Remembering Bo Diddley

Bo Diddley @ the Alameda County Fair

July 2004


Today is a sad day in American musical history.

The legendary Bo Diddley passed away. Bo Diddley has been around since I can remember. The first time I ever saw him was probably around 1972. He appeared on the ABC TV show In Concert. It was a really memorable show for me. I remember talking to my Dad about him and he told me he was one of the pioneers of Rock and Roll Music in the 1950's and that he was one of the only people that played a square guitar.His performance left an impression on an eleven year old kid.

It was a number of years before I heard of him again. In the early 1980's, I was in college. It was when I came into contact with Chicago Blues. When I started learning more about the history of the music, you couldn't help but learn about the contribution of Bo Diddley. I became re-acquainted with him through his recordings for Chess Records.

The first time that I ever saw him was at the 1986 Chicago Blues Festival in Grant Park. He was scheduled to appear and be reunited with Billy Boy Arnold. It was an incredible day of music.

Along with Bo Diddley was:

• Willie Dixon‚Äôs Big Three
• Otis Rush
• Memphis Slim w/ Matt ‚ÄúGuitar Murphy
• Bo Diddley and
• Chuck Berry

Back in those days, it was a great lineup. Looking back on it, it was an amazing assembly of talent that simply boggles the mind. I'll never forget Bo Diddley's perfomance that day. It was fabulous.

After that day, I saw him almost every chance I got.

Come to think of it, all of his shows were fabulous. Bo Diddley never failed to deliver every time that I saw him. I can't remember him ever having a bad performance.

In 2000, I caught him at the Fountain Blues Festival in San Jose, CA. I shot about 200 photos of him that day. I remember him pointing at one of the other photographers and told him to stop taking photos. At the end of the song, he pointed at the guy and said, "That guy needs to stop taking my photo. I don't want those pictures showing up on the Internet."

For a number of years, he performed at a variety of County Fairs in Northern California. I went to every one of those shows.




Bo Diddley @ the San Mateo County Fair

August 2005


He appeared at the San Mateo County Fair. It was an indoor performance. The lighting was fabulous. The three million dollar sound system was awe-inspiring. I captured one of my favorite photos ever. It may not be the best photo that I've ever taken, but it is one of my favorites. I can still hear that fantastic version of Roadrunner that capped off an incredible show.

It seems cliche to say he was a Rock and Roll icon and that his contribution to the history of American music is immeasurable. He's going to be missed.

Steve Freund @ JJs Blues Lounge

Saturday night, I caught an excellent show at JJ's Blues Lounge and caught an excellent performance by Steve Freund. Steve was joined by a very special guest, Jan Fanucchi. She sang several very nice tunes throughout the course of the evening. During the last set, he was invited Johnny Cat to the stage for a couple of tunes. It was a really nice evening of music.

California Blues Festival

Bobbie Webb



On Memorial Day, I headed down to beautiful Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. Golden Gate Park is the home to a multitude of homeless derelicts. It is also the home of the California Blues Festival. This year was the 14th or 16th annual festival.

This year had featured several of the same performers that appear on an annual basis like Bobbie Webb and Fillmore Slim. This year, Willie G, Pat Wilder and Tia Carroll were added to the bill.

One thing that never changes is that there were way too many performers to get onstage in the five hours of the festival. I arrived at about 1:30pm. Bobbie Webb was in the midst of a nice set featuring some fantastic Junior Walker instrumentals.

There is always a surprise act. This year, the Kelly Richey Band from Cincinnati made a surprise appearance. Thankfully, it was an abbreviated performance. It wasn't a performance that moved me.

I ran into some longtime friends that I hadn't seen in a while.

At about 3:30pm, we realized that there were still five acts to perform. Fillmore Slim delivered a solid performance. Willie G did a short set and sounded great. There was a female singer that sang a couple that I had never seen previously. Unfortunately, I didn't get her name. Tia Carroll did a nice version of Matchbox Blues. The show wrapped up with a nice tune by a singer named McKinley.

The show wrapped up about ten minutes late. Overall, it was a good day featuring good music and good friends.

Hummel and Freund at the Mojo Lounge

Mark Hummel & Steve Freund

Mark Hummel dropped into the World Famous Tuesday Night Blues Jam at the Mojo Lounge hosted by Steve Freund. Mark joined Steve midway through the first set and played some killer tunes. (See above and see more of the evening's festivities on my youtube channel.).

The place was jam packed last night. There was a group of people from Norway. There were a bunch of local folks that dropped in including:

Gil DeLeon, Eddie B, Russell Barber, Don Yonders, Esat Bay Wes, Double G, Scott Miller, Scott Duncan, Cornelius, Mark Hummel, Mick Kilgos, Jon Lawton, Wendy Dewitt, Jimmy Johnson, Earl Smith, Beth Kohnen and a whole bunch more people that I'm forgetting.

Steve proved that he is a very capable juggler. I think he got
everyone up that stuck around.

Metro Fountain Blues Festival

This past weekend, I went to the Metro Fountain Blues Festival to catch Koko Taylor and the Blues Machine. When I arrived Sonny Landreth was doing his thing which was not my thing. I ran into a few friends and talked some trash before Koko Taylor took the stage.

As one might expect, she put on a fabulous show. In fact, it was probably the best set of music that I have seen this year. After an awesome set, she was given an achievement award by the city of San Jose.

Afterward, while the sound crew was setting up for Robert Cray's set, it was announced that Mr Cray was only allowing photos during the first song of his show. I stuck around during the first tune and shot some photos. After the second song, I left.

Photos of Koko Taylor, the members of the Blues Machine and Robert Cray can be found here:

2008: The Bay Area Blues Scene - A Year In Progress.

Mojo Lounge Blues Jam

This past Tuesday night, Kenny "Blue" Ray hosted the Mojo Lounge blues jam. It was a really cool evening. Lots of great performers showed up including: Johnny Cat, Junior Morrow and Kid Andersen.

I captured the some video of one of Junior Morrow's fine performances. This one features Junior (vocal/guitar) leading an very talented group through the ZZ Hill classic, "I'm A Bluesman". Joining Junior is Kid Andersen (guitar), Kenny "Blue" Ray (guitar), Tumbleweed (harp), Ray Figueroa (bass) and Norm Decarlo (drums).

Unfortunately, the lighting the bars isn't really conducive to videography, but the quality of the performances outweigh the quality of the lighting.

Little Junior Crudup and the Mojo Lounge Jam

It's been a while since I've been here. This past Tuesday, the World Famous Tuesday Night Blues Jam at the The Mojo Lounge was hosted by Steve Freund. The rhythm section on this fine evening was anchored by two of the most solid guys around Marc Carino and Robi Bean.

It's a fun place to hang out. Not only does this place attract some good local talent, you never know who is going to drop in for a visit. The past several weeks, one of the most entertaining singers in the Bay Area dropped by for a visit, Little Junior Crudup.

Little Junior is a dynamic singer. He writes some really cool tunes that represent today's society. He's also related the the legendary Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup.

This video clip was captured on April 29, 2008 at the Mojo Lounge and captures Little Junior in fine form performing an original tune called 30 Pieces of Silver. He is joined by: Steve Freund (guitar), Marc Carino (bass) and Jimmy Mulleniux (drums).