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B.B. King to be Laid to Rest Next Week in Mississippi Delta

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In this Aug. 27, 2008  file photo, blues legend B.B. King poses during an interview in Los Angeles. The body of blues legend B.B. King  will be flown on Wednesday, May 20, 2015, to Memphis, Tennessee, the place where a young King won the nickname Beale Street Blues Boy, then will return to the Mississippi Delta where his life and career began. King, whose scorching guitar licks and heartfelt vocals made him the idol of generations of musicians and fans while earning him the nickname King of the Blues, died Thursday, May 14, at home in Las Vegas. He was 89. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon, File)

In this Aug. 27, 2008 file photo, blues legend B.B. King poses during an interview in Los Angeles. King, whose scorching guitar licks and heartfelt vocals made him the idol of generations of musicians and fans while earning him the nickname King of the Blues, died Thursday, May 14, at home in Las Vegas. He was 89. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon, File)

EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS, Associated Press

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The body of blues legend B.B. King will return next week to the Mississippi Delta where his life and career began.

His body will be flown on May 27 to Memphis, Tennessee, the place where a young King was nicknamed the Beale Street Blues Boy. Organizers in Memphis said a musical tribute is scheduled for 11 a.m. that day in W.C. Handy Park on Beale Street, near a blues club that bears King’s name. After that, the 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.

“From a practical standpoint, we feel comfortable knowing his final resting place will receive perpetual care at the museum,” the facility’s director, Dion Brown, said in a written statement Wednesday.

In Las Vegas, where King died May 14 at age 89, visitors will be able pass King’s open casket this week during a public viewing from 3-7 p.m. Friday at Palm Mortuary West. But there won’t be seating or a memorial service and mortuary manager Matthew Phillips said photos will be prohibited.

A private service for relatives and invited friends will be at 11 a.m. Saturday at the larger downtown Palm Mortuary chapel.

However, some immediate family members will have a chance to visit his body ahead of the Friday public viewing and Saturday memorial.

Attorneys representing one of King’s daughters against King’s longtime business agent and power-of-attorney, LaVerne Toney, said the family-only viewing on Thursday was a compromise reached during a meeting with a court probate commissioner.

Attorneys Russel Geist and Brent Bryson said Commissioner Wesley Yamashita set the date while rejecting a bid by daughter Karen Williams to take control of King’s estate. Williams previously lost a May 7 effort in Family Court to take her father’s guardianship from Toney.

The famed guitarist and singer was married twice and had 15 natural and adopted children, 11 of whom are still living.

He was born Riley B. King on Sept. 16, 1925, to sharecropper parents in Berclair, Mississippi, near the tiny town of Itta Bena. His parents divorced when he was young. His mother died a few years later, and then his grandmother died, leaving him living alone in a cabin and sharecropping an acre of cotton when he was 14.

After living in several small communities in Mississippi, he moved to Indianola, where he first gained attention for his musical talents.

He moved to Memphis, Tennessee, when he was in his 20s, and that’s where a radio station manager dubbed him the Beale Street Blues Boy. That was shortened to B.B., and the nickname stuck. King went on to international fame playing electric blues guitar that influenced generations of blues and rock musicians.

In the statement announcing King’s funeral plans, Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant called the bluesman “one of our state’s most beloved native sons.”

____

Associated Press writers Ken Ritter in Las Vegas and Adrian Sainz in Memphis, Tennessee, contributed to this report.

Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Oakland Post: Week of October 30 – November 5, 2024

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of October 30 – November 5, 2024

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Love Life Organization Shows Love

As part of Love Life Week, the Love Life Foundation was honored to produce the 1974-75 World Champion Golden State Warrior Day. It’s a shame that our first Bay Area World Championship team’s unique accolades had been lost in the pre social media era and the cultural revolution of the 1970s.

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Members of the 1975 NBA championship team, Charles Dudley (left) and Clifford Ray (right) embrace Love Life Foundation leader Donald Lacy for his antiviolence mission. Courtesy photo.
Members of the 1975 NBA championship team, Charles Dudley (left) and Clifford Ray (right) embrace Love Life Foundation leader Donald Lacy for his antiviolence mission. Courtesy photo.

City of Oakland Celebrates 1975 NBA World Championship Team 

By Donald Lacy

Special to The Post

 As part of Love Life Week, the Love Life Foundation was honored to produce the 1974-75 World Champion Golden State Warrior Day.

It’s a shame that our first Bay Area World Championship team’s unique accolades had been lost in the pre social media era and the cultural revolution of the 1970s.

The 1975 NBA World Championship team were invited back to the City of Oakland last Friday, to be properly celebrated for their ground-breaking performance in 1975.

The heartwarming ceremony highlighted the recent passing of the legendary coach of that team, Al Attlles, and his former players Clifford Ray and Charles Dudley were on hand to represent the “Cardiac Kids” as they were called back then for their ability to make great comeback victories during their run for the title.

Warriors great Chris Mullin and former spiritual advisor Gary Reeves gave heartfelt testimonies of their experiences under Attles’ leadership and their relationship with the inspiration they received from the NBA 1975 World Champion Golden State Warriors.

The City of Oakland provided proclamations to all parties with speeches made by city leadership including Mayor Sheng Thao and Deputy Mayor Dr. Kimberly Mayfield and activity host Love Life non-profit founder and Executive Director Donald E. Lacy Jr..

There will be a celebration of life event Nov. 9 honoring Attles’ legacy at Alameda College.

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Oakland Post: Week of October 23 – 29, 2024

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of October 23 – 29, 2024

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