Country Blues > Weenie Campbell Main Forum
We all have work to do
jed:
Some of y'all know that my work since 2017 has been in the wacky world of political organizing and activism - seven years this month. In September and October 2016 - just before all hell broke loose, it was my great good fortune to do some Blues Travelin' with the Chezz across the length and much of the breadth of the Mississippi Delta, compiling a list of experiences and memories - to borrow from Howlin' Wolf - longer than my right arm. One of our coolest experiences was visiting the backwoods location Mary Hurt had designated for Grandpa John Hurt's museum.
The museum is no more.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/C3odJ3WNVTJ/?igsh=NGdnZzB3aDlzYTNx
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/fire-destroys-mississippi-john-hurt-museum/ar-BB1iFEj1
https://www.clarionledger.com/story/news/2024/02/21/mississippi-john-hurt-museum-burns-down-in-carroll-county-mississippi/72689068007/
Ms. Hurt had expressed related concerns about her grandfather's Blues Highway sign (which reminded me of the fate of several versions of Emmett Till's sign).
Please share this news widely.
lindy:
Wow.
I'm one of several Weenies who have had the experience of sitting on the porch of the house and playing a tune ("Frankie"). Then soaking up the peacefulness of the wooded surroundings, befitting the image of John Hurt I've constructed based on film footage and interviews.
If indeed it was an act of arson and by some chance the arsonists are caught, I hope their sentences include watching that same footage and listening to all of Hurt's recordings.
Lindy
jed:
One must wonder whether some of the red-shirted nazis with flags in Nashville last week took that rented U-Haul truck down to Mississippi.
Vermonter:
So far there is no report that this tragic fire was caused by arson. Does anybody know anything more?
So much that was irreplaceable is lost.
lindy:
*If* the local investigators show an interest in the case, and *if* someone informs the Jackson-based Clarion-Ledger newspaper about any updates, we might hear some new information.
I did a search using the terms "Mary Hurt" and "Mississippi John Hurt" and got several hits for stories posted within the past 3-4 days, but they don't really add anything to what was posted earlier.
https://www.npr.org/2024/02/22/1233089909/museum-honoring-mississippi-bluesman-john-hurt-is-destroyed-in-a-fire
and
https://www.msn.com/en-us/music/news/fire-destroys-museum-honoring-legendary-blues-musician-mississippi-john-hurt/ar-BB1iMXq2
I noticed that the npr report stated that Mary Hurt lives in Illinois, had not seen the damage yet when she was interviewed, yet she "believes it may have been arson." The history of Mississippi makes me immediately consider a similar conclusion, but the former news reporter in me says the evidence so far is slim, and that my biases are in operation.
Lindy
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