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BO DIDDLEY (nearly)


rover1949

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1964?.  Bo Diddley was one of my favourite American R&B singers at the time and I was quite excited when we heard that he was coming to the Mojo.   As usual, we waited outside in good time and saw the band arrive in a minibus and troop into the main entrance.  A few minutes later there was a bit of a commotion, they all came out again and drove away.       

I don’t remember if we were given any explanation at the time but Pete Stringfellow confessed the true story in his autobiography.  Apparently he had over-estimated the popularity of Bo Diddley and the queue was too small to make a profit, so he pulled the fuses and pretended there was an electricity failure.

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Who was a cheeky boy then? Best of luck explaining that situation to Bo, whom I once interviewed, and who was a no-nonsense, straight-talking and indeed cantankerous man. But surely Pete would still have had to pay them something?

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No idea what was said but it only lasted a few minutes.

Waiting outside was a good place to see the bands arrive, most of them were still unknown in the early days. A taxi came up one evening and two men literally fell out onto the ground, obviously high on something.  It was Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker - playing with Brian Auger that night.  Whatever happened to them?

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