Mississippi Blues Trail License Plates

MISSISSIPPI BLUES TRAIL LICENSE PLATES ARE NOW AVAILABLE

INDIANOLA, MS - After working for almost two years to get Mississippi Blues Trail license plates approved by the state legislature, pre-sold to meet the required minimum, in production, and available at the local tax assessors' offices, members of the Mississippi Blues Foundation can finally see the fruits of their labor. "We had a Blues Trail marker unveiling in Benoit this week, and it was a great feeling to see several vehicles there with the new tags," said Janet Webb, a member of the Miss. Blues Foundation. Luther Brown, who is also a member of the Blues Foundation and a major proponent of the license plates, attended the unveiling and echoed the sentiments of Webb. They explained that it had not necessarily been an easy sell early on when they were trying to get people to commit to purchase a tag, not knowing exactly when they would reach the magic number of 200 to satisfy the minimum requirement. There were also people who wanted to wait until closer to the time that their current tags would expire.

These specialty tags cost $31 extra, with $24.50 of that going to the Miss. Blues Commission to help fund its projects, including aid for older musicians as well as helping with expenses of the Miss. Blues Trail marker program. Brown, who is the director of the Delta Center at Delta State University, conducts many bus and blues tours throughout the year and knows how important the exposure of the Blues Trail is to visitors to the state. "It's like a miniature billboard," Brown said. "Someone may see the tag and start asking questions about the Trail, and it gives us a great opportunity to tell the person about our musical heritage and how proud we are of that," he continued.

Now that the license plates are in production, anyone interested in having one can order it from their tax assessor's office. It typically takes from seven to ten days to receive it after the order is placed. Webb thinks that the final product was worth the wait. "I've had many people call me and tell me how proud they are to finally have it on their car," she said.

Shurman

Shurman Live @ The Commissary


Universal Republic / Sustain Records recording artists Shurman will be bringing it's high energy brand of southern rock to The Commissary this Friday March 12th. Riding high on the critical acclaim of there new studio album Still Waiting For The Sunset, Aaron Beavers and the boys (Shurman) are gigging from one end on the country to the other. In between a week long stand in Key West and a slew of performances in their home town of Austin during South By Southwest the band is stopping into Clarksdale Mississippi with the hopes of entertaining the old fans and converting all the new ears that cross their path.

www.shurmanville.com

Pinetop Perkins Foundation

The Pinetop Perkins Foundation plans to offer an annual Youth Workshop Series to bring world-renowned blues artists for instruction and mentoring to young musicians. The Foundation intends for this series to be an annual event of national stature.

We are pleased to announce the inaugural event for musicians young and old. The Piano Master Class - the inaugural event of the Youth Workshop Series - will be held August 3, 2010 - August 4, 2010. Open to the young and the young at heart, it will be held at the historic Shack Up Inn and Hopson Plantation in Clarksdale, Mississippi. The event will conclude with a wrap up jam concert hosted by Bob Margolin at Ground Zero Blues Club in Clarksdale on Thursday, August 5th. This event immediately precedes the annual Sunflower Blues Festival in Clarksdale.

Selected to lead these workshops are three award-winning recording artists; Eden Brent, Ann Rabson, and Erwin Helfer. The workshops will consist of two advanced and one intermediate level master class. The advanced level will be limited to 8 attendees and the intermediate to 12 attendees to ensure a quality educational experience for all.

The cost of the workshop will be $375.00 for the Advanced level and $300.00 for the Intermediate level. The cost will include two days of personalized instructional classes plus lunches.

The Pinetop Perkins Foundation has been awarded a generous grant from the Rock River Foundation, founded by Morgan Freeman, which will enable us to extend a number of scholarships to Mississippi youth to participate in this unique and rewarding learning experience.




. Youth Workshop Series:
Piano Master Class
Aug 3, 2010 - Aug 4, 2010
Piano Master Class
Shack Up Inn and
Hopson Plantation
Clarksdale, MS
Aug 5, 2010
Performance
Ground Zero Blues Club Clarksdale, MS
Registration Form


Scholarship Application

Lodging Information

Instructor Bios

Ole Miss Cardinal Club

Cardinal Club Returns to Ole Miss


By Jeff Roberson

Posted Jul 14, 2009



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Many Ole Miss people remember the Cardinal Club and have seen its “Welcome to Ole Miss” plaque where University Ave. meets the Grove and its signature light in front of Fulton Chapel. Inactive for 40 years, the Cardinal Club has returned.

In an effort to restructure the Student Spirit Committee, the Associated Student Body at Ole Miss has reorganized it as the Cardinal Club, bringing back a more than 80-year-old tradition this summer.

Ole Miss student Peyton Beard of Tupelo, the director of athletics for the Associated Student Body, is heading up the efforts.

“One of the goals of my platform was to restructure the Student Spirit Committee,” said Beard, the first president of the revived Cardinal Club. “One of the main goals of the Cardinal Club was always school spirit and trying to get the freshmen involved early, get them to understand the Ole Miss spirit and traditions.”

An early football season pep rally is in the works for this fall. Definite plans for that have not yet been set. It will likely be in conjunction with the first home game vs. Southeastern Louisiana. Plans also include a yell practice for fans and students, especially freshmen and transfers.

“A lot of them won’t know the cheers, and we’d like to add more excitement to the games and make the atmosphere more electric,” Beard said. “And we might even be able to develop some new traditions.”

The Club is sponsoring a “Game in The Grove” Thursday, Sept. 24, for the Ole Miss-South Carolina contest, televised by ESPN. A large screen will be set up on the Grove stage, much like the one for the Presidential Debate last fall. This event will be for all fans as well as students who can’t make the lengthy trip on a school night.

“We want this to be a fun event for everybody,” Beard said. “We want it to be a regular Grove atmosphere. Being on a Thursday makes it hard for students to attend the game. Hopefully they’ll watch it in the Grove along with fans from the community. It will be fun having everybody get together.”

Another planned activity is a “Rebel Road Trip” which is set for the Auburn football game Oct. 30-31. This is for Ole Miss students. The Club is currently looking for sponsors for this Rebel Road Trip effort to help keep costs down for the students who will attend.

And it’s not all about football. The Cardinal Club hopes to also have some events in conjunction with basketball games, baseball games, and other contests, like the Student Spirit Committee has done in the past.

The "new" Cardinal Club isn’t intended to be a large group of students. The organizers hope to keep it around 30 members who work hard at organizing and carrying out the events surrounding Ole Miss sports.

“In the past, I’ve been a part of the Student Spirit Committee, and the number signed up was large,” Beard said. “But attendance at the meetings was small. We might have 60 members but only eight or 10 would show up. It wasn’t the organization that it started out to be or that it could be.”

So a new direction was decided upon and just in time for what should be an exciting sports year in 2009-10. Those involved are serious about their efforts to make it work.

“There is an application process, and there is also an interview,” Beard said of potential members. “We will choose members from that interview process. During the summer orientation, there was a table set up with information about the organization and the events for the fall. We’ll do that again during Welcome Week when school starts.”

Since its beginnings in 1927, the Cardinal Club served several different roles and functions, from social activities to school spirit.

“It really started out as a way to greet and entertain visiting teams,” said Sovent Taylor, the group’s advisor and also an alumni assistant and club coordinator with the Ole Miss Alumni Association. “Surprisingly enough, the first team they greeted and welcomed to campus was LSU. It was never a huge group, only 20 or so. But it was an important part of Ole Miss for a lot of years.”

But after 1969, for whatever reasons, it ceased to exist.

Now seemed like the perfect time to revive it and allow it to be a driving force behind school spirit.

“There’s a lot of hype going into this season,” Beard said. “It’s a lot different this summer. Some students didn’t even show up at games in the past. Now people are even talking about SEC championships. With the success of last football season and with the outlook for the future, everybody’s so excited.”

And for the first time in 40 years, the Cardinal Club will be a part of it.