CLUB REVIEW : B.B. King’s: A Fine Place for Listening to the Blues

Putting B.B. King’s Blues Club in CityWalk presents on obvious dichotomy--black music born out of poverty is offered in the moneyed mecca of Universal City.

The reasoning behind the CityWalk location is clear--there’s money in them thar tourist traps. And for folks who simply want to hear the music, B.B. King’s is a terrific, breathtaking club, with great sight lines and sumptuous Southern food.

The impressive, 10-month-old venue offers music seven nights a week, ranging from gigs by the master himself to such artists as L.A.’s King Cotton and national touring acts. It also features a small, separate acoustic room named after B.B. King’s guitar, Lucille. And like the House of Blues, it offers an emotional Sunday gospel brunch and plenty of memorabilia on sale--from hats and T-shirts to Elvis kitsch (King and the King have the same hometown, Memphis, where B.B. opened his first club in 1991).

But that’s if you just want to hear the blues. If you want to feel the blues, if you want to soak yourself in the true meaning of the music, skip CityWalk and check out the Mint, on a scrappy strip of Pico, or Babe and Ricky’s, South-Central’s hut o’ blues. Neither of these venues dressed down to appear bluesy. To rip off a riff by Willie Dixon, they are the blues.

* B.B. King’s Blues Club, CityWalk, Universal City. 21 and over at night, cover varies. (818) 6BB-KING.