Heritage House in Hazlehurst

The Heritage House in Hazlehurst is one of the topics I've wanted to cover ever since I made a visit to Hazlehurst in late March.

(courtesy of Heritage House website)

Hazlehurst is not only the scene of Beth Henley's Crimes of the Heart but it is also the birthplace of legendary blues musician Robert Johnson.

Of course my trip involved food, so I hadn’t made it too far down the road before my car first smelled like donuts, thanks to Mr. Monroe:

And naturally barbecue, courtesy of Louise’s:

And a cold treat from the Dairy Freeze (aka a little slice of heaven):

It was like I was a 21st century chuck wagon – especially since I was driving in the lap of luxury: a Lincoln Continental, baby. (Gotta love state cars!) More on the food later.

During my visit, I was put in touch with Janet Schriver, who is the Director of the Heritage House. The Heritage House runs in conjunction with the Robert Johnson Foundation, helping Hazlehurst youth learn the arts.

This is Janet:

(courtesy of Heritage House website) 

She spearheads some incredible youth-oriented programs which teach them skills in various arts disciplines: videography, photography, art and recording music.  Janet has also created an invaluable support system for the teens, giving them a place to go when home may not be their safest option.

Janet is making such a difference in these kids' lives and it was fun to get a tour of the house that the kids have painted themselves - the brightly painted interior walls, that is. I also got to meet a few of the teens who sat out on the porch enjoying the pretty day.

She gave me a tour of Robert Johnson’s birthplace. It was originally located outside of town, was neglected and had slowly been falling apart. It was moved and sits behind the Heritage House wrapped in pink protective wrapping to further save it from the elements until they can rebuild/restore it to original condition. Apparently there was a parlor on the front and also another room that didn’t survive the neglect and move.

Here's a little about the house on the Delta Blues site, where you can see the house as it was before it was moved.

Wow.  It was really an experience to be inside where he was born with its earthy smell of years and neglect and see the planks of wood his father put together to build the house.  Looks like it had been updated at some point because there was a fairly modern bathroom tub in one area.

When we initially spoke, Janet told me about wanting to install a garden in the back yard (by Robert Johnson's house, no less) because many of the kids were unfamiliar with vegetables and did not even know how to cook. (This may sound familiar in the era of slow food, Jamie Oliver programs, Michelle Obama obesity initiatives being put into place – thankfully!)


Janet finds grant money to help sustain Heritage House projects and she called me this morning to fill me in on the newest grant they received to create a sustainable garden.


They have already broken ground!

Here is a link to the Heritage House blog where you can look at photographs, upcoming video clips of their garden project and learn more about the kids involved.

If you are interested in volunteering in any capacity at the Heritage House, they would love to have you. Hazlehurst is an easy drive down I-55 South. I can say that I’ve definitely been inspired to volunteer at some point soon.

The Week (and month) Ahead

On May 10, The Guv'nah will announce the birth of the Culinary Trail.  

I'm as serious as a heart attack (and doing a happy dance!). 

 

It's a bouncing, breathing baby [culinary trail?] with legs and all.  The itineraries will be on the web with a nifty interactive map.  (Not like what's there right now which ain't much-a nuthin', although the recipes are pretty cool.)  

I can't wait to see it and will share the link when it is up.  It is surreal to be at a point of relative closure!

Now that the bulk of the writing and research is out of the way (kinda sorta), it gives us (me) plenty of time to make a list of places to visit, people to interview and foodways to capture on video.  

I'm also looking forward to potential collaboration with a couple of other groups in the process to gather oral histories and video footage.  There's also another project or two in zygote form...More on all that when it is set in mud.

I read some blog advice somewhere recommending that you don't ever need to apologize on your blog about not posting.  People say it all the time and I don't remember why she said not to - and you see, now I'm losing focus...  

Well, it's been a minute since I've posted - lots going on around here while juggling a few deadlines, Crossroads Film Festival (W & I are board members; I had two gigs that weekend:  one at the Festival's opening reception and a St. Andrew's Parish party), wrapping up the Culinary Trail and going to Cleveland this weekend.

I will post pictures and video soon from the Film Festival reception. 

 W, me and our friend, Chris M.  
 Love this pic below!

My friend, Daniel was kind enough to come by the reception and snap a few pictures of us and shoot some footage of the performance. Yay!  It ended up being Anna Kline + friends - with my buddies Lizzie Wright and Emily Baker joining me on some O, Brother Where Art Thou? tunes and other things.  Emily's friend, Cindy Woolf, was in town with her partner in crime, Mike, who played upright bass.  They joined in on some tunes and I invited them to play a few while I took a break.  I love the energy in collaborating with other people.

Above picture taken by Karen Guilder 

Our sweet friend Dawn gave us a gift certificate to Christina Foto as a wedding gift, so W said it was ok by him if I used it for a studio session.  Thursday I got some photos taken to use for headshots and press kits.   So, I look forward to seeing how they turned out.


Now about Cleveland:  I'm heading to Delta State University's Delta Music Institute to record for two days.  Professor and songwriter, Tricia Walker, has been kind enough to help me get a little studio time to record some new music.  Have I mentioned yet how excited I am?!

I am backlogged with photos and posts.  They will surface soon!

Chitos with Carpe

A new foodie friend makes for fun lunchtime adventures and you can read about our lunch excursion here at her blog:  Carpe Jackson.

The two folks we met at Chitos were so kind and helpful.  They showed us how to eat the food and I was so excited to try fou fou (which was a mound of gelatinous rice and it is tastier to eat with your fingers like they showed us).  

Fou fou + egusi soup is likened to crackers + tamales.
 
My egusi soup was ... different.  It is a dish that had a miso-soup type flavor (I'm wondering if it was the ground seeds) to it with a nice, slow burn to it.  I am an adventurous eater and will try most anything but it honestly tested both my palate's boundaries and my tolerance for mystery meat with bones.  (We later deducted out it was fish with the skin)  It was tasty but I got a little tired of the fishiness level of spiciness to it but the fishy taste took a while to get out of my mouth.

I must say that the plantains they sent home with us are delicious.  I was expecting something sweet, but these were savory - they tasted a little curried and were so soft.

The moi moi was very flavorful.  That's what I'm getting next time! 

The Smell That Lingers

Realizing that a subject line like that could go one of two ways...and most people might expect it to turn in a negative direction...

It's won't. 

I mean the smell of barbeque on my clothes (not like, say, the stench a Chinese buffet that lingers in the weave of a cotton t-shirt and ends up making you feel sick). 

(picture from Jackson MetroMix)

Foolishly I didn't have my camera on me over lunch today when I ate at Lumpkins BBQ on Raymond Road.  Suffice it to say, man did that hit the spot!  Fried chicken, candied sweet potatoes, coleslaw - and beef brisket!  Heaven.  They have some kind of buffet-style spread and are adamant about customers only taking what they can eat.  It's a great price and is delicious.  They make sure the food is as fresh as they can get it without preservatives and unhealthy additives.

I ran into into friends on my way in:  Mr. Sneaky Beans himself, Byron Knight, singer-songwriter Taylor Hildebrand and songwriter & musician Valley Gordon who had all just finished lunch and raved about the catfish and coleslaw.  I was on a seriously mission, though, for fried chicken and sweet potatoes.

Just a few weeks ago, I interviewed Melvin and Monique Davis for Portico Mag, which will appear in the upcoming May issue (this month is The Mermaid Cafe).  They are such kind people and were so much fun to interview.

There are a couple of great Jackson food blogs for Jackson (and surrounding areas), if you don't already know about them:

Carpe Jackson - she's good at digging up major unheard of, out of the way places and everything in between.  The go-to place for new food in the area, too.

Eat Jxn - And as a matter of fact, Eat Jxn blogged recently about Lumpkins here.

And I just have to say...God Bless Deep Fried Kudzu, or rather the blog's proprietor, my friend, Ginger!  She has been so helpful to me, with proofing the Culinary Trail and offering suggestions and insight...and the newest level of awesomeness:  giving me some info on Southern Jewish cooking and how the two cuisines have fused over the years.  I can't wait to see what she has for me! (There is such a rich Jewish tradition in Mississippi - and the South)

Her husband publishes Southern Jewish Life Magazine - really cool!  Here's the Facebook Page.

And this is completely un-Food related. 

A friend recently gave me a heads up about this website: 

Regretsy 

"Where DIY Meets WTF."

HA!

Firefly Sweet Tea Vodka

No doubt you've already heard about Firefly Sweet Tea vodka. 

I went to our neighborhood liquor store, Kat's Wine Cellar, over the weekend and noticed the Firefly Vodka display by the register with several different flavors of airplane size bottles.  Happiness! 

At the St. Patty's Day Parade, I was able to try some sweet tea vodka (it wasn't Firefly and let's not go into the reason why I have no recollection what brand it was, ok?) and it was absolutely incredible.  It had the dark, strong taste of home-brewed sweet tea with a bit of the alcohol burn.  I am not the kind of girl who can handle straight liquor on the rocks but this was really sublime.

Needless to say, I've been dying to try this again - you don't have the heart of a real Southerner if you say it's not captured your interest - and there were quite a few different flavors to choose from including mint, raspberry, lemon, original and peach.  So, I picked up two lemons and two peaches.  (Should have also grabbed a mint but will try that next time.)

Now, I did add two to three ice cubes to water it down just a touch and it really helped bring out some of the flavor (and truth be told was easier for me to drink).  I love the peach flavor, so that was the winner for me, but I also enjoyed lemon, too. 

The Firefly website also includes recipes you can try and lets you upload your own, too.  One recipe is the "Blood-tea" Mary (with lemon flavor tea vodka) and it sounds incredible!

They also have regular vodka AND Muscadine Wine Vodka!  Sounds like they's some kindred spirits over thatta way!

His Eye Is On the Sparrow

A little over a month ago, I finished reading the biography His Eye Is On the Sparrow: The Ethel Waters Story which was so riveting to me. I'm a bio junkie at heart. My mother read the book, which originally belonged to my Grandmama, Mable, and passed it on to me. My Grandmama was a huge fan of Ms. Waters and loved her music.

My brief description here does not in any way do her life's story justice, so please get the book if you are interested. It is an insightful and vulnerable story – she throws her heart into it – and gives a look into blues and jazz history as well as Civil Rights struggles of the day.

Ethel Waters (1896-1977) grew up in the slums of Philadelphia, the unwanted product of a rape. She raised herself and lived on the streets most of her days. She was a foul-mouthed street urchin whose family taught her to memorize her street address at a very early age, so if the cops picked her up they would be able to take her back home. She was a tall girl who always looked older than she really was and she began singing and dancing on the black Vaudeville stages in her teens. She rubbed shoulders with the likes of Bessie Smith and other famous performers.  Her numbers were blues ballads and audiences fell in love with her mellow, rich voice. She was the first to sing a string of popular standards including "Dinah", "Heebie Jeebies", "Sweet Georgia Brown", "Someday, Sweetheart", "Am I Blue?" and "(What Did I Do To Be So) Black and Blue."

There is a really good page on her here with music and a filmography.

Over her career, she recorded songs, received numerous accolades on Broadway and lived in Hollywood for a time making pictures. Waters turned down a lot of jobs because they did not portray the black characters in a positive light. She was a very strong woman and became a devout Catholic as a result of going to Catholic school at a young age.

Her best-known recording was her version of the hymn, "His Eye is on the Sparrow", and she was the second African-American ever nominated for an Academy Award for the film Pinky (which was written by a Mississippian, by the way). Her performance in The Member of the Wedding by Carson McCullers was a huge success.  McCullers even rewrote part of her character for the film version, so it would portray her in a positive light. 

As I was flipping through April's issue of Southern Living today, I spotted the name Ethel Waters and a terrific collage-style picture advertising a stage play about her life. It is being performed April 11 – May 2 at the Triad Stage at the Pyrle Theater in Greensboro, North Carolina. 

I immediately called my Mama to see if she would be up for a road trip! We're going to put our heads together and hopefully get up there to see it.  I'm SO excited!