Honoring Flannery
The names of the 20 finalists for the National Book Awards have been announced at small venues around the country before — like at City Lights Bookstore in San Francisco, for example. But the news last week that our own Flannery O’Connor Childhood Home on Charlton Street would host the big literary event this October…
Toy Story 3, Splice
TOY STORY 3 **** Threepeats may be rare in the sports world, but they’re even harder to achieve in the cinematic realm. Yet here comes Toy Story 3, bucking the odds and satisfying sky-high expectations to emerge as the perfect final chapter in a trilogy that’s guaranteed to live on for generations (to infinity and…
Another homophobic assault
Editor, Another tragic beating has occurred in the historic district, leaving a 26 year old gay man unconscious and suffering from seizures and bruises to the brain. The alleged perpetrators ran away after the attack and when apprehended told police a version of the attack that did not match witness accounts. The cowards struck the…
Marco’s Pizza, Rancho Alegre
Marco’s Pizza I love pizza. I usually make my own, experimenting with toppings, cheeses and handmade dough or convenient, ready made flatbreads. I was stoked to see a new chain pizza joint come to my neighborhood. Marco’s Pizza is a newcomer to the remodeled Habersham Village. Of course, I also anticipated the usual so–so corporate…
Of wars, forgotten and remembered
Haha! You fool! You fell victim to one of the classic blunders. The most famous is: “Never get involved in a land war in Asia.” – Vizzini (Wallace Shawn), in The Princess Bride With all the news about the Gulf oil spill and the economy, this month marks two anniversaries you might not have noticed:…
Lori’s story
It was May 3, a Monday night, Rhythm Riot’s regular gig at Bay Street Blues. The classic rock quartet was due to finish playing at midnight. Lead singer Lori Stuart had been complaining of a headache for several hours; at 11:45, after performing “Losing My Religion,” she left the stage, pale and visibly disoriented, and…
What’s Next: The play’s the thing
Coming soon to a community theater near you: Thornton Wilder’s Our Town, one of the most famous of American plays, is onstage this weekend (June 18-20) in a dinner theater production at Savannah Christian Church. Wilder’s Pulitzer Prize-winner is a sensitive portrait of small-town New England life in the early 20th Century. Dinner’s at 6…
Collective ‘Reflections’
For the fourth consecutive year, the sound design program at AWOL has tapped the creative vein running through Savannah youth. Shattered Reflections is an eclectic, 15–track collection of music, rhymes, sounds, samples and spoken word written and performed by aspiring artists between the ages of 13 and 19. Available as a digital download, Shattered Reflections…
The Wood Brothers
THE WOOD BROTHERS Savannah first met the Wood Brothers in April – they opened the Derek Trucks/Susan Tedeschi Band concert in the Johnny Mercer Theatre. That’s why the brothers are kicking off their summer club tour here. “We thought it would be a cool time to come back and re-visit some of the new fans…
Dawgs in the Gulf
If you turned on the TV recently, there’s a good chance you saw Samantha Joye, Marine Sciences professor at the University of Georgia, doing interviews, from Rachel Maddow to Good Morning America to Congress itself. With funds from a NOAA “Rapid Response Grant,” she and her research team aboard the Walton Smith found a huge…
Up close: John Brannen
It says on John Brannen’s birth certificate that he came into this world on March 19 in Savannah. That last bit’s a technicality. Brannen’s mother was based in Bluffton, S.C. at the time, and Savannah had the closest hospital. He was born here, but he never lived here. Brannen, who headlines Sunday’s “Save Nashville” concert…
Cross-pollination
To celebrate Juneteenth — a national celebration which actually marks June 18-19, 1865, when slaves were emancipated in Texas — the Ships of the Sea Museum is putting on a global block party. Savannah, Georgia, meet hip hop from Senegal, West Africa. The Gokh–Bi System (it’s pronounced Go–BEE) performs, with akonting master Sana Ndiaye, on…
Xchanging ideas
This week Savannah joins a fast-growing list of cities around the world that will host an independent TEDx event this year. TED (Technology, Entertainment and Design) is a non–profit with a mission to spread “ideas worth sharing.” Its goal is to bring together notable people from the three fields to talk about things they feel…
‘Diversity across the spectrum’
On Thursday evening, journalist and author Farai Chideya stops in Savannah to give a talk during the Jepson Center’s Juneteenth programming. Chideya, who’s written four books and contributed to numerous national publications, has been a leading voice in discussions on the evolving concept of diversity in America as well as the intersection between journalism and…
Groovy GV
I recently steered you toward some great wine bargains from Spain, but let’s not overlook Austria when shopping for a rock–star bottle of wine on a bar band budget. What makes affordable wines catch my attention is when I taste one that not only varietally correct, but also incredibly expressive of its terroir. Do you…
