LikeTheDew.com

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: 2,650 - Comments: 89

   
   

2. '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: 1,865 - Comments: 2

   
   

3. 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: 1,590 - Comments: 35

   
   

4. 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: 1,502 - Comments: 5

   
   

5. 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: 1,427 - Comments: 10

   
   

6. 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: 1,355 - Comments: 22

   
   

7. 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: 1,137 - Comments: 10

   
   

8. 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: 1,106 - Comments: 7

   
   

9. 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: 1,098 - Comments: 44

   
   

10. 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: 986 - Comments: 2

    
    

11. 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: 879 - Comments: 39

    
    

12. 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: 874 - Comments: 15

    
    

13. 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: 830 - Comments: 2

    
    

14. '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: 810 - Comments: 8

    
    

15. 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: 773 - Comments: 3

    
    

16. 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: 764 - Comments: 2

    
    

17. 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: 762 - Comments: 10

    
    

18. 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

    
    

19. 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: 683 - Comments: 4

    
    

20. 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: 675 - Comments: 10

    
    

21. '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: 627 - Comments: 10

    
    

22. 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: 620 - Comments: 2

    
    

23. 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: 607 - Comments: 5

    
    

24. 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: 595 - Comments: 19

    
    

25. 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: 593 - Comments: 1

    
    

26. 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

    
    

27. 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: 575 - Comments: 9

    
    

28. 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: 575 - Comments: 13

    
    

29. '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: 558 - Comments: 4

    
    

30. 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: 555 - Comments: 10

    
    

31. 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: 555 - Comments: 13

    
    

32. 'His Latest Flame'

    Let's pretend things had gone quite differently over the last 35 years. Let's start with Elvis Presley. It's 1975 and one of Presley's associates is suddenly seized by dignity. He sees what's wrong with Presley's life. He goes to Presley. They talk. Elvis Presley takes his associate's words to heart. The guy is right. Views: 541 - Comments: 1

    
    

33. The Beatles & Arthur Alexander: 'Anna (Go to Him)'

    If a recording act is looking for material, Florence, Alabama is a good place to start. W.C. Handy, "The Father of the Blues," was born there, as was legendary Sun Records producer Sam Phillips. Less celebrated but still significant is singer-songwriter Arthur Alexander, also a native of the northwestern Alabama town. Alexander is often... Views: 520 - Comments: 2

    
    

34. 'I Don't Want To Spoil The Party' by Rosanne Cash and by The Beatles

    Don't believe it.  Rosanne Cash could care less if she spoils the party. Her guy has not shown up to join her.  He's ditched the party.  He may have ditched her as well.  Still she remains at the party.  Just for awhile.  She has a couple of drinks but there's no fun in it.  Feeling lousy, she decides to leave, take a walk and hopefully... Views: 520 - Comments: 1

    
    

35. It's (not its) 'all right,' not 'alright'

    One day, some years ago, I was driving through Fernandina with my mom during an election period. I noticed signs along the road, "Elect So-and-so For County Commissioner," and "Vote So-and-So Tax Commissioner." I told my mom I would never vote for someone whose signs were grammatically incorrect. They should say, "Elect So-and-so County... Views: 513 - Comments: 66

    
    

36. 'Don't It Make You Want To Go Home'

    The first sounds heard in Aretha Franklin's "Chain of Fools" are subtle but striking guitar notes. The guitar in the song may have as much presence as Aretha's voice; no small feat. The guitar player? Joe South. Brought in by producer Jerry Wexler to provide a "Pop Staples" mood, South, a respected songwriter, producer and session player, set a... Views: 502 - Comments: 8

    
    

37. 'God & Wal-Mart'

    The Ozarks region was fiercely anti-chain store in the 1920s and 30s. Big companies were seen as foreign interlopers and a threat to local businesses. The goal of Ozark men was not to work in factories like those in the North, but to be their own bosses as farmers or merchants. So how is it that the Ozarks birthed the world’s biggest... Views: 498 - Comments: 7

    
    

38. Rainy Day Women #12 & 35

    Perhaps Bob Dylan didn't want to embarrass Georgia's Governor.  He and The Band would not play "Rainy Day Women" on the night of Jan. 21, 1974.

    Gov. Jimmy Carter would be in the audience that night. He and his family would be seated in the 6th row of Atlanta's Omni Coliseum. Carter had proven to be an open minded sort, one that... Views: 495 - Comments: 1

    
    

39. Paul Hemphill: Our great loss

    My favorite description of Paul Hemphill appeared in an article Doug Monroe wrote for Creative Loafing. That article now hangs in a frame on a wall at Manuel's Tavern. Paul "came into his own as a writer at the time Atlanta came into its own as a city," Doug wrote in the 2005 story. "He became a street-prowling chronicler of life in a Southern... Views: 487 - Comments: 15

    
    

40. Arlo Guthrie's Presidential Rag (Rockin' The White House, part 6)

    White House reporter Arlo Guthrie? Or is it concerned citizen Arlo Guthrie? Let's say both.

    In "Presidential Rag," released a few months before Richard Nixon's resignation as President, Guthrie does a stellar job reporting and lamenting the abuses of the Nixon White House. Though his words of anger are expressed calmly, the song is... Views: 486 - Comments: 2

    
    

41. (All Around the Water Tank) Waiting for a Train

    Riding the first real hot streak of his short life, Jimmie Rodgers hit town in October, 1928, recruited a backup band in an Atlanta speakeasy, and in two sessions the following week recorded four of the songs that would send his name around the world and into our century: “Blue Yodel No. 4,” “My Carolina Sunshine Girl,” “I’m... Views: 481 - Comments: 12

    
    

42. Hot Summer Cinema, Southern-Style

    Cicadas chirping in the quiet evening twilight.  The thwack of a screen door slamming.  The rhythmic whir of an old, iron oscillating fan.  Summer in the South.   It’s a singular sensation in the collective minds of those of us who live here, and in those from the outside looking in. During the day, temperatures rise and sweat dampens the... Views: 479 - Comments: 9

    
    

43. A Star Called Henry and 
“A Terrible Beauty Born”

    Sure, the Irish continue to save civilization. Fight, make love, write poetry. Talk about these things over pints. Tell redeeming stories. If you haven’t met Henry Smart, a street kid who rises out of Dublin’s sewers (literally) to enliven the hapless Irish Citizens Army in the 1916 Easter Rising, I urge you to track him down and introduce... Views: 474 - Comments: 0

    
    

44. 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: 469 - Comments: 9

    
    

45. U.S. History? According to North Carolina, it Doesn’t Matter

    According to officials with the North Carolina State Board of Education, the Tar Heel State’s high school children don’t need to learn about the founding of our nation or the Civil War. The Board is proposing changes to the high school history curriculum that will eliminate teaching about any historical events prior to 1877.

    Views: 464 - Comments: 6

    
    

46. "Southern Man:" Not happy rock and roll

    Anyone who has followed Neil Young's career knows him to be spontaneous, unpredictable and quick to change directions. To some degree, that has hampered him artistically as well as commercially. To a larger degree, it has made his career fascinating. Neil Young, a native of Winnipeg, first captured interest among rock fans in 1966 as a lead... Views: 460 - Comments: 3

    
    

47. 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: 458 - Comments: 16

    
    

48. 'Bad Boy:' Larry Williams and the Beatles

    The bad little kid moved into the neighborhood.  He's obsessed with rock and roll music.  He plays his records loudly.  All day and all night.  And it's not just the music that's got the neighbors up in arms.  He's not serious about his schoolwork.  He irritates the teacher and the other students. He's cruel to animals. He shoots a canary and... Views: 457 - Comments: 0

    
    

49. Andy Griffith: The Lost Episode

    Just a few years ago, a lost script for the Andy Griffith show was found. It was found at The Snappy Lunch in Mt. Airy, North Carolina, Andy Griffith's hometown. Efforts to learn more about this script have proven futile. Calls to people associated with the show were never returned. Therefore, we at LikeTheDew.com have no choice but to run the... Views: 452 - Comments: 4

    
    

50. Song of the day: 'Stand by Me'

    The song "Stand By Me" is a declaration. It offers assurance. The intended recipient of the song's message could be a friend or perhaps a lover. That distinction matters little. What really matters is the sense of commitment that's rock-solid. There's a sense of emotional peril shared by the comforter and the recipient. Deep dark loneliness is... Views: 449 - Comments: 2