Jackson, Mississippi (AP) — Bill Rackett is a lawyer, a small town mayor, a candidate governor, a Bruce promoter, a friend and business partner of Morgan Freeman, and an uncontrollable story about his beloved Mississippi people and culture. Was the narrator.
The racket died Thursday at the age of 73, a year after being diagnosed with cancer. He would have been remembered and wanted to host the party he ordered on Tuesday.
Instead of a funeral, his family celebrates his racket life with free music and entertainment at the Ground Zero Blues Club, owned for 20 years by Academy Award-winning actors and others in Clarksdale, Mississippi.
The name of the club refers to the birthplace of the blues. Legend has it that early blues guitarist Robert Johnson sold his soul to the devil at the Mississippi Delta crossroads. Clarksdale is betting its claim on a giant guitar that marks the intersection of US highways 61 and 49. The nearby Rosedale also claims to be the location of Johnson’s Faust bargain. The racket shrugged and admitted that advertising at the devil’s crossroads was good for Clarksdale, who relies on tourism to support the anemic economy.
Rackets were often at Ground Zero, where they introduced acting, drinks and dance with Bruce pilgrims who had traveled from every corner of the world.
“My dad really loved Clarksdale, the music, and the people,” one of his sons, Oliver Racket, said in a statement. “In the true Bill Racket style, one of his last demands was to quit the funeral and instead come to Clarksdale for great music at his home’s Ground Zero Blues Club. It was to invite the communities and people who are there. “
Racket ran for Governor of Mississippi in 2011 and promised to improve roads, medical and technical services in most rural states, one of the poorest countries in the United States. DuPree became the first black candidate to win the nomination of the Mississippi Governor’s major political party, losing in the Republican Phil Bryant general election in a state where the Republican Party holds most of the position throughout the state.
In 2013, Racket was elected mayor of his hometown of Clarksdale, with a population of about 17,700 at the time. Clarksdale is located in the poor Mississippi Delta, and the city’s population has declined to about 15,700. Racket served as mayor once for a four-year term.
Racket and Freeman, who live near the town of Charleston’s Delta, also ran a fine dining restaurant called Madidi in Clarksdale for several years.
“Delta has been financially declining for the past 30 or 40 years. In fact, I think it’s bottomed out now, or it’s bottomed out in the late 90’s,” Racket told The Associated Press in 2015. Told to. “And I’m trying to get it back at this restaurant with the Ground Zero Blues Club.”
Racket has lived in Mississippi since the age of six and thought his birth in Fort Worth, Texas was a bit of a habit before his family returned to their roots.
Racket is one of June Bugs, a loose group celebrating the state’s musical and literary heritage, including Mississippi politicians, judges, and US District Court Judge Mike Mills and Senator Roger Wicker. It was a club. presentation.
This year, June Bugs held a ceremony near Greenwood. The fictional Billie Joe Armstrong is a young man who jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge in 1967 with “Aude to Billie Joe” sung by Bobbie Gentry, born in Mississippi. ..
The Greenwood Federation reported that the racket was dressed as Pope and talked about the possibility of Billie Joe committing several crimes, including jumping into the Tallahatchie River and killing himself. The racket has announced that it will “give, convey, bestow, and publicly declare a special pope” for Billie Joe.
In addition to his son Oliver, racket survivors include his wife, Francine, who is 37 years old. Daughter Whitney Racket; Stepchild Park Dodge and Stepdaughter Douglas Dunabant.
Democracy consultant Burns Strider worked on the racket governor’s campaign and considered the racket a mentor.
“I think Bill had the most intelligence I’ve ever met, and I’ve met a lot of people,” Strider wrote on Facebook. “But that’s what made Bill Racket stand out. For every ounce of intelligence, there was a heart of two ounces. He loved his family and friends. He loved Clarksdale. He. Loved Mississippi. Bill loved life. And he valued life. He made it interesting. “
Mississippi blues promoter kills La Contour’s Bill Racket | WGN Radio 720
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