Dr. A and I took what amounts to a self-guided cultural tour of Mississippi. The Magnolia State’s politics suck but they have culture up the wazoo or is that Yazoo? We were based in Oxford, home of Ole Miss whose obscure football fan chant is Hotty Toddy. I have no idea what that means but I am not making this up.

The featured image depicts one of the highlights of our trip, Rowan Oak. It’s the home of William Faulkner, major character and Nobel Prize winning novelist. How cultural is that?

I’m a collector of Faulkner anecdotes. I have a new one: He wrote on the walls of his home office.

He also wrote phone numbers on the wall near the kitchen. Why? The phone was there:

Rowan Oak is a fabulous place to visit if you dig literature and seeing whiskey bottles:

It’s time to move on to our Faulknerian theme song. A Rose For Emily is one of my favorite Faulkner stories. Emily is a recluse who keeps the corpse of an old suitor in her house. I am not making this up: Faulkner did.

A Rose For Emily was written by Rod Argent for The Zombies classic 1968 album, Odessey and Oracle.  It’s not about the Faulkner story but shares a title with it. The Brits don’t study the Faulkner story in school, so Argent had never heard of it.

We have two versions of A Rose For Emily for your listening pleasure: the studio OG and live from New Orleans at a 2015 show that I missed.

While we’re talking Emily songs, here’s Los Lobos with Levon Helm:

Our second act consists of more trip talk with nary a triptych in sight.

Oxford, MS is a pleasant walkable college town. It’s centered around The Square. I was pleased to see a plaque outside the courthouse solemnly commemorating the lynchings that took place in Lafayette County. I’m glad the Trumpers haven’t exchanged it for a golden statue of the Insult Comedian. I shouldn’t have said that: I don’t want to give Governor Tater Tot any ideas, not that he ever has any. His head is where ideas go to die.

The Square has many good eateries, boutiques selling pink outfits to sorority girls, and a world class book store, Square Books. We just missed a signing by my countryman David Sedaris. Oh well, what the hell.

Another cultural highlight of the trip was the Delta Blues Museum in Clarksdale:

It’s a world class museum smack dab in the middle of Clarksdale. Seeing the exhibits made me think of Bill Graham, the legendary concert impresario. I saw many of the artists on the museum walls at Bill’s shows. He thought it was important to expose his customers to the Delta Blues. Thanks again, Bill.

One memorable show at Winterland paired Johnny Winter and Muddy Waters. When Bill introduced Winter he said, “You’re probably wondering why Johnny isn’t closing the show. He told me, Muddy Waters doesn’t open for Johnny Winter, I open for him.”

Class acts all the way around.

We did a lot of walking on the trip. Let’s take a stroll with Muddy and Johnny:

Dr. A and I had a blast in Clarksdale and plan to go back and travel the entire blues trail. We did go down to the mythical crossroads but didn’t flag a ride, instead we ate BBQ:

Abe’s calls their food swine dining. It was fine swine to say the least. They did not, however, serve wine…

Another highlight was a trip to Cathead Delta Blues & Folk Art where I talked the ear off of the charming proprietor Roger Stolle who was instrumental in bringing more live music to the birthplace of the blues:

Most of the pictures were taken by Dr. A. I’m a shite photographer. What can ya do?

The last word of our second act goes to Howlin’ Wolf with Willie Dixon’s ode to living large:

We begin our third act with our favorite stolen feature.

Separated At Birth Casting Edition: Among the blues artists honored at the Delta Blues Museum was the Memphian WC Handy. Nat King Cole played Handy in the 1958 movie St. Louis Blues. Here are Nat and Will Handy cutting up:

Like most biopics, the movie is factually challenged. But Nat is pretty good and the music is great:

Your Basic Basie: Since many Delta blues artists moved to Chicago to escape racist oppression, it’s only fitting to post this song in our weekly tribute to Count Basie.

Have I told you lately how much I love Count Basie?

Saturday GIF Horse: It’s Blues Brothers time. Rock on John and Dan:

That GIF gives me an excuse to post this number from the movie:

Toon Time: This is a Walt Handelsman cartoon from 2023. It still holds true. Cassidy’s YOLO days were short-lived:

Let’s close down this virtual honky tonk with some more music.

Saturday Closer: In which Muddy and The Stones urge their baby not to go to New Orleans.

That’s all for this week. The last word goes to Howard Hawks, William Faulkner, and screenwriter Steve Fisher.