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Show The Salt Lake Tribune TRAVEL Sunday, April7,2002 The Blues Highway StopsatClarksdale, Miss. BY AUDRA DS. BURCH CLARKSDALE,Miss. — It’s a lonely stretch of two-lane blacktop, an alluvial plain of nothing, Highway61. Nolights. | Notraffic. No sights to see. Just the stuff of Delta lore, the in- guitar. Legend has it, the devil got his due in 1938 when Johnson died after sipping from a poisoned drink at the Alley; Blues restored from a turn-of- the-century building and named after a national park in Botivia about six months before Ground Zero. “Morgan, our wives and myself would drive around town looking for nice places to 662-621-9009, eat. We were forced to drive a good bit to find something, so we decided to open our own | among the giants of biues gatherings, will be held Aug. 9 and 10. Information: www.sunflowerfest.org. place to eat,” says Luckett in a charming Southern drawl. Therestaurant is awash in ‘TheAssociated Press earth tones, exposed Old World brick and skylights and a galleryof art from regionalartists. Big-Time Bridge The food is from the French palette, with a dab of Mediterranean, entrées ranging from A famous bridge is seen from a fort near Empire Fulton Ferry State Park. The bridge washailed as the Eighth | Wonderof the World whenit opened in 1883. But whereis it? Still searching for clues? The name of the bridge and city is in the map ofa different, state, below. While you are at it, name that state, also. (See answers on H-8). hybrid bassto rack of lamb. Madidi, on thestrength ofits several in the city). In all its unfettered glory, the club stands wayat the end of Blues Three Forks jukejoint. It's a curious story, an entrée into the history and the actor and Delta native Morgan Freeman and his partner and 0 Zero, 164 Delta Ave.; 662-627-7770. For a virtual tour of this restored brick storefront, log on to www.ground zerobluesclub.com. Dinnerentrees $19-$29. Delta Blues Museum, 1 Blues Alley; 662-627-6820, www.deltabluesmuseum.org. The museum explores the roots ofblues music andits influences on popular music. The Sunflower River Blues and Gospel Festival, | the skills to play the hell out ofa for blues music,” says Tony Czech, director of the Blues Museum in downtown Clarksdale. “This is where you'll find the roots and influence of popular music,this is where it all came from.” Andso it makes sense that Ground | man Robert Johnson sold his Smith died. “Clarksdale is ground zero | | where tortured genius blues- King, John Lee Hooker, Ike Memphis. Elmo George Tours offers dinner and dancing trips from Memphis to Clarksdale cn weekends. Prices begin at $55. 662-647-8455. | soul to the devil in exchange for Turner and hundredsoflesser names, found their mood and their music.It's where Muddy Waters lived, where Bessie | @ Madidi, the fine-dining counterpart of Ground Zero, marked by three huge guitars like the cotton on plantations, well before it played its way north to Chicago, then the rest of the world. It's where W.C. Handy (father of blues), BB | lots of loud music. Plate lunch $6 including drink and dessert. suspended above traffic — is stretching some 200 miles from Catfish Row in Vicksburg, through Clarksdale, to the lobby of the Peabody Hotel in Memphis,is where blues grew rant Getting There: Clarksdale is about 75 miles south of www.groundzerobluesclub.com. Authentic juke joint, with way 49. Legendhas it, that here, at the crossroads now newfound cultural renaissance of blues music that has made this vintage town of 20,645 a tourist destination. The Mississippi Delta, and Luckett opened the restau- | | | spiration of lyrics and the promise of good blues music. The Blues Highway, they call it, and it just sort of moves along until it bends to the right and crosses the path of High- as a culturaldestination. In November 2000, Freeman vine KNIGHT RIDDER Alley (address is 0 Biues Alley), next to the train tracks Muddy Waters hopped aboard headed for Chicago. “Blues is our heritage, our roots are here,” Freeman says ina New York Post article. “*Ground Glenn Gates, the 80-something- year-old, who comes regulariy to dance to the blues and drink Diet Coke. For about $5 or so, you can hear the blues performances, andfor a bit more grab a burger and beer. When the chef really gets fired up, the menu could a ; Zero is pre. “Clarksdale is ground serving not only the form of music, but < zerofioo ee This is where you’ll find we have cre- Indeed, the and the Famms Band wail ¢ wee the secular cousin to gospel spirituals. In that way, it becamean escape from the harsh hours in the interpreting the classics ducing origi4 too. Sometimes fear TONY CZECH eee the a POP!ular sheds this is noe) i Director “Snack the ee Blues Mi i a through, too, Bar” sign hanging over the bar thatcame from the barbershop/craps parlor that Freeman’s father ran in nearby Charleston. All the way down tothegritty chic decor, uneven clapboard floors, the mismatched chairs,the vinyl tablecloths, the oldfashioned Christmas lights including the North Mississippi Allstars, the Kudzu Kings, Bob Margolin and Pinetop Perkins. Andit’s not uncommon to see Freeman, more cowboy than actor, whooping it up on the dance floor with his wife, Myrna (they live in nearby buddy, Bill Luckett, would nametheir blues club, Ground strung haphazardly from the Charleston, Miss., on the same property his parents owned). Zero. The two used to go to a walls. All the way down to Put- Ground Zero, along with the club called Crossroads and tin’ whenit shut down,they, along with a third partner, decided to open up their own (one of cigarette-smoking fixture who plays three cards at his spot behind the pool table, or Dr. Hatchett, the chain tile soil. In the day, black sharecroppers labored in the fields; by night, they made their way to Issaquena Avenue in down- at where it all camefrom.”’ 24_intro- whic opened iat spring, is au- runs parallel with that of the Delta, a region notedforits fer- times, Big T town Clarksdale for the blues, J - including Martin Scorsese and Wynonna and AshleyJudd. The history of blues music include catfish or fried grits. Some- ated the juke the roots and influence of morning — joint look.” fusion cuisine, star ownership and curiouslocale, has become a must-do on thelist of celebs, existence of black folk in the Huge Windmill to Sprout at Tulip Festival larger white America. “Blues is a music born outof the slavery and sharecropping systems,” says Czech, of the Blues Museum. “Its always been an emotional music.” These days, with a museum with increasing attendance, several festivals and juke joints dotting the city, blues is enjoying a cultural renaissance. “People are interested in THEASSOC PRESS Netherlands. The PELLA, Iowa The country’s tallest working windmill brick-and-concrete four-story base of the windmill was built onthe site. The top has beenerectedin this central Iowa town knownforits tulip festival and Dutch heritage. The 135-foottall windmill is portion wasconstructed in the Netherlands, dismantled, and shipped toPella The project was funded by private donations anda grant part of a $3.5 million project that will be the entrance to the from Vision Iowa's Commu: nity Attraction and Tourism city’s Historical Village. The eight-sided wooden Fund. knowing more about the music,” says Czech. “And if you wantto know aboutblues, you city mill, built by Luka Verbij, The windmill is expectedto open to the public May 2, the haveto cometo Clarksdale. a windmill maker from the start ofthecity’s tulipfe windmill is a replica ofan 1850s fe Tacha Eastern Travel 466-8811 Fax: 466-5966|| ECU LOL Great Trips * Best Service 2906 S. 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