When I was a little kid, I would watch my older sisters dance in the kitchen when they would do the dishes at night. I guess they did that to pass the time away, kind of like Mary Poppins reasoning behind singing “Spoonful of Sugar.”

One of the songs I can remember them dancing to was Bo Diddley’s “Hey Bo Diddley.” They would do the “hand jive” while holding glasses and dishes in their hands. It was very cool to watch for a six-year-old.

Fast forward to 1977; here I am back stage waiting to meet the man himself. I had seen him on TV shows sporting a cowboy hat and playing that awesome square guitar.

We waited for him, but he was nowhere to be found. I went on stage and started setting up, checking the gear, and running over tunes with other performers. After a few hours, we walked into our trailer and there he was, snoring up a storm on the couch. We all just stood around him with big smiles on our faces, thinking, “Oh my God, there he is and he’s in our dressing room!!!!”

After about thirty minutes the star awoke. He explained that he had flown in on a “red eye” from LA and hadn’t slept all night.

He started telling us all sorts of stories about his days as a youth in Chicago. We pulled up chairs and ate up every word he said. He was very funny and had us all laughing. He treated us very kindly and, when he was on stage, the man rocked! I would get chills watching him perform from the best place in the house, five feet behind him.

When I started producing shows myself in the mid-1980’s, Bo Diddley was always booked on them. His laugh was contagious; his smile was genuine; and he was the nicest guy you could have ever met.