The King Of The Delta Blues…..

Wednesday April 22, 2009

Today we met Ace Atkins at the Crystal Grill in Greenwood, about an hour’s drive from Clarksdale. Lunch was filling and cheap. The Grill is something of a local tradition and, despite the fact that it was busy, we managed to get two large tables.

Ace then took us to the Little Zion Church on Money Road where one of the four Robert Johnson memorials is located. He is fairly certain that this is the site of the actual grave, having interviewed the neighbour who klived next door to the house where Johnson died (from syphilis). Ace puts a compelling case. He then led us to the site where the house that johnson died in once stood.

From here it was a visit to the excellent Turnrow Books, where we people bought copies of Ace’s books – not that he had organised to make sure that there was plenty of stock. He is worse at promotion than I am.

Pat’s van took off for Wal-Mart to gather supplies and the rest of us returned to the Shack. Around 6.15pm we left for dinner at Madidi – Morgan Freeman’s fine dining restaurant. I had the fried oysters as an entree and the pork tenderloin as a main. Delicious but not as good as the pork chop I had last year!

The meal stretched out to around 10.00pm by which time we decided to head back and have a quiet nightcap at the Shack, though earlier some people had sent Pat off to purchase vodka and gin, so it might not have been as quiet as I thought.

Tomorrow is a big day as we head off to New Orleans for Jazz Fest. Five people are catching the train there, allowing us to fit everyoine else and all their luggage into the vans.