B B King

When B.B. King returns home to Las Vegas after a concert tour, he often does something that would strike most people as odd. "There are times when I get home that for the first two or three days I close the bedroom door to make me feel like I'm in a hotel room," says the blues giant. It's not so strange, though, when you consider a few facts: Of the 71 years since he was born Riley B. King in Indianola, Miss., the musician has spent the last 50 as a touring musician.

The thrill is on for those attending an 80th birthday party for blues guitarist B.B. King. Sam Haskell, the former William Morris Agency official, and his actress-singer wife, Mary, native Mississippians both, host the party and concert to raise funds for King's museum in Indianola, Miss.

Luminaries from the worlds of arts and politics gathered here to salute the winners of the 1995 Kennedy Center Honors: ballet dancer Jacques d'Amboise, diva Marilyn Horne, blues musician B.B. King, actor Sidney Poitier and playwright Neil Simon. Two days of events culminated Sunday with the 18th Annual Kennedy Center Honors Gala, attended by President Clinton and his wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton. A series of performance tributes was delivered for each honoree.

The talk was that the "King of the Blues," B.B. King, had run out of steam and, these days, was just going through the motions. Don't you believe it. The blues singer/guitarist's well-received first set Sunday at the Coach House put rumors of his demise to rest.

All this rain can lead to morbid thoughts. So can the recent mortality rate for beloved and influential performing artists. Dizzy Gillespie and Rudolf Nureyev died on the same day, just over a week ago. It was hard not to think of them as B.B. King arrived in Orange County Tuesday night, his personal clock reading 67 years and ticking. Anticipating the show, one couldn't help having the gloomy thought creep in that King is another front-page obituary waiting to happen.

Talk about the rock of ages. B.B. King, Bobby Bland and Albert King, aggregate age 194, total professional experience something on the order of 115 years, combined for more than 3 1/2 hours of mostly satisfying blues and R&B Thursday night at the sold-out Celebrity Theatre (the same bill is at the Universal Amphitheatre on Sunday). Appropriately, the evening's highlight--and an early contender for the year's highlight--was B.B.

Through his agile fingers, which have spent decades making love to the taut strings of his guitar, B.B. King becomes immersed in his music. The high-pitched wail of the notes he coaxes out of the instrument, nicknamed Lucille, is salve to the soul of the nearly 80-year-old bluesman, who is preparing to kick off a world tour. It's been a good year for King, named by Rolling Stone magazine as the third-greatest guitarist of all time.

It's almost a shame that it didn't rain on the Benson & Hedges Blues concert Saturday at the Pacific Amphitheatre. A continuation of the downpour and blustery winds that started the afternoon would have provided an ideal setting for the inclemency classics offered during the show. Hearing Irma Thomas' emotion-drenched "It's Raining" or Stevie Ray Vaughan's storm-driven "Couldn't Stand the Weather" in their natural element would have been well worth a soaking.

When B.B. King returns home to Las Vegas after a concert tour, he often does something that would strike most people as odd. "There are times when I get home that for the first two or three days I close the bedroom door to make me feel like I'm in a hotel room," says the blues giant. It's not so strange, though, when you consider a few facts: Of the 71 years since he was born Riley B. King in Indianola, Miss., he has spent the past 50 as a touring musician.