Come and Discover Your Memories with ‘Juke Joint!’

It was a time when gin was sold in Dixie cups for fifty cents a shot. Pickled Pigs Feet, Moon Pies, and peanuts dumped in an R.C. Cola were staples, and Murray’s cookies were a treat.Parents sent their children to pay on their overdue grocery bill, avoiding any arguments about past due balances. The jukebox was a Wurlitzer. Mr. Piccolo, the white man, would come by every other week to take the coins and change the records. “Mr. Big Stuff” was a favorite. So was Otis Redding’s “Mr. Pitiful.” 

Willie Little’s “Juke Joint,” now on exhibit at the YMI Cultural Center, is a room-size installation made of love and squalor and powerful memories that are both familiar and endearing. The dynamic, interactive exhibit depicts the life of the artist’s father, including studies of the colorful patrons of Little’s Grocery in the late 1960s. It has traveled to more than a dozen venues throughout the United States, including to the Smithsonian Arts & Industries Gallery where more than 305,000 visitors experienced the installation in 2003.

“Juke Joint: An Installation by Willie Little” will remain on exhibit through March 28, 2010. Gallery hours are Tuesday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Weekend hours by appointment only. General admission for the exhibit is $5.

(Left) Somehow simple food-stuffs always got us by. (Right) Sista’ and Ms. Odell always hung around the Juke Box.  They always had a reason to sing, dance, shout, and cry!  Photos: Urban News