I’ve had little good to say about the current Georgia legislative session, so it’s especially interesting to note that tension between Republicans generally, tension between social conservatives and economic conservatives, and tension between the Lt. Gov. and the Senate leadership…
Savannah Music Festival review (sort of): The Avett Brothers
Seven minutes after leaving the spectacular show by Bela Fleck, Zakir Hussain, and Edgar Mayer at the Lucas Theatre on the 7th night of the 2011 Savannah Music Festival, we were a few feet from the stage at The Avett…
Savannah Music Festival review: Bela Fleck, Edgar Mayer, and Zakir Hussain
“Nobody’s ever stayed for the second set before,” Bela Fleck lied, eliciting a lot of laughter from the adoring Lucas Theatre audience, after he, Edgar Mayer, Zakir Hussain took the stage after intermission. The visual of the three master musicians…
One act on the books for the 2012 Savannah Music Festival: Zakir Hussain and the Masters of Percussion
The Savannah Music Festival is generally pretty tight-lipped about its bookings until the entire lineup is unveiled late in the year, but sometimes director Rob Gibson drops names in his introductions of acts. Tonight, in his introduction to Masters of…
Savannah Music Festival review: Bela Fleck and the Marcus Roberts Trio
Bela Fleck and Marcus Roberts have been spoiling Savannah Musical Festival audiences for years now. Fleck, perhaps the world’s most important banjo player, seems to have found a second home with the SMF: 2011 marks his fifth appearance in the…
Population loss in older Savannah neighborhoods, gains in West Chatham
In last Tuesday’s City Talk column, I wrote about the increasing vacancy rates in Chatham County: According to the census in 2000, Chatham County had 99,863 housing units, with 9,818 vacant (about 9.8 percent). In 2010, the county had 119,323…
Savannah Music Festival review: Delta Guitar Slingers with Michael Burks, Lucky Peterson & Sherman Robertson
There were vicious storms and even hail blowing through the Savannah area just before 5 p.m. today, but there was still a packed house at the Morris Center for the Delta Guitar Slingers, featuring Michael Burks, Lucky Peterson, and Sherman…
Quick update on the Georgia banking crisis
Well it’s been a quiet few weeks for the FDIC. Only three banks in the entire country were closed in March, and there hasn’t been a bank in Georgia shut down since February 18th. Every week that goes by with…
Savannah Music Festival review: “African Interplay” with Ballake Sissoko & Vincent Segal and the Lionel Loueke Ensemble
The West African 21-stringed kora is one of the most extraordinary instruments I’ve ever heard. Too bad I haven’t heard it more often. To my western ears, it sounds like a mix of harp and harpsichord, maybe even banjo. The…
Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings: a review from the 2011 Savannah Music Festival
I was among the first ticket buyers for last night’s electric performance by Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings at Trustees Theater on Broughton Street, so we were seated in the front row. Well, for a minute anyway. In a rarity…
The Savannah Music Festival: watching the audience
I’m going to be making a number of posts over the next couple of weeks about the Savannah Music Festival, which begins today. I’ve got tickets for tonight’s performance of Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings — I’ll be disappointed…
About 26% of lottery ticket sales to HOPE, Pre-K — is it enough?
I have already written about the upcoming changes to Georgia’s HOPE scholarship program, and I wrote also about a failed alternative by Georgia Democrats to exclude the state’s wealthiest families from receiving scholarships. Today there’s a pretty good piece in…