Po' Monkey's

File:Po' Monkey's.jpg

Po' Monkey's was a juke joint in unincorporated Bolivar County, Mississippi, United States, outside of Merigold.{{cite news|author=Holt, Jerry |url=http://www.startribune.com/1513/story/524478.html |title=Juke Joint: Po' Monkey's Lounge, Merigold, Miss. |publisher=Minneapolis Star-Tribune |date=November 30, 2007 |access-date=2015-03-12 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071022112503/http://www.startribune.com/1513/story/524478.html |archive-date=October 22, 2007 }} The juke joint was founded in the early 1960s and was one of the last rural juke joints in the Mississippi Delta.Luther Brown, [http://southernspaces.org/2006/inside-poor-monkeys "Inside Poor Monkey's"], Southern Spaces, 22 June 2006. It ceased operating after the death of operator Willie "Po' Monkey" Seaberry in 2016.{{cite news |last1=Weatherly |first1=Jack |title=Po' Monkey's artifacts sold in auction as collection |url=https://msbusiness.com/2018/10/po-monkeys-artifacts-sold-in-auction-as-collection/ |work=Mississippi Business Journal |date=October 5, 2018 |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20181012062837/https://msbusiness.com/2018/10/po-monkeys-artifacts-sold-in-auction-as-collection/ |archive-date=12 October 2018}}

The shack was originally sharecroppers' quarters.{{Cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/02/us/02jukejoint.html|title=At Night, Farmer Trades His Tractor for the Blues|last=Eckholm|first=Erik|date=March 2, 2007|website=New York Times}} It is made of tin and plywood, held together by nails, staples, and wires, loosely fashioned and made by Seaberry. The low ceilings of the joint were lined with Christmas lights, naked babydolls, street signs, wrapping paper, disco balls, and dozens of stuffed-animal monkeys.{{Citation|last=airick17|title=A tour of Po' Monkey's Lounge and interview with Mr. Po' Monkey himself|date=January 15, 2013|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fISM_vELJCY |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211221/fISM_vELJCY |archive-date=2021-12-21 |url-status=live|access-date=2017-05-09}}{{cbignore}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.americanbluesscene.com/the-death-of-willie-po-monkey-seaberry-may-end-an-era/|title=The Death of Willie "Po' Monkey" Seaberry May End an Era|last=Nash|first=JD|date=July 14, 2016|work=American Blues Scene|access-date=2017-05-09|language=en-US}} The outside of the joint features a sign reading: "No Loud Music, No Dope Smoking, No Rap Music." {{Cite news|url=http://gardenandgun.com/articles/rip-po-monkey/|title=RIP Po' Monkey|date=July 18, 2016|work=Garden & Gun|access-date=2017-05-09|language=en-US}} Po' Monkey's was operated by Seaberry until his death in 2016. He also had a life estate in the property itself, meaning that he owned it during his lifetime. Upon his death, ownership of the property (but not the building's contents) reverted to the Hiter family.{{cite news |last1=Weatherly |first1=Jack |title=Fate of Po’ Monkey’s hinges on settlement of estate |url=http://msbusiness.com/2018/05/fate-of-po-monkeys-hinges-on-settlement-of-estate/ |url-status=dead |access-date=11 March 2025 |work=Mississippi Business Journal |date=31 May 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190123222542/http://msbusiness.com/2018/05/fate-of-po-monkeys-hinges-on-settlement-of-estate/ |archive-date=23 January 2019}}{{cite news |last1=Weatherly |first1=Jack |title=Po’ Monkey’s still silent a year after Seaberry’s death |url=https://msbusiness.com/2017/07/po-monkeys-still-silent-year-seaberrys-death/ |url-status=dead |access-date=11 March 2025 |work=Mississippi Business Journal |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170920154232/https://msbusiness.com/2017/07/po-monkeys-still-silent-year-seaberrys-death/ |archive-date=20 September 2017}}

Especially in its earlier years, Po' Monkey's was an incubator for the Delta Blues scene. In 1990, Birney Imes featured the club in his book, Juke Joint.{{Cite web|url=http://www.msbluestrail.org/blues-trail-markers/po-monkeys|title=Po' Monkey's - Merigold|last=Mississippi Blues Commission}}

By the 1990s, it attracted a mix of people, from college students coming from Delta State University in Cleveland, Mississippi, to fans of Blues music and the atmosphere of juke joints. In 2000, famed photographer Annie Leibovitz photographed the juke joint.{{cite news |title=Annie Leibovitz [slideshow] |url=https://www.seattlepi.com/news/slideshow/Annie-Leibovitz-6679.php |access-date=11 March 2025 |work=Seattle Post-Intelligencer |date=6 November 2003 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230323202441/https://www.seattlepi.com/news/slideshow/Annie-Leibovitz-6679.php |archive-date=23 March 2023}} During this decade, it attracted a raunchier crowd filled with provocative dancing, strippers, and $2 cans of beer.{{Cite news|url=http://www.clarionledger.com/story/magnolia/entertainment/2016/07/15/po-monkeys-death-likely-due-heart-attack/87125138/|title=Iconic Delta juke joint owner 'Po' Monkey' has died|last=Eubanks|first=Katie|date=July 15, 2016|work=Clarion-Ledger}} Seaberry was best known for his colorful suits: he would often change suits several times a night, sometimes including humorous or sexually-charged items with his suit.{{Cite news |url=http://www.clarionledger.com/story/magnolia/entertainment/2016/07/21/fate-po-monkeys-flux-seaberry-funeral-saturday/87360230/|title=Fate of Po' Monkey's in flux; Seaberry funeral Saturday|last=Threadgill|first=Jacob|date=July 21, 2016|work=Clarion-Ledger}}

In 2009, the Mississippi Blues Commission placed a historic marker at the Po Monkey's Lounge designating it as a site on the Mississippi Blues Trail for its contribution to the development of the blues (and being one of the few authentic juke joints then operating).{{cite web|url=http://www.msbluestrail.org/blues-trail-markers/po-monkeys |title=Po' Monkey's |publisher=Msbluestrail.org |access-date=2015-03-12}}{{Cite news|url=https://theawl.com/the-last-juke-joint-e941af54a2ab|title=The Last Juke Joint – The Awl|date=2016-03-08|work=The Awl|access-date=2017-05-09}} In May 2014, it was featured in Season 3, Episode 24 of Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown. In 2015, Richard Grant vividly described a visit in his book, Dispatches from Pluto: Lost and Found in the Mississippi Delta and featured a photo of the juke joint on the cover.{{cite book |last1=Grant |first1=Richard |title=Dispatches from Pluto: Lost and Found in the Mississippi Delta |date=2015 |isbn=9781476709642 |pages=152–153 |url=https://archive.org/details/dispatchesfrompl0000gran/page/152/mode/2up |access-date=11 March 2025}}{{cite web |title=Po’ Monkey’s Lounge |url=https://mississippiencyclopedia.org/entries/po-monkeys-lounge/ |website=The Mississippi Encyclopedia |publisher=Mississippi Humanities Council |access-date=11 March 2025}}

Billy Nowell, the mayor of nearby Cleveland, Mississippi at the time of Seaberry's death, called Seaberry a "positive influence" on Bolivar County. Seaberry was found dead on July 14, 2016.{{cite web|url=http://www.afro.com/willie-seaberry-owner-of-mississippis-po-monkeys-juke-joint-dies-at-75/ |title=Willie Seaberry, Owner of Mississippi's Po' Monkey's Juke Joint, Dies at 75 - Afro|date=17 July 2016 |agency=Associated Press}} Po' Monkey's ceased operating after Seaberry's death, and the contents of the building were sold at auction to Shonda Warner, a former resident of Clarksdale, Mississippi, who had frequented the joint.

Po' Monkey's

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