Mr. B.B. King

I am going to go see one of my top five favorite guitar players ever tonight. Mr. B.B. King! I was watching a concert of his I rented from NetFlix, and I got to thinking, not to be morbid, but he is an obese, 80-year-old diabetic.

I checked to see his schedule and saw he was playing at the NIU Convocation Center in DeKalb. It’s kind of far, but it would probably take me about the same amount of time to drive into the city, find parking, etc. Kenny Wayne Shepherd is also playing, which is a nice bonus. I wanted to see him play at the Naperville Rib Fest, but I was already going someplace else.

I had it all planned out to leave straight from work to go out there, but of course, I forgot my change of clothes at home, so I have to stop there first to change. Luckily it isn’t too far out of the way.

I made a CD with all of my B.B. King MP3s and that’s what I’ve been listening to all day, getting geared up! B.B. King had a big influence on my guitar playing. I remember seeing him on the Tonight Show, probably when I was still in grade school. I saw him do that strong vibrato by shaking his whole left hand. I spent hours and hours practicing just that until I finally got it as fast and smooth as he did it.