The skies parted and....

Well, anyone who knows me knows that my absolute fave magazine is Garden & Gun. So bummed to be stuck in lower Alabama on this fine day! But, perhaps I see a collaboration in our future...

WISH LIST!!! Garden & Gun Auctions!

Well leave it to my fave magazine to offer the coolest experiential travel experiences ever! Here's the deal (sorry the spacing's a bit janky):

G&G AUCTIONS

Let the Bidding Begin Since our first issue in spring 2007, Garden & Gun has brought the South to life with highly evocative writing, design, and photography. The idea was to make the magazine so rich that readers could taste the mint juleps, smell the jasmine, and feel the shade of the live oaks. Metaphorically, of course. Starting now, Garden & Gun will make some of those experiences literally come to life with the introduction of G&G Auctions. Working with select Southern partners, and with the auction Web site igavel.com, our staff has designed a series of unique adventures that capture the essence of G&G as well as the magic of the South. Throughout the year, we’ll introduce new auction items that cover a broad range of experiences. Some of the upcoming lots include a private dinner party at a Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Southern plantation, a coastal tour (by yacht) of the South’s best golf courses, and an exclusive weekend with chefs, authors, and musicians at Tennessee’s Blackberry Farm. Whether or not you decide to bid, we hope you’ll enjoy reading about these experiences as much as we've enjoyed crafting them. Follow the links below to see the first G&G Auction lots on igavel.com. Going once, going twice… Browse Lot 1: All Access Music & Literary Weekend at Blackberry Farm, including cocktails with Chris Thile and the Punch Brothers band, and dinner with proprietor Sam Beall, G&G editor Sid Evans, and author Julia Reed / June 23–26, 2010 Browse Lot 2: Custom G&G Cypress Kayak and Half-day Paddle with master boatwright Aaron Wells

SCENE/SOUNDS/EAT: Art Of Field Recording II - Live in Athens GA 1/31

The Melting Point in Athens will host a release concert for Art of Field Recording Volume II, a box set compilation on Dust-to-Digital of Art Rosenbaum’s field recordings of American traditional music over 50 years. Volume I, released in 2007, has garnered two Grammy nominations, was called “blindingly beautiful” by the New York Times, and was the subject of a New Yorker article by Burkhard Bilger. For more info visit Dust To Digital.

While in Athens, be sure to grab something at Garden & Gun fave 5&10 restaurant. The mag raves: Embracing a dress code “from Speedo to tuxedo,” the 5 & 10 injects down-home modern into Southern classics. Named for a five-and-dime that once stood on the same lot, the 5 & 10’s menu shifts daily, with a few stalwarts, such as Frogmore stew—a tasty spawn of a Lowcountry boil and bouillabaisse—always available. “When we opened, we wanted to be a community restaurant that cared about good bread and good wine and good food,” says chef/owner Hugh Acheson. “I come from a fine-dining background. I was running away from that as fast as I could.”

Luckily, Acheson didn’t get too far. Try the roasted asparagus covered with a poached local egg and warm bacon vinaigrette, followed by the “bronzed” redfish fillet in lemon emulsion. Such dishes earned Acheson Food & Wine’s 2002 Best New Chef award and, more recently, a 2008 James Beard nomination for Best Chef Southeast. There’s a fine, rangy wine list, too. (706-546-7300)