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50 Most Read Stories

1. Bring Back the Stewardesses

   The biggest airline in the world, Atlanta’s own Delta Airlines, is in serious trouble: a $125 million hit this quarter, reduction of system capacity by ten per cent this year, and the loss of 8,000 jobs in the past 12 months. But I know how to fix all this and, at the same time, advance western civilization: bring back the stewardesses and impose... Views: 3,057 - Comments: 89

   
   

2. Sea Island is bankrupt, again

   The principals in the Sea Island Company would probably contest that assertion, arguing that since its opening in 1928 with the Cloister Hotel as an anchor on the south end of Sea Island, Georgia, the resort on the edge of the Atlantic has always been a well-run enterprise. In a generous mood, the Scion of Sea Island, might well suggest that... Views: 2,456 - Comments: 8

   
   

3. The amazing lightning bugs of Elkmont, Tenn.

   ELKMONT, Tenn. — One spectator likened it to Aunt Melba’s Christmas lights. Another described the trek through the darkness to see the show as a Halloween for adults without candy and the annoying trips up steps to knock on doors. “Woo,” said a third. “This is SOOO cool.” This magnificent display of nature is known as... Views: 2,069 - Comments: 3

   
   

4. My Favorite Southern Trees

   I’m not just an unabashed tree hugger, I’m a tree kisser. When the mood strikes me, I’ll wrap my arms around a big white oak or sassafras or tulip poplar and plant a big wet one right on the scratchy bark. We Southern tree lovers are especially fortunate. Of 688 tree species native to the United States, one-third — 235 species — occur... Views: 2,050 - Comments: 24

   
   

5. Reasons to oppose health care reform

   B-o-r-i-n-g. Yet another debate on television about health care reform. The only thing I found interesting this time was a graphic saying 83 percent of the American people feel satisfied with their current health care coverage and 71 percent think change is needed. If that doesn't make total sense to you, all I can say is welcome to... Views: 2,003 - Comments: 35

   
   

6. 'Maggie's Farm' (Rockin' The White House, part 1)

   Five presidential administrations later than we might have thought, Bob Dylan plays The White House on Wednesday, February 10.

   It's a great honor for Dylan, albeit long overdue. A White House gig seemed most likely during the Jimmy Carter Administration (1977-81). After all, Carter mentioned Dylan's name often in his first... Views: 1,890 - Comments: 2

   
   

7. Gregg Allman:A Midnight Rider’s Long Road Back

   Gregg Allman wasn't kidding. On the last verse of "Wasted Words," from the Allman Brothers Band's "Brothers and Sisters" album, he gets the message across. "Well I ain't no saint and sure as hell ain't no savior. Every other Christmas I would practice good behavior. That was then. This is now. Don't ask me to be Mr. Clean 'cause, baby, I... Views: 1,561 - Comments: 6

   
   

8. Slow Train (Rockin' The White House, part 5)

   The nation was not at war. Disco was fading. Still, the Summer of 1979, even to White House aides, was "the worst of times."

   Unemployment was up. Gas prices were up, causing double-digit inflation. Another problem was the shortage of gas. Lines at gas stations resembled those of the '73-'74  oil embargo. A revolution in Iran... Views: 1,524 - Comments: 5

   
   

9. Hippies in Atlanta! However did they get in?

   Tales of Old Atlanta - The photo journalism of Boyd Lewis 1969-79.

   These are the photographs of a bygone time and place. Paris had the 1890s. New York City the 1940s and 50s. San Francisco of the 60s. Atlanta of the 1970s had something in common with and had something unique compared to... Views: 1,498 - Comments: 16

   
   

10. White Child, Black Maid

    I’m thirteen and sprawled on the couch at my friend Mary Ellen’s house, watching TV. A black woman in a white uniform passes me a slice of cheesecake and a fork. I reach for the plate without looking at her. Maybe I say thank you, but I doubt it. Oh, man, it's Jello no-bake cheesecake. The best kind. I wonder if I can help myself to seconds... Views: 1,486 - Comments: 10

    
    

11. John Lennon: 12/08/80

    The 4th quarter. It's as critical for retailers as it is for a basketball team. The game's on the line and some three-pointers are needed. The three-pointer equivalent for retailers is a plastic-happy customer. 'Tis the season to run up lots of debt. The plastic allows the stores to sell their goods at a torrid pace in the last few weeks of the... Views: 1,481 - Comments: 10

    
    

12. R.E.M. Climbs Richard Thompson's Wall of Death

    With the release of "Monster," one very hard-rocking album, R.E.M. staked new ground. A departure from their two previous albums, "Out Of Time" and "Automatic For The People," "Monster" debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard charts in Fall '94. "Monster" had mischievous and dark qualities; it was a strapping presentation. The album sizzled with ... Views: 1,429 - Comments: 2

    
    

13. Good Grief: Southern Funeral Food

    As a child the funerals were mysterious things. I never understood the camaraderie, the laughter and guffaws. And how on God’s earth could they eat and drink and carry on the way they did, ‘specially when somebody had died?’ I’d tiptoe among the adults, periodically bear-hugged by a distant great aunt, who’d say, (between bites of a... Views: 1,354 - Comments: 7

    
    

14. Gregg Allman & Paul McCartney: Cementing the Fan Base

    Fans of the Allman Brothers Band were up in arms. They were seriously angry. Again. Response to the ABB's recent "Win Lose Or Draw" album was not positive. The loyal fans were not disappointed; they were enraged. They knew Duane Allman would have never allowed his band to release such a halfhearted effort. Yet atonement awaited. The... Views: 1,292 - Comments: 6

    
    

15. My Hot Rollers, My Daughter, Myself

    Since seventh grade, I have indulged in the great Southern women’s ritual of forcing my hair to do things it doesn’t want to do. In Jackson, Mississippi, the trend was Farrah Fawcett, but a less care-free version of her feathered style. You hot-rolled the back and styled the front with a curling iron. Then, you got out your Aqua Net and... Views: 1,250 - Comments: 10

    
    

16. 72 Marietta — I still love you

    Friday, April 23, 2010, was one of the saddest, most spirit-withering days of my life. I had driven to the place in downtown Atlanta where I had worked faithfully, loyally, proudly for 35 years before retiring in 2005 — The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The old tan-colored 72 Marietta Street building, my safe haven for so many years, sat... Views: 1,191 - Comments: 68

    
    

17. The legendary Bill Emerson: 'Exactly how I planned it'

    Bill Emerson, a legendary writer and editor who died Tuesday at age 86, was a one-of-kind force field, a gargantuan figure of Southern theatricality. He amazed everybody who met him, as far back as when he opened Newsweek’s Atlanta bureau in 1953 and began covering a decade of what he called “riots, revolutions and everyday... Views: 1,125 - Comments: 44

    
    

18. Ray Charles pondered the despair in Beatles' song

    A man who had 12 children by 9 women may not have been lonely that often. But he could sing about loneliness. Georgia native Ray Charles could take on any subject and make it convincing. Such is the case with his 1968 version of The Beatles' "Eleanor Rigby." Eleanor Rigby was a lonely woman. She lived alone and died alone. Father McKenzie, who... Views: 1,049 - Comments: 3

    
    

19. Modern Advertising

    I am not so sure that I understand modern advertising. Back in the old days, it seemed that ads were more persuasive and less obnoxious, as if their purpose was to actually make you want to purchase the product they promoted. How many of you remember the old Hertz advertisement that featured the guy floating down through the air — already sitting... Views: 1,037 - Comments: 2

    
    

20. Trimming the Liriope

    Southern families are bound by traditions and rituals.  We all tend to do things when and how we have done them before.  And the same is true with my own kin.  Thus Thanksgiving dinner is commonly served at 2:00 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day, and the main course is turkey.  The Christmas tree goes up on the first Saturday in December, and it... Views: 950 - Comments: 4

    
    

21. Johnny Rivers: Comeback Kid

    Before Bill Clinton, there was Johnny Rivers. Talk about a comeback kid.

    As noted in a recent Southern Song Of The Day feature, Johnny Rivers, along with The Rolling Stones, was one of the many prominent artists who covered Arthur Alexander's "You Better Move On." In fact, Rivers recorded it twice, once for his '69 compilation, "A Touch... Views: 897 - Comments: 4

    
    

22. Southern to the bone, and scared witless

    Not to put too fine a point upon it, but I couldn’t be more deep-boned Southern if I had the Bonnie Blue Flag tattooed upon my yam sack. My brother and I have documented our family’s Rebel roots to three of our four matrilineal and patrilineal lines; direct ancestors having served with the Confederate Army in Louisiana and Arkansas (one lost... Views: 889 - Comments: 39

    
    

23. The People v. Leo Frank

    I was a graveside mourner at Mary Phagan’s funeral. I was on the jury that convicted Leo Frank of her murder. I was one of the good citizens of Marietta who gawked at Frank’s lifeless body dangling from a tree. I was all these people and a couple more – in different coats and hats. I was a background player, an extra, in “The... Views: 881 - Comments: 2

    
    

24. The Allman Brothers Band: There Is A Mountain....

    Gregg Allman was running late. Very late. He had been invited to a private party by Governor Jimmy Carter. Allman was certainly a special guest, but that night the guests of honor were Bob Dylan and The Band, in Atlanta for a pair of concerts at the Omni. Sadly, Allman was so late  that by the time he arrived at the Governor's Mansion, Dylan... Views: 879 - Comments: 5

    
    

25. Ralph Stanley: "I Am the Man, Thomas"

    The term "Doubting Thomas" comes to us by way of the New Testament. Thomas, one of the disciples of Jesus Christ, said he would not believe that Jesus had risen from the grave until he had real physical proof. He needed to see and feel the wounds on Jesus' hands and sides, the wounds suffered in his crucifixion. Jesus extended his hands to Thomas... Views: 830 - Comments: 3

    
    

26. Communing with Anne Frank

    The man sitting next to me and rolling his own cigarettes as he sipped a Heineken in a dimly lit bar was talking about the history of Amsterdam. He worked for a radio station, sometimes played piano in a jazz bar and had lived in the Dutch metropolis all his life. “Amsterdam was founded as a free city,” he said. “Some people who live... Views: 827 - Comments: 2

    
    

27. 'Yesterday:' When Elvis fell short

    February, 1970. The early days of Elvis Presence. That was when true fans of Elvis Presley's innate and unmatched talent started to settle and realize they'd settle for even less in the years ahead. Elvis still had the talent. The voice was still there. The swagger was still evident. He wasn't making those silly movies anymore.  He could still... Views: 815 - Comments: 8

    
    

28. 'You Are My Sunshine'

    This is a wonderful song. Its beauty is timeless. There are expressions of love, loss and yearning in "You Are My Sunshine." It's an American classic. One would think the song, first recorded in 1939 by The Pine Ridge Boys, must have been written by one of the great composers of the time, perhaps Johnny Mercer. But, no, Mercer did not write it.... Views: 802 - Comments: 10

    
    

29. Burning Down the House

    Ever since Sherman’s visit, Atlanta has been dusting itself off, cleaning itself up, tearing down the old and replacing it with the shiny new, purging itself of reminders of the past and trying to forget. One bastion of the old south - and by old, I mean unrepentant, real, gritty and raw - has resisted attempts at modernity, stared down... Views: 801 - Comments: 10

    
    

30. Three Bean Salad and Wisdom

    I decided to make three bean salad for the cooler we would take on our road trip. Otherwise, I never would have snapped those beans. Like many others, I’ve taken to calling them green beans and  serve them crisp and whole, rarely broken up and certainly never cooked to mush with a ham hock!

    So I found myself standing over the sink ... Views: 799 - Comments: 5

    
    

31. Palm Tree Paranoia

    Like Charlie Seabrook, my fellow contributor to “likethedew,” I’m a tree-kisser, too. Some of my fondest memories are of climbing the magnolias at my grandmother’s family place in Mississippi, and of the tree house my brother and I built in the spreading pecan tree in our backyard in Tuscaloosa, a tree planted by my grandfather around the... Views: 770 - Comments: 10

    
    

32. Warren Zevon: Play It All Night Long

    As "Play It All Night Long" begins, the music is all gloom and dread. An image of Robert Mitchum chasing down those kids in "Night of the Hunter" comes to mind. The scenes described in this song are not comforting either.  A surly grandfather who cannot control his bladder; a violent brother crazed by his experiences in Vietnam.  There's the... Views: 760 - Comments: 4

    
    

33. Allman Brothers Band: ‘Southbound’

    Peter Buck heard things differently. His musical preferences were not those expected of a suburban Atlanta teenager. Among his favorite bands were Iggy and the Stooges, Crazy Horse and the Velvet Underground.

    In a conversation with rock journalist Anthony DeCurtis, Buck recalled marching to his own drummer, "Living in Roswell, Georgia,... Views: 753 - Comments: 6

    
    

34. What's so great about being stupid?

    Remembering George H.W. Bush’s live speech on education to students in 1991, in which he asked a question still unanswered, "What's so great about being stupid?", school districts in Texas, South Carolina, Florida, Missouri, Wisconsin, Illinois and Minnesota, are scrambling to protect our nation’s future. Fearing the children will learn Obama... Views: 738 - Comments: 37

    
    

35. Gregg Allman: Easing the Statesboro Blues

    Gregg Allman wanted to return the favor. By chance, a man in southeast Georgia had proven helpful to Allman. Believing the man had gone above and beyond the call of duty, Allman told his new friend that if there was ever anything he could do, just let him know.

    There was something Gregg Allman could do. The new friend explained ... Views: 696 - Comments: 3

    
    

36. 'Evil Reporter Chick' Moni Basu is OK

    As her dark eyes scan across her computer screen, Moni Basu reads the words that will be among her last for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. As Basu, a petite woman in her 40s, sits at her desk in her beige flowing skirt and polka dot top, she taps her manicured fingers against the keyboard.  Her gold rings and bangles make a loud, clanking... Views: 686 - Comments: 4

    
    

37. The Optimism of Bruce Springsteen

    Much insight has been gathered from the songs of Bruce Springsteen. Many of the observations he has shared are about the America he inhabits: the country where tens of millions have listened repeatedly to his albums and stood in line to see him play at clubs, halls, theatres, arenas, and stadiums.  It's an America where Bruce Springsteen... Views: 672 - Comments: 0

    
    

38. Drinking outside the box

    Coming of age in the South before the late 1970’s, one didn’t have much use for a corkscrew. Rumored to be the perfect accompaniment to smoking pot, wines were generally of the screw off type, didn’t require a glass, were available at better gas stations almost everywhere, and did seem to go with just about anything you’d eat in your... Views: 667 - Comments: 11

    
    

39. Tribute: Good folks will miss our neighbor, Bob Gross

    I saw my neighbor Joanna on Monday at the Kroger. She was glancing down at a grocery list, mumbling to herself and weeping softly. So I knew Bob Gross had died. We spoke briefly, cried a little and exchanged hugs. She went off to look for sunflower seeds for the bereavement dish she was fixing for the family, and I came home to think and write... Views: 659 - Comments: 10

    
    

40. GrandPa! Stop That!

    Domestic Terrorism and the Sexual Revolution gone to Seed Once again a piece of information has come to my attention recently that was profoundly disturbing. According to the study in question it seems “older people are contracting higher rates of STD’s (sexually transmitted diseases) and AIDS at considerably higher rates than in the... Views: 659 - Comments: 14

    
    

41. Brother Ray, Lennon & Van the Man on Doc’s Lonely Avenue

    A song can be the result of a long and roundabout journey, one with roads off the beaten path that dart off here and careen there.

    Doc Pomus' "Lonely Avenue" indicates some hard traveling. There's much history in what inspired Pomus. There's history in the making of the song and there's history in the impact of the... Views: 649 - Comments: 2

    
    

42. The Times They Are A-Changin'

    Bob Dylan's performance at the White House on the evening of February 9 was moving and thoughtful.

    Accompanied by bassist Tony Garnier and pianist Patrick Warren, Dylan, on guitar, sang "The Times They Are A-Changin'," a superb choice for a presentation the White House called "A Celebration of Music from the Civil Rights... Views: 642 - Comments: 5

    
    

43. 'These Are Not My People'

    Joe South would like to make one of his songs disappear. That isn't uncommon. Usually the best songwriters have one, two or a few they'd rather not claim. But in Joe South's case, it's one of his best, "These Are Not My People."

    Nearly 35 years after writing the song, South explained, "When I hear it back it sounds like a guy disavowing... Views: 630 - Comments: 2

    
    

44. Bidding Farewell to Henry Grady?

    No, no, say it isn’t so. After surviving in downtown Atlanta when you could shoot a cannon down Marietta Street and not hit even a panhandler, when the streets were so barren that pedestrians could hear their voices echoing off the walls of empty office buildings, when even the original Underground failed to survive the out-migration of law... Views: 629 - Comments: 20

    
    

45. When Dylan Was A-Changin'

    Rockin' The White House, part 7

    A Wicked Messenger? No, Kevin Mattson is a fine political reporter. His recent book, "What the Heck Are You Up To, Mr. President?" is an observant and thorough account of the strange days of July '79. America was reeling from inflation, oil shortages, and a sense, as Mattson... Views: 627 - Comments: 1

    
    

46. Remembering The Goat Man

    Ches McCartney’s Incredible Life Wherever he went, he caused a stir, and he caused a commotion in Lincoln County, Georgia, as well. He looked like an Old Testament prophet with his long grey beard and tattered clothes. I doubt a more colorful character ever blessed the county with his presence. His old iron-wheeled wagon hauled a teetering... Views: 619 - Comments: 16

    
    

47. Mac Secrest: 'He was, of course, right'

    The South and Southern journalism have lost another legendary figure: A.M. "Mac" Secrest, a courageous small town newspaper publisher who stood up for decency when racial tensions in the region were at their peak. Mac Secrest's courage in fighting racial segregation was beyond dispute. He was often opinionated and frequently outspoken, and... Views: 610 - Comments: 46

    
    

48. Southern Song of the Day: 'Catfish' by Bob Dylan

    Catfish Hunter had his mind made up.  He wasn't gonna work on Finley's farm no more. The son of a Hertford, North Carolina sharecropper, James Augustus Hunter, knew all about farms. He also knew when he was getting a raw deal, whether working the land or working the mound.  Hunter claimed Charles O. Finley, owner of The Oakland Athletics,... Views: 599 - Comments: 15

    
    

49. The Allman Brothers Band Museum

    There's still a whiff of weed in the Casbah Room. It's one of a couple of rooms at The Big House that are furnished much as they were in the early '70s, when members of the Allman Brothers Band lived here and were at their musical peak. The Tudor-style house near downtown Macon, now home of The Allman Brothers Band Museum (<a... Views: 590 - Comments: 1

    
    

50. Etiquette in the age of ‘friends’

    Last week, for the first time, I defriended somebody on Facebook. This individual, who will go nameless, posts scripture online on a daily, often hourly, basis, but tossed the seventh chapter of Matthew out the window within a few hours of Ted Kennedy’s death and launched into the sort of bitter, vile spew which has poisoned public discourse... Views: 582 - Comments: 21