{"id":296499,"date":"2026-05-02T11:41:17","date_gmt":"2026-05-02T11:41:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/296499\/"},"modified":"2026-05-02T11:41:17","modified_gmt":"2026-05-02T11:41:17","slug":"how-to-have-the-best-sunday-in-l-a-according-to-christone-kingfish-ingram","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/296499\/","title":{"rendered":"How to have the best Sunday in L.A., according to Christone ‘Kingfish’ Ingram"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"la-sf-Kingfish-drop-cap-red-D.png\" <\/p>\n

Deep in the heart of the Delta lies Clarksdale, Miss., widely known as the birthplace of the blues. It was here, at the intersection of Highways 61 and 49, where legend has it that Robert Johnson sold his soul to the devil at \u201cthe crossroads\u201d for his extraordinary musical powers.<\/p>\n

Musical icons Muddy Waters, W.C. Handy, John Lee Hooker, Son House, Ike Turner and Sam Cooke all hailed from or lived for a while in this blues mecca. So, too, did Christone \u201cKingfish\u201d Ingram, the Grammy Award-winning guitar virtuoso and singer whom mentor Buddy Guy called \u201cthe next explosion of blues.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Sunday <\/a> <\/p>\n

In Sunday Funday, L.A. people give us a play-by-play of their ideal Sunday around town. Find ideas and inspiration on where to go, what to eat and how to enjoy life on the weekends.<\/p>\n

Kingfish spent his first 24 years in and around Clarksdale. He learned how to play guitar at the city\u2019s Delta Blues Museum at 8 and began gigging in local clubs at 10. At 14, the wunderkind performed for then-First Lady Michelle Obama at the White House as part of a student delegation of musicians from the museum. Kingfish even named his second album \u201c662,\u201d after the region\u2019s area code.<\/p>\n

Then this self-described \u201ccountry boy\u201d met an L.A. woman and moved to the Southland. Although the relationship didn\u2019t last, Kingfish\u2019s love for his adopted city did.<\/p>\n

A year and a half ago he moved to Hollywood, built a recording studio in his home office and launched, with longtime manager Ric Whitney, Red Zero Records, a Los Angeles-based record label committed to signing talented blues artists who might otherwise be overlooked. Kingfish even recorded much of his latest album, \u201cHard Road,\u201d a tasty gumbo of blues, rock, funk and soul, in his home and other area studios.<\/p>\n

\u201cI dig it here man. You have everything at your fingertips whenever you want, lots of resources,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd the weather, it doesn\u2019t get cold and although it can get hot, it\u2019s nothing like back in Mississippi. L.A. blows my mind.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a Zoom interview from his Hollywood home, Kingfish talked about how he spends a blissed-out Sunday.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

7:30 a.m.: Music man<\/p>\n

First thing I do, I immediately go to my studio and listen to tracks that I did the night before or new music that may have dropped. I\u2019m always looking for inspiration and to make something new.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

8:30 a.m.: A smoothie and sweat<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll have a green smoothie with kale, spinach, bananas and blueberries and some collagen powder. Or I\u2019ll have some eggs and spinach and some fruit or something like that. Then I may get on my treadmill for 30 to 45 minutes. It\u2019s right in my garage where the drums are.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

10 a.m.: Studio redux<\/p>\n

It sounds cliched, man, but music pretty much runs my life, because that\u2019s all I\u2019ve known from when I was a child until now. So anytime that I can, I\u2019m creating. That\u2019s why I put the studio in the house. So I could really lock in and work whenever inspiration strikes.<\/p>\n

Noon: Healthful eats<\/p>\n

I live down the street from a Mr. Charlie\u2019s, which is like a plant-based version of McDonald\u2019s. Or maybe I\u2019ll go to Tender Greens. Those are the two main places I have lunch. I have a dietitian who advises me on how to eat better, so I really do work on finding a mix of healthy but tasty foods. Since the summer, I\u2019m down 60 pounds at the moment. I have more energy on stage than before. Eating right and working out has been helpful, and Los Angeles is good for supporting that.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

1:30 p.m.: Guitar nirvana<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t drive. So after lunch, I\u2019ll Uber, Lyft or Waymo to Guitar Center. Like other musicians, I sometimes like going there to window shop, seeing what I may need for myself and the studio. Anytime a musician can walk into a room full of gear, it\u2019s great. I\u2019ll try out some guitars, check out different effect pedals. Between what\u2019s in storage in Mississippi and what I got here in L.A., I probably own 70 to 80 guitars. I love my guitars.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

3:30 p.m.: I want to take you higher<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know if I should dive too deeply into this, but there are some amazing dispensaries in my area. There are great spots near La Brea, Melrose and Fairfax districts that are easy to get in and out of. I feel like L.A. has some of the best stuff. I\u2019m more of an indica guy, and I really dig Artist Tree, the Woods and Herbarium. They help put me where I need to be, let me put it to you like that.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

5 p.m.: Grooving at the Grove<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t stay too far from the Grove, which I really like, especially around the holidays. I love to look at the lights and the trains and everything, and just kind of people-watch and look at the families.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a place there I sometimes like to go for dinner called Blue Ribbon Sushi Bar & Grill. It\u2019s a fun sushi spot. The fish is always fresh. I also like to visit some of the stores there. I\u2019m a bit of a sneakerhead, and sometimes I\u2019ll pop into the Nike store there. I may also hit the Apple Store.<\/p>\n

Or I might do something totally different and go to the Fox Hills Mall [now officially known as Westfield Culver City]. There\u2019s a cool store there called Metropolis [Big & Tall]. That\u2019s literally where I get all of my clothes for the stage. They fit big guys well, but stylishly.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

7:30 p.m.: The Sun Rose <\/p>\n

It\u2019s like a little lounge, very low-key and chill. I\u2019ve popped in there a few times. We had my afterparty there after my L.A. show [at the Ford in October]. Some nights it may be a DJ. Some nights it may be a band. Some nights it may be both. The music\u2019s so diverse, ranging from R&B to jazz. That\u2019s a dope spot to just hang out with your friends and have a drink. I\u2019m currently working on a monthly blues-centric event there for 2026.<\/p>\n

10 p.m.: Rock on<\/p>\n

I like to end my night back home in my studio. I may be inspired by what I heard at the Sun Rose that night. I\u2019m always working on my own stuff or maybe producing the new artists we signed on our label if they\u2019re in town: Dylan Triplett, a phenomenal, soul blues-style singer out of St. Louis, or Mathias Lattin, a jazzy soul-blues singer and guitarist from Houston. Or I might invite over some musicians and producers I know to make some music. If the vibe is right, we may cut one or two or maybe even three songs. That\u2019s enough to knock me out, man. I\u2019m asleep by 1 or 2.<\/p>\n

Ballon, a former Times, Forbes and Inc. Magazine reporter, teaches an advanced writing class at USC. He lives in Fullerton.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Deep in the heart of the Delta lies Clarksdale, Miss., widely known as the birthplace of the blues.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":296500,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[2640,9211,125780,54353,15438,125778,2303,38353,48,52,51,47,50,49,21720,125779,1869,224,88612,30380,125781],"class_list":["post-296499","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-a-m","tag-blue","tag-christone","tag-guitar","tag-ingram","tag-kingfish","tag-l-a","tag-l-a-woman","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-musician","tag-new-music","tag-night","tag-p-m","tag-recording-studio","tag-soul","tag-spinach"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296499","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=296499"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296499\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/296500"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=296499"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=296499"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=296499"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}