INDIANOLA, Miss. – A crescent moon hung over the Mississippi Delta as a legendary bluesman crept onto the stage. He sat in a folding chair, grabbed a guitar, and introduced each member of his band. Then, as if it was needed, he introduced himself.

“I guess you can look at me and tell I’m the old man. My name is B.B. King.”

Additional Photos

B.B. King waves to a fan in the crowd in the town square in Kilmichael, Miss., earlier this week for the unveiling of the “Roots of B.B. King” Mississippi Blues Trail Marker. The Associated Press

Dee Snider

Salma Hayek

At 86, King may be grayer and slower than he used to be, but there’s no questioning his ability to please fans. King performed for about an hour Wednesday night on an outdoor stage at the B.B. King Museum and Delta Interpretive Center in Indianola, built on the site of a cotton gin where he worked as teenager while growing up in the impoverished delta.

King was born in Leflore County but spent time in several cities, including Indianola, Kilmichael and Lexington. He was honored earlier this week in Kilmichael with a marker on the Mississippi Blues Trail, which memorializes and markets Mississippi as the birthplace of the blues.

The 32nd annual B.B. King Homecoming was Indianola’s turn to celebrate. The crowd was young and old, from as far Britain, or from just down the street.

“This is one chance in a lifetime,” said Luke Woodcock of Bristol, England, who ended up at the show almost by chance as he was touring the United States with a friend, Barney Ware of Cheltenham, England. The 25-year-old friends were in Clarksdale this week when they heard King was performing the next night. “This whole trip has been about a year in the making,” Ware said. “This is the best thing.”

Before taking stage, King took time to connect with his younger fans. He brought the W.A. Higgins Rock Ensemble from Clarksdale, a group of children ages 11 to 14, aboard his tour bus for a private meeting.

“It was, oh my God, like the best thing that ever happened to me,” 13-year-old Brittney Marshall said. “I really am speechless.”

The setting was intimate. He sat close to the edge of a stage on a grass lawn outside the museum. There were no fixed seats and a crowd stood just inches from the star as he plucked off some tunes. He asked the crowd to sing along with him at times, saying “this one is for the ladies” before playing “Do You Know You Are My Sunshine.”

Ryan campaign drops hit song

Twisted Sister frontman Dee Snider has asked Republican vice presidential running mate Paul Ryan’s camp not to play his hit song, “We’re Not Gonna Take It.” Ryan spokesman Brandon Buck wrote a pithy email in response: “We’re Not Gonna Play It anymore.”

Snider says in a statement that he does not support Ryan and denounced use of the song, a 1984 hit for the glam metal band.

It joins a long list of songs that musicians have asked politicians to stop using. Most recently, the rock band Silversun Pickups asked likely Republican nominee Mitt Romney to stop using the song “Panic Switch.”

Hayek’s a proud Mexican

LOS ANGELES – Salma Hayek says she is proud to be Mexican and that comments suggesting otherwise were “lost in translation.”

The 45-year-old actress issued a statement Thursday after German Vogue magazine quoted her as saying she “hardly had any memories of what it is to be Mexican.”

Hayek says she has never denied her background or culture and has taught her young daughter to speak Spanish and appreciate Mexican history, music, food and folk art. She goes on to say that she has always tried “to represent my Mexican roots with honor and pride” and is saddened by the magazine’s misinterpretation of her remarks.

Hayek plays the leader of a Mexican drug cartel in the Oliver Stone drama “Savages.”

– From news service reports

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