B.B. King brought his band and two grandsons along for his public lecture Wed. night at the University of Colorado. A good 1,000+ people were there at the Coors events center, where they have the basketball games. Everyone was on their feet when Mr. King got on stage before his talk and then at the end, after the audience got him to play "How Blue Can You Get" for an encore. In between were more songs, B.B. King talking about his past (he got his pilot's license in '63, he never finished high school) and a question and answer session, where he said his songs are inspired by the ladies; T-Bone Walker, Django Reinhardt and Charlie Christian are all on his MP3 player; and he thinks Ruby Wilson will go far.
Quotes from Mr. King on Wed. night:
"I've never seen an ugly woman."
"I love my job. I don't have to stop at 65. If somebody made me stop, I'd cry."
"I'd play for free if somebody would pay my bills."
"I never think I'm 80 'til I walk up some stairs."
"That's the thing when you're 80. You can always pretend like you forgot. And most of the time you did. And when people call, you can pretend you can't hear."
Riley B. King grew up wanting to be a gospel singer. He grew up in a segregated society and would play music at an intersection where the two halves would meet. "They always put something in the cup when I played blues." Some people said he played the devil's music, which he says he didn't understand, because when he worked outside, no one ever told him he was picking the devil's cotton. On Wednesday, he played "I Need You So" and "You are my Sunshine," the first song that he said he learned to play, plus others. He wasn't in top form Wednesday, (he was hoarse, dropped one of his chord progressions and missed some notes) but the crowd still ate it up. He definitely tried to keep the crowd happy, dancing in his seat, singing out, playing more music when he thought the audience was getting bored with his stories. It was an enjoyable evening
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