Bo Diddley, Ellas McDaniel (1928-2008) photographed holding his signature box guitar. His mastery of the music changed the course of popular culture in the United States during the 1950s.
Originally uploaded by Pan-African News Wire File Photos
Courtesy of the Soul-Patrol Newsletter
http://www.soul-patrol.net/bodiddley.ram
I got a telephone call from our friend Scott Free this morning informing me of the passing of the great Bo Diddley, last night. Scott has served as Bo Diddley's musical director for many years and has been a good friend to Soul-Patrol for quite some time. He asked that I not send out anything regarding Bo's passing until the family had issued a statement.
So just who in the hell was Bo Diddley and why are we devoting an entire issue to him? Bo Diddley was one of the brothas who helped to invent that multi-billion dollar/year industry known as Rock n' Roll. If you don't know anything about Bo Diddley or only know of him as an "old black man with a guitar, funny looking guitar and hat from a few TV commercials, then this would be a good time to educate yourself.
He was and will always be one of the greatests musical talents ever produced. Not only is Bo Diddley one of the inventors of Rock n' Roll, but it is inconciveable that that the music we call FUNK or the music we call RAP could ever have come into existance!
Bo Diddley was a big fan of what we do here at Soul-Patrol.com, he told me so. A few years ago we did a live chat session here on the Soul-Patrol website with Bo Diddley as our special guest host for Black History Month. How ironic that we are talking about his passing at the start of Black Music Month/2008.
Even more ironic is that we have now grown to the point where we are going to have 4 big chat sessions, every Thusrday evening (starting this Thursday on 6/5) at 10pm est in June hosted by Marcus Miller (6/5), Lalah Hathaway (6/12), Will Downing (6/19) and Chante Moore (6/27) in the Soul-Patrol Chatroom! We are also going to be scheduling a number of other Black Music Month activities in partnership with our friends at http://www.SoulOfAmerica.com
Bo would have seriously dug all of this. Especially the part about us working together with other BLACK OWNED ENTITIES like SoulOfAmerica.com!!!
Right after the chat session that we did with him was over with, Bo called me up and kept me on the phone for about an hour.
1. First thing he wanted to know was "who was that crazy mf'er that did that radio show that was playing during the session." He said that he wanted a copy of it for his archives.
http://www.soul-patrol.net/bodiddley.ram
2. He also told me that I needed to be careful because "with you owning all this computer stuff, the white boys are gonna steal it from you if you aren't careful. That's what they always do, steal sh*t that we create and when they steal it from you, it will be your own people that help them to do so..."
3. Bo had some new material that we wanted to use on the Soul-Patrol Virtual album. Unfortunatly there were some "legal complications", so we couldn't use it. Hopefully we will be able to play it on Nu Soul @ RadioIO. It's awfully FUNKY (George Clinton & Bernie Worrell are on it also).
4. The thing I dug about Bo Diddley is that he was totally down to earth and he kept things real. One year at the RRHOF (the year that the O'Jays were inducted) I got on an elevator at the Waldorf and he was on the elevator. His managers were on either side of him inside. I reached my hand out to introduce myself and his managers gave me a dirty look. Bo said; "That's my man Bob Davis, he's cool, he's mah brotha..."
(how cool was that???)
We have some commentary here in the newsletter about Bo Diddley, including some personal refelectins from me as well as from his webmaster, Mr. David Blakey another good friend of Soul-patrol.com and one of the very best webmasters on the internet. He runs the official BO DIDDLEY-The Originator website. Quiet as it's kept Bo Diddley was one of the very first Black artists to have an "official website, dating back to the mid 1990's. And today it remains among the very best and most effective of it's kind to this day.
In addition to the commentary, be sure to listen to our Tribute To Bo Diddley Internet Radio Broadcast at the following link:
http://www.soul-patrol.net/bodiddley.ram
Bo really dug it...
Thanks in advance...
--Bob Davis
609-351-0154
earthjuice@prodigy.net
Ellas McDaniel 1928-2008
(R&B/Rock n' Roll)
From Bo Diddley's Webmaster...
--------------------
Hey BO DIDDLEY fans,
It is with profound regret that we announce that BO DIDDLEY died of heart failure today (Monday) at his home in Archer, FL. He was 79.
He had suffered a heart attack in August, three months after suffering a stroke while touring in Iowa. He had returned to Florida to continue rehabilitation.
Lynn and I mourn the passing of our friend Ellas McDaniel, the man known around the world as BO DIDDLEY.
One of the founding fathers of rock & roll, a truly unique talent and an influence upon generations of musicians, Ellas' commitment to issues close to his heart, including human rights, the state of the Nation, homelessness, unemployment and the importance of education, touched many people across America and beyond.
Born to entertain, he was a man of great innovation and energy. The BO DIDDLEY beat, his trademark square guitars, his pioneering use of female musicians and his exciting and highly idiosyncratic performances over five decades, form part of his lasting legacy.
Ellas leaves behind his devoted family, their fine families and fans and admirers around the world that join them in honoring a good life of kindness and musical vision.
David Blakey, Webmaster,
Lynn Cameron, Technical Support,
BO DIDDLEY-The Originator http://members.tripod.com/~Originator_2/index.html
A Celebration of his unique contribution to Popular Music.
Losing The Great Ones (it's like a bad dream that keeps happening over an over again)
Sometimes I think that I am far too involved in this topic. I mean, after all, death is a part of life, isn't it?
Sometimes I think that we should be strictly about the music. Music is what makes us all happy. Death isn't something that makes anyone happy. And yet death has sometimes become an all consuming conversation, here on Soul-Patrol. For me sometimes it often feels like everything else that I am doing is just "stuff that I do in between death announcements."
Well, someone near and dear to Soul-Patrol, Mr. Bo Diddley passed away last night. Someone that a number of you all had the chance to meet and interact with here online. This artist is one of the GIANTS of popular music of the 20th century, a major innovator and influencer.
However it is indeed "poetic justice" that this artist passing coincides with the start of Black Music Month/2008.
However it does give me pause to think and ponder all of the hypocrisy.
Just last week Bo Diddley was INSULTED by a mainstream music publication. I'm sure that in their next edition, this very same mainstream publication will be talking about how much they love this artist.
I ask you, where is the justice in that?
These great artists have their legacy stolen away from them. If they complain about it, they are called "angry negroes". If they say nothing publicly, then they are called "uncle toms."
Then these artists pass on and all of the hypocrites come out. People who didn't give a damn when the person was still alive. Everybody is then interested in the artist for a few moments and then it's all over. In other words they are given a final "15 minutes of fame", where their musical & cultural legacy is reduced to a few short paragraphs, suitable for consumption via text message. Within a few weeks those who have stolen their legacy go back to the business, that is the business of amerikkka, exploiting those who are in a position to be exploited. It is a process that is as amerikkkan as apple pie.
I consider it to have been a privilege and an honor to meet, talk with and break bread with these men and women, many of whom aren't just musical greats, but who are also major figures in Black History and therefore in the evolution of the Amerikkkan culture. I consider it to be an privilege and an honor that they trust me enough to want me to know their TRUE STORY. Perhaps nobody else will give a damn a few days after the obituaries are summarized in 10 second sound bytes on the evening news tonight. But Soul-Patrol will care. That's because we recognize the impact that they have had not only on our own lives, but around the world.
I'll write more later, but I just wanted to get that off of my chest...
--Bob Davis
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