Steam heat
Last Friday afternoon, as part of “Steam Days” at the Roundhouse Railroad Museum, it appeared that 23 adults and 9 children boarded a train inside the Roundhouse complex and rode to the edge of Boundary Street and back-barely a third of a mile. Appearances can be deceiving. If childhood is an attitude instead of an…
Trimming the fat
Earlier this month, the second season of Ruby debuted on the Style Network. The show follows Savannah resident Ruby Gettinger on her quest to lose weight and save her life from the health risks associated with morbid obesity. But while millions of people tune in from across the country to watch her saga unfold, there…
Lush sounds from Athens
Venice is Sinking plays music confident in its own gorgeousness. The music’s built around the interplay between backing vocalist Karolyn Troupe’s coo and swooning viola melodies and with frontman and guitarist Daniel Lawson’s breezy voice. Three years in the making, the sophomore album AZAR from the Athens band is lush, lush, lush, full to the…
A long way from England
Indie queen Holly Golightly rarely tells people she’s a professional musician. Instead, when it’s required, she’ll list her occupation as “horse trainer.” “I’ve always worked with horses in one capacity or other, on and off,” says the British-born singer/songwriter. She’s spent many years making the equine scene – breaking, training, rehabilitation, “all sorts of…
What’s Next: A couple of Boonies
A COUPLE OF BOONIES There’s a charming little town tucked into the northwestern corner of North Carolina called Boone. It’s in the Blue Ridge Mountains, and you get there after a long, kinda scary drive along constantly winding roads. Even the streets are steep. Appalachian State University is in Boone, so as you might…
Reviews: Food, Inc., Moon, Management
FOOD, INC. *** The documentary Food, Inc. is the perfect bookend movie, adaptable to many double-feature bills. When paired with Super-Size Me, it serves as the “before” shot, showing how those hamburgers came into being (so to speak), and how they’re made so tasty — and unhealthy. When paired with The Corporation (still the scariest…
Two fast, two furious
It’s a simple idea, really. Gather people together for two days, give them the genre of a film, one line of dialogue, some sort of prop and a random character, let them lose in the city of Savannah and allow creativity to flow. But this weekend, around 200 competitors in the 48 Hour Film…
About those late tax refunds…
Delayed state tax refunds add insult to injury According to Gov. Sonny Perdue’s official web site, his goal is to “put Georgia at the top of national rankings for the ‘Best-Managed State in America.’ The high standards for best-managed states parallel the Perdue principles for governing a New Georgia: effectiveness, efficiency, accountability for results, and…
No, not the Nystagmus Test
An officer was positioned on Johnny Mercer Boulevard with a radar gun, when he clocked an oncoming car travelling at 60mph in a 45mph zone. He stopped the car, and after talking with the man noticed that his eyes were bloodshot and he smelled strongly of alcohol. The officer asked if the driver had been…
Noteworthy: The Dirk Quinn Band
THE DIRK QUINN BAND Fleet-fingered Philadelphia-based guitarist Dirk Quinn could be the illegitimate son of Jeff Beck, although his fiery electric work is firmly rooted in jazz and, in the context of this four-piece band, it’s allayed with insistent, funky grooves to create a brilliantly lava-laden form of electric fusion. To put it another…
Fiddlin’ gal
Multi-instrumentalist, singer and songwriter Becky Buller is the secret weapon in an already frightfully good bluegrass band, Valerie Smith and Liberty Pike. Bandleader Smith, in fact, appears on the cover of the latest issue of Bluegrass Unlimited magazine with her young protégé. After three recordings with the full Liberty Pike lineup, the two have recently…
Off to see ‘The Wiz’
Michael Jackson’s sudden death hit the cast of The Wiz hard. “We were having rehearsal that night,” says Ellie Pyle, who’s directing the R&B musical for the City of Savannah’s Cultural Arts Theatre. “And it was actually our scarecrow who came in and gave us the news. It was a rough night for everybody.” Jackson,…
To pee or not to pee?
Hey there, Bob and Betty Theater-goer. Why not see Urinetown while you’re in town? It’s affectionately known as The Number One Musical. Actually, the full title of the Little Theatre of Savannah’s new show is Urinetown: The Musical, and yes, it’s a tune-filled comedy … about going to the bathroom. The play, written by Mark…
Three bites: Cafe 37, Middle Eastern Cuisine, Boar’s Head
Cafe 37 Chef/owner Blake Elsinghorst earned his culinary chops in classically run kitchens in France and Italy. Now he brings a remarkable palate and international influence to the dishes he’s creating at this tiny (about 24 seats) bistro at the corner of 37th and Abercorn. I just eased in for dinner recently; more on that…
Scintillating Silvaner
In my ongoing pursuit of refreshing but dry summer wines, I’m often taken by surprise. Such was the case last week when I tasted Hans Wirsching Silvaner 2007. This Franken, Germany, vineyard hails from the stable of legendary and respected importer Rudi Wiest — a frequent visitor to Savannah and the man responsible for turning…
Americans fantasize, Germans act
Two formerly well-off retired couples in Speyer, Germany, whose nest egg was largely wiped out by investments in sub-prime Florida mortgages, vented their anger by kidnapping their investment adviser, James Amburn, in June. They took him to the vacation home of one of the couples near the Austrian border, bound him like a mummy and…
Are drunk drivers more likely to survive a crash?
Almost nightly, it seems, we hear on the news that a drunk driver killed one or more people in another car but the drunk survived, sometimes without injury. A family member suggested drunks are saved because they’ve passed out and are more relaxed, but I’m skeptical. Is it just the crashes where the drunk walks…
