Where to party in the Mississippi Delta
Publicity files
Publicists like being friends with each other. There’s a sort of “in the trenches” element to publicity (whereas writing has a “front lines” mentality, slagging one another about “massive” advances that won’t get paid out anyway). A surprisingly large part of the job is trying to explain the state of the media to our clients. Media literacy starts with reading magazines, and a lot of people who want to be in magazines don’t actually read them. (I had a client, an artist, who started every call by asking to be on the cover of the New Yorker, which is a cartoon. It was a weekly call.) Clients often switch publicists if they can’t get what they want and they all want pretty much the same thing (“the cover”; “the September issue”; “print”; “6-8 pages”; “photo approval”). Publicists therefore have the same goals and the same odds (there are friendly editors and unfriendly editors, freelance writers who file and freelance writers who don’t file, staff writers who always demand exclusives and then phone it in, staff writers who don’t need exclusives and write beautiful pieces every time like clockwork).
In my career, I’ve occasionally been a hired gun. I come in and either augment the efforts of the existing team (come up with “fresh angles,” hit up my rolodex about the client, etc.) or replace them. This is how I met Savannah Engel. A client of hers was questioning her publicity efforts, and brought me on to “take a look.” I took a look. I thought the publicity was very good. Soon, both Engel and I parted ways with the client. We’ve been friends ever since. Engel does a lot of things that I don’t do (she has hoards of iPad girls and does the backbreaking work of dressing people), and we’ve collaborated quite a bit over the years when clients are looking for things we don’t specialize in. I specialize in downtown New York and in-depth profiles; she does floral-print dresses and fabulous events with famous people. (Obviously, I’ll throw an event for the right amount of money and she places profiles, but, technically speaking, we control different lanes.)
You can’t describe Savannah to a stranger without mentioning her Southern accent (and Southern hospitality). She makes me wish that New York was awash with Southerners (where are they?!). Because I am committed to pushing everyone to vacation in the United States this year, I’ve asked Savannah for recommendations in the Mississippi Delta, where she grew up. Everything she recommends is within 15-20 minutes of Greenville, Mississippi.
So, book a flight and a rental car and order a copy of a lesser Walker Percy book. “One book people don’t really know about is Lost in the Cosmos, it’s a deranged satirical self help book,” says Emmeline Clein, daughter of Nancy Lemann, the voice of the South.
I’ll let Savannah take it from here!
RESTAURANTS
Roy's Store in Chatham, Mississippi is my favorite. It's down on Lake Washington. You can even rent cabins there. It's a gas station, fishing shop, and a restaurant. Naturally there is no website for the restaurant or shop, but here’s the info for staying at the cabins. They have a wild festival called "Grab You One,” which is a snake grabbing festival. Yes, you catch snakes in the lake.
The original Doe’s Eat Place is in Greenville, Mississippi. It has a history. I grew up going every Friday, and I go every time I'm home. No menu. It looks the same as it did in 1940. James Beard award, Best steak in the world, Bill Clinton's favorite. (Hell, when I was little I watched someone give Bill a Rolex?) Tom Cruise randomly loves it and flies down just to go. This is proper delta food: steak, fried shrimp, broiled shrimp, fries and the famous Delta Hot Tamales. Truly my second home.
5 O'Clock on Deer Creek in Scott, Mississippi. Bubba runs this. It's awesome and yummy. But in the fields! (Editor’s note: Hard to find an address, but this should do it.)