Livin': B.B. King’s - Memphis, TN
These pictures are from B.B. King's on Beale St.
From my honeymoon. Yeah, that's right.
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Music/Livin': B.B. King - Sweet Sixteen
I learned about B.B. King from my Grandma Pearl about 30 years ago. She used to put on his records whenever we drove up to Buffalo to visit her. She's a real cool lady. Love you Gram!
The video above is from an amazing documentary someone gave me a few years back called Lightning In A Bottle.
Here's a bit about it from Amazon.com by Sam Graham:
Part concert, part history lesson, part summit meeting, and all blues, Lightning in a Bottle puts a bright spotlight on this quintessential American music. There are some heavy hitters at work here, both behind the camera (Martin Scorsese executive produced, while the film was directed by Antoine Fuqua of Training Day and King Arthur) and especially in front of it, with a superb house band and a mind-boggling array of musicians (including B.B. King, Bonnie Raitt, Aerosmith's Steven Tyler and Joe Perry, Solomon Burke, Keb' Mo', Macy Gray, the Neville Brothers, Robert Cray, and John Fogerty, to name but a few) performing at New York's Radio City Music Hall in February, 2003. The idea was to trace the music from its beginnings; thus we get an African song (by Angelique Kidjo), some early gospel blues (the great Mavis Staples), acoustic Delta blues, and so on, right up to blues-drenched electric rock and even some rap (a riveting version of Howlin' Wolf's "Killing Floor" by Chuck D.). Virtually all of the immortals who defined the blues (Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, and even Jimi Hendrix, whose fiery style is re-enacted by Buddy Guy) enter the picture, either through vintage film clips or new performances of their songs. One might wish for more insight into the influence of the blues on jazz (Billie Holiday's "Strange Fruit," sung here by India.Arie, is a fine song, but it's not a blues tune) or country, but overall, Lightning in a Bottle is an edifying and, most important, highly entertaining portrait of the music and its heritage.
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Music: Bukka White - Aberdeen Blues
The great Bukka White (Born Booker T. Washington White, November 12, 1909, died February 26, 1977.) "Master of the National Steel Guitar" doin' his signature tune, "Aberdeen Blues." Hope you enjoy it as much as I do. Legend has it that in 1947 Bukka gave a young cousin, Riley King, a red Stella Guitar. Riley went on to be known as The Beale St. Blues Boy, B.B. King. Also check out these videos of Bukka doin "Jelly Roll Blues" and "Poor Boy Long Way from Home."
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Music: Levon Helm - By Jim James
Here's a piece by Jim James of My Morning Jacket on the great Levon Helm. It's from Rolling Stone's list of "100 Greatest Singers Of All Time"
Check out the whole list here.
"There is something about Levon Helm's voice that is contained in all of our voices. It is ageless, timeless and has no race. He can sing with such depth and emotion, but he can also convey a good-old fun-time growl.
Since Papa Garth Hudson didn't really sing, I always felt that, vocally, Levon was the father figure in the Band. He always seems strong and confident, like a father calling you home, or sometimes scolding you. The beauty in Richard Manuel's singing was often the sense of pain and darkness he conveyed. Rick Danko had a lot of melancholy to his voice as well, but he could also be a little more goofy. They were all different shades of color in the crayon box, and Levon's voice is the equivalent of a sturdy old farmhouse that has stood for years in the fields, weathering all kinds of change yet remaining unmovable.
The best thing about Levon is that he has so many sides, from the sound his voice gave to the Band's rich harmonies to how he can rip it up on songs like "Yazoo Street Scandal," "Don't Ya Tell Henry," "Up on Cripple Creek" and "Rag Mama Rag." He can pop in for sensitive moments, such as in between Manuel's vocals in "Whispering Pines." And he laid down one of the greatest recorded pop vocal performances of all time: "The Weight." I was fortunate to get to go to one of his Midnight Rambles a few years back when My Morning Jacket were recording up in the Catskills. To see him walk out on that stage and sit down behind the drum kit in person was a thrill. No one else plays the drums or sings like Levon, much less doing it at the same time.
There is a sense of deep country and family in Levon's voice, a spirit that was there even before him, deep in the blood of all singers who have heard him, whether they know it or not."
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Music: Sunday Mornin’
JC doin' Sunday Morning Coming Down. Written By Kris Kristofferson.
Have a good one.
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