They are probably long gone now, but did you try writing direct? I traded a zine for my copy. 

Also, maybe I am missing this, but didn't there used to be a "trading post?" Maybe a section that was dedicated to the buying and selling of records. People could sell directly to each other via set sales, list their ebay/ discogs pages with records for sale. 

Hey Kopper,

I'm one of these people who are here one day and gone the next for weeks at a time. This is probably mostly due to school and being busy. I've never been on Facebook, Instagram, or whatever is hot these days. I do frequent Terminal Boredom a lot. I even used to be on the old old Garage Punk Message board many years ago. 

One thing I notice here on the forums is there is not a lot of participation. Sometimes I click on topics and nothing has changed for days or weeks. I think maybe narrowing the topics down a bit to be more inclusive may help. Such as music and non-music. Instead of bouncing back between punk, garage, new music..etc. Politics, books, and whatever else could be non-music. Sometimes I don't feel like looking in every thread to see if something interesting is posted, but if I could just look in a couple, I may see something I was not expecting to see and get involved in a conversation. 

I'm not trying to put down the way you have it going on here. I think the site is great and like coming to check it out. This is just an idea, which I thought may stimulate more conversation. 

I really wasn't looking for criticisms of this site. Like it or not, it's what we have to work with and offers the best of what we want to offer members... a place for them to discuss (forums), share videos, music, etc.

Interesting article. I would lean more towards Russle-Smith's argument though. First off, I wouldn't even consider Warped or Guitar hero or whatever the mag is called punk. So no girls in that doesn't equate to no girls in punk. Secondly I would say there are not as many women in punk because not as many women play punk music, simple as that. Maybe some of the more mocho hardcore scenes push women out, but who wants to be involved in that shit anyway? There are lots of hardcore bands (White Lung mentioned above, Pretty Boys, Disgusting Body, Anti-Vibes, Libyans..etc) that are all female or female fronted hardcore. 

As for the history of punk, I've always loved X-Ray Specs, Slits, Bags, Neo Boys, Runaways, Eve Libertine in Crass..etc. They seem to be prominent in the books and films I've seen on punk. I've seen the Slits in several documentaries. All LA scene books talk about the Bags. For the record, Alice Bag is one of the most bad ass punk singers of all time. 

I'm all for more girls being involved, the more the merrier, I love girls. However, I don't feel they are overlooked or pushed aside. I do think some bands are overlooked, like Girlschool. I feel they don't get the credit they deserve for the amount of awesome music they put out. However, I could probably name dozens of groups that are all guys who don't get the credit they deserve either.  

I'd love to get a conversation going about this... Read the article and post your thoughts!

From: http://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2014/jul/03/punk-has-a-problem-with-women-why

 

The Slits … Nearly 40 years on, female punk musicians still struggle to be recognised. Photograph: Julian Yewdall/Getty Images

 

Earlier this week, the BBC aired a Culture Show special Girls Will Be Girls about the “female punk spirit”. Next week, Amy Oden’s documentary From the Back of the Room– a celebration of women in punk – is screening in London. It’s shown with a telling regularity here in the UK, and not just because it’s an excellent piece of film-making. It addresses an issue that punk just can’t seem to shake: female visibility, or the lack of it.

 

For all the films and programmes about women's role in punk, their recognition has been a problem since the 1970s and it looks like very little has changed. Women were a part of punk from the beginning – as musicians, promoters, venue heads, artists, provocateurs, community organisers, documenting their local scenes in zines, films, books and photographs. As LA punk veteran Alice Bag has pointed out, punk started out as an inclusive and diverse movement, but was quickly annexed by white dudes. Women have had to fight for space and recognition in punk ever since.

 

Even as the Sex Pistols and the Clash began their noisy quest for world domination, the radical all-girl punk band the Slits faced opposition at every level of industry, as chronicled in guitarist Viv Albertine’s excellently sharp memoir, Clothes, Clothes, Clothes. Music, Music, Music. Boys, Boys, Boys. In the 90s, riot grrrl rose up in protest at endemic punk scene sexism, while bands like Bikini Kill fought to reclaim the stage and the mosh pit. Two decades on, Alanna McArdle of Joanna Gruesome battles with sexist online trolls, Laura Jane Grace calls out the macho punk culture and both Syracuse, New York’s Perfect Pussy and Vancouver’s White Lung rage openly against the sexist boy majority. Same shit, different decade.

 

So why the groundhog day? Well, partly because the industry bros with power and influence aren’t doing all they can to change this inbalance. When Megan Seling interviewed Warped tour founder Kevin Lyman recently, challenging him over the persistent lack of female artists on the festival’s line-up, Lyman blamed women, saying there aren’t enough female bands out there to book.

 

Maybe there really are fewer women making punk music. But if that's the case, maybe it's because they see so few examples of female visibility at festivals like Warped that it doesn't occur to them that being in a band is an option. Maybe it's because men are more likely to have the time, confidence and disposable income necessary to make a band happen. Maybe it's because men don’t have to face constant objectification in the pages of guitar magazines, or the archetypal patronising music-shop dudes, or the steady line of snarky stage techies who prompted Sleater-Kinney’s Corin Tucker to write her 1997 Hey Sound Guy zine. Maybe it’s because women on the road face a set of obstacles that men in bands will never have to consider: sexual harassment, gendered violence, isolation, rape (and the subsequent blanket of silence and victim smearing that happens if the accused happens to be a punk hero). Maybe it's because the men who enjoy the freedom of the road aren’t worn down by the exhausting, pervasive sexism of promoters, venue managers and – should they garner the gaze of the music press – a media that is still, by and large, made by, for and about men. Maybe it's because the women who challenge the male hegemony in punk tend to get left out of the history books, prompting film-makers like Oden to retell the story.

 

Or maybe we only think there are fewer women out there because we only ever get to see the lucky few to whom industry gatekeepers deign to give a platform. Warped’sShiragirl stage – set up guerrilla-style by musician Shira in 2004 in response to Warped’s disproportionate boy/girl ratio – was a well-intentioned move, a way of ensuring women were present. But it's time that Warped – and others – change the way they support women in punk. As AbsolutePunk writer Kelly Doherty has pointed out, women-only stages, however benevolent, effectively ghettoize women:

 

The Shiragirl Stage is a way of the scene patting itself on the back and feeling super progressive when, really, it's yet another way of suggesting that women do not have a role to play in the important parts of the festival. The Shiragirl Stage will never, ever change the opinion of a young individual who believes that the touring circuit is something women should not participate in, as they won't look twice at the stage. How you change opinions is by giving females the chance to be in the same position as men and by showing people that they are just as capable.

 

Jennie Russell-Smith, musician and co-organiser of Rebellion festival, the UK’s biggest annual punk festival, agrees wholeheartedly. “This is the first time I’ve heard of the Shiragirl stage, and I’m appalled that someone would feel the need to have a stage where the girl bands are kept away from the male bands. Its ridiculous.” And the idea that there aren’t enough female bands out there? Bullshit, says Russell-Smith. “Years ago, I actively sought out women bands [for Rebellion line-ups]. Nowadays, because there are so many girl bands out there, I don’t even think about it.” Having women at Rebellion is important to Russell-Smith, but it’s not a quota thing, she says – its about diversity. This year’s Rebellion line-up includes Maid of Ace, the Duel, Vice Squad, Glitter Trash, the Ramonas, Louise Distras, Efa Supertramp, Healthy Junkies and Meg and Mog. “There are so many women getting out there and doing it, and it makes my heart sing.”

 

Russell-Smith grew up in north-east England, in a democratic local scene. “Us women were never made to feel inferior – but I know that’s not everybody’s experience, and I can’t speak for the women in London, or other parts of the world. I’ve been toying with the idea of a one-off Rebellion girls’ night out, a London gig, which would [celebrate] all-female or female-fronted bands. Everyone would be welcome audience-wise, men and women.” But ultimately, says Russell-Smith, there is a thin line between celebrating women and keeping a divide between the sexes.

 

So how do the punks with power ensure women are given equal footing? “The global punk family should stand together,” says Russell-Smith, “because some of us have opportunities that our sisters don’t. I’d also encourage women to contact Kevin [Lyman] in a proactive way about this. He’s welcome to come to Rebellion any time, and he can see how it works over here.”

THE TRIP! CANADA DAY 2014 SPECIAL!

This week on the Trip!  Greg plays a musical tribute to the Great White North for a belated Canada Day show!  100% Canadian rock and roll! Listen here:  http://cjamlog1.cjam.ca/mp3dirnew/381-The_Trip-20140706-0000-t1404601200.mp3

The setlist: 

the mongols- nautoloid reef
rockadrome- royal American twentieth century blues
the del-gators- car troubles
the haunted- 8 o'clock this morning
the big town boys- it was i
steppenwolf- the pusher
the falcons- restless
paul anka- a steel guitar and a glass of wine
timber timbre- beat the drum slowly
the shondells- don't put me down
lost patrol- commanche
the good feeling- tale of a man
the vindicators- thinking of birds
atomic 7- your ironic t-shirt
nash the slash- normal
the action- t.v.'s on the blink
les lutins- laissez-nous vivre
the pack a.d.- 1880
maow- party tonite!
maow- cat's meow
the hellbound hepcats- pyronecrophiliac
the blue stones- i'm a stereo

I listened to the Exploding Hearts - Guitar Romantic for the first time in a few years the other day. When this album first came out, we blasted it out doors to several BBQs, therefore it will always make me think of summer. 

Fe Fi Fo Fums single, Summertime is a great song! 

Kim Fowley - the Trip, cause it starts off with "It's summertime kiddies and it's time to take a trip.''

Sumertime At the Beach by the Sugar Freaks is another favourite.

I Can Hear the Grass Grow by the Move seems summery 

See Emily Play and Arnold Lane, maybe because the videos are shot outdoors?

All Beach Boys songs and I guess Jan and Dean

...cool. I loved how Screamin' Jay's last (If I'm not mistaken) recording , an actually pretty good cover version of "I Shot The Sherrif '', ends with him ad - libbing "...And lay off Brother Clinton.".

Summer's here and the time is right for dancing in the streets. Not to mention sun, surf, hotdogs, BBQ and, best of all Voodoo orgies!

http://www.bigenchiladapodcast.com/2011/06/podcast-37-summer-voodoo-fun.html

Hey , it's still SUMMER -    "King of The Surf" - Trashmen.

                                        "Point Panic" / "Waikiki Run - Surfaris (one of the best Surf instro 45s ,                                                     EVER.).

                                      ''I Live For Cars and Girls" - Dictators. 

                                      'Hot Rod Hearse' - 3D Invisibles.

                                    "Thunder Alley"  - Davie Allan and The Arrows , Pandoras.

                                 "Surfin' Hearse" -  Jan and Dean , Untamed Youth.

                                    "Hot Generation" - Pandoras (I forget who did the original.).

                                 "Surfin' Sanford Bird" ( LAMONT ! WHERE'S MY GLASSES?!) - Deke Dickerson.

                 SPECIAL 4TH OF JULY SECTION - PAUL REVERE AND THE RAIDERS.

                             "SS 396" , "Orbit (The Spy)" , '' Louie , Louie (WELL , DUH.)" , "Judge GTO", 

                             "Corvair Baby" , "Powder Blue Mercedes Queen" , ''Crisco Party" (aka "Crisco ") ,

                             "Good Thing" , "Ups and Downs" , "Steppin' Out" (Huh huh , he said "69".) ,                                      "Kicks" , "Hungry" , " Let Me " , "Mr. Sun , Mr . Moon (Come on , it's the perfect song                              for 4th.) " , "Don't Take it So Hard"  , "Louise " , " Mo'Reen" , "Midnight Ride" , "I'm                   Not Your Steppin' Stone", "Night Train" , "You Can't Sit Down". "Him or Me".

                          and , honorable mention "Baby Make Up Your Mind"  , only because it's the hit that should have been.

You want your band's tracks to be played on Voix de Garage garage glitter punk radio show? Just contact me

In a couple of days, the very last Voix de Garage episode of the season 2013-2014... Don't miss it!

http://www.trensmissions.ens.fr/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/voixdegarage29.ogg

Voix de garage#29 Special Summertime! (25/06/2014)

*Jiingle* Know Your Product / The Saints / Eternally Yours / 1978 / Australie (Brisbane)

School’s out / Alice Cooper / School’s out / 06/1972 / US (Detroit Rock City)

Sighs / The Revellions / Give it time / 2014 / Ireland

1789 / Fuzzy Vox / On Heat / 2014 / France (Joinville le Pont)

It Must be Summer / Fountains of Wayne / Utopia Parkway / 1999 / US (NYC)

Summertime Blues / Eddie Cochran / 21/07/1958 / US

California Sun / The Rivieras / single / 1964 / US (South Bend, Indiana)

*The 5' French talk*: the festivals (with as a background, The Tell Tale Couch / The Phantom Surfers / The Phantom Surfers & Dick Dale / 1996 / US California)

Feel Good Hit Of The Summer / Queens Of The Stone Age / 2000 / US (Palm Desert, CA)

*The quiet moment*: End of the Summer / The New York Dolls / Dancing Backward in High Heels / 15/03/2011 / US 

*Listen to that glitterous glitter*: Sea Cruise / Glitter Band / Hey / 1974 / UK (London)

Summertime / Glitter Wizard / Hunters Gatherers / 2011 / US (San Francisco)

Here comes the Summer / The Undertones / The Undertones / 05/1979/ UK (Derry, Northern Ireland)

Summer Babe / Pavement / Slanted & Enchanted / 1992 / US (LA)

*The Chachachachchacha-pelpelepel 60’s*: Surfin’ Bird / The Trashmen / Single / 1963 / US (Minnesota)

Fun in the Summer / The Surf Trio / Almost Summer / 1986 / US (Eugene, Oregon)

Zummer It’s A New Season / Edam Edam / Zummer EP / 2012 / France (Paris)

*The Norway lesson for summer homework*: I Got a Knife / Turbonegro / Sexual Harassment / 2012 / Norway

- See more at: http://www.trensmissions.ens.fr/voix-de-garage-29/#sthash.RpUHhK28.dpuf

Radio What Wave Playlist July 3/2014. All Canadian Show to celebrate Canada Day

1. The Smugglers....Canadian Amabassadors..from the In The Hall Of Fame CD on Popllama Records. 1993 CD from these Vancouver garage/pop/rock'n'rollers that for some reason, never drew a lot of people here in sleepy London Ontario. Lead singer Grant Lawrence, now a DJ on CBC Radio was in town to promote his latest book this past winter and the trend continued. Neither Grant nor i understand sleepy London Ontario Canada.

2. The Living Deadbeats... Hey Girl...from the CD of the same name. Vancouver combo that features former Londoner Peter Gripp on the bass.

3. DOA...Big Guys Like DOA....live recording from 11/18/1995 from Halifax. Recorded this from CBC Radio just about 19 years ago. DOA are one of the world's longest running punk rock combos.

4. No Means No....Oh Canaduh!...from a 7" on Allied Records and a Subhumans cover.

5. The Evaporators....It's My Pride....from their 1998 LP, United Empire Loyalists. Nardwuar the Human Serviette is a noted supporter of all things Canadian and a good guy!

6. The Chickens.....White Squirrel Town...from their Prepare To Plug In CD. White Squirrel Town is in reference to Exeter Ontario, where some of these lads grew up and formed this amazing combo called UIC!! And we're still waiting for that final UIC LP to come out....

7. Flying Squad....Brian Mulroney....local biker rock combo and their little tune about one of our former Prime Ministers. We're still waiting for an ode to our present, Stephen Harper.....which reminds me of something i read in Gods Of The Hammer, The Teenage Head story the other day. Steve Mahon (Teenage Head) was introducing himself to Steven Leckie (Viletones singer) and Steve said 'I spell my name S T E P H E N' to which Leckie replied, 'I spell it F U C K O F F'....my brain works in weird ways.

8. Jim Ashby....Speed City....7" on Speed City Records and a tale of our sleepy little town.

9. Crowbar....Oh What A Feeling....from the Bad Manors LP from the early 70's. First of several tunes from Hamilton based combos.

10. Junkhouse....Joy Ride...from the Fuzz CD from 1997 and features Tom Wilson on guitar and vocals and Ray Farrugia on drums, both of whom played with Canadian icon Gordon Lightfoot the other day.

11. Blackie and The Rodeo Kings....Lean On Your Peers...from the Kings Of Love CD and this song refers to Frankie Venom and his early days in Teenage Head.

12. Chris Houston....Einsteins Brain's In Hamilton....from a recent 7" and may explain a little bit about Hamilton Ontario and it's amazing music scene.

13. Forgotten Rebels...I Think Of Her...from their self titled CD on OPM records and recorded at the Cedar Lounge in 1980.

14. Simply Saucer....Low Profile....from their brand new 12" recorded in Detroit with Jim Diamond.

15. Stompin' Tom Connors...Bud The Spud....from the LP of the same name. A Canadian show would not be complete without The Stomper!!

16. Murray McLauchan....Linda...from the Only The Silence Remains, a double live LP from 1975. This guy was the darling of the Canadian AM radio set due to his Farmer's Song which was played continually and actually brought some notice to our farmers. But Linda, was on an entirely different subject. The Linda this song refers to is Linda Lovelace, the 'star' of the porno movie Deep Throat, one of the first porno movies to attract mainstream attention. Young Murray and his lightbulb were banned from many radio stations once they found out what this song was about.

17. Art Bergmann....Buried Alive...from the What Fresh Hell Is This? CD from 1995. Art is sometimes referred to as Canada's Lou Reed, possibly due to his lyrical matter, but more likely due to his drug preferences.

18. Art Bergmann....My Empty House...recorded live at the Town Pump in Vancouver, 2/18/1995. This is Art's hometown and as you can hear, he's got the crowd on his side for this one.

19. Jerry Jerry and the Sons Of Rhythm Orchestra....Living On Top....from the Road Gore LP from 1985 on OG Records. Edmonton combo who moved to Montreal, then later back to Edmonton as the booze is better there.

20. Jerry Jerry and the Sons Of Rhythm Orchestra....The Drift....from the Battle Hymn Of The Apartment LP. This used to be the show closer for JJ and the boys and rightfully so! Just listen to those lyrics, just hang on to that beat....and with JJ's antics on stage this was a Killer!!! When they opened for The Long Ryders many years ago in Hamilton Ontario, they closed with this one and the Long Ryders were so blown away, they broke up a few days later. JJ could have this effect on people.

21. Deja Voodoo...Things...recorded live at Key West Cafe, London Ontario 10/22/1987. Sludgeabilly at it's finest!

22. Dik Van Dykes...Curling...from It Came From Canada Volume 3 on OG Records. Yet another Hamilton combo and that's a wrap!!

Thanx for all the phone-ins (there were lots during this show!), emails, facebook messages and Heys!! Hope you enjoyed this all Canuck show and maybe it opened you up to some Canadian combo you weren't familiar with.

Back again next week.....with The Mogs, Frankenstein 5, The Mood and many more as we pay tribute to our good pal, constant listener, frequent phone in guy and dreamer Rob Munro.......

 And here's a link to the podcast:

http://chrwradio.ca/programs/radio-what-wave

Playlist 07/05/14

Drivin' N' Cryin' Turn It Up Or Turn It Off
Circle Jerks American Heavy Metal Weekend
Avengers The American In Me
Dictators I Stand Tall
Fleshtones American Beat '84
Caroline and the Treats Tonight
Fabulous Miss Wendy Love Song
Dollyrots Bad Reputation
Ramonas Misdirected
Monster Magnet Crop Circle
MC5 Kick Out The Jams
Cult Love Removal Machine
Soundgarden Fopp
Len Price 3 Billy Mason
Banner Pilot Matchstick
Me First & The Gimme Gimmes Top of the World
Fagettes My Girl Looks Like Johnny Thunders
99ers I Wanna Surf Like The Apeman
Beach Party Geronimo
Dry Heeves The Creep
Men From S.P.E.C.T.R.E. Mercury Wall
Ace Egil's Head-Ransom
Andy Smash She's Haunting
Modern Lovers Roadrunner
Julian Cope World Shut your Mouth
Brood Leave Me Alone
Electric Mess Better to be Lucky Than Good
Motobunny Thinkin About Me
Bleeding Rainbow Time & Place
Bob Mould Tomorrow Morning
Deathrays What It Means
Warm Soda Going In Circles
Trousers I Get Around
Cryptics Do The Trash
Lovesores Mission To Mars
Norvins I Need Your Lovin'
Godfathers Gone To Texas

I will be returning to the airwaves on Saturday July 5th from 1:00-3:00PM EST. You can listen at 89.7 WITR-FM in Rochester, NY or streaming live at http://witr.rit.edu.

SHADOWS IN THE VOID #2

Follow the LINK and get your ears bleeding !!!

SHADOWS IN THE VOID #1 

Shadows In The Void, a highly corrosive brand new podcast loaded with despair, angst, anger and violence provided by your epileptic host : Dead End Fred.

Get your ears drilled and bleed, Punk !

SUBSCRIBE

http://www.garagepunk.com/blogs/6608

Looks very interesting , indeed. I've frequently read that the young girl Chuck brought across state lines was , in fact , a Native American , not White , but , a Black man in Chuck's position , at that time , did'nt have a leg to stand on. He said he wanted to have her work as a Waitress at his club.

Chuck has'nt always exercised the best judgement. He had a siezure , or collapsed from exhaustion , the last time I saw him play. Beyond the standard blood pressure exam , etc. , he refused all medical attention . But he's going to outlive all of us , so , God love him.

Sweet!  I wouldn't mind visiting that Whittier place sometime.  Sounds like some interesting history there.

Very interesting stuff... Thanks, Kopper

This is really cool...

http://blogs.riverfronttimes.com/rftmusic/2014/06/chuck_berry_st_louis_homes_and_properties_before_he_was_rich_and_famous_photos.php

Chuck Berry's St. Louis Homes and Properties Before He Was Rich and Famous [Photos]

By Chad Garrison
Published Mon., Jun. 30 2014 at 3:25 AM

 

  

Chris Naffziger

This house, at 4420 Cottage Avenue, is indicative of the dwellings Chuck Berry called home before he hit it big. Berry lived here while in second and third grades.

In the late 1950s Chuck Berry purchased a 35-acre plot in rural St. Charles County where he dreamed of creating a lavish property to rival those of the segregated country clubs he'd seen growing up in St. Louis. The result was "Berry Park," a sprawling compound complete with guest cottages, a nightclub and guitar-shaped swimming pool. Today the 17,000-square-foot mansion he built at Berry Park remains the rock & roll legend's primary residence. He also keeps a second home in the affluent suburb of Ladue.

 

It wasn't always this way.

See also: Chuck Berry Reviews Classic Punk Records In Unearthed Jet Lag Zine From 1980

Click on the pin drops for a tour of Berry's early homes and businesses.

For the first 30 years of his life (minus a short stint in prison), Berry lived in essentially the same black, working-class neighborhood of north St. Louis. Here is a look at those first St. Louis properties owned or occupied by Chuck Berry -- before all those music royalties came rolling in. 

Up first: The site of Chuck Berry's birth -- the home where he got his first taste of music.

Chris Naffziger

Homer G. Phillips Hospital now sits on the site of Chuck Berry's birthplace.

2520 Goode Avenue
Chuck Berry was born October 18, 1926, at 6:59 a.m. inside a small home at 2520 Goode Avenue, now known as Annie Malone Drive. The family moved a few years after Berry's birth, and the home was soon torn down for construction of Homer G. Phillips Hospital, which served for decades as the city's only medical center for blacks. Although his time at the Goode home was short, it was here that a young Chuck Berry was first introduced to music. As he writes in his autobiography:

Mother and daddy were of the Baptist faith and sang in the Antioch Church choir. The choir rehearsed in our home around the upright piano in the front room. My very first memories, while still in my baby crib, are of musical sounds -- the assembled pure harmonies of the Baptist hymns, dominated by my mother's soprano and supported by my father's bass blending with the stirring rhythms of true Baptist soul. I was always trying to crawl out of my crib and into the front room to where the rhythm came from. Long before I learned to walk I was patting my foot to those Baptist beats, rocked by the rhythm of the deacons' feet focused on the tempo of the times. Oh! But the feeling it generated still stirs my memory of back when. Hallelujah!

Next: The Berrys move to a home with modern luxuries such as a telephone.

 

 

Chris Naffziger

Berry and his family would live here for two short years before moving again.

4420 Cottage Avenue
After briefly moving to a home across the street from Berry's birthplace on Goode Avenue, the Berry family settled at 4420 Cottage Avenue, also in the Ville neighborhood. They would stay at this location for just about two years. Recalls Berry of the 4420 Cottage home:

Late in the second grade our family moved again. Daddy found a five-room brick bungalow with full bath, full basement, central heating, and a front and backyard just two blocks away at 4420 Cottage Avenue. We thought it was a palace to have closets and front and back porches. The rent was $25 a month. Mother dug in her savings and added new pieces of furniture that included a new Whirlpool washing machine and a pedal Singer sewing machine that (to my delight) I was invited to pedal while mother sewed. Daddy had some white people install a telephone which brought a million questions from me about its function.

Next: The Berrys move to a home that Chuck will return to time and time again as a teen and young adult.

 

 

Chris Naffziger

The empty lot to the left is all that remains of the Berry property on Labadie Avenue.

4319 Labadie
While Berry was in fourth grade, his family moved again to a duplex on Labadie Street. The Berry family (which in addition to Chuck included his parents, Henry and Martha, and five siblings) would stay at this home for years with Berry returning to the home at the age of 21 (after serving four years in a juvenile center for a carjacking) and, again, a few years later with his new bride, Themetta. The Labadie home has since been torn down, but the property is still owned by Chuck Berry. In his autobiography Berry recalls that the duplex had four rooms with bath and basement and a second floor with the same number of rooms. And it was at this home that Berry first developed his infamous kink. He writes:

One evening I came through the gangway of home and heard water running in the bathroom on the second floor next door. The light from the window was casting down on the roof of our porch. Temptation told me I might finally see a girl's parts, so I hurried to the room and creeped toward the open window to redeem my dream. There, through six inches of raised shade, I saw -- for the first time in my life -- the bare buttocks of a woman about to step into the bathtub. I froze, instantly excited, and crouched stunned and amazed at my long-awaited view of the opposite sex. She even turned around momentarily and allowed a direct view of the front part as she came over to pull the down the shade.

Next: Chuck Berry and his young wife, Themetta, get their first place on Delmar Boulevard.

 

 

Chris Naffziger

This former boarding house, once owned by Berry's uncle, served as the first home to a newly married Chuck and Themetta.

4352 Delmar Boulevard
Chuck and Themetta Berry have been married now for 66 years. But in early 1949 the couple was newly hitched and looking for a place to call their own. They found that first spot in a rooming house owned by Berry's maternal uncle at 4352 Delmar. The couple would stay there for less than a year -- eventually moving back in with Berry's family at 4319 Labadie. Still for a short while, the happy newlyweds had a place of their own and felt that they were really making it -- even if they were not. During this time, Berry was earning $80 a week at an auto assembly plant and another $35 a week doing handyman work with his father. Themetta, meanwhile, brought in another $20 a week working at a cleaners. Writes Berry of their short stint at 4352 Delmar:

We had a 1941 Buick, a refrigerator and were on our way to riches. We were living like the best of the white folks until one evening we were dressed in our "Sunday clothes" on our way to a movie. All the tenants were on the porch chatting as we noticed our parking space. There was no '41 Buick parked where we'd left it at the curb. I boasted about calling the police but knew it had been repossessed by the finance company.

Up next: Berry moves to the home where he'd pen his greatest hits. The now-vacant building was recently placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

 

 

Chris Naffziger

Berry would live in this home, now vacant and owned by the city, while penning his greatest hits.

3137 Whittier Street
In 1950 an expecting Chuck and Themetta purchased their first home at 3137 Whittier Street. It was around this same time that Berry bought his first electric guitar, a second-hand instrument purchased for $30 in $5 installments. Soon an old friend who sang with Berry at the Sumner High School choir called Berry and invited him to play with his hand. After a several gigs, Berry caught the attention of boogie-woogie keyboardist Johnnie Johnson, who asked him to perform with his band at the Cosmo Club in East St. Louis, Illinois. The group soon became known as the Chuck Berry Combo, and by 1955, an enterprising Berry stopped by unannounced at Chess Records in Chicago and signed a contract.

 

 

Wikimedia Commons

Berry in a 1957 publicity photo.

It was while living at the Whittier home from 1950 to 1958 that Berry recorded his biggest hits, including "Maybelline," "Rock and Roll Music," "Sweet Little Sixteen," "Johnny B. Goode," "Reelin' and Rockin'," and "Roll Over Beethoven." In 1956 Berry's growing family (he and Themetta would eventually have four children) led him to build a two-room addition onto the back of the Whittier home. In 2012 the house was added the National Register of Historic Places, and today the badly deteriorating home is one of thousands of vacant properties owned by the city's LRA. Still visible (though faded) is the "B" on the home's metal awning that stands for "Berry." In his autobiography, Berry writes of his home on Whittier:

Savings were really accumulating in our joint account, and we finally found a house we were able to buy. We chose a small three-room brick cottage with a bath and full basement at 3137 Whittier Street, only five blocks from 4319 Labadie. Four-hundred and fifty cold cash dollars at one counting was the sweaty down payment on the $4,500 home. The white family of Dimottios who lived next door welcomed us with open arms, giving us a pot of spaghetti over the backyard fence. I remodeled the house, adding a half bath and bedroom in the basement, where we moved so we could rent out the upper three rooms for additional income.

Next: Berry buys a building to serve as headquarters for his budding music business and fan club.

 

 

Chris Naffziger

Berry's former fan club and music company is now a hair salon and daycare.

4221 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive (formerly Easton Avenue)
In late 1957 Berry established Chuck Berry Music Inc. and the Chuck Berry Fan Club, both of which operated out of a building he purchased at 4221 West Easton Avenue (now known as Dr. Martin Luther King Drive). It was inside this building that Berry produced his hit song "Memphis," recording the tune on a $79 Sears-Roebuck recorder. Today the building houses a hair salon and a daycare center.

 

Next: Berry opens up Club Bandstand, a music venue and tavern on North Grand Avenue.

 

Chris Naffziger

A vacant lot next to Powell Hall is all that's left of Berry's short-lived nightclub, Club Bandstand.

814 North Grand Avenue
In 1959 Chuck Berry opened up Club Bandstand, a bar and music venue adjacent to Powell Hall that he hoped would be like the mixed-race nightclubs he'd seen in the Northeast. It never took off. That same year, Berry was arrested for transporting a minor across state lines when he brought a fourteen-year-old woman he had met in El Paso, Texas, up to St. Louis to work for him at Club Bandstand. Berry would eventually be convicted of violating the Mann Act (also known as the "white-slave traffic act" for the racist ways in which it was enforced) and sentenced to three years in prison. Club Bandstand closed quietly within a year of opening its doors. Writes Berry:

The city came down with all sorts of ordinances about fire protection orders, and complaints were said to be coming from businesses a half block away about the noise and prowling late at night. When the liquor license was threatened because of an owner being involved in criminal activities, I decided to pull the stakes and quit.

Next: Chuck and Themetta move into a large home on a private street in north St. Louis.

 

 

Chris Naffziger

With this home, on a private street in north city, Chuck Berry had at last arrived.

13 Windermere Place
By the late 1950s Chuck Berry was constantly on the road touring and starting to receive handsome royalty checks for his music. He had finally made it, and in 1958 he and Themetta (whom he calls "Toddy") purchased what would be their last property in St. Louis before the money really started flowing and he moved on to mansions west of town. Writes Berry of his home on Windermere Place:

Jully 11, 1958, I purchased a large eleven-room dwelling on the northern half of a private street, 13 Windermere Place, for $30,000. It was more elaborate than anything Toddy and I'd ever dreamed of living in.

Contact the author at chad.garrison@riverfronttimes.com or on Twitter @chadgarrison.

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This week's podcast/episode of Revolution Rock featured music from Television, The Howlies, Jack White, The Undertones, Wire and more.

The Play List:

1. True Lovers - Guilty Pleasure # 9
2. Tijuana Panthers - Torpedo
3. The Howlies - Dirty Woman
4. Library Voices - Windsor Hum
5. The Schomberg Fair - Drunkard's Prayer
6. The Orwells - Southern Comfort
7. Swans - A Little God In My Hands
8. Perky Pat — The Coloniel
9. Antheads - Think Fast
10. Crystal Swells - Kelly Does Bayside
11. Bad Brains - The Regulator
12. The Jesus And Mary Chain - You Trip Me Up
13. Kestrels - Wild Eyes
14. Telstar Drugs - Unglued
15. Alex Chilton - Lost My Job
16. Jack White - High Ball Stepper
17. The Rockatones - Everythings Gone Wrong
18. One Way Street - In My Eyes
19. Canadian Squires - Leave Me Alone
20. The Iguanas - Outer Limits
21. Mach Kung-Fu - Hit Nation
22. The Deadly Ones - The Moonlight Surfer
23. Beck - Orphans
24. The Clash - Wrong'Em Boyo
25. Undertones - Teenaged Kicks (Live Amsterdam Paradiso 1980)
26. The Scavengers - Money In The Bank
27. The Government - Zippers Of Fire
28. Wire - The 15th
29. Franz Ferdinand - All For You Sophia
30. Television - Glory
31. Television - Ain't That Nothin' (Single Version)

Download/listen to the podcast here:  http://cjamlog1.cjam.ca/mp3dirnew/36-Revolution_Rock-20140628-1900-t1403978400.mp3

Check out my blog post on Television's album Adventure:  http://revrock.blogspot.ca/2014/06/televisions-adventure-show-515.html