BY ROBERT MCFARLAND, JR. Delta Business Journal

Clarksdale attorney, Bill Luckett, and actor Morgan Freeman have done it again. The duo have unveiled their latest business venture, a blues club in the heart of downtown Clarksdale called Ground Zero. This time, the duo brought in a third partner, Howard Stovall, Clarksdale native and executive director of the Blues Foundation in Memphis. Luckett and Freeman’s first outing was opening the high end restaurant, Madidi, also located in downtown Clarksdale, now in it’s eight month of operation.
“It was a very exciting opening with a packed house, “ says Luckett. “Unfortunately, there were many people whom we wish we could have invited. However, we had the media, vendors, and with three owners sending out our own invitations we were somewhat limited on who we could invite.
“I think the most fun we had was getting up on the bar and dancing,” laughs Luckett.
National media representatives attending the grand opening were People Magazine, Northwest Airlines World Traveler Magazine, Rolling Stone Magazine, O Magazine, Elle Magazine, Modern Maturity Magazine, The Financial Times of London, The Independent from London, and several other national and international publications. Five television stations and the regional press was also in attendance.
“I was happy to see Ground Zero come to fruition,” says Freeman. “I have been very fortunate to do well in my career and now that I’ve decided to make my home here in the area, I can think of nowhere else I’d rather spend or invest in. We are all just very excited about Madidi and Ground Zero here in Clarksdale.”
Hollywood actress Ashley Judd attended the grand opening along with her sister, country music star, Wynona Judd. Famous blues artists, Pine Top Perkins – who is generally recognized as the greatest blues pianists of the day and Bob Margolin also attended.
According to Luckett, Ground Zero fits perfectly into the blues scene that has suddenly boomed across the U.S. Fittingly, the name Ground Zero is a perfect reflection on where the blues was born which many blues aficionados point to as Clarksdale and Coahoma County. In fact, blues great Muddy Waters was raised on the Stovall Plantation just southwest of Clarksdale.
And what does all of this mean for Clarksdale? According to Stovall the creation of Ground Zero is a win-win situation for the entire area.
“I think that all of this means that Clarksdale’s blues tourism movement is finally reaching critical mass,” says Stovall. “I also think that with Madidi, Ground Zero, and the Blues Museum that Clarksdale has finally reached a scale where there is plenty in Clarksdale to draw people here.”
And as for the future?
“The long range goal is to continue to feature local musicians for the tourists who come to the area who want to see indigenous musicians and to also bring in some national touring acts, preferably acts with strong ties to the area for our local audience, so that we continue to mix things up for them. We’ll also continue to work on our food and our surprising position as the number one lunch place in Clarksdale!”
“We are very excited about several possibilities for the future,” adds Luckett who adds that live performances may be broadcast over the Internet to worldwide audiences in the near future.
“It’s a very exciting time in blues music today,” says Stovall. “I think that blues music has its strongest position in mainstream America right now than it ever has. We have many young artists who are coming up who are really great blues musicians and I feel that it’s just a great time for Clarksdale to capitalize on all of this.” DBJ
Visit Ground Zero’s website at www.groundzerobluesclub.com