America's Ambassador Of Music....Mr. B. B. King! - Part 2

B.B. KING is an American icon. He has won more awards than his home in Las Vegas will hold. He has been named "America's Ambassador Of Music" by the President of the United States. With all these achievements, the man remains the utmost in humility.

In this most articulate interview, Mr. King speaks of the South in the 50's, Race music, and lists his major influences. Recorded after a tremendous performance at The Mirage Hotel, a remarkable man tells the truth about his life as an original bluesman.

Listen: America's Ambassador Of Music....Mr. B. B. King! - Part 2

(Right-click this link and choose Save Link As... to download the show to your hard disk -- or subscribe to our podcast feed, using the link to your right)

Web: B.B. King Web Site

Sponsor: ESI Event Services

"Obie" Benson Of Four Tops Dies At 69!

Renaldo "Obie" Benson, a member of the legendary Motown singing group the Four Tops, died Friday. He was 69.

Benson died of lung cancer that was discovered when he had a leg amputated several weeks ago because of circulation problems, said his publicist, Matt Lee.

The Four Tops sold more than 50 million records and recorded hit songs such as "Baby I Need Your Loving," "Reach Out (I'll be There)," "I Can't Help Myself" and "Standing in the Shadows of Love."

Benson's death leaves two surviving members of the original group: Levi Stubbs and Abdul "Duke" Fakir. The fourth original Top, Lawrence Payton, died of liver cancer in 1997. They are members of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Benson "enjoyed every moment of his life," Fakir told the Detroit Free Press through a publicist. "He put a smile on everyone's face, including my own."

The Four Tops began singing together in the 1950s under the name the Four Aims and signed a deal with Chess Records. They later changed their names to the Four Tops.

The group signed with Motown Records in 1963 and produced a string of hits over the next decade, making music history with the other acts in Berry Gordy's Motown lineup.

Benson was active with the group even into his 60s, spending more than a third of each year performing on the road. The group last played on April 8 on the "Late Show With David Letterman."

The Associated Press

iTunes 4.9 Makes Podcasting Easy!

Apple released a new version of their iTunes Music Player on Wednesday and it is making podcasting more popular than ever. Apple announced today that, in 3 days, there have been more than 1 million podcast scubscriptions.

Once you have iTunes 4.9 installed, you can search a directory of over 8000 different podcasts for shows that meet your intersts, including BluePower.com, and then subscribe to the shows inside of iTunes itself.

Download your copy of iTunes 4.0 and subscribe to the BluePower.com podcast today!

Download: Apple iTunes 4.9 with podcasting support

Subscribe via iTunes 4.9: BluePower.com podcast

Web: More information on podcasting

Just In.....Luther Vandross Has Passed!

Legendary R&B performer LUTHER VANDROSS has passed away. It's a sad day for the millions of fans Luther adored.
We will post more info as the news comes in.
Stay tuned!

For complete story; go here....

Mark Hanson's Northern Soul #7 Running Strong!

BluePower Soul, BluePower's affiliate in England, started running it's new show yesterday. A must for all lovers of pure Northern Soul, MARK HANSON has created another entertaining show chock full of long lost masterpeieces of pure soul music.
We folks, over here in the colonies, only hope Mark doesn't kill himself on those bloody Vespas.

Listen: Mr. Northern Soul....Mark Hanson....#7

America's Ambassador Of Music....Mr. B. B. King! - Part 1

B.B. KING is an American icon. He has won more awards than his home in Las Vegas will hold. He has been named "America's Ambassador Of Music" by the President of the United States. With all these achievements, the man remains the utmost in humility.

In this most articulate interview, Mr. King speaks of the South in the 50's, Race music, and lists his major influences. Recorded after a tremendous performance at The Mirage Hotel, a remarkable man tells the truth about his life as an original bluesman.

Listen: America's Ambassador Of Music....Mr. B. B. King! - Part 1

(Right-click this link and choose Save Link As... to download the show to your hard disk -- or subscribe to our podcast feed, using the link to your right)

Web: B.B. King Web Site

Sponsor: ESI Event Services

New Smokestack Lightnin' Show Up And Running!

Here's the playlist for SMOKESTACK LIGHTNIN's new show which is now up and rockin'!

Listen

Smokestack Lightnin’s Top Ten Blues CDs ....

#10 Little Charlie & The Nightcats/Quittin’ Time/Nine Lives/Alligator
#9 Jimmy Bowskill/Why?/Soap Bars & Dog Ears/self
#8 Guy Tortora/Long Time Blue/Jefferson Drive/Turtle Dove
#7 Rory Block/Remember/From The Dust/Telarc
#6 Jerome Godboo/Ventilator Blues/Pain & The Glory/self
#5 Zac Harmon/That Mighty High/The Blues According to Zachariah/Bluestone
#4 Tab Benoit/The Blues Is Here To Stay/Fever For The Bayou/Telarc
#3 The Love Dogs/Why Did You Lie?/Live & On Fire/T-Ray
#2 Sugar Ray/I Done Got Wise/Hands Across The Table/Severn
#1 Solomon Burke/Make Do With What You Got/Make Do With What You Got/Shout

B.B. King - The King Of Live Blues:

B.B. King/Every Day I Have The Blues/Live At The Regal/MCA
B.B. King/Sweet Sixteen/Live In Japan/MCA
B.B. King/Rock Me Baby/Live At San Quenton/MCA
B.B. King & U2/When Love Comes To Town/Greatest Hits/MCA
B.B. King/You Done Lost Your Good Thing Now/Live At The Regal

The Piano Blues - Alive And Well:

Ann Rabson/Little Chickee Wah Wah/In A Family Way/Emit Dog
Ernest Lane/Baby Please/The Blues Is Back/Acoustic Music
Roscoe Gordon/Cheese & Crackers/No Dark In America/Dualtone
Detroit Jr./Money Crazy/Blues On The Internet/Delmark
Ray Skjelbred/Bluebird Blues/...Plays Blues & Boogie Woogie/Arcola

All New Blues This Week:

Roxy Perry/Back In Bluesville/Back In Bluesville/BluePerryHill
Kenny Blues Boss Wayne/Blue & Lonesome/Let It Loose/Electro Fi
Burt Conrad All Stars/Let Me Love You/A Soulful Journey/Seabright
Howard Glazer/Brown Paper Bag/Brown paper Bag/Random Chance
Finis Tasby/Back In Love Again/What My Blues Are All About/Electro Fi
Coastline/Sweet Mama Do Right/Sweet N’ Ripe/Landslide
Nelson Adelard/Sugar Pie/Take Me Back/self
Detroit Women/Save Your Breath/Rattle Your Cage/Silk City
Chris Beard/Its Over Part 1/Live Wire/Northern Blues
Terrence mcArdle/Tell Me Whats The Reason/You Better Believe It/Barkwood
Alvin Jett & The Phat Noiz Blues Band/Bluesman/Wet My Beak/self

A Little Railroad Blues:

Grinder Switch/Ghost Train From Georgia/Ghost Train From Georgia/New South

By Request: Billie Holiday

Billie Holiday/Blue Moon/The Great American Songbook/Verve
Billie Holiday/Stormy Weather/same
Billie Holiday/Body & Soul/Silver Collection/Verve
Billie Holiday/I’m A Fool To Want You/Lady In Satin/Columbia

Best Of The Melancholy Blues:

Joe Bonamassa/Reconsider Baby/Had To Cry Today/Premier Artists
Albert Cummings/Lonely Bed/True To Yourself/Blind Pig
Alex Schultz/Who Will The Next Fool Be/Think About It/Severn
Kimberly Allison/Still Remember/Beyond Blue/Starliner