Of course, this is a perfect time to talk about the Blues.  They exploded in popularity in the 1930's, when the country was broke.

I'm here in Clarksdale, Mississippi this weekend, listening to music and working on a script for a TV show I'm trying to get off the ground.  I'm working with some incredible people -- more about exactly whom, later -- and I can't imagine anything more fun than spending some time in the Delta, working on a television show that's both funny and sad, silly and deep.  Like the Blues.

The first picture is of Ground Zero Blues Club, run by my friends Bill Luckett and Morgan Freeman.

The second is the interior of Red's, just down the street a bit from Ground Zero, and about as authentic as they come.