 to his signature rhythm: bomp ba-bomp bomp, bomp bomp, often summarized as "shave and a haircut, two bits." The B side, "I'm a Man," with its slightly humorous take on macho pride, also became a rock standard.
The company that issued his early songs was Chess-Checkers records, the storied Chicago-based labels that also recorded Chuck Berry and other stars.
Howard Kramer, assistant curator of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, said in 2006 that Diddley's Chess recordings "stand among the best singular recordings of the 20th century."
Diddley's other major songs included, "Say Man," "You Can't Judge a Book by Its Cover," "Shave and a Haircut," "Uncle John," "Who Do You Love?" and "The Mule."
Diddley's influence was felt on both sides of the Atlantic. Buddy Holly borrowed the bomp ba-bomp bomp, bomp bomp rhythm for his song "Not Fade Away."
The Rolling Stones' bluesy remake of that Holly song gave them their first chart single in the United States, in 1964. The following year, another British band, the Yardbirds, had a Top 20 hit in the U.S. with their version of "I'm a Man."
Diddley was also one of the pioneers of the electric guitar, adding reverb and tremelo effects. He even rigged some of his guitars himself.
"He treats it like it was a drum, very rhythmic," E. Michael Harrington, professor of music theory and composition at Belmont University in Nashville, Tenn., said in 2006.
Many other artists, including the Who, Bruce Springsteen and Elvis Costello copied aspects of Diddley's style.
Growing up, Diddley said he had no musical idols, and he wasn't entirely pleased that others drew on his innovations.
"I don't like to copy anybody. Everybody tries to do what I do, update it," he said. "I don't have any idols I copied after."
"They copied everything I did, upgraded it, messed it up. It seems to me that nobody can come up with their own thing, they have to put a little bit of Bo Diddley there," he said.
Despite his success, Diddley claimed he only received a small portion of the money he made during his career. Partly as a result, he continued to tour and record music until his stroke. Between tours, he made his home near Gainesville in north Florida.
"Seventy ain't nothing but a damn number," he told The Associated Press in 1999. "I'm writing and creating new stuff and putting together new different things. Trying to stay out there and roll with the punches. I ain't quit yet."
Diddley, like other artists of his generations, was paid a flat fee for his recordings and said he received no royalty payments on record sales. He also said he was never paid for many of his performances.
"I am owed. I've never got paid," he said. "A dude with a pencil is worse than a cat with a machine gun."
In the early 1950s, Diddley said, disc jockeys called his type of music, "Jungle Music." It was Cleveland disc jockey Alan Freed who is credited with inventing the term "rock 'n' roll."
Diddley said Freed was talking about him, when he introduced him, saying, "Here is a man with an original sound, who is going to rock and roll you right out of your seat."
Diddley won attention from a new generation in 1989 when he took part in the "Bo Knows" ad campaign for Nike, built around football and baseball star Bo Jackson. Commenting on Jackson's guitar skills, Diddley turned to the camera and said, "He don't know Diddley."
"I never could figure out what it had to do with shoes, but it worked," Diddley said. "I got into a lot of new front rooms on the tube."
Born as Ellas Bates on Dec. 30, 1928, in McComb, Miss., Diddley was later adopted by his mother's cousin and took on the name Ellis McDaniel, which his wife always called him.
When he was 5, his family moved to Chicago, where he learned the violin at the Ebenezer Baptist Church. He learned guitar at 10 and entertained passers-by on street corners.
By his early teens, Diddley was playing Chicago's Maxwell Street.
"I came out of school and made something out of myself. I am known all over the globe, all over the world. There are guys who have done a lot of things that don't have the same impact that I had," he said.




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