IT'S GOOD TO BE B.B. KING ON HIS 80TH BIRTHDAY, BLUES LEGEND LOOKS FORWARD AND GIVES BACK TO HIS HOME STATE.Byline: Fred Shuster Music Writer The mercury just hit 90 along the Mississippi Gulf Coast The Mississippi Gulf Coast refers to the three Mississippi counties which lie on the Gulf of Mexico: Hancock County, Mississippi, Harrison County, Mississippi, and Jackson County, Mississippi. and electrical storms were crackling offshore, but B.B. King sounded as mellow as one of his own solos. The genial giant of the blues had just settled into a hotel in the sultry resort city of Biloxi to prepare for the night's show, an 80th birthday celebration to raise money for the B.B. King Museum and Delta Interpretive Center in Indianola, a facility dedicated to King's career, preserving the heritage of Delta blues For the racehorse, see . This article may contain original research or unverified claims. Please help Wikipedia by adding references. See the for details. This article has been tagged since June 2007. , and inspiring young artists and musicians from the area. By the time King's 85th concert date of the year was done, the singer-guitarist had been feted by actor and sometime musician Bruce Willis Walter Bruce Willis (born March 19, 1955) is an American actor and singer. He came to fame in the late 1980s and has since retained a career as both a Hollywood leading man and a supporting actor, in particular for his role as John McClane in the Die Hard series. , Bobby ``Blue'' Bland, Dr. John, Jody Williams Jody Williams (born October 9, 1950 in Putney, Vermont) is an American teacher and aid worker who received the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize jointly with the campaign she led, the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL). , Allman Brothers alum Dickey Betts, Kenny Wayne Shepherd Kenny Wayne Shepherd (Kenny Wayne Brobst, Jr) (born June 12, 1977) is an American Blues guitarist. Shepherd was born in Shreveport, Louisiana, where he attended Caddo Magnet High School. , Rockin' Dopsie Rockin' Dopsie (February 10, 1932–August 26, 1993) was born Alton Rubin in Carencro, Louisiana. He was a leading Zydeco musician and button accordion player who enjoyed popular success first in Europe and later in the United States. Jr. and Deborah Coleman, along with about 7,000 paying customers. ``I do it because I still get a kick out of it,'' King said. ``I still love performing. It keeps me young.'' The young man who turns 80 on Sept. 16 remembers the much younger version of his self born Riley B. King, a Mississippi sharecropper moonlighting as a blues and gospel singer when he thumbed a ride to Memphis with two bucks in his pocket and a guitar on his back. The year was 1947. Today, after touring the world as an ambassador of the blues for more than a half century, King looks happily forward to the $10 million museum devoted to a life in blue notes. The 2.3-acre facility, slated to open in 2007, involves restoration of Mississippi's last brick gin mill where, as a youngster, King once toiled. ``I want the world to know what we went through - the good and the bad,'' King said. ``It's where my roots are. Some people turn their back on the places they're from, but I feel a strong sense of place and commitment to the children there. I want the museum to show people what I had to go through to make it in music. I want it to encourage people. When I was growing up there, no entertainers or well-known people ever came to visit.'' King is celebrating his long and historic life as he's always done - on the road and in the studio - and is in the midst Adv. 1. in the midst - the middle or central part or point; "in the midst of the forest"; "could he walk out in the midst of his piece?" midmost of an extensive tour that comes to Gibson Amphitheatre The Gibson Amphitheatre (formerly Universal Amphitheatre) is a theatre located in Universal City, California, USA. It was originally built in 1972 as an outdoor venue, but was remodeled and converted into an indoor theatre in 1982. at Universal CityWalk Universal CityWalk is a part of Universal Studios Hollywood, Universal Orlando Resort and Universal Studios Japan originating from Universal's first park, Universal Studios Hollywood. on Saturday with Kenny Wayne Shepherd/Joe Bonamassa and Robert Cray Robert Cray (born 1 August, 1953, in Columbus, Georgia) is a blues musician, guitarist and singer. Career Robert Cray was among artists such as Stevie Ray Vaughan and George Thorogood, who got wider radio airplay and regular MTV video exposure during the late 1980s. . The veteran showman, a 13-time Grammy winner, is optimistic about the future of the blues even as he acknowledges the music is heard less today than ever before. ``Satellite radio is the best thing that's happened to blues since the '60s,'' King says. ``But more people listen to rock and rap than anything else. Even the younger superstar blues players, like (the late) Stevie Ray Vaughan Stephen "Stevie" Ray Vaughan (October 3, 1954 – August 27, 1990), born in Dallas, Texas, was an American blues guitarist. His broad appeal, combination of unbelievable speed, precision, energy, passion and emotion and constant expansion of his Blues style into Funk, Jazz, and Robert Cray, don't get played (on commercial radio). There's no exposure for the new artists or us older artists.'' Alongside a grueling tour schedule that until recently took in a staggering 250 shows a year, the King enterprise extends beyond the stage and record store. As a TV pitchman for a diabetes-monitoring device, King, who lost his mother to the disease, brings his own battle with diabetes into living rooms across the country. ``Because of the commercial, people who don't know Don't know (DK, DKed) "Don't know the trade." A Street expression used whenever one party lacks knowledge of a trade or receives conflicting instructions from the other party. my music come up to me and say thanks for making them aware of the product,'' King said. ``I want people to know you can live a long, full life (with diabetes) if you learn how to manage it.'' King also puts his name on a string of successful nightclubs in Universal City, New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of , Memphis and Nashville. A London version is due to open soon, and airport cafes bearing the King moniker (1) A name, title or alias. See alias. (2) A COM object that is used to create instances of other objects. Monikers save programmers time when coding various types of COM-based functions such as linking one document to another (OLE). See COM and OLE. in Atlanta and Detroit recently opened. ``I don't own them - they just use my name,'' said King, who will appear at the club's Universal CityWalk branch Nov. 8 and 9. Other legendary guitarists, including Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Albert Collins This article is about the blues musician. For the English football (soccer) player, see Albert Collins (footballer). Albert Collins (October 1, 1932 – November 24, 1993) was a blues guitarist, singer and musician. , Johnny Winter John Dawson "Johnny" Winter III (born on 23 February, 1944 in Beaumont, Texas, USA) is an American blues guitarist, singer, and producer. He is the first son of John and Edwina Winter who were very much responsible for Johnny's and his younger brother's, Edgar Winter's, early and George Harrison, have called forth not King's name but his utterly distinctive guitar technique that incorporates a unique fingertip fin·ger·tip n. The extreme end or tip of a finger. vibrato vi·bra·to n. pl. vi·bra·tos A tremulous or pulsating effect produced in an instrumental or vocal tone by minute and rapid variations in pitch. , a stinging tone, and phrasing that mimics the human voice. ``I've been listening to him since (I was) 19,'' said Beck, who toured with King last summer. ``The tone of his guitar just stuck out from all the others. If you wanted to tell anyone how blues guitar should sound, he's the one.'' Bill Wyman, founding bassist of the Rolling Stones, described the dynamics of that sound: ``The thing that always stunned me about his playing was the way he would hammer it out and then just go down to a whisper. There was just silence in the place. He would suddenly start to build, and it would build and build.'' A year after he caught that ride to Memphis, King caught his first break, on a radio show in Memphis. In '51, he scored an r&b hit with ``Three O'Clock Blues,'' and has seen success in every decade since. Among his many classics are the Top 15 hit ``The Thrill Is Gone,'' ``Payin' the Cost to Be the Boss,'' ``Every Day I Have the Blues,'' ``Hummingbird,'' ``Why I Sing the Blues'' and ``When Loves Comes to Town'' (with U2). ``There's been so many,'' King says of his enormous output, which numbers some 75 albums, including the in-concert career peaks ``Live at the Regal,'' ``Live in Cook County Jail'' and ``Blues Is King,'' which have just been reissued in a single book-style long box. ``The critics say (1964's) 'Live at the Regal' is my best, and who am I to argue?'' The recipient of numerous honors, King was nominated for 24 Grammys and given a lifetime achievement Grammy in 1987. In 1990, he received the Presidential Medal of the Arts. In 2000, King had his first two platinum records, ``Riding With the King,'' recorded with Clapton, and ``Deuces Wild.'' Other events marking King's 80th include ``B.B. King's Treasures,'' a coffee-table book due to coincide with his Sept. 16 birth date. (An autobiography, ``Blues All Around Me,'' was published in 1996.) Also forthcoming is ``B.B. King & Friends: 80,'' a new album of duets with Elton John, Clapton and Van Morrison, among others, in stores Sept. 13. (For a sovereign overview, try 1992's ``King of the Blues'' box set.) On Sept. 20, a gala will take place at a private home in Beverly Hills as a combination museum fundraiser and 80th birthday party for King, who lives in Las Vegas. Tickets start at $1,000. And beginning today, fans are invited to sign a 10-foot guitar-shaped birthday card for King at Universal CityWalk, which will be presented to him at his show Saturday. Along with Chicago bluesman Buddy Guy, King is among the last of the great ones, but he remains upbeat about the music's place in the future. ``Blues will be around as long as there are people, places and things People, Places and Things is an unpublished collection of short stories by US author Stephen King, written in 1960 together with his friend Chris Chesley and published using their own press. .'' Tickets for the King Museum fundraiser Sept. 20 in Beverly Hills can be purchased through Levy Pazanti & Associates: (310) 201-5033. Fred Shuster, (818) 713-3676 fred.shuster(at)dailynews.com B.B. KING BLUES FEST What: B.B. King, plus Kenny Wayne Shepherd/Joe Bonamassa and Robert Cray. Where: Gibson Amphitheatre at Universal CityWalk. When: 7:30 p.m. Saturday. Tickets: $29.50 to $100. Call (213) 480-3232; ticketmaster.com. CAPTION(S): 4 photos Photo: (1) no caption (B.B. King) Barry Brecheisen/Associated Press (2) ``I do it because I still get a kick out of it. I still love performing. It keeps me young,'' says King. Evan Yee/Staff Photographer (3 -- cover -- color) The THRILL'S not gone Blue legend B.B. King still touring and piling up honors (4) B.B. King, left, joins Eric Clapton, one of the many extraordinary guitar players on whom he has had an influence, for a 1991 concert. |
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