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Thunder on the Water in Grenada by Robert "Nighthawk"Tooms

Posted on 6/14/2010 by Robert "Nighthawk" Tooms



(Memphis, Tennessee) This week we travel south to Grenada, Mississippi, home of some of my forebears, where the Thunder on the Water celebration is held for five days. events include the blues concert, a rodeo, a five mile run, country music concert, fireworks, great food, a golf tournament, a carnival, tractor pull, wrestling matches, arts and crafts, kid's fishing rodeo, bike rally, car show, a beauty review and a softball tournament. Pictured above, Reba Russell and Lucious Spiller.

Welcome to Mississippi, y'all!



Thanks to event organizer Barry Doolittle who took Wayne and me over to the festival grounds and got us all set up for the show. He also hooked us up with some great food as you will see.


Giant American flag at the festival grounds

Getting the huge stage ready for the big show

These folks were cooking some great food and feeding lots of hungry musicians and volunteers

Turnip greens cooked with apple juice, mmmm! Chicken, ribs, potato salad and I don't know what all else because I got too full. Thanks for the delicious food! Wayne ate twice, naturally.

Narvell prepares for their afternoon show.

The view from the window in my suite. The Hampton Inn was a sponsor of Thunder on the Water and it is a really quiet, well-maintained and clean facility full of nice folks. We have stayed in rooms all over the world. This place is pristine. There was not even a stray leaf or branch anywhere on the parking lot. A gent was hosing it all down as we drove in and the folks working there could not have been more helpful or friendly.

The Hampton Grenada was a great place to get some rest, unlike some places in other towns where I have stayed which featured fistfights and teams of police outside my door at 2 AM(no, I didn't start the fight). My sincere thanks to all the kind folks who work here.


The Hampton Inn...my comfortable Grenada abode

As we drove to the festival grounds we noticed lots of cars parked on the side of the road, stopping to watch a big fireworks display that could be seen for miles. We rolled into the festival just in time for Wayne to eat again.

After we drove back to the festival, we were treated to some good tunes from Blue Mother Tupelo, a cool band centered around the husband and wife team of Ricky and Micol Davis.

Micol and Ricky Davis


I wandered back over to the artists' tent to make sure the rest of the band had arrived only to watch my band mates plow through lots of tasty food before the show and then wandered back to hear the rest of Blue Mother Tupelo's set. Fortunately, Wayne was eating again.

Doug McMinn gets some tasty fuel to keep the drums going all night

Our friend, Lucious Spiller

While hanging out at the tent we met Lucious Spiller, a fine musician and singer hailing from Little Rock, Arkansas. Lucious had brought some of his artwork with him, a painting of the intersections of Highways 49 and 61 in Clarksdale, Mississippi, which he painted on glass and framed.



Here's Lucious on YouTube.

The artwork of Lucious Spiller

My buddy, Barry Bays who plays bass with Blue Mother Tupelo. Good job, Barry!

The lovely and talented Micol Davis leaves the stage after a fine performance.

the Reba Russell Band takes the stage.

Josh Roberts

Doug McMinn

Reba Russell takes a quick break during the show while I sing an Earl Forest tune

Josh Roberts

Despite riding in his car with a broken air conditioner and an oncoming sinus infection(should have traveled with me, bro!), Josh Roberts put on a fine performance but was unable to successfully compete against Wayne Russell on the trencherman's challenge...actually, no one was able to do so. Wayne Russell has the metabolism of a crematorium furnace and literally immolates his food as soon as he ingests it, leaving only a few bones on his plate and ashes behind him. He is a marvel of modern humankind. Speaking of which, June 12 was his birthday. Happy birthday, Wayne-o! I hope you ate two or three chocolate cakes and a couple of pieces of pie.

Josh changes the color of his guitar...it's magic!

Next week we are off to Parsons, Kansas and then on to Joplin, Missouri, to meet up with our old friends at the Kitchen Pass.

Josh and Doug get ready for the load in at last year's big sold out performance in Joplin. We are looking forward to seeing our friends and showing off the new CD.

Here's a link to the Reba Russell Band facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/pages/The-Reba-Russell-Band/117996098230564

Here's a link to my site: http://www.RobertNighthawkTooms.com/

RCT

© Robert "Nighthawk" Tooms, 2010

American Blues News Staff

What makes American Blues News unique is our coverage across America. Here is our lineup:

Mon: Memphis Correspondent - Robert "Nighthawk" Tooms
Nighthawk is our resident globetrotter and man behind the scenes, as he tours with the Reba Russell Band.

Tues: New York Correspondent - J. Blake
Blake is the American Blues News review and interview guru. You may catch him out and about in NY playing the blues.

Wed: National Correspondent - Monica Yasher
Monica is our executive director and artist interview specialist. You can catch Monica singing the blues around Pittsburgh or working on some country music songs in Nashville.

Thurs: Washington, DC Correspondent - Virginiabluesman
Geraldo offers inteviews and reviews. You may have seen him at an Ana Popovic concert or conversed with him on her websites, as he offers administrative support with her music.

Fri: Northeast Photographer - Nelson Onofre
Nelson offers a Friday column of blues photography and pictorial support for the interviews covered by the team.

Jim Stick in Colorado
Jim will be focusing on the Blues Festivals in the beautiful state of Colorado, and the artists that live and visit there.

Maureen Elizabeth, our resident art correspondent, will be focusing on blues art as she explores the creation of CD covers, or speaking with artists who also have a love of creating pictorial art in addition to their music! She may also feature some of her good friends in the Pittsburgh area. In her love of art, you may find Maureen's photography accompanying writer's articles on our pages. Maureen is also our marketing director.

Pittsburgh correspondent and photographer, CR Bennett, will share the Pittsburgh scene with all of you. You may also see CR's pictures accompanying other writer's articles.

We head to the big state of Texas! Abby Owen, our Texas correspondent.

Another big area to cover, the West Coast with Casey Reagan, Casey will feature many artists and events on this ocean's shores.

Lastly, we have our roving blues entertainment writer,
Chef Jimi.

And of course, we will surprise you sometimes!

 
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