July 2, 2012
Po' Monkey Juke Joint
Merigold, Mississippi

Introducing Po' Monkey, proprietor of the world famous Po 'Monkey Juke Joint

Here's a painting of Po' Monkey Juke Joint 

Gentle Reader,

To celebrate our three year anniversary, Scott and I journeyed on the NEH bus to Po' Monkey Juke Joint in Merigold, Mississippi.  There are legends surrounding the man who opens his home for "family night" every Thursday.  This is really the last juke joint around.  It's a very old sharecropper's shack out in the middle of a soybean field.  Po' Monkey farms the field with his tractor by day, and then generously opens his home on Thursday evening to keep the juke joint tradition alive.  He says he got the name Po' Monkey from his Mama, and that he is "poor for sure."  

 No drugs allowed at Po' Monkeys, as per the rules posted.  Also, he is a purist and

wants to stick to blues or jazz... no rap music.  No saggin' allowed, either.  And hats must be with the bill facing out front, the more traditional way. 

 This is a sculpture that was designed for Po' Monkeys a while back.  It has a spring coil tail, too.

The whole sculpture, including the flag and the surrounding fence, has been dubbed "Fort Monkey."

He is alive with enthusiasm for his guests, and his only desire is that everyone just have a good time.  On his more energetic evenings, he is known to change his clothes several times, emerging to rounds of appreciative applause from his bedroom door.  He has a collection of very colorful suits, and is definitely a dapper gentleman.  On this particular night, which was a sweltering Delta night, he did not change from suit to suit.  Instead, he emerged with various aprons on over his shirt and pants.  He would have "surprises" to reveal as he moved about the dance floor.  

The cover is small, and the music is immensely large.  A DJ cranks out some very danceable tunes all night long.  Joe, one of the NEH participants, was the hit of the party.  He danced with locals as well as the members of the symposium.  He was stylin', jumpin', and jivin' on that dance floor, giving some of the ladies a real thrill, I think.  He swirled around the floor with Lee Alyward, one of the workshop instructors, transforming her into a "juke joint woman" all evening long.  For decor, stuffed monkeys hang from the ceiling.  Visitors from all over the world, who have experienced Po' Monkeys, send stuffed animal monkeys for Po' Monkey to hang all over the joint.  Staring up at monkey butt while dancing, or colliding with a monkey tail or leg is a common occurrence at this juke joint.

On the bus on the way over, we finally broke into song.  Everything from "This Little Light of Mine," to honor Fannie Lou Hamer's contributions to the Civil Rights Movement to "Precious Lord, Take My Hand, " to some original blues by one of the NEH members.    

Earlier in the day, we listened to "Juke Joint Woman" as our "Song of the Day."  A rollickin' good time, which even got Lee dancing in the aisles of the bus.  The song ends with the sweet line:  "All this juke joint woman is gonna give you is a heart attack..."

In a New York Times article published March 2, 2007, reporter Erik Ekholm writes a features about Po'Monkey Juke Joint.  Below are some excerpts from the article, with some commentary by Po' Monkey himself.  If you want to read the whole article, which I would highly recommend, go to www.nytimes.com/2007/03/02/us/02jukejoint.

Char, Diana, and Rachelle at the juke joint

Po' Monkey sells soda pop and cups of ice.  He also sells beer.  He doesn't purchase this from a distributor. He just goes down to the local grocery every Thursday afternoon and stocks up for the evening's festivities.  Customers can bring in hard liquor or wine, but the mixers and beer must be purchased at the swing door counter.

From the interview in the New York Times...

“Po’ Monkey is all anybody ever called me since I was little,” he said. “I don’t know why, except I was poor for sure."
He doesn’t recall any blues stars ever playing at his club, which has live music on special occasions. 
The place doesn’t make much, he said — guests pay $5 to enter and can buy beer or bring their own liquor and buy mixers. The pool table costs 75 cents a game."
“I was going to get married once, even got a license,” he said, “but we started getting into it, and the preacher never did register that license.”

The spirit of the juke joint is alive and well in Merigold, thanks to Po' Monkey and his generosity...!  What a time we had that night... Happy anniversary to Scott and me...


Namaste,
Marianne