UPDATE: B.B. King funeral details and official acknowledgements from Pres. Obama and Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame
buzzz worthy. . .#bbking
The passing of B.B. King will be formally observed in three cities where the legendary Bluesman made his mark.
From the Associated Press. . .
A public viewing will be held 3-7 p.m. Friday at Palm Mortuary West in Las Vegas. Visitors will be able pass King's open casket, but there won't be seating or a memorial service during the viewing, mortuary manager Matthew Phillips said. A private service for relatives will be at 11 a.m. Saturday at the larger downtown Palm Mortuary chapel.
His body will be flown on next Wednesday to Memphis, Tennessee, the place where a young King was nicknamed the Beale Street Blues Boy. It is expected to arrive at the airport at about noon, and will be driven in a procession to Handy Park on Beale Street, where a tribute will be held that day.
After that, King's body will be driven to Indianola, Mississippi, which King considered his hometown.
A public viewing will be from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. May 29 at the B.B. King Museum and Delta Interpretive Center in Indianola, and the funeral will be at 11 a.m. May 30 at the nearby Bell Grove Missionary Baptist Church, the museum announced Wednesday. The 15-time Grammy winner will be buried later that day in a private ceremony at the museum, which King helped develop
King died in his sleep a year week ago on May 14 in his Las Vegas home.
Statements on King's Passing
The Bluesman's final resting place will be in his native Mississippi.
The passing of B.B. King will be formally observed in three cities where the legendary Bluesman made his mark.
From the Associated Press. . .
A public viewing will be held 3-7 p.m. Friday at Palm Mortuary West in Las Vegas. Visitors will be able pass King's open casket, but there won't be seating or a memorial service during the viewing, mortuary manager Matthew Phillips said. A private service for relatives will be at 11 a.m. Saturday at the larger downtown Palm Mortuary chapel.
His body will be flown on next Wednesday to Memphis, Tennessee, the place where a young King was nicknamed the Beale Street Blues Boy. It is expected to arrive at the airport at about noon, and will be driven in a procession to Handy Park on Beale Street, where a tribute will be held that day.
After that, King's body will be driven to Indianola, Mississippi, which King considered his hometown.
A public viewing will be from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. May 29 at the B.B. King Museum and Delta Interpretive Center in Indianola, and the funeral will be at 11 a.m. May 30 at the nearby Bell Grove Missionary Baptist Church, the museum announced Wednesday. The 15-time Grammy winner will be buried later that day in a private ceremony at the museum, which King helped develop
King died in his sleep a year week ago on May 14 in his Las Vegas home.
Statements on King's Passing
"The blues has lost its king, and America has lost a legend. B.B. King was born a sharecropper’s son in Mississippi, came of age in Memphis, Tennessee, and became the ambassador who brought his all-American music to his country and the world. No one worked harder than B.B. No one inspired more up-and-coming artists. No one did more to spread the gospel of the blues.
— President Barack ObamaThree years ago, Michelle and I hosted a blues concert at the White House. I hadn’t expected that I’d be talked into singing a few lines of “Sweet Home Chicago” with B.B. by the end of the night, but that was the kind of effect his music had, and still does. He gets stuck in your head, he gets you moving, he gets you doing the things you probably shouldn’t do – but will always be glad you did. B.B. may be gone, but that thrill will be with us forever. And there’s going to be one killer blues session in heaven tonight."
“B.B. King was a legend, of that there is no question,” said LaMont “ShowBoat” Robinson, founder and CEO of the Official Rhythm & Blues Music Hall of Fame. “He will be sorely missed. He was one of the greatest, if not the greatest, ambassador for African-American music forms for well over half a century. His influence is all over R&B, rock and roll, hip-hop and even country music. Anyone who plays a guitar has been influenced by B.B. King.” Robinson said once the Official Rhythm & Blues Music Hall of Fame Museum is built in Clarksdale, Mississippi which is near B.B.King hometown of Indianola, Mississippi there will be a wing named in honor of the King of Blues."
--R&B Hall of Fame and Museum