Wayfaring Dispatch Archives
April in Alabama
Nothing could be more beautiful than April in Alabama and, in my case, nothing could be more exciting. I recently returned from the Alabama Studio Weekend in the
Widespread Panic In Orange Beach, Alabama
Widespread Panic On The Beach 4/19/08 Morning Folks, Last night proved a fine night. The weather here in Orange Beach, Alabama, is read more...
The Day The Music Died
The day was February 3, 1959. At approximately 12:55 AM, Buddy Holly, Richie Valens, the “Big Bopper,” and their twenty-one year old pilot boarded a small plane near Clear Lake,
Lest We Forget: Four Spirits
January 30, 2008, marked the 60th anniversary of the assassination of India’s political and spiritual leader Mahatma Gandhi. It was Gandhi whose name was most invoked
The Best of All Possible Worlds or Is There Balm in Gilead?
I live in the boonies, the hinterlands of Northern Alabama. For years, I made do with erratic reception from local television stations, and then one day satellite TV and DSL changed my life. This week, thanks to a relatively new channel called
Six Degrees of Separation
In the south we not only claim kin we also claim friends. I have learned that behind every new acquaintance there lies the possibility of finding an old friend—not to mention discovering a new one. Such was the case this week when I was working on a feature about read more...
LIghts, Camera, Action! Film Festivals and Film Debuts in the South
Late winter and spring of 2008 will see the blossoming of a host of film festivals in the South. A number of the festivals showcase original films and present cash awards to the best new films. Others bring classic, hard to find, topical, or thematic films to the read more...
White Pelicans on Elk River
White Pelicans are a rarity on Elk River. I have never seen one north of Gulf Shores, but on Christmas morning a friend down the river called to say that a dozen White Pelicans were winging our way in the midst of a flock of cormorants. I had despaired of ever sighting pelicans read more...
Music and Movie Making in Alabama
Sorry to have been incommunicado since Thanksgiving. This time I was overwhelmed by the holiday madness and computer problems (my three year old monitor died). But now all is well, and I am looking forward to an exciting 2008 on Swampland. Today I am posting a read more...
Confessions Redux
This year marks the fiftieth anniversary of Auburn’s 1957 National Championship. Not only did the Tigers go undefeated that season, but they also held Alabama scoreless in the Iron Bowl while running up an astounding forty points. Saturday, November 24, is the golden read more...
A Day In The Life of A Great American Guitarist (Marc Ford) PART THREE
A Day In the Life of A Great American Guitar Player: PART THREE Marc Ford In San Francisco 11/05/07 "Featherweight read more...
Mystery & Manners Dispatch From San Francisco
Dispatch From San Francisco 11/3/07 Notes written on a back porch facing Mt. Tamalpais, known to locals as "Mt. Tam". I arrived read more...
Tiger Rag
In the spring a young man’s fancy may turn to baseball, but in the fall in the South everyone’s fancy turns to football, and in Alabama there is only Auburn and
Mystery & Manners' Honorary Southern Artist(s) PART THREE--Tom Waits
Mystery & Manners' Honorary Southern Artist(s) PART THREE 10/31/07 "The quill from a buzzard The blood writes the word
Mystery & Manners' Honorary Southern Artist(s) PART TWO--Jerry Garcia
Mystery & Manners Honorary Southern Artist(s) Part Two 10/30/07 "I love the Dead. As far as Jerry Garcia, Jerry Garcia could walk read more...
October 27 & 28 Bridge School Benefit
21st Bridge School Benefit Hosts Various Musicians 10/27/07 In light of a
Take Me Out to the Ball Game
Wednesday night’s opening game of the 2007 World Series at Fenway Park was a heartbreaker for Colorado Rockies fans. I have always read more...
SWAMPLAND Goin' Out West...Frisco Bound...
Mystery & Manners Goin' Out West To San Francisco 10/25/07
It is Raining on the River!
I guess I rattled my rain stick enough this weekend to wake up the clouds. We In North Alabama are reveling in what the Navajos call a gentle “female” rain, and I pray it continues all week. I especially hope it rains profusely on Atlanta, Georgia, where they are having read more...
On the Road Again
Sorry I have been incommunicado lately. I am still struggling with allergies that seem to get worse rather than better. Ah, fall in North Alabama. Speaking of fall, this weekend my sister, her husband, and two of our friends made a road trip to the hills of middle Tennessee read more...
Arrivederci Roma, Ciao Athens (Alabama)
I have just returned from ten days in Italy (Venice, Florence/Tuscany, and Rome) and am way behind on my blog, so please bear with me. I am somewhat jet-lagged, and I am preparing to leave for Jackson, MS, on Wednesday to participate in the
Goin' Home: A Tribute To Fats Domino
GOIN' HOME: A TRIBUTE TO FATS DOMINO 9/26/07 Yesterday Vanguard released
More Alabama Authors: Eric Smith
Eric Smith is assistant professor of English at the University of Alabama-Huntsville where his speciality is Post Colonial Literature. Over ten years ago, Eric was a student in my classes at Athens State University. After completing his B.S. at ASU, Eric attended read more...
"When I die, the brush dies": Remembering Jimmie Lee Sudduth
Jimmie Lee Sudduth, celebrated Alabama folk artist, died Sunday, September 9, in Fayette, Alabama, at read more...
Southeast Adventure Outfitters
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Hot and Wet or Hot and Dry?
The state of Alabama made the national news on two consecutive days this week: first regarding the referendum that could have reversed the legal sale of alcohol in the city of Athens (billed as "Alabama City Mulls Return to Prohibition") and secondly for the read more...
Turtle Tracks
In the fall of 2005, my sister Peggy bought a 1985 Toyota Dolphin RV from her son in Seaside, CA, and in late October Peggy, our friend Carol C, and I flew out to California to drive the vintage RV the three thousand miles from the west coast to north Alabama.
West "by God" Virginia and The Free State of Winston
Is West Virginia really a part of the south? Jason Headley in an article entitled "A State of Confusion" pleads the case for his home state in the recent issue of Oxford read more...
Look Homeward, Angel: In Memoriam Doug Marlette
On Tuesday, July 10, Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Doug Marlette was killed in a car wreck on a rain soaked road in north Mississippi. Marlette and the driver of the truck, the theatre director at Oxford read more...
The Last Outpost of Time
7/9/07 “All that we see is but a dream within a dream.”
07-07-07
Isn't seven the most powerfully magical number? -- Tom Marvolo Riddle to Horace Slughorn Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince Whether you are superstitious, mystical, fascinated by numerology, or simply curious, you have to be just read more...
A Quiet Fourth of July
It is a strangely quiet Fourth of July on the river. Due to the devastating drought, the water level is unusually low, discouraging most boaters and skiers at read more...
Ninety is the New Forty-five
I hope each of you read the newspaper article by James Lewis of Newhouse News Service published on May 26th. Lewis wrote about four ninety-plus year old women from Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, who went out for an evening on the town. The women left the Country Meadows Retirement read more...
Uneasy Rider
Last weekend I traveled to Austin, Texas, for the 90th birthday celebration of Dr. Elva Mclin, my mentor, friend, and longtime colleague. Another former colleague and friend of the honoree accompanied me. Because neither of us had ever been to Austin before, we elected to stay in read more...
A Smoke Out In Rome
6/8/07 Old Havana Cigar Company 327 Broad Street Rome, GA 30161 706-295-0546
A Long, Hot Summer?
I don’t think it has rained in the Tennessee Valley since the day Clifton Taulbert spoke at Calhoun College and that day was merely a tiny oasis in what has become a desert of drought. I have never read more...
On The Road in Athens for Marshall Tucker at Georgia Theatre
The last time I was at The Georgia Theatre in Athens, Georgia was several years ago. We had made the hour and a half trek from Greenville to see a show by Gov’t Mule with special guest John Scofield and opener Chris read more...
On The Road at The Scott Boyer Benefit in Muscle Shoals
After a fun day with the Lopates (see my previous blog) we found ourselves at the Shoals Theatre in downtown Florence, Alabama for what promised to be a stellar all-star benefit concert. I had been looking forward to this one for quite some time, and The Mighty Field of Vision would read more...
From The Stone Pony To The Rockin’ Camel
(Toto, I Don’t Think We’re in Long Branch Any More) Tuesday, April 3rd, 2007 It was almost a given that we would drop by and visit long time friend Mitch Lopate and his lovely wife Cheryl on our way to the read more...
Looking Ahead to Merlefest
It's getting close to that time again. Time for Merlefest, the biggest and best Americana music festival of all. Every year around this time, we start getting all excited about the festival, held in Wilkesboro, North Carolina in April. The line up this year is stellar as usual.
Vince Gill, Willie Nelson, Derek Trucks, Robert Randolph and Alison Krauss To Play Eric Clapton Guitar Fest
Vince Gill, Willie Nelson, Derek Trucks, Robert Randolph and Alison Krauss will participate in the 2007 Crossroads Guitar Festival, scheduled for July 28 at Toyota Park in Chicago, hosted by Eric Clapton. This year's festival will feature a full day of musical performances with many read more...
The James Burton Guitar Festival
....Interviewing the King of the Telecaster, James Burton, ranks as a great thrill for me... James Burton's musical accomplishments outshine any other guitar player. He's played and recorded with over read more...
Levon Helm Makes a Triumphant Return to The Big Stage
NEW YORK - He beat throat cancer. Then he sang his way out of bankruptcy. And this weekend, Woodstock's Levon Helm — whose earthen voice drove old Dixie down and pulled into Nazareth — capped his remarkable comeback with a packed show at the Beacon read more...
Amoeba To Release Vintage Gram Parsons Performance(s)
3/20/07 On March 15, through invitation only, a listening party was conducted at South By Southwest to debut the Flying Burrito Brothers (with Gram Parsons) performing a classic show at the Avalon Ballroom in San Francisco in 1969.
Get Front Row Seats For Skynyrd and Hank, Jr.
STUBHUB FORGES NEW PARTNERSHIP TO PROVIDE FANS EXCLUSIVE FRONT ROW ACCESS TO LYNYRD SKYNYRD, HANK WILLIAMS JR. SPRING TOUR StubHub Designated as the “Rowdy Frynds” Tour Official Premium Ticket Provider SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. read more...
Dickey Betts, Ed King Join James Burton Guitar Festival in Louisiana
Shreveport, Louisiana- Dickey Betts and Chris Isaak are among 12 headliners announced for the
Two Benefit Concerts Scheduled For Scott Boyer
SHOALS & BIRMINGHAM BENEFIT CONCERTS SET FOR FORMER CAPRICORN ARTIST SCOTT BOYER FLORENCE, Ala. - Dates have been set in April for two benefit concerts for former Capricorn Records artist Scott Boyer who has had surgery for an read more...
J.D. Crowe & The New South Announce Spring Tour
Bluegrass Hall of Honor inductee J.D. Crowe and his band The New South are hitting the road this spring in support of their newest album, Lefty’s Old Guitar. One of the true pioneers of read more...
Road Trip to Beaufort, SC, Sports Fans!
Recently, we decided to take off, pretty much on a whim, and set sail for the shore. Jill and I had visited before, but it would be nice to take a leisurely drive and visit. I didn’t realize just how much that town has to offer until we took this unexpected road trip, read more...
Lynyrd Skynyrd, Marshall Tucker, Sister Hazel Set To Cruise in January 2008
Three Southern groups, Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Marshall Tucker Band and
Marshall Tucker Band to Headline All Star Concert with Lee Roy Parnell and Randall Bramblett
Rome, GA - The Rome Braves along with Classic Rock KZ 106 and Miller Lite announce that southern rock legends , The Marshall Tucker Band, will headline the All-Star Concert at the Forum in Rome on Monday June18th. Joining the Marshall Tucker Band will be country-blues artist Lee Roy read more...
Po Monkey's: One of the Last Great Juke Joints
Merigold, read more...
Volunteer Jam Ready to Hit the Road Again
NASHVILLE- Charlie Daniels, leader of the Charlie Daniels Band, has announced the legendary Volunteer Jam Tour will, once again, hit cities all across America. The Volunteer Jam started back in 1974 when Charlie wanted to record "Fire On The Mountain" in front of a read more...