Music history and highlights that have happened on February 12th… from the birthplace of the blues… and rock n’ roll. 1898: “When Johnny Comes Marching Home” composer LeRoy Harris born in Oklahoma. 1914: Glenn Miller Orchestra saxophonost Tex Beneke born in Ft. Worth. 1939: The Doors keyboardist Ray Manzarek (“Light My Fire”) born in Chicago. […]
Source information from SCOTTY MOORE. Elvis played in Clarksdale in late 1954, on January 12, 1955, March 10, 1955 and September 8, 1955. He may have also played at the Clarksdale VFW in 1955 as well (date unknown). To help understand where Elvis was in his career ascent in late 1954 and through 1955, his […]
Music history and highlights that have happened on February 11th… from the birthplace of the blues… and rock n’ roll. 1911: Blues, folk and gospel musician and civil rights activist Josh White born in Greenville, South Carolina. 1922: Al Jolson’s “April Showes” hits No. 1. 1935: Important early rock singer and guitarist Gene Vincent (“Be […]
The Arts & Culture District sign honoring Rachel Parker Dear went up last week. Mounted by Clarksdale Public Utilities, the sign is on the corner of the street where Rachel lived, which shared an alley with Dr. Aaron Henry’s pharmacy on Martin Luther King Blvd. (it was “4th” St. back then). Rachel Parker was a […]
Music history and highlights that have happened on February 10th… from the birthplace of the blues… and rock n’ roll. 1878: Tchaikovsky’s 4th Symphony in F opens. 1927: Opera soprano Leontyne Price born in Laurel, Mississippi. 1932: Zydeco singer Rockin Dopsie (Alton Jay Rubin) born in Carencro, Louisiana. 1937: The Ventures’ guitarist Don Wilson born […]
The public is invited to the Lower Mississippi River Foundation 2nd General Annual Membership Meeting and the Friends of the Sunflower River 16th Annual Meeting. The 2018 meeting is 12 noon Saturday, Feb 17th, on the riverbank behind Quapaw Canoe Company, 3rd & Sunflower in downtown Clarksdale. The event will start with a bonfire and […]
From Splinter Creek website. By BRITTAIN STONE (photos from Sweet Magnolia) When Hugh Balthrop, owner of Sweet Magnolia Gelato in Clarksdale, Mississippi, makes his nearly weekly visit to Oxford to deliver his pints from the Delta, he takes great pleasure in visiting with his local growers. “It’s about relationships for us,” Balthrop says. “When I […]
City of Clarksdale Commissioner Willie Turner Jr. visits the 4th grade class of Booker T. Washington school in Clarksdale, Mississippi. On what the school calls “Career Day”, Commissioner Turner talked about the various aspects, insights and experiences of his important law enforcement career, his career at the fire department and also about the beginning of […]
Music history and highlights that have happened on February 8th… from the birthplace of the blues… and rock n’ roll. 1735: First opera to ever appear in the American colonies, “Flora”, opens in Charleston. 1895: Tchaikovsky’s revival of “Swan Lake” opens in St. Petersburg. 1915: “Birth of a Nation”, the first full length motion picture […]
During Black History Month, Mississippi Congressman Bennie Thompson will recognize African-American women of the Mississippi Delta. The women are featured in the novel, “Delta Jewels: In Search of My Grandmother’s Wisdom” by Alysia Burton Steele (see more here). “These women are hidden figures, and their stories will be told,” Thompson says. The first “Delta […]