59 replies to this topic

[dunveth]

Spaceman Spiff, on Oct 10 2006, 11:32 AM, said:

It was nice to see the place hopping, and was easy to imagine how downtown Helena must have been 70-80 years ago.

It is hopping at least twice a year, for the Blues Festival, and the Hog (as in Harleys) festival.
Downtown Helena was viable as recently as 25 years ago, but 70-80 years ago African Americans were allowed on Cherry St. only one day (Thursdays, I think) otherwise relegated to the parallel Walnut Street.  I despise that part of Helena's heritage.

[Mith242]

There was a nice article yesterday in the Dem-Gaz about Helena-West Helena.  I've thought about it before but I think I may finally try to check it out sometime this summer when I'm visiting family near Pine Bluff.

[vbfl85]

whats the latest word on the ethanol (or biodiesel?) refinery that was supposed to be built?

[Mith242]

vbfl85, on Mar 26 2007, 04:18 PM, said:

whats the latest word on the ethanol (or biodiesel?) refinery that was supposed to be built?

I haven't heard anything recent about it.

[Memphis Love]

I was reading the other day that Helena, Arkansas used to be referred to as the "Chicago of the South" has anyone else heard anything about this?

[Mith242]

Memphis Love, on May 23 2007, 01:53 PM, said:

I was reading the other day that Helena, Arkansas used to be referred to as the "Chicago of the South" has anyone else heard anything about this?

Seems like I may have heard of something like that before.  I used to be a pretty important center on the Mississippi River.  Although I'm not sure if it really even compared to Memphis back in it's heyday.  For me when I think about Helena I think about the music.  It certainly played a big part in that.  A number of the early Blues performers had ties there.

[Aporkalypse]

Mith242, on May 23 2007, 02:38 PM, said:

Seems like I may have heard of something like that before.  I used to be a pretty important center on the Mississippi River.  Although I'm not sure if it really even compared to Memphis back in it's heyday.  For me when I think about Helena I think about the music.  It certainly played a big part in that.  A number of the early Blues performers had ties there.

At one point Helena was very important, it peaked a couple of decades after the Civil War.  There was a significant civil war battle there.  I don't know if it was as large as Memphis but at that time cities like Helena, Vicksburg, and Natchez were some of the most important in the South not on the East Coast.

Arkansas City is an interesting little town.  It's tiny now but it had an opera and theaters amongst other things.  It peaked at 13,000 and now has only 550 residents.  It developed as an important river town but was lost when land travel became easier and no Mississippi River bridge was built there.

[Clobber]

tim2462, on Jan 3 2006, 07:38 PM, said:

A company out of Memphis bought the festival and is most likely moving it to Memphis.

i don't think the company is out of Memphis, may be out of NY or something, but, yes, they're moving the name "King Biscuit" to Memphis.  My understanding is that Helena will retain the festival, though, under a new name.

sleepy, on Jan 28 2006, 05:39 PM, said:

Regarding the King Biscuit Blues name---

I'm on a google list-serve for blues, and people are outraged about the name and festival being bought out.

The name was bought by "Performa" which runs Beale St. in Memphis, yet many music people in Memphis are disgusted with the corporate takeover of the regional music.

Performa was also the entity which ran the "Center for Southern Folklore" off of Beale St. a few years ago and placed some generic barroom in its place.

I stand corrected.

[Memphis Love]

There is also some sort of club in Cordova named the King Biscuit.

[Clobber]

As of today's online Memphis Daily News, there appears to be a New York-based company called the King Biscuit Entertainment Group that is behind a joint project to open a club in downtown Memphis.  I thin this is along the lines of my original impression regarding the legal conflict behind the name -- that the owner of the name was based in New York.

http://www.memphisda.../...e=5/30/2007

[Memphis Love]

I thought it was interesting that they wanted to create a "Blues Row" over there. It should be interesting and more upscale than most of Beale. Sounds exciting.

[Aporkalypse]

Clobber, on May 28 2007, 06:54 PM, said:

i don't think the company is out of Memphis, may be out of NY or something, but, yes, they're moving the name "King Biscuit" to Memphis.  My understanding is that Helena will retain the festival, though, under a new name.
I stand corrected.

I find this kind of appalling as well.  Raping tradition for no good reason.

[Memphis Love]

there is a reason....money.

[TennBear]

Aporkalypse, on May 25 2007, 05:00 PM, said:

At one point Helena was very important, it peaked a couple of decades after the Civil War.  There was a significant civil war battle there.  I don't know if it was as large as Memphis but at that time cities like Helena, Vicksburg, and Natchez were some of the most important in the South not on the East Coast.

Arkansas City is an interesting little town.  It's tiny now but it had an opera and theaters amongst other things.  It peaked at 13,000 and now has only 550 residents.  It developed as an important river town but was lost when land travel became easier and no Mississippi River bridge was built there.

Speaking about Helena being more important in the past, "Huckleberry Finn" had a section of the book set in Helena. The city was not named, but was discribed as being on a bluff above the river on the Arkansas side. The book is interesting in that it was really started and put down for years prior to completion. Samuel Clemens was bankrupt and pulled out the book and finished it quickly to make money fast. The early part of the book going down the river through to Cairo describes things in great detail and below Cairo, it is almost a dash to New Orleans. Memphis is not even mentioned in the book. It is overrated as a book, being called one of the great American novels when it is really an uneven literary mess.

[Mith242]

TennBear, on Jul 12 2007, 09:31 AM, said:

Speaking about Helena being more important in the past, "Huckleberry Finn" had a section of the book set in Helena. The city was not named, but was discribed as being on a bluff above the river on the Arkansas side. The book is interesting in that it was really started and put down for years prior to completion. Samuel Clemens was bankrupt and pulled out the book and finished it quickly to make money fast. The early part of the book going down the river through to Cairo describes things in great detail and below Cairo, it is almost a dash to New Orleans. Memphis is not even mentioned in the book. It is overrated as a book, being called one of the great American novels when it is really an uneven literary mess.

I think I've heard of it being mentioned directly or indirectly in some older novels.  But anyway thanks for the info.

[Memphis Love]

I traveled to Helena-West Helena recently and found it to be a great little town. If the citizens would only redevelop the Downtown (aka Cherry Street) the way that South Main is doing, the town would once again rise to prominence imo.

[Mith242]

Memphis Love, on Jul 18 2007, 09:54 AM, said:

I traveled to Helena-West Helena recently and found it to be a great little town. If the citizens would only redevelop the Downtown (aka Cherry Street) the way that South Main is doing, the town would once again rise to prominence imo.

I still need to make it over there sometime.  The bad thing is just about all of eastern Arkansas seems to be in decline.  And it seems to closer you get to the river the worse it is.  There's been a big population decline going on for a while now.  It's only gotten worse the past decade or so unfortunately.

[hogwash]

Helena-West Helena, along with Southern Financial Corp. put out an RFP for a Master Downtown Redevelopment Plan.  Proposals are due tomorrow and a decision on a firm should be made in the coming weeks.  Work on the plan will begin in about four months.  The new plan will be pretty comprehensive including historic preservation, tourism, economic development among other things.  We'll have to see in the coming years what comes out of this.

[Aporkalypse]

Mith242, on Jul 18 2007, 06:35 PM, said:

I still need to make it over there sometime.  The bad thing is just about all of eastern Arkansas seems to be in decline.  And it seems to closer you get to the river the worse it is.  There's been a big population decline going on for a while now.  It's only gotten worse the past decade or so unfortunately.

That area just South of the SE corner of Arkansas (Lake Village, Eudora, etc) - the Louisiana cities of Lake Providence and Tallulah supposedly have the highest unemployment rates in the nation, up around 15%.  There just aren't any good jobs down there to stay for.  It's a little better in Arkansas but not much.

Arkansas tried so hard to get an auto plant in Marion and failed, though the Hino truck plant was a good grab.  It's just tough to recruit to the Delta, especially the more remote areas far from Memphis and Little Rock.

[Mith242]

Aporkalypse, on Jul 20 2007, 01:34 PM, said:

That area just South of the SE corner of Arkansas (Lake Village, Eudora, etc) - the Louisiana cities of Lake Providence and Tallulah supposedly have the highest unemployment rates in the nation, up around 15%.  There just aren't any good jobs down there to stay for.  It's a little better in Arkansas but not much.

Arkansas tried so hard to get an auto plant in Marion and failed, though the Hino truck plant was a good grab.  It's just tough to recruit to the Delta, especially the more remote areas far from Memphis and Little Rock.

Unfortunately I just don't see this changing anytime soon either.  Even Marion is going to have problems because it's so close to Memphis with their rather bad air quality.  It seems to me that mainly Jonesboro is going to avoid all this decline that seems to be happening over eastern Arkansas.