Statue for Chuck Berry erected in St. Louis (Reuters)

ST. LOUIS (Reuters) – Rock and roll pioneer Chuck Berry, spry and smiling at 84 years-old, gave a wave of approval dedicating an eight-foot bronze statue of himself on Friday before a cheering crowd of about 500 people.

The statue was erected in the Delmar Loop entertainment district of St. Louis despite opponents who objected to the monument, citing Berry's legal troubles during his long career.

"I won't keep you long," Berry, wearing his trademark boating cap, told a crowd that gathered despite heat surpassing 90 degrees. "I don't know how to speak, I just sing a little bit. I'm going to say thank you again, and I love you all."

Berry's rapid fire lyrics and revolutionary guitar riffs landed him in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and earned the lifelong St. Louis resident a Presidential medal of honor.

He is listed by Rolling Stone Magazine as one of the five top all-time rock acts along the Beatles, Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones and Elvis Presley.

Berry, who first played in 1941, still performs every month at Blueberry Hill, across the street from the statue.

Among those sending greetings to Berry was Elvis Costello, who said he was glad to see a Berry statue "in St. Louis where it belongs" and from fellow rock pioneer Little Richard who called Berry "the greatest entertainer in the world."

Berry was joined at the podium by his wife, children and grandchildren who joined his fans in singing "Johnny B. Goode," his signature 1957 hit, as the rock icon made his way through the crowd at the end of the ceremony.

A plaza near the statue features illuminated walls with laser-engraved musical notes of "Johnny B. Goode". Concrete strips in the sidewalk are etched with the lyrics of Berry songs.

Opposition to the statue came earlier this summer when a former city council member gathered 100 signatures aimed at delaying the installation. The opposition centered on felony convictions in Berry's early career, including a 1962 conviction for transporting a woman across state lines for immoral purposes.

Berry spent three years in prison, where he penned several songs, including "No Particular Place to Go."

Berry collapsed during a show in Chicago last New Year's Day but recovered in time to play his next show in St. Louis and showed no signs of ill effects at the dedication ceremony.

His next Blueberry Hill show is scheduled for August 17.

(Editing by Cynthia Johnston)

Yahoo! News

Controversial Chuck Berry statue approved in St Louis (Reuters)

ST. LOUIS (Reuters) – An eight-foot statue of rock and roll pioneer Chuck Berry was approved on Monday over the opposition of some local residents including one who said the Hall of Fame singer/songwriter should not be honored because he is a "felon and not a friend of women."

The University City council, which has jurisdiction over the spot where the statue is to be installed, rejected a last-minute petition drive by opponents, who gathered 100 signatures in a bid to block or delay the statue.

The leader of the opposition, Elsie Glickert, an 86-year-old former city council member, said the city had ignored procedure in allowing the statue to be built on a new public bikeway that intersects the Delmar Loop, a strip of restaurants, shops and clubs that includes Blueberry Hill, where Berry has played over 160 shows in past 15 years.

The owner of the club, Joe Edwards, helped raise over $100,000 in private funding for the statue, which depicts a young Berry wailing away on his guitar. The plaza where the statue is going be installed will also feature illuminated walls with laser-engraved musical notes of "Johnny B. Goode," Berry's signature 1957 hit. Concrete strips in the sidewalk will be etched with the lyrics of Berry songs.

Edwards said the statue would be installed later this week and dedicated at a July 29 ceremony that will feature an appearance by the 84-year-old Berry.

Glickert said at a well-attended council meeting that the statue should not be placed on public property because of Berry's past convictions. She said the statue was the result of "our previous dysfunction city management" and should be delayed for a full legal review.

Others in the audience supported the statue, including Edwards, who praised Berry as St. Louis's "most famous musical native son, who through his music changed race relations and culture around the world."

Berry's early career has been credited with shaping the music of the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan. He was recognized by the U.S. government with the Kennedy Center Award in 2000 and is a charter member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

No formal vote was taken, but a majority of the members spoke in favor of the installation. Mayor Shelley Welsch said it would be an "appropriate, positive" addition to the strip.

Glickert and her supporters opposed the statue because of Berry's 1962 conviction for violating the Mann Act, accused of transporting a woman across state lines for immoral purposes.

"This man is a felon and not a friend of women. It is a misuse of tax dollars to honor him on public property," Glickert said.

At a show in Texas in 1959, Berry met a young Native American woman who came to work at his St. Louis club, was fired and then arrested on a prostitution charge.

That led to the conviction and he spent three years in prison, where he penned several hits while incarcerated including "No Particular Place to Go."

Berry had more trouble in 1979 when he was convicted of tax evasion. He had been convicted of armed robbery as a teenager.

Berry performs to sold out shows at Blueberry Hill every month. He collapsed during a show in Chicago on New Year's Day but recovered in time to play his next show in St. Louis.

(Editing by Peter Bohan)

Yahoo! News

St. Louis makes strong case for 'Klinghoffer' (AP)

By MIKE SILVERMAN, For The Associated Press Mike Silverman, For The Associated Press – Wed Jun 22, 12:49 pm ET

ST. LOUIS, Mo. – Ripped from headlines about the 1985 hijacking of the Achille Lauro cruise ship, John Adams' opera "The Death of Klinghoffer" has had a troubled history since its premiere in 1991.

The lionized composer of "Nixon in China" and his librettist, Alice Goodman, found their new work instantly condemned by some critics as a glorification of Palestinian terrorists.

The first U.S. performances in Brooklyn were picketed, other productions were canceled and the two daughters of Leon Klinghoffer, the Jewish passenger who was murdered in his wheelchair and thrown overboard, denounced the opera as anti-Semitic. Even a decade later, plans by the Boston Symphony Orchestra to perform excerpts were scrapped in the wake of 9/11.

"`Nixon' had made me famous and `Klinghoffer' had made me infamous," Adams wrote in his autobiography.

But the tide may be turning. Recent concert performances have been successful, and now the enterprising Opera Theatre of St. Louis has stepped forward with the first fully staged production in the U.S. in 20 years.

Seen at a matinee on Tuesday, the terrific performance made a strong case for "Klinghoffer" as a gripping and eerily beautiful work, more ambitious in scope than the basically light-hearted and ebullient "Nixon." And James Robinson's stark production should help put to rest any complaint that the opera is slanted in favor of the four Palestinians.

What it does do is individualize them and allow us to glimpse the roots — personal and historical — of their rage.

But the murder of Klinghoffer is never seen as less than a barbaric act. Before a single note of music is heard, gunshots ring out and bulkheadlike metallic walls at the rear of the stage open to reveal an empty wheelchair, cascades of water pouring down on it, evoking its eventual descent to the ocean floor.

Then come the two opening choruses, one for the exiled Palestinians, one for the exiled Jews — both eloquently sung here by members of the company's young artist program, who switch gears by making quick adjustments to the simple costumes provided by James Schuette. Each chorus lasts almost exactly eight minutes, and together they set up a precarious balance that is maintained throughout the opera. (Adams excised a scene that originally followed these, in which the Klinghoffers' Jewish neighbors were depicted in a way that many saw as stereotyping.)

These and five subsequent choruses form the backbone of "Klinghoffer," which is as much oratorio as opera. That doesn't mean, however, that it lacks drama. Interspersed with the choruses is a series of narratives by the ship's captain, passengers, the hijackers, and Klinghoffer himself and his wife, Marilyn.

As staged by Robinson on Allen Moyer's minimalist set, these solos tell an increasingly tense story of events aboard the ship, culminating in the final scene in which the captain informs Mrs. Klinghoffer of her husband's fate. Mrs. Klinghoffer, who was terminally ill with cancer at the time of the cruise, gets the last word in a soliloquy of tragic grandeur, ending with the shattering words: "They should have killed me. I wanted to die."

Mezzo-soprano Nancy Maultsby delivered those lines with a searing emotional directness that was matched by the entire cast.

Baritone Brian Mulligan gave sharp point to Klinghoffer's contempt for the hijackers. Baritone Christopher Magiera sang the captain's contemplative phrases with warmth and an aching sense of regret. And, though judging voices can be tricky given that Adams requires electronic amplification for his singers, Aubrey Allicock as the hijacker Mamoud revealed a bass-baritone of impressive size and richness.

The orchestra, drawn from the St. Louis Symphony, played marvelously under the baton of Michael Christie. They used a reduced orchestration authorized by the composer which captured especially well the brooding evocations of the sea that haunt Adams' score.

Yahoo! News