Entertainment includes:

Terry Turner as Jerry Lee Lewis
Josh Davis in Elvis Tribute
Bluesman Extraordinaire Jesse Robinson
Travis Wammack

Complete schedule:

8 a.m. 5K Run and Walk
9:45 a.m. Welcome by Mayor
9:50 a.m. Presentation of Colors by Boy Scouts
9:55 a.m. Nation Anthem sung by Cham Trotter
10 a.m. 10:30 a.m. Little Miss Catfish pageant
10:30 a.m.-11 a.m. Music Guild Male Ensemble
11 a.m. Peter Pan play at Depot Theater
11 a.m. 12 noon- Jessie Robinson- Blues
12 noon 12:30 Miss Catfish Pageant
12:30 p.m. 1:30 p.m.- Terry Turner (Tom Jones and Conway Twitty tribute)
1:00 p.m. Peter Pan play at Depot Theater
1:30 p.m. 2:30 p.m.- Josh Davis (Elvis tribute)
2:30 p.m. 3 p.m. Catfish Eating contest
3 p.m. 4 p.m. Travis Wammack

Indianola and the B.B. King Museum are happy to have the new blues marker honoring Albert King on the corner of Front Street and Second Street.  Pictured above (left to right) are Ann Shackelford, Scott Barretta, Mayor Steve Rosenthal, Dion Brown and Jimmy Clayton.  

Museums Can Change the World: Improving the Nation's Health

A projection for the U.S., by 2030: Obesity prevalence will rise to ~50% in men between 45% and 52% in women. There will be: 7.8 million extra cases of diabetes; 6.8 million more cases of coronary heart disease and stroke; 539,000 additional cases of cancer. Annual spending on obesity-related diseases will rise by 13-16%, leading to 2.6% increase in national health spending. Total medical costs associated with treatment of these preventable diseases are estimated to increase by $48-66 billion/year. Can we do anything as a society to stem the tide? Maybe. Can museums help? The B.B. King Museum says “yes,” as reported by AAM intern Ella Mitchell.

The state of Mississippi is marked by an alarming distinction: it is the most obese state in the nation where 44% of children are obese or overweight. To much of the country, the statistics on obesity, as well as hypertension and diabetes, are just numbers, but Ann Shackelford, communications and development director at the B.B. King Museum and Delta Interpretive Center, explains that in Indianola, MS, and the entire Mississippi Delta, “We are living with these statistics every day, seeing them as people walking down the street.”

Where some may just see a problem, the B.B. King Museum instead found a natural way to be part of the solution to this obesity epidemic and other local issues by starting The Art of Living Smart, a seven-week summer day camp for children ages 6–15. During this time the kids engage in a variety of activities designed to teach them about healthy habits while also exposing them to the rich arts culture of the Mississippi Delta area. On any given day they might be playing traditional blues instruments, writing acrostic poems about music, practicing a new dance, making healthy smoothies, or exploring the history of their community through the museum’s exhibits.

As evidenced by these activities, the camp isn’t just about the physical health of the children; their overall well-being and the health of their community are also critical to the goals of The Art of Living Smart. To do this, the B.B. King Museum has capitalized on a strong local network including a national corporation, local non-profits and several regional universities. In this way the museum’s work benefits not only the campers, but also the surrounding communities. A grant from the Delta Health Alliance (DHA), made it possible for the camp to forge multiple local partnerships to support their work with the children. DHA is a nonprofit dedicated to community-based healthcare solutions, part of the Indianola Promise Community (an initiative connected with President Obama’s Promise Neighborhood program).

One of the most fruitful connections the museum made was with a dietetics professor and her students from Delta State University who helped design several aspects of the program. After planning nutrition lessons, the students, as well as some from Mississippi Valley State University, served as knowledgeable counselors. In the first year of the camp, all of the counselors had actually gone to high school in Indianola and thus served as great role models for the campers. The DHA grant made it possible for the museum to pay them. “That’s one of the things we were really proud of: that we were not only giving jobs to local young people, but they also had this opportunity to be mentors,” said Shackelford.

The camp’s program underwent numerous developments between its first and second years. “Last year when we started the program it didn’t have as big a connection to the exhibit as we would’ve liked, and we realized that we have some really natural ties between the camp and the museum,” said Shackelford. The museum decided to emphasize connections between the musical traditions the museum explores and corresponding dances, such as gospel music and praise dancing or the blues and juke joint dancing. The size of the program also dramatically increased. In 2010, the museum served 58 children but had over 200 on the waiting list. Shackelford remembers, “It just broke our hearts that there was this much interest and need and we couldn’t serve them.” Fortunately the camp was able to host both a morning and afternoon session this summer, enrolling over 125 children with hopes to expand even more in the summer of 2012.

The Art of Living Smart is not just a health boot camp, as evidenced by the variety of arts- as well as nutrition-focused activities. Nonetheless the kids are practicing healthy habits that carry over into their daily lives, even if it’s just in small ways like reading nutrition labels with their parents. The B.B. King Museum hopes the kids learn that taking care of their bodies is the only way they can live to be 86 years old just like Mr. King himself.

Interested in exploring what your museum can do to help your community with issues of food, health and nutrition? Join us for Feeding the Spirit, a national symposium being held in Pittsburgh on Oct. 13.

And consider joining the Let’s Move! Museums and Gardens initiative, which brings the fight against obesity in America to museums and gardens of all types. By signing up for the program, museums are part of a partnership not only with the White House, but also with a larger network of national associations and museums.

As a young man, B.B. King called Indianola, Mississippi home. On Front Street, in the heart of the town, he played his guitar in door frames and on the streets, honing his craft for what would become one of the most celebrated musical careers in history. It was for this reason that Indianola constructed a striking 20,000 square foot, $14 million tribute to the revered bluesman; the B.B. King Museum and Delta Interpretive Center. The B.B. King museum may claim the distinctive honor of being the largest and most grand museum dedicated to a single living musician in the world, and for a man that is lovingly known across the world as the king of the blues, it is more than fitting.

The museum purchased a 1920s brick cotton gin building that B.B. himself worked in as a young man, and created a striking modern building around it, made from finished wood and brushed steel. It opened it’s doors in 2008, with a grand ceremony attended by Mr. King and many members of his family.

Inside the museum, the first stop is to watch a short movie that both takes the viewer to a recent show of King’s, and on his tour bus, where he drives to a forgotten piece of Mississippi Delta farmland, as per the audio instructions recorded by his father, that he believes to be the place of his birth. “I would give anything to have a picture of my mother,” laments King. Inside the museum lies a vast, intricate and interesting set of displays that seamlessly mesh with one another. The exhibits eloquently tie with both the timeline of King’s long and accomplished life, and with the changing greater world around him. Early sets display tools, pictures, and artifacts from life in the Mississippi delta during the 1920s and 30s, portraying the brutal conditions worked by sharecroppers as they picked cotton from “kin ’til kint”, as B.B. says. In other words, from the time they “kin” see the sunrise to the time they “kint” see the sun any more. Life in the delta was hard, but Saturdays were a time of freedom from the work, a time where the people congregated in the streets and in dance halls, house parties and Juke Joints. A picture of the famous Po Monkey’s Juke Joint in Merigold, Mississippi is plastered across an entire display wall. Pictures of a crowded Front Street in Indianola, a street just a few blocks away from the state-of-the-art museum, are framed on the walls with stories of how B.B. would play on the streets those Saturday nights, honing his craft. Interesting pieces of history are on display from Beale Street in the 1940s — when King broke the smokestack of his employer’s tractor and, fearing what the man might do, fled to Memphis to carve out a living making music on Beale Street. In true Riley King style, he came back later to pay for the damage to the tractor.

As the life of B.B. Progresses, so, too does the world. B.B.’s rise to prominence in the 50s gave way to the civil rights movement, Soul music, and a strong, steady growth in B.B.’s popularity as he traveled the globe with his own distinct style of blues. Stories follow B.B.’s marriages, divorces, successes and road troubles, always with a strong eye towards the genuinely good and endearing international superstar that B.B. is and has always been.

The museum piece ends with an extremely fitting final quote from B.B., “I had never heard the word ‘superstar’ but when I think about it today, I was a superstar tractor driver. I loved it.” Though a stroll through the museum feels like mere minutes, it’s easy to get lost for hours in the many exhibits and fascinating snapshot of both life in the Mississippi Delta and the long career of the king of the blues. The state-of-the-art center is worth a pilgrimage to, and is a fine celebration of one of our greatest musical treasures.

"Organizations across the state who receive grants from the Mississippi Arts Commission continue to prove that arts programs are vital to the success of their community. The grants awarded by the Commission provide funding for the staging of festivals, theatre performances and many other arts-related activities," said Malcolm White, Executive Director of MAC. "The arts provide a positive environment for learning, both in the classroom and in communities. Arts funding has a significant multiplier and for every dollar spent in the creative sector, eight dollars are realized in the local economy. That's a good investment for any business."

The B.B. King Museum and Delta Interpretive partners with the Indianola Promise Community, an initiative through Delta Health Alliance, to present "The Art of Living Smart" healthy lifestyles day camp. Designed and taught by our staff, local educators and working artists, and assisted by student counselors from Mississippi Valley State and Delta State Universities who reflect the diversity of our community, the Art of Living Smart teaches young people, ages 6-15 years old, to make healthier lifestyle choices through the vehicle of the visual and performing arts. This summer more than 120 campers will complete the seven week program.

The Art of Living Smart has become the heart of our programming. Using the arts as our vehicle to teach health and wellness, we are able to improve literacy, instill a love of learning, and enhance self esteem. Building on that core program, our visiting artists enhance and strengthen these aims throughout the year with performances and workshops at the Museum and visits to area schools.
In addition, each year, the B.B. King Museum is focused on reaching every 4th and 9th grade student in our 5-county area, the years in which they study Mississippi history. Our field trip program, expanded by grant funding, also includes activities that tie our exhibit content to the state curriculum standards.

The Mississippi Arts Commission, a state agency, serves the residents of the State by providing grants that support programs to enhance communities; assist artists and arts organizations; promote the arts in education and celebrate Mississippi's cultural heritage. Established in 1968, the Mississippi Arts Commission is funded by the Mississippi Legislature, the National Endowment for the Arts, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Mississippi Foundation, the Phil Hardin Foundation, the Riley Foundation, the Mississippi Endowment for the Arts at the Community Foundation of Greater Jackson and other private sources. The agency serves as an active supporter and promoter of arts in community life and in arts education.

For more information from the Mississippi Arts Commission, contact Susan Dobbs - 601/359-6031 or sdobbs@arts.state.ms.us.

For more information from the B.B. King Museum and Delta Interpretive Center, contact Ann Shackelford - 662/887-9539 or ashackelford@bbkingmuseum.org

*Entering year two, the Art of Living Smart summer camp is offered to Indianola youth through Delta Health Alliance's Indianola Promise Community summer camp program. Funding for the IPC summer camps is provided through financial support from the Office of Rural Health Policy (HRSA).

In June 2010, House was chosen as one of 20 contestants from across the country to compete for the title of season 10’s “The Biggest Loser”. During his time on The Biggest Loser Ranch in California, the 28 year-old learned that he had sleep apnea, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and was pre-diabetic. After six months of training, competing and losing 181 pounds and 45.3% of his body weight, House was the first Mississippian to be chosen as “The Biggest Loser” and winner of $250,000.

House said throughout the training he was fighting to have a better quality of life for himself and his family, and also wanted to give Mississippi something to celebrate. "It's a lifestyle change, not a diet anymore," said House.

He has turned his energies toward helping overweight children. House works at Mind Stream Academy, a boarding school for overweight teens in Bluffton, South Carolina. He is taking the "Pay It Forward" theme of the show to heart in his quest to help children battle obesity and come out winners.

At the B.B. King Museum, House will spend the day talking with campers about his experience on The Biggest Loser and share healthy eating tips for kids. He’ll also teach the campers fitness exercises that will help them stay active and maintain a healthy body weight.

Entering year two, the Art of Living Smart summer camp is offered to Indianola youth through Delta Health Alliance’s Indianola Promise Community summer camp program. Funding for the IPC summer camps is provided through financial support from the Office of Rural Health Policy (HRSA).

For more information, please contact Lora Bingham at lbingham@bbkingmuseum.org or 662-887-9539 ext. 224.

# # #

HERNANDO — One of the poorest regions in America is also the richest, according to one of the region's foremost experts on the culture of the Mississippi Delta.

"Most of what is profoundly American and what people love most about America comes from the Mississippi Delta," said Dr. Luther Brown, director of the Delta Center for Culture and Learning at Delta State. Brown was the featured speaker Wednesday at the Hernando Rotary Club.

He cited the attribution from the National Park Service.

"The Mississippi Delta has a very unique heritage," Brown said, adding much of America's pioneering musicians like Muddy Waters and B.B. King came from the Mississippi Delta.

Brown, a former college professor at George Mason University, holds a Bachelor of Science Degree from Elmhurst College and a Masters and PhD from Ohio State University.

In 2000, Dr. Brown became the founding Director of The Delta Center for Culture and Learning at Delta State University, where he is also Associate Dean for Delta Regional Development.

He is also a founding member of the Mississippi Blues Commission, former Chairman of the Mississippi Blues Foundation, and an active participant in the growing Mississippi Blues Heritage Trail and the new Freedom Road civil rights trail.

Brown said there are 130 stops along the Mississippi Blues Trail, including several in DeSoto County.

"We've raised more than $2 million in grant money to promote the blues trail," Brown said.

Brown said the $15 million B.B. King Museum in Indianola attracts thousands of people each year from diverse places around the globe.

He said Mississippi continues to benefit from people drawn to the state because of its culture and role in American history, from battlefields, to blues ands civil rights.

The recent visit to Mississippi by Freedom Riders of the 1960s and images of the warm reception they received has helped to alter the state's past image as a bastion of racism.

Blues clubs like Ground Zero in Clarksdale and other traditional blues joints and honky tonics draw in tourists by the busloads.

"The future looks bright for business opportunities in the Mississippi Delta," Brown said.

The Berklee Mississippi Music Exchange trades education, music, and culture between Boston’s Berklee College of Music, the Mississippi Delta and other parts of the state. Since 2008, the Exchange has awarded six musical teens full scholarships to attended Berklee’s Five-Week Summer Performance Program. Berklee students benefit, too, learning from Mississippi musicians who have visited campus or from their own travels into the state’s deep blues legacies and rich cultural history.

Berklee College of Music, for over 65 years, has evolved to support its belief that the best way to prepare students for careers in music is through contemporary music education. The college was the first in the U.S. to teach jazz, the popular music of the time. It incorporated rock n' roll in the 1960s, created the world's first degree programs in film scoring, music synthesis, and songwriting, and, in recent years, added world music, hip-hop, electronica, and video game music to its curriculum. With a diverse student body representing over 70 countries, a music industry "who's who" of alumni that have received 200 Grammy Awards, Berklee is the world's premier learning lab for the music of today – and tomorrow.
For more information, contact Carol Jackson, Education Coordinator, at 662-887-9539 ext. 222 or cjackson@bbkingmuseum.org.

Born in Wyoming, Spencer Bohren never could have imagined that one day he would be called the “Ambassador of American Music.” Also, he never thought he would be the 2010 recipient of the “Keeping the Blues Alive” in Education Award from the Mississippi Blues Foundation. To those who love music, especially the kind he plays, they would say he has duly earned this praise for his style of music or artistic expression.

Spencer’s interpretation of blues through a musical- novel presentation is what landed him an invite to the Delta by the BB King Museum and the Delta Interpretive Center Visiting Artists in Schools Program. On January 14, 2011, at Moorhead Middle School, Spencer dazzled the students with “Dirt Road Blues.” Carol Jackson, Education Coordinator at the BB King Museum remarked, “It was our pleasure to bring an artist like Mr. Bohren to Delta schools, especially the ones that do not have a music program. It gives students a chance to see music from a different angle. The story telling through a song by Mr. Bohren was remarkable and served as a great learning experience about the blues.”

Spencer spoke briefly before he got started with his presentation at MMS, and said, “I come from a gospel singing family. Consequently, I was raised on gospel music. However, when I was 14 years old, I got my hands on some country blues by Mississippi John Hurt who was 70 years old at that time from Avon, Mississippi. And what I heard changed my life. It set me on fire for the blues. All I wanted to do after I heard the blues was discover the origins of this new music, which was outlawed during the time when I heard it.”

Way, way back when, what young Spencer heard was called “roots music.” Its unofficial name was the blues. Roots music refers to several styles or trends in music. “Blues are the root. The rest is the fruit,” stated Willie Dixon, the Poet Laureate of the Blues and the Father of Modern Chicago Blues.

At the end of the 19th century, primarily in the Deep South, the blues began in African American communities. It originated through spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants. It was a personal expression about the truth, tradition and experiences of the people living in that era of extreme poverty and oppression. Today, blues music is more than just a style of music. It is a way of life and a form of economic development in the state of Mississippi, especially the Mississippi Delta.

Spencer said, “Blues music has its roots from Africa. It came from every region of the world and covers every region, too. Country music, grassroots music, jazz, rap, cowboy music and Appalachian music started from the blues. And, without blues you would not have rock and roll, nor would you have soul music.”

During his quest to keep the blues alive, Spencer has played with notables like Muddy Waters and BB King and has performed before thousands of people. He has traveled to Europe over 100 times to share his musical presentation. Because of the positive influence of the blues, he wants everyone to know that something incredible happened in Mississippi a long time ago. And, it is still resonating over the entire world in the form of music. Blues has given him a life. Most importantly, he thinks it is a heritage that African Americans should be proud of and is worth keeping alive.

In his presentation, “Down the Dirt Road Blues,” which started as a cotton field song, Spencer, a true musician and story teller, used six guitars to show the MMS students the evolution of one song. That song has been played differently in different parts of the country as well as abroad. The story changed, the music changed and the song changed as different artists interpreted it their way. Spencer used banjos, a National Steel guitar and others to tell “Down the Dirt Road Blue” his way – a historical picture of the blues.

“Beale Street, in Memphis, became the first place where black folk and white folk music integrated. It was fun and scary. The integration of music caused some cultural barriers to come down. For their audience, a band from Kentucky called “Skillet Lickers” took “Down the Dirt Road Blues” and changed the song too. During that time, people were interested in making records and making more music for money. Sam Phillips, the record producer responsible for discovering Elvis, used white musicians that sounded like a black Chuck Berry to reintroduce the song for profit.

To this date, “Down the Dirt Road Blues” has traveled through culture lines, mountain ranges, bridges, and around the Delta, to Memphis, to Kentucky, to California and to England and back to the Delta. It is an American song that took a life of its own. Blues is more than music. It binds us together in ways we overlook and makes us better as humans,” said Spencer.

In this new era of hope and change the Choir's voices reflect the RENAISSANCE of Harlem's culture. The Harlem Gospel Choir's rich harmonies and sound are always "UNFETTERED, JOYOUS & INSPIRATIONAL." Their songs of hope & inspiration will touch the depths of your soul & lift your spirit to angelic heights - every performance will take your breath away!

Over the years, the Choir has performed with such famous artists as Bono, Sinead O’Connor, Simple Minds, Live, Robin Gibb, Kim Wilde, Lyle Lovett, Diana Ross, Harry Belafonte, Brooks and Dunn, Ashford & Simpson, Jimmy Cliff, and the Chieftains. The Choir has been featured on many TV shows, including Top Chef, The Colbert Report, Good Morning America, The Today Show, Good Day New York, and the Early Show. In 2008 the Choir performed for 60,000 people at Yankee Stadium for Pope Benedict XVI.

Bologna Performing Arts Center

The Bologna Performing Arts Center, a multi-disciplinary facility, opened its doors September 1, 1995. The Center houses the 1178 seat Delta & Pine Land Theater and the 135 seat Recital Hall. The Bologna Performing Arts Center at Delta State University has earned recognition as one of the premier houses for entertainment and arts in Mississippi and the Southeast. Just recently, the BPAC earned top honors as The Best Performing Arts Venue in Mississippi, as voted on by the readers of Mississippi Magazine.

Brown was hired by the Indianola museum after a seven-month search for a new director. His five-year experience at the Wichita museum has included all aspects of its operations. He has been leading a staff of 42.

Brown, 46, who grew up in Decatur, Illinois, retired from the Air Force in 2002 after serving 21 years.  

"I'm looking forward to working with the excellent team at the B.B. King Museum," said Brown. "It's an incredible museum and it has a remarkable reputation, and I hope to help lead it to even greater successes. I am equally looking forward to learning the rich history of the Delta and working alongside the people in this community.”

Brown's duties at Exploration Place have included business-related and revenue-generating areas such as the CyberDome Theater, ExploreStore, WaterWay Café blockbuster exhibitions, membership, catering, event sales/service, special events, group sales and corporate sponsorship. 

He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Human Resources and a Masters of Science degree in Leadership from Southwestern College.

In Wichita, Brown was recently appointed to the Sedgwick County Task Force Oversight Committee for the Homeless, a member of Real Men, Inc. which mentors to at-risk children. He is an active member of his local church serving on the Methodist Men Ministry and the Media ministry.  

He is married to the former Darla D. Williams of Wichita, and they have three children:  Brianna 24, Braxton 17, and Braelyn 10.  

Bill McPherson, president of the board of directors of the B.B. King Museum, said, "We are pleased to have Dion Brown as our new executive director. His experience and professionalism and leadership abilities will help take our museum into a strong future."

Carver Randle, another board member, said, "We welcome Dion to our museum and our community. We're lucky to lure such a fine and competent person to the Delta. He'll be an immediate asset for us all."

Brown will be in his new position at the museum starting Feb. 14.

The B.B. King Museum attracts thousands of visitors each year, including many from all over the world. Its state-of-the-art exhibits and films have drawn praise and received national awards. The museum opened in September 2008. For more information, go to www.bbkingmuseum.org.

“He’s just crazy over B.B. King,” Salem resident Jo Ann James said of her four-year old great-grandson, Spencer Hahn. “He said, ‘Nana, Nana, I got to meet B.B. King in person!’”

Hahn, who lives in Indianapolis, Ind., recently had his dreams of Delta Blues made a reality by the Make-A-Wish Foundation when he met B.B. King and “Lucille.”

James said the family never thought or said they thought Hahn would have a shorter life or would eventually die from his condition, but they did think, “We thought he was going to have problems.”

“When he was born, we didn’t know for about six months that he had this problem, but he couldn’t open his hand,” James said.
James said an MRI revealed that her great-grandson had experienced a stroke in-utero that had damaged 2/3 of the left side of his brain and left him with cerebral palsy.

“At the time, they said he’d never crawl, never walk, never talk,” James said. “He’s done all that.”

Hahn met B.B. King at his nightclub in Nashville, according to James.

“They got him into that nightclub, but they had to pull a few strings,” James said. “They took him right down front and a waiter brought him a guitar, right at the table, to play.”

He also got a personal tour of the B.B. King Museum in Indianola, Miss. where two newspapers and a television station were on hand to record the event.

“He was touching ‘Lucille,’” James said. “They just went all out down there.”

According to James, “Lucille” was taken out of the vault especially for Hahn. The museum was also closed to the public during the visit.

“They took [“Lucille”] out of the vault,” James said.

According to James, Hahn began his love affair with B.B. King when he was just a baby.

The historical Commission tells the story of the Freedom Rides at the historic Montgomery Greyhound Bus Station (www.montgomerybusstation.org), a site of violence against the Riders. There will be an honorarium for selected artists, whose work will be on exhibit in the building for a year.

Juror: Georgine Clarke, Visual Arts Program Manager, Alabama State Council on the Arts. Submission deadline: September 1, 2010. For the complete prospectus, go to http://www.preserveala.org/PDF/sites/greyhound_bus_station/MBS%20call%20for%20artists%20100709.pdf

Ulmer received the award earlier this month during the B.B. King Homecoming Festival in Indianola.
Janet Webb, past president of the Mississippi Delta Blues Society of Indianola, said it was an honor to bestow the award on Ulmer.

“He has represented our blues society at the International Blues Challenge in Memphis for the past two years,” Webb said. “He made it to the finals which was really unbelievable.

“We’ve done really well at IBC, and every time we do, I think we’ll never do this good again,” she added. “He really was a crowd favorite.”

According to the Mississippi Folklife and Folk Artist Directory, Ulmer played music for 50 years all over the U.S. before returning home to the Ellisville area in 2001. He plays guitar, keyboards, drums, fiddle, banjo mandolin, kazoo and harmonica, as well as being his own “12 piece” one-man band.

Ulmer was born in 1928 in Stringer, and later moved with his parents Luther and Mattie, six brothers, and seven sisters to a plantation near Moss Hill. Ulmer began playing guitar at nine years old and played with his family and other local musicians on the family’s porch.

The Mississippi Delta Blues Society of Indianola was formed in November 2003 by a group of blues enthusiasts after the decision was made to build the B.B. King Museum & Delta Interpretive Center in the small Delta town.

“We knew people were working on a B.B. King Museum and the Governor had formed the Mississippi Blues Commission,” Webb said. “We just needed to be represented.”

Webb said the museum bearing King’s name has been a boon for the city since it opened in September 2008.

“It’s been great,” she said. “Our sales tax revenue has gone up about 12 percent while everyone else’s is down.”
Webb noted that Mississippi residents often take their blues heritage for granted while tourists from all over the world flock to the Magnolia State for a taste of that history.

“They’re really self-taught Ph.D.’s on the blues,” she said.

Jay Holifield, who lives in the Tuckers Crossing Community, is one of Ulmer’s many fans in the area. Holifield’s son, Chase, has toured with Ulmer and competed alongside of him at the 2008 and 2009 International Blues Challenge after winning the Mississippi Delta Regional Blues Challenge.

“He’s just a genuinely good person and he’s good for the music industry,” Jay Holifield said. “He teaches at such a cheap rate that I don’t know how he pays for his fuel. He truly does it for the love of the music.”
Jay Holifield said that Ulmer, at the age of 82, still travels by himself to North Mississippi in his 1960s model Plymouth.

“He likes for someone to take him, but he’ll go by himself if somebody calls and wants him to do a show,” he said.
Jay Holifield said he met Ulmer through the elder statesman giving his son music lessons.

“My brother told me about him,” he said. “Chase started playing with him at some of the shows, and I took him back and forth to the different shows. That was before Chase had a driver’s license.”
Jay Holifield said he plays “very little” blues, describing himself as just a fan.

“I listen to the blues, and enjoy going with them and listening to them play,” he said. “As the economy falls, entertainment is one of the first things that people cut out to save money. It’s definitely cut back on some of their opportunities to go out and play.”
Chase Holifield praised Ulmer, who began teaching him the blues at the age of 14. Holifield, now 19, has shared the stage with his mentor nearly everywhere Ulmer goes.

“He taught me everything I know,” Chase Holifield said. “The blues is a dying art, and he’s doing what he can to keep it alive. He’s the last of a dying breed.”

Chase Holifield said it is a unique experience every time he plays with Ulmer, as a song is never played the same way twice.

“That’s the way a lot of the old bluesmen play,” he said. “That’s the reason a lot of people can’t play with him. The only reason I can is because he taught me.”

Attempts to reach L.C. Ulmer for this story were unsuccessful.

David Owens
Laurel Leader-Call

Delta Business Journal

Evidently you can “Bank on the Blues” even during a recession. While overall tourism spending in Mississippi was down seven percent in fiscal 2009, visitor spending in Sunflower County-home to the one of the state’s biggest blues attractions, the B.B. King Museum and Delta Interpretive Center-was up 12.5 percent to $12.43 million.

According to Tom E. Van Hyning, research program manager for the Mississippi Development Authority (MDA) Tourism Division, the one “shining star” in 2009 was Sunflower County, based on increased travel and tourism expenditures by visitors for the 12 months ending June 30, 2009.

“The B.B. King Museum and Interpretive Center, Indianola-year one-is a major reason,” Hyning says.

Lora Bingham, membership and development coordinator at the museum, says this year is looking even better. 

“In the past couple of months, we’ve seen a big increase. We’ve had a really good spring and summer so far,” Bingham says. “With the blues festival season kicking off in April, we have seen an increase in visitors here at B.B. King (museum), and blues festivals have likely increased spending over the Delta as a whole.”

Guy Malvezzi, co-owner of The Shack Up Inn, says from their experience operating a 22-room hotel “in the middle of nowhere but close enough to Clarksdale where it does matter,” banking on the blues is the best bet the Delta has.

“It has probably done way more for Clarksdale than the rest of the Delta,” Malvezzi says. “But from here forward, in my opinion, I think it is going to be beneficial to all of the Mississippi Delta. We are getting more and more people who come here, and use this as their home base in order to make day trips to Greenwood, Leland, Oxford, Greenville and Indianola. They will stay for five days or so. Visitors are absolutely enthralled with something we have taken for granted all these years.”

Blues tourism is no flash in the pan. The Shack Up Inn alone had 10,000 guests this past year, 25 percent foreign.

The Delta Blues Museum is more evidence of the staying power of blues tourism. Museum Director Shelley Ritter reports a steady increase in interest in the museum during the 31 years it has been open. “The downtown has seen a lot of new businesses come in,” Ritter says. “We’ve seen the opening of Ground Zero, Rust Restaurant, Stone Pony and the Dutch Oven. I think blues music development has come about organically, and it needs to be nurtured that same way, and not forced. It is our cultural heritage.”

Bill Luckett and Morgan Freeman jump-started Clarksdale in becoming a center for blues music when they opened Ground Zero Blues Club in 2001, later anchoring the other end of Delta Avenue with Madidi restaurant.

“People are coming in large numbers, and they are coming from all over the world, especially England and France,” Luckett says. “A lot of people are coming not just to our club, but to the entire Delta as a destination. They are making multiple stops.”
Les Shanks, manager of Tallahatchie Flats in Greenwood, has seen a huge surge of interest in the past year.

“We have a lot of European visitors,” Shanks says. “The past two months are the best two months we have ever had. We are in an economic downturn, obviously. But we have been able to draw from all over the world.”

Shanks says the advertising done by the state is starting to pay off.

“It is going to be a growth industry for the state,” he says. “No doubt about it.”
Steve Lavere, music historian in Greenwood, believes that blues tourism, along with other types of cultural tourism, will save the Delta.

“The attraction is primarily from people outside the region including Europe, Japan and Australia. It does have an impact on the culture and the financial stability of the Delta,” he says. “If it is done right-and I think there are a number of people working on doing it right like the B.B. King Museum-it can attract a great number of people from other areas and it will help the overall economy of the Delta.”

Roger Stolle says since he opened Cat Head Delta Blues & Folk Art in 2001, he has seen a slow, but steady interest in blues tourism. “Blues tourism can absolutely help the Delta,” Stolle says. “While no one thing is a surefire cure for everything that ails a region, blues tourism has a lot more to offer Mississippi Deltans than most folks think. Clarksdale has probably tripled or quadrupled its blues tourism footprint in the past eight years with more tourism-related museums, music stores and blues clubs than ever before.”

“Visitors leave a trail that is peppered with dollars”, says Allan Hammons, president of Hammons & Associates Inc., whose ad agency is designing and installing the Mississippi Blues Trail.

“There is a lot of culture and heritage throughout Mississippi that is of great interest to people of this country and around the world,” Hammons says. “It stands to reason that if we provide opportunities and reasons to visit Mississippi, it is a great opportunity for us.”

With more than 100 markers around the state, the Mississippi Blues Trail serves as a mechanism to attract visitors to explore the other treasures that Delta communities have to offer. 

“Because Mississippi is the ‘Birthplace of America’s Music,’ MDA is uniquely positioned to drive initiatives that build on our musical heritage,” says MDA Tourism Director Mary Beth Wilkerson.

Live music calendars for blues tourists can be found at www.msbluestrail.org and www.cathead.biz. DBJ

But I love the blues — live blues in particular. And not just any blues will do. I want Mississippi Delta blues, played in a Mississippi juke joint that looks like it’s seen better times, and sung by people who know something about hard work, hard times, hard-hearted women, and the men who love them.

So every once in a while I feel the pull of the Mississippi Blues Trail.  The trail is an outdoor museum of historic sites that rambles through the state, with markers showing up in small towns, cities, beside railroad tracks and along rural roads, and in cafes and juke joints. Explored one area at a time, the trail offers a menu of mini-trips for blues fans.

DESTINATION CLARKSDALE

My favorite stop on the trail is Clarksdale, with at least one evening spent at Ground Zero Blues Club.  I may have a fried catfish BLT or a burger there or, if I’m in the mood to splurge, I’ll have an early dinner nearby at Madidi’s. I can make a meal of their shrimp and grits appetizer and the beet salad, followed by the banana brulee or bourbon pecan pie.

Once I’m in the door at Ground Zero, though, I don’t want to leave. In addition to the music, it’s a great place to meet people from just about anywhere. Last time I was there I chatted with a young woman from England about the camera she was using to photograph the performers in the low light (it was a Nikon 700 with an f/2.8 zoom lens).

The best way to find out just about anything related to blues in the area, including who’s playing where, is at Cat Head Delta Blues and Folk Art in downtown Clarksdale. If you can’t stop by, browse their web site.  It also includes information about local blues museums and events,  including the Sunflower River Blues and Gospel Festival, August 6-8 in Clarksdale.

A number of Blues Trail markers are in the area, including one at the Riverside Hotel, which once served as the G.T. Thomas Afro American Hospital, and where blues singer Bessie Smith died after a car crash in 1937.  Look also for the “Crossroads” sign at the intersection of Highways 49 and 61. It isn’t historic, but it reminds blues fans of the legend often associated with Robert Johnson’s 1937 recording of the Grammy Hall of Fame song “Cross Road Blues.” It’s supposedly where Johnson made a deal with the devil for the ability to play music.

THURSDAY AT PO MONKEY’S

If it’s Thursday, I head to Po Monkey’s in Merigold. Ask the folks at Cat Head for directions, because there are no signs, and it can be difficult to find, especially at night.

A popular spot since William Seaberry opened it in the early 1960’s, Po Monkey’s is on a farm in a sharecropper’s shack that looks like it’s about to fall down. It occasionally hosts live music, but most of the time it’s just open on Thursday nights with a DJ spinning blues. The place is always lively, packed with college kids, locals, and visitors. You may sit down next to someone from Boston, nearby Cleveland, or from Munich (Germany).  The later it gets, the livelier it gets, and it’s a real trip when William Seaberry steps into a back room and comes back out in one of his outrageous costumes – I personally like the one with the long blonde wig and sequined dress.

GOTTA HAVE TAMALES (and Burgers)

A trip to the Delta is also an excuse to eat some of the best Tamales this side of Heaven. One of my favorite lunch spots is Hicks’ Variety Foods on State Street in Clarksdale. The Hot Tamales are made fresh every day, and usually sell out before noon. If you miss out at lunch, though, come back just before 3 p.m. and they’ll likely have another batch coming out of the steamer.

Another fabulous tamale spot is the White Front Café, also known as Joe’s Hot Tamale Place (662-759-3842), in Rosedale. You can’t miss it – look for the little white concrete block building on the main drag. It serves only tamales, hand-rolled by Barbara Pope, but that’s enough.

For a decent burger and live music, stop at Hey Joe’s Record & Café (662-843-5325) in Cleveland. Call ahead, because the performance schedule changes from week to week.

BLUES STOPS IN INDIANOLA

I like to return home via Jackson, with a stop first in Indianola, home of the B.B. King Museum and Delta Interpretive Center. It’s one of the best museums I’ve ever seen. Nearby, The Crown Restaurant serves lunch from 11 a.m. – 3 p.m., Tuesday-Saturday. Among the tempting dishes are Catfish Allison (poached fillet with Parmesan cheese and green onion sauce), and a bowl of chicken and sausage gumbo. For live blues, check days and times (662-887-9915) at Club Ebony.

JACKSON

Jackson has a number of clubs with live blues, including Queen of Hearts, on the Mississippi Blues Trail. You can often find King Edward and his band playing here. Call (601) 352-5730) for performance schedules.

One of my favorite places in Jackson is the 930 Blues Café. Last time I walked in, Norman Clark and his Smoke Stack Lightning Band sounded like they were trying to tear the place down with pure, raw sound. 

Norman has been playing since he was 12 years old. That was about six decades ago, and he’s good … very good. He grew up in Massachusetts and started playing professionally when he was still a teenager. He’s performed in Africa, Australia, Japan, Morocco, Spain, and at the White House. Jackson has been his home for more than 20 years, and every Thursday night you’ll find him at the 930 Blues Café. 

Miss Jackie Bell is also there on Thursday nights, as well as on Friday and Saturday. And when she takes the microphone, everything else fades into the background. She teases, she vamps, and when she steps up in a chair with her high heels on and leans waaaay back while she lets loose with her powerful voice, the house goes wild.

Live blues …..there’s nothing like it.

More information about the blues and Mississippi is available online.

CONTACT:    Ann Shackelford, Interim Executive Director    662 887-9539, ext. 229

B.B. King Museum and Delta Interpretive Center

Receives Mississippi Arts Commission Grant

            (Jackson, MS) July 5, 2010 – The B.B. King Museum and Delta Interpretive Center of Indianola has been awarded a $30,000 grant from the Mississippi Arts Commission (MAC).  This grant is a portion of the $1.64 million in grants the Commission will award in 2010-2011 and will be used for general operating support for the Museum and its programs.  The grants are made possible by continued funding from the Mississippi State Legislature and the National Endowment for the Arts. 

“Organizations across the state who receive grants from the Mississippi Arts Commission continue to prove that arts programs are vital to the success of their community.   The grants awarded by the Commission provide funding for the staging of festivals, theatre performances and many other arts-related activities,” said Malcolm White, Executive Director of MAC. “The arts provide a positive environment for learning, both in the classroom and in communities.  Arts funding has a significant multiplier and for every dollar spent in the creative sector, eight dollars are realized in the local economy.  That’s a good investment for any business.”

The Museum’s permanent exhibition presents and celebrates the life and music of Riley “B.B.” King and serves as a backdrop for examination of the music of the Mississippi Delta and exploration of the life, culture, social conditions and people of this region.

While instilling a sense of pride in place for Delta residents, the Museum also offers a window to the larger world.  “Here young people can experience music and art in many media, and express their talents in a safe, nurturing and fun environment,” said Ann Shackelford, interim executive director.  “Our summer arts camp, The Art of Living Smart, is a perfect example of arts as a vehicle for learning as well as for creativity and fun.  We are putting the arts literally at the center of community life here in Sunflower county at the same time we’re welcoming visitors from all over the world.” 

The Mississippi Arts Commission, a state agency, serves the residents of the state by providing grants that support programs to enhance communities; assist artists and arts organizations; promote the arts in education and celebrate Mississippi’s cultural heritage.  Established in 1968, the Mississippi Arts Commission is the funded by the Mississippi Legislature, the National Endowment for the Arts, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Mississippi Foundation, the Phil Hardin Foundation, Mississippi Endowment for the Arts at the Community Foundation of Greater Jackson and other private sources.  The agency serves as an active supporter and promoter of arts in community life and in arts education.

###

For information from the Mississippi Arts Commission, contact Susan Dobbs – 601/359-6031 or sdobbs@arts.state.ms.us  

On Friday he's performing at an open-air concert at Fletcher Park, and later in the evening he's performing across town at the Club Ebony, which he purchased in 2008. For ticket availability, call (662) 207-7498.

On Wednesday King played at Delta State University's Bologna Performing Arts Center for a sold-out audience, and also gave Gov. Haley Barbour a personal tour of the B.B. King Museum and Delta Interpretive Center in Indianola. It was the governor's first visit to the facility, which opened in 2008.

Saturday's event at Fletcher Park will also feature country star and Philadelphia native Marty Stuart, who will be honored with a Mississippi Country Marker on July 25.

In 1997 King and Stuart recorded the duet Confessin' the Blues for King's album Deuces Wild.

Other artists at the event, which begins at 5 p.m. Friday, are Grady Champion, L.C. Ulmer & Chase Hollifield, the Mike Holloway Band, and, from Chicago, the Columbia College Blues Ensemble Allstars. The leader of that group, bluesman Fernando Jones, will perform at a free event at Delta State's BPAC at 7 tonight.

On Saturday Indianola hosts the all-day Blues, Bikes and BBQ festival, which includes a motorcycle "poker run" that will visit multiple Mississippi Blues Trail markers. Details, (662) 887-2170.

The B.B. King Museum is open for tours over the weekend and will host musical acts including blues artists Mickey Rogers, Jerry Fair & Alfonso Sanders, Good Paper, and Jake and the Pearl Street Jumpers.

Scott Baretta
The Clarion Ledger

Erin Mulligan or Lora Bingham
B.B. King Museum and Delta Interpretive Center
400 Second St, Indianola, MS 38751
662.887.9539

The camp will meet each weekday afternoon from 1:00 until 5:00, beginning June 7th and running through July 30.  Activities will include art, music, dance/creative movement, gardening, cooking, field trips and much more.   Students will participate in making the snacks each afternoon, and many of the other activities will be hands-on.

Inquiring parents and children may contact us directly by phone or email. There is no cost to attend this camp but daily attendance is required. Slots are limited, and the camp will fill up fast, so we’ll look forward to hearing from you soon.  

Come spend your afternoons this summer at the B.B. King Museum!

For more information, please contact:
Carol Holmes-Jackson, Education Coordinator
662-887-9539      Ext. 222
Cjackson@bbkingmuseum.org
or
info@bbkingmuseum.org

B.B. King Museum and Delta Interpretive Center Named Best of the Road® in Rand McNally’s New 2011 Edition of America’s #1 Road Atlas

Indianola, MS, May 15, 2010 – Rand McNally, America’s most trusted source for maps, directions and travel content, has chosen the B.B. King Museum and Delta Interpretive Center over hundreds of locations as a unique travel destination for the prestigious Best of the Road® award program.

Rand McNally’s travel experts scour the country for outstanding trips and stops, representing the best America has to offer. Of the many submissions, Rand McNally editors drive five new road trips and share their findings in the annual Road Atlas.

For the 2011 Road Atlas, Rand McNally editors have developed and presented the following trips, each planned for two-to-three days:

Wild, Warm Alaska: Anchorage to Valdez, Alaska

Earth Tones: Reno, Nevada to Yosemite, California

Seaside to Summit: Manchester to Bretton Woods, New Hampshire

Around Lake Erie: Cleveland, Ohio, to Windsor, Ontario

Following Old Man River: Natchez to Tunica, Mississippi

In developing the trips, editors consider locations that are lesser-known or off the beaten path, are unique or have special character, capture the region’s essence, and appeal to a broad range of people. For many travel enthusiasts, these 150-200 mile trips satisfy their search for a long weekend of adventure. Each trip includes maps and directions and lists of “best known” spots. In addition, Rand McNally’s experts have presented stops along the route that showcase the unique aspects of each region.

“We congratulate The B.B. King Museum and Delta Interpretive Center for being identified in our 2011 Best of the Road® listing. While there are multiple options for planning and on-the-road navigation, Americans continue to rely upon the Rand McNally Road Atlas each year to give them the big picture and the finer details of each road they travel,” said Dave Muscatel, CEO of Rand McNally.

The 2011 Rand McNally Road Atlas is arriving in retail stores this month. It is available nationwide and at www.randmcnally.com for a suggested retail price of $13.95.

About Rand McNally – Rand McNally is the most trusted source for maps, directions, and travel content. Rand McNally's products and services include: Interactive travel service, Tripology; America’s #1 Road Atlas; IntelliRoute® truck routing software and GPS devices; and the leading geography-based educational resources for the classroom. Consumers, businesses, truckers, and educators depend upon Rand McNally to help navigate today’s world. www.randmcnally.com

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The B.B. King Museum and Delta Interpretive Center has begun exhibiting artwork from students around Sunflower County. The second exhibition will open April 13 and be on display in the Gin area at the Museum through May 7.  This show will feature pieces by third through sixth grade students from Carver Elementary, Indianola Academy and North Sunflower Academy.  A reception will be held Tuesday, April 13 at 5:30 p.m. for students and their families to discuss their artwork and enjoy refreshments.  Mr. Tanarri Moore, music instructor at Merritt Middle School, along with his student will provide the entertainment during this event! The public is invited to attend as well.

School teachers and art enthusiasts in the area have joined with the Museum to form a committee to discuss ways in which they might embrace and support students’ creative endeavors. In addition to visual art shows, students will have opportunities to perform song, dance and theater.

The committee plans to showcase student exhibits each month featuring different grades from all schools. Gentry High, Carver Elementary, Indianola Academy and North Sunflower Academy are all on deck in the coming months!  We welcome submissions from all Delta schools.

For more information, please contact:
Erin Mulligan or Lora Bingham
B.B. King Museum and Delta Interpretive Center
400 Second St, Indianola, MS 38751
662.887.9539

School teachers and art enthusiasts in the area have joined with the Museum to form a committee to discuss ways in which they might embrace and support students’ creative endeavors. In addition to visual art shows, students will have opportunities to perform song, dance and theater.

The committee plans to showcase student exhibits each month featuring different grades from all schools. Gentry High, Carver Elementary, Indianola Academy and North Sunflower Academy are all on deck in the coming months!  We welcome submissions from all Delta schools.

For more information, please contact:

Erin Mulligan or Lora Bingham
B.B. King Museum and Delta Interpretive Center
400 Second St, Indianola, MS 38751
662.887.9539

Docent-led tours of the Museum are meant to enhance the visitor’s experience of the exhibit and broaden knowledge of the Delta. Sessions will cover a range of topics from background on the Museum itself, presented by Connie Gibbons; to the history of the music, led by Professor Mark Howell; a Civil Rights Movement discussion led by Charles McLaurin; and a few unknown facts about Indianola and Sunflower County led by Jim Abbott and Dr. Luther Brown.

All are welcome to participate in these classes.  No prior experience is required, and it is not necessary to have attended any other meetings at the Museum previously.  There is no charge for these classes.

In addition to guiding tours for visitors, there are many other opportunities to volunteer at the Museum, including helping to greet visitors and share Indianola highlights with them; planning and assisting with special events; assistance with school tours; fundraising;  administrative work, such as stuffing envelopes, typing and other work on the computer; and much more.  We welcome your interest and participation in the work of the Museum.

For more information, please contact:
Erin Mulligan, Volunteer and Intern Coordinator
B.B. King Museum and Delta Interpretive Center
400 Second St, Indianola, MS 38751
662.887.9539 Ext. 228
emulligan@bbkingmuseum.org

The mission of the B. B. King Museum and Delta Interpretive Center, a 501(c) (3) non-profit organization, is to empower, unite and heal through music, art and education and share with the world the rich cultural heritage of the Mississippi Delta.

The vision is to inspire hope, creativity, and greatness.