Constructive Anarchy: The Blog

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Aug 6 I traveled to Clarksdale, Mississippi for the 23rd Annual Sunflower River Blues Festival and offered to sell my soul for fame at the Crossroads…But, the devil said, “Dude, What the hell. You already get more hits than me in the 18 to 45 group…But, I’ll trade you the souls of the entire Wasilla HillBilly clan for some of your readers.” I passed.

In the red area on the map above was an outdoor stage which offered 3 days of great free music!
The first act we saw was Robert “Bilbo” Walker (below)…Energy and showmanship off the chart
…plus a really bad wig. (He’s bald.)
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And, when the sun got too hot: Every other building in Clarksdale is a juke joint with a live band.
From Morgan Freeman’s very fancy Ground Zero (below)…
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We ate ribs, fried green tomatoes and hot tamales and the red hot (Robert Johnson).
ABOVE: lead singer hadn’t notice that there was a weird little drunk woman dancing behind.
Next to the stage on the map above is the Delta Blues Museum. Muddy Waters Shack:
. Muddy’s little shack was removed piece by piece from the original site 10 miles from town and rebuilt in the middle of the museum.

Why Clarksdale? Because this small town is indeed the Crossroads of Highways 61 and 49 where the great Black Delta rural blues men met up on their journey north to Memphis and finally Chicago in the first half of the 20th century to become the Founding Fathers of Rock & Roll!
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Rural Legend (better than Urban Legends) says that Robert Johnson(musician) claimed to have gone down to the crossroad to sell his soul to the devil in exchange for the skills to become the best songwriter/ guitarist in the world. Yes…Faust! But, Johnson was illiterate…how did he know this story?
Fans of this era all agree: Johnson sucked, disappeared and then reemerged a year later as a superstar.
Robert Johnson only recorded 29 songs and was murdered at age 27 for messing wif a married woman (when his contract expired). He was poisoned, stabbed or shot in a bar. Kinda fuzzy. But we do do know that RJ is one of the Top 5 American composers of the 20th Century. The proof?
If you are a wannabe rock or blues band who has not covered a Johnson tune…YOU SUCK!
A few R&R Hall of Famers who have recorded Robert Johnson tunes: Allman Bros, Blues Bros, Butterfield Blues Band, Clapton, Cream, Delaney & Bonnie, Fleetwood Mac, Rory Gallagher, Grateful Dead, Peter Green, Keb Mo, Led Zeppelin, Lynyard Skynard, Tim McGraw, John Mellencamp, Steve Miller, Chili Peppers, Rolling Stones, Patti Smith, White Stripes, ZZ Top and John Winter.
Click here for a partial list(deleted_04_Jun_2008_at_00:14).