Chuck Berry, c. 1973

The very first concert WC saw in Chicago was Chuck Berry at a small venue – the name of which WC has long since forgotten – on the west side of the Loop, in what was then called the Blues District. Berry was touring in support of his latest album, 1972’s The London Chuck Berry Sessions, which included the unfortunate “My Dig-a-ling,” Berry performed that song twice in his one hour gig.

It was a greatest hits show, with a loose group of local musicians backing him. They were surprisingly ragged at the start of each song. It turned out that was because Berry never told his local backing band the set list, never rehearsed and expected the  musicians to come in on his guitar intro. He did his signature stage hop, a couple of short guitar solos and that was it. Absolutely no patter. The…

Don’t Be Stupid

The Inuit have a word, “qivit,” that you do not want to have applied to you. It means to quit or give up when the going gets rough. In traditional times, and that was very recent, if you gave up as a leader you were jeopardizing yourself and everyone around you. It takes a lot of effort to maintain life in the bitter cold of the Arctic.

– Willie L. Iggiagruk Hensley, New York Times, 2009

Maybe conservatives outside of Alaska are finally over The Quitter. She wrote her own obituary in her rambling, mostly incoherent screed on January 24, 2015 at the Des Moines, Iowa Freedom Summit. Some selected conservative voices afterwards:

• “Quite petty,” wrote Byron York in the Washington Examiner. “A long and incoherent speech,” in the view of Craig Robinson of the Iowa Republican blog. “The foreordained culmination of a slow and…