Last June the astonishingly cool electric blues band Hill Country Revue played the Live Wire, but they did it without founder, drummer and vocalist Cody Dickinson, who'd had a family emergency. Not long afterwards, Cody lost his father, legendary Memphis-area keyboard man Jim Dickinson.

This year’s 19th annual Tara Feis event, held Saturday, March 13, is sponsored by the City of Savannah Department of Cultural Affairs. It was “originally started because the community felt that there wasn’t an event specifically for families celebrating St. Patrick’s Day,” says Eileen Baker, director of Cultural Affairs.

The big media machine that is Walt Disney Pictures is gearing up for The Last Song, which now has an official opening date - March 31, the Wednesday before the all-important Easter Weekend.

It’s been a year since nightclub–owning novice Amy Stafford threw open the doors of the Wormhole Bar, ushering in a new era in live music for Savannah.

Professional ranter and raver Lewis Black brings his In God We Rust tour to the Johnny Mercer Theatre April 8.

Africanology Realities in American Worlds - An exhibition of large-scaled, multi-media paintings and installations by Amiri Geuka Farris. Artist talk and opening reception: 2/12, 6-8pm. SSU Social Sciences Building Gallery, http://www.savannahblackheritagefestival.com/

Africanology Realities in American Worlds - An exhibition of large-scaled, multi-media paintings and installations by Amiri Geuka Farris. Artist talk and opening reception: 2/12, 6-8pm. SSU Social Sciences Building Gallery

Africanology Realities in American Worlds - Large-scaled, multi-media paintings and installations by Amiri Geuka Farris. SSU Social Sciences Building

Accidental Abstractions III - Collection of abstract paintings from Calvin Thomas. Reception 2/21, 6-10pm. Belford's, City Market

Africanology Realities in American Worlds - An exhibition of large-scaled, multi-media paintings and installations by Amiri Geuka Farris. Artist talk and opening reception: 2/12, 6-8pm. SSU Social Sciences Building Gallery

In order to become the title character in Shirley Valentine, Grace Diaz Tootle had to memorize 55 pages of dialogue.

Author Jonathan Raab has published four works of historical fiction, including Rosa and Shadow and Light. It’s a tough row to hoe, combining real people and events (successfully) with elements of suspense, classic crime noir and the fertile prose of one’s own imagination.

When the national touring production of The Wizard of Oz arrives at the Johnny Mercer Theatre March 2, Cassie Okenka will have walked down the Yellow Brick Road something like 340 times.

There are several strong similarities between the stage version of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels and Mel Brooks’ The Producers. Both began as non–musical movies – funny stuff, in both cases, but not exactly blockbusters at the box office.

Central to the plot of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels is the relationship between its central characters, a pair of con men on the French Riviera. Lawrence Jackson and Freddie Benson are two sides of the same slick coin – they’re Quixote and Panza, Bialystock and Bloom, Abbott and Costello.

Since January, an ambitious group of young artists has created a new kind of space for art in Savannah. Part gallery, part studio, their goal is open up the art community through the spirit of collaboration. Fittingly, the new space is called the Co–Laboratory.

Like so many people who were tired of their nine to five jobs, Emily Pilloton dreamed of doing bigger things, of impacting the world in a positive way. Unlike most people, she did something about it, leaving behind a job to found Project H, a non–profit design group dedicated to re–focusing design away from materials and toward solutions for real world problems.

DJ Stout knows a thing or two about design. After spending more than a dozen years as art director for Texas Monthly, including overseeing a handful of national award winning spreads, he landed as a partner with renowned design firm Pentagram and hasn’t looked back since.

The Savannah College of Art and Design hosts two unique comics–related events this month.  The first, “Storyteller’s Weekend,” happens this weekend and features renowned comic artists Howard Chaykin and Klaus Janson.

This Friday, at an event called Desoto Strut, a group of local artists led by Rachel Raab and Matt Hebermehl will try to recapture the energy that at one time defined First Fridays in the Starland District, once a major part of Savannah's art scene.

While most people conversant with the arts have heard of the great Hermitage, Kirov and Bolshoi ballet companies of Russia, there’s another major Russian company that in some estimations is the best of all.

If you’ve seen Avatar — and we’re guessing you probably have, since it’s the most successful movie in history — you’ve seen the sinuous, sensual movements of the extraterrestrial species known as the Na’vi.

The title is The Nutcracker in Savannah, but it might as well be called The Savannah in Nutcracker. Because there’s an awful lot of Savannah in this elaborate retelling of the holiday dance classic.

It’s last call at Club Sweets. Saturday’s performance of Swingin’ at Club Sweets will be the final one for the young dance students of The Studio. Director Veronica Moretti Niebuhr says her adaptation of The Nutcracker – staged by her students for five consecutive years at the Lucas Theatre – has run its course. “I’m always looking for more,” she says. “I want more. It’s a great show, and this doesn’t mean I could never ...

It’s a safe bet that not too many young people today know what a nutcracker is (it’s a simple mechanical device for cracking the shells of nuts, to get to the meat inside, and not the sort of food–processing tool everybody has lying around).

Remember terroir, that magical combination of climate, soil type and topography that make little grapes into bottles of delicious wine?

Firefly Cafe During the brief respite from cold weather last week, I went al fresco and stopped by Troup Square’s Firefly Cafe for a quick, quiet lunch. I was tempted by the restaurant’s signature corn chowder, but opted for the Blackened Chicken Breast sandwich. The huge mound of potato salad dusted with paprika caught may attention first. It was my choice of three side dishes that also included pasta salad or a small green salad. ...

I’m as happy as a little boy on Christmas morning when a new beer brand hits town. One of the newest, Founders Brewing Co. of Grand Rapids, Mich., brings to market a line–up that generally offers bigger flavors, bigger body and bigger character. Like so many of today’s craft breweries, Founders began as a dream for two college classmates. The idea was hatched in 1990, but it was not until 1997 that Founders launched as ...

The hilly country not too far north of Verona is home to one of my favorite everyday wines: Valpolicella. This pretty wine–next–door is made entirely, or predominately, from the Corvina grape. It doesn’t put on airs, and is comparable to Beaujolais or Côtes du Rhône in France – unpretentious regional table wines.

Leoci’s Trattoria I kept waiting for the crowd to subside at Leoci’s before highlighting my meal there – but there seems to be no let up in sight! This Sicilian–born chef has fired up his wood oven and single handedly drawn a crowd to this typically quiet stretch of Abercorn Street. The breads from the oven are fresh, hot and salt–crusted. Mussels are sweet and smoky; pizzas are rustic and infused with the taste of ...

Self–discovery is the key to contentment, Bertice Berry believes. And although it’s a bumpy road, it’s one we all must travel if we are to understand both ourselves and our world.

" Poetry should teach you to trust your inner self" -Gordon Osing Gordon Osing, a writer of 13 published works of poetry - although “it’s too vain to count,” he says - was in Savannah last week to conduct a reading in association with the Poetry Society of Georgia and the Telfair Museum of Art. Osing explains his involvement with the Poetry Society and how he was selected to read: “At the Sun Coast Writer’s ...

Among the list of accomplished local and national authors appearing at the Children's Book Festival this week, one of the most notable is Laura Numeroff, who turned a lifelong passion for reading into a successful career that has spanned decades, and included beloved titles like If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, What Mommies Do Best, and Dogs Don't Wear Sneakers. We talked with Numeroff by phone from her home in Los Angeles about her ...

The sixth annual Savannah Children's Book Festival kicks off on Saturday, and as with years past, will offer up something for the young and the young at heart, bringing a wide array of national and regional talent to spend a day in Forsyth Park.

Already a successful comedian who has appeared on Comedy Central's Premium Blend and the Today Show, as well as a laundry list of high profile festivals and clubs, Eddie Sarfaty was bitten by the writing bug after having a short story published in an anthology in 2003 titled When I Knew.

In case you're worrying about what you're going to give that literary lion in your life for Christmas, worry no more. Here are our reviews of some recent local releases, most of which you can find in local bookstores.