The Countertop Chronicles

RIP Ellas Otha Bates

Diddley died of heart failure at his home in Archer, Fla., spokeswoman Susan Clary said. He had suffered a heart attack in August, three months after suffering a stroke while touring in Iowa. Doctors said the stroke affected his ability to speak, and he had returned to Florida to continue rehabilitation.

One of my fondest memories, was catching him in the Spring of 1991 under the Tent at Knoxville’s World Fair Park. Opened up with Hey Bo Diddley.

Went with my roommate, we were smack dab in the center, second row. Mayor of Knoxville at the time (Victor Ashe???) sat in front of us, and he and his entourage got up after the press left. Bo let people video tape his first song, but then threatened to stop playing if he saw any other video cameras in the audience.

He put on a great show - and came back out with a killer Hey Bo Diddley after the recordings had stopped. Apparently, there was a dispute over money before the show started. I was surprised at all of this, but he was a rock pioneer, and probably learned the hard way that he needed cash up front or he was gonna get screwed.

”They copied everything I did, upgraded it, messed it up. It seems to me that nobody can come up with their own thing, they have to put a little bit of Bo Diddley there,” he said.

Despite his success, Diddley claimed he only received a small portion of the money he made during his career. Partly as a result, he continued to tour and record music until his stroke. Between tours, he made his home near Gainesville in north Florida.

”Seventy ain’t nothing but a damn number,” he told The Associated Press in 1999. ”I’m writing and creating new stuff and putting together new different things. Trying to stay out there and roll with the punches. I ain’t quit yet.”

Diddley, like other artists of his generations, was paid a flat fee for his recordings and said he received no royalty payments on record sales. He also said he was never paid for many of his performances.

”I am owed. I’ve never got paid,” he said. ”A dude with a pencil is worse than a cat with a machine gun.”

RIP Bo. I’ll drink one to you.