Road Trip 04-13-09

04-13-09
Another Shitty Day In Paradise. Dixie is cutting Peanut, with the rain we realized it was time for his summer haircut. Dixie Cuts but I have to bathe him. That was a chore and now peanut is half his original size. Our plan is to do stuff inside, See Stax . And it is raining, still, and cold, still. For lunch we head to "The Little Tea Shop". It's been on our GPS as locations to see. It's a small breakfast lunch joint that's been there since 1918. A lot of Judges, politicians and the sort hang out there, or used to. We get served corn muffins naturally in the shape of corn. The best corn muffins we have had , moist and cracked corny. They only have a limited daily specials available. You take the order sheet check what you want and they bring it to you. I got "hamburger" it is really a meat loaf shaped like a burger covered with dark sweet mushroom beef gravy, extra gravy comes with the order, two sides fresh green beans and smashed potatoes. True COMFORT FOOD. I did have a diet coke to offset the cals. Dixie hit upon the really good special. Chicken breast between corn bread, covered with a nice gravy with a side of rice and yellow squash. You have to have their homemade peach cobbler to finish off the meal. We are now ready to check out Stax record company museum, even though they went involuntarily bankrupt in 1975 due to comporate greed there still was enough of their original stuff donated back to open this landmark museum. Lots of groups were produced by Stax, Ike Tina Turner, Otis Redding, Issac Hayes, Sam and Dave, Booker T and The MGs, Mar Keys and a host of other successful people. They were the melting pot of music companies. Black or white they all worked together playing music until the uprising with Dr. King's assination. They screwed up and sold exclusive distrubition rights to CBS, however CBS would not put out their records and the ones that they did they did not pay them for, years of legal hassels and they are gone, too bad for us. There's enough storied walls, memoribelia, clothes, recording equipment etc. to keep us busy for few hours or so. We have to go to Kinkos for some business and then to check out a place called the Bardog. The Bardog Pub is a little pub with big city prices on their beer,16 Oz. Draft beers in frosted mug $5, Their appetizers and food pricing is more reasonable we had 4 small meat balls and bread with a nice marinara sauce $5. They have the ceiling paddle fans that work on a single motor and are belt driven. I couldn't help but notice the vice grips holding the pully onto the motor. The barmaid Melissa was friendly she told us about the roof top parties at the Peabody and the Madison Hotels on Thursdays. She said that the rooftops close down at 11 and then theBardog packs out. It looks like a slow monday, I don't know if it's becauce it's Monday or the pricing on the beers. 4 beers and a small "tiza" $30 with tip. If you are having dinner their pricing seems reasonable if you average drinks and good food. They do not even have any signage outside so they must be doing something right. It's 5 so we head back to get cleaned up. There is a group "Delta Highway" that Is playing at the Rum Boogie Cafe that we have seen before that is playing tonight at 8. This band has a great harmonica player, he's even better than Clinton. The bar has the largest collection of signed guitars from no bodies to Stevie Ray Vaughn. They also have the original STAX sign. We get to town and since it's a Monday there is free parking and no cover charges anywhere, there are also a whole lot fewer people, which we like, how's that for a run on sentence. Rum Boogie Cafe has more than just bar food it has full meals. We are not very hungry so Dixie orders a bowl of red beans and rice and I order the gumbo with alligator,shrimp,sausage and tons of spices the menu says. Two bud light beers ($5 each, priced right due to the entertainment) to get the food and music flowing. The Blues Band Delta Highway is one of the few Blues Bands that still sing Blues Type music,much of it their own original songs, great harmonica and lead singer, great lead guitarist. Bass and Drums can even sound good playing by themselves. The food comes and quantity is not the problem for me. It may have been late in the day and all the good stuff was scooped out as I counter only 1 small shrimp, 1 piece of sausage, and the alligator must have been out on strike. The spiced gumbo sauce was great I just wish it had some meat in it. Dixie's was great and way too big. Two more bud lights the band goes on break so we switch over to the other side of the bar to listen to The Dr. Feelgood Potts Band. An OK group but you could see that they were just not into it tonight. The D.H. bass guitarist was having a shot of whiskey at the bar and we got to talking. He told us that in Clarksdale there was a big Blues Festival this coming weekend. We are going to try to find a place and move the Motorhome there Friday. Got a Blue Moon and went back to the other side and listened to the 2nd set of D.H. Now it's 12 o'clock and time to go home. See Ya Brian