HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

SOUNDS: My Morning Jacket @ MSG 12/31

If I wasn't going to be in Nashville for New Year's I'd be getting lucky with these Kentucky's. Time Out NY says: My Morning Jacket might not play sophisticated rock, but they’re easily one of the most vigorous and magical bands performing today. To mark the drama of this gig (New Year’s at MSG? Is there any greater honor for a band?), the Jacket asks that you show them some high style with black-tie attire. The dress-up thing might seem an odd match for a quasi jam band, but then again, when it comes to partying, My Morning Jacket always goes all the way.

When: Dec 31 9pm @ Madison Square Garden (tickets)

SCENE/SOUNDS: Auld Twang Syne (12/31 in BKLYN)

Brooklyn Country Music (the folks behind the Kings County Opry, CasHank Hootenanny Jamboree, Brooklyn Winter Hoedown, Johnny Cash Birthday Bash, & The Brooklyn Country Music Festival) are, of course, kickin' it country style this New Year's Eve and promising "the sweatiest night of twang ever."


A Brooklyn Country New Year's Eve

Kicks off @ 8PM on December 31, 2008 at

Freddy's Backroom

485 Dean St. (@ 6th Ave.)

Brooklyn, NY

BOOK/EAT: White Trash Cooking

I somehow ended up recently with the "Winter 2006" issue of The Oxford American in my mailbox. I'm a regular subscriber of the mag and a big fan, but Winter 2006 2 years too late??

In the issue though, there is a long sort of blowhardish intellectualization about Ernest Mickler's "controversial" cookbook White Trash Cooking. The essay goes on and on drawing similarities to various other works and authors - Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, Agee/Evans, Nora Neal Hurston, and others. I guess seeing some great democracy in Mickler's book in its ability to preserve and share a local culture, and document folklore.

In addition and/or aside from of all that, it seems like a fun book and people like it. The Amazon.com product description points out that: "This is not a joke book or a parody. This is a warmly written, humorous, and quite serious cookbook filled with delightful traditional and unusual recipes. It includes wonderful photographs by the author of people and places and food all connected to his fondness and memory of growing up in rural and small town Mississippi. You may not be tempted to try every single recipe in this book, but you won't be able to resist trying many of them!"

And a reader review raves: "I first bought this book years ago, when it first came out-and itshows: the biscuit page has tea stains all over it-so does the potato-chip sandwich! The latter is worth a try, albeit a tad salty, but it IS delish. You absolutely cannot fail to make good biscuits with their recipe, it is simple, basic, and wonderful. What they do with food is real simple, and the low-priced version of "peasant food." It is worth it for the pictures in the center alone, it doesn't put down white trash, it celebrates 'em! Darn fine cooks, too. Really delicious summer produce recipes, and the tomato sandwich idea is one anyone can relish. This book occupies a proud, and well-used, pride of place in my cookbook collection. Unlike snotty cookbooks where they look down on the reader, presupposing a well-laden pantry groaning with esoterica- this is REAL FOOD, REAL SIMPLE. A tribute to all the white trash who built this country, and really tasty, too. Y'all try it some, hear?"

Seems like White Trash Cooking is a must own for anyone who, like me, has a loose resolve to learn to cook in 2009. Yum!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

BOOK: The Wettest County In The World

From the John C. and Olive Campell Collection Southern Historical Collection, University of North Carolina

I went hunting for moonshine once. Tooling around the backroads of southeast Alabama, with bright splashes of sunlight playing peekaboo from beyond the tippy tops of tall pine trees. We zoomed past the spot where the glittering sign once stood for the Big Daddy Club, a makeshift juke joint set up like a tent revival in the open space of a dirt yard in front of someone's trailer home. We ate lunch a bit earlier at a meat n' three in Hurtsboro and went to visit with some outsider artists in their humble and tidy unmarked homes. Yes yes all interesting stuff but we were looking for moonshine so kept on rolling along until we got to the rickety shack of an old bluesman....but his still had run dry.

Reading about Matt Bondurant's new book, The Wettest County In The World, got me remembering my almost brush with white lightnin'. But Bondurant's tale, albeit "a novel based on a true story," is the real deal. Sounds like some good holiday reading to me!

From Scribner: Based on the true story of Matt Bondurant's grandfather and two granduncles, The Wettest County in the World is a gripping tale of brotherhood, greed, and murder. The Bondurant Boys were a notorious gang of roughnecks and moonshiners who ran liquor through Franklin County, Virginia, during Prohibition and in the years after. Forrest, the eldest brother, is fierce, mythically indestructible, and the consummate businessman; Howard, the middle brother, is an ox of a man besieged by the horrors he witnessed in the Great War; and Jack, the youngest, has a taste for luxury and a dream to get out of Franklin. Driven and haunted, these men forge a business, fall in love, and struggle to stay afloat as they watch their family die, their father's business fail, and the world they know crumble beneath the Depression and drought.

White mule, white lightning, firewater, popskull, wild cat, stump whiskey, or rotgut -- whatever you called it, Franklin County was awash in moonshine in the 1920s. When Sherwood Anderson, the journalist and author of Winesburg, Ohio, was covering a story there, he christened it the "wettest county in the world." In the twilight of his career, Anderson finds himself driving along dusty red roads trying to find the Bondurant brothers, piece together the clues linking them to "The Great Franklin County Moonshine Conspiracy," and break open the silence that shrouds Franklin County.

In vivid, muscular prose, Matt Bondurant brings these men -- their dark deeds, their long silences, their deep desires -- to life. His understanding of the passion, violence, and desperation at the center of this world is both heartbreaking and magnificent.

STAGE: Home @ Signature Theatre in NYC

There's no place like home for the holidays but displaced North Carolinians can get a little taste on 42nd Street as the Samm-Art Williams play, Home, is currently in production at the Signature Theatre Company in NYC until January 11, 2009.

Time Out NY says: Fairy tales aren’t usually aimed at grown-ups, but Home is. The second offering of Signature Theatre Company’s season devoted to the works of the Negro Ensemble Company, Samm-Art Williams’s 1979 Tony-nominated play about the trials and tribulations of a black everyman has its stale points—his wide-eyed awe at discovering his small North Carolina hometown has become integrated seems a bit quaint. But its optimistic where-the-heart-is message is just as moving as it must have been three decades ago.

In evocatively poetic dialogue, Cephus (Carroll) shares his life story. All this God-fearing farmer (who does like to gamble) wants to do is work the land and marry his sweetheart, Patti Mae (LaVoy). But once his uncle and grandpa die, his girlfriend leaves him for college and another man, and he’s thrown in jail for refusing to fight in Vietnam, Cephus starts to wonder if God is “on vacation in Miami.” Yet he never completely turns his back on his Maker, and his faith is ultimately rewarded.

If that description sparks cliché-induced eye rolls, be assured that as it unfolds, Home is funny, poignant and, yes, uplifting. Carroll is totally engaging as the plucky protagonist, and he’s matched by LaVoy and Bonner, who take on multiple roles with gusto. In these gloomy times, it’s refreshing to see a show that insists that no matter how bad things get, there’s always a chance of a happy ending.

SCENE: Boycott Alabama Now?

Put up your dukes Dixie! The mitten state has taken off its gloves and at least one former GM auto worker is pointing the finger your way calling for a statewide ban of Alabama.

Boycott Alabama Now “has been developed by a grassroots number of true Americans who have had enough with uninformed politicians who are not helping the domestic auto industry, in this case Senator Richard Shelby of Alabama. Members of our website hold no grudges against all of the hard working people who live in the wonderful state of Alabama. However, it is time to fight back for America and the only way to do it is with our wallets. Our objective is to demonstrate to the senator what happens when a part of America is not supported; therefore we are launching a nationwide boycott of Alabama…And to the great people of Alabama, please keep in mind; we didn’t start this mess, our government did.”

Alabama’s Richard Shelby is certainly not the only Republican senator opposed to the 14 billion dollar governmental bailout of Detroit automakers so…I don’t really get it.

Discuss?

* * * * *

In completely unrelated news, except that Mississippi is next door to Alabama, former Senate Majority Leader and controversial Mississippi senator Trent Lott is speaking in NYC on Monday, December 15 @ 6:45PM. For location info, visit HudsonUnionSociety.com.

STAGE: Dividing The Estate

Texas playwrite Horton Foote has a good old family drama brewing this holiday season at the Booth Theatre on Broadway:

The eternally spry Horton Foote does a nimble Texas two-step in Dividing the Estate. Half the play is a leisurely, courtly, astutely observed portrait of cultural and generational change; the other half is a quick, lively comedy of manners and manors in decline. (source)

"Foote, whose upbringing in a small Texas town during the Depression shaped his enduring world view, is certainly not oblivious to the cruel things people can do to one another. He is keenly aware of the failures and frustrations that are the norms in life, and of the sheer pettiness that can be the only revenge of unhappy people. But in a world that more often than not can be cold, cruel and unforgiving, Foote also shows us how human beings can prevail in little acts of kindness, huge efforts of determination and will, and the magical healing powers (and coincident pain) of memory."--Hedy Weiss, Chicago Sun-Times

In the dark comedy Dividing the Estate, matriarch Stella Gordon is dead set against the parceling out of her clan's land despite the financial woes brought on by the oil bust of the 1980s. In the course of the play, the power of petty self-interest and long-held resentments makes even painful compromise an elusive goal. Widely acclaimed in a 2007 production at Primary Stages, the play will run at the Booth Theatre on Broadway until January 4, 2009. (source)

HOME IS WHERE THE ART IS: Sister Louisa

A stream of consciousness e-mail conversation with artist Grant Henry and his “altar” ego Sister Louisa: my gallery Sister Louisa's Art Gallery in the Church of The Living Room And Ping Pong Emporium is in my home in a loft in downtown atlanta...i live in a work/live loft spacewhich caters to the art community by offering moderate income housing to artists,as opposed to single mothers raising litters of kids. it is what it is.

i bleed sister Louisa because that's what i do to process my former relationshipto societal institutions such as religion, politics, family, and community.

i love playing with the symbols of what we all are taught to believe, without necessarily attaching myself to any of those beliefs.

i love the south. i love when one's faith is more sophisticated than the believer herself.i love injecting humor into serious, forbidden places.

foremost: i believe that god's love for me IS GREATERthan anything i can do, or say, to fuck that up!to diminish that sense of unconditionality.

i never apologize for my art. it's a balance.

i'm an artist who doesn't paint (i use found paintings/boards/windows), and a writer who doesn't write (i use as few words as possible), and i don't pursue a gallery because i'm the ultimate anti-artist, i don't do my art to sell my art (however quickly it DOES fly off my walls), i do it to process my feelings, process world events, (i'm working on the VIRGIN SARAH PALIN, and jesus peering across the water saying: I CAN SEE RUSSIA FROM HERE!)

i can't be so intentional as to be part of a DIY MOVEMENT, i just do it myself. i'm not a joiner.

i put SISTER LOUISA pieces on my website, i put SISTER LOUISA pieces on my facebook and myspace pages, i donate SISTER LOUISA art about 20 times a year to anyone who needs it, and i participate in shows if i'm asked.

we have monthly creative writing seminars in my space...going with the flow gets me where i'm going. i'm fortunate to have a local writer who writes about me, grant henry, and about my art, sister louisa, in newspapers, magazines, and books to have gotten some exposure for SISTER LOUISA.

people crave content, yearn for the truth, and want to say things they aren't "supposed to say", so sister louisa provides the levity and courage to face people's shit.

as far as galleries go? Hmmmmmmm…i've never pursued a gallery, i am fortunate to have a huge in home gallery, in the center of atlanta, in a space that give me ample exposure.

i price my pieces based on biblical numbers, not profit.

$33 for a small piece. $66.6 for a little bigger piece.$133.00 for an even bigger piece. $166.60........$266.60........not for religious reasons, but for giggles.

laura dern (actress) has pieces. tammy faye bakker (fabulous religious nutcase) has(had) a piece. ben harper (musician) has a piece. kate pierson (b52's) has several pieces. fred schneider (b52's) has several pieces. david arquette (actor) has a grant trucker hat. anne kristoff (blogger to the arts) needs one.

i've done several art cars and also an art house.......put an ad on the wall of the coffee shop with the art car on it stating: CRACK CAR FOR SALE: $80,000.00 (INCLUDES CRACK HOUSE)

my space has a last supper table complete with a jesus chair and 12 disciple chairs,church pews, a pulpit, revival lights, and real church chandeliers, and, of course,the ping pong table:

SISTER LOUISA'S ART GALLERY IN THE CHURCH OF THE LIVING ROOM AND PING PONG EMPORIUM...

Come On In, Precious....

Sister Louisa will be serving up some Spiritual Sangria:
December 6th & 7th, 2008 at
The 13th Annual Telephone Factory Art Show

828 Ralph McGill Boulevard NE, Loft 202
Atlanta, Georgia 30306

FOLKS: Recipe For Washing Clothes

Knowing that I am recently enfianced to a fine southern gentleman, my good friend and historical folklorian Bobbye Wade of Dora, AL has bestowed some wifely instruction upon me - A Recipe For Washing Clothes. And "Yes. It is for real Yankee girl."

Years ago an Alabama grandmother gave the new bride the following recipe. (This is an exact copy as written and found in an old scrapbook -with spelling errors and all):

WASHING CLOTHES

Build fire in backyard to heat kettle of rain water. Set tubs so smoke won’t blow in eyes if wind is pert. Shave one hole cake of lie soap in boilin water.

Sort things, make 3 piles1 pile white,1 pile colored,1 pile work britches and rags.
To make starch, stir flour in cool water to smooth, then thin down withboiling water.

Take white things, rub dirty spots on board, scrub hard, and boil, then rub colored don't boil just wrench and starch.

Take things out of kettle with broom stick handle, then wrench, and starch.

Hang old rags on fence.

Spread tea towels on grass.

Pore wrench water in flower bed. Scrub porch with hot soapy water. Turn tubs upside down.

Go put on clean dress, smooth hair with hair combs. Brew cup of tea, sit and rock a spell and count your blessings.

(For you non-southerners - wrench means rinse.)

Bobbye went onto to explain: That was true in this area and other rural areas in the South until the early 1940s. You have a lot to learn if you plan to stay in the South very long. I think you will be learning a new language.

With the advent of T. V., the Scotch-Irish language is receding into the background and will soon be gone forever. The southern mountain language, Appalachian, is an almost perfect English of England in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and early nineteenth century. Remember they have been isolated for over 200 years until the 20th century......radio and then T. V.came along and the language is rapidly changing.

R.I.P.: Odetta

From Bham Terminal: The Voice of the Civil Rights Era, Odetta Gordon, will not get the chance to perform at President-elect Barack Obama’s Inauguration as she and others had hoped. The Birmingham, AL born singer/songwriter passed away last night at the age of 77, a result of heart disease according to her agent and numerous reports, including this one at nytimes.com (subscription may be required). They also have an extended Last Word interview with the folk music icon currently available on their website.

GOBBLE GOBBLE!!

We're off somewhere stuffing our faces with turkey, dressing, pumpkin pie and hopefully some of that green bean casserole with the little onions sprinkled on top! Have a great Thanksgiving and we'll see you on Monday...

EAT: In Florida, we eat gator on Thanksgiving...

Photo credit Esthr/Flickr

“In Florida, we eat gator on Thanksgiving...and we put Tabasco on everything. Well now, we've got the pit dug out behind the FSU English building, in prep to roast this year's gator catch. On Tuesday, all the orange grove children get a pocket knife, and whoever comes home first with a full grown alligator wins, and that's the gator we roast. Whoever doesn't come back, doesn't win! Sometimes the other children get eaten by the alligators, but that's okay, it's just nature's way. We have very tough children in Florida, and plenty more where that came from.”

The folks at the Southeast Review got jokes. I think…?

Florida is one of those states – like Texas, Kentucky and even Virginia – that folks will get into a knock down drag out battle about whether or not it’s “The South.” But, makes no difference. It’s like what Jimmy Lerner wrote in his prison memoir You Got Nothing Coming: “I don’t care if he’s telling me the truth or not as long a he can bring a colorful narrative to the table.”

So with Thanksgiving fast approaching, a little Florida flava’s been stirred into the Southernist pot. Eat up!

The Southeast Review, established in 1979 as Sundog, is a national literary magazine housed in the English department at Florida State University and is edited and managed by its graduate students and a faculty consulting editor. The mission of The Southeast Review is to present emerging writers on the same stage as well-established ones. In each semi-annual issue, they publish literary fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, interviews, book reviews, and art. With nearly sixty members on its editorial staff who hail from throughout the country and the world, SER strives to publish work that is representative of its staff’s diverse interests and aesthetics, and it celebrates the eclectic mix this produces.

SCOOP/EAT: Orangeburg, SC by Four Moons Chef Charles Zeran and Pastry Chef Colleen Zeran

Four Moons restaurant Chef Charles Zeran and Pastry Chef Colleen Zeran share some of what they love in Orangeburg, SC, as well as their version of one of the South's most talked about treats, RC Cola and a Moon Pie:

ART: Leo Twiggs’ paintings are done in a unique, innovative batik technique that he developed after several years of experimenting with the traditional medium. He has had over 60 one-man shows and his work has received international recognition, with exhibits at the Studio Museum and the American Crafts Museum in New York and in U. S. Embassies in Rome, Dakar and Togoland among others. His work has been widely published in art textbooks and featured in several television documentaries. In 2002, he was selected to design an ornament for the White House Christmas tree. (source)

A native of St. Stephen, Twiggs received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Claflin University and later studied at the Arts Institute of Chicago. He earned a masters degree from New York University, where he studied under famed black painter and muralist Hale Woodruff. Twiggs was the first black individual to receive a doctorate in art education from the University of Georgia. At South Carolina State University, together with then-president Dr. M. Maceo Nance, Twiggs developed the Stanback Museum and established the university's first art department. The Stanback Museum has one of the largest exhibit spaces among Historically Black Colleges and Universities and is the only museum connected to a facility.

ROSES: If you enjoy the sight and scent of thousands of roses, grab a picnic lunch from Four Moons and head over to Edisto Memorial Gardens. The site is also host to the annual Festival of Roses each spring. While at the park, you can stroll the boardwalk that takes you through the Horne Wetlands Park adjacent to the banks of the Edisto River. The Edisto is a nationally recognized pristine black water river that flows from the midlands of SC to the Atlantic.

MUSEUM: The Stanback Museum at SC State University is a highly respected museum with a great space for exhibitions of the works of nationally recognized artists. The planetarium features seasonal shows and programs about night skies that can be seen in the Orangeburg area. The museum also features films from the Southern Circuit Film Series, a tour of independent films from independent filmmakers. Currently on exhibit, Journey from Africa to Gullah.

FOUR MOONS “MOON PIES”

CHOCOLATE CAKE
1 cup butter, softened
2 ¼ cups sugar
1 cup cocoa powder, euro dark
2 tsp. baking powder
½ Tbsp. baking soda
2 ¾ cups all purpose flour
1 Tbsp. salt
3 eggs, large
2 cups hot water

Combine softened butter and sugar together in mixing bowl with paddle attachment. Cream until light yellow and slowly add eggs, scraping well. Alternate the dry ingredients with the water until well combined. Line sheet or two half sheet pans with parchment, pour mixture evenly and bake at 350 until tester comes out clean in center.

GRAHAM CRACKERS
8 oz. whole wheat flour
4 oz. all purpose flour
½ tsp. salt
½ tsp. baking soda
1 Tbsp. cold water
2 oz. unsalted butter, softened
3 ½ oz. sugar
4 ¾ oz. honey
1 ½ oz. dark molasses
1 egg, large

Combine wheat flour, all purpose flour and salt, set aside. Cream together butter and sugar until light and pale in color. Add the honey and molasses and the egg, scrape well. In small bowl combine water and baking soda. Then add to creamed mixture. Add half of the dry ingredients until combined then add the remaining. Form dough into a disk and refrigerate overnight. Roll out dough into 1/8” thick and place on parchment lined sheet pans. Bake at 325 until lightly golden brown.

VANILLA BANANA FILLING
2 cups mascarpone cheese
1 cup heavy cream
½ cup sugar
Vanilla Bean, scraped
3 ripe bananas
Banana Liqueur to taste

In mixing bowl with whip attachment mix all ingredients together until well combined and thickened.

ASSEMBLY
Place one layer of chocolate cake on work surface. Take one pan of graham cracker and brush with banana liqueur place this side towards chocolate cake. Brush the top of the graham cracker with more banana liqueur. Press the two layers firmly together. Spread the vanilla banana filling evenly over the graham layer. Continue with another layer of graham brushed with banana liqueur and top with chocolate cake. Wrap tightly and place it freezer until almost frozen, then cut into a moon shape.

Melt equal parts bittersweet chocolate and cocoa butter and place in a Wagner paint sprayer. (Or if you prefer to use your paint sprayer for paint, you can arrange the Moon Pies on a wire rack set into a parchment lined sheet pan and pour the chocolate coating over the Moon Pies). Coat moon pie evenly and allow to dry before coating with gold dust.

TO SERVE
To make the RC Cola Float: Using a small glass (juice sized glass), add a spoonful of rich vanilla ice cream to the glass and pour RC Cola over it. Set glass on a plate dusted with Cocoa powder. Place the Moon Pie adjacent to it and garnish with a dollop of whipped cream and sprig of mint or seasonal flower.

SCENE/ART: Outsider Art Auction (online 11/22)

My friend Jim once told me about a bear of a man living in the mountains of Tennessee who holds public auctions of outsider art. When pressed to regale me with one of his tall tales though, Jim merely points out that “Kimball Sterling is a big, big man with big, big thoughts and even bigger shoes. I saw him clog dance once...you do NOT want to be in the way.”

Sterling has gathered together all of the Southern Outsider “bigwigs” plus some of the "Wildest" art in one location that you will ever find for the auction he is holding in person and online tomorrow (11/22) @ 11AM (EST). The lot includes works by Mose Tolliver, Howard Finster, Jimmy Lee Sudduth, R.A. Miller, Purvis Young, Charlie Lucas, and many others, as well as a very large collection of Southern unknown vintage folk art boxes, lamps, rugs, quilts and more.

Kimball Sterling is considered one of the top three cane auctioneers in the world. Sterling, Inc. came up in the fields of antique cars, jukeboxes and memorabilia, and is now considered the premier auction house in America for Outsider, Folk and Appalachian art.

Unrelated but incidentally, the keepers of Finster’s flame held a grand opening of the Paradise Gardens Gallery on November 8 and are currently looking for volunteers and donations to help save World's Folk Art Chapel.

SOUNDS/SCENE: Gringolandia Closes with a New Orleans brass bang

photo credit: One Two One Three/Flickr

New Orleans post-apocalyptic brass sensation Why Are We Building Such A Big Ship sails into Manahttan tomorrow to help the magnificent Honey-Space close Mickey Western’s fantabulous Gringolandia installation.

Friday Saloon 11/21 @ 8PM til late
Closing party with live performances by Mickey Western, New Orleans brass sensation Why Are We Building Such A Big Ship, and Hurray For The Riff

Why Are We Building Such A Big Ship, which sounds like “singing yourself to sleep, and dancing yourself to alacrity,” floats over to Brooklyn on Saturday (11/22) to tape a performance at The Fort.

From NY Art Beat: Gringolandia is an installation, saloon, and full-sensory performance space created by Mickey Western. The title of the exhibition references America, while indicating, simultaneously, a fundamentally outsider perspective. The conceptual framework for the exhibition is built upon the mythos of the Universal Outlaw- that perennial character in American culture who exists on the margins of mainstream, polite society: the poets, preachers and vigilantes whose moral codes have been determined by an internal value system free from the laws of the state.

During the course of the exhibition Mickey will inhabit the space and interact with visitors passing through. Handheld audio tours of the exhibition will be available. A full calendar of events, readings and performances will be released with the first edition of the Chelsea Gonzo, and posted on the gallery's website whenever we recover from the opening party, with additions to the calendar coming in all the time. Regular evening programming will include a Thursday Saloon Salon, and a Saturday Speakeasy Saloon.

SCENE: Aberdeen!!

My good friend, and fabulous make-up artist to the stars, Billy B has returned home to Aberdeen, MS to buy and restore a bunch of amazing historic bungalows and manions to their former Southern Belle glory.

Fellow Mississippian and renowned celeb hairstylist Syd Curry has followed suit and the two are set to bring big city beauty to this sleepy enclave when they open their flagship store, Billy & Syd, in downtown Aberdeen in December.

The joint venture is located at 100 W Canal Street, steps away from historic downtown Aberdeen, Mississippi in a charming turn-of-the-century, converted Victorian cottage. The salon will feature the full line of billybBEAUTY products as well as offering a full range of hair salon services from the Syd Curry Salon. This shared space will also feature many iconic images and media from the accomplished careers of both Billy and Syd.

Syd and Billy have collaborated professionally for the last 20 years, working together on some of the most high profile celebrities of our time. It was Syd and Billy that created the look for Mariah Carey’s “wedding of the Decade” to Tommy Mottola, as well as in her music videos “Dream Lover” and “Hero.” Today, they are both “Celebrity Stylemakers” on the popular website WeLoveBeauty.com.

Billy and Syd currently reside part-time in Aberdeen, Mississippi, where both are restoring homes on the National Register of Historic Places. When not in Aberdeen, they continue to work as freelance artists in New York City and Hollywood, California.

SCREEN/SOUNDS/SPORT: Southern-ish Events in NYC 11/14 – 11/18

Lots out southern-ish things to do, hear and see this weekend and spilling into next week:

NOVEMBER 14 – 20 @ Film Forum: My good friend Harrod has a dad who has been touted by the NY Times as “one of our most original filmmakers…A master of movies about the American idiom.” Many of his documentaries were shot in, around or about Southern stuff: the blues, a Texas sharecropper, Louisiana Cajuns, cultural roots, old time tales, an Appalachian fiddler, backwoods characters, good whisky, native folkways. Film Forum is running a retrospective of Les Blank films 11/14 – 20.

SATURDAY 11/15 @ 3:30PM: The South Carolina Alumni Club of NYC invites you to watch the Gamecocks peck the snout outta the Gators…or something like that. Anyway, they’ll all be watching the game at Cooper Door Tavern.

SATURDAY 11/15: Oxford, MS Americana band Blue Mountain has reunited and hits NYC for 2 shows today: 7PM @ Lakeside Lounge in the East Village and 11:45PM @ Hank’s Saloon in Bklyn.

SUNDAY 11/16 @ 12noon: Allen Toussaint: New Orleans Benefit Brunch @ Joe’s Pub. I don’t see this listed on the Joe’s Pub site but Time Out NY says it’s on & poppin’.

SUNDAY 11/16 @ 4:15PM: Join the Tennessee Titans Meetup group at Sidebar to watch the undefeated ballers try to hold onto the top spot. Rory & Dan say: “In case you forgot to check today's power ranking, Yes, We are still #1!”

MONDAY 11/17 @ 7:30PM: We don’t really count TX as part of the South but these bands are too cool to leave out. Centro-Matic + One Baptist General + South San Gabriel @ Mercury Lounge. Also, playing the following night (11/18) @ The Bell House in Bklyn.

MONDAY 11/17 @ 7:30PM: New Yorker Josh Joplin + Nashvillian Garrison Starr = Among The Oak & Ash. They play “Appalachian murder ballads” tonight @ Joe’s Pub.

TUESDAY 11/18: C-A-T-S!!!! CATS!!! CATS!!! CATS!!!
Darin Sergent, GM of Mercury Bar and UK Alum, is rallying the b-ball troops: “We have a HUGE basketball game against UNC (11/18) and a big season ahead of us Cat Fans so come on by Mercury Bar (493 3rd Ave, bet. 33rd & 34th St) for all the NCAA action going on with Billy ‘Clyde’ Gillespie and his team led by big man Patrick Patterson. We will be showing all games through the ESPN FullCourt Package throughout the season so you don’t have to miss a game here in the big city…being so far away from home!!!”

SCENE: Book, Zine, Art & Music Fair - Bham, AL (11/14 & 15)

If I was in Alabama this weekend, I'd be headed here:

Greencup Books, Bare Hands Gallery, and The2ndHand announce the inaugural Greencup Books Book, Zine, and Music Fair, featuring local and regional writers, literary magazines, small presses, comix artists, record labels and bands, zine makers, and handmade book artists, along with live music and readings. The fair runs Friday and Saturday, November 14 and 15. Although aimed at promoting local and area talent, print and music organizations from Alabama, neighboring states, and beyond are welcome. The fair will be held at Greencup Books and at neighboring Bare Hands Art Gallery. Aside from our participants’ info and merchandise tables, the fair will feature readings from participating authors along with music each night from area bands, beginning at 7 p.m. Join us Friday night for a welcome party/reception for participating vendors, followed by a creative reading by THE2NDHAND, followed by live music. The party begins at 6 p.m. On Saturday, readings will occur periodically during the day, followed by performances and an afterparty at the bookstore. The afterparty begins at 9:30 p.m.

LOCATION: 105 Richard Arrington Jr. Blvd. South in downtown Birmingham, Alabama, one door over from Bare Hands Gallery. Call (205) 533-8445 for information.

Housed in the coolest rambling brick building in Birmingham, Alabama, Greencup Books is a not-for-profit community bookstore and publisher that publishes original titles in a variety of genres—including poetry, fiction, art, agitprop, and classics—and sells the most unique and eclectic selection of used and new books, original art, and ephemera in the area. Events at Greencup Books include book release parties, visual media premieres, readings, art exhibitions, improv, and music performance. The mission of Greencup Books is to foster an active community of grounded literati/art folks dedicated to creativity through collaboration. Sales proceeds pay the bills and fund the various free classes/events. Donations are warmly accepted and rapidly put to good purpose. Volunteers who are interested in working with Greencup Books please email mike@greencupbooks.org.

But luckily there's also some cool southernist stuff happening in NYC this weekend as well. More info tomorrow...

BOOK: Pure Country (out 11/15); Celebratory Event in BKLYN 12/10

PURE COUNTRY
THE LEON KAGARISE ARCHIVES 1961-1971
Introduction and Text by Eddie Dean, Foreword by Robert Gordon

Throughout the ‘50s and ‘60s, country music’s most legendary performers played backwoods stages in outdoor music parks, live and unfiltered. It was a time when Johnny Cash, Patsy Cline and George Jones mingled up close with fans like kin at a mountain family reunion. These dollar-a-carload picnic concerts might have been forgotten if it hadn’t been for Leon Kagarise. An audio engineer by trade, he began recording the live shows on reel-to-reel tape and shot hundreds of candid color slides of the stars and their fans.

Music journalist Eddie Dean spent many hours interviewing Kagarise before his death in early 2008. His introduction and accompanying text tells how an obsession created a view into a lost world that challenges easy assumptions about Country and reveals a secret history of Country music in the ‘60s, when the industry largely turned its back on its rural roots and produced a slick, studio-centric product known as the Nashville Sound.

Forced into commercial exile, traditional country performers scratched out a living in the outdoor-music park circuit, where Kagarise served as their unofficial court photographer. With a meticulous and loving eye, Kagarise captured dozens of classic country and bluegrass artists in their prime, including June Carter, Dolly Parton, Bill Monroe, Hank Snow, The Stanley Brothers, The Stonemans, and many others.

Over a decade, he amassed an archive of over 600 color slides and 4,000 hours of pristine sounding live performance as well as radio and television recordings, some of the only known surviving documents of the era. Pure Country presents 140 of Kagarise’s stunning color images, most never seen in print, from an archive now considered by historians to be one of the richest discoveries in the history of American music. (source)

NEW: The Bell House will host a celebration for the release of the book "Pure Country" on December 10. The show includes extremely rare color slides of hillbilly stars and their fans from the '60s music park scene, with stories by the book's writer Eddie Dean and a live performance by legendary banjo picker Roni Stoneman. Both will sign books after the show.

WED 12/10 @ 7:30pm ($10) - ALL AGES SHOW
Arthur Magazine & Process Books present
PURE COUNTRY: THE LEON KAGARISE ARCHIVES, 1961-1971
A very special evening with the first lady of banjo
RONI STONEMAN
THE TALL PINES
THE JONES STREET BOYS

Bell House
149 7th Street
Brooklyn, NY 11215
(718) 643-6510

SCOOP: FT. RUCKER, AL by Katrina Rodgers

Just in time for Veteran’s Day, Army wife-to-be Katrina Rogers gives us “THE SCOOP” on Ft. Rucker, AL:

When I tell people I live in Alabama, they usually think I’m close to Birmingham. I actually live 3-4 hours south of Birmingham and have never been here; Alabama is bigger than you think! Chances are, if you are not an Alabama native, you’re not exactly up to speed on your Alabama geography, and I’m sure if my fiance and I had not moved here with the Army, we would never have heard of the area known as the “Wiregrass.” This area includes southeast Alabama, very northern Florida, and southwest Georgia. You might be wondering what on earth there is to do in this area of the country—I know I was! Well, you just have to know where to look.

If you’re feeling ambitious, Atlanta is only 3 and half hours away, and there are so many thing to do there I couldn’t even begin to count (the aquarium is fun; the Coca Cola factory lets active duty military in free!) Montgomery, the capitol of Alabama, is not quite two hours away, and that’s where you’ll find the closest reasonably priced airfare. Panama City and Destin, Florida, are only a two and a half hour drive—here you can find the Gulf of Mexico, many beaches, and all accompanying activities (crab restaurants!)

But no one wants to go that far every weekend, and certainly not with the high gas prices we have had lately as a result of hurricane season. So what is there to do in your own backyard down here? The first thing you have to see in Enterprise is the statue in the middle of town. Long ago, the Boll Weevil, an insect, destroyed all of the area’s cotton crops. Farmers were forced to switch to another crop, peanuts, which turned out to be a fantastic economic change for the region. The statue was erected in 1919 to honor the Boll Weevil for bringing, in a roundabout way, prosperity to the area. Originally the statue was just a woman; the Boll Weevil at the top was added in 1949. The statue in the center of town now is just a replica—the original was moved to the Enterprise Depot Museum in 1998 due to vandalism (the Boll Weevil was stolen right off the top). It is the only statue in the country and most likely in the world to honor an agricultural pest.

Peanuts are also honored in the Wiregrass area. The city of Dothan, 30 miles from Enterprise, is known as the Peanut Capital of the Nation, and rightly so. Sixty-five percent of all the peanuts grown in the United States are grown within a 100 mile radius of Dothan! To celebrate this title, Dothan holds the National Peanut Festival every fall. The festival was first held in 1938 and lasted 3 days; it is now a 10 day event that draws over 163,000 visitors. Be prepared to wait in line to park! At the festival, you can find more than your average share of carnival rides, carnival games, displays (this year they had sea lions!), arts and crafts, a parade, fireworks, and a Miss National Peanut Festival Pageant. In addition, Dothan is a good place for many army wives to find jobs. There also an airport here, although it is horribly overpriced and only flies to and from Atlanta.

Speaking of army wives: last but never least, the Wiregrass area is the home of Ft. Rucker, the primary home of Army Aviation and flight training. It is also the home of Warrant Officer Candidate (WOC) School. Ft. Rucker opened on May 1, 1942 as Camp Rucker (the name was changed in 1955). The population on post in the 2000 census was 6,000, but many army folks live off post. The important thing to remember is that because of this, Enterprise and neighboring Daleville are much more transient areas than other towns. Flight training generally takes about one and a half to two years, so the real estate trends don’t necessarily follow the economic trends since people are always buying, selling, and renting. I have never seen so many townhouses in my life as in Enterprise, Alabama!

So, bottom line: there is more happening here than you think. A good place to get more information about local events and activities in the Wiregrass is on the website of the local radio station, WKMX in their “What’s Up Wiregrass” section. There are things going on at Ft. Rucker several times a month, so there are no excuses for not getting out and getting to know the area! (end)

Katrina Rodgers is a Gettysburg College graduate with a degree in Women’s Studies. She is currently living in Enterprise, Alabama with her fiance and looking forward to finally marrying him in December!

SCREEN: LAKE CITY opens 11/21 @ Quad NYC

In this searing Southern drama, a mother and son reunite under desperate circumstances years after a family tragedy drove them far apart. Billy and his son Clayton are on the run from his estranged wife's drug dealer after she stiffs him and disappears. With nowhere else to go, Billy returns to his mother's house in the Virginia countryside to hide out. As he searches for his missing wife, he reconnects with his childhood friend, now a local police officer and begins to confront his troubled past.

Dave Matthews plays a scary thug and Sissy Spacek, well, you know, she's the bomb in anything! Lake City opens in NYC and LA 11/7 and everywhere else a week later. The film is directed by Perry Moore and Hunter Hill, and produced by uber-fab socialite/art patron/actress Allison Sarofim.

Film opens at QUAD ON 11/21!!!

ART/BOOK: Ode To The Snapshot! Eudora Welty @ the Museum of the City of New York

I love me a good old Depression-era WPA photo! And, having traveled throughout Mississippi and NYC as a WPA press officer in the 1930’s, Eudora Welty has made plenty of them.

"[My snapshots] were taken spontaneously - to catch something as I came upon it, something that spoke of life going on around me. A snapshot's now or never."

Mississippi writer/photographer Eudora Welty would have turned 100 in 2009 and a year of celebratory centennial events kicks off today in NYC with a symposium on her work and an opening reception for Eudora Welty in New York: Photographs of the Early 1930s, an exhibition at the Museum of the City of New York.The connection between Eudora Welty's celebrated writings and her photographs will be among the topics discussed by some of America's most distinguished writers, all of whom were friends of Welty. Suzanne Marrs, author of Eudora Welty: A Biography (Harcourt, 2005), will moderate a roundtable discussion that includes Richard Ford, Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist; Robert MacNeil, journalist and former co-host of PBS's "MacNeil/Lehrer News Hour"; and Reynolds Price, novelist and recipient of the National Book Critics Circle Award. Exhibition opening reception to follow.

Co-sponsored by PEN American Center and the Eudora Welty Foundation and presented in conjunction with Eudora Welty in New York: Photographs of the Early 1930s which runs thru 2/16/09.

SCENE/ART/BOOK: Rejoice!!

"Rejoice" by Vicksburg, MS artist H.C. Porter seems to sum up how at least 50+ million folks are feeling this morning!!

H.C. Porter's mixed-media paintings begin as black and white portraits. Using a printing technique called serigraphy, Porter screens her photographs onto paper and begins painting. It is an unusual process but it's one that reflects a way of life. Beneath the vibrant colors are the black and white images that begin each piece.

Porter takes this process to the next level with her extensive documentary project, BACKYARDS AND BEYOND, which combines mixed media visual art with audio allowing each image itself to tell the story of Mississippians affected by Hurricane Katrina. “Amazingly, my time on the Coast has revealed that many people throughout the United States have no idea that Mississippi was affected by Hurricane Katrina,” states H.C. Porter, “much less that our entire Coastline has been annihilated. People’s lives have been altered for generations. This is not the Great Depression or The Dust Bowl Days, but it is Hurricane Katrina, a part of our nation’s history that unfortunately landed head strong into every single Coastal community of Mississippi. I am simply a vessel through which the story is being conveyed. It is about the faces and emotions and words of those I am documenting. This Exhibition will be their stories …our story … Backyards and Beyond … a story that must be told for a very long time.”

Porter is currently on tour throughout the south to promote the exhibit's companion fine art coffee table book.

SCENE: GO VOTE!!!!

Image from Yee-Haw Industries: Yee-Haw Industries has been covering America with unique, art-like products since 1996. Partners Kevin Bradley & Julie Belcher opened up shop from a back-40 barn in Corbin, Kentucky, with salvaged, antique equipment previously put to rust. Their vibrant, folk art, wood cut prints of country music's classic stars, such as Hank Williams, Sr. and Loretta Lynn, caught eyes and told stories. Handmade posters featured stranger-than-fiction characters, like ass-whooping grocer Cas Walker and daredevil icon Evel Kenevil. Soon, modern music acts, including Steve Earle, Buddy Guy, Trey Anastasio, Lucinda Williams and Southern Culture on the Skids began commissioning promotional posters and album art.

In 1998, having outgrown the bluegrass barn, Yee-Haw moved to a 100+-year-old building on Gay Street in historic downtown Knoxville (just a few doors down from where Hank Sr. was last seen alive). They began offering tours of the Yee-Haw studio in action and mainstreet store to sell their wares.

Shout out to Scott Peek from Standard Deluxe for the tip!!

ART: WILLIAM EGGLESTON: Democratic....Camera

William Eggleston: Democratic Camera

Photographs and Video, 1958-2008

The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York

November 7, 2008-January 25, 2009

Curated by Elisabeth Sussman and Thomas Weski

One of the most influential photographers of the last half-century, William Eggleston has defined the history of color photography. This exhibition will be the artist's first retrospective in the United States and will include both his color and black-and-white photographs as well as Stranded in Canton, the artist's video work from the early 1970s. The exhibition will travel throughout the United States as well as to the Haus der Kunst in Munich following its New York presentation. Eggleston was born in Memphis, TN in 1939. (Source: Eggleston Trust)

ART: WILLIAM EGGLESTON: Stranded In Canton

Shot in 1974 with a Sony Porta-pak, the crazily careering ''Stranded in Canton'' documents a cast of hard-drinking Southerners with the intimacy, ease and instability of a seasoned participant.
In one sequence, a man with peroxide hair, makeup and a sequined T-shirt sings old love songs, swanning around with a toilet-paper boa. In others shots are fired; good old boys decapitate chickens; and a young bearded man with an angelic face raves about being stranded in Canton, a colloquialism for being out of one's mind on drugs or alcohol. Whiffs of Southern Gothic are not new to Mr. Eggleston's work, but here they rise to the surface -- fierce, tragic and proud.

(New York Times)

William Eggleston's "Stranded in Canton"

Directed by William Eggleston - Twin Palms, 2008

Book and DVD to be released Fall 2008 to coincide with Whitney exhibit

SCENE: LOS DIAS DE LA NUEVA SOUTH

As Halloween draws to a close tonight attention will turn to Los Dias de los Muertas. Marigolds, paper mache calavera masks, candles, pan de muerto, tobacco, liquor, photographs, fruit, and sweets will adorn home altars and cleaned, painted and decorated cemetery graves. A few days ago, my friend Mark posted photos of freshly crafted sugar skulls to his Facebook profile. He lives in Charlotte, NC where the folks at Pura Vida Worldly Art are gearing up for a celebration to welcome the returning souls of the dead with art & music. With the Hispanic/Latino population growing faster in much of the South than anywhere else in the United States I have wondered for a while if Day of the Dead traditions have migrated along with our "new" neighbors over the years. The concept is, afterall, not really that foreign to the region to begin with...

photo credit here and below: Karen Singer Jabbour - click image for more info

The Driveby Truckers released an album called Decoration Day in 2003 but I had no idea what those words meant until I met Mrs. Bobbye Wade of Old Dora, a defunct mining town about 30 miles NW of Birmingham, AL. I had visited Old Dora in late spring and noticed that the graves in the cemetery on the hill above town were decorated with bunches of brightly colored plastic flowers. She explained that Decoration Day has just passed.

There is some debate about the who, what, when and where in regards to the history of Decoration Day but below is a remembrance that Bobbye has been kind enough to share:

In the South, Decoration Day is a day of Remembrance. The graveyard or cemetery had to look nice for Decoration Day. It was a matter of pride and duty for the people of Scotch/Irish, Scottish, Irish, English and German descent who had migrated into the hills and mountains of the Old South.

On a designated day, families would arrive at the graveyard with shovels, hoes, and rakes which they used to remove unwanted grass and weeds and to mound up the graves. Some families brought clean sand to spread on the cleaned graves. Many graves only had a rock at the foot and head as markers. Some had stone houses/boxes built over them and some had tent-shaped structures of stones/rocks covering them. I was told it was to keep wild animals from digging into the graves.

The families would stop for a bite of lunch and reminisce about those who had gone on before. They also caught up on who had married since last year, died or had a baby. There was a lot of whispering going on about family secrets that no one dared say aloud. The women would discuss what they were bringing for the dinner on the ground.

Usually, the biggest Decoration Day was the 2nd Sunday in May which was also Mother's Day. The families dressed in their finest Sunday clothes. That was the day that the local churches would have the largest number in attendance for the whole year.

The families arrived early Sunday morning to place the flowers on the graves before Church services began. The Mother was a walking "oral Historian" and she could identify every grave. Many of the Mothers would bring baskets of flowers from their gardens. She and the children would place flowers on forgotten graves .Then the whole family would file into the church building and fill up a whole row. Sometimes, there would be as many as five generations on a given row. Flowers would be given to the oldest mother and the youngest mother in attendance. Also, there were flowers for the mother that had the most children and for the mother that had the most children in attendance with her.

After the preaching service ended, the people would file out of the church, the men would set up rows of makeshift tables, and the ladies would spread table clothes over them. With those in place, the ladies would load the table down with fried chicken, chicken and dressing, chicken stew, baked ham, fried country ham, fried pork chops, kraut and wieners, peas, beans, creamed corn, corn on the cob, fried okra, boiled okra, collard greens, turnip greens, mashed potatoes, boiled potatoes, carrots and peas, potato salad, Jello salad, pickled beets, pickled peaches, spiced apples, banana pudding, peach cobbler, blackberry cobbler, apple pie, pecan pie, chocolate pie, lemon pie, coconut cake, chocolate cake, caramel cake and iced tea by the gallons. You can see why it was called a "groaning board" but mostly it was the people who overindulged that were groaning.

That was Decoration Day until a few years. After World War II, when everyone was able to buy a car, things started changing...People moved away from the community. Very few people still clean their family plots. Now there is perpetual care. The Veterans of Foreign Wars come in early, salute each veteran's grave and place an American Flag on his/her grave. A lot of families place the flowers on the graves on Saturday evening. Those who live far away send money to family members to buy flowers or hire a florist to decorate the grave.

Very few people come for the morning church service and dinner on the ground is a thing of the past. Families meet at the cemetery, place their flowers on the graves, find a restaurant that is open or go to Mother's house and have lunch. Then they regroup, go back to the cemetery, claim a spot of ground, and set up their chairs and umbrellas. Some of the people will drift away and visit other families that are doing the same type activity. Some people roam the whole cemetery, looking at the flowers and visiting with people along the way.

Decoration Day is a day of remembrance, honoring the dead and getting reacquainted with our past.

ART/SCENE: Prospect.1 New Orleans opens 11/1

On November 1, 2008, Prospect.1 New Orleans [P.1], the largest biennial of international contemporary art ever organized in the United States, will open to the public in museums, historic buildings, and found sites throughout New Orleans. Prospect.1 New Orleans [P.1] has been conceived in the tradition of the great international biennials, and will showcase new artistic practices as well as an array of programs benefiting the local community. Over the course of its eleven-week run, Prospect.1 New Orleans [P.1] plans to draw international media attention, creative energy, and new economic activity to the city of New Orleans. Events include a ribbon cutting ceremony, second line parade, jazz funeral, and all-night dance party in addition to tons of great art exhibits and installations in a variety of spaces and venues.

GOOD NEWS! There are still some very cool ways to get involved. Japanese artist Tatsuo Miyajima has issued a call for participation in his Work Shop On Line for PILE UP LIFE 2008 to be exhibited in the Biennale (sic)! Also, the [P.1] organizers are still looking for volunteer art assistants and interns. Contact: Aimée Farnet Siegel, Volunteer Coordinator504-615-5391 asiegel@prospectneworleans.org

EAT: Filth from the Swine by Michael A. Gonzales

photo credit Jared Swafford/Flickr

Perhaps if I had known exactly what chitlins were (or chitterlings, as some people spell it) when I was a boy, I never would have eaten them. Though the funk that wafted through the apartment when grandma stood over the sink cleaning them should have clued me in, how was I to know that my favorite meal was cooked pig intestines.

Though some families only prepared chitlins during Christmas and New Year’s Eve, grandma was not a creature of ceremony. Whenever I saw the white ten-pound buckets taking-up space in the refrigerator, I knew there would be a feast by the end of the week. Raised in Virginia, grandma knew how to “put her foot” in a pot of chitlins.

Dumping the slimy swine parts into a large pan in the sink, grandma gripped the black handle of her long bladed knife with the skill of a butcher. Wearing a flowered apron tied around her thin waist, she managed to look lady like while doing one of the nastiest chores on the planet. Holding our noses, me and baby brother rushed to the front door and went outside to play.

Boiling the chitlins in a giant silver pot of salty water seasoned with celery, onions and vinegar, the entire flat smelled like pork heaven when we returned home hours later. “Are they ready yet?” I screamed, hanging-up my coat in the foyer closet.

“Boy, stop making all that noise and go get cleaned-up.”

After washing our face and hands, we sat at the faux-wood kitchen table, and shook crimson droplets of Red Devil hot sauce on the soul food that also included potato salad, black-eyed peas and collard greens. Devouring my grub with the quickness, I sopped-up the flavorful juice with cornbread and was ready for more. “Your eyes bigger than your stomach,” grandma laughed, as she proudly put more chitlins on the plate.

One thing about grandma, though she never ate much, she got joy from watching other folks eat.

Years later, when I was a freshman at Long Island University in Brooklyn, I hung-out at the college radio station and became friends with an overweight pothead named Gary. With flowing dreadlocks and a thick accent, Gary was an on-air personality (although the station only broadcast on campus) who introduced me to the music of Lee Scratch Perry, Peter Tosh and other reggae artists.

Enviably, when you get two fat guys in a room together, the conversation soon became about food. “You like what?” Gary screamed, not wanting to believe my culinary ignorance. “Man, do you know what chitins are? It’s the pig intestine; you know, what the shit goes through.”

“Get out of here…for real?” I looked at him as though he had gone rabbit hunting on Easter morning or lit the fireplace on Christmas Eve. “You’re joking, right?”

“No joke,” Gary assured me. “It’s the part of the pig that white masters used to give to the slaves, because they didn’t want it.”

For a moment, I was mute. Pondering the deepness of this history, I reflected on its meaning before finally determining that it was too late for me to turn back; blunted on surreality, I reasoned that rejection of chitlins would a denial of my southern heritage and family roots.

“Well, they taste good to me,” I said, much to Gary’s chagrin. Indeed, it was my intention, as my favorite southern female performer Gladys Knight once sang, “To keep on keeping on.”

Ten years after that discussion with Gary, grandma moved to Baltimore to live with my mother; a few years after that, she got stomach cancer. Scared by the fact that my grandmother wouldn’t be around for very long, I kept postponing my trip to Baltimore. Everyday I’d tell my ma, “I’ll be there tomorrow. I promise.”

Finally, tired of my triflingness, mom called me on a Thursday morning and tensely said, “When are you coming down here?”

“I don’t know ma, I got something to do today and…”

Cutting me off, she screamed, “My mother is dying, and instead of lying down, she’s standing over the sink cleaning chitlins for you.” In my mind, I clearly saw grandma’s frail frame as she held tightly to the black handled knife and carefully cleaned filth from the swine.

That same afternoon, as the Greyhound bus zoomed down Route 40 towards downtown Baltimore, I thought about my grandma’s hands and the steaming pot of chitlins simmering on the stove.

Michael A. Gonzales writes for Vibe, Stop Smiling and New York magazine, and blogs at uptownlife.net. A Harlem native with a southern sensibility, he lives in Brooklyn.

ART: GRANT AND LEE IN WAR AND PEACE

Robert E. Lee stands guard over Big D's bedroom. There's the small statue, which I made the mistake of messing with, on his dresser in his mama's house. And then there's the painting that greets you every morning when you awake. General Lee on his famous white horse hangs across from the bed on a wall adjoining a shrine touting acoutrements of D's own meritorious past - medals, trophies, certificates and photos from his days as a high school football and wrestling star, a model Eagle Scout, his being voted "Mr. Blue Devil" and celebrating his appointment, just like Lee, to West Point.

It's nice but I can't say I really "get" the whole Civil War "thing," especially the extent of what it means to a boy from Marietta, Georgia and why he becomes so intoxicatingly gleeful when showing me the place in the nearby Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park where the most Yankees were killed!

Luckily, the New-York Historical Society is hosting a “Grant and Lee in War and Peace” exhibit thru March 29. I guess it's not so simple as "we won the war, get over it." The exhibit obviously deals with the Civil War, but also: "America's tradition of citizen-soldiers volunteering to fight under professional officers but still thinking like democratic citizens. The exhibition will provide insights into the Army's role in an expanding United States, whether reshaping the landscape, patrolling frontiers, conquering territory or suppressing conflicts with Native Americans." The exhibit also "follows Grant and Lee back into civilian life, offers new scholarly assessments of the roles both men played after the Civil War. Visitors will leave the exhibition understanding why Lee was seen as the 'knight on white horseback' he became in Southern mythology, as the enduring symbol of a noble Lost Cause. A new and more realistic image of Grant will emerge: not simply the ineffective President surrounded by corruption, as he has been known, but a determined champion of Reconstruction and the rights of freedmen, and a far-sighted leader in seeking peace and justice for American Indians."

Pretty cool...