I've been on the road all day so I just learned that Bo Diddley died, he was 79.
When I was 17 I went to New Orleans with my mom. (More details of that trip here.) We went to Storyville Jazz Hall one night and I sat so close to the stage we dodged sweat fling. He was loud, a little raunchy, and one of the best guitar players I've ever seen live. We sat at a table in the humid hall, fans turning lazily overhead, drinking whiskey sours and feeling like we'd been dropped into an entirely different life. Here's a little bit of Bo for ya:
Also, thanks to IMDB, my favorite Bo Diddley movie cameo. You'll just have to imagine it, since stupid YouTube doesn't have it. Its from Trading Places.... Louis is trying to get some money together to sort himself out and has this discussion with a pawnbroker:
Pawnbroker: Burnt my fingers, man.
Louis Winthorpe III: I beg your pardon?
Pawnbroker: Man, that watch is so hot, it's smokin'.
Louis Winthorpe III: Hot? Do you mean to imply stolen?
Pawnbroker: I'll give you 50 bucks for it.
Louis Winthorpe III: Fifty bucks? No, no, no. This is a Rouchefoucauld. The thinnest water-resistant watch in the world. Singularly unique, sculptured in design, hand-crafted in Switzerland, and water resistant to three atmospheres. This is *the* sports watch of the '80s. Six thousand, nine hundred and fifty five dollars retail!
Pawnbroker: You got a receipt?
Louis Winthorpe III: Look, it tells time simultaneously in Monte Carlo, Beverly Hills, London, Paris, Rome, and Gstaad.
Pawnbroker: In Philadelphia, it's worth 50 bucks.
For some reason, "In Philadelphia, its worth 50 bucks" has become a guiding philosophy for me.
Yes, perhaps movies are a bit too much part of my life. But thanks and farewell to one of the greats.
We've replaced the Philadelphia suburbs with a rural mountain county. Let's see if she notices.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
Posts
4 comments:
I loved the 'sweat fling' statement. Take it from a girl from Savannah, who's lived in a lot of way hot places, N.O. is the effin'est sweatiest place I've ever been. I think I was dripping the whole time.
And we were there in APRIL. Walking outside was like getting a hot, sopping wet towel thrown over your head.
ewww!Hot, sopping wet towel style is definitely not my style. I'm dying to go to N.O. one of these days just to walk the streets and feel the history.
Bo and his music will be sorely missed. One of the few, true greats
Wow, where have I been? I didn't know ol' Bo was gone. That's a funny scene from Trading Places.
Farewell, Bo.
Post a Comment