Hello Everyone, I will be posting about Blues Fest next week, meanwhile come join Phil and I at Rosa’s Lounge this June 13th & June 14th!

Such sad news. I just found out that Mr. Bo Diddley has passed away at the age of 79. We will have more later tonight.

Guest post by David Blakey, Webmaster of BO DIDDLEY-The Originator

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Cats like me, Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, Memphis Minnie, Jimmy Reed, Howlin’ Wolf, Little Walter Jacobs, all of us came to Maxwell Street. This is the backbone and the roots of what everyone is listening to today. It started right here.”

Rock legend Bo Diddley was speaking in Chicago in 1997, prior to a benefit concert for the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless.

The unique sound and style that Bo Diddley honed in his teenage years playing for nickels and dimes in Chicago’s bustling Maxwell Street market, has resonated right around the world.

One of the founding fathers of rock & roll, his unique look and sound, mixing Chicago electric urban blues with elements of Latin-American, hillbilly, spiritual, African and calypso with a whole lot more of his own feelings, were a major source of inspiration for an army of British Invasion bands in the 1960s. Bands like The Animals, The Downliners Sect, The Kinks, Manfred Mann, The Pretty Things, The Rolling Stones, Them, The Who and The Yardbirds.

Today, Bo Diddley receives fan mail and requests for signed photographs from countries as diverse as Australia and Belorussia. On the Internet, YouTube and MySpace carry videos and tracks by bands from Argentina, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Japan, Poland and the UK, performing Bo Diddley’s songs and tributes that pay homage to the world-famous Bo Diddley beat.

The story of Maxwell Street and the urban blues that Bo Diddley, John Lee Hooker, Jimmy Reed, Howlin’ Wolf, Muddy Waters and Little Walter transformed into what we now call rock & roll, is truly of global importance.

I don’t know any city that has anything like Maxwell Street,” said Bo Diddley. “People come from all over the world to see Maxwell Street. When I am overseas, people ask me about Maxwell Street. What do I tell them now?”

Thanks to the remarkable work of writer/director/producer Phil Ranstrom and his dedicated team, they can now watch “Cheat You Fair” and “Electrified.”Two movies about Maxwell Street that document the story of an incredibly important era in American music. A story from Chicago that the whole world needs to hear. And don’t forget… Bo knows.

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