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majorettes
majorettes

Ricky “Soul Man” Burton at Ground Zero Blues Club, Clarksdale

After the earlier majorette jamboree in Memphis, I drove down to Tunica for the Rosa Fort Jamboree, but that one proved to be quite a disappointment. If drumlines are becoming rarer at Memphis jamborees, they are non-existent at Mississippi ones. After an hour and a half or so, I decided to leave and drive down to Clarksdale to the legendary Ground Zero Blues Club. They were having a Pre-Valentine’s Day Bash with Ricky “Soul Man” Burton and the Basic Soul Band, so there was a fairly substantial cover charge, and, once inside, I found the place packed to the rafters. The TV’s were flashing the breaking news about Whitney Houston’s death as I looked in vain for a table. Finally, I was directed to a table where a French family was sitting, and I was able to sit down and order food. The band and vocalists were quite good, and the audience included a lot of radio personalities from Helena’s Delta Force III and Clarksdale’s WROX.

Moonwalking With The Klondike Dance, Drum and Bugle Corps Back in 1970

Anyone who has ever been to a majorette jamboree knows that majorettes and drummers are a big part of Memphis culture. So I was really interested when I came across this July 4, 1970 article from the Commercial Appeal about the Klondike Dance, Drum and Bugle Corps, which for one thing proves that the roots of drumming and drilling in Memphis go back at least that far (legendary drummer Willie Hall claims back to 1969). Also of interest is the reference to the dancers doing the “moon walk”, so that dance is clearly older than Michael Jackson, and might have come from Memphis!