Freeman venture lures blues,
celebrities to Clarksdale
By Donnie Snow • The Commercil Appeal • May 28, 2001

CLARKSDALE, Miss.--By the time lightning started slicing up the azure Delta sky and rain began falling downtown Sunday nigt, Ground Zero was already hopping along on tis grand opening.

The juke joint, actor Morgan Freeman's latest Mississippi venture, gets a down-home feel from plywood floors and exposed-brick walls. On Sunday night, it also had an aura of star power from Freeman and visiting celebrities Ashley and Wynonna Judd, a hint that Morgan's place could be a whole lot more.

"We're waiting to see how it shakes out," Freeman said from a back-room office surrounded by press. "But we knew that there could be a place for the blues here."

By "we," Freeman is referring to his two partners, attorney Bill Luckett and Howard Stovall of Memphis.

The club is adorned with past Sunflower Blues Festival posters, as well as posters of Buddy Guy, Stevie Ray Vaughan and other notable blues legends--some who have arrived and some who are still arriving.

The Judds showed just long enough for one photo opportunity before cameras and media were shooed away.

The clu, located across from the Delta Blues museum, is geared for nightly music from its house band, but also serves locals and tourists who want to nosh with burgers and beer.

Ground Zero is the second Clarksdale venture for Freeman, known for his generosity toward his home state. His restaurant Madidi is less than a year old but is already doing well, he says. And apparently so is his new juke joint, filled for the handful of nights it's been open so far.

"This is like a hit movie," said Freeman. "Except we don't expect the downturn."