Anyone who has spent much time in the dead tree business can tell you the most famous or memorable person he or she has ever interviewed.
In my case, definitely the most famous – and probably memorable, too, given that I can recall details pretty well from 40 years ago – was Chuck Berry, who died Saturday at the age of 90.
The father of rock ‘n’ roll played Poppy’s Parlor in Crystal City three times from the late 1970s to the early ’80s.
Brothers Patrick and Paul Albano were running the business at the time as more of a bar/nightspot than the restaurant it is today. It was a place to unwind after a night of bowling at Quonset Lanes.
Paul Albano recalls that it was his brother who made the first Berry connection and arranged for him to play Poppy’s.
It was such a big deal – and Poppy’s was such a small venue – that word-of-mouth was all that was needed to sell out the show. There was room for 100 or 150 tops – Paul can’t recall the exact number. In the late ’70s, $20 was a pretty pricey cover charge, but this was Chuck Berry.
I was working at the Courier-Journal on Festus Main Street. Several of us decided to pony up.
The concert was on a weeknight and Chuck wasn’t scheduled to go on until 9. Because there were no reserved seats, we got there way early to secure a good table. Which is to say, we had plenty of time for refreshments before the concert. This is somewhat key to the story.
Just before Berry went on, Pat Albano came up to the table with a big grin on his face.
“Who wants to interview Chuck?”
It was fairly well-known that Berry rarely gave interviews, so whodathunk? None of us had brought pens or notebooks, and all of us were somewhat lubricated.
Fueled with liquid courage, I volunteered. The interview would take place on his break between sets.
Berry came out to the makeshift stage, which was on the same level as the customers and had no lights. It was pretty dark.
“Well,” Chuck announced to the almost all-white crowd, “I guess we’re all black in here.”
Then he tore it up.
Pat came back to get me at the break and we went outside to Berry’s large motorhome that he used as a dressing room. He introduced us and Berry invited me inside.
He shut the door and immediately started changing his shirt. He couldn’t have been any friendlier and forthcoming, though it was a little unnerving to be alone in a closed trailer with a rock ‘n’ roll superstar who was undressing.
We talked about his legacy and influence on the Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton and other rockers who pretty well attributed their first interest in music to Chuck Berry.
I don’t remember those details very well. Here’s what really stuck:
“Pat,” he said. “How’s your love life?” (Editor’s note – that quote is a massive paraphrase of what he actually said, but it conveys the spirit of his inquiry.)
I don’t remember my answer.
“Well, let me tell you the secret of happiness,” he said. “You’ve got to love more.”
(Once again, I’ve substituted one key word, the second-to-last one.)
Again, no answer sticks. There probably wasn’t one, other than a gap-mouthed stare. Chuck continued.
“My dad just quit last year and he was 76,” Chuck said. “Kept him going.”
I was trying to imagine that father and son conversation.
The interview ended and I went back into Poppy’s with a few notes on a napkin. No selfies, no autograph, no quick guitar or duckwalking lesson – just a memorable experience.
Berry played Poppy’s twice more after that night.
“That was probably one time too many,” Paul Albano said Monday with a laugh.
“The last time he got a little angry with me. He wanted these certain speakers because they projected his sound. I called a guy in St. Louis in the music rental business who said he’d take care of it. Then he showed up with a different brand that he said was the equivalent.
“When Chuck saw them, he got real irritated. He jumped in his car and drove home to get his speakers (Berry lived in St. Charles County). Now I’m starting to panic. I kept thinking, ‘I’ve got all these people here and what will I do if he doesn’t come back?’”
He did come back and went on – two hours late. The highway patrol had stopped Berry for speeding but he apparently talked his way out of it.
Albano had to work with Berry’s curious demands, which included being paid in advance, in cash.
“I remember counting out these 20 hundred-dollar bills and being nervous about that,” Albano said. “That was a lot of money.”
Of course, but that paid for a lot of rock ‘n’ roll history. George Washington may not have slept here, but Chuck Berry played here.
