October 16, 2008 Jackson, MS; Monroe, LA; Grambling, LA

A cold front had brought a dreary, heavy, continuous rain to the Memphis area as I was preparing to head out of town to the Grambling homecoming, and even though I had intended to run by early voting before going out of town, the line was so long that I couldn't wait. I called Charlie Braxton in Jackson, Mississippi and decided to meet him at lunch so I could pick up some Donnie Cross singles to take to DJs in the Monroe/Grambling area, and fortunately it wasn't raining in the Jackson area. I had planned on going to Up The Creek Fish Camp, but Charlie decided he preferred pizza, so we stopped at a Mellow Mushroom Pizza in Flowood next door to the Up The Creek, and a Jackson rapper named Tony B met us there. After a latte at Cups in Fondren, I headed out west on I-20 toward Vicksburg, running back into the rain that was heading east toward Jackson. The weather was truly nasty for the better part of my trip, but just outside of Monroe, the rain tapered off, and the weather became much cooler. Streets were still wet, but it wasn't raining as I pulled into the Holiday Inn to check in. After getting settled into my room, I headed out to dinner, choosing Portico Bar and Grill on Tower Drive, which was crowded as always, and decorated for Halloween, just as I remembered it from last year. Despite the huge crowd, I was amazed that there was no wait, and as I enjoyed a filet mignon, a band began playing in the lounge area, and people were sitting around the bar watching a college football game. Afterwards, I stopped by Books-A-Million, specifically to see if there were any new books about Grambling there (there weren't any), and so I went on into West Monroe to the Corner Coffeehouse for a latte. Then, listening to my compilation of Monroe rappers, I continued the 30 miles to Ruston and Grambling. At Grambling, a large crowd was gathered at a new nightclub called Plush that had opened next door to the Chevron near the I-20 exit, and I thought about going there, but decided against it, and headed down into the Village instead, but Main Street seemed relatively deserted, and even the quadrangle was unusually calm and subdued. There was only a small crowd in front of the Favrot Student Union and food court area, and a few students coming from the area of the stadium and assembly center (perhaps the talent show had been held in the new assembly center this year). I noticed that the last high-rise buildings had been demolished as I drove back up RWE Jones Drive to the interstate. Back in Monroe, nothing was happening on Olive Street, nor at Club Krystal on Washington. Club Dominos clearly had the crowd, but I decided to go back to my hotel room and get some rest.