Notes from Clarksdale

LISA:
fullness; brimming; island time; teal building; barrier; influx; disperse; 45 miles; whirling; sunsets

CARLA:
wandering around town
picnic in the gazebo
met some dudes from arkansas- saw them later and they were druuuunk
COTTON
—–> cotton bales like hay bales
—–> blossoming cotton farms
—–> cotton as decoration in storefront windows
Pointing out fancy switchblades and knives we liked at a MS rest stop
Omar ate dinner with us in Clarksdale- Angela got gumbo, we got pizza, we all shared food
Omar plays with King Fish. Gives guitar lessons. Ran 45 miles, sometimes on his toes, in jordans, his feet hurt. Very talented, is known around town. Thinks he’s 28 but doesn’t know what year he was born cus his birth certificate got messed up somehow.
dance//performance in an alleyway somewhere
Abandoned building, hollow walls, worn down signs
Blues festival- not very many people (my kind of festival) Super Chicken and his beautiful band

ZACK:
photos/video

ANGELA:
Timeless, birthed Chicago, Kroger grocers closed, gospel, “when fear hits the body”, meddling, float, Lala Queen, inviting beautiful decay/architecture, the blues.

BEN:
“Live music every night”
“‘On his break?’ We make our own breaks here.”
Island town pace
Empty lots empty storefronts
“You teach someone the blues and they can communicate emotionally through music.”
Abidingness
Slow landscape – low fields – flat
River as divide – crossing into whiter territory
“The blues musicians who came out of the fields came through Clarksdale, stayed in the Riverside Hotel, and took the train up to Chicago”
Clarksdale as an intersection/hub