A Rebel Without A Clue

Diddley Bow (image swiped from scholastic.com) There is a primitive instrument indigenous to the Deep South that is frequently mentioned by blues scholars as one of the basic "learning tools" for various Delta blues players. According to Wikipedia , which is always correct, ethnomusicologists would call it a "monochord zither." It's commonly known as a Diddley Bow, a jitterbug, or a one-string. And in one modern electrified incarnation, it's called the "Unitar." In its simplest form, a Diddley Bow is simply a length of broom wire or cotton baling wire strung between two nails -- various authorities will say "on the side of a house" or "on a porch post" -- with a bottle or can positioned to serve as a resonator and bridge. It's "fretted" (a kind of lame term, since a proper Diddley Bow has no frets) with a piece of metal or a bottleneck, and plucked or picked or even tapped drum-like with a stick. Semantica...

"If I don't love you, baby, grits ain't groceries, eggs ain't poultry,  and Mona Lisa was a man." - Little Milton Basic Buttered Grits Grits are regarded by some people, particularly furriners and damyankees, as the national food of the Occupied Confederate States. While plenty of us will stand up and be counted for peas and okra, butter beans, turnip greens, catfish, and cornbread, the fact is that grits probably are the quintessential southern dish. Try substituting "turnip greens" into Little Milton's immortal love ballad. It just doesn't work. You may serve grits with turnip greens, if you wish, although for grits and greens, collards are milder. My case rests. Grits may be served with cheese, with fried eggs mushed up in them, with a spicy shrimp sauce, with white sausage gravy, red-eye gravy, the aforementioned greens, with just about anything you want to put in 'em, served as a porridge or a casserole or fried in cakes. Butt...

"The only thing that I did wrong was stay in Mississippi a day too long" - Bob Dylan Harley-Davidson Knucklehead I live in the Great Sovereign State of Mississippi. This is an admission that not only am I descended from knuckleheads and live surrounded by knuckleheads but that, at the end of the day, I am a knucklehead myself. This does not mean I am a Harley-Davidson, although a lot of knuckleheads ride knuckleheads. Now, I'll be the first to admit that Mississippi has much bigger fish to fry than what design is used for a piece of cloth, fish like our stubborn refusal to implement Medicaid, our abysmal educational levels, our lack of decent-paying jobs, and ignorant politicians campaigning on such burning issues as the need to keep "In God We Trust" on the automobile license plate, but hey, I enjoy a good fish fry! I also enjoy history. So here I go down the slippery slope! Current Mississippi State Flag The current state flag design, incorpor...

I have read this set three times, portions four and five. Howard Bahr's "trilogy" -- The Black Flower , The Year of Jubilo , and The Judas Field  -- are to Civil War* fiction as Shelby Foote is to Civil War nonfiction. These are intense books filled with historical accuracy, emotion, and a deep regional sensitivity matched by few other Southern authors. All but those obsessed with the American Civil War, Reconstruction, and the origins of the Lost Cause myth will do well to stick to The Black Flower , but your mileage may vary. The writing is consistently good, all three have fine story lines, and each addresses different aspects of history and human nature. But let's stick to the first book here. Bahr, one-time curator of Rowan Oak (William Faulkner's home) at the University of Mississippi, claims to have read all existing faculty minutes at the University, and indeed the epigraph to The Black Flower  includes the following: " J. Bishop, B.P. Carte...

To understand where this nascent blog is (or will be) coming from, particularly if you're a furriner or a damyankee, you probably need to know where I'm coming from. This book explains it all. White Trash: The 400-Year Untold History of Class in America Want to know why the POTUS can get away with such utter blithering degenerate idiocy and not alienate his "base?" Want to understand the roots of Jim Crow and Southern bigotry? Want to know why poor white people consistently and reliably vote for politicians who reward them by cutting their legs off at the knees? Want to figure out why most Southern Caucasians can't trace their family trees farther back than some swamp in North Carolina? Ever wonder why those family trees don't branch a whole lot? Read this book. Please. While you're pondering whether to buy it in hardback or Kindle format, or whether to hitch a ride to the public library instead, enjoy some Southern Culture on the Skids. Be sure t...