B.B. King wants to be in a movie with Steven Seagal
Hello again.
We are having our first ever "Blues on the Bay Festival", this Sunday. B.B. King will be the headliner for the Festival. I was just reading our local paper, and came across this article, in which he mentions Seagal. I knew that I just had to post it on the board here, enjoy!!!
Take care
Donna
B.B.'s blues are red-hot
King is still singing after a 50-year career and the blues still make him smile
By Staff writer Cassandra Hinojosa
October 24, 2003
Contrary to blues legend B.B. King's pop crossover song title: The thrill is not gone.
In fact, it's as strong as ever for the 78-year-old, one of the greatest electric guitarists who ever lived.
For him, it was about mixing blues, swing, jazz and pop to produce his eclectic sound.
King - who once played for dimes on street corners as a kid - is performing some 200 shows this year, including Sunday's performance as headliner for the first Blues on the Bay festival at Concrete Street Amphitheater.
To this day, King handles his beloved Gibson guitar, Lucille, with the same grace as he did back in the '50s, almost lending his guitar to "sound human." He skips foot pedals and advanced music technology.
"I'm so old-fashioned, I don't use anything except an amplifier," King said during a recent phone interview. "Don't get me wrong. I like the way (other electric guitarists) do it, but to me, it makes me lazy. It shortens me in some way because I feel I'm not doing everything I could."
King's major music influences include Lonnie Johnson, Charlie Christian, Blind Lemon Jefferson and T-Bone Walker, and in turn, King's style has paved the way for many others such as Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page and Eric Clapton, with whom he collaborated in 2000 for the album "Riding with the King," which sold 4.5 million copies.
King credits "blues superstars" Stevie Ray Vaughan and Robert Cray for continuing blues music and while it has come a long way, King feels that it's still not mainstream.
"You still can't turn on the radio and hear blues," he said. "Due to the young people playing and supporting it, I think that has opened many doors."
This past summer, King released his newest CD titled "Reflections," an album of love songs and ballads, instead of only one or two slow tracks, he said. King's total record sales across the globe are more than 40 million.
King has seen times change in his 50-year music career. For instance, he said that when he first played in Corpus Christi, back in the 1950s, the concert was segregated, so not many people were aware of the performance.
But outside of music, there is still something that King says he'd like to accomplish.
"I've been in many, many movies, but I've never been in there as a co-star that had more than three or four lines," said King, who would like to appear in a film with Morgan Freeman or Steven Seagal. "As long as I don't have to do a lot of the four-letter words."
In all, King has racked up 13 Grammy awards and has played before several presidents and Pope John Paul II.
"Traveling a lot has introduced people around the world to blues," he said. "I have performed in 90 countries. A lot of them get a chance to know about it in person. I guess we've done pretty well. I keep getting invitations."
Hello again.
We are having our first ever "Blues on the Bay Festival", this Sunday. B.B. King will be the headliner for the Festival. I was just reading our local paper, and came across this article, in which he mentions Seagal. I knew that I just had to post it on the board here, enjoy!!!
Take care
Donna
B.B.'s blues are red-hot
King is still singing after a 50-year career and the blues still make him smile
By Staff writer Cassandra Hinojosa
October 24, 2003
Contrary to blues legend B.B. King's pop crossover song title: The thrill is not gone.
In fact, it's as strong as ever for the 78-year-old, one of the greatest electric guitarists who ever lived.
For him, it was about mixing blues, swing, jazz and pop to produce his eclectic sound.
King - who once played for dimes on street corners as a kid - is performing some 200 shows this year, including Sunday's performance as headliner for the first Blues on the Bay festival at Concrete Street Amphitheater.
To this day, King handles his beloved Gibson guitar, Lucille, with the same grace as he did back in the '50s, almost lending his guitar to "sound human." He skips foot pedals and advanced music technology.
"I'm so old-fashioned, I don't use anything except an amplifier," King said during a recent phone interview. "Don't get me wrong. I like the way (other electric guitarists) do it, but to me, it makes me lazy. It shortens me in some way because I feel I'm not doing everything I could."
King's major music influences include Lonnie Johnson, Charlie Christian, Blind Lemon Jefferson and T-Bone Walker, and in turn, King's style has paved the way for many others such as Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page and Eric Clapton, with whom he collaborated in 2000 for the album "Riding with the King," which sold 4.5 million copies.
King credits "blues superstars" Stevie Ray Vaughan and Robert Cray for continuing blues music and while it has come a long way, King feels that it's still not mainstream.
"You still can't turn on the radio and hear blues," he said. "Due to the young people playing and supporting it, I think that has opened many doors."
This past summer, King released his newest CD titled "Reflections," an album of love songs and ballads, instead of only one or two slow tracks, he said. King's total record sales across the globe are more than 40 million.
King has seen times change in his 50-year music career. For instance, he said that when he first played in Corpus Christi, back in the 1950s, the concert was segregated, so not many people were aware of the performance.
But outside of music, there is still something that King says he'd like to accomplish.
"I've been in many, many movies, but I've never been in there as a co-star that had more than three or four lines," said King, who would like to appear in a film with Morgan Freeman or Steven Seagal. "As long as I don't have to do a lot of the four-letter words."
In all, King has racked up 13 Grammy awards and has played before several presidents and Pope John Paul II.
"Traveling a lot has introduced people around the world to blues," he said. "I have performed in 90 countries. A lot of them get a chance to know about it in person. I guess we've done pretty well. I keep getting invitations."
