Juke Joint 2011 & The Photo Workshop

(Lots of Photos this time - Click on Pictures to Enlarge the photos / 'Control +' to enlarge the Browser)

Last month we went off to Clarksdale, Mississippi again. this time for the Juke Joint Festival and a photo workshop headquartered at the ShackUp Inn. Good times and relearning some things from long ago. Except for AA and MEM I have been pretty successful at removing the cult of personality I had developed in the past around individual photographers and was unfamiliar with the work of the workshops mentor: David Alan Harvey.

David Alan Harvey

Day 1: Rosedale and The Shack Up Inn
The first thing we did was head for the crossroads to harvest the Voo-Doo picks (see the previous post 'The Harvest' for a picture). On the way back we stopped in Rosedale just so I could take a photo of this church. Built is 1879 it is a fantastic representation of Carpenter Gothic architecture. The church is on the National register of historic buildings and is very dramatic at the right time of day.

Grace Episcopal Church on Main Street Rosedale.

Then off to the Shack Up Inn to check in and enjoy some music for the night.

Big 'A' (previously little a but time had caught up to him) with his drummer and singer performed for us.

Big Anthony

High Stickin'

She's about to "Walk the Dog"

One of the workshop participants, Sascha Meies, a German living in Paris was accompanied by his lady. Here she is viewing the proceedings.

Sasha's Girl

Day 2: T-Model Ford and Open Mic at the Hopson Plantation

This evening T-Model Ford was brought to the Juke Joint Chapel in the Shack Up Inn to play for us.

T-Model Ford

Ninety-one years old he's still churnin. T-Model Ford did it all in his 90 years - hard drinkin and hard lovin', chain gang time and Jail time. He had lived a life in the Blues and kept a bottle of Jack Daniels close at hand throughout the evening that he needed to be able to play. He had a pacemaker put in a few years ago, a stroke last year, and his hands hurt so bad from arthritis that it wasn't until the 10th hit or so from the Jack that he could actually play.

Still pickin...

 Still rapacious - his eyes were all a-gleem and a devilish smile lit up his face every time a pretty girl talked to him. How many 90 year olds have you known can still wear a hat with a skull on it?!

Next door at the Hopson Plantation store Ronnie Drew (owner of Bluestown Music in Clarksdale) and Steve Sauer (Itinerant piano player and Led Zepplin fan) were entertaining the adult beverage crowd at an open mic night.

Ron Drew

Steve Sauer

Adult beverages flowed and the dancers snuggled up as the night twirled on.

Day 3:  Po Monkey's

Po' Monkey's Juke Joint

Somewhere south of Clarksdale just off Rt. 61 you turn right off the highway and travel a few hundred yards, turn left when you see an old graveyard on the right and coast down a gravel road for a few miles till you see the American flag flying on your left. You've just arrived at Po' Monkey's Juke - preferably about sunset just as Willie Seaberry is about to open his little club in a cotton field.

Willie Seaberry

The inside of Po' Monkey's is decorated with stuffed monkeys that Willie's patrons have sent him. They come from all over the world to experience some of the setting that birthed the Delta Blues.

Willie Welcomes folks to the Juke.

Willie has run Po' Monkey's for 50 years. He lives in the back and opens the front for Jukes - these days (he's 70 years old) just when the spirit moves him or for special visitors or on Thursdays. Juke means 'Dirty Move' like on the Basketball court when you get faked out or, in the case of the Jukes, like the moves the strippers Willie used to bring in from Memphis put on the Po' Monkey patrons.

Bill Abel

Playing at Po's Monkey's the night we were there was local Delta Bluesman Bill Abel. Bill has been playing this music for almost 30 years. He plays by himself or as a sideman with every local legend in the Clarksdale area. He has traveled the world playing this music he loves on instruments he makes himself. From one string 'Diddley Bo's' to six string guitars made from cigar boxes and driftwood he makes a totally unique sound and contributes to the Delta Sound.

Bill's Instruments

Day 4: The Graveyard, Bentonia Blues, & Evening in Clarksdale

Robert Johnson's Gravestone

Miles from anywhere, under a huge spreading Oak tree in the graveyard at Little Zion Baptist church near Greenwood, Miss. is this gravestone. Of the 3 reported burial sites of Robert Johnson this is considered the most likely at it is the only one reported by an eyewitness: Rosie Eskridge, whose husband Tom dug the grave. The story is Johnson was poisoned by a jealous husband after playing the Three Forks Juke joint in Greenwood. He died that night at a local plantation. That plantation was extremely close to Little Zion Baptist. Rosie Eskridge claimed to have seen the body all wrapped up in a cloth under the tree where this marker is now while her husband was digging the grave. While we were there a young couple, in their twenties, pulled up in a rental car to see the grave. They were from England and were teachers on a spring trip to America. They wanted to be sure they saw as many places in the Delta as they could - further testimony to the enduring legacy of Johnson and the other Delta Bluesmen and how universal their music is.

Blue Front Cafe - Bentonia Mississippi

After the grave site we drove 2 hours south to Bentonia to photograph the Blue Front Cafe. When we were here in January it was closed - we thought permanently. To our surprise and delight we found Jimmy 'Duck' Holmes sitting on the front porch playing his guitar with 7 year old Roman Barten-Sherman.



'Duck' Holmes with Roman and family.

 Jimmy Holmes is perhaps the last living player proficient in the "Bentonia Style" blues made famous by 'Skip' James ("I'm so Glad"). See him HERE. But he's trying to pass it on.



Roman Learning a lick.

 Jimmy's parents opened the Cafe in the late 40's during segregation. They were not allowed to serve Coca-Cola then as it was reserved for whites. They served Ne-hi instead. In 1972 Jimmy began the Bentonia Blues Festival that fills the streets in front of his cafe every June with people from all over the world.

Another 2 hour drive and we arrived back in Clarksdale wondering the streets as the city began to heat up for Juke Joint.

Day 5: Bluesberry with the All Night Long Band



Sean Appel and Freinds

 The afternoon began with opening ceremonies at the theater and a performance by Sean "Bad" Appel and some friends. Naturally there were those moved by amour when the music started.


Moved by the music.



Jimbo Mathus

Jimbo Mathus of Squirrel Nut Zippers and more (read about him here) waits outside the theater to move his equipment in for a performance.

That night we kicked it with the All Night Long Band Featuring MaryAnne ('Action') Jackson at the Bluesberry Cafe.

Sean and Bigboy takin' it to the streets!

Playin' up a storm.

'Action' Jackson serve some head!

Lightnin' Harmonica

Action and her squeeze Steve!

On the streets the colored girls were dancin' and singin' "Stop! In the name of Love"

I was Diana Ross when we sang together...

They gave me love,love,love...

Day 6: Monekys and Cat Head



Monkey's riding Dogs

Dudes! Really - I got no idea who thought this belonged in a blues festival It was "Monkeys Riding Dogs Herding Sheep". Literally. A cowboy brought out monkeys riding dogs and they rounded up sheep and put them in a pen then went back in their trailer. The cowboy told everyone that he had a dream as a little kid about this and when he grew up he made it real. As far as I am concerned this was proof that they grow killer weed in the Delta and EVERYONE smokes it or at least breathes it in! I never had one this good back in the 60's when acid was still legal!

Across the street at Cat Head Bookstore 'Duck' Holmes was wowing a crowd at his cd re-issue party.

Jimmy 'Duck' Holmes

Around the corner the Super Bad String Band was playing a benefit:

Day 7: The Juke Joint Festival 2011

We start the Juke Joint Day with John Popper playin some wakeup harp with Bill Abel down by the river.



Mr. Popper

 While he was playing we got Caddilac John to sign oyr Crossroads Guitar - Gettin' full!

John just signed the Crossroads Guitar.

Then John went on stage and rattled his harp all down Sunflower Street!

Caddilac John cryin' with his Harp.

And the girls just loved the music -

RL Burnside signed and played our guitar:

And Honey Boy Edwards studied the crowd. Born in 1915 he rolled around with Robert Johnson and claims to have been in the Juke the night Johnson was poisoned. His story of the poisoning is considered the definitive one.

From Indiana the showtoppers for the weekend were The Reverand Payton's Big Damn Band! Heavy Metal Washboard music that has to be seen to be believed. Don't miss a chance to see these guys live - you won't regret it.

Reverend Payton

Clarksdales busiest after dark spot.

Inside Ground Zero

The Cd cover I did during the festival for Sam 'Black Smoke' Wiggins of Memphis

And finally my good friend 'Rat' Frank Ratcliff owner of the Riverside Hotel. As usual he provided great company during the fesival:

Pros & Cons of the workshop:


These were an incredibly intense 10 days and certainly the best money I have spent on Photography since Cooper School in 1972. The instructer, David Alan Harvey, is a Magnum and Nat Geo photographer. You can check out his work here:

Burn Magazine

David Alan Harvey

Wikipedia

He is 66 years old but definately doesn't act it. He has an ego the size of Detroit but deserves it. His book "Divided Soul" leaves me cold even though it is technically thrilling. But his Hip-Hop book "Living Proof" brought tears to my eyes! He is an incredible photographer and can tell his stories in many ways. I got MUCH out of the week. 

Pros:

Biggest thing for me was meeting and seeing the work of Jake Mendel. He was one of the workshop participants and who I want to be when I grow up. His book on racing 'Short Track' so nails the subject.

I had several goals & all were met -

1. Understand better how to use flash - His demos on this were absolutely terrific. Some I had known from school long ago and forgotten and some were new for speedlites and digital.

2. Work the street - Be able to take candid on the street photos again like I used to be comfortable doing. Got really comfortable here.

3. Understand printing and the various equipment types better.

4. Hear some great Music

All of these goals were met and more. I learned:

1. How to set flash comp and when to do it

2. People like to have thier picture taken so just looking for the shot is the issue.

3. All photographers there it seemed used full frame cameras. Mostly Canons or Leicas and Nikons. You can definitely get more visual information into a full frame and it is difficult to get everything you want in aps-c.

4. There are some really good photographers in this world. Every single person there ended up taking at least one photo I wished I had taken. I urge you to check out Jake Mendel. Prior to this week he worked only in B&W film! His work was very inspirational to me and we became quite good friends. For my money he took the best shots of the week and I think Jake is going to do his own book.  Everyone there had a story and I truely enjoyed meeting them all - but I was very intimidated by that much talent so it was good for me to push up against them.

5. Everyone needs a print technician. Harvey travels with an assistant and a print Tech, David Couvousier. He is a talented Photographer in his own right and works for Harvey full time.  Michael makes prints that just scream professional and it would be great to have someone along like that. He uses a large fromat epson printer and I was lucky enough to get 3 prints from him. When he got done they looked like they were for Time Mag. Damn I wish I could do that.

6. Every single person there had an Apple laptop. Everyone except me. I had the only Windoze one. I asked people individually why and they said either "I've always used Apple" or "The graphics are better on Apple". I gotta switch I think.

7. The music was GREAT! We bought a "Crossroads" Guitar - made in Clarksdale - and got a bunch of autographs on it concentrating on the old guys in thier 80's. I met Honeyboy Edwards (he actually traveled with and performed with Robert Johnson. He is 96 yo) but didnt get his autograph this time. I hope he lives another year. 

8. I was lucky enough to get some photos under consideration for the book to come out from this. I learned to see some things differently than I had at the beginning and I think it has given me a better eye.

9. This shit is WORK! Our day started at 9am going over 10-15 shots from everyone the day before. That lasted till 1pm. Then we went out and shot photos till 11 or 12 at night. then edited for 2 hours to get 10 to 15 to take in to the morning meeting then do it all over again. Intense but the collaboration was ennervating!

10. If you can get 1 or 2 photos a day (in a 12 hour day) then you have had a good day.  Harvey can spend a month preparing for a shoot by going to the location and looking around and planning before he even takes a photo. That planning and preparation and showing only his best shots are keys, I think, to success in this art form. And keeping only your very best images.

Cons:

1. When going over the previous days shots with everyone Harvey would reject photos that "Didn't do it for him" but there was never any in depth discussion of what good composition actually entailed. I did not ever feel I knew what he would consider an acceptable composition by specific element except by mimicking what others had done and he had okay'ed. I would have appreciated at least one session with an in depth discussion about elements of composition from his point of view.

2. One on One time. Despite declaring early on that he would absolutely spend some amount of time with everyone one on one it never happened. The last day he briefly hurried through some shots I had taken on assignment but never really looked at them or talked about them as he was in a hurry to go to dinner.

All in all it was the most fun I have had in years and would have paid even more if I had known how much I was going to enjoy it. You just cannot put a price on that kind of experiance. Really. The only way it would have been more fun is if I had been able to convince one of my friends to come along and we could have done it as a team!

Stay tuned for the next post - ROLLER DERBY! Yowza X 2!