B.B. King...this is a long one folks, sorry
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Last night was waaaaaay overdue. If you remember, we were supposed to go see B.B. King back in January in Tyler. But, two days before he was to perform in Tyler, he was put in the hospital in Galveston, and they cancelled a couple shows. So, they rescheduled....and last night, B.B. King came to Tyler.
This man is amazing. I mean, this dude is 81 years old, and he still has it. He has to sit in a chair to perform due to bad knees and a bad back...but if it weren't for that, he's still got the energy, spunk, charisma, crowd control and pizazz that he had when he was 30. First, B.B. King's Blues Band (his band) came out and played through two instrumental bluesy, jazzy tunes that lasted about 15-20 minutes, giving solos to pretty much each of the band members. The band consisted of a drummer, electric guitar, bass guitar, keyboards and 4 piece horn section (2 trumpets, 2 sax...and different variations). Then they brought out B.B. King. They played for about an hour and 30 minutes, making it just under a 2 hour concert total. Seriously, it was amazing. If you ever get the chance to see him, you really should. Not only is he a legend, he's a fantastic performer. He talked a lot. And it's the most intriguing thing to hear him speak of things he's been through. Segregation, women, life, old age, music, etc. He said him and his band have played in 90 countries around the world. Out of his band members with him right now, his band leader (one of the trumpet players) has been with him 28 years. Another guy (one of the sax players) was the one that introduced him when he walked out on stage...B.B. said that he has introduced him in all 90 countries that they've played in. That's crazy. He didn't say how long he's been with him though.
A little fact/trivia I found on Wikipedia...this isn't all of it, just what I found interesting...
- One of his trademarks is "Lucille", the name he has given to his guitars since the 1950s after he escaped a fire at a juke joint he was playing in. The fire was started by two men who were fighting over a woman named "Lucille". During their fight, they knocked over the bucket of burning kerosene used for heat. When King escaped the building, he realized that he had left his guitar in the burning building. He ran back inside to get it and after learning of what happened, he named his guitar "Lucille" to remind himself not to do it again.
- Boxer Sonny Liston was King's uncle.
- By his own admission, he cannot play chords very well.
- It is reported that King had sexual relationships before age 10, and went on to father seventeen children, to several different mothers.
- Over 52 years B.B. King played at least 15,000 performances.
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