7th Annual Mississippi Delta Regional Blues Challenge

Grady Champion…Canton, MS – Thank you Indianola Blues Society for the opportunity to compete in Memphis at the IBC.  This year has been wonderful.  The blues fans have been incredible.  Good luck with this year’s Challenge at Club Ebony and with every endeavor your group takes on.  Keep up the good work.  You’re the best!  Grady

Winner of the Indianola Challenge and the 2010 International Blues Challenge

Parchman Farm Blues Marker Ceremony

See map link below:

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en&ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid=100688295274335080390.00043ac16963dc41feb11&ll=33.917678,-90.496445&spn=0.008609,0.013304&t=h&z=17

Hope to see you there!

Alex T. Thomas

Music Development, Program Manager

Mississippi Development Authority/Tourism

 athomas@mississippi.org

 

 

Clarksdale's MR. TATER has passed away.....

MUSICAL PASSING   -   Hailed as one of the last Mississippi Delta street musicians and a favorite of visiting tourists from around the world, Foster Wiley a.k.a. "Mr Tater, The Music Maker" passed away early Friday morning, September 10, at the Methodist University Hospital in Memphis -- according to his brothers Joshua and Joe Wiley. Foster Wiley had been in the Intensive Care Unit for over a week with kidney and other issues.  Funeral arrangements, procession, reception/musical jam info:  www.cathead.biz/livemusic.html

 

 

Piano woman - Eden Brent - USA Today pick....

USA Today picked ten intriguing music tracks listened to this past week…..

Eden Brent made the list with a track from her upcoming album - “Ain’t Got No Troubles” -

 to be officially released----September 7!

http://www.usatoday.com/life/music/reviews/2010-08-16-the-playlist17_ST_N.htm

More………… http://gardenandgun.com/article/delta-soul  ; http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129003332 ; http://www.shorefire.com/clients/ebrent/

 

 

 

Ike Turner Mississippi Blues Trail Marker - Friday, August 6, 2010 at 10:00 AM - Clarksdale, MS

 

 

 

 

Catfish, R & B, and more....

Cleveland – Teach for America (TFA) participants got a taste of Delta hospitality on Friday, June 18, as they were treated to “Catfish on the Quad” on the Delta State University Quadrangle. Approximately 800 participants were joined by members of the community and Delta State faculty and staff for an evening of fun, food, and entertainment. Participants were treated to a dinner of southern fried catfish, and musical entertainment provided by local R&B band The Pearl Street Jumpers. High evening temperatures proved no deterrent as TFA members participated in numerous activities including three-way volleyball, a rock-climbing wall, jumbo basketball, sidewalk bowling, and much more, before dancing well into the evening. “It was wonderful to see the Teach for America members together with members of the campus and community for an evening of fun and fellowship,” said Dr. Michelle Roberts, vice president for University Relations at Delta State. “I have been at Delta State for over 20 years and I can’t recall the Quad being so full of people and activities.  Everyone seemed to have a wonderful time, despite the high temperatures. For many, this was their first taste of fried catfish and hushpuppies. Based on their positive comments, it won’t be their last.”  “Catfish on the Quad” concluded the first week of Teach for America’s Delta Institute, the first TFA training institute in a rural location. Atlanta, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, New York City, Philadelphia, and Phoenix are the other Teach For America institute locations.

About Teach For America

Teach For America is the national corps of outstanding recent college graduates who commit to teach for two years in urban and rural public schools and become lifelong leaders in expanding educational opportunity. This fall, more than 8,200 corps members will be teaching in 39 regions across the country, while more than 20,000 Teach For America alumni continue working from inside and outside the field of education for the fundamental changes necessary to ensure educational excellence and equity. For more information, visit www.teachforamerica.org.   

 

Delta State holds summer heritage workshop for teachers

CLEVELAND - Forty teachers from across the United States recently participated in a Delta heritage workshop entitled “The Most Southern Place on Earth: Music, History and Culture of the Mississippi Delta,” funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities. The workshop was presented by the Delta State University Delta Center for Culture and Learning, and was led by Center staff Luther Brown and Lee Aylward. Participants sampled Delta foods, visited local museums, and listened to the Blues as they traveled throughout the Delta visiting sites in Greenville, Greenwood, Clarksdale and Memphis, with stops in between where significant events occurred. They discussed issues involving civil rights and political leadership, immigrants’ experiences in the Delta, the Blues, the great migration, agriculture, religious heritage, and the Great Flood of 1927, among other things. All of the teachers who participate in the summer workshop will present lessons on the Delta’s heritage in their classrooms back home. Photo: Workshop participants in front of the Flood Museum in Greenville.