Poke Salad

Poke Salad Podcast: Episode 58 (April 20, 2017)

Gwynnie Bee and Le Tote. Cork Dork. Missing Richard Simmons. Hidden Brain (and sleep secrets). The Girls (and judging books by their cover). Podcast surveys. ClickList at Kroger.

Your Weekend Planner:

• Seussical the Musical at Northwest Rankin High School
• Juke Joint Festival in Clarksdale
• Boston at the Saenger Theatre in Mobile
• Earth Day Mobile Bay in Fairhope
• 8th annual Bald Eagle Bash'
• St. Elias Lebanese Food & Cultural Festival
• Josh Blue is at the Comedy Club Stardome
• First City Improv is taking over Sunday afternoons in Pensacola
• Taste of Perdido

Mississippi

• A Year in Mississippi is the fifth book of Mississippi stories from editors Judy Tucker and Charline McCord from the University Press of Mississippi, and it’s available now. It features 40 non-fiction stories with four seasonal sections.

• 17 weirdly named Mississippi towns

• A record-size Louisiana black bear was killed when it was hit by a sport utility vehicle in southwestern Mississippi. In Wilkinson County, not Bear Town.

• Louisiana artist Robert Warrens uses life experiences to tell stories in his artwork, often using dark humor to tell those stories. “Monsters, Creatures, Apparitions and Other Beasts” is now showcasing his works at the Ohr-O’Keefe Museum of Art in Biloxi through May 27.

• Men’s Health magazine recently did a feature on Robert Browne, Harrison Central’s assistant football coach and powerlifting coach, highlighting his victory over weight gains and how he’s inspiring his students by documenting his progress.

• Jackson has decided to officially pursue the NBA D-league affiliate for the New Orleans Pelicans.

• Who are you going to call for new SWAT gear? Dan Aykroyd.

• Marty Stuart will headline the Governor’s Concert at the Mississippi Bicentennial Celebration North, set for June 24 in Oxford.

The South

• Nola native and Emmy award-winning singer Harry Connick Jr. will sing the national anthem at the Kentucky Derby in May.

• We have the dates now for this year’s Boudin, Bourbon & Beer. The fundraiser for the Emeril Lagasse Foundation returns Nov. 3 to Champions Square.

• JD Vance is the author of the New York Times bestselling book Hillbilly Elegy.  That memoir is now being turned into a major motion picture.

• If you like bourbon more than you like people, then you'll love Kentucky. The state produces 95% of the world’s bourbon - and it has more barrels of bourbon than people.

Etc. Etc.

• Have you heard about Starbucks new Unicorn Frappuccino?

• Did you know that Paisley Park - Prince’s compound - is now run by Graceland Holdings LLC, the same company that manages Elvis Presley’s Graceland?

• Vinyl LP sales have reached an all-time high. According to Nielsen's Year-End Report, sales reached $13 million in 2016—the highest since the firm began keeping track in 1991—and MusicWatch reports that half of vinyl record purchasers are under 25-years-old.

• I thought things had gotten weird in politics - but now it seems pygmy goat yoga is a thing and my head is going to explode.

• Speaking of weird, I Love Dick’s first season will premiere on May 12. If Kevin Bacon holding a lamb doesn’t ignite something strange and creative inside you, I don’t know what will.

• The new expression? Podcast and chill.

Poke Salad Podcast: Episode 57 (April 12, 2017)

First of all, happy anniversary to us! Two years of podcast perfection. Or learning anyways.

This week, I've been listening to the Making of Oprah podcast while I am walking at night. I didn't realize how much of Oprah I missed. I mean besides Tom Cruise jumping on the couch. We've all seen that one.

Weekend Planner

• Listen to Coachella online if you can't be there in person.

• The Humane Society of South Mississippi now has a walking track that will give shelter dogs an opportunity to get outside for fresh air and exercise. You can now take shelter dogs for a stroll. To walk a dog from the shelter, you just need to get with one of HSSM's adoption counselors. You can walk a shelter dog anytime between 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. So if you don't have plans for Saturday, there you go. The new track is thanks to a donation by Harrah's Gulf Coast and Caesar's Foundation.

• Greenwood is hosting their Greenwood Music Festival on April 14-15. They have Bobby Rush on Friday night. Jeff Bates on Saturday night. Free admission.

• Mutt Strut, a 5K race or mile-long fun run, will take place this Saturday in Birmingham at UAB. Proceeds from registrations will benefit Hand in Paw, a nonprofit group that specializes in animal-assisted therapy. There's an after-party, too, with food trucks and music at Good People Brewing Co.

• You can celebrate Jackie Robinson Day at the Negro Southern League Museum in Birmingham. Robinson broke the color barrier in Major League Baseball about 70 years ago, playing for the Brooklyn Dodgers. Sports fans commemorate the day -- April 15, 1947 -- that Robinson made his Dodgers debut.

• Every Saturday in April from at 10 a.m. until 11 a.m., Visit Mobile is offering free one-hour walking tours of historic downtown Mobile, sponsored by the Alabama State Tourism Department. Learn all about the city’s early days on a tour led by local experts in architecture, history, Mardi Gras and more.

Mississippi

• Birders are considered an untapped tourist potential for the Mississippi Gulf Coast - and new efforts are helping to put the area on the birding map. The Mississippi Coastal Birding Trail now has its own website. The website lists more than 40 hotspots for birdwatching on the Coast.

• Waveland officials say a man bit a deputy, and then complimented the deputy on his taste. I know you will be shocked to learn there was drugs involved.

• Fishbone Alley in Gulfport is becoming known as one of the most unusual and enjoyable American streets. It was included in a New York Post travel story published recently,“8 amazing American streets you’ve never heard of.” The article says, “On this unassuming backstreet, live blues music brings bold graffiti art to life.”

• Volunteer Starkville will host the 2017 Touch-A-Truck event on Saturday, April 23 from 10:00 A.M. to 2:00 P.M. at the Starkville Sportsplex for kids of all ages! Purchasing a $5 wristband for your child will provide him/her with an all-access pass to 30+ BIG TRUCKS! And better yet, adults get in for free! Ticket price also includes a voucher for a free hotdog along with access to face painting and balloon animals (while supplies last)! Drinks and chips will be available for purchase at our Touch-A-Truck Snack Shack for $1 each. All proceeds will benefit Volunteer Starkville.

• Options have been secured to purchase a downtown site in Philadelphia for what will become the Marty Stuart Congress of Country Music, which incorporates the historic Ellis Theater. Once the properties are secured, Stuart said it would be time to seek private donations across the nation and around the world to fund construction.

• Saint Leo, a restaurant in Oxford, was nominated for a 2017 James Beard Award for Best New Restaurant.

• A longtime Gumtree Festival vendor has painted the poster for the annual Mother’s Day weekend event. John Armistead’s painting of a house in Tupelo’s Mill Village was unveiled on Friday at the Gumtree Museum of Art. The 46th-annual Gumtree Festival will be May 13-14 around the Lee County Courthouse. Posters will be available for $45, and signed copies will cost $55. In addition, T-shirts with the image will be sold for $20 during the festival.

• f you drive down a country road a mile or so west of Merigold next summer you might hear some familiar sounds above the crunch of the gravel beneath your tires. It will be Po Monkey’s Lounge!

• Now, I'm about to tell you something that will shock you. A review by the Mississippi auditor's office found pornography and other explicit material on computers that some public schools issued to middle school and high school students.

The South

• What would be on your Southern Bucket List? Garden and Gun created one recently. They have things like master cornbread in a skillet (which, CHECK, by the way). Shell peas on a porch. Thacker Mountain Radio made the list. Fannie Flagg wrote an article in that issue and she said, Fairhope, Ala. You must go to Fairhope, she says.

• Ex-Hollywood director Tom Shadyac  will turn a failed Soulsville grocery into Memphis Rox, a community center complete with climbing gym; cafe; juice bar; meditation, yoga and dance space; and an area for outdoor events. The project will cost $2.5 million to $4 million. If all goes on schedule, Memphis Rox will open by Thanksgiving.

• Tony Romo, at 36, is retiring and heading to the broadcast booth at CBS.

Etc. Etc.

• The Froot Loops shake is set to make its American store debut on April 17 at Burger King. The new shake, which retails for $2.99, will only be available for a limited time.

Poke Salad Podcast: Episode 56 (April 5, 2017)

 

Shawn gets back from Seattle, Kelly from Nashville (where she picked up NEW listeners!). Shawn recommends I Love Dick (the Amazon series and the book), Into the Dark and Cork Dork. Kelly finally finds a podcast she likes: S-Town.

Mississippi

• Easter Egg Hunt schedules in state parks

• As part of the South Mississippi Bicentennial Celebration, the U.S. Postal Service unveiled a Mississippi Statehood Commemorative Forever stamp at a first-day-of-issue ceremony. The stamp features a close-up of the hands of Jimmy “Duck” Holmes, a blues musician from Bentonia.

• The folks at Bozo's Grocery and Grill have received plenty of accolades over the years for their po-boys and boiled crawfish. But now the Pascagoula landmark is being recognized by business leaders with the Small Business Administration's 2017 Generational Family-Owned Business of the Year award. Three generations have kept the business thriving for 61 years.

• For their April 22 game against the Jackson Generals, the Biloxi Shuckers will trade in their usual uniforms for a good cause. Special coast-themed jerseys will be worn during the game, then auctioned off with the proceeds benefitting March of Dimes.

• The Mississippi Arts and Entertainment Experience last week released its inaugural Hall of Fame class of 18 Mississippi writers, musicians, visual artists and actors.

• New restaurants in Jackson: Taste Bistro in Flowood and Barrelhouse in Fondren.

• Jackson is the "fattest city in America," according to a recent study. Coming in second on the list of fattest cities was Memphis.

The South

• The New Orleans air show returns to the Naval Air Station/Joint Reserve Base on Louisiana 23 in Belle Chasse April 22-23 for the first time since 2011. The Blue Angels have announced they will perform. Fun for the whole family. Bring earplugs. Free admission and free parking.

• It's possible to be too popular. That happened to the inaugural Fried Chicken Festival, which last fall drew 40,000 people in a single day to Lafayette Square. For its second year, the free festival will move to Woldenberg Park on the riverfront and run two days, Sept. 23-24.

• French Quarter Festival is this weekend - and the weather is expected to be PERFECT. The free, four-day festival, presented by Chevron, runs April 6 through 9, with music on multiple stages. For a full list of all festival food, by location, visit www.FQFI.org.

• Sheryl Crow will perform on an upcoming episode of NCIS: New Orleans. The singer appears as herself in the April 18 episode, performing two songs from her upcoming album Be Myself — which will be released on April 21 — at a mansion for a charity garden party.

• According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 2016 was the first year since Hurricane Katrina that more people moved out of New Orleans to other parts of the US — than the number of people who moved in. A net loss of nearly 900 people.

• Robert Smalls,  the 54-year-old former marketing executive for the likes of Coca-Cola and General Foods, was named the new president and CEO of the Charleston’s forthcoming International African American Museum. The project is set for completion in 2019.

Etc. Etc.

• Last week, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that the Fearless Girl statue, originally slated to be removed recently, will stay up for at least another year. The 250-pound, 4-foot tall bronze statue of a young, ponytailed girl stands opposite Wall Street’s iconic Charging Bull. Installed by financial services firm State Street Global Advisors, the sculpture was erected to advocate for more women on corporate boards.

• Did you know that gummy bears are made in Germany? German gummy maker Haribo announced recently that it will open its first U.S. factory in Wisconsin. The plant will create 400 jobs and is scheduled to open in 2020. The project marks one of the largest investments from a foreign company in the state's history.

• Roseanne Barr, creator and star of the ABC hit series, says the rowdy Conner family wants to follow the footsteps of Full House, Gilmore Girls, and Will & Grace and become the latest TV family to be reunited for a series reboot, according to Today. Roseanne Barr posted to her Twitter page, “Roseanne show cast is up for a reunion.” The fans immediately went crazy, begging her to make it happen.

• Most people don’t know what’s going to be written about them in their obituaries – but 91-year-old George Boivin did.