Legends February - March 2016

W I N A TR IP TO S OU T H WAL T ON, FL ORIDA! SEE INSIDE !

FEB.MAR 2016

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BEACHSIDE NEIGHBORHOODS YOU’LL FALL IN LOVE WITH

Biloxi’s White House Hotel

The 30A Wine Fest & Taste of the Race with Emeril Lagasse

MISSISSIPPI’S AWARD-WINNING CONSUMER TRAVEL PUBLICATION W W W. R E A D L E G E N D S . C O M

THIS IS

THATplace Where the kids had as much fun jumping into the waves as they did jumping into their bunk beds.

This is the place the kids still talk about, where they played in the surf all day and swam in the indoor pool after dinner every night. There was so much for them to do between the beach, the pools and the Kids Krew, they never would have slowed down if not for the bunk beds in our suite! Left to them, we’d return to this place every vacation. Maybe we will.

+1 877 705 6641 • info@HiltonSandestinBeach.com • HiltonSandestinBeach.com • #HiltonSandestin #ThatPlace

Miramar Beach

Bring a book

Seascape Sandestin

but write your own Story.

Dune Allen

16 ACCLAIMED BEACHES NESTLED ALONG MILES AND MILES OF SUGAR-WHITE SAND, TURQUOISE GULF WATER AND AN ENDLESS OPPORTUNITY TO FIND YOUR PERFECT BEACH.

Gulf Place Santa Rosa Beach Blue Mountain Grayton Beach WaterColor Seaside Seagrove Watersound Seacrest Alys Beach Rosemary Beach Inlet Beach

visit south walton.com

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PUBLISHER AND PRESIDENT ��������������������Marianne Todd LEAD GRAPHIC DESIGNER ������������������ Adrienne Dison DIRECTOR OF MARKETING ���������������������������������Ken Flynt WEBSITE DESIGNER �������������������������������Scott Mire

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Marketing - 601-479-3351 | Ken@ReadLegends.com Editorial - 601-604-2963 | Editor@ReadLegends.com Contributing writers: Meghan Holmes, Kara Martinez Bachman, Julian Rankin, Chad Edwards, Bill Seratt, Stephen Corbett

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Copyright 2016. All rights reserved. No portion of this publication may be reproduced or reprinted without express permission from the publisher. The opinions and views expressed by our contributors, writers and editors are their own. Various views from other professionals may also be expressed. Neither LEGENDS nor Blue South Publishing Corporation is endorsing or guaranteeing the products or quality of services expressed in advertisements. All advertisers assume liability for all content (including text representation and illustration) of advertisements printed and assume responsibility for any resulting claims against LEGENDS or its affiliates. Materials, photographs and written pieces to be considered for inclusion in LEGENDS may be sent to P.O. Box 3663, Meridian, MS 39303. Unsolicited materials will not be returned. LEGENDS is sold on bookstore shelves in 38 states. Additionally, Blue South Publishing Corporation provides more than 20,000 free copies in its coverage area to tourism offices, welcome centers, hotels, restaurants, theaters, museums, galleries, coffee shops, casinos and institutions of higher learning. If your business, agency or industry would like to be considered as a LEGENDS distribution point, or for a list of retailers, please contact us at Editor@ReadLegends.com.

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TO ENTER:

CONTENTS FEBRUARY / MARCH 2016

MUSIC 18

Down on Blue Moon Farm

22

Saving the Music that Should Last

At a Place Called Frog Pond

Sam Frazier and the Music Maker Relief Foundation

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CULTURE 10

Revisiting The Roaring ‘20s

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Down 30A and Back Again

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There’s Gold in the Hills!

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Beneath the Surface

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Laid Back Lure

The coastal elegance of the White House Hotel Florida’s unforgettable stretch of seaside communities

Vicksburg’s golden theater tradition celebrates 80 Discovering Bay St. Louis Americana at its best

CULINARY

ABOUT OUR COVER The Pearl Hotel, facing the sugar white beaches of South Walton, Florida, welcomes visitors to the stretch of seashore road known as 30A. The 24-mile road boasts 16 distinct beachside communities, each with its own flair, stylings and flavors.

(Photograph by Marianne Todd)

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Contributing photographers: Rusty Costanza, James Edward Bates, Betty Ruth Hawkins, Chad Edwards LEGENDS welcomes your calendar submissions. Submissions are posted free of charge on our website at www.ReadLegends.com. Calendar submissions for consideration in LEGENDS’ print calendar may be sent to

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Del Porto Ristorante

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30A Wine Festival & Taste of the Race

New style Italian cuisine

with celebrity Chef Emeril Lagasse

Correction: A story in the Dec/Jan edition incorrectly identified the owner of Stanton Hall as the Natchez Garden Club. The correct owner is the Pilgrimage Garden Club. LEGENDS regrets the error and apologizes for any inconvenience.

6 • FEBRUARY/ MARCH 2016

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BEACH & RACQUET RESORT

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Come to Greenville-Washington County to reboot your energy with a full lineup of revelry to renew your spirit. Join us for award-winning Delta blues from artists like Greenville native Eden Brent, more crawfish than you can eat, and some of the most fun this side of – dare we say paradise?

2nd Annual Warfield Riverfest benefitting Camp Looking Glass 2nd Annual Mississippi Delta Dragon Boat Festival The 38th Annual Delta Blues & Heritage Festival 5th Annual Sam Chatmon Blues Festival 3rd Annual Mighty Mississippi Music Festival 4th Annual Delta Hot Tamale Festival 5th Annual “Jim Henson” Frog Fest, Leland 51st Annual Christmas on Deer Creek

June 13th July 31st - August 1st September 19th September 25th - 26th October 2nd - 4th October 15th - 17th October 24th December 5th - 31st

Greenville - Washington County. More than meets the eye.

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www.visitgreenville.org 1-800-467-3582

Convention & Visitors Bureau READLEGENDS.COM •

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STORY FROM BILOXI, MISS.

Revisiting

The coastal elegance of the

WHITE HOUSE HOTEL

By Kara Martinez Bachman Photographs by Marianne Todd

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The newly-renovated White House Hotel is reminiscent of the Roaring ‘20s, featuring clean designs, spacious guest rooms, a lobby with a fireplace, white leather couches and retro décor.

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t was an unforgettable era for Biloxi’s White House Hotel.

“Along with fashionable flappers and Henry Ford’s Model T, the decade of singular style known as the ‘Roaring Twenties’ also launched a new travel boom across the entire country,” wrote Bettie Allen Fore, the great-granddaughter of the home’s owners, Walter and Cora White. In that era, the circa 1890 property was in its heyday.

Enjoyed by well-heeled tourists hailing from as far away as Chicago, visitors selected the grand lodging place to linger “on the White House Hotel’s front porch, to watch graceful wooden schooners catch the Gulf breezes in their sails.”

Back then, the house offered the Southern charm of columned porches, the intrigue of a unique fountain illuminated by colored lights, the lush foliage of beautiful live oaks and panoramic views of the Mississippi Sound.

Today, guests still watch sea birds and beach-goers from the porch and enjoy the same shallow, placid waters that were appreciated by Victorian ladies in bustles. They still even see wooden vessels ply the waters alongside Beach Boulevard, maybe catching a glimpse of a multisailed beauty such as the “Glenn L. Swetman” or the “Mike Sekul,” two replica wooden schooners offering tours via Biloxi’s Maritime and

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Seafood Industry Museum.

“The hotel stood for years as what most people would call an eyesore,” said Ashlei Marie, director of sales and marketing, describing the hotel’s blighted and shuttered condition from 1988 to 2014, before renovation reopened its doors to a new crop of visitors. “For the hotel to be back and better than ever is a great accomplishment and something that the coast can use to reminisce on the memories from when it was open in its earlier days.”

These days, the 76-room boutique hotel – located minutes from Keesler Air Force Base and tourist attractions such as casinos and the Gulf Coast Coliseum – offers well-appointed one, two and three-bedroom suites. Amenities include an elegant on-site restaurant open for breakfast, lunch and dinner, a pool and a hot tub overlooking the Gulf and exquisite event spaces like the hotel’s rooftop terrace, with gorgeous Gulf views, or the stately ballroom, just inside for weddings and other events.

“The building just screams classic and luxury, but the inside will shock most with its luxurious, contemporary feel,” Marie said. Guests will adore the historic building’s remodel with wide, spacious rooms and clean designs such as large, white leather couches and retro décor elements for

interior ambience.

“Our rooftop terrace is a guest and employee favorite,” she said. “You just can’t find anything like it on the coast. It has the best views and large couches with fire pits. This space can be used by hotel guests or can be rented out privately for parties.”

Cora’s Restaurant & Bar offers guests signature cocktails and fresh, local seafood paired with family recipes. The “Biloxi Cuisine” features Gulf Coast Bread with Gulf Shrimp, Crab and Crawfish with garlic aioli topped with melted cheddar cheese and local favorites, such as Cora’s Shrimp and Grits, featuring shrimp in a zesty barbecue sauce over cheese grits, Blackened Red Fish and Crab-stuffed Gulf Flounder. Guests are treated to 2-for-1 daily specials and happy hour Mondays through Thursdays from 4 to 6 p.m. with $5 cocktails, draft beers and appetizers.

The bar in the lobby offers signature cocktails and happy hour, along with ample seating, even for large groups.

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Marie said the gem amenity is the bridal floor, with a large, comfortable suite, ample seating and space and an additional seven rooms – all on one floor.

“The suite is around 1,300 square-feet, with a large living room, a bedroom, two bathrooms, a wet bar with an ice machine and a refrigerator,” Marie said, adding that the suite also is perfect for honeymoons.

Employees are proud of the hotel’s Southern charm, and the sentiment is reflected in their service. Expect to hear of “Aunt Patty,” a desk agent who is so loved by guests, they’ve assigned her a family name.

“She is a doll,” Marie said. “She can make anyone’s day, and guests usually depart from the hotel with a hug from her.”

Marie said all types of visitors book stays at the hotel. “We have a large variety of guests come through,” she said, everyone from business travelers to snowbirds. The White House even has guests who remember the hotel in its heyday.

They return to see the transformation, she said, and they’re never disappointed. L

Want to go?

The White House Hotel is located at 1230 Beach Boulevard, Biloxi, Miss. For more information, visit whitehousebiloxi.com or call (228) 233-1230.

CLOCKWISE: Wine chills at the full-service bar; lavish lobbies are accented with retro décor; guest rooms are spacious with clean lines and wide windows; tree trunk coffee tables accent a lobby seating area; the full-service restaurant, Cora’s, offers breakfast, lunch and dinner with impeccable service and gourmet dishes; a crystal chandelier lights a photograph of the hotel’s heyday years.

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www.bcbsms.com Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Mississippi, A Mutual Insurance Company is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association. ® Registered Marks of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, an Association of Independent Blue Cross and Blue Shield Plans.

The 13th Annual Juke Joint Festival - April 16 Half blues festival, half small-town fair and all about the Delta!

Join us this year and see why we have visitors from nearly 30 foreign countries and almost all 50 states come to soak in the atmosphere of Clarksdale and Coahoma County during the three days of activities surrounding the Juke Joint Festival. Wander the streets and hear a variety of performers on many different stages around town and shop for interesting items in the vendors’ tents. As you would expect, there’s always lots of wonderful food to be enjoyed, so come to the Crossroads for a memorable treat.

Look for details at jukejointfestival.com 662.627.6149 • visitclarksdale.com 18 • FEBRUARY/ MARCH 2016

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STORY FROM SILVERHILL, ALA.

Down on Blue Moon Farm at a place called

FROG POND

Words and photography by Chad Edwards

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It doesn’t get more laid back than life at Frog Pond. Guests bring their own lawn chairs, and sometimes their own covered dishes, for an evening of music. Here, Ola, takes her place on the stage. Right, Anthony Crawford plays banjo while a group of friends gather by the fire.

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here’s a place in lower Alabama, between Fairhope and Robertsdale, between pine trees, peanut plots and cotton fields. It’s not a music venue or a bar, or even a business. It is simply a house concert, an invite-yourself type of thing. The Frog Pond Sunday Social in Silverhill at the Blue Moon Farm is a place where people come for their fill of camaraderie and live music.

Sandwiched between a 200-year-old Cedar and a few shacks, the porch-like stage houses seasoned singer/ songwriters. The farmhouse – the centerpiece of the property – was built in 1909. The stage and most of the shacks were built with reclaimed wood, locally milled from some of the farm’s trees. A wooden fence rises on one side of the “listening area.” There is a defunct smokehouse on the other side.

A garden and chicken coop are directly behind the

stage, in view of the horses roaming the nearby pasture. Somewhere are Bucket, the three-legged wonder, Doobie and Trudy, farm dogs tasked with greeting guests.

When the sun disappears behind the stage and the moon rises, the property comes to life, both visually and musically. Chandeliers holding candles hang from branches like ornaments on a Christmas tree. Colored lights adorn a fence where guests are encouraged to write a message – or create art if they feel so inspired. During cooler weather, standing heaters are sprinkled throughout the audience. There’s always something new to discover at Blue Moon Farm.

Cathe Steele is the mastermind behind Frog Pond Sunday Socials.

Her vision, along with the steady push from artist and Sunday Social anchor Grayson Capps, created the magic. Steele worked for years to bring touring acts and local bands to such area venues as the Pirates Cove in nearby Josephine. More importantly, none of the house concerts would happen if it weren’t for the help of a dedicated crew of friends and family, who go beyond the call of duty to bring Steele’s visions to reality.

“As a child, I was raised on friends and family gatherings on weekends to share food, music and the family of community,” Steele says. “When I bought my farm 30 years ago, I knew that once I retired I wanted to start a place that would build family and community through music. With so many things in the world tearing people and communities apart, I wanted to do something that brought people together in a positive way, something that left them with a greater good that would take them through their week.”

The parking area is a pasture where Shetland ponies used to graze.

Trees and bushes obscure the view to the stage, but once inside, visitors find themselves in a lush, almost mystical landscape. There is a certain magic here that floats in the air. Maybe it was the first settlers, the Swedish farmers from Chicago who arrived in 1896 or the Scandinavians and Bohemians who came to call Silverhill home. Maybe it’s the lower Alabama humidity and salty air. (It’s rumored Silverhill took its name from the silver wages earned by workers at its turpentine still.)

At Frog Pond, there’s no bad seat in the house. The bring-yourown-chair venue offers pristine sound. Guests are encouraged to bring a covered dish or a dessert (there’s a ‘Sugar Shack’ for all the sweet treats) and the home-cooked foods make for a welcomed intermission treat.

House concerts are not a new concept to the Southern musical landscape. They’re the perfect way for artists to connect with their audiences. Musicians reminisce about the origins of songs or tell jokes between tunes – or try out a new tune on an audience for the first time.

In some ways it is part Levon Helm’s “Midnight Ramble” and part songwriter song swap. The spontaneity of sharing the stage can lead to some rather blissful and ethereal moments.

“In a day and age where humans constantly find disharmony and division, the Frog Pond reacquaints people to the common goodness inherent in all of us,” says Capps, whose band, Willie Sugarcapps, was READLEGENDS.COM •

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formed on the Frog Pond stage with Will Kimbrough, Sugarcane Jane (Anthony and Savana Crawford) and Corky Hughes. “The disharmony becomes harmony and the division becomes vision as the landscape and community remind us that we are all frogs in the same pond. Turn off the TV, throw away the papers and enter the paradise that is the Frog Pond.”

The harmony there is also enough to prompt marriage proposals and ceremonies and song and album names. The list of past performers is long and varied – Kinky Friedman, Mary Gauthier, Luther Dickinson, Jimbo Mathus, Webb Wilder, Cary Hudson, Will Kimbrough, Beverly Jo Scott, Malcolm Holcombe, David Olney, Randall Bramblett, Bill Kirchen, Eric Taylor, John Mooney, Willis Alan Ramsey, Lightnin’ Malcolm, Alvin Youngblood Hart, Jimmy Hall, Rick Hirsch, Sugarcane Jane and Dylan LeBlanc, just to name a few.

Songwriter and Frog Pond regular Andre Duhon also shares his sentiment, “When you’re here under these trees, you’re home, no matter where you are from.” L

Want to go?

The Frog Pond season runs through mid-April. To request an addition to their email list, visit thefrogpondatbluemoonfarm.com.

Guests can also visit them at facebook.com/frogpondsundaysocial.

“In a day and age where humans constantly find disharmony and division, the Frog Pond reacquaints people to the common goodness inherent in all of us.”

– Grayson Capps

Grayson Capps bellows out a tune while fellow musicians join in the fun. Top, Yori Olijslagers uses a laid back method of playing drums.

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STORY FROM EDGEWATER, ALA.

SAVING THE MUSIC THAT SHOULD LAST Sam Frazier & the Music Maker Relief Foundation

By Stephen Corbett

“Lord, Lord, Lord, I got somethin’. Something you just don’t learn in school.

You’ll never find it in no book. You just got to inherit the blues.”

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here is no mythology surrounding Sam Frazier Jr. He isn’t running from hell hounds, nor has he made any deals with the devil. He is a man with the love of the blues running through his veins.

After Frazier made his exit from the stage of a June 2015 performance at Duke University, he retired to his dressing room with tears streaming down his face.

“I had so much, so much I wanted to do. I couldn’t sing like I wanted to,” Frazier lamented.

Among those comforting him were Ironing Board Sam, a blues legend in his own right. “Your voice was good. It was real. You sounded authentic,” he says. “You sang hard today. Don’t apologize for a good show.”

On this particular evening, he lived up to the expectations of the

Thanks to the Music Maker Relief Foundation, the music of blues man Sam Frazier can be heard by audiences once again. (Photograph by Erin O’Hanlon)

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1,500 people who came to see him, his fellow musicians and the venue managers. The only expectation he didn’t meet was his own. That level of excellence came from the small coal-mining town of Edgewater, Alabama, where Frazier was born in 1944. His father worked in the mines, but the family home was used as a shot house on the weekends.

“My mother would have barbecues in the backyard of that little ‘ole shack, and we would have guys that would come through like Sonny Boy Williamson and Slim Harpo. Sonny Boy gave me my first harmonica and showed me some technique,” Frazier says. “They would come through and play ‘cause my folks had that shinning, what we called whiskey at the time, that ole white lightnin’. They got on the back porch out there, and they didn’t have nothing but the harmonica. And they would blow the harp and stomp along with it, ya know. And that’s how I got my start, by just sitting there watching them.”

When Frazier wasn’t interning at the feet of the masters, he was soaking up the sounds emanating from his parents’ Rock-Ola jukebox.

Overtaken with the bug of performing in his late teens, he began playing regularly at house parties, and he determined that it was time for him to form his own band.

“So I had the harmonica around my neck, the guitar in my hand, a bass drum I hit with my right foot, and a high hat cymbal I hit with my left foot. Beatin’, hittin’, blowin’, movin’ and everything all at the same time. I did that at the house parties for a long time,” Frazier laughs. “And then after that, my little young sister, she took a liking to what I was doing, so I taught her to play bass guitar. I taught her to play along to what I was playing. We played everywhere in Alabama. Me and her.”

Frazier and his sister were scouted by record executives from New York and moved there for a time to record regional hits like “You Got Me Uptight” that occasionally surface on Ebay for a premium price. Despite a few headlining spots at the Apollo Theater, Frazier didn’t find the success with radio that he longed for, and he headed back to Alabama.

Over the next 40 years, Frazier recorded for labels in Beverly Hills, Birmingham and Nashville, with varying degrees of national success performing both blues and country music.

“I played for a lawyer in Beverly Hills, and he didn’t know how to market me,” Frazier says. “I’ve been all around from the east coast to the west coast. I should have been a household name, but I just didn’t have the right people to put me out there.”

Frazier had his greatest commercial success as a recording artist while performing country music on the syndicated Country Boy Eddie TV

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Show, on which he was a featured artist for 13 years. He didn’t achieve the level of stardom he deserved, but he did manage to make a dent on the otherwise exclusive white country charts with his single “Cabbage Man� in the late ‘80s. “I was working at a car dealership when I wrote that,� he says. “Doing the floors, sweeping and everything. I’d come up with a verse, go out, write it down in the bathroom and then go back out and do the floors – back and forth. I sang it to the mechanics, and they liked it and said, ‘Man that’s a good song.’ You know, they got up the money for me to go to the studio to record it. That’s how much they liked it. They paid for me to cut that song.�

At the time, country radio was shifting its focus from traditional to a more pop influenced sound aimed at a younger audience – and Frazier’s song didn’t fit the bill. Charley Pride, the genre’s lone major African-American artist of the time, had recently been relegated to an independent label after spending two decades with RCA Records, second only to Elvis Presley as the biggest selling artist on their roster.

For most of the 1990s and early 2000s, Frazier played for small audiences who were craving a more authentic music from a bygone era. “The blues is fading a little bit,� he says. “A lot of stations that used

“T

hat’s how it was back then. They were always out there pulling a joint and drinking all that whiskey, and that’s how a lot ‘em got hoarse and lost their voices. They thought they couldn’t sing unless they were drunk. I never drank or smoked or anything. I just wanted to play and sing.�

Spring into Fun on the Northshore

We celebrate

to play the blues ain’t playing the blues anymore. Rap come in, and I think that really hurt the blues because a lot of those stations went to rap.

Same thing happened to country music. They went from Merle Haggard to Rascal Flats. The music doesn’t have that same soul or feeling.�

Because there has been a growing resurgence of interest in American roots music, with the help of the Music Maker Relief Foundation, Sam Frazier is now playing higher profile gigs to larger audiences. The nonprofit group is dedicated to preserving the musical traditions of the South. (Photograph by Erin O’Hanlon)

Everything

in St. Tammany Parish, 45 minutes

north of New Orleans. Mark your calendar for these exciting upcoming events. For more info or to find your fun, just log onto www.LouisianaNorthshore.com/lgd.

Follow us on:

March 2-6 A Taste of Slidell March 18-20 Festival Bonfouca in Slidell March 26 Abita Springs Whole Town Garage Sale April 2 Arts Evening in Slidell

– Sam Frazier Jr.

In recent years, however, there has been a growing resurgence of interest in American roots music, and with the help of the Music Maker Relief Foundation, Frazier is now playing higher profile gigs to larger audiences.

Founded by Tim and Denise Duffy in 1994, Music Maker is a nonprofit group dedicated to preserving the musical traditions of the South by directly assisting the aging and oftentimes poverty stricken musicians who have dedicated their lives to their craft. Over the years, Music Maker has partnered with more than 300 artists, issued over 150 CDs and reached more than a million people with live performances in more than 40 states and 17 countries. “Last year, CBS Evening News did a story on us,� Tim Duffy says. “Soon after that aired, Sam’s daughter-in-law sent us this beautiful package in a 3-ring binder with Sam Frazier’s old press. Then we went online and found some videos of his country songs on YouTube and thought, ‘Wow, this guy is amazing.’ So, Aaron Greenhood [artist services coordinator] reached out to him, and we brought him up here for a visit and learned just how well he could really sing and really play.�

In addition to aiding Frazier with more lucrative gigs, Music Maker has helped him regain possession of his back catalog of Southern soul, blues and country material, which they will be reissuing. “We found the master tapes to this old record that he did in the

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Great Louisiana BirdFest, Mandeville

April 6-10 A Taste of Covington

’

LOUISIANA S NORTHSHORE 1- 8 0 0 - 6 3 4 -94 4 3

•

April 15-17 Great Louisiana BirdFest in Mandeville April 16-17 Covington Antiques & Uniques Festival April 23-24 Olde Towne Slidell Spring Antique Street Fair

w w w. L o u i s i a n a N o r t h s h o r e.c o m / l g d

1970s that was never released. It was a big budget record, and I am surprised that it didn’t get released. It would have been huge on the radio,� Duffy says, “but it never came out for whatever reason. You know, a lot of these guys didn’t have good management, and they didn’t know how to navigate the system. It’s exciting to get to finally put this out after all these years.� “It feels so good to know that I finally got my old songs coming back to me. The guy who had ‘em thought I was dead, but I was really just out in California,� Frazier laughs.

According to Duffy, these recordings saw an official release in December. In addition to this archival release, Music Maker is working with Frazier to release two albums of new material, one country and the other, blues. “I have never met anyone who can switch from blues to country and be so convincing at both – never,� Duffy says. “After we put out the old recordings, I think we’ll start with an acoustic blues session, and then do a full-blown country record.�

In a year that has seen the loss of many country and blues legends, Frazier is grateful for what he has accomplished and remains optimistic about the survival of his roots-based music. He also partially attributes his longevity to his avoidance of the pitfalls of drugs and alcohol that have shortened the lives of many of his contemporaries.

“That’s how it was back then,� he continues. “They were always out there pulling a joint and drinking all that whiskey, and that’s how a lot ‘em got hoarse and lost their voices. They thought they couldn’t sing unless they were drunk. I never drank or smoked or anything. I just wanted to play and sing. They tried to get me to smoke reefers and snort coke and all that crap, but I wanted to take care of myself and my voice.

And a lot of those guys are gone, but I am still here. There were a lot of temptations back then. If I would’ve give in, I might not be here right now. I might have ended up hanging from some tree in Alabama.

Wouldn’t be nothin’ left of me but a plaque. ‘There lies Big Sam under that tree over there hung.’ “You never know when the time is going to be, and I am 70 years old. But that’s how you last – keep yourself around and play something that people can feel. That’s my job – to make people feel.� L

Want to listen?

The recently recorded music video for Sam Frazier Jr.’s signature song “Inherit the Blues� can be found on Music Maker Relief Foundation’s channel on YouTube, along with a multitude of professionally recorded videos by the countless musicians who have worked with the organization.

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STORY FROM COVINGTON, LA.

By Meghan Holmes Photography by RUSTY COSTANZA

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orre Solazzo loves shrimp. “I’m having a love affair with shrimp. I don’t know why, but I can’t get enough.

They’re really buttery right now,” the chef trails off, then asks her husband David about other ingredients recently finding their way onto Del Porto Ristorante’s menu. “We’ve also been using a lot of black garlic. We do a black garlic compound butter on our steak. It adds a flavor similar to a balsamic reduction,” she says.

When the Solazzos talk about food, creativity for ingredients shines through. The husband and wife team builds dishes around what they find at the farmer’s market. David arrives around 8 a.m. every Saturday as the market opens. “He doesn’t miss a farmer’s market. That guides and inspires us. We use a lot of Louisiana ingredients,” says Torre.

The Solazzos opened Del Porto in 2002. The chefs relocated to Covington, Louisiana, from California, bringing with them the fresh flavors and bright colors not often seen in New Orleans cookery in the early 2000s. “We were in California in the 1990s, when Alice Waters and farm-to-table began to dictate the culinary scene. That was the kind of food we wanted to cook. Simple, gorgeous, delicious and with color,” says Torre.

A New Orleans native, Torre studied at the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco, while David studied at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York. He relocated to California and the pair met working at Napa Valley’s famed Italian restaurant Tra Vigne.

A year later they moved to southern Louisiana. “We came here to get married, but then decided to stay. We wanted to open a restaurant that reflected what we’d fallen in love with in California, using the amazing ingredients from this region,” says Torre.

Rustic Italian forms the basis of Del Porto’s menu. “David’s Italian, and this is how his family always cooked. I’ve worked in several Italian restaurants, and I’ve always been drawn to Italian food culture and celebrating around food,” says Torre. Del Porto’s menu also reflects Torre’s Louisiana roots, though not the style of Italian she grew up eating.

“When I began cooking at Tra Vigne, I saw a new style of Italian cooking. No red sauces, no gravies. I was thrilled by it. I knew I had

CLOCKWISE: Pizza with local beets, carrots, goat cheese and basil; owners and chefs David and Torre Solazzo; a generous wine selection; warm house-made mozzarella, tomato confit, toasted pine nuts and Sicilian anchovies; yellow fin tuna crudo with oranges, chili mint vinaigrette and sweet orange crackers; Parmesan risotto with caramelized mushrooms, truffled mushroom jus and Parmigiano-Reggiano.

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EXPLORE XPLORE the

CAJUN COAST!

PATTERSON CYPRESS SAWMILL FESTIVAL April 1–3 | Kemper Williams Park

Patterson • A Top 20 Southeast Tourism Society event honoring our turn-of-the-century industry, this family festival features continuous live music, a cypress sawmill display, a passe partout (two-person saw) contest, numerous tournaments, arts & crafts, a Cajun cook-off, rides, games and terrific food.

BAYOU TECHE BLACK BEAR FESTIVAL April 15 –17 | Downtown Franklin This festival in charming downtown Franklin features educational seminars, Cub Club children’s activities, field trips, an art sale and exhibit, arts & crafts, food, music and more.

EAGLE EXPO Feb. 26–27 | Morgan City, La. • Boat tours into

various waterways to view eagles and their nests, seminars from wildlife and nature experts, live raptor presentation, dinner with guest speaker, photography workshop and opportunities to meet fellow birders.

Lafayette 10

found the style of food I wanted to cook,” she says. The Solazzos’ style of contemporary Italian puts ingredients front and center, relying on simplicity and fresh flavor. As a result the food also speaks to the cuisine of the region, with ample Gulf seafood as well as fruits and vegetables unique to Louisiana.

Del Porto’s interior design reflects the Solazzos’ refined yet contemporary style. Dining during lunch means ample sunlight streaming through large windows with views of Covington’s quaint downtown. Fresh flowers and white linens add to the ambience.

Appetizers, such as a warm house-made mozzarella with confit plum tomatoes, basil, pine nuts, garlic and white anchovy, or their white bean and lemon-braised artichoke purée with olives and caper berries, come served with crisp, house made garlic crostini. This isn’t molecular gastronomy; it’s fresh, delicious food.

At lunch, the restaurant also offers pizza and paninis, as well as several inventive salads including baby spinach and frisee with crispy new potatoes, pancetta, goat cheese and sherry vinaigrette topped with a poached yard egg, as well as a towering steak salad, with mixed lettuces, tomato, Gorgonzola, crisp fried onions and a red wine vinaigrette. A market fish of the day highlights fresh Gulf seafood.

During dinner the lights dim, and the restaurant feels more intimate.

Many guests begin their meals with the beef carpaccio, served with a house made truffled crème fraiche, Parmigiano-Reggiano, arugula and

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55 12 10

Only 90 minutes from New Orleans, Lafayette or Baton Rouge

Franklin along the Bayou Teche

Del Porto’s interior design reflects the Solazzos’ refined yet contemporary style. Dining during lunch means ample sunlight streaming through large windows with views of Covington’s quaint downtown. Fresh flowers and white linens add to the ambience.

182

Baton Rouge

Franklin 90 New Morgan Orleans City

BAYOU TECHE WOODEN BOAT SHOW April 15–17 | Downtown View over 50 antique and new wooden boats on display, plus enjoy fireworks over the beautiful Bayou Teche.

49

(800) 256-2931 • www.cajuncoast.com FREE CAJUN COAST TRAVEL GUIDE APP

With its exhibits and swamp view, our visitor center on Hwy. 90 in Morgan City is your gateway to the Cajun Coast

olive oil crisps. The fresh Gulf seafood crudo with orange segments, parsley, a chili mint vinaigrette, mint and celery leaves and orange crackers, also shines.

“When I’m not feeling well I want a butter poached shrimp pasta,” says Chef Torre – referring to the spaghetti neri – a house made pasta dish with shrimp, tomatoes, white wine, garlic and fresh herbs. “We make stock from the shrimp shells as part of our sauce base. It’s so simple and unbelievably delicious.”

Several entrées showcase the locally-raised meat of the region, including a braised lamb shank with creamy herbed polenta, fall greens, lamb jus and an olive tapenade, or the veal chop, served with roasted Brussels sprouts, local sweet potatoes and a grainy mustard veal reduction.

The Parmesan risotto features one of the Solazzos’ favorite ingredients – mixed local mushrooms. Finished with a white truffle oil, the technique and execution of the dish are perfect. The flavor builds with every bite.

The desserts are classic: Italian wedding cake, tiramisu, panna cotta, sorbet and gelato (among others). They are often accompanied with espresso, or flights of after dinner drinks like Amari, Grappa or Port. The restaurant also offers an extensive wine list, winning Wine Spectator’s Award of Excellence for the last three years.

In December 2014, Del Porto expanded, adding 40 seats as well as extensive kitchen space. “David and I are always thinking of ways we can improve the restaurant,” says Torre. “We get bored easily, so for us READLEGENDS.COM •

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to stay with something for 14 years, we have to keep it fresh.” With this mantra, the Solazzos routinely update the restaurant’s décor and plating to maintain the contemporary feel of the space.

The menu consistently changes as well, reflecting a focus on seasonality as well as the inventive nature of this husband and wife team.

“This style of food works because it’s classic, but we also have room to play. I can make a pasta based on a jambalaya; I can incorporate fresh fish and vegetables into any dish. We cook Italian food, but we aren’t limited by that label.”

After nearly 15 years integrating West Coast sensibilities and Louisiana ingredients into Italian cooking, Torre finds herself going back to her roots. “On the weekends I’m cooking gumbo and BBQ Shrimp again after years of avoiding it,” she says. “I will always appreciate classic Louisiana food - we just also feel driven to constantly evolve.”

At Del Porto, the Solazzos find inspiration in the foods they grew up eating, as well as the ingredients surrounding them in bountiful southern Louisiana. L

Want to go?

Visit delportoristorante.com to make a reservation and to view full food and wine menus. Visit louisiananorthshore.com for more information about attractions and dining on Louisiana’s North Shore.

Vidalia Conference & Convention Center At Del Porto, the Solazzos routinely update the restaurant’s décor and plating to maintain the contemporary feel of the space. The menu consistently changes as well, reflecting a focus on seasonality as well as the inventive nature of this husband and wife team.

Our technologically advanced facility makes us your venue of choice for your events!

The Vidalia Conference and Convention Center is the most attractive center in the Miss-Lou and features more than 37,000 square feet of multipurpose meeting and exhibit space.

We can accommodate any function including conferences, conventions, exhibitions, family reunions, banquets, meetings, and weddings.

Our audio/video system is state-of-the-art in every respect and is unparalleled to any other in this area. The Center overlooks the Mississippi River, providing a breath-taking panoramic view.

We are completely devoted to the success of your event. Our goal is to exceed your expectations!

32 • FEBRUARY/ MARCH 2016

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33

STORY FROM SOUTH WALTON, FLA.

COVER STORY

Florida’s Unforgettable Stretch of Seaside Communities

Down 30A and Back Again

By Meghan Holmes Photography by MARIANNE TODD

M

ention the beaches of South Walton and materials that age gracefully. Each home is slightly unique, and you’ll hear talk of turquoise waters and influences vary, but there’s also continuity running through the sparkling white sands. This sand is special. designs,” says Gibbs.

Wind weathered quartz from the Appalachian

Rosemary Beach’s downtown resembles parts of the French Mountains over millions of years, then particles reached the rivers and Quarter, away from Bourbon Street. Tall, balconied buildings line moved downstream to the Gulf, becoming perfect, granular ovals. As old-world cobbled streets, with cyclists and pedestrians making their sea levels rose, the fine, bright white, grains gently spread westward way around café tables and outdoor vendors. Some streets seem nearly from the mouth of the Apalachicola River. The pristine shoreline deserted – part of a series of secret walkways leading to the town reflects the sunlight through center from private residences. the Gulf ’s clear water.

Others bustle with activity,

The crystal blue water is near restaurants like Havana, a remarkable contrast to the Edward’s and La Crema. surrounding sands, and the “Rosemary Beach’s streets combination of the two creates kind of feel like Barcelona, an unforgettable view. Each of or just old Europe; a tapas the area’s unique communities restaurant fits right in with the sprang from these unparalleled vibe,” says Erin Carrington, beaches and use architecture general manager at La Crema. to work within this natural Inspiration for the restaurant’s environment, creating vibrant menu came after owners Kevin cultural centers along Florida’s and Kim Neel visited Spain stretch of Gulf Coast known as and fell in love with the food 30A. ABOVE: The view of Rosemary Beach through Havana, the restaurant of the Pearl Hotel, culture. “It’s about sharing reveals an old-world West Indies vibe. Right, residents and visitors can choose from a a number of different plates

“Planned communities number of outdoor restaurants and sidewalk cafés lined by cobbled streets. embrace a tightly knit version between family and friends and of place, similar to what you would see in a European village,” says sampling and enjoying food together,” Carrington says. former Rosemary Beach City Architect Richard Gibbs. City architects

One of the more popular dishes at the restaurant is their paella, maintain the vision of planned communities, emphasizing smaller one version with lobster tails, shrimp, scallops, mussels, clams and house lots in close proximity to town centers, shopping and dining. chorizo, and another with chicken, serrano ham, chorizo and tomato In Rosemary Beach, the architecture brings to mind the West Indies, and piquillo peppers. The chicken en fuego with a caper cream sauce, New Orleans or Charleston, with “structures built from time- tested as well as a lobster stuffed Portobello mushroom, also shine.

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CLOCKWISE: Bicycles are a preferred method of transportation in the beachside community; hot chocolate with a dash of chili powder and fondue with white and milk chocolate are a favorite at La Creme Tapas & Chocolate. The restaurant also boasts a menu with fresh greens, cheeses and meats.

“We devote a large part of our menu to chocolate,” says Carrington. “We do a fondue, as well as a molten chocolate cake and a triple chocolate cookie with a warm espresso cream center and chocolate drizzle.”

Guests also come to La Crema for the courtyard. Sitting outside, they sip cocktails and nosh as a slight Gulf breeze lifts the edges of table umbrellas. The gas lights, cobblestone and wrought iron add to Rosemary Beach’s romantic appeal.

In nearby Alys Beach, city planners embrace a similar mantra of building to accommodate the nearby environment and build community around it. “We think of it as a gesture of willful place making within nature,” says Eric Vogt, current city architect for Alys Beach.

He shares the title with wife Marieanne Khoury-Vogt. The

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two were the town’s first full-time residents, working to build a community based on sustainable design and architecture found in coastal communities that blend indoor and outdoor living. “I gravitate towards Mediterranean influences – Moroccan, Italian, Greek,” he says. “Marieanne is drawn to Egypt, Spain and Portugal, amongst others.” Alys Beach’s homes also feature white masonry common in Bermuda.

Their aesthetic is striking. Bright white buildings reflect sunlight like the nearby beaches. “We see this design as restrained and elegant.

We want the buildings to seem like a part of the environment rather than an addition,” says Marieanne. The town’s design also reflects the relationship between the nearby urban and rural environments – it’s a ten minute walk from the Gulf, through a bustling downtown, to nearby nature preserves. Everything is connected.

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“I grew up in Destin, but as high schoolers we wanted to spend evenings in Alys Beach or Seaside,” says area resident Meredith Monroe. “I love the luxury of Alys Beach; it’s hip and trendy, but I also love the beachy feel of Seaside. It’s vibrant.”

Seaside pioneered South Walton’s planned communities. Built in the 1980s, it’s also the site of the filming of “The Truman Show.”

“Everyone walks and bikes, and the color palette is all pastel. There’s an old, small town charm to everything,” says Monroe. Seaside’s town center serves as a commercial hub, with streets and pedestrian walkways radiating out, lined with light-colored homes and graceful oaks. All the roads lead to the Gulf.

Restaurants in the quaint downtown include Bud and Alley’s, one of the area’s oldest, celebrating its 30th anniversary this year.

Opened by a couple of surfers and named after a dog and a cat, the menu is an appropriately eclectic mix of somewhat elevated Frenchinspired cuisine and approachable coastal fare. “I love eating at Bud and Alley’s,” says Monroe. “It’s white tablecloth, beachfront dining, with options that range from barbecue shrimp to a perfectly cooked burger.”

“We’re trained in French technique, but cook food you can recognize. It’s simply prepared and simply garnished, and delicious,” says Chef David Bishop. The menu includes panhandle classics as well as Southern cuisine more broadly, like panéed chicken with capers, garlic mashed potatoes and green beans. Highlights include the favorite shrimp and grits in a light barbecue sauce, grilled grouper with baby lima beans and corn succotash served with a lemon aioli, a whole fish of the day with arugula and grilled vegetables and an herb crusted golden tilefish with butter poached spring onions and roasted squash. Across the street, a series of vintage Airstream trailers offer additional dining options including BBQ, shaved ice and a raw juice bar.

Many of the area’s restaurants enjoy the bounty of an extended growing season and nearby fresh seafood. “Our chefs seek out local ingredients as often as possible,” said Dave Rauschkolb, owner of Bud & Alley’s. “We were inspired by Alice Waters when we opened nearly 30 years ago, and we’ve been proud to be at the forefront of farm-to-table and fish-to-table on 30A.”

Between Alys Beach and Seaside, Watersound provides a more private retreat, showcasing the beaches, forests and dunes that make up a large part of the area. “Nature preserves make up 40 percent of South Walton, and that land is protected from further development,” says Carey Cifranic, communications coordinator with South Walton’s Tourism Commission. “Our region has one of the largest remaining pine forests as well as other rare coastal environments.”

One of the highlights of Watersound is Deer Lake State Park, home to coastal dune lakes, which only exist in a handful of environments. “These lakes are a mix of Gulf salt water and fresh

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CLOCKWISE: A couple pauses for a photograph with European-styled architecture as a backdrop; the town’s color scheme is reminiscent of old-world Europe or West Indies design; a crate of starfish sits outside one of the town’s quaint retail shops.

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CLOCKWISE: Huge pillars welcome guests to the sugar white beaches of Alys Beach; Margaret Stedman relaxes with her pets while her husband, John, plays with their children on a grassy area outside the villa; a couple walks through an Alys Beach neighborhood.

The community was planned with stunning white stucco architecture for a Mediterranean feel; guests relax on a beachside gazebo.

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“N

ature preserves make up 40 percent of South Walton, and that land is protected from further development. Our region has one of the largest remaining pine forests as well as other rare coastal environments.”

- Carey Cifranic

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CLOCKWISE: An outdoor boutique in the Seaside community is surrounded by restaurants and eateries along the beachside front; pastels dominate the landscape with Victorian and contemporary houses surrounded by white picket fences; local art is displayed and sold in a courtyard square; favorite dishes from the longtime restaurant Bud & Alley’s are shrimp and grits and panéed chicken with capers, garlic mashed potatoes and green beans.

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30A Wine Festival & Taste of the Race

By Meghan Holmes

A lone fisherman enjoys a private moment on Dune Allen Beach. Dune Allen hosts a large public beach, which is easily accessible and surprisingly isolated.

water, and host many rare fish and bird species,” says Cifranic. Another neighborhood several miles west, Dune Allen, is also home to three coastal dune lakes.

The best views of Dune Allen’s lakes and wildlife can be found in Tops’l Preserve State Park. Baltimore, Maryland, native David Schamp has family in the area and visits regularly for birding. “I always see interesting birds, and a large quantity of birds in general,” he says. “My last visit I saw Caspian terns, coots, snowy and cattle egrets, red wings black birds and tons of great blue herons and yellow rumpled warblers on a foggy, cool day. I can’t see most of these birds where I live, so it’s a treat,” he says.

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Dune Allen also hosts a large public beach which is easily accessible and surprisingly isolated. A lone fisherman relaxes in a chair, while children and parents build sand castles nearby. Couples idly stroll up and down the surf. It’s an idyllic scene, like most that await the traveler lucky enough to visit. L

Want to go?

For more information about traveling 30A, visit South Walton’s tourism specialists at visitsouthwalton.com/beaches.

Fresh shucked oysters await guests at the Alys Beach Taste of the Race, and 2016 marks the second year guests will meet and enjoy the cuisine of superstar Chef Emeril Lagasse.

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T

his spring, several food and wine festivals offer opportunities to experience the culinary arts of South Walton. Seaside hosts its Taste of the Race event February 26-28, and Alys Beach celebrates its fifth anniversary of the 30A Wine Festival during March 11-13. Both events bring star chefs and celebrated vinters into the spotlight to interact with guests. Both events are surrounded by beautiful architecture and picturesque beach views.

Taste of the Race is part of Seaside School’s Half Marathon, and 2016 marks the second year guests will meet and enjoy the cuisine of superstar Chef Emeril Lagasse, as well as other celebrated area restaurants and chefs. Jim Shirley’s The Great Southern Café and The Bay, as well as Chef Jim Richard’s Stinky’s Fish Camp, will be featured. Jim ‘n’ Nicks, Bud and Alley’s, Wine World, Buffalo Trace and Grayton Beer also will offer complimentary food and spirits as live music plays under a heated tent at the Seaside Lyceum.

“The race has been going on for over a decade, but since Emeril has been here, the event has really grown,” says Molly Singer, who ran the Half Marathon last year and plans to again. “The run starts at the town post office, which everyone knows as an iconic spot.”

Guests meet and greet the chefs at a VIP reception prior to the main event, which begins at 6 p.m. Some of last year’s hors d’oeuvres included radish crostini, decontructed tamale and raw oysters with mignonette. “Jim Richard is known for his oysters; last year his preparation was delicious, and I can’t wait to try it again,” Singer says.

Visitors and locals are invited to participate in the run as well as the rest of the festival, and all proceeds benefit the Seaside School.

Alys Beach’s Burmese and Central American-inspired stucco architecture with beach-oriented streets and public spaces make it the perfect neighborhood for a festival. “You have beautiful homes, cobbled streets and some of the world’s premiere wine producers,” says Carey Cifranic, who works with South Walton Tourism. The threeday event benefits Children’s Volunteer Health Network, a nonprofit dedicated to providing access to health services for children in Walton and Okaloosa counties.

Festivities begin Friday evening with a Bourbon, Beer and Butts event, bringing together celebrated pitmasters as well as bourbon distillers. Saturday offers wine tastings along the North Sea Garden Walk, where festival participants sample wines from more than 20 vinters and tapas from local eateries. Sunday brings more wine and fine dining with a rose tasting and an annual croquet tournament.

Mercer wines will unveil its new line of 30A Wine products, offering both a Chardonnay and a red blend.

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Guests enjoy signature foods from local restaurants paired with 150 wines and early spring fruits and vegetables from the region.

The event will feature food from Bud and Alley’s, Caliza, Café Thirty-A and Seagar’s Prime Steaks and Seafood. Pairings will reflect the 150 wines available at the festival as well as the early spring fruits and vegetables available in the region. “Caliza is one of Alys Beach’s premiere restaurants,” says Cifranic. “It’s fresh, al fresco dining, which is perfect for wine tastings. They do everything in house; it’s a very thorough approach.”

The same can be said for other vinters and restaurants involved, and the event is sure to be special. Whether it’s for a festival or just for the peaceful beach views, spring is an ideal time to visit South Walton.

ABOVE: The 30A Wine Festival at Alys Beach sports an annual rose tasting and croquet tournament coupled with fine dining.

– Photos Courtesy of Alys Beach –

Want to go?

For a complete schedule and tickets, visit 30awinefestival.com.

Visit runseasidefl.com for more information on Taste of the Race.

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49

STORY FROM VICKSBURG, MISS.

Vicksburg’s Golden Theater Tradition celebrates 80

World Famous

VISIT

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VICKSBURG AMERICAN HISTORY

One of Mississippi’s 10 Best Restaurants, CultureTrip.com Top 10 Places to Eat in Mississippi, DeepSouthUSA.com Best Home Cooking, Vicksburg Post

1214 Adams Street, Vicksburg 601-638-4910 • www.WalnutHillsMS.com

A vintage photograph depicts Gold in the Hills can-can dancers by a riverboat in the earlier years of the production.

By Bill Seratt icksburg, Mississippi, lays a fair claim to history.

With its landscape laden with antebellum homes, its river lore and its National Military Park’s abundant history, visitors likely wouldn’t guess the charming city is also home to the Guinness Book of World Record’s “Longest Running Play.”

The performances of the Vicksburg Theatre Guild’s 2016 Season will mark the 80th anniversary of “Gold in the Hills.” The play first opened on March 28, 1936, on a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers barge on the waterfront in downtown. In 1948, the play was relocated to the Sprague, the largest steam-powered sternwheeler ever built, where it was presented onboard until it was destroyed by fire on April 15, 1974. The play was presented in several locations throughout the city until it arrived at its current home, the Parkside Playhouse in, 1977.

“Gold in the Hills,” an 1890s melodrama written in 1930 by J. Frank Davis, is set in the New York City’s infamous Bowery. The play features a relentless hero, a winsome heroine, a ruthless villain, beautiful can-can dancers and the wilder side of the Bowery.

In 1932, Natchez’ popularity was bursting with the introduction of the Natchez Pilgrimage. The historic city, then just a few hours down the

V

50 • FEBRUARY/ MARCH 2016

MISSISSIPPI MUSIC

Mississippi River by boat or car, forced Vicksburg’s civic leaders to look for ways to entice Natchez-bound visitor’s to Vicksburg attractions. The play’s presentations in the evenings would require an overnight stay. Their work was apparently successful.

For 80 years, tens of thousands of visitors from around the world have delighted in the joy, innocence, raucous humor and colorful can-can dancers, who entice the audience to participate. Booing and hissing are not frowned upon, but rather encouraged.

Many of the 20-plus actors serving today are the children and grandchildren of the original cast members. Others have played numerous characters and roles throughout their involvement with the production, making the play host to hundreds of Vicksburg’s artists throughout its 80-year reign. L Want to go?

The 2016 season of “Gold in the Hills” shows are March 28, April 1-2, 8-9 and 15,16; July 8-9, 15-16 and 22-23. All performances are at 7:30 p.m.

Tickets are $12 for adults and $6 for children 12 and under. The Parkside Playhouse is located at 101 Iowa Boulevard. Tickets can be purchased online at vicksburgtheaterguild.com or at the door.

SOUTHERN CHARM

Scan this QR to visit our mobile site and get your keys to Vicksburg.

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Cold

VisitVicksburg.com /VisitVicksburg

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51

14th annual • meridian, ms

Saturday, April 2nd | 8 am until 4 pm City Hall Lawn in Downtown Meridian

Regional Fine Arts & Crafts | Free Hands-On Children's Art Activities | Live Music & Entertainment Earth's Bounty Market | Great food & More!

Brought to you the Meridian Council for the Arts and Mississippi Arts Commission.

For info call 601-693-ARTS (2787) or visit merdianarts.org.

52 • FEBRUARY/ MARCH 2016

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53

THE MOST BEER IN MISSISSIPPI!

2015-2016 F A L L / W I N T E R

PerformingARTSseries UPCOMING SHOWS Aquila Theatre in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

119

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varieties on tap

Friday, February 12, 2016 7:30 p.m.

Top British and American stage actors bring the fabled London investigator and his Victorian London milieu to vivid life in this witty, fast-paced production. Scottish physician and writer Sir Author Conan Doyle created Sherlock Holmes and imbued the sleuth with some of his own acute powers of observation and deduction. Nearly 130 years after his debut, Holmes remains the world’s most famous fictional detective. Femme fatale Irene Adler, the only woman who ever won Holmes’s respect, stirs the plot. Faithful sidekick Dr. Watson assists the great detective as best he can. With its deep roots in both the London and New York theater worlds and its energetic, physical style, the Aquila Theatre knows just how to present Holmes for the 21st century.

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Visit www.msurileycenter.com to see upcoming shows for the

2016 SPRING/SUMMER

Performing Arts Series MSU Riley Center Box Office | 2200 Fifth Street | Meridian, MS 39301 601.696.2200 | www.msurileycenter.com

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一攀眀 愀渀搀 甀猀攀搀 䌀䐀猀 愀渀搀 瘀椀渀琀愀最攀 洀甀猀椀挀 ∠䨀攀眀攀氀爀礀 吀ⴀ匀栀椀爀琀猀 ∠ 匀欀愀琀攀戀漀愀爀搀猀 ∠ 䔀ⴀ挀椀最 ☀ 瘀愀瀀攀 猀甀瀀瀀氀椀攀猀

“Lifting Spirits for Generations” 䴀漀渀搀愀礀ጠ圀攀搀渀攀猀搀愀礀 ㄀ 㨀 愀洀ጠ㠀㨀 瀀洀 吀栀甀爀猀搀愀礀ጠ匀愀琀甀爀搀愀礀 ㄀ 㨀 愀洀ጠ㤀㨀 瀀洀

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VISIT

PHOTO CREDIT: KEITH JACKSON - RIENZI, MS

Download the VISIT CORINTH mobile app today to help you get the most out of your visit to historic Corinth, Mississippi. It’s the perfect way to discover countless attractions and hidden gems nestled downtown and around town.

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59

STORY FROM BAY ST. LOUIS, MISS.

BENEATH THE SURFACE Discovering Bay St. Louis

By Julian Rankin

Photograph by James Edward Bates

W

ax and water, as physical molecular materials, lack cohesion. They are discrete bodies, separate languages. But for Bay St. Louis artist Kat Fitzpatrick, who works in encaustic (a medium of melted and applied beeswax), there is a very real interplay between her seaside home and her creative process. Her house and studio look out on the aquamarine horizon, which provides a continuous and grounding source of inspiration.

“It’s gorgeous to be able to wake up and go to the water and see huge sky and beauty every day of your life,” says the artist.

Bay St. Louis has long been regarded as a thriving hub of arts and culture. Despite the ravages of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the town today is as vibrant as ever, with numerous galleries and monthly open-

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air bazaars. While it lives up to the charming moniker of Mayberry by the Sea, it has necessarily changed from the halcyon, pre-Katrina days.

Atop the scar tissue of the hurricane, the citizenry built back their lives and homes.

“The only thing you need to survive is community,” Fitzpatrick says. “You can’t come back from it if it’s only one person. In times of plenty, we forget how important and essential that is. We’re all proud of being independent, but when something really hard happens, you realize that these are the people who have my back.”

Fitzpatrick has lived in Bay St. Louis for more than 30 years. Her studio and home were partially destroyed during Katrina. The main part of the house floated away and crumbled in the mud, leaving a salvageable section of roughly 600 square-feet. During the recovery, this

remnant structure was gutted and rebuilt and eventually joined together with a historically accurate addition that was saved and transported from nearby Waveland with the help of the artist’s friends. The beauty of this artistic compound is inseparable from the devastation; the idyllic homestead exists precisely because of the damage that preceded it. This is the nature of meaning here. Slices of community context and personal history lay atop one another to create the present moment’s still and peaceful tableau. These translucent veils of resonance harmonize with one another, just as they do in the encaustic paintings that Fitzpatrick builds, layer after layer of wax atop a birch wood panel.

Iconic American artist Jasper Johns, born in Georgia in the 1930s, is widely credited with elevating the encaustic form back to prominence in this country, though the process itself dates back thousands of years. It

all begins with soft beeswax, which has a low melting point. To achieve the medium that the artist will apply to the canvas or board, the beeswax is mixed with melted damar crystals (a plant product sourced from trees in tropical areas of Asia). The melted damar has a much higher melting point, and once added to the beeswax, produces the stable and viscous wax substance that can be infused with powdered pigment to achieve the desired colors. Each layer of applied encaustic is fused to the surface with a torch or heat gun. That is the physics behind it, but the resulting effect is more like magic.

“I discovered encaustic in a little art magazine,” Fitzpatrick says. “It had the colors of beeswax – that amber gold, and I felt like I could see into it. It was not flat. It was dimensional. It was as though I was looking below the surface of the wax. I just fell in love with it.

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“Encaustic has this property where if you put just a little bit of pigment into the medium, you create a veil of color that you can look through. Or you can add a lot of pigment and get colors that just make you go, ‘Wow.’ – Kat Fitzpatrick

“Encaustic has this property where if you put just a little bit of pigment into the medium, you create a veil of color that you can look through. Or you can add a lot of pigment and get colors that just make you go, ‘Wow.’ The orangiest orange I’ve ever seen.”

Fitzpatrick has embraced this ancient form in contemporary Bay St. Louis. Her art has not only been influenced by what she sees and feels – things like coastal fauna and flowing abstractions – but by the cultural exchange that happens within the community. The vast network of creative makers on the coast – including builders and musicians and gospel choirs – is inseparably linked to Fitzpatrick’s subject matter and process.

Her current body of work is an embodiment of this dialogue, in this case interpreting her own musical influences and auditory appreciation into visual renditions.

During what she calls one of the best chapters of her life in Bay St. Louis, Fitzpatrick sang in the gospel choir of St. Rose de Lima, a historically African American Catholic church in town. It was here that musician and choir director, the late Alfriza Acker, profoundly influenced her outlook on life and music. “He taught me to be fearless,” she says.

“Not to rely solely on reading music or notes, but to sing from my heart.

That was a huge gift he gave me.”

In the studio during this time, Fitzpatrick did not paint in isolation,

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instead immersing herself in a wide swath of sound, from quintessentially American rhythm and blues and vintage gospel to traditional music from across the globe. She found herself energized by this process. She breathed and painted to the music, and before long, began translating into pigment the sounds of the songs and likenesses of the musicians. The first piece in this series was a painting of Elvis Presley and Lisa Marie, a combination of encaustic and assembled collage that brought to life the iconic duo. From this starting point, she set forth on a journey that immortalized more of her musical heroes and heroines. A collection of these portraits showed at Smith & Lens in Bay St. Louis in 2015 in a show called “Heaven’s Radio,” and almost everything sold. Now, she is preparing more work in the same series for an upcoming show in April at the Lucile Parker Gallery at William Carey University. She has painted everyone from the aforementioned King of Rock ‘n’ Roll to Jimmie Rodgers, the Empress of the Blues, Bessie Smith, blind yodeler Riley Puckett, Louis Armstrong, Muddy Waters, Amy Winehouse, Billie Holiday, Josephine Baker and many others. Fitzpatrick has discovered a form of expression that connects her own multifaceted interests of music, history and anthropology with the soundscapes and aesthetics of her coastal home.

All of it is, at the end of the day, a product of the tight-knit Bay St. Louis in which she works.

The vast network of creative makers on the coast – including builders and musicians and gospel choirs – is inseparably linked to Fitzpatrick’s subject matter and process. Her current body of work is an embodiment of this dialogue, in this case interpreting her own musical influences and auditory appreciation into visual renditions.

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“There are some really amazing and extraordinary people here,” says Fitzpatrick.

“I can’t imagine living anywhere else. We have a wonderful art community and playful spirits. And as my mother used to say about small town living, ‘You’ve got to make your own fun.’ It’s on everybody here to make it fun.”

Fitzpatrick may be one of the only ones in the area working so proficiently in encaustics, but she is part of the larger continuum of creativity that unites the populace beneath a shared banner of collaboration and understanding. Just as it was in the Katrina recovery, each contributor to the Bay St. Louis arts scene brings their own individual and irreplaceable talents. For her part, Fitzpatrick’s paintings speak to a specific moment in time and place. And because of the medium itself, these viewfinders of meaning are preserved with a particular permanence; resistant to humid heat, resolute in the face of unwelcome flood waters.

“There are similar pieces that have survived from Egypt, without air conditioning, that are over 1,900 years old,” Fitzpatrick says. “And after Katrina, the pieces that survived in my house and in others’ houses were my encaustic pieces. One painting came back to me. It was a three-paneled triptych. A house had fallen on it and a tractor had rolled over it. The only damage was one small gouge in the surface. By the time we cleaned off the Katrina mud it was as if nothing had happened.” L

Want to know more?

Kat Fitzpatrick is represented by The Mockingbird Café and Gallery and Smith & Lens in Bay St. Louis; and Blue Skies Gallery in Long Beach, The Attic Gallery in Vicksburg and The Caron Gallery in Tupelo, all in Mississippi. Learn more at katfitzpatrick.com.

The streets of Bay St. Louis are laden with quaint shops, art galleries, antique stores, restaurants and the historic Bay St. Louis Little Theater. Visitors can begin a walking tour at the county’s tourism office in this L&N Railroad Depot and 1927 rail station, below. (Photograph of depot by Ken Flynt) (Photograph of theater by James Edward Bates)

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Photograph by James Edward Bates

Laid Back Lure: Americana at its Best

By Kara Martinez Bachman

F

or a town of its size (population est. 9,400), the quiet bayside town of Bay St. Louis has no trouble attracting the weary.

With its calm waters lapping gently on its shores, the town is situated along the western portion of Mississippi’s Gulf Coast. Away from the bright lights and beaches that make up the Mississippi Sound, Bay St. Louis is regarded as a place of respite. Half-filled with the vacation homes of New Orleans families, people come to The Bay’s shallow waters to swim or fish or crab. On land, they stroll the town’s streets where artisan shops and quaint mom and pop restaurants punctuate the landscape.

The town’s new harbor sits like a pearl, a monument to the community whose people endured the ravages of Katrina then reclaimed their land from the most notable hurricane of recent memory.

“It is a beautiful new harbor, with a variety of boats and a great view of the bay. Anyone who likes boats and the water would enjoy walking the docks,” said Harbormaster Chuck Fortin. “Most of our long-term rentals are folks from out of town. We have boaters from as far away as Arkansas

and Florida that berth here.”

The harbor provides courtesy docking for day trippers. Once on dry ground, “The best thing to do here is just follow your nose. You are guaranteed to find something you like,” he says.

Tours begin at the Historic L&N Railroad Depot, a 1927 rail station now housing Hancock County Tourism and several attractions, like the Alice Moseley and Mardi Gras museums and an exhibit on blues music, all of which Executive Director Myrna Green highly recommends.

Walkers, runners and cyclists should plan to cross the Leo W. Seal Bridge, a four-mile round trip with a payoff of wide, natural water vistas.

The path is marked at 1/10-mile intervals with bronze bas relief plaques created by local artists.

Angel Trees dot the landscape, woodcarvings by artist Dale Lewis, who transformed tree trunks ravaged by Katrina into works of art. Another worthy stop is the town’s main community arts venue, the Bay St. Louis Little Theatre, a repurposed building that originally housed a mom and pop grocery. Theater President Cheryl Grace said each concrete block of the building’s exterior was created by hand in the early 1900s.

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The building’s claim to fame is that it was used as a set in the Robert Redford and Natalie Wood flick of 1966, “This Property is Condemned,” which was partially shot on location in Bay St. Louis.

The theater has received the Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts, a statewide recognition with other recipients, including performers and writers such as John Grisham, Eudora Welty, B.B. King and Bo Diddly.

“It is the first and only community theater in the state that has won this award since the establishment of these coveted awards,” Grace said. “It was by unanimous vote, which we were told was a rare occurrence. At every show we greet at least 30 to 50 percent of attendees who are not citizens of our community.”

Another notable historic site is the 100 Man Hall. Built in 1922 as an open air pavilion and fully enclosed not long after, the building served as a meeting place for a local African-American men’s benevolent organization.

From the 1940s through the 1960s, the building hosted entertainers such as Big Joe Turner, Etta James, James Booker, Professor Longhair and Deacon John. By the ‘80s it had been transformed into a bingo hall and changed hands several times until Katrina blew through.

Kerrie and Jesse Loya discovered the abandoned building and weren’t content to let the historic structure face the wrecking ball, so with the help of a grant from The Mississippi Department of Archives and History, they restored it to its former glory and began holding monthly performances.

“Tourists from around the world and across the United States frequently show up at The 100 Man Hall’s Blues Trail Marker, hoping for a tour of this historic venue,” said Kerrie Loya. “If they are lucky, they can attend one of the monthly shows and feel the ghosts of great performers from long ago.” L

Want to go?

For a comprehensive list of dining, shopping, lodging, events and attractions in Bay St. Louis, visit baystlouisoldtown.com.

66 • FEBRUARY/ MARCH 2016

Visitors love the city’s Second Saturday Art Walk in which retails shops, restaurants and art galleries offer specials and extended hours. (Photographs by Ken Flynt)

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COVINGTON, LA. • Mar 20 … Chef Soiree, under starry skies at the beautiful Bogue Falaya Park in Covington, showcases all aspects of the culinary scene of St. Tammany Parish and offers tastings of Louisiana specialties and signature offerings from more than 90 chefs, restaurants, breweries, wineries and catering companies. For more info, visit chefsoiree.com or louisiananorthshore.com.

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• Feb 19 … Michelle Walker at the Germantown Performing Arts Center. Armed with a provocative, whiskey-soaked tone, this jazz vocalist is a charismatic singer who uses an artful blend of blues, bebop, swing and soul with playful rhythmic expressiveness. For more info, phone (901) 751-7500.

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Mar 29 ... The Jericho Road Show at Walnut Street Blues Bar, featuring the roots and blues musical stylings of Ramblin’ Steve Gardner, Libby Rae Watson, Wes Lee and Bill Steber, is part of an American Music Triangle launch to celebrate the diverse musical traditions of the people, places and stories of the world’s No. 1 music destination. Sponsored by Visit Mississippi & The Washington County Convention & Visitors Bureau. For more info, visit visitgreenville.org.

MERIDIAN, MISS. • Apr 2 … The Threefoot Arts Festival, a downtown celebration of the visual and performing arts, with a juried exhibition of fine art, live entertainment, Threefoot Bloody Marys and a huge hands-on activities center for children with art and music play. Held on the Meridian City Hall lawn from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more info, contact Laura Carmichael at (601) 485-1944 or visit meridianarts.org.

NATCHEZ, MISS. • Mar 5 – April 5 … Natchez Spring Pilgrimage, featuring 24 antebellum mansions as they open their doors to visitors with costumed guides and descendants of original owners whose stories are as real as the bricks and mortar in their homes. Each house is unique with 18th and 19th century furnishings, porcelain, silver, clothing, tools, documents and diaries. For more info, visit visitnatchez.org.

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NEW ALBANY, MISS. • Apr 9 … Union County Master Gardeners’ 8th Annual New Albany Home & Garden Show in historic downtown from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.

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The full marathon begins at 7:30 a.m. from Camp and Poydras streets. A 10-K run and half-marathon are also offered. The live entertainment lineup for the post-race party is the Preservation Hall Jazz Band and J. Roddy Walston and The Business. For more info, visit runrocknroll.com/new-orleans.

PENSACOLA, FLA. • Mar 5-6 ... Gulf Coast Renaissance Faire and Pirate Festival at the Pensacola Fairgrounds. Step back to the days of old with jousting exhibitions, falconry, medieval musicians, jesters, jugglers, fire breathers, belly dancers, bagpipers and more. For more info, visit gcrf.us or phone (877) 429-8462.

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VICKSBURG, MISS. • Mar 5 … Run Thru History 10-K road race, 5-K walk and mile fun run through the Vicksburg National Military Park. Entertainment by The Chill. Registration at 7 a.m. For more info, visit runthruhistory.org or phone (601) 638-1071.

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