BB King RIP

[BarryBobPosthole]

BB King dead at 89.

BKB

[LJ3]

That one hurts, man. Buddy Guy is all that's left of those guys and their era. There's lots who have picked up the torch but it ain't the same thing.

[BarryBobPosthole]

I met a guy on a dive boat in Roatan that toured with BB King as a backup musician. He played guitar and although I didn't remember him, he played in the show at the Brady Theater in Tulsa the last time I saw BB King live, sometime around 2009 or so I think. He described touring with King as the most boring thing musically anyone could ever do. Basically just played the exact same two or three chords on every song and was strictly allowed only to play very simple repetitive stuff. I sure as heck can'the recall his name.
BKB

[LJ3]

BB did love him the simple Bminor chord progressions. Not much to it at all. As far as talent and range go, he was limited for sure. His band was always very tight, prolly for the reason you mention :)

[BarryBobPosthole]

Our generation thinks pretty highly of itself when it comes to music, but the time from about 1920 to the early 1960s gave us the popular music we still hear just about everywhere today. And BB King was a big part of that legacy.

I've probably discovered for myself more awesome music in the past ten years than any other time of my life. And its been in the strangest places that I've found it. Lately its been the music from the Inside Llewelyn Davis movie.

BKB

[johnboy]

Love me some BB King! The only thing U2 ever did that I actually liked was with BB.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJ0WyPAELsk

RIP

[LJ3]

Our generation thinks pretty highly of itself when it comes to music, but the time from about 1920 to the early 1960s gave us the popular music we still hear just about everywhere today. And BB King was a big part of that legacy.

I've probably discovered for myself more awesome music in the past ten years than any other time of my life. And its been in the strangest places that I've found it. Lately its been the music from the Inside Llewelyn Davis movie.

BKB

There's only 8 notes. They've been around a looooooonnngggg time. I may have to try some BB for my Friday jam sesh but I don't think I can do him justice.

[Thumper]

I got half way through a post this morning that I'd titled, "RIP B.B.". Then my buddy showed up at my door to head out for the estate sales and I deleted it, figuring I'd post something when I got back home.

I was just a high school kid in Memphis and got hooked on hitting the pawn shops along Beale Street every Saturday ... back when pawn shops were fun and had amazing deals. Nowadays, you may as well go to Walmart as they've gotten crazy with their pricing IMHO. But I digress. One morning I walked out of a pawn shop and heard some music that I IMMEDITELY fell in love with. This was a time when I was into Zepplin, Hendrix, Steppenwolf ... that kinda stuff. Whatever music I heard was coming from W.C. Handy Park on Beale Street and I walked a half block down to check it out. It was just a group of old black guys jamming with an old accoustic guitar, boxes and cans for "drums" and I think one guy had an old beat up sax. I was mesmerized and being the only dumbass white boy in the park, asked what kind of music it was. I was told it's "The Blues"! I stood there listening for a couple hours as they jammed and one of the old guys told me I should come down to some place on the riverfront that night (can't remember the name of the place). I showed up and let me tell you, the riverfront in Memphis was NOT a place for a white high schooler to be at night!

I entered the little, smoky bar and almost immediately, someone hollered, "There's that white boy from the park ... bring him a table right up here"! The guy I'd met in the park was part of the band and next thing I knew, I had a table and chair right in front of the little (as in tiny) stage. B.B. King played that night. I don't even know if he was supposed to be playing (officially) or if it was still just a bunch of guys jamming. During their breaks, they simply stepped off the stage and sat at the table with me. I had NO clue who B.B. King was, but I loved this music they called the blues. That Saturday afternoon is when I officially became hooked on the blues and that night just verified it.

The next weekend, I actually took my girlfriend with me. If either of our parents had known where we were headed, they would have probably had us committed. That was one ROUGH part of town in those days. As soon as we walked in the door, again all I heard was, "Here's that white boy and his little girlfriend ... get them set up right here"! B.B. wasn't there, but the rest of the guys were and we closed the place down that night, then a group of 2-3 walked us to my car to make sure we got out of the lot ok. I've been a huge blues fan ever since and prolly have 100+ blues cd's here. I've always wondered who those guys playing were and if there were any big names in that group. The main reason I remember B.B. King is because I asked him what "BB" stood for and one of the guys said, "Blues Boy".