who doesn’t like chuck berry? who doesn’t know one of his songs? who doesn’t associate his sound with some feel-good moment in their lives?

how hard it was, to extricate all that feel-good momentum from whatever i thought i knew and read this book – an honest, forthright, factual account of his life and “hard times” that basically involved jail, porn, gobs of money, lawsuits, racism, mistresses of every ilk, voyeurism, and of course, sex with white women. oh, and rock and roll. it was nice to finally untangle fact from fiction because people eventually made a habit of accusing him of all kinds of things that he wasn’t guilty of. some of it was circumstance—clearly, there were plenty of white people who didn’t like the fact that he was a successful businessman and that he lived in a beautiful home and that he was financially independent. on the other hand, some of it, he brought on himself. that crime spree that he later called “kid stuff” put him on the radar as far as the law was concerned. and that rock and roll stuff (sex, sex and more sex, and drugs) confirmed a lot of what everyone thought they knew.

there’s a lot to learn from his mistakes. i’m walking away with three things:

1. keep your nose clean. avoid the police and illegal business at all costs—including drugs.
2. be fiscally independent of rock and roll, in every way possible. that way, you won’t be at its mercy.
3. when you do your music/your art your way, put on a great live show because that’s a part of what you’ll be remembered for.