FEB - MAR 2017

JOURNEY TO THE PAST: BEST PILGRIMAGES OF THE SOUTH

FEBRUARY.MARCH 2017

Ooh-Wee Load up on Lafayette’s Cajun Food Tours

Wine, Women Shoes

The must-not-miss event of the year!

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M I S S I S S I P P I ’ S A W A R D - W I N N I N G C O N S U M E R T R AV E L P U B L I C AT I O N W W W. R E A D L E G E N D S . C O M

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E GREAT TH SE

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4 • FEBRUARY | MARCH 2017

IHOP

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PUBLISHER AND PRESIDENT ��������������������Marianne Todd LEAD GRAPHIC DESIGNER ��������������������Shayne Garrett WEBSITE DESIGNER �������������������������������Scott Mire

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Contact LEGENDS 601-604-2963 Editorial/Advertising - 601-604-2963 | Editor@ReadLegends.com Contributing writers: Kara Martinez Bachman, Stephen Corbett, Meghan Holmes, Julian Rankin, Zandra Wolfgram Contributing photographers: Michael Barrett, Don Cummins, Rory Doyle, Rachel Leigh

CONTENTS FEBRUARY | MARCH 2017 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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Copyright 2017. 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. Blue South Publishing Corporation provides thousands of 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, please contact us at Editor@ReadLegends.com.

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MUSIC 26 Celebrating International Musician Month Bringing a world of music to Mississippi

48 Crash Landing at No. 5

The unexpected arrival of Joel Hamilton

58 From Gold to Platinum

The inspiring journey of drummer Adam Box

CULTURE 12 Journey to the Past

Southern pilgrimages bring history to life

22 Going Mad for Wine, Women & Shoes

Join the Sinfonia Gulf Coast for a "Mad Hatter's Garden Party"

32 COVER STORY: Ooh-Wee that Cajun Cuisine Load up on Lafayette's Cajun Food Tours

40 Honoring the (Southern) Written Word JOURNEY TO THE PAST: BEST PILGRIMAGES OF THE SOUTH

FEBRUARY.MARCH 2017

Ooh-Wee Load up on Lafayette’s Cajun Food Tours

Wine, Women Shoes

The must-not-miss event of the year!

THE NEW

ROXY

No Ceilings at the Crossroads

M I S S I S S I P P I ’ S A W A R D - W I N N I N G C O N S U M E R T R AV E L P U B L I C AT I O N W W W. R E A D L E G E N D S . C O M

6 • FEBRUARY | MARCH 2017

ABOUT OUR COVER Load up on the Lafayette, Louisiana, Cajun Food Tours with six mouth watering stops – everything from Cajun donuts to red beans and rice, gumbo, crawfish, boudin and bread pudding. (Photograph by Marianne Todd)

The Natchez Literary and Cinema Celebration

42 A Room with a View

300 years of Cane River Creole history

52 The New Roxy

No ceilings at the crossroads

EVENTS 63 What's Shakin' in the Cradle Calendar of Events

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M E R I D I A N

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SATURDAY FEBRUARY 25 11 am - 5 pm

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When that mischievous Cat in the Hat comes to play, all the kids (and their parents) yell, “Hip, hip, hooray!” While the book introduces the joys of the page, this version gives youngsters a love for the stage. Every one of the characters joins in the fun, like the cat and the fish, and Thing Two and Thing One. You will giggle and laugh at the mayhem set loose in the grand old tradition of dear Dr. Seuss. At the end, as the actors are taking their bows, you will turn to your child, and you both will say, “Wow!”

MSU Riley Center Box Office | 2200 Fifth Street | Meridian, MS 39301 601.696.2200 | www.msurileycenter.com Facebook.com/RileyCenter READLEGENDS.COM •

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STORY FROM MISSISSIPPI AND LOUISIANA

14 • FEBRUARY | MARCH 2017

Southern pilgrimages bring history to life

By KARA MARTINEZ BACHMAN Photography by Marianne Todd

I

n Geoffrey Chaucer’s “The Canterbury Tales,” the idea of a pilgrimage – a trek for spiritual purposes – was dramatized in a way that solidified it as an important act for the devoted. As Chaucer’s collection of stories and verse unfolds, so too, do the fictional stories of its pilgrims, en route from London to pay homage at the shrine of Thomas Becket at Canterbury Cathedral.

Today, the concept of pilgrimage has broadened to include not only religious sites, but other places for which the devoted certainly have a similar fervor.

The idea of pilgrimage in Mississippi is most evident in the devotion many have to the beautiful Southern homes that have stood the test of time. From antebellum mansions that survived the ravages of the Civil

War to Victorian palaces that conjure feelings of small town America, the South has a love affair with its heritage that, by all accounts, seems infectious.

Holly Springs

“I think the romanticism of the old South is just a draw for people,” said Tish Summerlin, co-chairman of the Holly Springs Pilgrimage, put on each spring in the small north Mississippi town not far from Memphis. This year, it happens April 21 through 23.

Summerlin said the 79-year-old event – which for 2017 will feature tours of five antebellum homes, three churches and several museums – draws anywhere from 750 to 850 “pilgrims” each spring.

OPPOSITE: Guests stroll through the gardens at Whitehall in Columbus, the Mississippi city with 650 National Register of Historic Places and three National Register Historic Districts.

TOP: A reenactor takes a break in the library of Columbus' Rosedale (c. 1856).

The home is one of eight on the city's pilgrimage tour beginning March 30.

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“We get people from Montana,” she said. “We constantly have new people from Memphis. We have people from England.”

Summerlin herself grew up in one of the old homes that was on the tour slate for many years. Hosting visitors has always been her thing, and she said during the spring tours, it becomes Holly Springs’ thing as well.

“We have upped our game in the last years,” she said, adding the city now offers visitors B&Bs, a range of restaurants, antique shopping and more.

Natchez Perhaps the grande dame of all such events is the Natchez Spring Pilgrimage, an effort vital to the culture of the city that somehow survived the worst of the Civil War. Natchez offers tours year-round and has a Fall Pilgrimage, but the spring event, running March 18 through April 18, really is the apex of local tourism. It includes tours, concerts, presentations, dinners and more.

According to Lynn Smith, director of sales for Natchez Pilgrimage Tours, the popularity of pilgrimages to Natchez is due to the “realness” of what the city offers.

“We have real live people living in homes their ancestors built,” she said. Many homes on the tour aren’t museums; they’re living, breathing, opulent residences that may contain “8th generation” people.

Smith said there are several new features this year, including the Foster’s Mound Tour, which includes the history of the Natchez Indians and the story of African-Americans in Natchez. Wrapped into it is the narrative of Abdul Rahman Ibrahima, an African prince who was enslaved and brought to Natchez.

LEFT: Natchez, Mississippi, tour homes are both privately and publicly owned and boast numerous furnishings and antiques. The unfinished property of Longwood still has the remains of tools and other artifacts craftsmen abandoned at the onset of the Civil War. BELOW: Monmouth Plantation boasts exquisite gardens and grounds with numerous blossoming plants and stately oaks with draping Spanish moss.

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Visit Natchez Our doors are always open.

VISITNATCHEZ.ORG | 800.647.6724 READLEGENDS.COM •

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"There is a certain mystique of living in the South.

Really, it's about the stories, and about the people who lived there.”

– Nancy Carpenter

18 • FEBRUARY | MARCH 2017

OPPOSITE: A tour highlight is Mint Juleps at Whitehall, a celebratory nod to short-story writer, novelist and photographer Eudora Welty. Before she became famous, Welty collected stories and old recipes for the Federal Writers Project, “America Eats.” Her recipe, offered by T.C. Billups of Columbus, is posted on the official visitor's website at visitcolumbus.org. ABOVE: A reenactor in the palor of Rosedale (c. 1856), a restored Columbus home on the city's pligrimage tour.

Columbus Another equally-significant pilgrimage but perhaps better-kept secret - happens in Columbus, Mississippi, where the 77th Annual Spring Pilgrimage - takes place March 30 through April 8. The tours include a whopping 650 National Register of Historic Places properties and three National Register Historic Districts. Some home tours feature recreations of life in the 1800s with elaborate costumes and other accoutrements of deep South antebellum life.

"We normally have guests from every state in the U.S., and from 15 to 19 countries," said Nancy Carpenter, executive director of the Columbus CVB. "The homes, with the exception of one, are all owned and maintained by individual families.”

Carpenter said in the last two years, Columbus has significantly increased its pilgrimage-related offerings.

A tour highlight is Mint Juleps at Whitehall, a celebratory nod

to short-story writer, novelist and photographer Eudora Welty. Before she became famous, Welty collected stories and old recipes for the Federal Writers Project, “America Eats.” Her recipe, offered by T.C. Billups of Columbus, is posted on the official visitor's website at visitcolumbus.org. The Mint Juleps are served to guests as they browse the exquisite gardens and grounds at Whitehall, one of Columbus' Rosedale (c. 1856) favorite homes.

The pilgrimage kicks off with a welcoming crawfish and shrimp boil served up to live music on the grounds of the famed Tennessee Williams home as visitors enter town.

Additionally, the city lays out the red carpet for traveling "pilgrims" at 135 restaurants and an array of B&Bs and hotels.

"There is a certain mystique of living in the South," Carpenter said. "Really, it's about the stories, and about the people who lived there.”

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Neighbors

Further south, the Mississippi Gulf Coast Council of Garden Club's Spring Pilgrimage happens April 9-12.

The 65th pilgrimage draws heavy crowds to the historic homes – and notable newer places – on the tour that spans three coastal counties. Its popularity? The tours are free.

Although Mississippi really “owns” the spring pilgrimage concept, nearby states have adopted similar tour slates for spring. There are smaller versions that take The Myrtles Plantation tour offers an understanding of the skills possessed by many of the plantation slaves place in places such as Selma, Alabama, where the 42nd who were expert carpenters and craftsmen, horticulturists, hunters, seamstresses, weavers, cooks, nurses.

(Photographs by Chuck Cook) Annual Historic Selma Pilgrimage happens March 17 through 18, and in Eufaula, Alabama, where visitors may enjoy notable local homes March 31 through April 2.

In southeastern Louisiana, the 46th annual Audubon Pilgrimage – happening March 17 through 19 – showcases Louisiana’s English Plantation Country. Sponsored by the West Feliciana Historical Society, the tours show off the grandeur of Louisiana’s historic architecture but also commemorate the visit of artist and naturalist John James Audubon, who painted a number of his bird studies from Oakley Plantation, a major

20 • FEBRUARY | MARCH 2017

The City That

Has It All!

Year-Round | Daily Historic Home Tours March 30-April 8, 2017 | 77th Annual Spring Pilgrimage including Tales from the Crypt, Catfish in the Alley, Half Marathon & 5K, Garden Party and more!

May 5-6, 2017 | 22nd Annual Market Street Festival July 1, 2017 | Fireworks on the Water September 7-10, 2017 | Tennessee Williams Tribute Save the Date | April 5-14, 2018 78th Annual Spring Pilgrimage

VisitColumbusMS.org for a complete listing of attractions and events.

TENNESSEE WILLIAMS HOME & WELCOME CENTER | 300 MAIN STREET | 800.920.3533 READLEGENDS.COM •

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property of the tour. Also included are tours of notable homes such as The Myrtles Plantation.

Helen Williams of the West Feliciana Historical Society, said the best thing about the local pilgrimage is that’s it’s well-executed and comprehensive – and done by local volunteer efforts.

“We spend an entire year in planning, building upon more than four decades of experience to ensure an enjoyable and educational experience for all ages of visitors,” she said, “from the wagon rides and old-timey crafts to the elegant 1820s costumes which have won awards and recognition for their authenticity.

“It shows them who we are and where we have come from, with living history re-enactments and historic architecture,” she said. “The Audubon Pilgrimage is particularly proud of our Rural Homestead, demonstrating the simple skills of daily living, not necessarily on the big plantations, but on the country homesteads.”

Representing a diversity of historic lifestyles is good for a tradition that has seen its share of controversy. In recent decades, the notion of “antebellum tourism” has taken heat for not representing the plight of those who suffered to make viable the plush lifestyles pilgrimages represent. There are those who feel pilgrimage tours celebrate the worst times of the South.

It is for this reason that many antebellum hosts see increasing need to tell the whole story.

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“We can’t change our history, but we can certainly learn from it,” Williams said, of how St. Francisville addresses it. “We can foster an understanding of the skills possessed by many of the plantation slaves who were expert carpenters and craftsmen, horticulturists, hunters, seamstresses, weavers, cooks, nurses.

“We have had African-American demonstrators here at the Rural Homestead, shoeing horses, quilting, making baskets,” she said. “The plantation outbuildings lend themselves to a discussion of the difficulty of life for the slaves, many of whom in this area remained at the plantation homes after the Civil War.” For Smith, the new Natchez tour reflects the changing face of antebellum tourism. Pilgrimage visitors are seeking more than they did in the past, she said.

“They’re not looking for the painted-over glamorous South any more,” she said. The Foster’s Mound Tour is one of many additions to the schedule that, in recent years, aims to present a diverse, comprehensive portrait of real life during antebellum times.

“These homes were built on the backs of slaves. This is a new era, and Natchez is telling the whole truth."

The journey that takes seekers past the uncomfortable realities of history may still be twisty and filled with beautiful diversions, but that path is growing a little straighter every day. At its end lies the opulent, lush, truly impressive homes that are icons of the American South. L

There aren’t many places where you can take in the history of famous Delta writers, a World War II airbase and memorial, the blues, Jim Henson and Kermit the Frog, pre-historic Native Americans, and the Mississippi River Flood of 1927 all within a radius that makes for an easy day trip. But that’s a great reason to visit — there’s something for every member of the family. Come and see why we’re definitely more than meets the eye.

Greenville History Museum 409 Washington Avenue, Greenville William Alexander Percy Memorial Library & Delta Writer’s Exhibit 341 Main Street, Greenville “Century of History” Hebrew Union Temple & Museum 504 Main Street, Greenville 1927 Flood Museum 118 South Hinds Street, Greenville The Patriot at Greenville Cemetery South Main Street, Greenville E.E. Bass Cultural Arts Center / Armitage-Herschell Carousel 323 South Main Street, Greenville Highway 61 Blues Museum 307 North Broad Street, Leland Jim Henson Delta Boyhood Exhibit 206 Broad Street North, Leland Mississippi Wildlife Heritage Museum / Outdoor Hall of Fame Leland, (Coming Soon Spring of 2017) Winterville Mounds 2415 Highway 1 North, Winterville Greenville Air Force Base Museum Mid Delta Regional Airport, Greenville Belmont Plantation 3498 Highway 1 South, Greenville

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

Convention & Visitors Bureau

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24 • FEBRUARY | MARCH 2017

STORY FROM FLORIDA

G

M a g d n i fo r o

Join the Sinfonia Gulf Coast for A Mad Hatter’s Garden Party

By ZANDRA WOLFGRAM

V

isitors to February’s “Mad Hatter’s Garden Party” along the pristine shores of Northwest Florida are sure to escape down the rabbit hole at this year’s Sinfonia Gulf Coast Wine Women & Shoes charity event.

The must-not-miss extravaganza is an artful weekend-long celebration of wine, fashion and food benefiting Sinfonia Gulf Coast — the only fully professional non-profit orchestra on the Emerald Coast.

The symphony was founded in 2005 by music and artistic director Demetrius Fuller.

Wine Women & Shoes is one of the fastest-growing event series in the country. Elaine Honig, a scion of the prominent California wineproducing family, created the event, inspired by the classic country ballad “Wine, Women and Song.” Now in its 11th year, the Wine Women & Shoes team has produced more than 220 events, raising more than $37 million for various non-profits nationwide.

As is tradition, the weekend kicks off on Friday evening with a series of seven Vintner Dinners held in luxury homes, hotels and upscale restaurants along the Emerald Coast. “Celebrity” chefs include Nikhil Abuvala, Roux 30A; Jack McGuckin, Bijoux; Dan Vargo, Seagar’s; Kevin

Korman, Roselie; Chris Holbrook, 30A Signature Catering; Michael Katz, The Henderson and Jim Richard, Stinky’s Fish Camp/Trebeaché.

They will be paired with featured wineries including Hourglass, Ancien, Blackbird Vineyards, Sanglier, Eric Kent Wines, Silver Trident Winery and St. Helena Winery.

The event is a favorite for its hostess. “It just so much fun to introduce neighbors and friends. There are probably 20 couples who have met at my house and have become dear friends, and it’s all as a result of Wine Women & Shoes,” says Demetria McNeese, who connected Sinfonia Gulf Coast to the Wine Women & Shoes event in Northwest Florida.

“It’s fun to share an evening with like minds who also want to support their community and who love to enjoy good wine and food and fellowship.”

McNeese, who hails from Destin, served as the event chair for the first couple of years and now sits on the planning committee. A dynamic entrepreneur and patron of the arts, McNeese is also president and founder of McNeese Distributing, a North Florida-based wine distributor of small production boutique wines and vice president of McNeese Title, LLC. READLEGENDS.COM •

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VINTNER DINNERS Friday, Feb. 17, 6 p.m.

Tickets: $275 per person (Includes all food, wine and gratuities.)

Greg Lala & Yvonne King – Sandestin Chef: Jim Richard, Stinky’s Fish Camp & Trebeaché Vintner: Sanglier Cellars Winery: Glenn Alexander, winemaker/owner Janis & Don Bishop – Shalimar, Fla. Chef: Nikhil Abuvala, Roux30A Vintner: St. Helena Winery Winery: Lesley Russell, General Manager Seagar’s Prime Steak & Seafood – Miramar Beach, Fla. Chef: Dan Vargo, Seagar’s Vintner: Blackbird Vineyards Winery: Michael Polenske, owner Bijoux Restaurant + Spirits – Miramar Beach, Fla. Chef: Jack McGuckin, Bijoux Vintner: Eric Kent Wine Cellars Winery: Kent Humphrey Christine Carter & Ken Bryant – Destin, Fla. Chef: Chris Holbrook, 30A Signature Catering/Bellamy Vintner: Ancien Winery: Jean Miller

The Henderson, A Salamander Spa & Beach Resort – Destin, Fla. Chef: Michael Katz, The Henderson Vintner: Hourglass Winery: Ian Fenwick, General Manager Churchill Oaks – Santa Rosa Beach, Fla. Chef: Kevin Korman, Roselie Dining + Seafood Bar Vintner: Silver Trident Winery Winery: Shane Soldinger BUBBLES, BREWS & CULINARY QS Saturday, Feb. 18, 4-6 p.m.

Hilton Sandestin Beach Golf Resort & Spa, Miramar Beach Tickets are $35 per person.

WINE WOMEN & SHOES SIGNATURE EVENT Sunday, Feb. 19, 2-5 p.m.

Hilton Sandestin Beach Golf Resort & Spa, Miramar Beach Tickets are $100 per person (includes all food, wine, reserved table seating and valet parking).

For more event details and to purchase tickets to all or any combination of Sinfonia Gulf Coast’s Wine Women & Shoes events online, visit www.sinfoniagulfcoast.org or call (850) 460-8800.

Shop & Stay Package

Enjoy a $50 gift card to Silver Sands Premium Outlets when you stay at Hilton Sandestin Beach Golf Resort & Spa. Rooms are from $119 per night.

Enter event code: WWS. Call (850) 267-9500.

26 • FEBRUARY | MARCH 2017

The fun factor steps up on Saturday with Bubbles, Brews & Culinary Qs held at the Hilton Sandestin Beach Golf Resort & Spa in Miramar Beach, Florida. Guests will sip sparkling wines at the Bubbles Bar, locally crafted micro brews and ales by Grayton Beer Company and tuck into delicious barbecue-inspired light bites while enjoying live music performed by the funky blues fusion local favorite, Dread Clampitt.

On Sunday afternoon “sole sisters” and “sole mates” kick up their heels at the Hilton during the Signature Event, which has become the see-and-be-seen soiree of the season. The lively event — filled with wine and food tastings, retail shopping and live music performances — centers on a high-energy fashion show by Today’s Boutique of Destin and crescendos with a live auction of high-end lots of reserve wine, artful excursions, luxury travel trips and the like. McNeese assures there are “fresh surprises” each year. New this year is a Shoe Box Pull.

For a donation of $50 guests can select a wrapped shoebox filled with something fabulous valued between $50 and $100. Also debuting this year are a treasure trove of national retailers, including Love Thirteen (San Diego), F&W Style (Atlanta), Ty Park Candles (Augusta, Ga.) and Fair Portia (Olympia, Wa.) — who are venturing to the coast to sell their boutique wares at the event.

OPPOSITE PAGE (clockwise): Demetria McNeese with Sinfonia Gulf Coast Founder and Music Director Demetrius Fuller; the Signature Event boasts food and wine tastings paired with a fashion show and live auction, featuring everything from high-end art to reserve wine and luxury travel trips; the girls at the Sole Sisters luncheon.

BELOW: Guests at the live auction sip wine while bidding on everything from art to luxury trips. (Photos courtesy Sinfonia Gulf Coast)

A “best shoe” contest is a kick each year, but this year in keeping with the “Mad Hatter” theme, the crowning glory just may be the “best hat” competition.

As passionate as she is about wine, McNeese is even more so about children and education, which is at the heart of the event’s charity. Before relocating the Gulf Coast, McNeese ran a music production company in Nashville, where she witnessed the power of music first hand.

“I saw how music has helped children, and I saw kids turn to music as a safe harbor,” she said. “Sinfonia’s music education programs ties into my passion and desire to keep music in the schools. I support a lot of causes, but there’s none that I give the time and attention that I give Sinfonia. It’s that important to me.”

McNeese and many other local business leaders and music-loving volunteers like her are making a noticeable difference. Proceeds from the event benefit Sinfonia and its music education programs, which include musicians/guest artists in schools, free orchestra concerts, bus transportation for students, the Sinfonia Youth Orchestra program, an Arts in Medicine initiative with Sacred Heart Hospital and LINK UP concerts with third through fifth graders in partnership with Carnegie Hall.

Founder and Music Director Demetrius Fuller, says Sinfonia’s Wine Women & Shoes event “has enabled our organization to increase the capacity of its music education initiatives by more than 300 percent over the last two years. It is truly humbling to see the continued and growing support for Sinfonia and Wine Women & Shoes and that our patrons realize that they are putting their best foot forward to make this happen.”

“As passionate as she is about wine, McNeese is even more so about children and education, which is at the heart of the event’s charity.”

L

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STORY FROM HATTIESBURG, MISS.

Celebrating International Musician Month Bringing a world of music to Mississippi

By MEGHAN HOLMES

W

hen Jay Dean took over as orchestra director at the University of Southern Mississippi's School of Music, there were only four string programs in the state. There were, by comparison, 150 band and 100 choral programs.

That was in 1988, the same year he began courting international students to the school's music department.

“I was conducting in Mexico, and I started looking there first, and then eventually expanded into the rest of Latin America. We’ve now have had students from 34 countries in the program,” Dean said.

In 2017, USM will celebrate International Musician Month during February with a variety of performances in various venues in and around Hattiesburg. The celebration will culminate with a concert of Serenade by Dvorak and Tchaikovsky at USM's Bennett Auditorium on Valentine's Day.

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The school’s international students bring professional experience and extensive training to Mississippi undergraduates while acquiring English language instruction at USM’s English Language Institute and performing with orchestras across the state. “Music is the vehicle we use to help improve international students’ future opportunities, and they contribute a great deal while they’re here,” Dean said.

Fourteen years after beginning international student recruitment, Dean met Alejandro Encinas, a Peruvian-born professor and musician living in Colombia. “I was already teaching in Colombia, so for me it was kind of a job to become a student again,” said Encinas, who now serves as education director for the Mississippi Symphony. “I was 38 years old and didn’t know any English, and through the English Language Institute I was able to start taking courses taught in English after ten months.”

“I studied at a conservatory in Moscow, and many of those musicians now work all around the world. I contacted them and they started sending me students from Brazil, Argentina, Peru and Bolivia. I’ve lost count of how many musicians I’ve recruited into the program now.” – Alejandro Encinas.

Encinas studied at USM with his wife, a Cuban-born musician in the program. My experiences with them opened my eyes to other who entered undergraduate study while he began work on his master’s cultures and sparked my interest in language and travel.” degree. “We loved the orchestra program,” said Encinas. "It was very Visiting students also expose Mississippi students to new music intense and challenging with a good mix of classical, Broadway and and technique. “I would get together with Argentinian students and American songs and composers. To be honest, I was surprised at the play tango and classical music that I’d never heard,” says Christopher high level of performance we found in such a small town in the South.”

Dean. Jay Dean agrees that the repertoire many international students Encinas found an established community of Latin American possess upon arrival makes them an asset to other students as well as musicians around Hattiesburg already enrolled at USM who helped him Mississippi orchestras. “They bring tremendous talent and expertise to settle in to life in Mississippi. the state,” he said.

Within the year, he found

In addition to himself reaching out to coursework, students also former colleagues across perform with symphonies the world to recruit more around Mississippi. Peter students into the program.

Rubardt serves as music “I studied at a conservatory director for the Meridian, in Moscow, and many of Gulf Coast and Pensacola those musicians now work symphony orchestras, all around the world. I often working with current contacted them and they international students at started sending me students USM as well as alumni. “I from Brazil, Argentina, Peru know most of them quite and Bolivia. I’ve lost count well, and have a lot of fun of how many musicians I’ve working with them,” said recruited into the program Rubardt. “I don’t know now,” said Encinas.

Spanish yet, but during

Many Latin American rehearsal breaks nearly musicians train in public half the orchestra speaks in conservatories or through Spanish. Both the Meridian Alejandro Encinas, photographed in front of P. Sanders McNeal's, "The Rehearsal" at the Mississippi Museum of Art, lost count of the number of international students he has recruited to the University of government funded programs and Biloxi symphonies have Southern Mississippi's School of Music. After graduating from USM in 2005, he found his way back to allowing for free or affordable a longstanding relationship Mississippi, where he now serves as Director of Education for the Mississippi Symphony (Photograph

by Michael Barrett). private instruction. “We have with USM, and without incredibly talented Mississippi students in our music program, but most of seasoned international musicians the quality of each would be greatly them do not have extensive training in a conservatory. We scout musicians lowered.” from Colombia or Venezuela like a football coach scouts players, and we

Many international musicians remain in the state after graduation, find the best musicians, who want to come here and share their experience performing, teaching and advocating for music education in Mississippi. with our students,” Dean said.

“I have four former students teaching in Gulfport. Four or five are in Dean’s son, Christopher Dean, studied music at USM and now Jackson and four or five in Hattiesburg,” said Dean. “They’re also in attends the University of Florida, pursuing a PhD in linguistics after Tupelo, Meridian and Natchez. All told, they’re teaching over 1,000 spending time with international students he met in the orchestra. students, which is a huge impact on our state. We also have USM alumni

“When I tell people I learned Spanish in south Mississippi they’re and former international student Jorge Gonzales working with the usually shocked,” says Christopher Dean. “I ended up adding Spanish Meridian and Gulf Coast orchestras, and of course Alejandro Encinas, to my major after becoming friends with so many South Americans who has probably been my biggest ally recruiting new students.”

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When Encinas graduated in to the United States. Now I’m an 2005 and began his job search, American citizen, teaching young Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf children music and working to Coast. He took the first job he help other students. I’m so blessed was offered – in Oklahoma. “I to have this opportunity,” he said. didn’t want to leave Mississippi, “Recruiting international students but my wife was pregnant and the is all part of our mission to recruit program I went to was very good. and teach the best students in I spent two years there when, out Mississippi – it helps people inside of the blue, I got a letter from Jay,” and outside the state,” said Dean.

Encinas said.

“This program brings people from It was a recommendation, all over the world to our students, sent unprompted, and Encinas and they all come to Mississippi In celebration of international musicians, Dr. Jay Dean, music director for the University interpreted it as a sign that he of Southern Mississippi's Symphony Orchestra, has named February as International for one reason: music.” L should come back to Mississippi. Musician Month. International students who studied at USM continue to play a huge role in music education throughout Mississippi.

“At first I laughed. I thought, ‘Jay, you’re crazy.’ Then I read this letter, listing all my qualifications for the position of Director of Education for the Mississippi Symphony. It inspired me,” said Encinas.

Encinas applied and got the job. He came back to Mississippi, and For more information, now runs a strings program giving ensemble lessons to 950 students visit usm.edu/music/symphony/events in Clinton, Hinds and Jackson school districts. “This is a challenging project, and one I never thought I would be running before coming

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34 • FEBRUARY | MARCH 2017

STORY FROM LAFAYETTE, LA.

Ooh-Wee

that Cajun Cuisine!

Load up on Lafayette's Cajun Food Tours

By MEGHAN HOLMES Photography by Marianne Todd

M

arie Ducote, a vice-principal and educator of 23 years, hesitated before telling her friends and family that she had made a life changing decision to shift career paths, giving up her professional job to drive a bus around Lafayette Parish.

“I tried to pray it away, but I couldn’t give up on the idea of giving food tours in Lafayette. This is a place where the past is so relevant to our present, and after giving 750 tours, I’m more passionate about sharing our history than ever,” she said.

Ducote’s bus picks up groups of 14 (maximum) for a whirlwind tour of six restaurants in Lafayette and neighboring Broussard. Along the way she shares Acadian history, teaching participants about the region’s Cajun culture through food.

On an unseasonably warm day in January, a group of 13 coworkers wearing matching plastic crawfish bibs and Mardi Gras beads, sat waiting for the tour to begin. Ducote’s tours often introduce Cajun cuisine to people from outside the region, but these participants hailed mostly from New Orleans and Baton Rouge.

“I’ve been training for this my whole life,” said Alex Diero, half joking, as Ducote welcomed everyone aboard the bus and delivered her slogan: “Allons manger,” or “Let’s go eat,” maneuvering out of the Doubletree parking lot and towards Cajun Market Donuts and King Cakes, the tour’s first stop.

Cajun Market serves boudin king cakes, a recent creation in the area. The pastry wasn’t particularly sweet, and wasn’t topped with

OPPOSITE: Freshly steamed crawfish is served at Lafayette’s Hook and Boil restaurant, a stop on the city’s Cajun Food Tours.

TOP: Guests step off the Cajun Food Tours bus to experience a 6-stop food extravaganza of Lafayette; Ruben Johnson, center, and friends enjoy the season’s first crawfish catch and boiled shrimp at Hook and Boil.

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ABOVE: Marie Ducote, owner of Cajun Food Tours, is surrounded by a group of guests before they head out on the 6-stop tour that features the best Cajun cuisine in Lafayette.

RIGHT: At Cajun Market, chefs prepared a boudin king cake with cane syrup and crumbled bacon bits instead of sugary icing.

traditional sugary icing (which is probably a good thing). Instead it came drizzled with Steen’s cane syrup and crumbled bacon bits. “Most people think of boudin with casing, but unlinked boudin is also common and popular in the region,” explained Ducote. “That’s what you see in this cake and in various other preparations like on pizza or in an egg roll.”

After enjoying cake and coffee the tourists boarded the bus again for the second stop, just down the road. David Billeaud opened T Coon’s in 1993 with no restaurant experience but six generations of Cajun heritage behind his recipes. “He cooks like we cook,” said Ducote, laughing, “I mean, like me, my mom, and my grandma.”

Billeaud served seafood court bouillon, made with catfish he caught as part of his other gig as a commercial fisherman. The dish also featured shrimp and crawfish. “Court bouillon varies from region to region. Some versions have tomatoes and more liquid, those are served in a bowl over rice like gumbo. Here we make ours with a roux and it almost looks more like a brown gravy, which we would eat on a plate over rice,” explained

36 • FEBRUARY | MARCH 2017

Ducote. “My grandmother in Evangeline parish had big chunks of bone-in catfish in her court bouillon, which might explain why I like this version.”

T Coon’s court bouillon was delicious, and so were the red beans, served with large pieces of andouille sausage. Ducote’s next stop in Broussard was a ten minute drive, during which she gave a condensed lesson on how south Louisiana became Cajun country.

The French settlers who eventually made their way to Louisiana started in Acadia, in what is now Canada’s Maritime Provinces. The British expelled these Acadians as part of the conflict surrounding the

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French and Indian War, and some 10,000 scattered across the eastern seaboard and Europe. A decade later, Spanish land grants in south Louisiana led several groups of Acadians to settle there, with immigrants from other parts of Europe and the United States eventually joining them.

The Acadians had their own language – a unique French dialect arising from 150 years of isolation – aside from contact with Native American tribes. French New Orleanians generally considered Acadians less civilized, and their rustic cuisine incorporating local ingredients a far cry from the more traditional French fare served in New Orleans.

Acadians became known as Cajuns because, with their accents, the pronunciation of “Acadian” sounded like “A Cajun” to recently arrived American immigrants.

The tour’s fifth destination was in Vermilionville, a living history museum and folk life park within Lafeyette that recreates life in the area during the latter part of the 18th and most of the 19th centuries.

La Cuisine de Maman sits alongside Vermilion Bayou within the park and serves plate lunches as well as Cajun and Creole specialties.

“It’s an Anglo corruption of the word Acadian. The Cajuns were speaking jacked up French,” explained Ducote, the ending of her story coinciding nearly perfectly with the bus’ arrival at Hook and Boil, where a third generation crawfish farmer serves boiled shrimp, crabs and crawfish, as well as other Cajun delicacies.

“They butterfly and devein the shrimp before they boil them,” said Ducote. “I swear it tastes like they were boiled in butter.” The shrimp did have a mild and sweet flavor, and came with a ubiquitous orange sauce comprised largely of ketchup and mayonnaise. Some of the season’s first crawfish were also on the menu; a treat after months without fresh mudbugs available.

The tour’s second stop in Broussard was at Chop’s Specialty Meats, which opened in 2013. “You don’t go to a restaurant for boudin and crackling; you go to a meat market,” said Ducote. “These foods started off as byproducts of a boucherie, or community pig butchering. Boudin Smothered chicken and rice from Vermilionville, 38stop • FEBRUARY | MARCH 2017 the fifth on the tour.

was about making sure nothing went to waste. Of course, now most places use higher end ingredients. Chop’s uses Boston butt as well as pork liver.”

Chop’s boasts an impressive selection of locally produced spirits and dry goods, as well as house made sausages ground fresh daily and a variety of meat including rabbit, duck, gator, frog legs and their own smoked andouille and tasso. Guests ate boudin, crackling, corn maque choux, twice baked potato and bacon wrapped pork chased with samples of locally made Swamp Pop soda. The portions were small but incredibly filling. The tourists returned to the bus sluggishly after this destination, as Ducote made a cheerful reminder there was only one more stop before dessert.

The tour’s fifth destination was in Vermilionville, a living history museum and folk life park within Lafeyette that recreates life in the area during the latter part of the 18th and most of the 19th centuries.

La Cuisine de Maman sits alongside Vermilion Bayou within the park and serves plate lunches as well as Cajun and Creole specialties.

In Vermilionville, people dress in period clothing and recreate period activities. They sell their crafts in a gift shop whose profits support the nonprofit foundation behind the town. The mission is to raise awareness of the area’s history and preserve the environmental health of the bayou.

“Y’all, I usually don’t like chicken and andouille gumbo in restaurants because I don’t think they do it right,” Ducote said, leading guests past the host stand, where a long haired man in a billowy white blouse and leather pants stood. “My favorite gumbo is the one from my kitchen, but this one is almost as good.”

CLOCKWISE: Dana Henry enjoys donuts while Nikki Dangerfield and La'Kedra Robertson converse at Cajun Market, the first stop on the tour; guests sipped craft beer and ate crawfish at Hook & Boil, the tour's fourth stop.

L

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Guests dined on cups of gumbo too delicious not to finish, and prepared for the final stop, where bread pudding finished with a pecan praline sauce was waiting.

Papa T’s, named after Papa Tony Robinson, opened in 2015 and already competes with much older restaurants for the best plate lunch in town. The bread pudding was decadent on its own, and taken over the top with the dark brown praline sauce. As the guests finished eating Tony came out for a meet and greet.

“Why are y’all wearing crawfish bibs?” he said.

No one answered, though someone did have the wherewithal to ask how Tony made his praline sauce. “Oh, this and that,” he demurred, then appeared serious. “A bottle of love,” he laughed.

No one inquired further. With everything learned that day, it was still expected that chefs would have their secrets, especially in Cajun country. L

Want to go?

Visit cajunfoodtours.com for a daily tour schedule or phone (337) 230-6169 for more information.

LEFT: Chicken and sausage gumbo from Vermilionville, the fifth stop on the tour. By this time the tour guests hardly had room for dessert at Papa T's, but they made an exception for owner Tony Robinson's decadent bread pudding.

40 • FEBRUARY | MARCH 2017

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READLEGENDS.COM •

41

STORY FROM NATCHEZ, MISS.

Honoring the (Southern) Written Word

The Natchez Literary and Cinema Celebration

By KARA MARTINEZ BACHMAN

T

o truly understand a place, we must first understand its art and culture.

The American South is a place where the arts – particularly literary arts – flourish. It is also a place with a sometimes complicated cultural milieu. It might not always be easy for outsiders to immediately grasp it in full.

In an effort to share and honor – and also decipher – the arts of the American South, the 28th Annual Natchez Literary and Cinema Celebration (NLCC) will be held February 23 through 25 in Natchez, Mississippi, at the Natchez Convention Center.

Throughout its history, the event has attracted notable speakers, including luminaries such as Eudora Welty, William Styron, Maya Angelou and more.

NLCC co-chairman Brett Brinegar explained how a “Mississippi: Believe It!” ad campaign poster hanging on her office wall reminded her for years of the importance of literature to Mississippi’s culture. The poster features photographs of celebrated Mississippi writers, such as Richard Wright, William Faulkner, Eudora Welty and Margaret Walker.

The humorous caption says: “Yes, we can read. A few of us can even write.”

“I think that (poster) sums up the importance of the literary

42 • FEBRUARY | MARCH 2017

tradition of Mississippi – really, worldwide,” Brinegar said, “and I had that in mind when we were putting the schedule together for the event this year.

“Authors are as important as historians in conveying who we are,” she added. “Each of the writers featured for 2017 has a distinctive perspective on some aspect of our state’s heritage, culture, history and spirit.

“And their works, in many ways,” she added, “are what makes us who we are as a state and a people.”

Southern literature, and specifically Mississippi’s literary tradition, is truly unique, she said. “Regardless of gender or race, or even social class, we all have an almost quirky outlook on life and the world around us. It’s odd in a good way and immediately recognizable.”

Brinegar said when she reads a passage from any book, she “instinctively” knows whether or not she’s reading a Brett Brinegar Southerner.

“There’s a certain mixture of hope and humor, and many times, a little gothic darkness,” she said. “I know I’m partial, but I think Southern

writers and Mississippi writers are the best writers.”

For 2017, the theme honors the state’s bicentennial and will feature discussions related to Mississippi’s history and culture ranging from its achieving statehood to the current day.

Presentations include: FEBRUARY 23 A premiere screening of the film by Mark Brockway and Tim Givens, “Mississippi Madame: The Life of Nellie Jackson," followed by a panel discussion.

FEBRUARY 24 A presentation by Dr. Chester Morgan on “Mississippi at Statehood,” and another by Dr. William Ferris on “The South in Color: A Visual Journey.” Denise Gee will speak on Mississippi’s food culture, and Martha Rossignol will present on the topic of “My Triumph,” which will be about coming-of-age during the Civil Rights era.

FEBRUARY 25 Richard Grant, author of “Dispatches from Pluto: Lost and Found in the Mississippi Delta,” will host a conversation. Following will be a presentation of Richard Wright Literary Awards to investigative journalist Stanley Nelson and literary scholar, Peggy Prenshaw. “State of Jones” co-author Sally Jenkins will then provide an interview-format presentation on the historically significant defiance of Jones County, Mississippi, to joining secession efforts during the Civil War. The event will then conclude with presentations by Alysia Burton Steele of the Meek School of Journalism at the University of Southern Mississippi and author of “Delta Jewels: In Search of My Grandmother’s Wisdom,” and by NancyKay Sullivan, author of “Katrina, Mississippi: Voices from Ground Zero.”

These presentations – happening at the Natchez Convention Center, 211 Main St., Natchez – are free of charge and open to the public, courtesy of Copiah Lincoln Community College, The Mississippi Bicentennial Celebration Commission, The Mississippi Humanities Council, The City of Natchez, Adams County Mississippi and the Department of Archives and History.

In addition to the free events, several ticketed happenings will take place, including a “Music of the People” performance event on February 24 (admission $15), and a luncheon ($30 per person) and cocktail buffet ($60 per person), both happening February 25. L

Want to go?

For full details and times on included events, and to reserve tickets, email nlcc@colin.edu or phone (601) 446-1208 or (601) 446-1274.

READLEGENDS.COM •

43

STORY FROM NATCHITOCHES, LA.

A Room with a View ��� years of Cane River Creole History

By MEGHAN HOLMES Photography by Marianne Todd and Rachel Leigh

I

n late 2016, Louisiana’s oldest permanent settlement saw the opening of its first boutique hotel. The Chateau Saint Denis Hotel opened in November, adjacent to the town’s event center in the heart of a 33-block historic district. “Before this hotel opened the only lodging options downtown were the Church Street Inn and various bed and breakfasts,” said Chris Post, director of the Natchitoches Event Center.

“It’s been a long time since Natchitoches has had a property like this, and we’re very excited about it.”

When the Natchitoches (pronounced Nack-a-tish) Event Center opened a decade ago, directors searched for someone to build a nearby hotel to service hundreds of visitors arriving for conventions the site planned to host. “We can accommodate conferences with 200-300 people in about 40,000 square-feet of space, but prior to the Chateau

44 • FEBRUARY | MARCH 2017

Saint Denis Hotel there wasn’t a hotel to anchor the facility, and people drove 4-5 miles to other spots along the interstate for lodging,” Post said.

“We really wanted to showcase Natchitoches’s 300 years of history along the Cane River Lake downtown."

Natchitoches Event Center staff connected with hotel owners Warren and Nancy Ruether based on the recommendation of a marketing research group. “They told them to find the guy who owns The Grand (hotel) in Natchez and manages the convention center,” said Nancy Reuther. “Years ago we actually had a little boat on the Cane River Lake that did swamp tours, so we’ve also really watched Natchitoches grow and love the town.”

The Cane River Lake runs through downtown Natchitoches and along several extant plantations outside town. A former pass of the Red

“Early Louisiana antiques are rare, but I’ve always found them very appealing aesthetically.

I did a lot of research on period furniture and chose pieces based on that. Knowing that Natchitoches is the oldest settlement in the Louisiana Purchase was also an inspiration.”

– Nancy Reuther

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River, the Cane is an Oxbow lake dammed at either end after the river changed course in the mid-1800s. Prior to the invention of snag boats in the 1830s, hundreds of logs impeded travel above Natchitoches in a 160mile log jam called the Great Raft. Once the logs were cleared, the river began shifting. Its course now passes about four miles north of the town.

The Chateau Saint Denis Hotel sits about three blocks from the lake’s banks, where weddings are held in the summer and each December more than 300,000 Christmas lights go on display. “Natchitoches’ downtown is incredibly charming,” said Nancy Reuther. “You walk along the river, and there are cobblestone streets and gardens. The hotel is in walking distance of all that, which is one of its greatest assets.”

Reuther modeled the 87 hotel rooms’ furniture after early Louisiana antiques. “Because of the area’s history and people, and being along a river, I was reminded a lot of Monmouth (an antebellum home the Ruether’s have restored and own in Natchez) and downtown Natchez,” she said. “Early Louisiana antiques are rare, but I’ve always found them very appealing aesthetically. I did a lot of research on period furniture and chose pieces based on that. Knowing that Natchitoches is the oldest settlement in the Louisiana Purchase was also an inspiration.”

The hotel’s lobby, as well as the downstairs bar and breakfast areas, feature art and antiques Ruether has acquired from around Louisiana and Mississippi. She particularly likes Donaldsonville-based artist Alvin Batiste, displaying several of his works. “I bought my first painting of

“Natchitoches’ downtown is incredibly charming. You walk along the river, and there are cobblestone streets and gardens. The hotel is in walking distance of all that, which is one of its greatest assets.”

– Nancy Reuther

46 • FEBRUARY | MARCH 2017

his 12 years ago, and I just picked up another piece I’m going to hang in the hotel,” she said. “I already have a triptych of his on display. It’s a plantation wedding and a big table and people dancing. I love his work.”

Some of the wall space in the lobby remains blank, waiting for Ruether to find the right piece. “You can’t decorate overnight. The art is very important, and you have to get to know the space and how the walls feel. The painting I just picked up from Alvin Batiste has a little girl picking pecans on a cotton plantation, which connects to his family history but also to the history of Natchitoches,” she said.

Pecans were one of many products plantations produced in the area.

Family owned farms like Little Eva Plantation continue the tradition, but in the antebellum era, hundreds of slaves worked over thousands of acres along the Cane River Lake, gathering pecans, picking cotton and producing various other products. Two of those plantations, Oakland and Magnolia, now form part of the Cane River Heritage area where visitors can take daily self-guided tours. Another plantation along the route, Melrose, was constructed in 1832 by a Creole descendent of free people of color whose family still lives along Cane River Lake.

Melrose also hosted a thriving community of artists and writers around the turn of the 20th century. Clementine Hunter (1886-1988), a world renowned, self-taught artist, started as a field hand and then became a cook at Melrose. She found paints that an artist had discarded and began painting. Her most famous work, the African House murals,

attracts 15,000 visitors to the plantation annually.

Hunter’s work is well known to Natchitoches residents and displayed prominently around town, including in the back room of Lasyone’s, along with 1960s photographs of the restaurant’s early beginnings, as well as 1980s shots of Darryl Hannah and Julia Roberts when they came to eat during the filming of “Steel Magnolias.”

James Lasyone founded the restaurant in the 1960s after perfecting his meat pie recipe. He started out as a butcher at Live Oak Grocery in Natchitoches.

Today, family members Angela and Tina Lasyone run the kitchen and continue to serve two versions of their signature deep fried pie. One features a crawfish filing and the other a mixture of pork and beef, seasoned with a dark roux as well as onions and peppers. The restaurant also serves meat and three plates with Southern sides like Lima beans, broccoli rice casserole and red beans and rice.

Also close to the hotel in downtown Natchitoches,

Chateau Saint Denis Hotel is within walking distance of shopping and dining, like Lasyone's, the town's historic meat pie restaurant.

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47

popular spots include the Pioneer Pub and Mamas and Papas, directly across from Cane River Lake. The area also boasts numerous shopping options including antiques, gift shops, contemporary cypress furniture, as well as men’s and women’s modern and vintage clothing. There are boat tours and paddle boats along the Cane, as well as walking tours throughout the historic district. Visitors can spend time exploring and leave their car parked at the Chateau Saint Denis Hotel. “The location is a great selling point, but the hotel itself is worth visiting,” said Post.

Want to go?

For more information, or to make reservations, visit chateausaintdenis.com

L

48 • FEBRUARY | MARCH 2017

OPPOSITE: Rare brick slave quarters, like the ones pictured here, were hand-built by hundreds of slaves, who worked over thousands of acres along the Cane River Lake.

Homes that once housed slaves and sharecroppers still dot the landscape of the Cane River Heritage area.

Slaves worked gathering pecans, picking cotton and producing various other products.

CLOCKWISE: The interior of a sharecropper's house shows the resourcefulness of the people who worked the land; remnants of the old general store remain, while a cane syrup pot still sits outside the main house; another plantation along the route, Melrose, pictured at left, was constructed in 1832 by a Creole descendent of free people of color, whose family still lives along Cane River Lake. (Melrose photograph by Don Cummins/ donairphotography.com)

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Landing at No.

50 • FEBRUARY | MARCH 2017

STORY FROM NASHVILLE, TENN. AND MERIDIAN, MISS.

The unexpected arrival of Joel Hamilton

A

By JACKY JACK WHITE Photography by Marianne Todd

ll he really wanted was a positive start to 2017.

And what he got was a place in history, an odd and unexpected space at an odd and unexpected time. Somewhere between Thanksgiving and Christmas, Crash Hamilton found his new release sandwiched between Joe Bonamassa and B.B. King, listed No. 5 on the iTunes Top Blues Album Chart, ahead of Etta James, Johnny Lang and Albert King – seven steps ahead of Stevie Ray Vaughan, 12 steps ahead of Muddy Waters – and 21 steps above Buddy Guy. Never heard of him? You wouldn't be alone.

“I think I'm the first person in history to accidentally have a hit record. I just put it together because I had a rough year, and I was looking at the new year coming around,” he said.

One night while at home in Nashville, Hamilton had Googled the appropriate keywords for recording a CD, “and three margaritas later I had the beginnings of a release. It really was just intended for me to get a fresh start in 2017. You couldn't make this up,” he said.

Hitting No. 5 among the greats whose music he had played for years, was shocking, he said.

“I called my dad, and we had this great moment on the phone where I was explaining to him what happened, and he said, 'This is big, right? Like, this is really big?' It was surreal. I still can't believe it.”

Now myself as a musician and entertainer, I've known Crash Hamilton for a number of years, formerly by his given name of Joel. He is a man who has flown a quite remarkable life path both musically and personally.

One night 10 years ago, as I was hosting a musical revue in Meridian, Mississippi, my 6-year-old daughter, Mary Mac, came running up to me between acts and tackled my left thigh. She shouted, “There's a crazy man in the green room. He's ridin' around on a mini-scooter, and he's got a guitar on his back.”

I told her, “Don't worry about it, darlin'. That's Crash Hamilton. the world's greatest guitar daredevil and ultra-slick blues guitarist.”

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Mary looked puzzled. So did the Temple Theater audience when Crash sped out on a little white scooter that appropriately crashed into a Peavey Delta Blues amp. He was wearing an Evel Knieval jumpsuit and matching helmet with an expression on his face that was either “I'm just kiddin' with ya,” or “I just escaped the asylum and I have to be back by 10.”

The expressions turned to laughter and cheers when Joel “Crash” Hamilton busted into a ridiculously sublime rendition of Santana's “Black Magic Woman.”

Many years earlier, it had been taken for granted that the son of prominent Meridian lawyer Joe Clay Hamilton would go into the practice of law or law enforcement. And he did. Along with all life's normal things, he got married, had kids, paid a mortgage. Somewhere around and between and after, he's also been a Marine and a graduate of Berklee School of Music. He earned a history degree from the University of West Alabama and a law degree from the University of Mississippi.

He's been a cop and a lawyer, a tattoo artist, a construction worker, a plumber's helper – even an ordained minister.

He earned the name Crash after a fleeing suspect rammed Hamilton's squad car head-on going 60 mph. But always, and I mean always, it's been about the music for the musician with a million dreams.

Per square inch, there are few more creative climes than Lauderdale County, Mississippi, Crash's native town. Great artists and industry movers and shakers such as Jimmie Rodgers, David and Jimmy Ruffin, Paul Davis, George Soule, Patrick Sansone, Dudley Tardo, Haley Williams, Chris Ethridge, Jimmy Elledge, Hartley Peavey, Randy Houser and George Cummings, all come from the Meridian area. The club scene, the church house, the school auditorium, have all served as the springboards for the raw talent.

Just as Cummings and Tony Holt and Jimmy Pasquale of earlier generations did, Crash started out with local bands. His most successful was the Redheaded Stepchild. He was so encouraged by the experience that in the early 1990s he migrated to the vibrant, explosive music scene of Austin, Texas. This began a pattern which Hamilton would follow to the present as he chased musical styles and sounds all over the country.

But there was one distinct difference.

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John Fera has played on stages with other bands and pickup players in Meridian since 1992, and says, “Crash has been through many different avenues of music. He has an insatiable desire to learn.”

John Fera And learn, he did.

“Sometimes he has sounded exactly like whatever hero of the genre he's studying at the time,” Fera continued. “I've heard him sound just like Stevie Ray Vaughn. Then it would be Wes Montgomery. The next time it would be Vince Gill or James Burton. Or the next gig it would be Jimi Hendrix. But something changed a few years ago. He just started playing like Crash Hamilton. It's been an amazing experience watching and listening to his performances. The other night I was watching him perform at a local venue and he began chicken-picking over a blues progression. I literally laughed out loud – with joy. It was so amazing and totally original. He has his own persona and his own take on things.

It's truly inspirational stuff.”

Hamilton's first CD, the one which tore up the iTunes Blues Chart, is titled “Two Thousand Sixteen.” The seven tracks showcase Hamilton's masterfully muddy tone of guitarmanship and a writing talent that is rich in irony, insight and integrity. Maybe the best line is found in the track “True Believer” when he sings “Searched everywhere for a piece of Holy Communion. Separated from God I needed a Reunion ...”

Some might say he is a singer reminiscent of the Memphis blues wailers of the early 1960s. I think he happens to be his own singer. He's just Crash. And he's crash landed smack dab in the middle of the blues on this fine recording. The top tracks are “True Believer,” “Omen,” and “Burn it Down,” which opens with virtuoso caliber licks and vocals. You can find “Two Thousand Sixteen” at all popular download sites such as iTunes, Amazon, Spotify, etc.

On Feb. 4, Crash will celebrate the release with his friends at The Sports Page in Meridian. The public is invited to attend. L

T I S I V

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STORY FROM CLARKSDALE, MISS.

THE NEW ROXY

No Ceilings at the Crossroads

By JULIAN RANKIN Photography by Rory Doyle

C

larksdale’s New Roxy Theater, one of the region’s most unique music venues, is constructed of the Delta’s rich and colorful past.

Every inch of the New Roxy’s Issaquena Avenue thoroughfare – once known as Clarksdale’s Beale Street – has a story: W.C. Handy and his visiting orchestra who came here in the early 19-aughts; the breeding ground for innovative Delta blues; the percussion of barroom dance floors as sharecroppers let loose in the Saturday night shadows; and the sounds of local prodigy Ike Turner playing talent shows in the streets in the 1940s before rocketing to stardom. When Robin Colonas – a Seattle expat – purchased the vacant New Roxy structure in 2008, this history swirled in her head. It was the same music and authentic culture that brought her to Mississippi in the first place and inspired her to resurrect the New Roxy. “I came to Clarksdale as a blues tourist,” Colonas says.

“And I kept coming back.”

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In 1999, Bill Clinton stopped through Clarksdale on a tour of some of the country’s most impoverished areas. He posed for photographs in front of the New Roxy, then little more than a solemn shell. Clarksdale and the surrounding Delta are still economically depressed. The majority African American region is hindered by inequality and dwindling opportunity. But in the heyday of the New Roxy and the other businesses that comprised downtown Clarksdale’s New World District, hardworking cotton laborers and thrill-seekers flocked to the bordellos, bars, restaurants and jukes. Businesses owned by black and white and Jewish and Italian and Chinese and Lebanese provided distraction and escape from the toils of the plantation. Musicians sent wailing notes up and down the avenue.

The New Roxy Theater was opened around 1950 by Lebanese couple A.N. Rossie Sr. and his wife Sadie as an addition to their existing Roxy movie house. The original Roxy burned in the 1970s. After the

OPPOSITE: There are literally no ceilings at the New Roxy Theater, built in the 1950s and reclaimed and restored by Clarksdale resident Robin Colonas. THIS PAGE: The New Roxy Theater sits on a historic thoroughfare in Clarksdale, Mississippi, a place where W.C. Handy and his orchestra frequented and where musicians like Ike Turner played before rocketing to stardom.

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ABOVE: These days the New Roxy serves as an event and entertainment space and as one of the best watering holes in Clarksdale. It is a mixed-use venue for music and film, dance and food, as well as a setting for weddings and festivals.

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fire, the New Roxy atrophied and closed. Clarksdale visual artist Michael Mabry recalls the bustle of those good years. “Clubs on this side. Clubs over here. Everybody running from one store to the next. All day long.

It was fun. You’ve got a theater and your girlfriend on your arm.” Mabry wishes Clarksdale’s younger generations could have seen it. “Kids today aren’t having the fun we had.”

When the businesses closed, the structures decayed. Colonas purchased the New Roxy so it might avoid a dust-to-dust fate. “If I at least possess the property so it doesn’t fall down, I’ll figure out how to make it work,” Colonas thought. She’s been making it work for nearly a decade now.

Roger Stolle owns Clarksdale’s Cat Head Delta Blues and Folk Art, just a few blocks away from the New Roxy on Delta Avenue. He was one of Colonas’ early supporters. A self-described suburban white guy from Ohio, Stolle left a career in corporate advertising for a life as a Mississippi Delta shopkeeper, blues promoter and cultural champion. He landed in Clarksdale in 2002, opened Cat Head, and co-founded the Juke Joint Festival. Like Colonas, he came to find the blues ground zero.

“The beautiful thing about the 'Clarksdale comeback' is that fresh outside ideas are mixing with living local history to create something that is both new and old — the best of both worlds,” says Stolle. “I usually tell visiting tourists that Clarksdale already had more Delta 'characters' than any other town, and then characters from as far away as Seattle and Florida, The Netherlands and Australia, started moving here. I may have visited here for the blues, but I stayed for the people.”

The New Roxy won’t ever be that movie theater of the '60s and '70s with a steady lineup of Westerns and Blaxploitation flicks. It has been renovated for a new era, not arbitrarily restored as carbon copy of the original. The new paradigm of the New Roxy is one of possibility and diversification. Colonas intends it as a mixed-use venue for music and film, dance and food, as well as a setting for weddings, private events and festivals. There is little danger of Colonas getting rich off the endeavor; gentrification is about as likely now as it was when the Delta was but wilderness and panther. Colonas’ business model is to simply keep the New Roxy viable so that it might help sustain Clarksdale. “I wanted to space to be utilized by and present in the community again,” she says.

When the New Roxy found Colonas, it was a concrete slab, a darkened marquee and four brick walls with pockmarked plaster. The roof was hanging by a nail – it had to go. It stayed gone. What began as a budget consideration became part of the building’s new identity.

Out-of-town patrons who come in at night don’t notice right away that the heavens are peering in. What was the main auditorium of the movie theater is completely exposed to the elements, a gamble on any given night. But then again, resurrection is always a crap shoot.

The footprint of the New Roxy is roughly 100 feet deep. Forty feet wide. Thirty feet tall. The capacity inside is 422 (not counting the ones who linger and visit out front). Visitors enter through what would have

r u o y s i m a k e th y t r a p o y ea r t . s u h t i w While the blues history of Coahoma County runs deep, it’s certainly not all we have to offer.

Granted, people from all over the world come here to see where Muddy Waters lived, Bessie Smith died, Pinetop Perkins worked and Ike Turner recorded, but you can also hear live music almost ever y night of the week.

Between our frequent festivals and character-filled venues such as Red’s Lounge, Bluesberry Cafe, Ground Zero Blues Club and more, we’re keeping the beat going for you. During the day you can visit the Delta Blues Museum, the Rock & Blues Museum, Cat Head Delta Blues and Folk Art and sites along the Mississippi Blues Trail. Make sure to take advantage of some fabulous southern food, and when it’s finally time to call it a night, there are interesting places to stay right in the middle of all the blues activity.

Go ahead and add these dates to your calendar, and book your rooms early!

April 20 - 23: Juke Joint Festival and related events April 21 - 23: Second Street Blues Party at the Rock & Blues Museum April 23: Cat Head Mini Blues Fest I May 12 - 14: Clarksdale Caravan Music Fest May 27: Mississippi Saxophone (harmonica) Fest June 2 - 3: Goat Fest IV Early June: Delta Jubilee June 13 - 16: Pinetop Perkins Foundation Masterclass Workshop Experience

662.627.6149 • visitclarksdale.com READLEGENDS.COM •

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“On a humid Delta night, sweat beads up on the faces of the crowd and falls from the forehead of the bluesman , hammering away at his guitar.”

been the old movie theater lobby, which has been enclosed as a bar and lounge area. This interior structure-within-a-structure is three stories high, stacked up like a blues traveler’s observation deck. There’s no A/C. The interior windows open to and look down on the dance floor.

The main stage, canopied, sits at the opposite end. The bathrooms are outside in a reclaimed shipping container. All in all, it’s a straightforward anatomy. “I didn’t try to make it look new,” says Colonas. “It’s a balance of functionality and economic usability, with a raw gritty edge.”

The New Roxy will never be finished. Its complete-incompleteness reflects a Delta truth; compelling because it is rough-hewn, self-taught, humble, real. If you’re planning a visit, take note of the mild months before and after the dog days when festivals kick off and the New Roxy beefs up its schedule. It’s a central venue for the Juke Joint Festival, as it is with the lesser-known but equally memorable Goat Fest (the motto of which is “Sin, Repent, Repeat”).

The list of performers who have graced the stage reads like a roster of genre-crossing cool: blues veterans like Robert “Bilbo” Walker, L.C. Ulmer, and Mark “Porkchop” Holder; acts from states away like The Rev. Peyton’s Big Damn Band hailing from Indiana and Alex “Crankshaft” Larson from Minnesota; and young and vibrant Mississippi musicians for whom a New Roxy gig is validation of their creative energies. That list

58 • FEBRUARY | MARCH 2017

doesn’t even touch on the many photographers, filmmakers, and visual artists who continue to make the space their own throughout the year.

“The New Roxy is quite possibly the coolest music venue in the South,” says Roger Stolle. “The mix of history, atmosphere, sound and feel are really unparalleled. Owner Robin Colonas' 'alternative renovation' is exactly the kind of thinking that today's Clarksdale needs.”

Big-bulbed Christmas lights flicker in red and blue and orange like slow-burning coals, strung up along the corrugated tin of the stage façade. The band plugs in. The lead man taps his boot and unleashes his song into the crowd and past them, up through the open roof and into the night. Dancers of every sort and stature grind and sway en masse. Their movement awakens the building and it breathes again. The dancers retrace the paces that Colonas and the demolition crew took those years before to clear the place of detritus. Hauling out fallen brick and discarded wood. Securing beams and installing the requisite bar and, finally, sweeping the floors and opening the doors. On a humid Delta night, sweat beads up on the faces of the crowd and falls from the forehead of the bluesman, hammering away at his guitar. It’s taken a lot of perspiration to get here, Colonas testifies. “It’s been a physical labor of love.” L

TOP FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: BOTTOM FROM LEFT TO RIGHT:

WANT TO GO? For upcoming events,

“ I didn’t try to make it look n ew,” says Colonas. “ It’s a balance of

a photo gallery and history,

functionality and economic

visit newroxy.com.

usability, with a raw gritty edge.”

READLEGENDS.COM •

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60 • FEBRUARY | MARCH 2017

STORY FROM MERIDIAN, MISS.

“I remember sitting in his mother’s house once, holding his platinum album for

From Gold to Platinum The inspiring journey of drummer Adam Box

By STEPHEN CORBETT Photography by Marianne Todd

playing on Willie’s 'Stardust' record. He was reading the paper or something, and just looked up at me and said, ‘You’ll get one of those someday.’

And he made me crazy enough to believe that I could actually do it.”

– Adam Box

W

ith his place in history as the “Father of Country Music,” Jimmie Rodgers is easily Meridian, Mississippi’s, most historically famous musical figure. But if Rodgers is the father of country music, Martha Eleanor McWilliams Ethridge has been the matriarch of Meridian’s music scene for at least the last 50 years.

When she passed on January 5 at the age of 97, a cornucopia of musicians who were inspired by her, learned from, or were peers with her sons Chris, Tommy and Joey, gathered to celebrate her life by making joyous music in her honor after the funeral.

Among those in attendance was Adam Box, drummer for one of country music’s hottest acts, Brothers Osborne, who took a break during his busy “Dirt Rich” touring schedule to pay his respects. And while his friendship with this matriarch's eldest son, Chris Ethridge, the Flying Burrito Brother who would eventually played bass with Willie Nelson, was a major point in his journey to playing in sold out stadiums across the country, he has been on this path since for as long as he can remember.

“I distinctly remember a drum kit in our carport in our house in Zero, Mississippi,” he says. “I can actually remember playing on them in a highchair. It was my uncle Danny who brought the drums,” Box says. “I still have these f lashbacks to that moment in my head.”

Like so many other musicians from the southern United States, Box ended up making his start in the church. It helped that the church he attended with his family each Sunday was one of the more progressive churches in the area – and one filled with musicians.

“We had a reputation as being a hippie church with the long haired guys,” he laughs.

“It was really out of the norm to have drums at a church in the '80s – especially around Meridian. The Southern Baptists would always give us f lack. There were a lot of guys that had left the bar scene and given up the drugs and alcohol and started playing in church.”

David Boles was the church’s drummer at the time. Boles’ son, Jeff, was also a drummer and next in line for the coveted position.

“He was a little older than me, so naturally he was better,” Box says. “That rivalry made me hungry and made me want to get better. And honestly, being the drummer at that church was the top of the food chain.”

From the time that he could keep a steady beat, Box was allowed to come up and play a few songs Drummer Adam Box, opposite, holds his first gold record. At the time the photograph was made, the album had gone platinum and he was awaiting the arrival of the framed platinum record. A decade earlier, bassist Chris Ethridge (pictured with Box), had inspired Box to pursue music. Ethridge's own platinum release is pictured here.

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during the service. Jeff Boles eventually switched to bass, and at Mississippi Music and used to play with Wayne Newton. He Box became the church’s official drummer when he was 15, asked me if I wanted to play some jazz with him. It was territory I a position he held for the next few years. Because the church had never been in, but I went along with it. He let me know that services were televised, he became accustomed to playing in front he was going to bringing Chris Ethridge with him. I had heard of people and playing with cameras surrounding him. the name, but didn’t really know who he was. Then, Steve told

“Finally, it became Daniel, the preacher’s son, on guitar. Jeff me that Chris had played for everyone. He played with Willie was on bass, and I was playing drums. My daddy was writing Nelson, and that was huge for me.” songs for us. We were ahead of the curve of turning secular songs Ethridge, who had been a Los Angeles studio musician into Christian songs. He was during the '60s and '70s, doing things like changing playing with everyone ‘I Shot the Sherriff ’ to ‘I from Linda Ronstadt to Shot the Devil.’ We were Joan Baez, Ry Cooder, The reworking Skynyrd songs Doors, The Byrds, Bill and covering ‘Carry On, My Withers, Dave Mason and Wayward Son.’ That’s what more, saw something special he grew up playing, and he in Box and became a mentor was still a hippie at heart, of sorts. It started with Box but he wanted these to be hanging out and jamming Christian songs. We called at Ethridge’s house and Adam Box with John Osborne, left, and T.J. Osborne, of the country duo band, Brothers ourselves the C.O.W.s. The Osborne, whose most recent release, "Pawn Shop," went platinum. progressed to Box driving Christians on the Warzone.” him to gigs before a 3 a.m.

Box never fell out of love with playing Christian-themed breakfast at the Queen City Truck Stop, the city's popular postmusic, but as he got older, he began to crave a more aggressive gig greasy spoon. sound. “The first time I heard Metallica’s 'Black Album,' I knew

“He’d let me know when Spooner Oldham (Aretha Franklin, that was it. This is the sound. I listened to it front and back and Neil Young) was coming to town. My friends didn’t know who learned every lick on that album as best as I could.” these people were. They were hanging out at dance clubs and From there, he discovered Metallica’s earlier material and just thought I was spending my time with this old guy. But he was hooked. His first Metallica concert was a pivotal moment. knew everyone, and I knew that he was the best bass player that “I remember walking towards the arena and seeing how I knew, and with me being a drummer, we were like two peas in massive it was and hearing the crowd scream. It made the hair a pod.” stand up all over my body. And I thought, ‘I want to do this. I

Ethridge’s years in the music business had exposed him to can do this.’ I was determined to make a career out of it and play the pitfalls that come with playing in rock bands, and while he in places where people wanted to hear music.” encouraged Box’s musical ambitions, he also warned him about

He made the switch from church musician on TV to a metal the mistakes he’d seen and those he’d made himself. drummer on the bar scene and convinced his less-than-thrilled

“I remember sitting in his mother’s house once, holding his parents to let him play in a battle of the bands in Starkville, platinum album for playing on Willie’s 'Stardust' record. He was Mississippi. There, he met the musicians he would play with for reading the paper or something, and just looked up at me and the next six years, Absence of Concern, and formed a lifelong said, ‘You’ll get one of those someday.’ And he made me crazy friendship with band mate Jon Day Lee, who encouraged Box to enough to believe that I could actually do it. He made it personal. write his own lyrics.

I can give him most of the credit for my move to Nashville.”

The band would become one of the biggest rock bands in

In 2010, Box made the Nashville move. “So, I got a call from Jackson, Mississippi, opening for national acts like Bob Segar, John Osborne saying that he heard I was available and wanted but they were not meant to be the band that Box would see his to know if I wanted to fill in for some weekend gigs they had biggest success with. He returned to Meridian where he took a lined up. At first, I was just filling in. Then, I’m on a tour bus. day job doing f looring. It wasn't long before his next big musical And then they called me to get my information to put me on the inf luence showed up. direct deposit payroll.”

“Steve Watson is a guitarist who was one of the teachers Those weekend gigs turned into a full-f ledged membership

62 • FEBRUARY | MARCH 2017

in the band and recording on the debut full-length release “Pawn Shop” on EMI Nashville Records. And in an unprecedented move in Nashville, Brothers Osborne recorded the album with their band, and not with studio musicians.

“It’s just happened to be the right time,” T.J. Osborne says.

“A lot of artists were starting to change. There’s a new wave of artists – Kacey Musgraves, Chris Stapleton, people like that.

Country music listeners were getting kind of burned out on the same thing.”

“We wanted it to feel live,” John Osborne adds. “Studio musicians are precise and good on the f ly, but we wanted to take a different direction. And we’re also pretty terrible about not being ourselves.”

The record is in some ways a throwback to the Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings era but still has a foot in modern music, thanks to the brothers' blending of genres and the groove that Box picked up from his years of playing church music, heavy metal and practicing with Ethridge.

“Stay a Little Longer,” the second single from “Pawn Shop,” was nominated for a Grammy for Best Country Duo/Group

Performance at the 58th Annual Grammy Awards. In addition to being the band's most successful song to date, it took on a bigger meaning for Box. “So, last year, Pete (Sternberg) came up to me and handed me a box. I opened it up, and it was a gold record,” Box says.

“Even when I get excited, I usually don’t say much or show the emotions, but I was ecstatic to the point where I just couldn’t stop laughing. I thought, 'This is exactly what Chris said I was going to get.' Then I realized that it wasn’t. Then a month ago, it went platinum. I hope it isn’t the last, but I did exactly what he said I would.”

Ethridge, who died on April 23, 2012, didn't live to see the moment, but Box says he knows his mentor was happy.

“Chris’ favorite Willie Nelson song was ‘Angel Flying Too Close to the Ground.’ He talked about it over and over and over again, but that’s not why it makes me think of him. The first line of the song is ‘If you would not have fallen, then I would not have found you.’ And if Chris would not have fallen back into Meridian, then I never would’ve met him, and I might not be where I am today.” L

Although drummer Adam Box never fell out of love with playing Christianthemed music, as he honed his skill on drums, he began playing more aggressive rock. These days, Box is drummer for the hot country duo Brothers Osborne.

L

READLEGENDS.COM • 63Watt.

Stone Senate’s latest release “Star City” was celebrated Nov. 29 in Nashville at High

The Natchez Literary & Cinema Celebration

Mississippi: A Literary Journey Featuring:

Dr. William Ferris, Denise Gee, Richard Grant, Sally Jenkins, Dr. Chester M. Morgan, Stanley Nelson, Peggy Prenshaw, Martha Wyatt Rossignol, Alysia Burton Steele, & NancyKay Sullivan Wessman Join us as these authors discuss their works on the people, places, and pivotal events that have shaped the history and culture of Mississippi from statehood,

February 23, 24, and 25, 2017 For more information contact the NLCC at 601-446-1208 or email us at nlcc@colin.edu Up to 2.0 CEUs are available for teachers by calling 601-446-1103

64 • FEBRUARY | MARCH 2017

•

•

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WHAT’S SHAKIN’ IN THE CRADLE? •

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Clinton, Miss.

Feb 16-19.... Mississippi College Shakespeare Festival presents A Midsummer Night's Dream, Swor Auditorium in Nelson Hall. For matinees, evening shows, and tickets, call (601) 925-3453 or email seawrigh@mc.edu.

Feb 23-26 .... Mississippi College Department of Music presents Show Boat in Concert, Jean Pittman Williams Recital Hall, Aven Fine Arts Building, Mississippi College. For tickets and show times, call (601) 925.3440 or email music@mc.edu.

Mar 2-3 ...."A.M. in the P.M.: An Evening of Old Time Radio" presents three vintage radio plays as live performances at 7 p.m. in Jean Pittman Williams Hall in Aven Fine Arts Building, Mississippi College. Tickets are $5 at the door. For more information, contact Tim Nicholas at tnichola@mc.edu.

Columbus, Miss.

Feb 3 .... Cary Hudson in Concert at the Omnova Theatre. This Mississippi-born singer/songwriter's colorful music career in alt country, folk and Southern rock has earned him a reputation for delivering "roots music at its best." For more information call (662) 328-2787 or visit visitcolumbusms.org.

Mar 30-Apr 8 …. The 77th Annual Columbus Spring Pilgrimage. Columbus Spring Pilgrimage has evolved from a tour of homes in its infancy to today’s delightfully diverse and deeply satisfying 10-day celebration of Southern history, architecture, culture, food and fun. For more information call (662) 329-1191 or visit visitcolumbusms.org.

Corinth, Miss.

Feb 19 .... Garden Bros. Circus at the Crossroads Arena. Event starts at 1 p.m. ‘Motorcycle Madness’ has motorcycle daredevils somersaulting and spinning in a big Globe of Doom; Chinese Acrobats, the Human Slingshot, Racing Camels, crazy comedy with Circus Clowns, daring aerialists; cirque artists. Its 90 minutes of excitement and fun. For more information visit gardenbroscircus. com.

Destin, Fla. Feb 1 .... The Lightning Thief at the Mattie Kelly Arts Center. The annual Children's Series at the Mattie Kelly Arts Center presents a national touring series of live theatrical events based on bestselling children's literature. Tickets are $6 for students and chaperones, teachers are admitted free. For more information call (850) 729-6000 or visit mattiekellyartscenter.org.

Feb 18 .... Mad Hatters' Garden Party, 4-6 p.m. at the Hilton Sandestin Beach Golf Resort and Spa's Coastal Ballroom. Featuring sparkling wines by Ferrari, brews by Grayton Beer Co., various wine and food tasting stations and live music by Dread Clampitt.

For more information call (850) 460-8800 or visit sinfoniagulfcoast.org.

Feb 25 .... 9th Annual Mardi Gras Parade at HarborWalk Village. Beads, beads and more beads on the Destin Harbor! Let the good times roll with dazzling floats, colorful costumes, street performers and live music as the parade rolls through the Destin Harbor Boardwalk at 2 p.m. Free to attend/ $50.00 entry fee for parade participants. For more information call (850) 837-6241.

Feb 27 .... "Once" at the Mattie Kelly Arts Center. The smash-hit winner of 8 Tony Awards, including Best Musical. The enchanting tale of a Dublin street musician who’s about to give up on his dream when a beautiful woman discovers his haunting love songs.

Tickets are $45. For more information call (850) 729-6000 or visit mattiekellyartscenter.org.

Jackson, Miss.

Feb 8-9 .... The Illusionists at Thalia Mara Hall. Show starts at 7:30 p.m. For more information call (601) 960-1537.

Mar 4 .... "Let the Music Dance" at Thalia Mara Hall. Ballet performance featuring international guest artists Adiarys Almeida & Joseph Gatti. For more information call (601) 960-1560 or visit balletms.com.

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Lafayette, La. Feb 18 .... Florida Georgia Line at the Cajundome. With their innovative fusion of country, rock, hip-hop and pop, Florida Georgia Line has proven themselves to be a once-in-a-generation force of change in modern music. Tickets start at $24.25. Show starts at 8 p.m. Call (337) 265-2100 or visit cajundome.com.

Mar 12 .... International Day of Planetaria at the Lafayette Science Museum. Celebrate International Day of Planetaria, celebrated in domes around the world. A fun and educational experience for the whole family. From 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. For more information call (337) 291-5544 or visit lafayettesciencemuseum.org.

Meridian, Miss.

Feb 10. ... Murder on the Nile at the MSU Riley Center. It is the 1940s. A rich young lady and her penniless husband board a Nile River steamer for a honeymoon cruise. Fellow passengers include the wife's ex-best friend, who is also the husband's ex-fiancée, as well as several people who may not be what they seem. Show starts at 7:30 p.m. Tickets range $33-$39. For more information call (601) 696-2200 or visit msurileycenter.com.

Feb 25 ... Meridian Mardi Gras. From 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Meridian City Hall lawn. Free, day-long festival in downtown Meridian featuring the Krewe of Midas Parade, Krew of Barkus Pet Parade, fabulous food, kid's activities, great music and more. For more information call (601) 485-1944.

Mar 3 ... Dr. Seuss' The Cat in the Hat at the MSU Riley Center. When that mischievous Cat in the Hat comes to play, all the kids (and their parents) yell, "Hip, hip, hooray!" This version gives youngsters a love for the stage. Show starts at 7 p.m. For more information call (601) 696-2200 or visit msurileycenter.com.

Apr 1 ... Threefoot Arts Festival, downtown. Premier arts festival in the East Mississippi/West Alabama area, featuring top artists, fine crafts, fabulous music, events for kids and of course, the famous Threefoot Bloody Mary. For more information call (601) 693-2787 or visit artsmeridian.org.

Natchez, Miss.

Feb 23-25 .... The 28th annual Literary and Cinema Celebration at the Natchez Convention Center, 211 Main St. The NLCC has been called by official evaluators "Mississippi's most significant annual conference devoted to literature, history, film and culture." Most of the events are free of charge. For more information call (601) 446-1208.

Mar 20 …. The Heiress at the Natchez Little Theater. Set in the 1850s, young Catherine Sloper lives with her father, Dr. Austin Sloper. Catherine is shy, unsophisticated and plain-looking; her father blames her for the death of her mother. Handsome Morris Townsend courts her and Catherine believes him sincere. Her father believes he’s after her inheritance. Show starts at 7:30 p.m.

For more information call (601) 446-6631.

New Orleans, La. Feb 1-5 .... Cirque Du Soleil: Toruk - The First Flight at the Smoothie King Center. Cirque du Soleil applies its unique signature style to James Cameron’s imaginary world of "Avatar" and “makes the bond” between two kindred artistic visions that capture the imagination. For more information call (504) 587-3822 or visit smoothiekingcenter.com.

Feb 22 .... Sting at the UNO Lakefront Arena. Come see this 16-time Grammy Award winner perform live. Show starts at 8 p.m.

Tickets are $63 and up. For more information call (844) 854-1450 or visit uno.lakefront.arenaneworleans.com.

Mar 4 .... Norah Jones at the Saenger Theatre. Norah Jones performs live with Day Breaks, her sixth album which proves her to be this era's quintessential American artist, the purveyor of an unmistakably unique sound that weaves together country, folk, rock, soul and jazz. Show starts at 8 p.m. For more information call (504) 525-1052 or visit saengernola.com.

Tupelo, Miss.

Feb 24 .... Dierks Bentley and Cole Swindell at Bancorp South Arena. For more information call (662) 841-6573 or visit bcsarena. com.

Mar 10-11 ... Monster Jam in Tupelo. Monster sized trucks perform feats of wonder at the Bancorp South Arena. For more information call (662) 841-6573 or visit bcsarena.com.

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Lafayette is at the heart of Louisiana’s Cajun & Creole Country, an area whose cuisine is deeply rooted in culture. With new generations of chefs merging tradition with innovation it ’s no wonder people are heading down south with a smile on their face. Plan your escape to the Happiest City in America.

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