JUKE JOINT TOUR 2007

Every trip has a "down" day, and, for us, that day was Greenville. We had a fun sightseeing trip down to Louisiana yesterday before returning to Greenville to settle in.

The problems started quickly - we had trouble with our internet connection, which the hotel couldn't fix. We obviously were able to get the blog entries uploaded at least. The hotel room was adequate, but the tap water was brownish, the air and floors had a clammy feel, and the breakfast the next day was pretty meager. Hey, their pool was nice, and we had a great swim last night.

After that we drove down famed Nelson Street, which, in its glory days, used to be filled with the sound of live music coming from every neighborhood juke joint. Now, however, it's mostly empty buildings, left to rot. Depressing. There was, however, a good eating place down there that came highly recommended - Does Eat Place. It was amazing - they had a security guard out front who helped park you and then watched your car for you while you ate (of course, he would like a couple of bucks for doing so). Doe's was nothing fancy whatsoever. Four walls, some grills, and tables scattered right next to the food prep areas. You walk from outside directly into the kitchen! The waitress told us to reach into the cooler and grab whatever beer we wanted! It's obviously a popular spot because the food was plentiful and great (and a tad expensive). No menus, just a few items to choose from. Dennie had a HUGE steak, I had the shrimp. Both of us got a mound of homemade french fries, deep-fat fried. Probably not the healthiest meal, but the atmosphere was great and we enjoyed it. And the car was in one piece when we came out! I even found a little friend outside who needed some attention.

The streets down here by the levee are nearly deserted after dark - you could shoot a cannon down the long, empty streets and not hit anything or anybody. Greenville appears to have some "issues". We found the Blues Club we were looking for, but only stayed a short while. The band was out of tune a bit, and it just didn't "feel" right down there. Besides, we were a bit tired. Ain't as young as we used to be, I guess!

Hi all. We understand you can't see some of the videos. It's a problem with the Fliqz hosting site - it should be resolved soon (we hope) so keep checkin' back. If they don't reappear, we'll see if we can figure out a Plan B.

We're safe and sound in Greenville. We actually cruised through Greenville and headed south, travelling all the way to Lake Providence, Louisiana, our furthest point south. After that, everything is northward bound, towards home.

Had some EXTREMELY hot wings at a nice little place along the lake, on a deck overlooking Lake Providence, which is kind of a part of the Mississippi River. Had a couple of cold ones to wash it down. We couldn't finish them all - those Cajuns know hot sauce! Wow!

At any rate, we back-tracked to Greenville, and are now at the Comfort Inn downtown. We had a nice swim in the pool and are gearing up for tonight's entertainment, which is within walking distance. The Mississippi All-Stars are performing at the Walnut Street Blues Club. It will be tough to beat the Po' Monkey experience, but we'll try!

It was a short trip to Cleveland, only about 50 miles. We took the scenic route, meandering through small towns on 2-lane blacktop. Unfortunately, we had rain this morning, as you can see from the video. We still managed to see some interesting things, including the Shackup Inn outside Clarksdale. These enterprising folks turn old sharecropper shacks into a little hotel. You can rent a shack for the night for reasonable rates. They have all the amenities, but we don't think we could convince our wives to stay there. It might be a bit too "rustic" for them! They let us look through one of the shacks and walk around, and there were lots of neat things to see, including an old gas pump frozen at 49 cents a gallon! By the way, how much are you paying for gas up there? It's about 2.50 / gallon down here - definitely cheaper.

At any rate, we are safe and sound at the Comfort Inn in Cleveland, home of Delta State University. Po' Monkey's tonight - it might be the most authentic juke joint we find on this trip. Wish us luck!

The road sign says it all - Clarksdale is considered birthplace of the blues - it was literally where many famous bluesmen were born and raised. The unique road sign above is at the crossroads of Highways 61 & 49, where legend says Robert Johnson sold his soul to the devil to be able to play as wonderfully as he did.

Clarksdale seems like a classic sleepy southern small town, much like you'd find in Iowa. The people are very friendly, but a little hard to understand to our Northern ears!

The main attraction here these days is the Ground Zero Blues Club, co-owned by actor Morgan Freeman, who's home is nearby in Charleston. Too bad he wasn't in town yesterday - they say he will probably show up next week. When he's in town he likes to eat at his upscale restaurant downtown (Madidi's) and then head over to the club down the street. Ground Zero, named because of Clarksdale's role as the hub of the blues, was designed to replicate the look of the old fashioned juke joint. Run-down, ripped furniture sitting out front, plywood floors. Nothing fancy anywhere, but the place oozed atmosphere.

Outside, before walking in, we made the acquaintance of "Puddin'", a slender, 77-year old black fellow who good-naturely hustled us out of a few bucks by showing us some amazing card tricks and some dice that seemed to change magically in the blink of an eye! You knew you were being hustled, but you didn't care - it was entertaining as hell. Then, when it was over, he took us inside and showed us where "his" table was (obviously he's a regular) and showed us different photographs on the wall where he appeared, obviously very proud of his status at Ground Zero ("I work for Mr. Freeman") he said.

We ended up eating our supper there as well - Dennie had a monster ribeye, cooked on the grill outside, that was melt-in-your-mouth tender, complete with a huge baked potato, etc. I had a pulled pork barbecue sandwich and fries, which was excellent. We even got a chance to check out a couple of other southern "delicacies" today - deep fried okra, and fried green tomatoes. Both very good!

Bill "Howl-N-Madd" Perry and his fellow musicians form the house band that played last night. They were very good also. However, last night's late bedtime caught up to us, and we started yawning around 11:30 and decided to call it a night. Had to stop at Burger King for Dennie - the steak and potato had already worn off and he needed a little more fuel before bedtime.

Here are pictures of today. CLICK HERE TO VIEW. Click the slideshow button once you get to the photo site, sit back, and enjoy the show.

By the way, Dennie brought along his harmonica and has been practicing. He's getting pretty damned good!