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![Nathaniel[1].jpg](http://cousinsvinyl.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/Nathaniel[1].jpg)
Nathaniel Mayer was a giant of Detroit’s almost forgotten Soul history. He is best remembered for his scorching vocals on a hit he recorded for Fortune Records when he was just eighteen years-old, “Village of Love.” The record was licensed to United Artists for national distribution and sold well, which makes it one of the easiest records to find on the Fortune Records label. Sadly after recording a number of records that didn’t do nearly as well as “Village of Love,” partially due to the lack of major distribution, he faded into obscurity and hardship on Detroit’s east side.
There was a happy ending to Mayer’s story however. He performed at a Detroit “Legends” concert in 2000 and eventually put out a new record on Fat Possum in 2004, “I Just Want to be Held.” He had no access to the Internet and had no clue that he had a substantial following, including some members of the Midwestern Blues and Garage revival. Members of the Black Keys and the Detroit Cobras played on his last two records; his last album was “Why Don’t You Give It to Me?” released in 2007 by Alive. Both records are well worth searching out, but don’t expect to hear the bombastic tenor of “Village of Love”; his voice had turned into a unique rasp over the years and the overall sound on the records runs the gamut of the Blues and R & B spectrum.
Mayer suffered several strokes on April 13th and has struggled since in a nursing home in Detroit. He passed away at age 64 on Saturday, but his music lives on here in the Village of Love.
Village of Love
Dancing Mood
By Max Conroy
![images[1] (2).jpg](http://cousinsvinyl.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/images[1]%20(2).jpg)
Four years ago, I had the chance to see Bo Diddley play a concert at Fitzgeralds, a small bar on the outskirts of Chicago where they filmed some of the Color of Money, for his 75th birthday. All I had to do was hop in my car or catch a train and go, but I got lazy and probably spent the night doing something very unmemorable. Living in a thriving metropolis like Chicago numbs one to culture because you can do something great every night, all year round. You have to pick and choose and I chose poorly here. I was definitely into Bo Diddley at the time, and I think must have got a lot more heavily into his records shortly thereafter. I didn’t read any reviews of the show and have no idea if he was good or not, but that would have been beside the point…it’s fucking Bo Diddley, man. This ranks up there at the very top of my rock and roll regrets list, along with missing out on seeing Johnny Cash, pre-revival, in Kalamazoo and hearing about the last Pavement show in Michigan days after it had happened. I knew that I would never have another chance to see him live.
Bo Diddley died in Florida today of heart failure. He’d had a stroke, followed by a heart attack a year ago and had been in poor health since. He was 79 years old and one of the people that created rock and roll.
When I realized, after years of seeing the name E. McDaniel listed as the writer of songs that were such blues and rock and roll standards that I thought that they must have been traditional arrangements and the name a ruse like Allan Smithee in the film industry, that it was in fact Bo Diddley, I gave him some serious listening attention. A lot of people dismiss Bo Diddley as a one-trick-pony, and those people are missing out in a big way. Sure, he did ride the wave of rhythm that he created on the track Bo Diddley for a long time, but the power and influence of that rhythm cannot be overstated. EVERY garage band has used it, from Buddy Holly on. But there was so much more to his sound than that rhythm. He wrote some fantastic straight blues numbers and countless chugging rockers; take a handful of your favorite rock and roll records recorded in the 60s, flip them over and see how many times you see the name McDaniel.
Bo Diddley, sadly, doesn’t get the respect he deserves, but I’m confident that his importance to rock and roll will be realized as long as people continue to look back and question what is rock and roll and where it came from. Here are four examples that made me a huge fan of his. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to listen to his music without thinking about that show at Fitzgeralds…
Bo’s Bounce:
Keep Your Big Mouth Shut:
I Can Tell:
Road Runner, from Beach Party: one of the best live records of the early 60s:
Syd’s Dead: Shine On You Crazy Diamond | MetaFilter thread.
