of
BITS A
guide to all the blues music on the south coast of England.
From Eastbourne to Exmouth and a bit more besides.
Plus News, Reviews and Other Good Stuff about the Blues - Worldwide.
Use the navigation
bars above to investigate the site; click on the
artist name or graphic on the left or the picture above to go to his or
her website;
check-out the sponsors on the right.
BITS
NEWS SPECIAL:
Sot’on blues man Mo Thomas, and BITS editor Ian McKenzie have had
a ‘virtual meeting’ with key figures in that office. During
a transatlantic ‘conference’ telephone call, Mo and Ian discussed
with Janet Schriver and four members of the five member Copiah County
Board of Supervisors, their efforts to refurbish and move the house in
which Robert Johnson was born in Hazlehurst, MS and their desire properly
to mark the grave of Tommy Johnson (left) (no relative to Robert) who’s
burial place currently lies on private ground to which, at the moment,
access is restricted if not forbidden.
Vera Johnson-Collins, the daughter of Johnson's brother (and blues man)
Mager, never knew her uncle, but she has been at the forefront of efforts
to open the grave site said, “For the last six years I've been fighting
to try to get the road reopened and the cemetery restored. I think that
we have finally made some progress. The MDA (Mississippi Development Authority)
has promised a grant, and the Copiah County Board of Supervisors has offered
to build the road."
Mo and Ian were questioned by the Trustees about whether or not either
or both these sites would be of interest to British blues fans. Of course,
they were reassured that Mississippi and Copiah County could expect enormous
interest, not just from Brits but from people all over Europe and Scandinavia
with an interest in, and love of, the blues. We discussed how tourism
might be developed to ‘open up’ the ‘pilgrimage’ experience
and how each of us had been emotionally affected by our visits to the
Delta.
It was agreed that as information about the refurbishment/ move of RJ’s
home and the plans for opening up TJ’s grave site develop, we will
be informed and will pass the info direct to BITS readers.
If
you want to get BITS hardcopy in a pdf format send an email to the address
below.
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