Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

You can’t love your country only when you win.

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

And we’re all out of bubblegum.

Their freedom requires your slavery.

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

The republican caucus is already covering themselves with something, and it’s not glory.

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

“More of this”, i said to the dog.

If you’re pissed about Biden’s speech, he was talking about you.

Why did Dr. Oz lose? well, according to the exit polls, it’s because Fetterman won.

The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

No one could have predicted…

The GOP couldn’t organize an orgy in a whorehouse with a fist full of 50s.

When I decide to be condescending, you won’t have to dream up a fantasy about it.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

And now I have baud making fun of me. this day can’t get worse.

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

The words do not have to be perfect.

When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

A last alliance of elves and men. also pet photos.

In my day, never was longer.

You are here: Home / Music / RIP, B.B. King

Reader Interactions

31Comments

  3. 3.

    Graham

    What a life. Many hours of my life spent listening to BB. Live at the Regal from 1965 is among my favorites albums of all time. Fare thee well, BB.

  4. 4.

    MomSense

    When my oldest was a baby, just a few months old, I was holding him and dancing to BB King when he laughed for the first time. All these 20 plus years later he is a blues guitarist and still listening to BB King. He said that TBone Walker sounded like heaven to him so I’d like to imagine BB and TBone making some heavenly music now. RIP

  6. 6.

    Culture of Truth

    David Letterman had Tracy Chapman on recently doing a cover Stand By Me. Unsurprisingly, it was terrific.

  7. 7.

    SiubhanDuinne

    The thrill is gone :-(

    My Canadian cousin judges BBQ at festivals all over North America, and has just (literally, late last night) arrived for the Memphis in May BBQ. In his 9 or 10 years of judging there, he has never failed to pay tribute to BB King. This year, it will be bittersweet.

  8. 8.

    boatboy_srq

    RIP, sir. Well played.

    I can’t mourn: the man had a long and brilliant career, recorded an amazing catalogue, and left us in his own due time in what passes for honor, distinction and comfort in the US. King is material for a wake, not a funeral. He deserves a party and a celebration, with all the artists he influenced playing in his honor.

  10. 10.

    Xjmueller

    I saw him for the first time in late 69 or 70 at Mandel Hall, U of C in Hyde Park. I was 17. What a show! I saw him several times after that, but none compared to the magic of that first show. It wasn’t life changing, but it gave me a glimpse of a world that had been invisible to me before that.

  11. 11.

    Elizabelle

    A good life, and he shared his musical gift with us.

    89, and performing until quite recently, is a good run. RIP.

    Who are your favorite BB Kings of today? (Um, realizing BB is irreplaceable.) But who is carrying the torch and the gee-tar?

  13. 13.

    charluckles

    I saw him last summer and he was barely functioning. I have been a lifelong BB King fan so I enjoyed it regardless, but a lot of people were pissed. The good side of that being that many of them left and we were able to move right up to the front of the stage. My wife was even able to shake his hand and share some words with him. That was worth the price of admission on its own.

  14. 14.

    CONGRATULATIONS!

    He used to play my dad’s frat parties back in Alabama when they were both much, much younger men.

    I always wanted to go see him and it never came together. I regret that.

    What I don’t regret is his passing. He’d been under the care of his managers, who’d been busily taking all his assets, while not taking care of him. His daughter had to file elder abuse charges before anyone took it seriously. She immediately filed for power of attorney a few weeks ago and got it. Too late. He’d already had a “mild heart attack”. They posted a picture of him in the hospital. “Mild heart attack” my ass. He was obviously dying. So I’m glad that he went pretty quickly.

  15. 15.

    Yatsuno

    When I heard he was in hospice, I was waiting for the inevitable. May there be a Lucille in your next existence blues man.

  16. 16.

    Steeplejack

    Moved up from a previous thread:

    I will miss B.B. King. One of the best shows I saw back in the day was him with Bonnie Raitt as the opening act. They did a few songs together. Awesome.

    B.B. King and Bonnie Raitt, “Baby, I Love You.”

    A little upbeat King in his prime: “Caldonia.”

  18. 18.

    dexwood

    My wife’s parents saw him in little clubs when he came through town in the 1950s. I saw him for the first time in 1969 when I was 17. My wife and I have seen him a dozen times over the course of our 40 years together. The man made great music, but gave us wonderful memories, too. Thanks, Mr. King.

  19. 19.

    AndoChronic

    @Elizabelle: No one, like you said..

    Different generation/different perspective and sensibility.

    Putting on my saxophonist/guitarist hat for a minute, the blues, while eloquently simple in theory, is impossible to pull off without adequate emotion and feeling. There are young and older folks still doing the blues around the world everywhere, of course. You’re really hard pressed to find musicians that sit anywhere near those legends’ mountain tops though if that’s your expectation.

    B.B. King should also be remembered as a teacher. He published many a blues guitar lesson book. One of his licks books was the first ever guitar lesson book I had. I still have it too. To this day I still can’t get those notes on the page to sound like he plays them!

  20. 20.

    Amir Khalid

    Obama should have a statement out on the passing of this icon of American art and culture.

  21. 21.

    burnspbesq

    @Elizabelle:

    Buddy Guy is still doing it. Ditto for Robert Cray. When he chooses to, Clapton can still bring it.

    Among younger blues-based artists, Joe Bonamassa and Susan Tedeschi.

  22. 22.

    lamh36

    @Elizabelle: I was thinking the same thing. Living with diabetes until 89 is actual a damn good run. it’s a lot longer than any diabetic member if my family has. Hopefully my mom can last as long

  24. 24.

    MomSense

    @AndoChronic:

    There will never be another like King–and so many other greats. I think that young blues musicians now listen to the greats, learn from them, and then try and tell their own stories. Dog knows there is plenty to have the blues about just like there always has been.

    I hear many influences in my son’s playing but it sounds like him which is the way it is supposed to be.

  28. 28.

    agorabum

    @Yatsuno: yeah, I felt the same thing when I heard hospice. And also thought he was making the right call. He knew how to die as he knew how to live…RIP

  29. 29.

    James E Powell

    @boatboy_srq:

    I agree with every word of what you wrote. And from everything that I saw, heard, and read about BB King, I would bet he’d agree too.

  30. 30.

    J R in WV

    Just recently we have seen Susan Tedeschi and David Trucks, and Buddy Guy was the headliner for a Mountain Stage show. We get a lot of really good live music in WV from Mountain Stage, and that pushes other venues to bring in similar acts.

    B B King was one of many blues stars at the Newport Folk Festival in 1968. I was just out of high school and started at college that summer session, thinking I could get a leg up. Of course all the other students were juniors and seniors who needed a class to graduate that was otherwise hard to schedule.

    So one day a guy in the dorm asked if I would like to go on a weekend jaunt to this folk festival, and stay at a friend of his who lived in town… oh yes! This was why I was there!

    I got to see a set by Big Brother and the Holding Company, with Janis singing. I got to see Muddy Waters, and Junior Wells, and Buddy Guy. And IIRC a good llooking guy named BB King closed the show down late that night.

    I was from a small coal town, and the only live music I was familiar with was Community Concerts’ classical shows, and Big Band music that my piano teacher’s band played. The blues was a very big new event in myh life, and BB King was the main man.

    R.I.P. Mr. King. I know the blues will outlast us all. Thanks for all those rippling notes!

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