Kicking Off The Independence Weekend at a 100-year-old Arkansas store
Colt, Arkansas is not really on the beaten path at all, but it is one of several suburbs of the small former industrial city of …
Murals
In Search of Harlem Alley
In the spring of 1983, I was going to Central Baptist School in the Bartlett area, and I rode with our basketball team to Forrest …
A City of Murals
While the city of Memphis has struggled in recent years with abandonment and economic problems, one of the bright spots has been an explosion of …
Some Like It Black: Cxffeeblack Celebrates Coffee and Black Culture in Memphis
Years ago, Memphis was coffee-challenged, to say the least. After reading liner notes off my favorite Style Council album attributed to The Cappuccino Kid, I …
Beauty Emerges From Struggle In Memphis
The designation of Memphis as “Grind City” seems fairly well-entrenched at this point. The city’s modern image as a decidedly working-class place synonymous with struggle …
Grooving On A Sunday Afternoon
It was the first really warm Sunday afternoon of the year, and one where I had a rare Sunday afternoon gig with Big Don Valentine …
Afternoon in Shreveport and the Strange Emptiness of a Lost Downtown
I had ridden to Shreveport with someone else, and although I wanted to eat at Orleandeaux’s now that it had opened in the old Smith’s …
Coldwater: A Struggling Town Celebrates Its Legacy
The original town of Coldwater, Mississippi was founded in Tate County, Mississippi in 1872 along the Mississippi and Tennessee Railroad, which ran from Memphis to …
Whistling Past The Graveyard: Helena Celebrates Amidst the Ruins
The annual King Biscuit Blues Festival in Helena, Arkansas is one of the United States’ major blues festivals. But time has not been kind to …
Celebrating the Blues and Juke Joint Culture in its Birthplace
Saturday April 23 was the main day of Juke Joint Festival in Clarksdale, a bright and sunny day, but extremely windy. In fact, the wind …