Came to say basically all of this. Only ever knew one or two UT “fans.” A good many kids went to Florence for college though.
What is Mississippi peoples’ ‘thing’?
- Thread starter OG Goat Holder
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I may be underestimating that market, but I just find it hard to believe that any music museum is going to drive tourism. Not seeing detailed numbers, but it looks like the grammy museum in cleveland may get 160,000 visitors a year? (Or maybe it's 160,000 over its first 6 years, which I am guessing maybe that's it since it was only projected to get 65,000 a year and those projections almost always turn out to be overly optimistic). The grammy museum is at least close to the BB king museum and a lot of the blues trail stops that generate some tourism in the Delta, so to the extent people are willing to travel for music history or whatever you want to call it, there is at least multiple options and it's not far from Memphis either. I'm sure there are some blues trails markers near philadelphia, but is there anything else that would bring people in that would have any relationship/synergy with a country music museum? I guess maybe it's a non-gambling activity to pair with the choctaw casino. Maybe a day to get out of the heat during the fair? You've got the civil rights murders (forget what they're called) but I'm not sure there is a lot of overlap there with music lovers?
Just seems hard to believe that ends up being self sufficient, much less an economic development plus.
West Alabama has a lot in common with East Mississippi. South Alabama has a lot in common with South GA, the Florida Panhandle, and coastal MS. North Alabama has a lot in common with Tennessee and North MS. This way of thinking is true with every state. Why do some people think this is only true of Mississippi?
I’ve lived in Mississippi my entire life and and spent a lot of time in North Mississippi. I think I’ve only met one Tennessee fan from Mississippi.
Joe Joes.
Maybe it is an age thing. Admitted I haven't heard them called that in a long time But I haven't visited Carson's store or the eupora store in many years.
Geographically the terminus of the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains ends in NE Ms east of the Tombigbee River
Of course there’s overlap. But what is Mississippi’s uniqueness? Obviously has something to do with ag and farming. But if you’re going to cook a MS meal (like say jambalaya in LA), what is it?
Catfish, cornbread, vegetables is all I got.
I visited the Delta for the first time in College. To me, it felt like going back to the 1930s, like the Hollywood stereotype of all Mississippi.
Further evidence, as if we needed any,
that you have no idea what you are talking about most of the time. Where are you from really? Minnesota?
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That's what they were always called here, and this damn sure aint Portland.
This has been hilarious but in all seriousness, I've got into this Jojo/potato log thing before elsewhere. It seems to be a limited area in NE Miss that uses the term in Mississippi, north and along 82 and east of and along 45, and not all of that. I've spent all of my life except for 4 years in that area. I don't care for the things anyway, whatever you call them.
North MS and South MS are very different. I'm a south MS (Pine Belt) guy and I remember how different I thought the world was at 18 years old when my parents shipped me up to North MS to campus. We have a very unique state that is hard to understand for outsiders. I'm ok with that, I think it's the best kept secret in the country.
Don't let me offend any of your fine spirits, but the upper middle class in South MS is generally a bit more refined than the upper middle in North MS. Don't let me offend you though, im just here to state facts.
Doesn't excuse our baseball performance tonight though.
West TN, Middle TN, and East TN are all distinctly different. North Louisiana is completely different than South Louisiana. NW Arkansas is a completely different state than the Arkansas Delta. This is not a phenomenon that’s unique only to MS.
Alabama is generally less regional than Mississippi, from a geographical perspective anyway. Definitely has nothing as stark as the difference between the Delta and everything else.
One interesting thing is that you could move the entire north south MS-AL border 20 miles to the east, and nobody would know the difference. One might say that 20 x 300 mile strip is just a demilitarized buffer zone that was strategically placed by Alabama to trick Mississippians into thinking there was nothing very interesting to the east, so they’d turn around and go back home.
Beyond that, you have these regions that are kind of amorphous as to where they begin and end:
1) Tennessee Valley - everything from the Shoals to Bridgeport along the river. Goes all the way to the TN border to the north. To the south you get Guntersville, Albertville, Priceville, Decatur, and that’s about it. Huntsville is main hub of it all….you’ve got space, missiles, tech, outdoor stuff with lots of hiking and fishing and caves. This is the area with the most transplants from other states….the most fluid culture.
2) Sphere of Birmingham - consists of Birmingham and everything in a 30- mile radius. Cullman, Calera, Tuscaloosa, Pell City, Sylacauga, Jasper, Trussville. Outside of one of those having a major SEC university, it’s all the same shít. Birmingham is obviously a busier scene, and is the hub for the whole state and even moreso for those cities. But there’s not much separating the people / culture of that whole circle….inside or outside of Bham.
3) Prattville-Montgomery-Auburn / Opelika corridor. Kind of similar to the Rankin County-Jackson-Vicksburg corridor logistically, but a little more advanced with a major SEC metro area and what not.
4) The Alabama Emerald Coast - everything south of Interstate 10 and east of Mobile Bay. Real beaches. Foley, Daphne, Fairhope, Gulf Shores, OB, etc. Very different scene from the rest of the state, obviously. Does NOT include Mobile. Tourism capital of the state.
5) Mobile - it’s own scene entirely, but not necessarily in a bad way. It’s more similar to the MS coast or South LA than anywhere else in Alabama.
6) Deep Southeast AL - Dothan / Enterprise, etc. Nobody really knows what goes on down there, but they have peanuts and shít and people do actually live there. Tons of tax revenue from speed traps for folks on the way to Destin / 30A.
7) Southwest Alabama - Everything north and/or west of I-65, and south of I-20, until you get to Sphere of Birmingham. Just don’t.
So you say Alabama is less regional and then explain 7 distinct regions?
Again, Mississippi isn’t very different than the states surrounding it.
Alabama people in general are more proud to say they are from there, rather than attaching to other states’ cultures. More self esteem. And they have BBQ, the football rivalry, etc.
Mississippi, Texas, and North Carolina have BBQ and a football rivalry too? That’s not something that’s unique to one state.
Are you suggesting people from Mississippi aren’t proud to say it? Bc you are dead wrong if that’s what you are saying. But you are usually wrong so….
you could put 25 white du from Georgia, 25 from Alabama, 25 from Tennessee, 25 from Mississippi and 25 from Louisiana in a big room. No one can say where they are from.
you might be able to tell a few from Georgia and Tennessee aren’t from Mississippi.
you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between Mississippi and Alabama.
you could probably identify every one of the people from Louisiana. They always stand out.
Nah. It’s maybe more refined than the upper middle class in north east Mississippi. Oddly enough the most refined upper middle class is probably from the two worst areas of the state. Jackson and the delta. Or maybe it’s not odd. Maybe being surrounded by squalor and dysfunction focuses the mind on separating yourself from the appearances of that.
Agree with this. Ever been to a Delta wedding? Generally more sophisticated and truly Southern, much more so than the Bo Bounds and Barbie Bassett y’all shlt.
I think refinement is largely a product of private education. Until recently private schools were almost nonexistent in NE Ms and it’s always been a huge part of education in the areas that you mentioned.
Mississippi is the birthplace of America's music. When Mississippians compete on the singing shows they win. The blues, country music and rock and roll all started here.
That’s great and all, but how is it benefitting us today? We provide the talent, they move away. Where are all the recording studios? Where are all the opportunities to play live music?
I said geographically. The regions I specified have more to do with the people / economy / industry / culture than they do geography.
Geographically, you have the Appalachian foothills in NE Alabama, and Gulf Shores / OB. Everything else is pretty much the same as east MS.
That is my biggest concern. We've allowed Nashville and Memphis become the capitals of Country and Blues respectively. We don't capitalize on our history. I recently heard that Ground Zero in Clarksdale is closing. Clarksdale tried to establish itself about 20 years ago but it is looking like they have failed. Natchez used to be a nice place to live but that is dying. People came, tried to help build businesses and then left.
Clarksdale has more gang activity per capita than Chicago. It’s a war zone.
It’s really depressing seeing any of the gang stuff in the delta. Fighting over territory that nobody wants and isn’t close to anything people want.
My mom is from Clarksdale and my grandparents lived there until they passed away. When I think back to when I was kid and what town looked like and what it does now I kinda tear up.
I grew up on the MS gulf coast
Monday - Friday some kind of bean from the garden (red, white, black eye peas, crowder, green) that had either ham or deer sausage
Friday nights were typically fried catfish plates from a local establishment
Saturdays were boiled crawfish or something like deer or pork - could be crabs or shrimp as well
Sundays after church were either steak abs potatoes or Popeyes
There is a LOT of music tourism in Mississippi. I lived briefly in Tupelo once, still live in the area. The number of Elvis tourists surprised and still continues to surprise me. My understanding is the Blues Trail is the same. I went to the grave of Robert Johnson once, amid all the other stuff left was a $100+ bottle of an Islay Scotch. I doubt a Mississippian left that.
Memphis likes to think it is the capitol of the blues. I think it is really Chicago.
Hopefully we are never refined then. The lack of private schools is THE reason we still have pretty good public schools here. NE Mississippi always the red headed step child…we used to care, now we don’t. We are making our own way. I’d much rather look to North Alabama, Birmingham, Middle Tennessee, or even Memphis, than Jackson. I suspect the Coast feels the same way about east and west along the Gulf.
The fact you don’t want the rest of MS to succeed is kind of the problem. It’s a big reason we are where we are. We’ve rehashed this 100 times. If it’s not part of the problem, it’s a symptom. And it doesn’t seem to be getting fixed. Like you said, you’d rather be attached to Memphis and Birmingham. You don’t want to be ‘Mississippi’.
I don’t want to be attached to Memphis or Jackson. I do get a kick out of people on Facebook that put that they live in Memphis when they don’t. Why do you want to be associated with Memphis.