B.B. King Released, Back to 'Old Self'

By MONICA RHORThe Associated PressSaturday, January 27, 2007; 10:09 PM


HOUSTON -- B.B. King was discharged from a Galveston hospital Saturday following treatment for a fever and was "back to his old self," a spokeswoman for his management agency said.
The 81-year-old, Grammy-winning bluesman was "feeling fabulous," said Tina France, vice president of Lieberman Management of New York.

King had been scheduled to perform Thursday at the Grand Opera House, but was admitted to The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, said Paul McCarthy, a hospital administrator.
King still plans to perform Tuesday in Fort Worth, France said. Concerts that had been scheduled before then in Galveston, Orange and Tyler will be rescheduled for June, she said.
King, who has a history of diabetes, had a 100.4-degree fever following a bout with the flu, and monitoring was required because of his age, said France. Doctors treated him with antibiotics, she said.
He was kept in the hospital's elderly acute care unit as a precaution, said John Koloen, a spokesman for the hospital in Galveston, about 50 miles southeast of Houston.
With his trademark guitar that he named "Lucille," King is one of the nation's most influential and best-known blues musicians. His long list of hits includes "The Thrill is Gone," "Every Day I Have the Blues" and "You Upset Me Baby," and he was awarded a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1987.
He has become a spokesman in the fight against diabetes, and in December President Bush awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

BB King

I played the gig last night & it was real busy.

I did a warm up set at 7 pm and we had quite a few poeple come in that were early for the BB King Show.

I played until about 10 til 8 & then I was going to wait till 9:30 & do my normal show & try to make sure I was playing when the BB King Concert ended so I could get some of those folks to come in. We had the doors to the club open so they could hear the music on the way to the parking lot.

After I played my warm up set, I walked over to Grand just to check out the scene & there was dude there holding a guitar. I asked him if he was going to get BB King to sign it and he told me that they had just taken Mr. King to the hospital. I checked the news today and am hearing that he is in good condition & they are expecting him to get realeased soon.

But at that time, It was kind of a drag. A real downer.

I went ahead and decied to go ahead an play some more since all the people were there and the place got packed. I did my best to put on a good show and be professional but I had this wierd kind of feeling. I normally am pretty happy if the house is packed but in this case it was hard to be happy when knew the only reason it was so croweded was because BB King was sick.

The other thing that kind of wierded out the vibe was that the a good portion happy Hour Crowed was still hanging around & I don't think they really appreciated the club being so busy. The happy hour folks (at any bar) can be kind of lould after a couple of hours of being happy and these folks were no exception. They provided a wall of noise that was not the exact backdrop of sound that I was looking for. I don't like to play loud and it kind of takes away the part of the show where you are able to bring it down and to more intracate things or play a slowers song with feeling type of thing. Still, They were spending money so I couldn't complain.

When I first drove up to the venue BB Kings Bus was parked in front of Whisky's Pub and the door was open. I was going to ask the dude standing there if he could get Mr. King to autograph the album cover I brought (Live at Cook County Jail) but he kind of gave me a look that made me feel like he wasn't in the mood to be aproached. I realize now that if BB was sick they probably didn't want to be chatting with folks. I can understand that. I want to be clear. It wasn't anything unfriendly but he just wasn't making eye contact when I looked at him & I didn't want to bother anybody just to get an autograph. I had been secretly hoping that with me being there all afternoon setting up that the opportunity might come up.

I did get to briefly meet James the Blueshound and his lovely wife Colleen. He came up the stage and gave me sticker & I did get to say hello and shake hands but I was pretty busy trying to do the show. They are nice folks. I know them from my email contact mostly. I had talked to James on the phone before. They do the concert caledar for KPFT and list all my shows as well as anybody elses who sends them in. They are really cool about it and do a great job. In the past three years I have come to really appreciate the work that they do. You can hear thier show "Howling the Blues" every Sunday from 2-4 on 90.1 on your fm dial or 89.5 in Galveston.

I did see a couple of other famiar faces in the crowd also.

The thing that hit me the most was the guy who brought the guitar to be autographed. He had a look of real disappointment on his face when he was telling me that BB King was sick. BB King is truly a blues legend. A guy that can bring more than just a blues show. He is a salesman of the blues and also someone who can reach out to people and get through. He makes em feel good.


I know he is 82 years old but I am hoping that he is out touring the country playing blues for several more years.


I wish him well.

BB King

Everybody knows who BB King is. He is known as the "King of the Blues".

I am not going to try to do some kind of review on him since it would be lame.

Tomorrow I will be playing next door to his gig. He is at the Grand Opera House in Galveston and I will be right next door at Whiskys Pub. I don't think there will be any competition since he is afterall BB King. Poeple have lined up in advance and bought tickets for his show.

His show starts at 8pm so I am hoping some of the blues fans will stop in and check out my show also since I will be playing until about 1:30.

I am going to bring the record jacket for "Live at Cook County Jail" Just in case I get the chance to ask for an autograph but I doubt I will get one since I am not big on bothering people. I know they get people coming up to them all the time telling the same things. Not that I wouldn't want to meet him but if I get the chance I will wave or say hello. That would be cool enough. BB King is now 80 years old and he is still traveling around the country doing what he enjoys doing. He is a true traveling blues man. I will probably bring my camera so I can take a picture of his bus.

Hopefully it will not be raining. The last three gigs I have done have all been on rainy days. It didn't keep the people from coming out Saturday Night but Sunday was slow and once again I found myself loading and unloading my equipment in the rain. I learned a couple of years ago that I need to bring extra clothes, socks, & Shoes so I can have some dry clothes to change into. A couple of years ago I was doing a gig at a place called Sports and More on Barker Cypress & I got wet when I was unloading my equipment for the gig and I ended up getting sick and staying sick for several weeks.

Looking at the clock I see that our time is up for today.

Thanks,

Marc

Weather Report

Currently we have rain and drizzle with a a chance of catching a cold.


There is a low pressure system moving our way bring some cool air and a chance of continued precipitation. As the front moves in expect the moisture coming up from the Gulf to destabelize the atmosphere.

There is a 47% chance of rain for next Tuesday but we have no Idea if it is going to rain tonight or not.

Also, If you want some very important news that may save your life you need to tune in tomorrow at 4:00.

If you have to work tomorrow at 4 then it is just too bad. You are going to die.


Just remember that our News Team Cares about Texas. We love you.

Hollywood Marketing

Have you ever been watchng a movie at a friends house & then all of the sudden they get to the Sex Scene. To me it is kind of wierd. You gotta pretend like everything is normal I guess.

Why the hell do they have to have the sex scene anyway?

Why don't they show when Angelina Jolie takes a dump?

Do all the Movie Stars use some kind of new colonics or something where they never have to take a dump?

How can you possibly just sit through a movie where the stars are not allowed to crap?

That is just cruel!

Whooping cranes make a strong comeback

http://www.physorg.com/news86461276.html

The yearly migration of the whooping cranes has returned them to Texas's Aransas National Wildlife refugee with 237 of the birds returning.


These numbers combined with the number of birds currently in captivity brings the total population of the birds to a record 518, making it the first time in 100 years that their population has totaled more than 500, The Washington Post reported. The whooping crane is the tallest bird in North America and was on the brink of extinction 70 years ago when they numbered 20. U.S. wildlife officials call the birds' new population a comeback story that shows has a good conservation effort can save a species. "The whooping crane continues to mirror the success of endangered species recovery when man sets his mind to it," said Tom Stehn, the national whooping crane coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Copyright 2006 by United Press International

2007

Well, it is 2007 & it still feels about the same to me as 2006 except it is a little cooler.