# Happy birthday, B.B. King! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 16, 2013, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-birthday-b-b-king/668981 "2013-09-16T16:19:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2013, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-birthday-b-b-king/668981/21 "2013-09-16T21:10:05Z")
There are a ton of aging blues artists touring (often due to economic necessity). I’ve seen “last performances” of a few, including Son Seals, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Sam Meyers, Glen Pavone, and Link Wray. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2013, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-birthday-b-b-king/668981/22 "2013-09-16T21:18:52Z")
I’m sure he doesn’t know anything but the road. Happy Birthday, Riley. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2013, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-birthday-b-b-king/668981/23 "2013-09-16T21:44:41Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > There are a ton of aging blues artists touring (often due to economic necessity). I’ve seen “last performances” of a few, including Son Seals, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Sam Meyers, Glen Pavone, and Link Wray. 🆒 If you get a chance to see [Curtis Salgado](http://www.curtissalgado.com/), don’t miss him. He was the 2013 B.B. King Entertainer of the Year winner. He’s had to fight off liver cancer, and it could either shorten or terminate his career at some point. If his act looks familiar to you (especially the dance moves), it’s because he was the inspiration for John Belushi’s Blues Brothers routine. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2013, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-birthday-b-b-king/668981/24 "2013-09-16T21:51:28Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > If you get a chance to see [Curtis Salgado](http://www.curtissalgado.com/), don’t miss him. He was the 2013 B.B. King Entertainer of the Year winner. He’s had to fight off liver cancer, and it could either shorten or terminate his career at some point. If his act looks familiar to you (especially the dance moves), it’s because he was the inspiration for John Belushi’s Blues Brothers routine. We saw him at Moondogs in Pittsburgh last year! It was an amazing show. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2013, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-birthday-b-b-king/668981/25 "2013-09-16T21:57:17Z")
I can say I’ve been lucky enough to see B.B. and John Lee Hooker play live. Happy Birthday, Man! ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2013, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-birthday-b-b-king/668981/26 "2013-09-16T22:03:36Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > I can say I’ve been lucky enough to see B.B. and John Lee Hooker play live. > > Happy Birthday, Man! My gf saw John Lee Hooker long before I knew her. One bit of jealousy between us. But I helped set up the stage for Koko Taylor tenish years ago at Moondogs. Her band played for a half hour, then she came out and did a short set. Her band played another half hour (they were excellent) then she came out and did Wang Dang Doodle or some other big closer. After the show was a bit scary. She was overheated, was having some trouble, but after some rest she was ok. ---
**Author:** ![Steophan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steophan/32/9595_2.png) [@Steophan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steophan)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2013, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-birthday-b-b-king/668981/27 "2013-09-16T22:28:07Z")
He’s got a few years to go to match Honeyboy Edwards, who retired a few weeks after his 96th birthday a couple of years ago, then sadly died a few weeks later. If you’ve seen Walk Hard - The Dewey Cox story, he was the guy at the start who taught Dewey to play. Also probably the last person who remembered playing with Robert Johnson. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2013, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-birthday-b-b-king/668981/28 "2013-09-17T02:56:06Z")
> [@Steophan](#): > > He’s got a few years to go to match Honeyboy Edwards, who retired a few weeks after his 96th birthday a couple of years ago, then sadly died a few weeks later. > > If you’ve seen Walk Hard - The Dewey Cox story, he was the guy at the start who taught Dewey to play. Also probably the last person who remembered playing with Robert Johnson. Hey, Pinetop Perkins had a Grammy-winning album at 97 years old! Sadly he passed away shortly after, but he was still touring. ---
**Author:** ![DummyGladHands](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/49beb7/32.png) [@DummyGladHands](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DummyGladHands)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2013, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-birthday-b-b-king/668981/29 "2013-09-19T02:04:12Z")
Saw him at the late lamented Monterey Blues fest a few years ago, and thought “uh oh, that’s it for B.B.” Saw him last year, or maybe the year prior opening for Tedeschi/Trucks, and he was just fine, they basically had to drag him off stage. He gets all my props!! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-birthday-b-b-king/668981.md?page=1)