B.B. Says It All

A compelling case for the blues will be made when B.B. King makes his first appearance at the Civic Arts Plaza on Feb. 28. Tickets are going fast, so be forewarned.

As the most famous living bluesman, King has recorded more than 50 albums, earned eight Grammys and been inducted into the Blues Foundation Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. And that’s just the beginning. “The King of the Blues” has earned countless other awards including his most recent, the NAACP Image Award.

In his early 20s, King left his Mississippi home bound for Memphis with $2.50 in cash and his guitar. He’s been on the road ever since. The 73-year-old King still hasn’t found that “off” switch, as he continues to play everywhere with everybody, perhaps remaining a stranger at his Las Vegas home while he still does almost 300 gigs a year.

Arriving in a limo long enough to have its own area code at a familiar haunt--B.B. King’s in Universal City--the bluesman spent a couple of moments chatting before his namesake gig and another interview by an impatient Argentine television crew.

How has the blues changed over the years?

It used to be that when Muddy Waters wrote a song, you never heard his version. Radio would play a blues song by some rock superstar, but not by us, and by us, I mean we that do blues as a--what can I say--as a way of life for a living. These days, it’s changed quite a bit because a lot of the young players have ideas about progressions that are different from what we used to do, and I hear some things that I’m very impressed by. Others, I don’t think would fit what I do, but they’re great ideas.

When did you know you wanted to be a musician?

Oh, when I was about 10 or 11, I guess. I wanted to be a gospel singer. In our church our pastor was named Archie Fair, and he played guitar, and to me, he was the closest thing to God. I’ve never seen a man that impressed me like he did until a few years ago, when I met the Pope. So I wanted to be a gospel singer and play a guitar as he did in church. As a teenager, I’d work Monday through Saturday noon, most of the times on the plantation, and then Saturday afternoons, I’d go sit on the street corners of Indianola, my little ol’ hometown, and play. I didn’t ask for anything, but it was pretty obvious what I wanted, so I’d just sit there and play.

Then what?

Well, most of the times I’d sing gospel songs, and when people would request a gospel song, they would always praise me very highly and pat me on the shoulder. “That was great son. Keep it up. You’re gonna be great someday.” But they’d never put anything in the hat. But when guys or girls would ask me for a blues song, they would always put something in the hat or maybe give me a beer. And that’s what really motivated my blues playing.

Who’s the best bluesman you’ve ever seen?

Hard to say. There are so many. There are the older ones and ones that are contemporary--there are so many. The only way I can answer that truthfully is to say that they remind me of cities. L.A. is a great city. St. Louis is a great city, but it has something that L.A. doesn’t have. New York is a great city, but then you go to Jackson, Miss., or Minneapolis and you find something still different. What I’m trying to say to you is that they each had something different. Each great blues singer had something different that made them an individualist. Am I making sense? So I really couldn’t tell you who was the best--I just loved all of them.

Why do blues musicians play more than rock musicians?

They don’t make the money. You don’t hear the blues on the radio. I’ve said some of the superstars make more in one night than I could in a whole week--two weeks for some of them. Not only just the rock stars, but some of the superstars in soul music; not that many, but some of them do.

Do you mind playing as often as you do?

I do it now because I want to, but there were years and years of working because I had to. Would you enjoy working every day? We have no Sundays. We have no holidays. Christmas? Who have a Christmas? Christmas? That was just Dec. 25, that’s all. I’m getting a good salary now. I get a very good salary at this time, but I didn’t up until two or three years ago.

Why do blues musicians dress better than rockers?

My cousin Bukka White used to tell me that to be an entertainer, you always dress as if you were going to the bank to borrow some money. I always think personally that when you’re going on stage, you should look a little different from your audience. I think most people appreciate that.

So the blues biz is booming?

It’s getting bigger. It’s more popular than it’s ever been. But you take those big companies like Coca-Cola and Hertz, as big as they are, they still advertise, but you don’t see no advertisements for us. The only thing that’s helped us are the young people that play blues and support it. Years ago, my fans generally were my age and older. When I was 16, my fans were 16 and older, and as I got to be older, some of them had children and grandchildren, and now they’re not there anymore. But blues has always been there and guys like myself, Bobby Bland, Little Milton and a lot of them--we never went any place. We’ve been there all the time.

BE THERE

B.B. King at the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza, 2100 E. Thousand Oaks Blvd., Feb. 28, 7 p.m. COST: $54, $39 or $29. CALL: 449-2787.

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The initial Cowboys & Angels Music Festival will begin Sunday at 1 p.m. at Cafe Voltaire in Ventura. The price is downright heavenly. Seven hours of music for three bucks would be fair in 1975, but a real deal in 1999. Left of Memphis, the Westerleys and New West are the bands on the bill, with a number of solo and duo acts in between. According to festival promoter Leslie Merical, here’s what to expect:

“New West plays contemporary cowboy music that’s really fun. They play simple, tight, quality songs. The Westerleys are a San Francisco-based group that plays acoustic folk rock with a bluegrass feel. My own group, Left of Memphis, will have guests Tony Gilkyson on guitar and Taras Prodaniuk, who is Dwight Yoakam’s bass player. I’m trying to bring a good quality music festival to downtown Ventura.”

Solo acts will include Suzanne Paris, Alan Thornhill, Jonathan McEuen, Tim Gibbons and Bud Bierhaus and Dan Wilson. If the weather is nice, the show will be held outside on the patio; if not, it may get crowded inside.

BE THERE

The Cowboys and Angels Music Festival at Cafe Voltaire, 34 N. Palm St., Ventura, Sunday, 1 p.m. COST: $3. CALL: 641-1743 or 653-2545.

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Rick Reeves calls on a vast repertoire for his weekend gigs at O’Leary’s Side Bar. The guitarist, with a play list of well over 500 songs, includes plenty of Jimi Hendrix, ZZ Top and Cream tunes.

The former Marine has been in the area since 1980 and has pretty much seen and done it all. Not only has Reeves opened for famous rock stars during his 50-plus gigs at the venerable Ventura Theatre, but he played a private for the Oakland Raiders, who used to train in Oxnard. Reeves knows how to handle the last set drunks with ease. “First, I try to reason with them. I tell them, for example, that I can’t do ‘Free Bird’ with a trio because you need a second guitar for that song, but I do know 10 other Lynyrd Skynyrd songs. If they keep at it, one thing is certain, my Marshall amps are louder than they are.”

BE THERE

Rick Reeves at O’Leary’s Side Bar, 6555 Telephone Road No. 7, Ventura, Friday and Saturday nights, 9 p.m. COST: Free. CALL: 644-4619.