3Benton-Michiana Spirit Newspaper • May 21, 2015Publisher’s Page

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Distribution:PRINT: The Benton-Michiana Spirit Community Newspaper is distributed in pring throughout the communities of Southwest Michigan (Benton Harbor, Berrien Springs, Buchanan, Niles, and St. Joseph, MI), and Northern Indiana (South Bend, IN), called the “Michiana” area and growing.ONLINE: The Benton-Michiana Spirit Community Newspaper is distributed daily online via website and social media outlets and partners.

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Publisher - Princella TobiasEditor - Desmond Murray, PhDAdvertising/Sales - Princella TobiasAdministrator - Patricia Plaut-PayneCommunity Liaison - Ralph Heibutzki, Candrice Williams, Annette Hill, Richard Smith, James Summers, Pastor Hardie Blake, Tim Johnson, Stephan Tinsley, Elaine Osmun, Aspiring Young Journalist (AYJ) Team: Benton Harbor High School, Benton Harbor Public Library Teen Advisory Board, Boys & Girls Club of Benton Harbor, Benton Harbor Girls Academy, and I’m Saving Myself.

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Our con-dolences

and prayers are sent with love to Shirley

King and the entire family of Riley B. King, known to most around the world as B.B. King.

Shirley King, a Blues artist herself, is professionally known as “The Daughter of the Blues” and one of B.B. King’s daugh-ters. It was Shirley who gave me opportunities to personally meet him one winter night in Detroit at the Fox Theatre. While Shirley spent time with one of Aretha Franklin’s staffers, her son who travels with B.B. King, took me backstage where I met the crew, other fans, including the sensational Kid Rock, and the man himself…B.B. King.

I later found out that this was a tradition. B.B. King takes time to meet with a few fans and friends after his show and sits and talks like they are at his house around the kitchen table. This global superstar was down-to-earth and his big heart shined through his tuxedo.

As my photo on page 7 shows, I had the best seat and throughout his conversation he kept saying, “You’re not going to print that, are you?” (Referring to me as a newspa-per publisher). We would all laughed and I promised not to.

We stayed overnight in Detroit and in the morning, he

came out to the lobby and greeted us again. What I loved about him, was how much he loved his friends and especially his family. I can still remember him looking at Shirley, with a big smile and saying, “Come on over here, girl!” They hugged, he kissed her and my heart melted.

Several years later, when he performed in Benton Harbor at the Mendel Center, I noticed the love of this legend and his daughter again. And, yes, again, he took us backstage, along with Pastor Rivers, of Benton Harbor, who had performed with B.B. King for decades. Also, there … backstage was former Benton Harbor Mayor Wilce Cooke, Jane Berglund-Hess, and about a dozen other

Benton Harbor people who also knew him. Of course, I also remember “The Thrill is Gone” and

many of his other hit songs, but for me, it will be his big heart, love for people, and, of course, for the ever-present Lucille.

We love you Riley B. King. You will always remain in our hearts…Rest in Peace.

My Personal Affair with a KingBy Princella Tobias, Founding Publisher, Spirit News

Shirley King, professionally kown as “The Daughter of the Blues” (center with microphone), performing with her father, B.B. King (left).

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May 21, 2015Volume 13, Number 7Benton Harbor, Michigan and South Bend, Indiana (Michiana Community)www.bentonspiritnews.com

Informing, Enhancing, Showcasing, Promoting and Educating Michiana -- Southwest Michigan and Northern Indiana

Complimentary

Leaving His Mark:Blues Legend B.B. King Passes Away At 89

Stay Informed: www.bentonspiritnews.com and on Facebook

Spirit Publisher,Tobias (shown on left with B.B. King), Pays Tribute to

The King• Pages 3, 6, and 7 •

By Ralph HeibutzkiSpirit Correspondent

His instrumental abilities took him from a rural sharecropping

lifestyle in Mississippi, to entertain-ing sold-out crowds with his emotive vocal style and quicksilver blues guitar playing – but through all those nights, B.B. King never forgot how he started out. “My job was – they

had gambling in the back, and my job was to keep the people happy that didn’t gamble, keep ’em dancing,” King told the Telegraph, in a 2009 interview. “I wasn’t that good, but one thing I had going for me was the beat of my foot – I kept good time. And if you’re keeping good time, people can dance, that do dance.”

And, though he was consistently ranked near the top of active guitar

players, King always maintained that he wouldn’t stop learning, which drove him to continue finding differ-ent ways of playing his instrument, and looking for new sounds. “At my age, I have a motto – I guess that’s a good word – if I don’t learn something new every day, it’s a day lost,” King said. “I think that way now because there are fewer days.”

Songwriter, singer and blues gui-

tarist Riley “B.B.” King died in his sleep at 89 on May 14 – clos-ing a career that saw him win 15 Grammy Awards, record more than 50 albums and maintain a touring schedule of more than 300 perfor-mances a year well into his 80s.

More on KING, page 6

PEACE MOVEMENTBy BHHS Students

Page 2

7Benton-Michiana Spirit Newspaper • May 21, 2015

B.B. KING MEMORIALS & FUNERAL

Friday, May 22, 2015 • Viewing • 3 -7 p.m.Palm Mortuary West1600 South Jones Blvd., Las Vegas, NV 89146

Wednesday, May 27, 2015Funeral procession-Memphis12:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.Procession on Beale Street to Handy Park for a tribute.

Friday, May 29, 2015Viewing • 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.B.B. King Museum400 Second Street, Indianola, MS 38751

Saturday, May 30, 2015Funeral services-Indianola11a.m. – 3 p.m.Officiating: Rev. Herron Wilson, Rev. Otis Anthony and Rev. Melvin MatthewsBell Grove M.B. Church1301 B B King Rd, Indianola, MS 38751

Memorials

In lieu of flowers a gift can be made to the B.B. King Museumwww.bbkingmuseum.org/donate

B.B. King was fond of saying that education is something no one can take away from you, and there is a vast population of under-served children in our area who need the message of hope. We take that to heart and have many programs in place, but we need ongoing sup-port to keep those viable and continue to add engaging and inspirational messages. Your donation can help us with resources to reach as many young le as possible. The B.B. King Museum and Delta Interpretive Center is a 501©(3) non-profit organization, so your con-tributions are tax-deductible.

Flowers may be sent to:B.B. King Museum400 Second StreetIndianola, MS 38751

“B.B. King is the last original King of the Blues. He performed in Benton Harbor in the late

‘60s. He played at East End Bar or Shadowland Ballroom. I saw him in Battle Creek years ago. When he played, he rocked the stage.

Back then he opened the doors for a lot of musi-cians. He was a great artist. He will be missed. His guitar Lucille will miss him too. We loved him. He will be missed. My condolences go out to the King Family.” --Archie Davis, Benton Harbor

Born September 16, 1925, near Indianola, MS, King

taught himself guitar and start-ed off playing on street corners – honing a style that borrowed from artists like Blind Lemon Jefferson, and T-Bone Walker, “integrating his precise and com-plex vocal-like string bends and his left hand vibrato, both of which have become indispensable components of rock guitarists’ vocabulary,” as King’s official website notes. “His economy, his every-note-counts phrasing, has been a model for thousands of players, from Eric Clapton and George Harrison to Jeff Beck.”

King’s first break came dur-ing the 1940s, when – like many of his peers – he made his way to Memphis, TN, and began working as a singer and a DJ at radio sta-tion WDIA. Those experiences provided the nickname that was forever associated with him – which underwent a shortening from “Beale Street Blues Boy,” to “Blues Boy,” and finally, “B.B.” He began recording in 1949, but his first chart entry didn’t come until 1952, when “Three O’Clock Blues” reached #1 on the U.S. R&B charts. That success enabled him to rack up a string of hits throughout the 1950s – including “Every Day I Have The Blues,” “Sneakin’ Around,” and “Ten Long Years,” among others.

Like many musicians of his era, King also spent much of his time on the live circuit – reportedly playing 342 nights in 1956 alone – which fueled the legend of “Lucille,” the Gibson ES-335 guitar that

became his six-string compan-ion of choice. As the story goes, King gave his guitar that name after running to retrieve it from a nightclub in Twist, AK – where a brawl between two men had start-ed a fire, causing the venue to burn down. According to King, he named his guitar Lucille as a reminder not to fight over women, or run into burning buildings.

King’s audience expanded nota-bly during the blues-rock boom of the 1960s – particularly at venues like the Newport Folk Festival, as well as Bill Graham’s Fillmore West – and assignments like an 18-gig opening slot on the Rolling Stones’s 1969 American tour. By then, he’d recorded several albums regarded as classics, including Live At The Regal (1964), “which is con-sidered by some the best recording I’ve ever had . . . that particular day in Chicago everything came togeth-er,” King recalled, for the Chicago

Tr i b u n e .U n l i k e

many of his con-t e m p o -r a r i e s ,

King successfully worked both sides of the commercial divide. The exposure from his first Grammy Award (Best Male R&B Vocal Performance) in 1971, for “The Thrill Is Gone,” lifted his career to a whole new level of popular acclaim – which led to his inductions into the Blues Foundation Hall of Fame (1984), and the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame (1987). He built on his reputation by showing a willingness to collaborate, and experiment – such as in 1987, when he co-wrote “When Love Comes To

Town” with the Irish rock band, U2.King’s later activities broadened

to venue owner – which began in 1991, when the first B.B. King’s Blues Club opened where he’d started out, on Beale Street, in Memphis – and philanthropist, when he lent his support in 2002 to Little Kids Rock, a nonprofit orga-nization that provides free musi-cal instruments and instruction to children in underprivileged public schools through the United States.

In 2006, King launched what he saw as his “farewell” tour – but he soon returned to the stage, although at a slower pace than in the past. As his official biography states, with so many fans clamoring to see him, the man they knew as “B.B.” wasn’t about to turn them away: “Don’t look for him in some kind of semi-retirement; look for him out on the road, playing for people, popping up in a myriad of T.V. commercials, or laying down tracks for his next album. B.B. King is as alive as the music he plays, and a grateful world can’t get enough of him.”

“The Thrill Is Gone”One of the Greatest HitsBy B.B. King

The thrill is goneThe thrill is gone awayThe thrill is gone babyThe thrill is gone awayYou know you done me wrong babyAnd you’ll be sorry someday

The thrill is goneIt’s gone away from meThe thrill is gone babyThe thrill is gone away from meAlthough, I’ll still live onBut so lonely I’ll be

The thrill is goneIt’s gone away for goodThe thrill is gone babyIt’s gone away for goodSomeday I know I’ll be open armed babyJust like I know a good man should

You know I’m free, free now babyI’m free from your spellOh I’m free, free, free nowI’m free from your spellAnd now that it’s all overAll I can do is wish you well“When I think of B.B. King it is always with fondness. One of his greatest songs, “The Thrill is Gone”

will always ring in my head and heart. I thank God that he lived a good life and was able to see the fruits of some of his labor—working in the industry when Black people were limited in so many ways, to actu-ally traveling the world and being loved. When B.B. King came to Benton Harbor at Lake Michigan College’s Mendel Center, I was there. What a show. Even when he sat in his chair and played his guitar, it was magic! When his daughter Shirley King came to Benton Harbor, I was honored to have her as a house guest for several days. Talent doesn’t fall far from the tree—she is talented too. He will be missed, but never forgotten.--Wilce L. Cooke, former Mayor, City of Benton Harbor

Remembering B.B. King

B.B. King and Benton Spirit Publisher, PrincellaTobias in Detroit at the Fox Theater for a B.B. King Concert.

“He was iconic through my life. I loved his smooth

Blues swing. I am sure we will all miss him, but his music will live on!”--Chris Buckleitner

Benton-Michiana Spirit Newspaper • May 21, 20156