Hail! Hail! Rock 'n Roll

Chuck Berry is 75 years old! I remember camping out with friends in 1986 to get tickets for a show at the Fox Theater to see him live. It was a sensational show and the movie didn't do it justice.

I grew up in St. Louis or rather, the very white affluent suburb that would later be called Chesterfield in West St. Louis County and it frequently fascinated me that a city, so well known for its racial segregation, would be home to so many famous and revered black musicians and entertainers such as Chuck Berry. The St. Louis Walk of Fame was created by Joe Edwards to honor and remember many talented St. Louisans. The Walk of Fame was my first web page project in 1993 when I was bored and wustl.edu was hosting the first 'official' St. Louis homepage and it needed content. So, armed with an SE/30, a B&W scanner and a friend less graphically challenged than me, I scanned about 1 photo an hour and created a simple web site. Joe seemed to be skeptical of the web at the time since few seemed to know about it or care, but in 1997 I gave a group of people he hired all the files I had and they snazzed it up into what it is now.

Joe Edwards is king in U. City. He started out with a little bar in The Loop, a crime ridden section of town, in 1973 called Blueberry Hill, a wonderful bar that a lot of students from Washington U. would frequent and where I bartended for a while to supplement my paltry research salary and eat once in a while. He has since revitalised the Loop with restoring the Tivoli, the Walk of Fame, various other projects and now The Pageant right across Skinker in St. Louis proper [ read 3am liquor license ]. Joe is the Bill Gates of the U. City Loop, some love him, some hate him. He works harder than any human I've ever met and whether or not he has a monopoly on the loop, what he has made of it can't be wrong as I have no doubt it would still be a forlorn slum had it not been for him. I miss this part of St. Louis since Boston doesn't have anything like it that I'm aware of. It had a good pub, theater, bookstores and a variety of international food all within walking distance of the U. and it had a cozy feel to it. Harvard Sq. just seems like a cross between a eurotrash shopping mall and a tourist trap.

I miss Blueberry Hill as they still have the best soup in town and before my butt can hit the seat at the rail, I have a drink waiting. And the regular crowd is still the regular crowd. Chuck Berry was and still is a regular feature in Blueberry Hill. I miss getting the coveted slot down in the Elvis Room bar pouring drinks and watching the show. Even now, the man is an incredible entertainer and is also courteous and polite. His 'entourage' of family and friends are also part of the show as they are so well dressed and colourful they make you feel like you didn't dress for the event. So, Hail to Chuck Berry, long may he entertain and hopefully I'll get back to the Hill soon to catch a show, and go to the Tivoli and .....damn, now I've managed to make myself homesick.