The Duck Room, where his concerts are held, is located in the basement of Blueberry Hill. The small, brick-walled venue with open rafters and uncovered pipes creates a surreal atmosphere in which you are never more than 30 feet away from the stage. It’s like Chuck himself invited you to one of his jam sessions, just to hang out.

There are no flashy costumes or effects for the concert. The performance consists of just a few guys wearing baseball hats, sweatshirts and Guy Harvey polo shirts and playing backup to Chuck Berry and his Gilligan Island-style Skipper hat. It actually makes for quite a beautiful sight.

Unlike most modern rock stars’ concerts, while listening to Berry, you never once wonder how much voice-altering software it took to turn his voice into what’s on the record. Berry and his band know how to play, and every song is as good as you remember it to be.

Even if you’re not a huge fan, you’ve definitely heard some of Berry’s songs, which include “Johnny B. Goode,” “Rock and Roll Music,” “Roll Over Beethoven,” “No Particular Place to Go” and the always crowd-pleasing “My Ding-a-Ling.”

While you’re in St. Louis, you should really try to make it to one of his shows. But be warned that they sell out every month. Tickets are available on Blueberry Hill’s Web site, http://www.blueberryhill.com, and normally go on sale about a month beforehand.

His next concert is Nov. 18, which means it’s the perfect time to try to get tickets. If they are already sold out, however, there’s always his December concert to look forward to. Tickets are very reasonably priced at $30, and the shows normally start at 9 p.m.

While Chuck won’t be jumping around on stage like the Jonas Brothers, his concerts are well worth checking out. He was one of the first musicians inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and even at 83, that boy can “play the guitar just like a-ringing a bell.”

Other Happenings

MEET AUTHOR RON CURRIE, JR.
7-9 p.m., Wednesday, Oct. 21, at City Museum, 701 N. 15th St.
Ron Currie, Jr., award-winning author of “God is Dead” and “Everything Matters!”, will be meeting fans and signing books at the event, sponsored by several local bookstores.

TWILIGHT HAYRIDE PUB CRAWL
7 p.m.-12:30 a.m., Thursday, Oct. 22, at Molly’s in Soulard, 816 Geyer Ave.
From 7 p.m. on, Hayride will be taking people throughout Soulard and dropping them off at participating restaurants and pubs. The event includes a costume contest at 9 p.m., and special food and drink prices at the restaurants. Tickets cost $10 each.

TOM’S “STYLE YOUR SOLE” PARTY
1-5 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 24 at Missouri Botanical Garden, 4344 Shaw Blvd.
Come support Tom’s Shoes, a company that donates a pair of shoes to children in need for every pair it sells. You can buy a pair of shoes and have them decorated by local artists. Entrance fee to the Garden still applies.

ROCKTOBER FEST
2-10 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 24, at Laclede’s Landing.
A Bavarian-themed day of live music, German food and activities, including costume contests, out on the Landing. Proceeds go towards Play It Forward St. Louis, an organization dedicated to funding local music education.

WASH. U. HAPPY DAY AT J. BUCK’S IN CLAYTON
Noon-? a.m., Oct. 24 at J. Buck’s, 101 S. Hanley Rd. Bring Wash. U. ID for appetizer and drink specials all day.

10 ) Roger Waters (age 66): Waters—bassist, lyricist and chief songwriter for Pink Floyd—basically invented the entire genre of stoner rock by himself. His epic, sweeping suites and concept albums have opened up opportunities for bands as diverse as Queens of the Stone Age to The Mars Volta. Plus, “Dark Side of the Moon” was the greatest pot-induced human achievement since the discovery of the structure of DNA.

9 ) Brian Wilson (67): As writer of such classics as “Surfin’ USA,” “California Girls,” “Good Vibrations” and countless others, Brian Wilson, along with the Beach Boys, is who comes to mind when most people think of oldies. But don’t put Wilson in the museum yet; he released a new solo album just last year, and his legacy lives on in surf rockers like Jack Johnson and in pop rockers everywhere.

(Susan Tripp Pollard | Contra Costa Times | MCT)

8 ) Clarence Clemons (67): You might know Clemons better by his nickname—Big Man. The saxophonist for The E Street Band has been putting out albums with Bruce Springsteen since 1972, and his work on the album “Born to Run,” especially on the title track, is not merely one of the best sax performances in rock, but also one of the best performances by any rock ‘n’ roller.

7 ) Chuck Berry (82): St. Louis’ own Chuck Berry is best known to Wash. U. students for his regular gigs at Blueberry Hill, but he was one of rock’s earliest pioneers in the ’50s. His stage antics (the duck walk), off-stage antics (armed car robbery), licks (“Johnny B. Goode”) and disregard for the man (“Roll Over Beethoven”), caused no less than John Lennon to say, “If you tried to give rock ‘n’ roll another name, you might call it ‘Chuck Berry.’”

6 ) Jerry Lee Lewis (73): When “Killer” decided to make an album in 2007 showcasing the best of rock for all time, several performers on this list, along with Neil Young, Buddy Guy, Willie Nelson and many others, answered the call. The result is “Last Man Standing,” so named because this piano man and writer of such hits as “Great Balls of Fire” is the last remaining artist from old Sun Records, where he developed his own brand of rock based in country and gospel music. Oh, and those other Sun Records guys? They were Lewis’ buddies Roy Orbison, Johnny Cash and Elvis.

(Lionel Hahn | Abaca Press | KRT)

5 ) Keith Richards (65): The Rolling Stones have had a run spanning over four decades and have released a staggering 25 studio albums in no small part because of Keith Richards, the band’s smooth-playing, rough-living guitarist. Never one for showing off, Richards’ stripped-down, bluesy style is perhaps the most imitated in rock. The Stones’ one-two punch of Richards with Mick Taylor and later Ronnie Wood at guitar is one of rock’s best examples of a lead and rhythm guitarist working together.

4 ) Paul McCartney (67): 100 million. That’s how many singles Paul McCartney, a member of maybe the greatest commercially and critically successful band of all time,  has sold. It’s nearly impossible to understate the importance of The Beatles to contemporary music and songwriting, lyrics and singing—McCartney did a little bit of it all. So much about the man has already been said, so I’ll just add this: 3,500. That’s a conservative estimate of how many artists have covered his song “Yesterday.”

3 ) B.B. King (83): Born in 1925, King is the oldest member of our list and took some of the first steps to create what we now know as rock ‘n’ roll. Though a blues man, B.B. became one of the first popular guitarists who plugged in his instrument, lovingly called Lucille. This was the first step to creating every sub-genre of rock that we know today. He is also an ambassador of rock and has toured the world playing his hits, perhaps the most famous of which is “The Thrill Is Gone.”

(Red Huber | Orlando Sentinel | MCT)

2 ) Bob Dylan (68): Whether acoustic or electric, Dylan is a poet. In the ’60s, a lot of rock ‘n’ roll musicians, especially American blues-inspired rockers, had the chops to play soulful music but couldn’t find the lyrics to match. Dylan’s lyrics, specifically on “The Times They Are a-Changin’” and “Like a Rolling Stone” shook not only the music world but also the world of politics, and he was adopted by an entire generation of anti-war fans.

1 ) Jimmy Page (65): Is there any current rock guitarist who hasn’t cribbed from the Led Zeppelin guitarist at least a little bit? His fierce, headbanging style heralded the arrival of hard rock and, later, metal. Though coming from a blues-rock background with the Yardbirds, Page was always experimenting—with pedals, feedback, even bowing his guitar. Also, his famous fascination with the occult would become another hard-rock staple for years to come. And let’s not forget that this is the man who wrote one of rock’s most definitive, recognizable and favorite songs—“Stairway to Heaven.”

Those hoping that “Cadillac Records” would be inspirational and filled with powerful performances will be somewhat disappointed. Based on a true story, “Cadillac Records” stars Leonard Chess (Adrien Brody) and Muddy Waters (Jeffrey Wright) as they start a soul record label (Chess Records) in Chicago and try to cross over “race music” into white radio. This musical biopic follows them as they recruit and record with Little Walter (Columbus Short), Willie Dixon (Cedric the Entertainer), Howlin’ Wolf (Eamonn Wlaker), Chuck Berry (Mos Def) and Etta James (Beyoncé Knowles).

With all of those performers, this movie is packed with excellent performances, yet overstuffed with characters. This is one of the problems with “Cadillac”: the movie is stuffed with so many different story lines that they are all severely underdeveloped. With the singers moving in and out of the story line, Howlin’ Wolf and Chuck Berry are introduced and then left without conclusion. Even as supporting characters, they should have been somewhat developed and at least given an ending to their story lines before the listing of their death dates at the end of the film.

Leonard Chess, Muddy Waters and Little Walter are all, on the other hand, very well-developed. Wright and Short are particularly powerful in their mutual roles. Wright is able to pull off the more reserved Waters, while Short is excellent at playing the extroverted, drunk Walter. In fact, if the movie had focused more on just those three main players than the introduction of others into the record label, it would be much less disconnected and much more fluid.

Of course, this would omit two of the best performances of the movie. First off, Mos Def shows off some of his acting skills through his portrayal of the goofy rock ’n’ roll singer Chuck Berry. His performance is funny and enthralling. By far the most dazzling performance is Beyoncé’s Etta James, though she doesn’t appear until over an hour into the movie. She portrays the troubled soul singer with ease and believability. She also steals the movie with her amazing vocal performances. With the best voice in the movie, Knowles belts out James’s classic “At Last” beautifully.

While they can try, these remarkable performances can’t make up completely for the evident flaws. The movie begins slowly and from the get-go jumps disconnectedly from scene to scene without explanation. Also, from time to time, the script is cheesy, and some events occur too much by chance.

There is no question that the main point of seeing “Cadillac Records” is the musical performances. In addition to Beyoncé, Wright, Short and Mos Def, all give entertaining and musically enjoyable performances. In fact, they drive the movie; without them, it would fall flat.

While the plot does move along relatively cleanly, it is relatively anti-climactic. Don’t get me wrong, this movie does have its moments where the viewer can get excited, happy, or sad, but by the end, it can be difficult for the viewer to connect to the conclusions of any of the characters’ stories. With an overstuffed cast, few of the characters are developed enough to incite any more than bare emotion. With all of that said, “Cadillac Records” is a movie that can be enjoyed, if only for its admirable musical and acting performances.