My favorite concert

Early in 1968, Ike & Anna Mae Turner applied for a permit to open a night club, virtually in my back yard. If Ike were white, sprouted angels wings, and booked only gospel tours he couldn't have/wouldn't have gotten the necessary permits.

After Dr. King's and Bobby Kennedy's assassination, the town fathers couldn't do enough to pave the way to welcome Ike and the Kings of Rhythm to their community. Stopping night bus service to the area was purely a coincidence.

I was barely driving age then,and getting into Ike's club was out of the question, undercover cops were thick on the ground. Living less than a 100 yards away from the club was Chuck Berry. Chuck had a healthy wariness about gendarmes, yet didn't mind ruffling their feathers.

It was early fall, the club had been opened several weeks, and we local kids, on weekends, hung around the parking lot, to see what we could see, when in walks Berry with his guitar.

Chuck knew most of us from the neighborhood,and stopped to chat for a bit. He could hear the Kings inside, and probably needed a drink. "See ya later boyz", he said and went inside.

Minutes later the double doors behind the stage opened. On stage were Chuck, Ike, Anna Mae,and the Kings.They played all night without a break. A night never repeated and one I'll never forget.

Toad