The second day in Tunica we started by having lunch at the world famous, their words not mine, Hollywood Café.  First question, are you surprised?  If you are, you are not reading enough Two Old Farts and a Dog and I suggest you review!

It was delicious southern cooking and the best hushpuppies I have ever eaten.  I had ribs and Jerry had catfish.  If you know the song Walking in Memphis by Marc Cohen, and if you don’t, you’ll have a chance to hear it below, it was performed here in the music video.  He visits the place often and this restaurant like many we have visited has been run by the same family or person for years.

From there we stopped at a few markers.  I’m not sure how many more of the markers I can get Jerry to stop at, I think I will have to do more driving, because they are just a post in the middle of nothing with a sign of what happened there.  I like to stop and read them and look out at the fields, all you see are cotton fields here, and imagine what I am reading.  I am enjoying seeing where the old blues legends were born.  When I first moved to Chicago and went to the Chicago Blues Fest and other blues places a lot of them were still alive and I saw them playing live.  It brings back so many memories.

After that we stopped at the Delta Museum.  Almost everything here has “delta” in the name.  The museum was interesting, even if we were the only visitors for the entire day.  I took a picture of the parking lot and our RV is the only vehicle.  I figured our $11 admission per person didn’t cover the salary of the person working. 

The museum talked about all the people who have lived here and how they used the land.  One thing I saw that surprised me was a map showing the Louisiana Purchase.   I remember learning about it in school, but until I stood in front of the map, I did not understand how much land was involved and that Jefferson bought it without permission of Congress. 

The museum listed an aquarium as part of their exhibits.  I love aquariums and that measured heavily in my decision to go there.  Sadly, I was disappointed.  There were three tanks and my dentist has more fish in his office.  There were no signs on the exhibits so I am not sure what the turtle that looks like a cross with a duck is called.  It had web feet like a duck, a shell like a turtle and a head like an eel.  I googled it and I think it is the Florida Softshell Turtle, but if you know better, please let me know.  The turtle was the highlight of the aquarium which contained two large catfish, some goldfish and a needle nose fish and two regular turtles.  It may look like a lot of residents, but it is really just a lot of pictures of the same thing.  Look at the pictures, it will be like you were there.

Wednesday morning, we left Tunica stopping in the down town on the way for another sign.  This sign had a Chicago connection talking about how Hardface went up to IL and settled in Cicero, and joined up with the Mafia to run his games.  The police station had the old police car parked in front of it and the log cabin was on main street.  An enjoyable stop. 

We then drove to Clarksdale and stopped at James Cotton’s marker talking about his birth and looked out over miles of cotton fields.  It is easy to see why the migration took place in the 30’s and 40’s when machines replaced the people no longer needed to harvest the cotton.  The job was so big and now it could be done in less time an only needed someone to drive the tractor.  Along with the music you can’t help but get a deeper sense of what it was like to live here with little opportunity to support your family.   

We then drove around trying to find the marker for Muddy Water’s childhood cabin but never did.  It was starting to rain and we were concentrating on the road and not the roadside.

We did find the campground we were planning to stay at, but there as no one there which forced us to our second choice which turned out to be better.  The original campground was in the country and about 20 minutes from town, the one we are at is 5 minutes from downtown and all the action.  It is in the fairgrounds and pretty run down with people perhaps living here.  It is fine for two nights since tomorrow we move on to the next town. 

We stopped in town at Cat Head Music.  I had seen the shop on line and wanted to go there.  The man is in his 50’s and has been here for 25 years.  He collects all blues items.  He had music, magazines, collectibles and is the non-official mayor of music.  He knows who is playing at what time and where.  We had a discussion and I learned he grew up in western Ohio and came he on a trip and never left.  I told him about the blues group we belong to in IL and he gave me things for the president and said he would be glad to help him find talent for the shows we have in Rockport.  His shop was on 60 Minutes but he told us how he had COVID during the filming and could not be on.   Once we left him, we went to the Bad Apple Blues Club.  I had seen it on line and emailed the owner who said they would be open and we went and visited Sean.  It was run down beyond repair and Jerry and I disagreed on why.  Jerry thinks it was for atmosphere, I think it was for real and should be condemned.  We had a fun 90 minutes while he played and told jokes.  He was the only person in charge which meant he served the  drinks, played the music and collected the cover charge.  It was quite funny when a new person came in, he stopped playing greeted you and told you about the cover and what he had for drinks.   I think the rules are very loose in Clarksdale since he had a cooler where he kept the beer he sold and I am not sure he had any type of a license.  But it was fun.  BTW he was on the 60 minutes program.

Sean playing above. Video is very dark but you can hear him.

From there we went to the Ground Zero Blues Club also featured on 60 Minutes and part owned by Morgan Freeman.  We ate dinner there, the most reasonable priced food we have had in Mississippi, I think Morgan needs a tax write off, and watched a show.  You could spend hours in here reading the walls.  Every spot is covered with graffiti.  I was itching to add my name, but when I looked next to me, I saw someone had already written “Deb” for me.

Today when it opens, we are going to the Delta Blues Museum and to search for more markers.