Deep South Magazine

by Erin Z. Bass

This month, we included the Coondog Cemetery Labor Day Celebration in our Top 10 Events. Taking place September 6, the celebration is held in the world’s only cemetery just for coondogs, located in Colbert County, Alabama. Established on September 4, 1937, by resident Key Underwood, when he had to bury his 15-year hunting partner Troop, the cemetery began on the site of a popular hunting camp where, according to the event website, “coon hunters from miles around gathered to plot their hunting strategies, tell tall tales, chew tobacco and compare coon hounds.” Starting with a rock chiseled with Troop’s name and burial date, the graveyard has since become a popular tourist attraction and today includes the graves of more than 185 coondogs.

Our mention of the event on the Deep South Facebook page ignited some discussion about the word “coondog.” “What the hell is a COONDOG?” asked one fan. Another replied that she must not be from the South if she doesn’t know what a coondog is. That got us wondering about the definition of the word. Underwood helps to explain it on the site, commenting on a woman from California’s question about why other types of dogs couldn’t be buried at the cemetery.

“You must not know much about coon hunters and their dogs, if you think we would contaminate this burial place with poodles and lap dogs,” he told her.

So, yes, a coondog is a huntin’ dog, as they’re called in other parts of the South, and men love them as much as women love their lapdogs. Listed among the dead in Coondog Cemetery are Patches, Preacher, Smoky, Bean Blossom Bomma and Night Ranger. And etched along with their names are tributes like “A joy to hunt with” and “He wasn’t the best, but he was the best I ever had.” (The hound that was named Ralston Purina’s Dog of the Year in 1984, Hunter’s Famous Amos, is also buried there.)

A quick Internet search for the term “coondog” also produced some interesting results. Coondawgs.com is listed as “Your One Stop Coon Dog Source for Coon Hunting,” while Real Cajun Recipes includes a recipe for Coon-Dog Punch. We’ll leave you with the tasty concoction below: something to sip while further pondering the term “coondog.”

Coon-Dog Punch

2 gallons Hawaiian Punch

1 cup sugar

slices of banana

1 liter grain alcohol

1 orange

Leaving the rind on the orange, mix all ingredients in a large bucket or punchbowl. Stir before serving over ice, and wait for the coon-dog to bite!

Popularity: 2% [?]

by Erin Z. Bass

Today is the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. This deadly hurricane made landfall as a Category 3 the morning of August 29, 2005, near Buras, Louisiana. Almost 2,000 people died as a result, making Katrina the deadliest U.S. hurricane since 1928. Some residents of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast are still displaced after the storm and may be remembering Katrina in other locations across the country today.

For those who have moved back to New Orleans and towns like Biloxi (pictured are “steps to nowhere,” all that remain from a house located across from the beach there) and Gulfport, Mississippi, it’s been a week of remembering and rebirth. President Obama will give remarks at Xavier University this afternoon regarding the anniversary, and a commemoration and march were held in the lower Ninth Ward earlier this morning. This afternoon in Gulfport, Gov. Haley Barbour hosts a memorial event. Exhibits related to the storm were also announced this week, including The Historic New Orleans Collection’s “Katrina + 5: Documenting Disaster” on display now and the Louisiana State Museum’s “Living With Hurricanes: Katrina and Beyond,” which includes one man’s rescue boat and Fats Domino’s storm-ravaged piano, opening Oct. 26.

No matter where you are today, we ask you to take a moment and remember Katrina, the city of New Orleans and all of the people across the country who were affected by this storm. And tomorrow, August 30, the movie, “The Big Uneasy,” shows for one day only in theaters across the country. New Orleans resident Harry Shearer shares the inside story on the disaster by speaking to investigators about the cause of the levee failure in this documentary. Click here to find out if there’s a screening in your area.

Popularity: 8% [?]

We’re excited to announce our new advertising partnership with Delta Blues Iced Tea Company this afternoon! It all started when we saw their “Deep South Tea Punch” online and got in touch with founder Leslie McKinney Bass so that we could try their product and tell our readers about it. We loved what we tasted, and an article (scroll down to “Sip of Summer”) on Deep South earlier this summer resulted. Now, we’re ready to introduce an online advertising and social media campaign with Delta Blues. You can view their banner ad on our site now (refresh if what you see is our Summer Reading List ad as they are rotating) and will soon start to see messages on our Facebook and Twitter accounts about the company.

While we disclose that this is an ad campaign, we hope you’ll also see it as an opportunity to find out about, and try, a great Southern product. A native of Nashville, Bass now lives in Atlanta and her tea punch is made from her grandmother’s recipe, then infused with flavors like spearmint, peach, lemongrass and pineapple. As we said in our original article, “Like a fine wine, Delta Blues’ punch has layers of flavor, great finish and deserves to be sipped slowly with family and friends.”

Delta Blues’ three flavors of tea punch are available at Whole Foods in Nashville and Memphis, West Paces Ferry in Atlanta, Chamberlin’s Natural Food Stores in Florida and Grassland Foodland in Franklin, Tennessee. Bass also personally distributes to The Produce Place and Greenlight Market & Deli in Nashville. If Delta Blues isn’t in your state yet, you can order all three flavors for $1.99 each from Snazzy Gourmet.

Find out more at www.deltabluesicedtea.com.
Follow Delta Blues on Twitter: @DeltaBluesicedT
Like them on Facebook.

Popularity: 13% [?]

The Gulf South’s premier social media conference, Coastal Social, is coming to Baton Rouge Wednesday, September 29. A one-day event, Coastal Social is bringing some of the best social media experts, like Tom Martin, Julien Smith, Paul Chaney and Rick Burnes, to town so that you can learn more about what social media can do for you and your business. The schedule of events includes sessions on social media conversations, strategy, planning and measurement, and business success, plus a vendor fair, roundtable discussion and CEO seminar and workshop. Luncheon keynote speaker is Julien Smith, who was one of the first people on the Web to use podcasting in 2004 and co-authored the best-selling book “Trust Agents” with Chris Brogan. Coastal Social wraps up with a dinearound Baton Rouge that evening.

Want to go? Tickets are $149, and registration is available on the website. You can also enter to win a free ticket by blogging, tweeting or updating your status with 100 words or less as to why you should win. Deadline to enter the giveaway is September 1.

We hope you’ll consider joining us in attending Coastal Social. We can’t wait to learn more about what we can do here at Deep South to further our reach in social media and know that whether you’re slinging snowballs or managing a corporation, you’ll take away valuable information from Coastal Social as well!

Popularity: 14% [?]

by Erin Z. Bass

Deep South has been on a press trip in Gulf Shores and Orange Beach all weekend with the Traveling Mamas and a few other bloggers. We’ve been celebrating life along the Gulf Coast, along with the news that beaches are open and the water’s fine! We started the weekend with a tweetup at Live Bait at The Wharf on Friday night, followed by breakfast at Tacky Jack’s on Saturday morning and a full day of activities that included visits to the Alabama Gulf Coast Zoo, Waterville USA and kayaking with Alabama Kayak Adventures. The amazing meals continued throughout the weekend with lunch at famed seafood joint King Neptune’s, drinks and apps at Lulu’s, dinner at Wintzell’s Oyster House and breakfast family-style at The Hangout.

Our accommodations at Phoenix All Suites Hotel West were condo-sized with all the amenities and service of a hotel. Managed by Brett Robinson, the hotel is only one of many affordable places to stay on the island. Current “hot deals” on the realty company’s website include free tickets to Hank Williams Jr.’s Rowdy Friends Tour next month, Labor Day weekend specials and a Girls’ Getaway package starting at $171.57 per person.

But rather than telling you all about the trip, we decided to let videos and photos tell the story. You’ll see mouth-watering dishes, from oyster platters to shrimp and grits (yes, the seafood’s really safe to eat!), hear how Gulf Shores and Orange Beach have used social media to get their message out about their beaches and find out why the Bushwhacker is the drink of choice on the island (and a favorite of visiting celebrities). Most importantly, you’ll see clear water, white sandy beaches and a beach town that needs your support!

Click here to see more photos from Gulf Shores and Orange Beach.

Click here to see videos about the popularity of the Bushwhacker drink and find out how the Alabama Gulf Coast is using social media to get their message out.

Twitter List

Follow Alabama’s Beaches and some of the other great people we met on our trip!

@AlabamaBeaches

@AprilBoone

@travelinggal

@KingNeptunes

@biteandbooze

@cajun_mama

@mommymusings

@themeparkmom

@travelingmamas

@onemomsworld

@MagicCtyMom

@thehangoutal

@Kayak_Alabama

@BrettRobinson1

@ErikaLehmann

@holeinthedonut

Popularity: 25% [?]