So I saw BB King last night...

[Achtung Ya'll]

Well I am from Indianola which is BB King's hometown.

Now every year he comes back and plays a homecoming gig.

It's pretty cool. He plays a big festival at a park and then after that he goes to this rundown shack of a club called Club Ebony and plays. That's usually the best part because it's just so truly bluesy. Feels like you're seeing him back when he started.

However the past few years all the white folk have taken over the event (especially the club ebony event) and basically have done everything in their power to ruin the spirit of the blues.

It is now FIFTY BUCKS cover to get into Ebony which is fucking ridiculous. There is no more dance floor anymore and all the white fuckers just sit there and nod their head so they can go back home and get to say they saw BB King. It really sucks.

Anyway here are some pics and some videos of the event if anyone cares!


Oh he DID play "When Love Comes to Town" by the way. Started talking about how Bono from U2 wrote it for him. I was screaming my lungs out! No-one else really was but he started saying "ya'll know U2 don't ya!?" Pretty cool. However I had to go to the bathroom. Gave my camera to my brother and then when I got back he was gone...and of course that's when he starts playin' it and talking about Bono.

Anyways...pics:

Yay for fireworks!

He's about to come on stage!

Band leader Boogaloo!

The man himself makes it!

And at Club Ebony.

And the 72 megs worth of video!:
http://s43.ysi.com/d.aspx?id=39CQ4G3YK3DNV0SVTG76R5ZYVV


Anyway Rolling Stone was there covering the event so it will be in an upcoming article!

Now to go nurse my hangover!

 

[TheBrazilianFly]

 

[Achtung Ya'll]

uh...is that good or bad?

 

[Phalanx]

Gah.....I saw him twice in two years, and he didn't play When Loves Come To Town.

 

[TheBrazilianFly]

uh...is that good or bad?

That's bad because you seem a bit to pissed and that's good because I didn't know he used to play that song on his own set.

 

[typhoon]

Sounds cool.

And it's funny to hear you rag on white blues fans.

 

[Achtung Ya'll]

Ok. I should clarify.

1.) I'm not ragging on all white blues fans. There are a lot of us out there that are cool as hell. In fact most of the people that attend the park festival are cool as hell.

2.) I'm 26 and have been born and raised in this town (Indianola, Mississippi). It's a small town with the typical small town shitty social scene. There is a small group of rich white business-men that control and run the town. These men are the ones responsible for the raise in ticket prices and the elimination of any real "blues" factor. To get into Club Ebony, where the real blues experience takes place, USED to cost $25. I'm not opposed to that because in all reality that's what kept the place open. I'm family friends with the owner, Mary Frances, and they're great people. The money they make off BB King homecoming night is what keeps them alive. That's fine and dandy.

What happened was two of these white families, the McPhersons and the Greshams, BOUGHT all of the tickets from Mary Frances and resold them for $50 a piece. Their reasoning straight from the horses mouth? "This place is getting too 'discovered' and we need to tone down the attendance." Which is the biggest load of horseshit I've ever heard. The whole idea of BB King coming to Club Ebony to play started as a way to let the people who couldn't afford to see him elsewhere be able to see him in a true blues environment. Now the rich white assholes are basically doing everything they can to make it a "white only" event.

Now that's what pisses me off. Because in years past TONS of people would show up and there would be a dance floor right in front of the stage and we would sit out there and dance and dance and dance til we got sweaty and good and drunk. THAT was a good time. There were still tables for the folk that just wanted to be completely inanimate but wanted to be there so they could say that they "saw BB King in his hometown."

But in my opinion that's not what it's about, and now they've completely elimated most of the tables (so it's just chairs and shit...whatever configuration they can pack the most into) and it just destroys the spirit completely. That's what I'm mad about. I'm a white middle-class male too so take that as you will.

 

[blueeyedgirl]

I'm so sorry for you. Big business likes to fuck up everything!

I was watching R&H the other night, when BB walks on the stage, very self effacingly and says "Yeah, I'm 62". I sat and did the maths of how old he is now and realised he's still performing! Way to go! I was glad to see BB on Lovetown and even tho' I'm not a huge fan of blues music, I was glad of the chance to see one of the masters.

 

[Diane L]

This might be a stupid question, so I apologize in advance--but are the Greshams related to THE John Gresham, best-selling writer? Just curious...

 

[Achtung Ya'll]

No that's John Grisham...with an I.

He has a house about an hour and a half north of here though. (He's from MS of course).

 

[NYRangers78]

why cant they just be rich assholes? why does color have to be brought up?

 

[Achtung Ya'll]

why cant they just be rich assholes? why does color have to be brought up?

Because there is a definite racial divide...especially in the Mississippi Delta. And they like to take over events like this to generally keep the black people out and make it a haven for all the rich white people. I'm sorry but that's how it is.

On another note to your response...you know sometimes race IS an issue within an argument. Why are there always people that no matter what say "WHY IS THIS A RACE ISSUE?" Well...because it freakin' is...that's why.

 

[deep]

why cant they just be rich assholes? why does color have to be brought up?

why defend bigots?