Friday, May 18, 2007

Bo Diddley Update

Thanks to Jeff Meyerson for the link to this encouraging news.

iWon News - Diddley Improves After Suffering Stroke: "OMAHA, Neb. (AP) - Four days after suffering a stroke, Bo Diddley walked around the intensive-care unit at Creighton University Medical Center, and doctors were encouraged that the singer-songwriter-guitarist would be able to perform again, his manager said.

The 78-year-old Diddley told his audience that he wasn't feeling well during a show in Council Bluffs, Iowa, on Saturday night. Diddley's manager, Margo Lewis, said she had the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer taken to the hospital by ambulance when he appeared disoriented at the Omaha airport on Sunday.

Though Diddley's speech is impaired, he's made significant progress.

'We're going to get a guitar for him and put it in his lap and let him entertain people here,' Lewis said from the hospital. 'People think that would be good therapy for him.'"

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

To my chagrin, I didn't realize that the Gunslinger was still alive.
I hope he lives to be over 100 & healthy - we have too few of our great ones left & they seem to be dropping off like flies in the last few years.
Over the years I've had many arguments with dickheads who seemed to think that Mr Diddley was a no-talent novelty act. He is in fact one of the most influential musicians of the 20th C. Not everybody who listens to rock music has his records (their loss) - but I guarrantee that their collection has more than one cover of a Diddley song & more than one track that is a whole or partial borrowing of the great "Bo Diddley" riff. That one riff has been used for several hit records - Buddy Holly's "Not Fade Away" (covered by the Rolling Stones, who were greatly influenced by Bo), Johnny Otis' "Willie & the Handjive", the Strangeloves "I Want Candy" (covered by Bow Wow Wow)- & has been used by countless bands from the Byrds to the Smiths & beyond.
Get well Mr Diddley - the world needs you now more than ever! Without you & the other greats we Boogie Chillun wouldn't exist & the world would be a duller place than it is.

Anonymous said...

PS - I didn't even mention his great funk recordings from the 70s that have been rediscovered in a major way by the hip-hop generation, providing riffs for a whole new generation of kids who have probably never even heard of him. I hope some of the hip-hop records using samples of his stuff is worthy of the source material.

mybillcrider said...

Thanks for those fine appreciations of a great talent, Rene.