Bob CollinsThere was a moment at Saturday’s B.B. King and Buddy Guy concert when Buddy Guy came out to the crowd in the Orpheum and walked up the aisle while playing and singing. He got to the back of the hall, turned, closed his eyes and started playing. I kept mine open, because he was standing next to me, and I was on the aisle. So there’s no question who get the honor of this week’s Monday Morning Rouser:
B.B. King? He’s 84 and it’s always been a dream to see the legend in concert. He spent the last 20 minutes mostly talking (which was fine with me), then seemed ashamed that he hadn’t played more and apologized several times before leaving. It reminded me of a time I took my elderly grandmother to a game at Fenway. Walking back to the car, she fell on a curb. “I’ve shamed you,” she said to me as I got her up off the pavement and walked back to the car. But she didn’t. Real legends can’t shame themselves. Got that, B.B.?
But back to the concert. This review in a Missouri newspaper last week could’ve easily been written at the Orpheum. So could this one from Kansas City, where the pair played Friday night.
In the middle of King telling the story of why he prefers the southern version of fishing (accompanied by Jack Daniels and a six pack) to ice fishing in Minnesota, some boozed-up young ones yelled, “play some blues!”
Some people in Minneapolis got up to leave in the final minutes of the show, the way people at the Metrodome used to do in the 8th when the Twins were too far behind to catch up. What’s wrong with you people? He’s 84. He’s a living legend. Cut him some slack.
1) It’s Monday, and Monday is for wishing it was still the weekend, This won’t help. MPR’s Nate Minor embraces winter the way real Minnesotans do.
2) Ground Zero is a “national disgrace.”
4) Stay back, coppers. I’ve got a dark brew here and I’m not afraid to use it.
5) Is there any place outside of Minnesota that curling causes a controversy? For all the complaints that NBC isn’t broadcasting enough sports live at the Olympics, the fact NBC is providing plenty of live coverage of curling hasn’t been a good thing for the U.S. curling team, made up – mostly – of Minnesotans, like John Shuster of Chisholm.
Writes USA Today:
Shuster had become the victim of extreme scrutiny on the web, to the point where his Wikipedia site was hacked, the critic inserting: “Shuster has become known as the biggest choke artist of the 2010 Winter Olympics and is the lone reason the USA curling team has not won a single game.”
Stay classy, America.
Meanwhile, here’s two thumbs up for skicross:
Sometimes a fishing story is about something more than just the fish. Rick Jackson is a prize winning fisherman. He takes his dad out fishing every year on his dad’s birthday, February 22. One day Rick Jackson took his father out fishing, and they caught more bass, and bigger bass than either one of them had ever seen. Rick’s a serious fisherman and he couldn’t make sense of it, until he realized that they were fishing on the anniversary of his younger brother’s accidental death. In fact, his dad had called him by his younger brother’s name all day. Rick joins Dick Gordon to tell about the best, most unexplainable, day of fishing.
TODAY’S QUESTION
In an effort to boost its prime time ratings, NBC is limiting web and cable coverage of live events at the Olympics. As a result, fans have to watch some of their favorite events on tape delay, hours after they conclude. Would you rather watch the Olympics live during the day, or in the evening on tape?
WHAT WE’RE DOING
Midmorning (9-11 a.m.) – First hour: Atul Gawande , MD, author of “The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right.” He’s a surgeon who practices at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the Dana Farber Cancer Institute. He also writes for the New Yorker. (This is a rebroadcast)
Second hour: One of early uses of genetic medicine was a subspecialty of pediatrics to identify and treat an inherited disease. As genomic science expands, and more rare diseases are discovered and understood, it has been brought to the forefront of preventive care, even for reproductive genetic screening. (Rebroadcast)
Midday (11 a.m. – 1 p.m.) – Both hours: Pulitzer Prize-winning historian David McCullough speaks about America’s first president and the nation’s founders.
Talk of the Nation (1-3 p.m.) – First hour: Working and not working in tough times. How’s your job?
Second hour: What makes normal people become radical killers?
All Things Considered (3-6:30 p.m.) – There’s some evidence that raising alcohol prices has an effect on drunk driving.The federal and state excise tax on booze has not been increased in a long time and by one calculation it is cheaper to drink now, adjusted for inflation, than it was a couple decades ago. Why isn’t raising prices seen as a complimentary strategy to use with increased penalties? MPR’s Dan Olson will have the answer.
There may be action today on the billion-dollar bonding bill at the Capitol.
The late Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan is a spiritual singer described as the great Pakistani musical gift to the world. NPR profiles him.
