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Yahoo: "King of the Blues" Blues Legend B.B. King Dead at 89

GoSkins0721

By GoSkins0721
in The Tailgate

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GoSkins0721

GoSkins0721

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LAS VEGAS (AP) — Blues legend B.B. King has died in Las Vegas at age 89, his lawyer says.


Attorney Brent Bryson tells The Associated Press that King died peacefully in his sleep at 9:40 p.m. PDT Thursday at his home in Las Vegas.


The one-time farmhand brought new fans to the blues and influenced a generation of musicians with his heartfelt vocals and soaring guitar on songs such as “The Thrill Is Gone.”


https://www.yahoo.com/music/king-of-the-blues-blues-legend-b-b-king-dead-at-119008689321.html


Thanks for all of the great memories & music Mr. King. RIP


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Spaceman Spiff

Spaceman Spiff

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Back in 2010, a friend told me that he played a free homecoming show in Indianola, Mississippi each summer.  I quickly made the decision to go down there to photograph it as I was shooting for a publication that could get me access to practically any show I wanted.  My friend that told me about it couldn't go with me and I asked around for some other friends to go but no one was interested.  I went down there by myself.

 

I flew into Jackson, Mississippi and made the drive to Indianola, about an hour and a half away.  Upon arriving, I checked into my hotel and went into town.  If you've ever been there, there's not much to do except go to the BB King museum which was awesome, state of the art.  Lots of cool exhibits, very well done.  Someone told me they'd spent about a million dollars on it.  It was a DC quality museum.

 

As I was looking at one of the exhibits, I was standing next to a guy who's probably in his mid 50's.  I'll talk to anyone, but I'm never one to strike up a conversation.  Obviously I looked like a tourist with my big bulky camera bag and he asked "So where are you from?"   I told him I was from Virginia and had flown down to photograph the free show in the park later that evening.  He introduced himself, and said his name was Tom.  It turned out that Tom was a bit of a photographer himself, he informed me that back in the day he was a tour photographer for the Doobie Brothers and now he was making a living as a lawyer in a nearby town.  I wasn't sure how he made that happen.

 

Tom and I walked through the rest of the museum together, he introduced me to his wife the people he was with.  He informed me that the free park show was a great experience but if I wanted to experience the "real homecoming" for BB King, I had to go to the show at Club Ebony later that night.  I didn't know what that was and he explained to me that Club Ebony was the first club that BB played growing up as a kid.  Years later he came back and bought the place and after the show at the park he goes over there and plays a private show each year that starts somewhere between midnight and 1 am.  It was hard to get in and get a ticket but I knew I had to figure out a way to do it so I asked Tom how to get a ticket.  "I think I've actually got an extra one, let me check."  He asked his wife and confirmed that he did and said he'd get it to me later that night.  I pulled out my wallet and asked him how much he needed but he insisted that he'd like to do me a favor and give it to me for free.  Southern hospitality.  

 

It was early in the afternoon when we exited the museum, I was standing there with Tom and his friends when I asked him what to do to kill some time before heading over to the concert.  A small crowd had gathered nearby and Tom said "Don't tell anyone, but BB will be arriving shortly for a special lunch at the hall next door.  I'll see if I can get you in."  He had recently photographed BB King with Eric Clapton at the Crossroads festival in Chicago and had some prints for him to sign.  

 

Sure enough 20 minutes later, two big tour buses pull up and people start piling out.  Tom's pointing out to me who the people are, they're all family and friends of BB King.  Finally, down off the bus comes BB King.  Wearing a silk shirt that you could have made a tent out of, he was extremely overweight and could barely get down the steps of the bus.  The small crowd cheered, he smiled and waved and was escorted to the dining hall that was next to the museum.  He couldn't make it up the 5 steps without assistance from his security team.  I followed Tom right into the hall where there were several tables set up.

 

Tom introduced me to the head of BB Kings security team.  This guy had to be about 6'8" was wearing a leather vest with a necklace that had alligator teeth, a cowboy hat and he looked like Shaft.  As I watched BB being seated at the head of the table, his security chief explained to me that I could take as many photos as I wanted but had to put my camera away as soon as the food came out.  Tom made his way over to BB and had him sign a few prints from the Crossroads festival and I snapped a few shots.  30 seconds later, the food started coming out.  Fried chicken, fried fish, collared greens, plate after plate of amazing looking food piled high and deep.  I put the camera away but was tempted to take another photo of BB who had huge eyes as someone put a plate of something deep fried in front of him.  

 

Tom and I walked out of the dining hall and he told me he'd catch up with me later that night with the pass to get into Club Ebony.  I wanted to exchange numbers and make it official but didn't want to bother him, he'd already been nice enough to get me that close to BB King.  "Ok, sure.  See you later tonight and thank you!"

 

Later that night I was shooting some of the opening acts in the park and was constantly looking for Tom.  The sun had gone down and there was only one more band to shoot before BB was set to play his free show.  As I was sitting in the photo pit, I felt something brush against my face, and looked up.  Tom was standing a few feet away smiling at me and giving me a wink with a big "OK" sign with his hands.  At my feet was a plastic wristband for the Club Ebony show that he had thrown at me.  Before I could thank him, he disappeared into the crowd.

 

BB came on around 9:30 and it was great.  I snapped away with the other photographers and had got a lot of shots that I'd liked, shots that probably would have made the trip worthwhile even without the Club Ebony show later that night.  Tom told me earlier that as soon as BB brings kids onto the stage for a dance contest, that's the perfect time to go to Club Ebony.  Sure enough BB started to ask for children to come on stage for a dance contest and I turned around and booked it through the crowd to my rental car to head over to the club.

 

The park he played the show in was a nice area.  Family oriented, clean.  About a mile away was Club Ebony and it was in a really bad neighborhood, literally across the street from several houses.  There were a ton of people in the street and on the sidewalks and they were coming up to my car window asking me to park in their yards for a few dollars.  Finally, I got as close as I could to the club and parked in the yard of the house behind the club.  I gave the guy 10 bucks and he informed me that he'd take great care of my car.  I hustled to the club with my gear and was relieved to finally be inside.

 

Club Ebony was a dive.  There were two main rooms, the first room where I walked in had a few pool tables and BB King signs all over the place.  The big room in the back held probably about 300 people who were packed tightly and sitting at tables that were spread across the room.  I found Tom and sat next to him and his wife and we talked for awhile and listened to the opening bands over a few beers.

 

The ceiling was low and there was a light that was shining right in my face when I tried to take photos.  I wasn't happy with what I was getting so I asked Tom if it'd be ok to somehow move up to the front row and shoot from there.  "No problem!  He should be coming on soon."  All of the tables were reserved in the front row so there wasn't a place to sit but I had found a place almost under a table in the front.  There was a walkway that separated the stage from the first row of tables that was being used by the waitresses and I planted myself on the floor in front of the first row of tables.  Not to block the walkway I balled myself up as much as I could, hugging my knees and hoped no one would see me and ask me to move.  But I'm pretty big, 6'3 and over 220 so I knew I was hoping for a miracle.  But it's different in the south, there weren't any DC attitudes.  I knew if I was trying to do something like this at a place back home, I'd have been told to move immediately.  Yet no one seemed to care and I was able to stay.

 

Well, BB wasn't close to coming on.  It had to be almost 1 am when he did.  The stage was tiny, yet he somehow managed to fit his entire band on there, some of those guys were almost as big as he was.  I think he had two horns, a trombone, a saxophone, a backup guitarist, bassist, and a drummer, all of whom came out and started playing music for a few minutes before someone pulled up a chair and planted it behind the microphone directly in front of me.  Finally, he was escorted out on stage, took his seat and the show started.  He had to have been maybe 10 feet in front of me.  I had the perfect seat.

 

The thing I found the most interesting is that he didn't play any chords, he only dropped in when he felt like it and played the **** out of his guitar.  Solos only.  Obviously he was well past his prime and he was playing songs that he must have played thousands of times before but it still sounded great.  The other thing that I noticed was that his hands were gigantic.  He could have easily held two guitar necks in his hand and his fingers were long and slender.  Despite his age, he was able to move them with incredible dexterity, being able to bend notes perfectly.  It was an awesome, awesome experience.  He played for about 45 minutes before the band launched into the familiar beat of "The Thrill Is Gone" and I couldn't take it anymore, my back was killing me from sitting there for so long.  I took a few more shots got up, waved to Tom who waved back at me and made a beeline for the door.

 

There were still a ton of people outside of Club Ebony and I walked rather quickly to my car.  As promised, the guy I gave my car to had taken good care of it and it was still there...with a problem.  I'd left the dome lights on in the inside.  "I tried to come find you to tell you but they wouldn't let me in!" he exclaimed.  Time had stopped since I'd been in the club and I wasn't sure how long it'd been, but I knew it had been a few hours at least.  Thankfully it started and I hightailed it out of there back to my hotel.

 

I went back for homecoming in 2011 as Tom hooked me up with another pass, still refusing to take any money.  It another great experience but not nearly as great as that first time.  I believe you get a few days in your life where everything comes together perfectly for you and that was one of them.  I was incredibly lucky to be so close to a legend and take some great photos that I'll always have.  Even though I had a chance to probably talk to him inside that lunch hall, I didn't want to.  I was just happy to be there.

 

RIP, Mr. King.  

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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Bang

Bang

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RIP.

Awesome story Spiff, and great pictures! thanks very much for sharing that.

I met his head of security once..   he played a gig in Solomons Island about 15 yrs ago

I was getting gas when i saw his tour bus pull in and park at the hotel.

Hell, no one is around, and there's BB KIng's tour bus.

So i got a piece of paper and a pen and walked on over.

Big dude with the alligator teeth necklace ran me off..  rather insistently.

 

~Bang

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Bliz

Bliz

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RIP BB.

 

I feel fortunate to have seen that dynamic gentleman play live one time.  It was an outdoor show at a smallish venue here in Atlanta maybe 10 years ago.  Where I was, on the lawn, you really had to strain to hear what he was saying between songs.  As he started telling a few stories, you could hear a pin drop it was so quiet.  The crowd knew and understood that it was an opportunity to learn something.  About life.  Just a legend of a man.

 

And I nominate Spiff for post of the year.  Great, great story.

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Jumbo

Jumbo

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RIP amigo. So lucky to have seen you live a few times.So much coolness and pleasure brought to so many people in so many places for so many years. What a legacy. To be as big and broad a figure as he was in life, and with nary a bad word said about him, personally or professionally, is another tribute.

 

With all the love I have for his music and just the plain old fun of listening to it, I also think of all the brotherhood and sharing of commonality he evoked in so many listeners. There's also the thing of making so much music about still being able to feel good and love life when **** is really bad, and still answering the bell for another round with a smile and your left up. Thank you, sir. You're another musical reason that if it were just for such alone, I'd remain grateful to have been alive during this time. The words "Riding With the King" will go through my head every time I play your music. 

 

And another thanks to Spiff.

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Destino

Destino

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First time I heard BB King I was just entering my teenage years and certain that only the types of music I liked were good. A typical teenager happy to paper over ignorance with irrational certainty.

Then BB King taught me the error of my ways and sent me off exploring more than just the blues. If that old man and his music could be great then maybe there was more out there than the cool bands of my day (which in hindsight, were largely awful).

He will live on through his many works, and will be mourned by millions. If there is greater evidence that a life was well lived available to us, I do not know it. Well done, BB King.

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