The Arts & Culture District Sign honoring former City of Clarksdale Commissioner Grady Palmer went up today on Sunflower Avenue near City Hall. Palmer was a graduate of Mississippi State University, then he was a respected teacher in the Coahoma County Public Schools for 32 years. A tireless champion of Clarkdale, Grady was also a […]
Music history and highlights on January 24th from the birthplace of the blues… and rock n’ roll. 1936: Benny Goodman records “Stomping at the Savoy” on Victor Records. 1936: Rocker Jack Scott born. 1939: Entertainer and singer Ray Stevens born… in Clarksdale, Georgia! 1941: Meters and Neville Brothers’ Aaron Neville born. 1941: Neil Diamond born […]
From the Clarksdale Press Register By TAYLOR MITCHELL Three former City of Clarksdale employees have filed complaints with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the Board of Mayor and Commissioners learned in executive session at Monday’s meeting. One of the complainants is from former city attorney Curtis Boschert, who was removed from his position in […]
Music history and highlights on January 23rd from the birthplace of the blues… and rock n’ roll. 1837: Former slave, singer and evangelist Amanda Smith born in Long Green, Maryland. 1902: Jazz saxophonist and clarinetist Benjamin “Benny” Waters” born in Baltimore. 1906: Composer Igor Stravinsky marries Yekaterina Nosenko. 1910: Pioneering jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt born […]
The Arts & Culture District sign honorning Andrew Carr was just mounted in historic downtown Clarksdale. It is located at the corner of Issaquena Ave. and E. 2nd St., and is not far from the current headquarters of Coahoma Opportunities Inc, where Andy distinguished himself as a helpful, community minded and progressive young man. Andy […]
The Arts & Culture District sign honoring Rev. Walter Dakin was put up in front of St. Episcopal Church, where Dakin was the rector from 1915 to 1931. He was also the grandfather of Tennessee Williams, and a founding influence on his grandson’s remarkable literary career. (More information here.) Reverend Dakin’s sign was can be […]
Music history and highlights on January 22nd from the birthplace of the blues… and rock n’ roll. 1575: Queen Elizabeth grants Thomas Tallis and William Byrd music press monopoly in England. 1897: Blues and spiritial singer “Blind” Willie Johnson born in Pendleton, Texas. 1900: Microphone inventor David Edward Hughes passes away. 1904: Founder of New […]
By Clarksdale\Coahoma County Chamber of Commerce Executive Director, Jon Levingston. In 2005, I was appointed to the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum Study Commission by Governor Haley Barbour. On Friday, December 8, 2017, I had the privilege of attending the reception at the newly completed Mississippi Civil Rights Museum and the Mississippi Museum of History Museum […]
Here’s a Clarksdale documentary film, ” A Life of Service” off of the City website. Check out all Clarksdale documentary films here. “A Life of Service” is about Clarksdale civic leader Bertha Blackburn, and it also features her friend Cozetta White. At an early age Bertha learned the importance of giving back to her community. […]
Music history highlights that have happened on January 21st from the birthplace of the blues… and rock n’ roll. 1927: 1st national broadcast ever from a U.S. opera venue (Faust from Chicago). 1941: Opera tenor Placido Domingo born in Madrid. 1941: Folk singer Richie Havens born in Brooklyn. 1956: Victor Borge’s “Comedy in Music” show […]