Clarksdale on the Morning of Juke Joint Fest’s Big Day @VisitClarksdale #jukejointfest

The Saturday of Juke Joint Festival is arguably Clarksdale’s biggest day of the year, but if you get there early enough and don’t mind a walk, parking is not that big a deal. I parked around the corner from Red’s Juke Joint, and walking past the Ground Zero club I ran into members of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock jazz band who were unloading their equipment for a performance at the club. Arts, crafts, food, games and music are the order of the day at Juke Joint Fest, and unlike Thursday night, which had been chilly, the weather on Saturday was warm and full of sunshine.

Juke Joint Fest 2013 Schedule, April 11-14, 2013 Clarksdale

The Juke Joint Festival is one of Clarksdale’s two big music-related events each year, and the one I find the most enjoyable. The weather is perfect, many of the daytime events are free, and there’s no tents or roped-off areas to spoil your view of the performers on stage. It’s likely too late to get a room in Clarksdale, but it’s not too late to get a room in Tunica, Memphis, Cleveland, Indianola, Batesville etc. and drive over, and it’s definitely worth it. If you’ve never been, think of Juke Joint Festival as a South By Southwest of the blues and you’ve got the picture. A schedule of official and unofficial events can be found at http://www.jukejointfestival.com/fest_events.php. See you there.

Walking Charlotte’s Trendy NoDa Neighborhood

NoDa, short for North Davidson, the name of its main street, is a trendy arts district north of downtown Charlotte in a former mill neighborhood. It’s primarily a collection of restaurants and night clubs, with a few boutiques, a yogurt bar and a coffeehouse.

The NoDa Music Festival takes its name from the NoDa neighborhood along North Davidson Street. Once the business center for a village of mill workers, the area has become a center of the arts, boutiques and night clubs.

Art Exhibits at the Memphis Music and Heritage Festival

The Memphis Music and Heritage Festival also celebrates the visual arts as well, with exhibits both indoors and out on the Main Street Mall, 9/1/12

Memphis’ Main Street Mall is the center of attention during the Memphis Music and Heritage Festival, 9/1/12

The second Pop-Up Arts Festival of the year was held Sunday 4/29/12 at Melrose Stadium in Orange Mound. The event was sponsored by ArtsMemphis and featured live music, dance, African drumming, painting, metalworking, jazz, neo-soul and hip-hop, along with the Memphis Symphony Orchestra. Of course, there was also delicious food and lots of fun. 

Saturday morning April 21 I went out to the Vollentine Evergreen Art Walk in North Memphis, but the weather was grey and extremely cold. Although there was food, live music, kids activities and attractive artwork, it was just too wintery to enjoy much. 

The Memphis Music and Heritage Festival is held every year in downtown Memphis on the Main Street Mall on Labor Day Weekend. It is a celebration of Memphis music, culture, art and food, and thus amounts to Memphis’ version of the New Orleans JazzFest, with some elements of Ponderosa Stomp thrown in for good measure. Unfortunately, each year the event seems to become more precarious, for, unlike JazzFest, the event is free to the public, and organized by the Center for Southern Folklore, a worthwhile organization which has also struggled in recent years. Since other festivals like the Beale Street Music Festival have little to do with Memphis music or culture, it is important for our community that we find a way to keep the Memphis Music and Heritage Festival viable for many years to come.