Poke Salad

Poke Salad Podcast: Episode 66 (July 26, 2017)

Kelly is STILL in a relationship. It's been almost THREE MONTHS! Shawn figures out how she knows the new Ole Miss head coach (kinda). The 2017 Sales Tax Holiday takes place between Friday, July 28, & Saturday, July 29, 2017 - so, if you're like Shawn, you'll be sure to stay out of any store during this time period.

Mississippi

• USM's de Grummond Collection is going international, and it all started with a documentary.

• The first Lumberton Pirate Festival is set for July 29-30 at Little Black Creek Campground and Park.

• Restaurateur Derek Emerson and his wife, Jennifer, are now two of six owners of Parlor Market at 115 West Capitol St.

• In a release issued this week, Bravo says it will be closed for renovation from Monday, August 28 through Monday, September 25. BRAVO! will celebrate the upcoming renovation with a wine party on Saturday, August 12 at 6 p.m.

• Char Restaurant will formally open its new private-dining and event space, which the restaurant created in the former Mozingo Clothiers building adjacent to the restaurant, on Aug. 1.

• The Celtic Heritage Society has announced a date change for the annual CelticFest Mississippi. The 26th annual festival will take place on Saturday, March 24 at the Mississippi Agriculture & Forestry Museum from 10 a.m. to midnight.

• NPR is streaming a new Elvis catalog release, Elvis Presley, A Boy From Tupelo: The Complete 1953-1955 Recordings.

• The Delta Blues Museum will celebrate the centennial birthday of blues icon John Lee Hooker with a monthlong series of events and programming this August to commemorate the milestone, including a newly-unveiled interactive website feature that allows visitors to “Explore & Learn” more about the life and music of the legendary musician.

• The East Mississippi Community College Lions are back as the documentary series "Last Chance U" returns for a second season.

• Mark your calendar now for a double feature in Oxford on Halloween night - and a fund-raiser for the Oxford Film Festival. They will show the newly restored Halloween at 7 pm followed by the Rocky Horror Picture Show at 9 pm.

The South

• The most luscious watermelon the South has ever produced was the legendary Bradford watermelon. (And whether you have a Bradford watermelon or just a plain ol' good Mississippi watermelon, here is Robert St. John's watermelon sorbet recipe.)

• A developer is proposing a $5 million, four-story hotel in New Orleans targeting young travelers concerned about their environmental impact. The New Orleans Green Hotel would be in Central City.

• Thirteen Saints football training camps are taking place in New Orleans over the next three weekends, starting Thursday, July 27.

• Online registration for the 2017 SAINTS KICKOFF RUN is now open.

• New Orleans won a spot as one of "Food & Wine's" top 10 food cities in the world for 2017.

• The National Weather Service Center in Huntsville proved just how hot it can get in a car in the South in the summer.

• Mark your calendar now for the Wharf Uncorked Food & Wine Festival, set for September 14-16.

• A collective of property and business owners in Birmingham's Five Points South are continuing efforts to draft and adopt a master plan for the district in an upcoming workshop.

• Memphis native Kenneth Whalum played the saxophone on Jay-z's last album. You can hear him in the song "Bam" on Jay-Z's new 4:44 album. But in July he also released an album of his own, Broken Land.

• The Taco Festival Nashville is being presented by The Tennessean, in partnership with the first-ever multi-city National Taco Tour, on Sept. 30.

Etc. Etc.

• One of last year’s highest-paid musicians is a band whose beloved original lineup hadn’t played together for more than 20 years before reuniting last year. Guns N’ Roses made $42.2 million in 2016, according to recently released Billboard stats, coming in second place to Beyonce with $62 million but still far ahead of other contemporary giants like Adele ($37 million), Justin Bieber ($30.5 million), and Kanye West ($26.1 million).

• Country music star Kenny Rogers is planning to take a final bow with Dolly Parton on Oct. 25 in a Nashville concert celebrating his 60-year career.

• Keith Richards revealed this week that the Rolling Stones will head into the studio to record original music "very, very shortly," the first time they've done so since 2005.

• Here’s a new drinking game for HGTV fans, courtesy of Drew Scott, one half of the “Property Brothers.”

• Lay’s is once again asking America to weigh in on their newest chip flavor. They narrowed down the fan-submitted flavors to three finalists to go into production and let the fans decide which they like the best when they hit retailers on July 24th. The finalists are Crispy Taco, Everything Bagel with Cream Cheese and Fried Green Tomato. You can vote for your choice between July 24th and October 8th by visiting the Lay’s website, or using the Twitter and Instagram hashtag #SweepstakesEntry and then a hashtag with your favorite flavor... #VoteEverythingBagel, #VoteFriedGreenTomato or #VoteCrispyTaco. Voting is also available via Snapchat.

• It seems the kids have come up with an even more annoying word for an annoying situation - when your significant other is ignoring you and engrossed in their phone. Phubbing - a combo of phone and snubbing - is what they are calling it.

Poke Salad Podcast: Episode 65 (July 19, 2017)

Shawn tries the Bastille Day menu at Anjou. Kelly heads to the Coast to remember the 90s.

Mississippi

• Looking for a great family beach destination? U.S. News & World Report ranked Biloxi No. 5 in the country, right up there with top-tier destinations like Honolulu and Hilton Head.

• Gulfport will borrow more than it first expected to help pay for the $93 million Mississippi Aquarium under construction downtown.

• Wine Spectator recognized several Jackson-area restaurants in its 2017 Restaurant Awards.

• The Mississippi Department of Archives and History recently held a sneak preview of two upcoming Mississippi Museums — the Museum of Mississippi History and Mississippi Civil Rights Museum. Construction of the museums is on schedule and they are planned to open Saturday, Dec. 9, in time to mark the state’s bicentennial. For more about the museums, visit http://give2mississippimuseums.com.

• The Mississippi Arts and Entertainment Experience (also known as MAX) in Meridian announced its Grand Opening Date of April 27, 2018.

• As Millennials — those born between 1981 and 2000 — became the largest generation of Americans, the demographic’s total U.S. population increased by approximately 2.6 million from 2010 and 2016, according to Census estimates. But counter to the national trend, Mississippi’s Millennial population has dropped to 801,799, a 3.9 percent decrease during those six years.

• For a state that typically tends to be at the bottom of many lists, Mississippi is among the top in a report by MagnifyMoney. Of 381 major metro areas across the United States, two Mississippi cities are ranked in the top 10 best places to live on a six-figure salary.

• Mississippi Public Broadcasting has won a regional Emmy award for its statewide broadcast of the Mississippi College Singers performing at the Festival of Lights in December in the campus’ Provine Chapel.

• So I knew Wyatt Waters and Robert St. John traveled to Italy together - due to their co-authored books - but did you know they are taking tour groups on art and food journeys to Italy when they go now?

The South

• Jay-Z is headed to the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans on Nov. 9.

• New Orleans and Charleston were the two Southern cities named to Conde Nest Travel's 10 Best U.S. Cities for Seafood.

• The Ogden Museum of Southern Art, in New Orleans recently opened two photography exhibitions: The Colourful South, featuring works by William Christenberry, Birney Imes, William Greiner, William Ferris and Alec Soth, and Troubled Waters, an abbreviated retrospective of works by William Eggleston depicting the Mississippi Delta.

• Memphis is offering an add-on to your scary movie experience with Cemetery Cinema.

• Tickets for the James Beard Foundation’s fifth annual Taste America national culinary tour are officially on sale with a portion of each ticket being donated to the Taste America Scholarship Fund, which helps aspiring cooks attend culinary schools around the country.

• We now know what Barry Jenkins' first feature film adaption after Moonlight will be.

• Did you know that Ro-Tel is Southern food?

• Last October, the Alabama Coastal Foundation (ACF), a nonprofit dedicating to protecting the state’s coastal environment, teamed up with the waste-management company Republic Services to launch an oyster-shell recycling program.

Etc. Etc.

• Last week KFC launched an online shop filled with “chicken couture” merchandise.

• Prince played with many backing bands during his lifetime, but none as beloved as the Revolution. And the band is now touring in support of the Deluxe Edition reissues of “Purple Rain.”

• Someday soon, more U.S. households will be subscribers of Amazon Prime than cable or satellite TV.

• What is your favorite ice cream flavor? Well, it seems most of us are pretty boring - with vanilla and chocolate still move the most volume.

• Music supervisors - the ones who select the soundtracks for scenes in TV shows - will be competing for the first time ever in the Emmys this year after being granted an award category of their own. 

• Last year, Barbie got a makeover as part of Mattel’s #TheDollEvolves campaign. This year, it's Ken's turn.

• A new partnership between the Girl Scouts and cybersecurity company Palo Alto Networks has led to 18 new cybersecurity badges offered starting in September 2018.

• A new analysis of Pew Research Center survey data from fall 2016 finds that 53% of Millennials (those ages 18 to 35 at the time) say they used a library or bookmobile in the previous 12 months.

• Rose' deodarant. It's now a thing.

• Life may not have been simpler 50 years ago, but it was definitely a whole lot cheaper.

Poke Salad Podcast: Episode 64 (July 5, 2017)

We don't hide crazy on our podcasts either. And this episode is a PRIME example. In the middle of the episode, I have a spell of what I can only call Yogi Berra Syndrome (YBS) where I start to think we have already gone through all of my material in an earlier podcast.

Kelly can't figure out why I'm skipping through - and I'm looking at her trying to figure out why she doesn't realize that I've read this before. But I had not. It was just deja vu...all over again. 

Mississippi

• Don't miss the inaugural meeting of the Podcast Brunch Club Jackson chapter on Saturday, July 29, at The Manship in Jackson.
• The new extension to the Mitchell Memorial Library at Mississippi State is about to be filled very quickly.
• On Sept. 14, The Doobie Brothers will perform in Jackson at Thalia Mara Hall to support Alzheimer’s disease research. 
• So you’ve probably heard that Elvis was born and raised in Tupelo, but he’s not the only native son of note. Diplo, one of Electronic Dance Music’s most popular performers, is also from the city.  

The South

• Olivia de Havilland, who played Melanie Wilkes in the beloved film Gone With the Wind, is turning 101 on Saturday, July 1. Acting alongside Vivien Leigh and Clark Gable, Olivia is the last surviving principal cast member of the classic movie.  June 30 marks 81 years since the classic book Gone with the Wind was published.
• Drew Brees never threw on pads to play tackle football until he entered high school at Westlake in Austin, Tex. He started learning the game by playing flag football and has been a vocal advocate for the game for many years. Brees wants to bring his love for flag football across the country. That's why he and his marketing guru, Chris Stuart, are opening up a co-ed flag football league called "Football 'N' America."
• Spencer Proffer, Steve Binder, and Joe Berlinger are developing a feature film about Elvis Presley’s manger Colonel Tom Parker. Production is slated for early 2018.
• Food & Wine, the glossy, chef-focused food magazine, is moving to Birmingham, Ala., joining a stable of other publications owned by Time Inc. that includes Cooking Light and Southern Living.
• Speaking of which, Food & Wine came up with their list of the best beach bars in the country, and the FloraBama made the list, of course. The Pink Pony Club in Gulf Shores also made the list.
• Country Living named the 20 most charming beach towns across the nation - and several Southern towns made the list. Congrats to Gulf Shores, Ala.; Tybee Island, Ga.; Beaufort, NC; Key West, FL; Galveston, TX; and Isle of Palms, SC.
• There is an ancient cypress forest found 60 feet underwater in the Gulf of Mexico, due south of Gulf Shores, Ala. It is about 60,000 years old. It is the only known site where a coastal ice age forest this old has been preserved in place, with thousands of trees still rooted in the dirt they were growing in millennia ago. The work of the team investigating the site is detailed in the new documentary, The Underwater Forest.
• Legend has it the cocktail was invented in New Orleans, but whether this is true or not, the city has given birth to some iconic drinks—the Sazerac, the Hurricane —and it has certainly perfected the art of boozing. Tales of the Cocktail is a weeklong carnival of mixology from July 19-23, including cocktail classes, tastings, special menus at restaurants across the city and, of course, lots and lots of drinking. 
• The vacant 1960s-era World Trade Center office tower on the riverfront in New Orleans is close to rebirth. The building opened as the International Trade Mart and was later renamed to the World Trade Center in 1968. Carpenter & Co. of Cambridge, Mass. has teamed up with New Orleans firm Woodward Interests to redevelop the 33-story building into a Four Seasons hotel with nearly 400 rooms and about 80 hotel-serviced condos. The developers say construction will begin this fall, likely October or November. 

Etc. Etc.

• In August, Sonic is offering a new blended burger on its menu at select locations. The Slinger is a beef burger that’s made partly with mushrooms. 
• Sarah Jessica Parker has acquired her first title as the editorial director of SJP for Hogarth, her line of books with Penguin Random House’s Crown Publishing Group: Fatima Farheen Mirza’s debut novel, A Place for Us. 
• A recent survey finds that 65% of U.S. podcast listeners are likely or very likely to further investigate a company they hear about on a podcast and 64% have bought a product or service they heard about through an audio show. 
• According to a new report from the IAB in partnership with PricewaterhouseCoopers US, podcast ad revenue has grown by 85 percent since last year and is on track to reach more than $220 million in 2017. Previously, ad revenues for podcasts jumped 73 percent from 2015 to 2016.