Discology 101
Video killed the radio star, the compact disc killed the vinyl record, downloading killed the compact disc. Vinyl, once thought to be as extinct as the passenger pigeon, is making a surprise comeback. According to Nielsen’s SoundScan, vinyl record sales have increased significantly over the past four years. In 2009, 2.5 million albums were sold…
The Sartorialist speaks
It’s a beautifully simple concept: Take photos of people on the street wearing cool stuff in cool ways. Post the photos to a blog. That’s it. That’s what Scott Schuman does with “The Sartorialist,” his influential and popular photo blog consisting almost entirely of photos he’s taken of people who he thinks look really good…
2011 Susan G. Komen Race for a Cure
April 16, 2011
Newsbriefs
Dog Days A group of dog lovers is circulating a petition requesting that the City consider converting the Nathaniel Greene Park on Bull Street between 56th St. and Columbus Avenue into an off-leash dog park. Petition circulators contend that the park is currently under-utilized and could serve as a great spot for dogs to get…
Waste management
The Georgia General Assembly’s legislative session for 2011 came to a close on Friday, wrapping up a year when politicians who were elected on platforms of job creation managed to temporarily preserve the HOPE scholarship program and pass contentious immigration reform legislation, but couldn’t get their heads around much needed tax code reform or a…
Earth Day is here
A lot has changed since the first Earth Day, which was inaugurated on April 22, 1971. From hybrid cars to curbside recycling, the push to conserve natural resources has become a proper mainstream movement rather than a niche market for hippies. It only took 41 years. Savannah has had its fair share of Earth Day…
The Conspirator, Rio, Your Highness
RIO **1/2 The color-drenched animated yarn Rio, which bursts onto the screen scene like a Starburst commercial writ large, contains an early sequence in which the film’s caged animal protagonist inadvertently bounces out the back of a moving vehicle and finds himself in strange environs. This is similar to the opening of the recent Rango,…
It ain’t ‘broke.’ So let’s fix it.
It’s become the vogue thing for politicians and the mainstream media to endlessly repeat the mantra “America is broke.” I hear it every day from some blow-dried congressional blowhard or highly paid media pundit: “America is broke.” In the South we have an old expression: If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. In this case,…
The Conspirator
Robert Redford directed The Conspirator – opening April 15 at the Regal Savannah 10 – in Chatham County over the waning months of 2009. In the Civil War drama, the Hostess City is all gussied up to look like Washington, D.C. in the year 1865, although you don’t really see a lot of Savannah -…
Short stuff
The Black Maria Film Festival, April 14 at the Trustees Theater, isn’t quite as involved as the mammoth Savannah Film Festival. Despite its brevity, however, it’s one of the city’s keystone cinematic events. Black Maria is a one-night-only screening of a handful of short experimental films, submitted from all over the world. Although there are…
Just one of those days
Police were called about an injured person. It was reported that a man had been struck in the face with a pair of pliers and was bleeding. When they arrived on the scene, officers saw the subject standing in the yard holding a towel to his chin. The victim told officers that he’d been hit…
All aboard
Music, and the visuals that often go hand-in-hand with it, is the focus of this weekend’s Savannah Bandwagon. One one-hand, it’s live bands on several stages, including a free outdoor show with Athens’ Elf Power, and on another it’s a three-day show and sale of limited-edition, music-related poster art and a design-a-thon. It’s no coincidence…
The unrest has only just begun
Congressman Paul Ryan and President Barack Obama need to learn a lesson from history: Any government that cannibalizes its children, its elderly, its working poor and middle class to support an unprecedented massive military buildup along with tax cuts to benefit the rich, eventually brings the economy and the people to their knees. Such arrogance…
The first rule of Wine Club…
One of the joys of opening a good bottle of wine is sharing it with friends. Whether the plan is to sit, sip and swap tales – or to savor the wine with a good meal – the experience is sure to be memorable. Another way to enjoy wine with others is in a wine…
Scarfin’ in Sandfly
Besides banks of big–screen TVs and an occasional pool table or two, sports bars oughta be good at one thing: Making incredible burgers. There’s no question about the integrity of the burgers at Sandfly Bar & Grill. With veteran grillman Tim Smith behind the scenes, there’s heavy duty experience going into every patty. But what…
Write field
As the Sand Gnats kick off their first series of home games this weekend with a roster of young players who may represent the future of professional baseball, Brian Lee is on a quest to understand the history of America’s pastime in Savannah. For the last three months, Lee, an Armstrong alumnus who studied history…
It ain’t ‘broke.’ Fix it.
It’s become the vogue thing for politicians and the mainstream media to endlessly repeat the mantra “America is broke.” I hear it every day from some blow–dried congressional blowhard or highly paid media pundit: “America is broke.” In the South we have an old expression: If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. In this case,…
Gettin’ SUAFy with it
Savannah is known as a town of many festivals, most of them with a fairly long pedigree. One of the more recent arrivals, however, may live up to its billing better than just about any of them. About to begin its third edition, the Savannah Urban Arts Festival over its week–long length — culminating in…
‘Boys’ in the hood
Tom Griffin’s The Boys Next Door is a slice of life. It’s just that it’s a slightly different life. Opening April 15 at Bay Street Theatre, The Boys Next Door is a bittersweet comedy about four mentally challenged men living in a small New England group home. Norman, Lucien, Barry and Arnold are functioning human…
Bleepshow: A few choice words with Lisa Lampanelli
Insult comedy is a rich tradition. Don Rickles, who’s 84, and 74–year–old Jackie Mason have been offending people – on purpose – for their entire careers. Lisa Lampanelli hasn’t been around nearly that long – she started doing standup in the early 1990s – but she’s earned her honorary title “The Queen of Mean.” Lampanelli,…
William Fitzsimmons, The Shaniqua Brown
WILLIAM FITZSIMMONS At 10 p.m. Saturday, April 16 Wormhole Bar, 2307 Bull St. $12 advance, $14 at the door With an impossibly tender voice, dreamlike melodies and complex, whispered lyrics, William Fitzsimmons – on first listen – brings to mind Sufjan Stevens, the undisputed master of the emo-acoustic genre (what my friend Gabriel calls “sad…
Mark your calendar: Alison Krauss & Union Station
None other than Robert Plant turned up in Savannah last week. During a break from his current cross-country tour with Band of Joy, the Led Zeppelin legend visited the Owens-Thomas House, explaining to those who asked that he was a history buff, just a simple tourist checking things out. Plant has been quite the outspoken…
Exhibits & openings this week
40 at 80: Memory, Continuity, New Adventures – Work by Louise Shipps inspired by Eastern Orthodox iconography. Runs through May 15. Louise Shipps Gallery at St. Paul’s, 1802 Abercorn St. at 34th St. , http://www.stpaulsavannah.org/ Ching Levy – A collection of new paintings including expressionist and abstract works exhibiting more of a Western influence than…
The lighter side of hookworm
I was recently distracted from my dust allergy woes by a Radiolab episode discussing how the noble but misunderstood hookworm might offer me some relief. Apparently the parasite has been shown to calm the immune system when certain allergens make it overenthusiastic. What’s the straight dope? -Charo Serventy, Wollongong, Australia Infecting yourself with hookworms to…
