Clarksdale: Blues and Contrasts
I enjoyed our “laid back” day of strolling through Clarksdale. We explored the Sunflower River Front, did a bit of shopping at the Cat’s Head and other shops along the main street, toured the Delta Blues Museum, and ate lunch at Ground Zero Blues Club.
During my shopping (and I finally was able to find a few nice gifts to take back home), I couldn’t help but think about stratification. I started out in Cat’s Head where they have a plethora of blues-related merchandise, along with local folk art. Next door was another higher-end gift type store that screamed “white people’s store”. The sales counter was plastered with pictures of white brides and grooms, the sale personnel were all very gracious white southern ladies. The contrast between the two environments was striking.
Lynn and I checked out both restaurants Dr. Hattery talked about: Delta Amusement Cafe and Ground Zero. Well, we started to walk in to Delta Amusement and when everyone turned and looked at us, we turned tail and left. The folks in there didn’t look very friendly. On the other hand, we felt very comfortable in Ground Zero. As far as authenticity, it looked authentic to me, but I would have to research it to draw a conclusion!
The Delta Blues Museum was a pleasant surprise. They had two excellent photo exhibits, one by David Turnley called “Under the Roof of a Tin Top Shack“. It is a group of striking images of the Delta, including our favorite Po’ Monkey’s. The second was Delta Dogs, images of dogs in different Delta settings. The photographer is Maude Schuyler Clay. And I discovered that one of the musicians that had been with a (the now defunct Squirrel Nut Zippers) band I like is with a new group and grew up in Clarksdale. His name is Jimbo Mathus. I’ll hit Amazon when I get home and see if I can get some of his music.
Our final destination today is the Shack Up Inn. What can I say but that it is everything Dr. Hattery promised it would be and more. Lynn and I are sitting in the office kitchen to get strong wireless and the owner, Bill Talbot, told us just to stay as long as we like. We’ve met Guy, who gave us the grand tour of their current renovations of the “bin” building where we are staying.
While we’ve been sitting here in the kitchen, we met Randall Andrews, who is with the Delta Film Commission, as yet mostly unknown, but with grand plans. He asked me to research a question he has had for some time. Is there a relation between the name “Po’ Monkey” and the town of Pomonkey, Md? He is curious because a man named Johnny Dorr came from there in the 1940’s. He’s the guy who operated the agriculture flying school near Merigold (I remember Luther Brown pointing that out to us I think). What are the odds that the two same names are a coincidence? But he hasn’t been able to confirm his suspicions. He interviewed Dorr’s widow but she had no idea. We also met a new summer intern, Eric, for the Delta Blues Museum who is a student from Catawba College. He’s been on the job for 3 days now, but will be here a month and will get 6 credits for his efforts.
Once I finish this (in just a few minutes!) I’ll head back to my bin for the night. Lynn and I have separate bins tonight because each one has only one bed. We’ve been compatible travel companions and roommates, but we both agreed we don’t need to know each other that well!
Tomorrow, we start our journey home - the travel plan is 10 hours and stop overnight in Knoxville
Goodnight.