The Argosy: Walking into Clarksdale...

Not until much after did I realize which Clarksdale this Page-Plant album referred to...
Clarksdale, Mississippi, of course, silly me, home of the Delta Blues.

I had the fortune to be there this past weekend (Aug 12-14, 2005) for the 18th Annual Sunflower River Blues and Gospel Festival.

And what a show it turned out to be!! Despite the brutal heat and humidity of the Delta, it will be no exaggeration to say that the show was a scorcher: some explosive blues acts by some brilliant performers.

The people who really knocked my socks off were Geneva Red, a redhead of striking beauty and demonic energy, and SuperChikan fronted by awesome bluesman James "Super Chikan" Johnson.

Other performers of note included Barbara Looney, Shirley Brown, David "Honeyboy" Edwards (w/ Sam Carr on drums) and Charlie Musslewhite.

On the smaller acoustic stage in Delta Street played, among others, Louis "Gearshift" Youngblood, Little Jimmy Reed, Cadillac Jon & Bill Abel and Terry "Harmonica" Bean.

I also bumped across, wonder of wonders, Mr. Jon Short from Worcester, Ma doing a fine acoustic act outside a local Blues Club.

In the WROX museum I bumped into one of the caretakers of the museum, "Bubba" O'Keefe and John, two very nice people who were wondering how they could popularise the efforts of pioneer black DJ of WROX, Early Wright.

Of course, I must not mention to forget to mention my first stop in the music fest area: the Delta Blues Museum. This is a wonderful place that tries to recreate some of the legend and the history of the blues, esepcially the Delta Blues!

As an aside, among the many blues-themed T-shirts, I also spotted the following Tshirts proclaiming:
-- Anthrax
-- The 2005 World Poker Championships.

Another of my great satisfactions: getting an autograph from legendary blues performer, Pinetop Perkins!!

And now, some photographs...