I’m a day behind, I know.  There was just no way I was staying up last to report on the day we had.  And what a day it was.  That was the most fun I’ve had in a long time.  Now I’m tired.

After three days outside in the weather, I was tired.  I was a little slow keeping morning this morning.  Yesterday, the weather was gray and cold.  What happened to the 85 and sunny?  I’d take 85 and cloudy.  We managed to dress enough to stay warm with layers.  I think I slept all the better that night though.

Time to check out of this hotel and move on to Clarksdale.  The plan was to arrive in time for brunch at Ground Zero and see the sights and sounds of the Cat Head mini fest in downtown.  Then we would go out to the Hopson Commissary on the old Hopson Plantation for the Pinetop Perkins Foundation event.

We rolled into Clarksdale about 11:00.  Things seemed to be a little slow in downtown.  I wasn’t sure what streets might be closed, so we parked out at the Delta Blues Museum parking lot.  I thought this would make it easier to leave when we headed out to the plantation.

We could hear music playing.  I had checked Facebook and saw a post from Roger Stolle that things had gotten underway at 9:00 AM.  We went the couple of blocks toward downtown where Cat Head Music is located.  We could see the tent set up outside of the store.  They were playing right on the steps in front.  There were a few people hanging out.  Cool.  More Delta Blues!

We hung out for a few minutes listening to the band.  I didn’t know them or their music.  They were good.  Still no slackers around the Delta when it came to playing music.  We went into the store to look around and hopefully talk to Roger for a minute.  I love the folk art that graces the walls and other surfaces around the store.  The colors and subjects are all great.  One day, it’ll all be in a museum to show this time period and examples of the form.  Rich picked out shirt he wanted.  I found a small painting of Pinetop Perkins that would be wonderful to have.

I was wondering around and looking when I saw this beautiful cigar box guitar.  It was so colorful and I loved the subject on the front.  It was highly decorated.  Then I noticed the signature was SuperChikan.  I’ve always wanted one of his works.  They are gorgeous.  Rich only shook his head and turned down another aisle.  So I’d have to work on then.

Wondering down the back of the store, Roger passed me to into out of the doors back there.  I thought maybe I could linger around until he came back.  Sure enough, it worked.  I stopped him and told him the story of meeting his roommate at the Cincy Blues Fest.  Roger laughed and explained the whole thing.  Pat wasn’t his roommate, but a friend that he drafted into going around to the juke joints in the Cincy and Kentucky area.  Roger didn’t want to go alone, but he had gotten hooked on blues back then and was starting to work on articles for magazines and selling the subject matter to other outlets.  Pat would follow him anywhere, much to the chagrin of Pat’s wife.

We talked for a bit more.  Roger said Pat came down last year to check out the store and the music in the area.  Now he knew what prompted his friend to come down after all these years.  Pat could tell his wife that Roger had made something of himself.

We purchased the things that Rich said I could have.  One more pitch for the guitar was met with another shake of the head.  Darn.  I’m not giving up though.  We went back outside and took up seats to listen to Leo Bud Welch again.  I had talked to him beyond the tent where he was signing CDs.  No one was around, so I took the opportunity to tell him how much I enjoyed the show yesterday.  He was very nice.  We chatted for a few minutes before Rich found me.

As we were waiting for the show, I realized that the drummer setting up her kit was from yesterday.  Then it struck me who she was!  This was Dixie Street, wife of Stan Street who is a local artist and musician.  We had met the last time we were in town.  Can I hate her because she is cute?  And she can really beat those skins.  I heard someone call her the Queen of Beat.  Yes, she is.

After listening for a while, hunger got the best of us.  We stowed our purchases in the car and headed to Ground Zero for some food.  I was hoping there might be breakfast items on the menu.  Nope, it was their standard menu.  It’s OK food, but nothing I really wanted.  We ordered sandwiches to tide us over.  It was crazy busy in there.

The band on stage turned out to be from the UK.  I don’t remember their exact name, but they were apparently regulars at King Biscuit for the last few years.  They also grew up in the time period when The Rolling Stones and The Who wanted to be bluesmen.  They didn’t follow their dream into music until after they retired and got together to play blues again.  They return every year to play at the festival in Helena.  This year, they talked Bill and Morgan into letting them be the band on stage for the brunch at the Cat Head fest.  They were pretty good, too.  They have UK in their name since one of the members is from Scotland originally.

We finished up and headed out to listen to more music.  Good news is that over brunch/lunch, we talked about the guitar I wanted.  With promises and sad eyes and more promises, Rich finally agreed that we could go halves and buy it.  Yes! It was worth every promise I made.  Now can I remember to keep those promises?  We went back to the store and got my guitar.  I was so happy.

We got our chairs from the car and set up across the street from the tent against the buildings.  This was the best place to be.  The music bounced off the buildings and amplified.  It was great.  Big George Brock had been sitting off to the side earlier.  He was on stage now.  It sounded so much better than on the Front Porch at King Biscuit.  It was a good day.

We could watch people mingling around and see the faces of the local musicians.  Rich punched me at one point and said, “There’s Watermelon Slim.”  Sure enough, it was.  He was standing a few feet away from us having a conversation with a lady.  Watermelon is one of Rich’s all time favorites.  I was trying to get Rich to go over to him.  Rich only took his picture from afar.  I guess this was going to be up to me to get right there and start the conversation.

Watermelon had moved on to the sidewalk and carrying on conversations with different people.  He had this huge bag with him.  My first thought was dog treats, but there wasn’t a dog around at that time.  I got up and took Rich with me.  I wanted to get a picture of Rich with Watermelon.  We waited for a chance to introduce ourselves.

Marquis Dixon came over and put his arm around Watermelon.  We started hearing about how Marquis is the future of the blues.  That is so true.  There aren’t many of the younger generation taking up that kind of music.  I had heard Marquis play at King Biscuit while walking around.  He is a great guitar player.  Watermelon was kidding with him and we kind of joined the conversation.

Apparently, this year’s King Biscuit flyer had a picture of Watermelon Slim on it.  One of the earlier people to talk to Watermelon brought it back to him.  Watermelon was on a roll after that.  Apparently, the Blues Society people didn’t agree with ownership over a song.  They were blackballing him from getting jobs.  That’s not right, the music belongs to the people who wrote it.  I think Watermelon is a little more vocal than the society likes on some issues and they want him to be quieter about those issues.  Let me tell you, he is definitely vocal!

I took a picture of Watermelon with Marquis.  Then I got a picture of Watermelon with Rich.  It was a great photo.  We mentioned that we couldn’t get Watermelon’s latest CD because it was sold out in the Cat Head store.  He mentioned that we could get a copy around the corner.  Great, we would check that out.

We were sitting in our chairs listening to music when I noticed that Robert “Bilbo” Walker was standing by a table next to Red’s BBQ smoker pit.  I decided to go talk to him and see if he had CDs.  This guy is a real character.  He wears this incredible wig and it’s become his trademark.  It’s really hard to tell how old he is, but I see on Wikipedia that he is 77.  It says he’s also a late bloomer to publishing his music.  No time like the present.  Said hello and picked out a CD from the table.  He laughs and shakes his head.  “You know, this one here is a much better set of music than that CD.  You should buy this one, but don’t let me tell you which one to buy.”  OK, I take his advise and buy that one.  I ask him to sign it to Rich.  The CD artwork is printed on a computer and the CD is handwritten.  Too cool.  You won’t find this anywhere else.

We listened to some more music.  Then it was 2:30.  We needed to get out to the Hopson Plantation for the Pinetop Perkins Foundation.  The flyers said it would start at 3:00.  We packed up our chairs and headed toward the car.  Rich stopped me at Red’s BBQ wagon first.  Red Padon is the owner of Red’s Lounge in town.  This is a real juke joint set up down the street from Ground Zero.  We were planning to go over tonight to see what it was like.  I was excited and scared.  I didn’t know what happened in a juke joint.

Rich wanted to try the ribs that Red was preparing on the smoker.  Since Rich makes the world’s best ribs, he always has to try someone else’s just to be sure.  Red poked around in the pan for what he considered to be some choice ribs.  As we were paying for the ribs, Red invited us over to his place tonight.  We assured him that we planned to be there.  I think Red might have made a threat to come and find us if we didn’t.  Now I was scared.

We were standing on the corner with our chairs and ribs.  Now I wonder where Watermelon meant had CDs?  We saw the Blues Emporium and started down that way.  Watermelon came running up and asked if we still wanted that CD.  Of course we did!  Turns out, he had them in the trunk of his car!  We stood at his car talking for a bit.  He gave Rich the CD and they discussed the title track, Bull Goose Rooster.

The rooster on the front cover is the rooster from the song.  While in Key West, Watermelon was in the post office parking lot where this particular rooster was the bull goose guy of the hens in that area.  In case you didn’t know, chickens are wild down there.  This rooster came over and checked Watermelon out.  I guess he decided that Watermelon was OK because he ran off to chase away his competition.  That’s lucky.  A rooster who decides you are a danger can be a bad thing.  Watermelon wrote a song about the encounter and that point in his life.  It’s a great song.

Rich explained that he heard the song on Bluesville XM station.  Watermelon was glad to hear that Bluesville was still playing his music.  Rich is also.  We got Watermelon to sign the CD, which also made very happy.  What a great day for Rich!  Watermelon mentioned that he might stop by Red’s tonight for the jam.  We shook his hand and assured him we would be there and looking for him.  We left Watermelon in the hands of another fan who was waiting for us to finish so he could shake hands and buy a CD.

We packed up our stuff and headed out toward Hopson’s.  Now Hopson Plantation is what remains of a cotton plantation in the area.  Someone purchased the property and it now houses the Shack Up Inn.  They collect sharecropper shacks and put them on the property as hotel rooms.  They are really cool.  We stayed out there the first time we came to Clarksdale.

When we rolled up, there were cars everywhere.  I pulled through the driveway and we happened to find an empty spot close to the path to the commissary.  We could hear blues from every direction as we got out.  Following the path to the main building, we walked by Terry “Harmonica” Bean playing for a an audience.  Cool!

At the Commissary building, we walked up to the porch and found out that the Foundation show was more than a dedication.  There were shows all day long.  That means we had missed a few!  When I saw that Superchikan was on the bill for 5:30, I dished over the money to get in.

Superchikan is one of those artist that Rich loves to listen to.  He is the nephew of Big Jack Jackson, one of the all time big names in blues.  Superchikan is the guy who made the guitar I just talked Rich into buying.  His band is all female and called the Fighting Cocks.  Lala plays the synthesizer like you never seen and do it so well.

We wandered around inside the commissary and listened to the band on stage.  Inside was packed pretty well.  There was nowhere to sit.  The signs started just inside the door to let you know that Laguanitas was helping to sponsor the event and you could get one of their four beers for $2.00.  What a deal.  Rich got a Little Something Something.  After a bit, we went back outside and followed the signs to another stage in the garden behind the commissary.

We found the Key West garden back there.  Guitar Mac was on stage.  The wide yard area was surrounded by these little front porch structures with tables and chairs.  This was too cool.  We found a table on one of the porches and settled in to listen.  The weather was about 78 and cloudy.  It was a great day.  A waitress came by to take orders.  Even better, there was service out here.

We listened to music and talked.  An older gentleman came out and sat down at the other table on our porch.  Another gentleman joined him pretty quickly.  I heard them talking before the waitress came by and they ordered.  They had definite accents.  We moved around our table to leave a couple of chairs open.  This worked well as other guys came and joined the other table.  They needed the chairs.  I asked where they were from.  The answer was The Netherlands.  So yet another group from that area.  We talked about the King Biscuit Festival.  The original guy at the table had been coming for the last 14 years.  However, he was getting discouraged with the commercial acts and less of the real blues.  We agreed.  There needed to be more real blues.

One of the Dutch guys wanted to just plain chips to go with his beer.  Unfortunately, the waitress couldn’t find any.  He had to settle for Cajun chips.  A round of beers and a Sprite came out with the chips.  Before the guy could get his chips, the guy to his left grabbed the bag and slammed it to the table.  Now they were all broken!  He still ate them.

The music continued and the beers kept coming.  Our waitress would bring whatever we wanted.  Life was good in the Key West Garden.  At 5:30, we moved back inside to get ready for Superchikan.  I stopped off at the bathroom and came out to find Rich talking to strange woman.  Turns out, she was from Grand Rapids, MI.  She worked as a representative to a company that handled sirens in a large geographical area.  And she worked with Motorola system, including their own internal radio system.  Cool.

Superchikan hit the stage.  The music was great.  Rich walked around and got some pictures, including one of Lala for me.  We listened until the end of the set at 6:30.  Then we had to get over to the hotel and check in before going to Red’s.  We had been so busy that we hadn’t gone over yet.  I still needed to change clothes so I had something warmer on.

The Hampton is one of the newer hotels in the area.  That’s probably why I could get a room there.  It was only 10 minutes from Hopson’s.  We pulled in and got registered.  Then we had to unpack the car again.  We were getting pretty good at knowing how to get luggage onto the car and into the room.  The cardkey was a wave in front of the doorknob.  Technology is wonderful.

The room was the most beautiful place I had seen.  The bathroom had a wonderful walk-in shower.  Problem is:  I just needed a place to sleep!  I wouldn’t see much of this luxury.  For now, I changed clothes and we left to head out to Red’s.

I was starving and we had spent most of our money.  Our plan had been to get tamales from Hick’s.  Unfortunately, they were closed on Sundays!  No tamales.  So Mickey D’s would do in a pinch.  We went by a bank close to the hotel and found it I could get money out of the ATM!  We went downtown to look for a credit union that was listed for that location.  No good though.  We found another branch of the bank that denied me and Rich tried.  Success!  We were in busy again.  Red would be happy.

Red’s Lounge had been right on the corner of Sunflower and Delta.  We got there and found out that it had moved just down the block.  You could tell because the door was open, music was pouring out, and the smoker was smoking.  We paid the man at the door and took up seats right in front of the stage with our backs to the bar.  The seats were going fast.

The band was just sitting in the area of a large rug that was probably defined as the stage.  There were lights all over the place in different colors.  It was definitely an eclectic arrangement of décor.  Music was blasting out of the speakers.  I was trying to figure out why everyone was just sitting around listening.  The drummer made an announcement stating that we were listening to Big Jack Johnson.  That explained a lot.  I knew Red is a huge Jack Johnson fan. Turns out, they were best friends, probably as close as brothers.  I think he does this because he missed his friend.

After considerable thought and seeing Red’s t-shirts all over town, I think Red Paden is a philosopher.  He has a very straightforward outlook on life and living.  I don’t think he pulls any punches.  I looked Red up on the Internet and found out he went to college with Walter Payton and they played football together.  That might explain a lot.  So cool.

After the CD completed, the band took the stage.  This is Anthony “Big A” Sherrod and his band.  From the first moment that Big A touched the guitar, I was impressed.  This guy has a lot of talent and is very charismatic.  Big A played several songs and the crowd was really getting into the music.  It was easy though.  At the end of his set, Big A explained the rules of the jam and the atmosphere of a juke joint.  Pretty much everything went, except for videotaping.  They announced that anyone caught would pay a $1,000 fine.  $500 would go to the band and $500 to Red.

Tonight is about jam.  Anyone who wanted to get on stage would sign up with Big A to join the jam.  As Big A called the name, the person would come on stage and play three songs with the band.  The first guy was from Frances and had his own guitar.  He was so excited to get on stage.  He was really good.  You could tell that he had practiced up for this.  After the third song, he got his stuff and went back to his seat.  We congratulated him as he left the stage.  Amazing.

The next guy, Jed, came up to the stage.  He apparently was a musician who played with a band, but his dream was to play on stage at Red’s.  His set was really professional.  We saw a guy from Pennsylvania, who was not a professional, but he did a great job.  The next set was a group of professional musicians in town.  The harmonica player was a local guy using the name Johnny B.  He brought a guy from Lichtenstein who had a blues band back there.  Dixie Street took over the drum kit.  They played their three tunes and Big A asked Dixie to stay on.

Next on stage was Lorenzo from Italy.  I was not aware of a blues scene in Italy and I can see why.  Lorenzo could definitely guitar, but he couldn’t sing.  He mostly screamed.  We couldn’t wait for him to get off stage.

The jam turned to the local musicians, such Terry “Harmonica” Been, Dixie, Iceman, and a guy on guitar named Tony.  I couldn’t get his name.  Finally, Watermelon Slim took the stage and did his three songs.  He is an amazing showman.  It was so cool to have the opportunity to see.  I loved the song, “Call the Boss.”  The song was about calling in sick after being out all night partying.  Like that’s never happened.

Throughout the night, we saw all kinds of people.  Just about anyone who was musician in Clarksdale came through.  Sugar from the Big City Rhythm and Blues magazine sat next to Rich.  Earnest “Guitar” Roy came in and was trying to get a beer from the bar.  He talked to Rich while he was waiting.  We just saw this guy at King Biscuit!  Even the Dutch guys came and got lost in the back.  I never saw them again.  Lala came in and talked to Sugar for a while.  I just couldn’t get up the courage to talk to her.

Around midnight, the place was clearing out, but the music was still rolling.  However, the drunks were getting dangerous.  I was getting a lot of beer spilled on me and almost getting elbowed.  We called it quits.  It didn’t appear that it was stopping soon.  It was raining outside, but only lightly.  We headed back to the hotel.  We got in and realized neither of us had grabbed a cardkey to get back into our room.  The guy at the desk took pity on his and gave us another card.

Once inside, we talked and talked.  After winding down, Rich went to bed while I made notes to write this entry up tonight for you.  After that, I went to bed and slept really, really well.

Oh yeah, I got t-shirts from Red’s Lounge and I’ll be wearing mine proudly.

P.S.  I posted this and then realized how long the info was and the ridiculous number of photos.  We were on the go from 11:00 when arrived in Clarksdale until midnight.  This is all we have to show for it.  And a couple of t-shirts.