{"id":3250,"date":"2014-10-10T00:18:48","date_gmt":"2014-10-10T05:18:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/?p=3250"},"modified":"2014-10-10T00:18:48","modified_gmt":"2014-10-10T05:18:48","slug":"king-biscuit-blues-fest-day-2-theres-more-than-one-tunica","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/?p=3250","title":{"rendered":"King Biscuit Blues Fest: Day 2 There’s more than one Tunica?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yep, there are at least two.<\/p>\n

I got to sleep in!\u00a0 There was no wet dog nose in my hand or anywhere near my face.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t hear a dog throwing itself to the ground and sighing with an impossibly deep and long breath!\u00a0 I\u2019m on vacation!\u00a0 I\u2019m afraid to ask my son how he woke up this morning.<\/p>\n

We showered and packed.\u00a0 Then it was a quick trip downstairs to the breakfast area to grab a bit before hitting the road.\u00a0 I know there were a few other women in the room, but I mostly felt overwhelmed by the guys!\u00a0 Rich was getting his eggs with biscuit and sausage gravy while I was standing in line waiting my turn.\u00a0 A young man of about 25 or so came up and stood on the other side of Rich and was slowly trying to insinuate himself into line ahead of me.\u00a0 Oh no you don\u2019t buster.\u00a0 I was here first.\u00a0 I calmly stepped in front of him as Rich turned away in his direction.\u00a0 This caused him to step back a bit.\u00a0 A nice snarl would have been appropriate, I think.<\/p>\n

After breakfast, it was time to transfer luggage to the car and turn in the card keys.\u00a0 We dashed across the street to pick up the necessary supplies for a road trip.\u00a0 We filled up our travel mugs and grabbed a couple of cold waters.\u00a0 Getting back to the car, we adjusted for the environment and headed to the highway.\u00a0 When I say adjusted for the environment, I meant that the windows were rolled down.\u00a0 It was only 72 when we left.\u00a0 That meant I could have the windows down.\u00a0 I rolled down one of the back windows to adjust for pressure as well as comfortably airflow.<\/p>\n

Rule number 1 is driver rules.\u00a0 Whoever is driving gets to make the rules.\u00a0 This is only superseded by rule number 2.\u00a0 When the temperature reaches 84 outside of the car, the air condition goes on with no questions or begging from anyone, not even the driver.<\/p>\n

Traffic was good again today.\u00a0 Trucks were out and about, but not hogging the road and seem to be making their way in our direction without hindering us.\u00a0 Our first stop was in the New Madrid rest area.\u00a0 In case you don\u2019t know, New Madrid in the site of the largest set of earthquakes in the U.S.\u00a0 They started in December 1811 with roughly a 7.0 and continued through Feb 1812 with a 7.9.\u00a0 It was during the last one that the Mississippi River is recorded to have run backwards.\u00a0 It was said that the quake caused church bells to ring of their own accord in Boston.<\/p>\n

In the building at the rest area, they have a graphically representation of the Mississippi on the floor with the 5 individual earthquake locations marked on the graphic.\u00a0 Each earthquake location records the time and magnitude.\u00a0 It\u2019s pretty cool.\u00a0 There is also a location shown for a set of waterfalls that appeared after the last earthquake that later disappeared.\u00a0 The area where the river ran backwards is also marked.\u00a0 Poor cool.<\/p>\n

I recently found out that a distant cousin from my dad\u2019s side of the family had been living in the area at the time of the earthquakes.\u00a0 I so wish I could talk to him and his family about the event.\u00a0 How cool would that be!<\/p>\n

When we first arrived at the rest area, there was an old car sitting in the lot.\u00a0 The couple inside were reading through a map.\u00a0 It was a really cool, old hot rod looking thing.\u00a0 There were signatures all over it and little sayings everywhere.\u00a0 I could help myself. I had to stop and ask about the car.\u00a0 Turned out to be an old Chrysler.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t know such a model existed.\u00a0 Jerry said most people didn\u2019t.\u00a0 I told them how much I admired the car.<\/p>\n

Connie and Jerry were headed to Mobile.\u00a0 This was a driving car and no trailer queen.\u00a0 I think he said he had put 180,000 miles on the car himself.\u00a0 It was just too cool.\u00a0 Then I noticed that he adjusted the steering wheel.\u00a0 I made the comment that it had some upgrades.\u00a0 Connie told me it had AC also.\u00a0 Now that\u2019s an upgrade.\u00a0 Sallie\u2019s AC is to open the vent under the windshield.<\/p>\n

I realized after I said good-bye and went inside that I didn\u2019t take a picture of their car!\u00a0 That was dumb.\u00a0 Hold a conversation and then walk away.\u00a0 Later on, we caught up with them on the road and Rich got pictures of the back, side, and front.\u00a0 Still a cool car, but going down the road.<\/p>\n

From here, Memphis is a short way down the highway.\u00a0 I was cruising along just a little above the speed limit.\u00a0 I was in the processes of passing a truck when I suddenly had only something large and purple in my rearview mirror.\u00a0 Where did that come from?\u00a0 Apparently, a semi truck had been barreling down the highway behind me and I guess I just didn\u2019t pay attention until he was right on me.\u00a0 I got over and let him through.\u00a0 He went blasting past me at probably 80 or 85.\u00a0 I was hoping I didn\u2019t find him later down the road with a family car under him.<\/p>\n

No, somehow he must have thought better of his ways.\u00a0 When I came across him again, he was actually doing the truck speed limit and no longer harassing cars or vehicles in front of him.<\/p>\n

Construction season is still in full force in Memphis.\u00a0 We ran into it just around West Memphis.\u00a0 Then traffic pretty crawled into town.\u00a0 We were getting off the highway just before our scheduled exit though.\u00a0 Rich decided it was lunchtime and we should stop at Interstate BBQ.\u00a0 The GPS got us through the local neighborhood alright and we pulled into the parking lot.\u00a0 Right in front of us, written in large letters on the wall was Interstate BBQ.<\/p>\n

Louie Washington (Hey, Louie) works in the group of engineers that I write for.\u00a0 He\u2019s from Memphis originally and highly recommended Interstate to us.\u00a0 I was a little leery because this is the Neeley BBQ place.\u00a0 You know the Neeleys from Food Network.\u00a0 Pat and Gina, right?\u00a0 How good could a TV show place really be?\u00a0 Well, it was excellent.\u00a0 I got the pulled pork dinner with baked beans and potato salad.\u00a0 Rich got pork ribs with beans and slaw.\u00a0 I was impressed.\u00a0 The potato salad was just like my mom\u2019s.\u00a0 I haven\u2019t been able to get that since she passed.\u00a0 The beans were just right.\u00a0 This is how I want to make beans.<\/p>\n

Louie also recommended that we get the BBQ spaghetti.\u00a0 Wait?\u00a0 What?\u00a0 It just sounded a little too strange for me.\u00a0 Rich was up for it though. \u00a0He got a small bowl.\u00a0 Guess what?\u00a0 It was great.\u00a0 I could see making this at home.\u00a0 Don\u2019t know if it would taste the same, but I could sure make some similar with Rich\u2019s BBQ.\u00a0 Now I have something to shoot for.\u00a0 Thanks, Louie.\u00a0 We\u2019ll never doubt you again.\u00a0 Go Tigers!<\/p>\n

From Memphis, our hotel was only another 20 minutes south on Hwy 69.\u00a0 This is part of the famed and much talked about Crossroads.\u00a0 Funny, but 69 and 49 cross a couple of places.\u00a0 I wonder if they got the right crossroad marked when they set up the sign in Clarksdale.<\/p>\n

We arrived at the hotel a little early for check-in and found out that we could move our stuff right in.\u00a0 Great.\u00a0 We had a festival to get to.\u00a0 First, Rich had to finish his 2:00 coffee that he got a little bit late.\u00a0 So he relaxed, had his coffee and cooled down.\u00a0 I forgot to mention to him along the way that the temp was jumping around in the mid 80s.\u00a0 If he didn\u2019t mention it, I was going to tell him.\u00a0 The windows were down with the wind blowing through my hair and the temp was in the 80s for mid October!\u00a0 Best vacay!<\/p>\n

We changed into something cooler and headed out.\u00a0 First stop was down to the Missippee River.\u00a0 I wanted to check it out in the daylight.\u00a0 We went down to the Riverfront Park in Tunica.\u00a0 The Tunica Queen riverboat is moored here.\u00a0 They offer rides up and down the river.\u00a0 One barge was going south and making pretty good miles on the current.\u00a0 Another barge was pushing its way slowly up river and seeming to have a really hard time getting anywhere fast.<\/p>\n

We got back on track and headed to Helena, AR for the festival.\u00a0 It was in full swing by now since it started on 9:00 AM this morning.\u00a0 The first act I wanted to see was on at 4:00 PM.\u00a0 We got into town and figured out where to head.\u00a0 We passed a local college selling parking for $5.\u00a0 I went around the block and came back to them.\u00a0 Funny, one of the girls thought I had an accent.\u00a0 I explained I lived northwest of Chicago these days, but I was originally from the Luval, KY area.\u00a0 Maybe I\u2019m starting to pick up some of my accent again.\u00a0 That would be cool.\u00a0 I miss it.<\/p>\n

We wondered down the main street where the festival was going on.\u00a0 After some stops and starts, we found Will Call in the souvenir building and got our bracelets for the main stage.\u00a0 Everything else was free though.\u00a0 We wondered back up the street to find the Front Porch stage for the first act I wanted to see.\u00a0 It turned out to be inside out of one of the Delta Cultural Museum buildings.\u00a0 It was made to look like the front porch of a sharecropper\u2019s cabin.<\/p>\n

The Lindsey Alexander Band was setting up.\u00a0 Seems strange to drive from Chicago to Arkansas to see a Chicago band that I could just drive downtown to see.\u00a0 Somehow, I never got to Rosa\u2019s and Kingston Mines to see them.\u00a0 I had to come to the King Biscuit Blues Festival to see them.\u00a0 They were wonderful.\u00a0 It was great music and he was quite the showman.\u00a0 Several other Chicagoans appeared to be the crowd and definitely fans.<\/p>\n

Watching them, I realized that the crowd was a bunch of old Rock and Roll hippies who just went further back into the roots of the music that they loved to reach the blues.\u00a0 Was this the group of people I would be spending the few days with?\u00a0 Probably.\u00a0 They reminded me of my cousin, Jim.\u00a0 He would definitely fit right in here.<\/p>\n

Rich bought a CD from Lindsey.\u00a0 I got out the Sharpie to have him go and get it signed.\u00a0 Nope, he didn\u2019t want to. \u00a0There is no point of buying a CD from someone like this if you don\u2019t get it signed.\u00a0 I marched right up to the front and got in line for a signature.\u00a0 There were 4 guys ahead of me waiting for signatures.\u00a0 When Lindsey stepped up to begin signing, I was the only one who had a pen.<\/p>\n

I lent it to Lindsey to start, but told them I had to take it back when I got my signature.\u00a0 The guys in front of me are thanking me profusely.\u00a0 That wouldn\u2019t be the people behind me though.\u00a0 We learned a couple of years ago to bring your own writing instrument if you really wanted a signature.\u00a0 You had to make it easy for them to give it to you.<\/p>\n

The guy in front of me turned out to be German.\u00a0 He was spelling his name, but in German!\u00a0 I tried to help and realized what he was trying to say when I found out about the German.\u00a0 Cool!\u00a0 I told Lindsey he had fans all over the world apparently.\u00a0 He said he knew that and now I knew, too.\u00a0 Lindsey seemed surprised when I said I wanted it signed to Rich.\u00a0 He signed with a little smile.\u00a0 I think he knew my husband was too shy to ask for himself.\u00a0 I have no problem doing it.<\/p>\n

As predicted, the guy behind me got upset when I took my pen.\u00a0 He begged me to just let Lindsey sign his CD first.\u00a0 One of Lindsey\u2019s guys was rummaging around for a pen at that point.\u00a0 I\u2019m sure they found something to go on with signatures.<\/p>\n

We left this stage and made our way to the Main Stage.\u00a0 Billy Branch and the SOBs were already playing.\u00a0 This is another Chicago band that I had to come to Arkansas to hear.\u00a0 The SOBs were the Sons of Blues.\u00a0 They were a really great band.\u00a0 We were seeing a lot of talented musicians out here.\u00a0 With the humidity and temp, everyone was sweating.\u00a0 Billy\u2019s khakis were wet at the knees from sweating.\u00a0 This just opened up a whole bunch of jokes from on stage though.<\/p>\n

We had managed to find an empty spots to set up our chairs on the hillside not too far back, but not really that close either.\u00a0 It was on the top side of the path, so we got to see a lot of different people walking back and forth through the crowd.\u00a0 It was great people watching.\u00a0 That\u2019s one of my favorite pastimes.\u00a0 Airports and bars are the best places for people watching.\u00a0 This festival was probably going to rank pretty high on the list also.<\/p>\n

The guy to Rich\u2019s left started up a conversation and then asked Rich to hold his spot while he took his chair with him to another stage.\u00a0 That seemed OK.\u00a0 Rich moved over to take up more space.\u00a0 I accused Rich of making friends with someone.\u00a0 He shook his head.\u00a0 Nope, just helping someone out, but he was going to lose blood to hold it for the guy.<\/p>\n

After Billy and the SOBs were done, we walked down through the street to see what was out there.\u00a0 We found all of the stages and found the theater where Roger Stolle was going to be holding a panel discussion with a lot of really old blues players.\u00a0 I was interested in that one.\u00a0 I was hoping to talk to Roger also.<\/p>\n

Roger owns Cat Head Music in Clarksdale.\u00a0 We used to hear his weekly report about the blues events in Mississippi on the old Bill Wax show on XM.\u00a0 We felt like we knew him. \u00a0The last time we were in Clarksdale, we stopped by his store.\u00a0 He spent some time talking to us and making sure we purchased things to take home with us.\u00a0 It was amazing to talk to him.<\/p>\n

When we went to Cincy Blues Fest a couple of years ago, Rich was accosted by Roger\u2019s old college roommate.\u00a0 The roommate brought his wife over to show her Rich’s t-shirt from the Cat Head Music store.\u00a0 See, he said, Roger is famous and running his own business.\u00a0 Too funny.\u00a0 We could wait to tell Roger the story.<\/p>\n

Anyway, we walked back to the Main Stage and found our chairs just as we left them.\u00a0 Guitar Shorty was getting set up on stage with his band.\u00a0 A lady behind me saw me looking at the schedule and asked when Guitar Shorty was scheduled to start.\u00a0 Things were running about 15 minutes slow.\u00a0 Wait.\u00a0 She looked normal, like me, and not like the others I had seen.\u00a0 I guess that was possible.<\/p>\n

Guitar Shorty kicked off and turned out to be more rocking blues.\u00a0 He sure played a lot of Hendrix.\u00a0 Jimi Hendrix, in case you wondered.\u00a0 The rhythm guitar and bass guitar players were really young guys.\u00a0 But it turned out, they could play and were dancing around the stage.\u00a0 You could tell their roots were 80s rock and rolls with the jumping and dancing moves.\u00a0 I think that added something.\u00a0 And Guitar Shorty seemed to be OK with them stealing the show in the background.\u00a0 It was fun to watch.<\/p>\n

About halfway through the set, it starts to pelt huge raindrops down on us.\u00a0 I pull out the sheet of painter\u2019s plastic.\u00a0 This way I can stay dry and see the band.\u00a0 The Florida guy next to Rich had returned by this time.\u00a0 He stood up and shouted, \u201cIt will not rain.\u201d\u00a0 And the rain stopped!\u00a0 Wow, to have that kind of power.\u00a0 I packed up the plastic and the show went on.<\/p>\n

So that set finally headed with the Hendrix version of Star Spangled Banner.\u00a0 Rich was ready to go.\u00a0 I guess we were staying to see Wet Willie. \u00a0This is a southern fried rock band from the 70s.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t know they were still alive, much less playing.\u00a0 But Rich is tired so we pack up our stuff and take off.<\/p>\n

We walked back down the street we originally came in on.\u00a0 There was a hip hop club on the corner just down from our car.\u00a0 They had speakers on the sidewalk and the DJ was spinning his records out there.\u00a0 There were kids hanging out all over.\u00a0 I think they were competing with their grandparents\u2019 music up the street.<\/p>\n

We got back to Hwy 49 and out of Helena and then out of Arkansas.\u00a0 We crossed over the Mississippi River and were back in Mississippi proper.\u00a0 On our way back, we decided that we were hungry again.\u00a0 That BBQ just wasn\u2019t holding us from lunchtime.\u00a0 We went through Tunica without finding something that was appealing.\u00a0 I thought there was something just up the road from the hotel.\u00a0 Around here, the gas stations have some sort of food place inside.<\/p>\n

This one was called A\u2019s.\u00a0 It was mix of southern, seafood, chicken, and Mexican.\u00a0 We ordered food to go.\u00a0 With a six pack of Ghost River Golden Ale from the beer cave at the gas station, we were ready to chow.\u00a0 The food hit the spot, but was a little bit different than we expected.\u00a0 Regional sure does funny things to food.<\/p>\n

So after eating and a shower, I sit here drinking my Golden Ale, writing a blog, and getting pictures together to post.\u00a0 Mr Zurek has given in and gone to sleep.\u00a0 I guess I didn\u2019t need that much help to remember the day.\u00a0 What I\u2019ve forgotten might not have been important anyway.<\/p>\n

Tomorrow is a full day at the festival.\u00a0 We have several acts on our list, including one from Chicago.\u00a0 Got to support the home team here.<\/p>\n

\"Back<\/a>
Back end of the Chrysler as we pass them.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Passing<\/a>
Passing Connie and Jerry in their Chrysler.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Front<\/a>
Front of the Chrysler with its red and green fenders.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Standing<\/a>
Standing outside of Interstate BBQ in Memphis.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Wait,<\/a>
Wait, it is a Rose pose outside of Interstate BBQ.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Tunica<\/a>
Tunica Queen at the Riverfront Park.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"This<\/a>
This is the really slow barge trying to make its way up river.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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

\"Joy<\/a>
Joy at the Might Mississippi River by the Tunica Queen riverboat.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Lindsey<\/a>
Lindsey Alexander working the crowd with his band at the Front Porch stage.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Billy<\/a>
Billy Branch and the SOBs on the Main Stage.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Guitar<\/a>
Guitar Shorty competing with the sunset behind the stage.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yep, there are at least two. I got to sleep in!\u00a0 There was no wet dog nose in my hand or anywhere near my face.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t hear a dog throwing itself to the ground and sighing with an impossibly deep and long breath!\u00a0 I\u2019m on vacation!\u00a0 I\u2019m afraid to ask my son how he […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3250"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3250"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3250\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3265,"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3250\/revisions\/3265"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3250"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3250"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3250"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}