Hall Pass, Big Mommas: Like Father Like Son
HALL PASS **1/2 It’s hard to wax philosophic about a film in which a portly guy stoned out of his gourd elects to use a golf course sand trap like so much kitty litter, so let’s just state that Hall Pass, the latest yarn from those wacky Farrelly Brothers, doesn’t merely alternate between scenes that…
The right to choose booze
Matters of economics, democracy and faith collided beneath the gold dome of the Georgia capitol last week, writing the newest chapter in the ongoing battle over the state’s Blue laws, which prohibit package sales of alcohol on Sundays. 11th District State Senator John Bulloch introduced a bill, known as SB 10, earlier this year. SB…
Promise of new port jobs is bogus
Editor, Contrary to statements in print and broadcast news coverage, officials responsible for analyzing the controversial Savannah harbor deepening do not assert that new jobs will be created by the project. Thus, public opinion about the $600 million undertaking is being driven by false assumptions that are reported as fact, compelling political support based on…
Predictions for Oscar night
What looked like a slam dunk for one picture throughout most of the awards season on a dime turned into a slam dunk for another movie. Yes, The Social Network may initially have had all the Oscar buzz, but lately, it’s been all about The King’s Speech. Will this momentum carry the British period tale…
The Grascals, Lubriphonic
THE GRASCALS At 7:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 25 Randy Wood Guitars, 1304 E. Highway 80, Bloomingdale. $30 Not often do we get to bask in the glow of the top bluegrass band in the country. Two weeks ago, the Grascals won Instrumental Group of the Year, band member Danny Roberts took Mandolin Performer of the…
When Hipsters Attack
There’s been a change visible on the streets of Savannah — tighter pants, fixed gear bicycles and an oversaturation of irony. All the telltale signs of a hipster invasion. With these gangs of coffee–fueled, cookie–cutter creatives wandering the streets, there is an increasing risk of violence against the hip and un–hip alike — a painful…
R ‘n’ R at B&D
Sometimes, you just gotta have a burger and a beer. Such was the case a recent, sunny Saturday that found me grinding ever so slowly through Southside traffic.I pulled out of the gridlock and into B&D Burgers’ Abercorn Street location. Being Saturday, the place was hopping with families and an impending birthday party. The two–location,…
Franciscan fresh
I was recently lamenting that one of my favorite refreshing wine varietals, Sauvignon Blanc, had become tiresome for me. My recent tastes have been predictable – grassy, green, citrusy. Refreshing, by all means – but the flavors from one maker to another had begun to run together. Then I tried the newest vintage, 2009, from…
Truth is stranger than fiction
A man called police to report a person with a knife. It was later determined to be a “threat to injure” call. The complainant told the officer on the scene that he had been walking home through the area of Montgomery Street and 42nd Street when he saw a white male following him. The complainant…
Mark your calendar: Kathy Griffin
No sooner had we announced the upcoming April performance by motor-mouthed comedian Lisa Lampanelli than word arrived of another big-time female comic’s appearance in town. Kathy Griffin will appear Saturday, May 28 in the Johnny Mercer Theatre. Griffin, who published a (sort of) memoir, Official Book Club Selection, in 2009, is a familiar face to…
Live onstage: A diverse trio of performances
Bridget Tunstall directs the Bay Street Theatre’s annual production of Eve Ensler’s insightful and incendiary The Vagina Monologues this weekend. Playwright Ensler mandates that 10 percent of proceeds from community productions go to her V–Day charity (“A Global Movement to End Violence Against Women and Girls Worldwide”) and that the other 90 percent reaches a…
Stopover spotlight #2
BIRDS OF AVALON There’s a specific art to creating uncompromising rock music without it coming out all sloppy and/or pedestrian and/or cheesy. Raleigh’s Birds of Avalon is a guitar-based band that blasts a psychedelic wall of sound, with elements of Hendrix, Zeppelin, the Beatles and even the Kinks peeking through the fuzzy sheen and screaming…
For Alex
His friends called him A–Town. Sometimes they just called him Schmalex. Alex Townsend was a free–spirited, fun–loving graphic design sophomore at SCAD. He was tall, long–haired and sharp–eyed, with a quick sense of humor. He played the drums, and had an unabashed love for live music and festival–style concerts. On Valentine’s Day, 2010, Alex was…
Sampling Antarctica
There’s no easy way to describe Paul Miller, aka DJ Spooky. A Renaissance man for the digital age, Spooky is a musician, a DJ, an author, an artist, and more recently, a global adventurer concerned with the consequences of climate change. On Saturday, he stops in Savannah to be part of SCAD’s deFine Art series,…
Time to bite the bullet and move on
MOST NOTEWORTHY CONVERSATIONS in Savannah take place in bars. A week or so ago I had one such talk with a gentleman who moved here from another notable Southern city, one which like ours is majority black with majority white suburbs. He described to me how about fifteen years ago his beautiful city was full…
Exhibits & openings this week
All is well (Damn right it is) – New works by local artist Eric David Wooddell. Mandalas and collages inspired by the amazing times we live in. Ghost Town Tattoo, Montgomery & Congress Sts. , Birds in Flight – An installation by Matt Hebermehl of his signature, patterned bird forms hanging in the Jepson’s atrium.…
Can you actually freeze your b@lls off?
There’s an MP3 on the ‘net right now purporting to be a “North Dakota weather alert” in which some reject from Fargo warns, “It is f’ing cold outside. Stay inside, dumbass. You will freeze your balls off.” When I was growing up in upstate Pennsylvania, my father used to declare this would be the fate…
