Last day of the King Biscuit Blues Festival.  Hard to believe that we’ve spent almost 3 full days listening to blues music.  It’s been great, but very tiring.  Then we still have a day in Clarksdale on Sunday.

I slept in even later this morning.  I woke up hearing Rich talking on the phone.  Turns out that Rick called me at 9:00 this morning to vent about my dog.  Rich got the phone and got to hear the details of how Sascha pissed him off.  I guess she moved the hose roller away from the deck, moved the chicken wire out of the way so she could crawl under the deck.  The denning instinct is really strong in the fall.

Rick couldn’t get her to come out from under the deck.  He finally got some cheese to entice her out.  It worked, but then he didn’t get her the cheese.  As Rick put it, “She didn’t behave so I couldn’t get the reward!”  Right.  I guess I need to resolve the denning issue with somewhere for her to go and hide out.  Time for a new doghouse?  Probably.

After checking and double checking the weather, we attempted to dress for the worse and got on the road.  First stop was for breakfast at the Blue and White Restaurant.  This place is ranked Number 1 in TripAdvisor.  Our course, there are only a handful of restaurants in Tunica.  It was packed and from the talk, it was all tourists.  I got hotcakes (pancakes for the Northerners) and Rich got ham and eggs with redeye gravy.  The food was okay.  Poor Cindy was struggling to keep up with all the people coming and going.  Coffee was good.

On to Helena now.  We got into town and went looking for the school.  Turns out, it was a high school.  Today, the Athletic Department was handling parking for their fundraiser.  Rich pointed out that there was probably plenty of free parking.  I felt good about helping the local fundraiser though.  The car was within walking distance also.  Two for one with this deal.

We got our chairs and headed down to the Lockwood Stage to hear Leo “Bud” Welch from Clarksdale.  I read about him in Roger Stolle’s posts.  He sounded like the old style Delta blues, which is what I like the best.  As we walked about one of the vendors, he was in his tent playing a cigar box guitar.  The sound was great and very different.  I wanted one for Rick, but not at $250!

We got caught by the next tent where they were selling King Biscuit shirts and sweatshirts.  These were really cool designs.  We walked down to their trailer to see what else they had.  Where were these designs yesterday when I was looking?  Oh yeah, I just didn’t walk down there when I original saw the trailer.  But I had now.  We decided to come back to pick out things.

Next stop, and no further stops, would be the Lockwood Stage.  We got there to find out that the entire area in front of the stage was underwater.  No problem though, everyone was setting up their chairs on the sidewalk.  While we were waiting for the show to start, I stepped away to talk to Rick.  I confirmed that the situation was in hand at home, but he was still really pissed at her.  I hope she survives until we get back.  Good news was Rick had an awesome night of bowling on Friday.

I had walked down the block to avoid bothering anyone with my conversation.  So I crossed the street to walk back to the stage and saw this stark white obelisk in one section of the park.  I went over to find out what it commemorated.  Turns out, this is the site of the first Christian service and cross erected for a service in this part of the world.  It was part of DeSoto’s exploration of the Mississippi River back in 1541.  Interesting that it didn’t state Catholic service.

I got back to my chair and talked to Rich for a few minutes.  Some people had left so we moved our chairs in closer.  Rich was looking back over his shoulder a lot.  I finally had to ask why.  On a park bench behind us, Rich thought the guy looked like Bruce Iglauer, president and founder of Alligator Records.  I wouldn’t know personally, but it could.  I urged Rich to go and talk to him.  Finally, he got up and walked back there.  They were talking for a bit, so I went over and took a picture of Rich and Bruce together.  Alligator Records is how Rich got deeper in the blues.  This was his outlet for finding more music.  Bruce is a hero because he bought up the Chess Records masters and kept them from being destroyed.

Leo Welch finally took the stage.  This 81 year old looked frail as he come on stage and made his way to a chair.  The drummer was a cute girl who was behind the drum kit.  Leo started playing and it was magic.  It was deep Delta blues.  He was energetic and warm. At one point, Leo got up and danced around the stage.  He was really putting on a show.  Leo was telling his age though when he forgot the words to a song and just kept playing.  He was looking to the drummer to help him end it.  She was pretty good at directing him with the beat.  He would follow along.  They made quite a team up.  I thoroughly enjoyed the show.

After the show, Rich got his Sharpie and got in line to purchase a CD and have it signed.  Rich again made a friend as he was talking to a photographer wearing a Blues Blast jacket as they waited in line.  The photographer was actually from The Netherlands and was sent there to shoot pictures for the magazine.

While Leo was playing, a young lady waded through the water and was dancing around in front of the stage.  She was pretty good, too.  I happened to waiting near the line and heard the young lady talking to someone.  She was also from The Netherlands.  Then I overhear a conversation of three guys near me.  They were also from The Netherlands and were talking about attending Glastonbury in England.  All the old 60s bands attend this one in honor of the blues that started them all.  How cool is that!

We went back to the trailer to pick out shirts and other odds and ends.  The people working the desk were great.  We were talking about the events and shows.  They were having a great time.  They helped us pick out shirts and get what we wanted.  Thanks to the King Biscuit Foundation for their great volunteers.

This meant a trip back to the car to drop off our goodies.  We made some wardrobe changes since the weather was getting a little cooler.  More layers were going to help.  What a different between today and yesterday.  It was 85 and sunny with a good wind.  We both got sun burnt.  Today, it was 68 and dropping.  It was 62 at around 2:00.  The clouds were coming in heavier also.  I was pretty sure we were looking at a good rain.

Back on track, we walked down the strip to the Front Porch stage to catch Big George Brock.  The seating was packed and they were standing out on the sidewalk.  Fine, we already knew it was probably better out on the street anyway.  We set up our chairs just out from the sidewalk.  We could hear perfectly well out here and we could breathe.  A lady came out to sell CDs.  We bought one.  I loved her dress of electric blue and we had a short conversation about it.  It was gorgeous.

She moved on and I opened the CD to prepare for a signing.  I noticed she was in some of the pictures.  I grabbed the Sharpie and walked over to get her to sign.  This would be an extra.  She agreed to sign it without saying too much.  She was also a leftie and we laughed about our shared trait.  Her name was Miss Clarine.

After the show, Rich sent me in to get Big George’s signature.  I got in line with three other guys.  People were swirling around us and it was getting hard to tell who was in line.  I kept up with the guy who had been in front me.  I knew he was in line.  We finally started moving forward.  It was finally my turn.  Miss Clarine was taking the CD and getting it ready for Big George.  Turns out that George is blind and Miss Clarine makes it possible for the fans to get what they want.  I was able to shake Big George’s hand as well.  He was the nicest man.  It was an honor to talk to him.

Now it was lunchtime.  Rich had one of the BBQ places picked out.  This was a Hip Hop and Blues club on the strip that had a smoker running right outside of their club.  He originally was planning to get rib tips from another location, but their smoker had been soaked in the rain the night before.  This meant they were still getting good coals going for their cooking.  It was going to be a wait.

The ladies at the desk took our order.  I got the pulled pork sandwich and Rich got the rib tip plate.  For some reason, the one lady tried to confirm that he wanted the beans and slaw with that.  Of course, Rich tells her.  He needs the balanced meal.  It was pretty good for sitting on the street.  It would fill us for now.

Time to head to the Main Stage and hang out for the rest of the day.  We decided to sit on the upper part of the terrace on the old railway tracks up there.  It would make a good platform and hopefully a good viewing spot.  We sat down in a clearing and arranged ourselves to see the stage.  Matt Schofield Trio was on stage.  They were more electric blues, but they were pretty good.  We arrived while they were playing.  When Matt introduced the group, we found out they were British!  The entire world had come to Helena, AR!

We decided to walk around a bit.  It was another day of sitting around and listening to music.  We walked out of the Main Stage area on the levee walk.  This took up to the River Front Park where people had tents and campers set up.  This is where the free camping was!  We decided to walk back to town and look at the Civil War plaques in the park.  After reading all three volumes of Shelby Foote’s Civil War, we look for battle and fort locations.  The plaques here were celebrating the Battle of Helena, which took place on the last day of Gettysburg and gets very little attention.  This was also a location that Grant had to take out of Confederate hands to take Vicksburg.

We wandered down the strip and decided to get dessert before heading back to our chairs.  Rich got an elephant ear and expected to share.  However, I wanted the red velvet funnel cake.  We got both.  The red velvet was so good.  We went back and feasted well.  Of course, we didn’t make it through all of it, but we did our best.

Unfortunately, we had a couple of people sit down next to us and smoke away.  We decided to move.  We moved a row back and over.  It was a great view of the stage.  After a time, I felt something on my ankle that burned.  It might have been an ant.  Then I felt another one.  Yep, the dreaded fire ants that we had heard about.  This was a nest.  We had to move again.  This time we moved over since some other people had left.  It was more comfortable and the viewing was getting better.

The next band was called Andy T. and Nick Nixon Band.  I had never heard of them.  Apparently, I should have.  Andy T. was actually the sustaining sponsor for the event with his wife, Kathy Balmer.  The band was playing some pretty good blues.  It was fun.  Over the course of the set, we discovered that Nick Nixon is actually an original member of The Imperials.  He was best friends with Jimi Hendrix and Billy Cox of Band of Gypsies (Hendrix’s band).  There was a lot of history on that stage.

As Andy T. and Nick were winding down, a lady behind us finally had enough to drink and started trying to have conversations in a really, really loud voice.  She was definitely getting obnoxious.  Rich looked at me and said, “Move.”  We moved over and down on the next set of tracks.  We were able to put our feet up on the tracks and kick back.  Not bad for a move.

Last show for us was going to be James Cotton.  Here is another one of those blues legends that is getting up and not going to be with us all that much longer.  He was on my list of people I wanted to see.  Now I can say I’ve seen him.  The band started up as usual for a couple of numbers to show off the members.  They were extremely good musicians.  Finally, James Cotton came out with his array of harmonicas.  He took a seat at center stage and the music moved around his.

We only stayed for the first hour.  It was 58 and getting chillier still.  I was thoroughly cold.  A lady directly behind me started to whine to her husband.  She was cold also.  After about the fourth time of her say, “But I’m COLD,” I wanted to hit her.  The husband just kept saying yes, dear.  That was enough for me.  It was cold and the natives were definitely restless.  We packed it in and left for home.  Oh no, not home, just back to the hotel.

We discussed our views of the festival.  With so much great music, great facilities, location, and probably one of the best set of working volunteers I’ve seen, this festival is a must for anyone interested in music.  For Blues people, I would recommend it 100%.  I think this had the best sound crew ever.  There were so few glitches and wonderful quality.  Kudos to the King Biscuit Festival people.

OK, that’s a wrap for tonight.  Tomorrow, we head to Clarksdale for some more music, food and fun.  Then, it’s Red’s Lounge for the evening.  This is going to a real juke joint experience.  Scary, but exciting. I’m hoping I can talk to Roger Stolle while we are in town also.