Happy ending to tale of stolen dog
Butters, a 2-month-old English bulldog, is back with owner Will Kiser after he was stolen Monday from Kiser's home and then sold.
Read full story from Athens Banner-Herald
Blogged with the Flock Browser
2008-12-31
Happy ending to tale of stolen dog
Facebook | Daft Punk Tribute + Immuzikation - Georgia Theatre
Daft Punk Tribute + Immuzikation - Georgia Theatre
Robot ++++++ Human
Event Info Host: Type: Network:
Time and Place Start Time: End Time: Location: Street: City/Town:
Contact Info Phone: Email: Description
Very Disco - A Daft Punk Tribute
+
Immuzikation
Georgia Theatre
January 16th, 2009
$10 Advance
$12 Door
Advance tickets available now at http://www.georgiatheatre.com, School Kids, and Wuxtry.Videos
No one has uploaded any videos.
Blogged with the Flock Browser
2008-12-30
Conference room needed
I am looking to rent out a conference room on an occasional basis. Please e-mail me if you have a conference room and can help me out. I would want to reserve it a week in advance for the purpose of meeting clients. I am looking for this as a temporary arrangement until I can get my own office.
2008-12-29
Best laugh I had all week
The photographer writes: "Mom and I spotted this family as we were going into Target on Christmas Eve. They went into the store, got a buggy and shopped like it was no big thing."
Christmas tree disposal
From Athens-Clarke County:
In an effort to reduce curbside disposal of Christmas trees, Keep Athens-Clarke County Beautiful is encouraging citizens to recycle their Christmas tree at the “Bring One for the Chipper” event Saturday, January 3rd between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m.
As part of a statewide effort to reuse Christmas trees, Keep Athens-Clarke County Beautiful and the ACC Solid Waste Department are sponsoring seven local drop-off sites where residents can recycle their used Christmas trees. Trees will be chipped into mulch or used as wildlife habitat. Participants that recycle their tree during the January 3rd event will receive a tree seedling while supplies last. Seedling species include: Green Ash, Dogwood, Red Cedar, Catalpa, and Swamp Chestnut Oak.
The Athens-Clarke County drop off locations include Cofer’s Home and Garden Showplace, Sandy Creek Nature Center, Barrow Elementary School, Chase Street Elementary School, Recycling Centers as the Lexington Highway Tag Office, Georgia Square Mall Theater Parking Lot and the Winterville Public Works Building.
How to Serve Raccoon
For some reason, Deputy Fife didn't bark. But I heard the crunching of the driveway rocks. Then the man was talking to Miss Hattie. They were standing under the carport. I moved closer to the kitchen window to eavesdrop. The conversation turned from the usual pleasantries to the reason for the visit: raccoons.
Nothing was said about how cute they were, or how fascinating. To Miss Hattie, who lived to garden, raccoons were a kind of collateral damage -- unlucky guests of traps she had set to catch armadillos. To her visitor, raccoons were a delicacy. These different, but complementary views had brought Miss Hattie and the visitor together previously to do a little business. Miss Hattie had caught one or two raccoons and wanted nothing to do with their removal. Someone referred her to the visitor, who was only too happy to help. He charged nothing for his services, and she charged nothing for the raccoons.
Now the visitor was back, hoping to renew their mutually beneficial association. He asked if he could set some of his own traps on the place. Miss Hattie gave her permission. The visitor needed raccoons, he said -- 18 to 20 of them -- for Superbowl Sunday. On that day each year, in what was a settled local tradition, he and his wife opened their house and sold plates of raccoon and sides to the many folks came over to watch The Game.
Miss Hattie's daughter, visiting from out of state and in the food service business herself, asked the man how he prepared raccoon. Boiled it, he said. Then deep-fried it. Then baked it, surrounded by sweet potatoes.
Some of you, on reading this, will be brought back to another December a few years ago, not in the rural southland of my tableau, but here in Athens. Animal Control responded to a fraternity house to investigate a report of animal cruelty. A story in the Banner-Herald quoted Animal Control as saying that one of the members of the fraternity, on encountering an "erratically-behaving" raccoon near the frat house, had killed it with a construction pylon and a pellet gun. A second fraternity member then had skinned the raccoon in the bed of his pickup truck. And a third fraternity member then had cooked and eaten parts of the animal.
Down the road apiece, the killing, skinning, and eating of a raccoon would be a matter neither for Animal Control nor for a write-up in the local paper. It would mark only the coming around of another Superbowl Sunday. -- Bob Brussack
Nothing was said about how cute they were, or how fascinating. To Miss Hattie, who lived to garden, raccoons were a kind of collateral damage -- unlucky guests of traps she had set to catch armadillos. To her visitor, raccoons were a delicacy. These different, but complementary views had brought Miss Hattie and the visitor together previously to do a little business. Miss Hattie had caught one or two raccoons and wanted nothing to do with their removal. Someone referred her to the visitor, who was only too happy to help. He charged nothing for his services, and she charged nothing for the raccoons.
Now the visitor was back, hoping to renew their mutually beneficial association. He asked if he could set some of his own traps on the place. Miss Hattie gave her permission. The visitor needed raccoons, he said -- 18 to 20 of them -- for Superbowl Sunday. On that day each year, in what was a settled local tradition, he and his wife opened their house and sold plates of raccoon and sides to the many folks came over to watch The Game.
Miss Hattie's daughter, visiting from out of state and in the food service business herself, asked the man how he prepared raccoon. Boiled it, he said. Then deep-fried it. Then baked it, surrounded by sweet potatoes.
Some of you, on reading this, will be brought back to another December a few years ago, not in the rural southland of my tableau, but here in Athens. Animal Control responded to a fraternity house to investigate a report of animal cruelty. A story in the Banner-Herald quoted Animal Control as saying that one of the members of the fraternity, on encountering an "erratically-behaving" raccoon near the frat house, had killed it with a construction pylon and a pellet gun. A second fraternity member then had skinned the raccoon in the bed of his pickup truck. And a third fraternity member then had cooked and eaten parts of the animal.
Down the road apiece, the killing, skinning, and eating of a raccoon would be a matter neither for Animal Control nor for a write-up in the local paper. It would mark only the coming around of another Superbowl Sunday. -- Bob Brussack
2008-12-28
Need help / the DAWG artists
One of my project ideas that has been on the backburner while I frantically finish up a bunch of freelance work is a very short video on the process/participants of the We Let the Dawgs Out project (you know, those big fiberglass dogs -- but not the souless new ones -- art is subjective, ya know).
If you know anyone who participated (including the schools/art teachers), please please let me know (or pass my info along).
I think the original project was too neat to just disappear undocumented and while the level of art could have been perhaps been higher, it was great that children and schools were able to participate, in addition to professional artists. I tried contacting the official website but I never heard anything. I've also tried googling the various artists and I have a few contacts, but not much luck.
Basically, I'd like to add some of the other artists/groups photos of the inprocess work with mine (I have lots of photos for the jittery joe dawg although I am sad that it has faded so, but UV is evil to art). I know some of the other artists documented their work, too.
thanks much, robin
georgiawebgurl@gmail.com
If you know anyone who participated (including the schools/art teachers), please please let me know (or pass my info along).
I think the original project was too neat to just disappear undocumented and while the level of art could have been perhaps been higher, it was great that children and schools were able to participate, in addition to professional artists. I tried contacting the official website but I never heard anything. I've also tried googling the various artists and I have a few contacts, but not much luck.
Basically, I'd like to add some of the other artists/groups photos of the inprocess work with mine (I have lots of photos for the jittery joe dawg although I am sad that it has faded so, but UV is evil to art). I know some of the other artists documented their work, too.
thanks much, robin
georgiawebgurl@gmail.com
2008-12-24
2008-12-22
2008-12-21
Happy Holidays!
Best wishes to all of the members of the athensworld family of posters and readers from the Brussacks.
2008-12-20
report from campus: a cook's holiday
Decades ago, Pat and her colleagues at UGA Food Services had a problem -- what to do in the interval between the students' departure and the official beginning of the holiday break in December. It seemed a waste of the award-winning staff simply to keep everyone busy scrubbing and polishing. And plenty of folks, eager to get on with the celebrating or to get a respite from the monotony of grading, remained on campus. What Pat and her colleagues came up with has become a wonderful UGA tradition -- A Cook's Holiday. Rather than standing down, the staff would gear up, transforming one of the dining areas from the usual red and black to a festive red and green, sprinkled with tinsel. Chefs would don their dress whites and prepare a cornucopia of holiday delights, from sliced ham to golden yams. And the desserts!Pat, Ian, and I made our way to the 2008 edition of A Cook's Holiday yesterday at the Summit. We meandered among the crisp linen islands of entrees and vegetables and breads, offering our plates to one chef and then another for a slice of this and a heavenly spoonful of that. We ate to the harmony of the four UGA string students who are the talented B.R.A.H.M.S. Quartet. And we made the obligatory trip to the dessert tables, clustered around a swiftly flowing chocolate fountain.
If I were you, I'd mark my calendar right now. Flip to December 2009. Type in "A Cook's Holiday!"
I've posted some of my photographs from the event. I hope you enjoy them. -- Bob Brussack
2008-12-19
cook's holiday: only two hours left
Ian and I are headed over to the Joe Frank Harris Commons at the Summit on East Campus to chow down on the wonderful menu for the annual Cook's Holiday put on by UGA Food Services. Here's a link. Join us if you like. -- Bob Brussack
2008-12-18
quiet trails
It's been nearly two years since I made this image of Canada geese squabbling at the Sandy Creek Nature Center's Clay Pit Pond. For awhile, I'd been strolling the network of trails out there nearly every day, camera at the ready. I've drifted away from the habit, but revisiting the image reminded me of my old ways and got me thinking about wandering the trails again. The image is misleading in a way. As I walked the trails, what I experienced mostly was zen quietude, not squabbling. The loudest noise was the crunching of my shoes. (The image is today's Photo of the Day on the photography page over at bobbrussack.com. Drop by if you have a mind to.) -- Bob Brussack
2008-12-13
Meaning of life at the University of Georgia
Somewhere in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series it was written that the secret to life, the universe, and everything is 42. At the University of Georgia, building number 0042, Peabody Hall, houses the departments of philosophy and religion, fields in which people try to figure out life, the universe, and everything. Coincidence? I think not.
2008-12-11
Holiday Art Sale / Estate Sale
News from the Visionary Growth Arts Center:
---------------
We're having a Holiday Art Sale / Estate Sale to raise money for Visionary Growth Art Center Sunday, Dec. 14th, 9am - 3pm. In addition to artwork from artists in our current show, we will have furniture, antiques and other items from the estate of my grandmother and other family, as well as books, photo equipment, folk art, old stuff, newer stuff, cool stuff, and of course no such sale would be complete without just some good old fashioned junk!
Gate opens at 9am, so no early birds will swoop in and beat you to the best stuff!
Sale is at Visionary Growth. Directions are on the website: www.VisionaryGrowth.org
Happy Holidays!
Robert Lowery
Visionary Growth Art Center
---------------
We're having a Holiday Art Sale / Estate Sale to raise money for Visionary Growth Art Center Sunday, Dec. 14th, 9am - 3pm. In addition to artwork from artists in our current show, we will have furniture, antiques and other items from the estate of my grandmother and other family, as well as books, photo equipment, folk art, old stuff, newer stuff, cool stuff, and of course no such sale would be complete without just some good old fashioned junk!
Gate opens at 9am, so no early birds will swoop in and beat you to the best stuff!
Sale is at Visionary Growth. Directions are on the website: www.VisionaryGrowth.org
Happy Holidays!
Robert Lowery
Visionary Growth Art Center
wintry southland
The phone rang just after six this morning. My wife's mom was calling from near Baton Rouge. It was just after five in the morning for her. I pushed the "on" button with a sense of foreboding. A call at this hour usually brought bad news. And we've been dreading bad news from Louisiana lately. With her first "hey," though, I could tell that she had something happy to report. It turned out to be snow, tumbling onto South Louisiana. They do get snow down there, but it's rare enough to justify a before-dawn call to the middle child back east. Might be a good day for a bit of slipping and sliding and then back to the house for a pot of gumbo and some of Rob's egg nog.
The call brought to mind our own encounters with wintry weather here in the Classic City. The photograph is of the trees in our back yard in late February, 2004. -- Bob Brussack
2008-12-10
Benefit for Burney Harris Library
for those interested/
-------------------
It looks like they have some pretty fantastic stuff to bid on, including Athens and R.E.M. memorabilia.
Burney-Harris-Lyons is an historic school in the Clarke County School District.
Here's the email from the school librarian:
Please disregard this email if you are not interested, but the BHL Media Center's 4th silent auction began today online and will run till Thursday at 8 PM. Please feel free to forward this to anyone you think would be interested. We are using Google forms for bid submissions.
Instructions on how to bid can be found on the form.
Please let me know via email if you're interested in bidding, and I will send you a link to the online spreadsheet so that you can see where bids currently stand. The spreadsheet is live so will be updated with each bid. Let me know if you have questions. Thank you!
http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?key=pq6tnTg19BLSaulxNwRAXGg&hl=en
-------------------
It looks like they have some pretty fantastic stuff to bid on, including Athens and R.E.M. memorabilia.
Burney-Harris-Lyons is an historic school in the Clarke County School District.
Here's the email from the school librarian:
Please disregard this email if you are not interested, but the BHL Media Center's 4th silent auction began today online and will run till Thursday at 8 PM. Please feel free to forward this to anyone you think would be interested. We are using Google forms for bid submissions.
Instructions on how to bid can be found on the form.
Please let me know via email if you're interested in bidding, and I will send you a link to the online spreadsheet so that you can see where bids currently stand. The spreadsheet is live so will be updated with each bid. Let me know if you have questions. Thank you!
http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?key=pq6tnTg19BLSaulxNwRAXGg&hl=en
2008-12-09
ICE-Vision
ICE-Vision: Cremaster 2
Wednesday, December 8 at 8 PM
Lamar Dodd School of Art Room S150
ICE-Vision returns with a series of informal screenings on Wednesday nights in the auditorium of the new Lamar Dodd School of Art (first floor, room S150). BFA candidates Ash Sechler, Daniel Osborne, and Eddie Whelan select titles touching upon culture, science, and art. This week's selection is:
Cremaster 2 (Mathew Barney, 1999, 79 min.)
"Larger in scale, darker in tone, and much more lavishly produced than the previous installments, 'Cremaster 2,' is an epic avant-garde western built around classic themes but laced with an intricate (and often whimsical) symbolic framework." (New York Times)
http://www.cremaster.net
ICE-Vision: Cremaster 2
Wednesday, December 8 at 8 PM
Lamar Dodd School of Art Room S150
ICE-Vision returns with a series of informal screenings on Wednesday nights in the auditorium of the new Lamar Dodd School of Art (first floor, room S150). BFA candidates Ash Sechler, Daniel Osborne, and Eddie Whelan select titles touching upon culture, science, and art. This week's selection is:
Cremaster 2 (Mathew Barney, 1999, 79 min.)
"Larger in scale, darker in tone, and much more lavishly produced than the previous installments, 'Cremaster 2,' is an epic avant-garde western built around classic themes but laced with an intricate (and often whimsical) symbolic framework." (New York Times)
http://www.cremaster.net
Wednesday, December 8 at 8 PM
Lamar Dodd School of Art Room S150
ICE-Vision returns with a series of informal screenings on Wednesday nights in the auditorium of the new Lamar Dodd School of Art (first floor, room S150). BFA candidates Ash Sechler, Daniel Osborne, and Eddie Whelan select titles touching upon culture, science, and art. This week's selection is:
Cremaster 2 (Mathew Barney, 1999, 79 min.)
"Larger in scale, darker in tone, and much more lavishly produced than the previous installments, 'Cremaster 2,' is an epic avant-garde western built around classic themes but laced with an intricate (and often whimsical) symbolic framework." (New York Times)
http://www.cremaster.net
ICE-Vision: Cremaster 2
Wednesday, December 8 at 8 PM
Lamar Dodd School of Art Room S150
ICE-Vision returns with a series of informal screenings on Wednesday nights in the auditorium of the new Lamar Dodd School of Art (first floor, room S150). BFA candidates Ash Sechler, Daniel Osborne, and Eddie Whelan select titles touching upon culture, science, and art. This week's selection is:
Cremaster 2 (Mathew Barney, 1999, 79 min.)
"Larger in scale, darker in tone, and much more lavishly produced than the previous installments, 'Cremaster 2,' is an epic avant-garde western built around classic themes but laced with an intricate (and often whimsical) symbolic framework." (New York Times)
http://www.cremaster.net
john inverted
I've started a "Photo of the Day" feature over at my site. Many of the images are ones I made here in the Athens area. This one, for example -- "John Inverted" -- captures a BMX rider sailing upside-down over the concrete of the Skatepark of Athens out on Lexington Road near the Wal-Mart. Some amazing things happen out there, and very few of them are announced. When the weather warms up, you owe it to yourself to drop by and have a look. -- Bob Brussack
2008-12-08
latest issue of moonshine arts magazine available
All~
Several Athenians are writing for this online arts magazine, so I'm passing it along.
Moonshine Arts Magazine, http://www.moonshine.southerncreativity.com Moonshine includes writings, podcasts, & more.
Several Athenians are writing for this online arts magazine, so I'm passing it along.
Moonshine Arts Magazine, http://www.moonshine.southerncreativity.com Moonshine includes writings, podcasts, & more.
2008-12-07
general shinseki
Some of you might remember that General Shinseki, the President-elect's choice to head the Department of Veterans Affairs, visited us in the spring of 2004, making a speech in the UGA chapel. I made some images that day. Here's one of my favorites. -- Bob Brussack
2008-12-05
Georgia Museum of Art Book Sale
Although parts of the Georgia Museum of Art are under renovation (exhibits are closed), the gift shop and other areas are still open! Also, for those of you on facebook, feel free to "friend" GMOA. ;-)
---------
The Museum will be having a book sale from December 11 to 13, 2008 from 10:00 a.m. till 4:00 p.m. at the museum building on east campus. We hope to see you there!
Thank You.
The Georgia Museum of Art.
---------
The Museum will be having a book sale from December 11 to 13, 2008 from 10:00 a.m. till 4:00 p.m. at the museum building on east campus. We hope to see you there!
Thank You.
The Georgia Museum of Art.
it's that time of the year
A Facebook friend updated her status early yesterday evening with the confession that she’d decided to skip the Christmas Parade, preferring her cozy fireplace, and maybe a pizza and some writing, to the prospect of standing downtown in the chill and wondering whether she’d need her umbrella on what already had been a rainy December day in the Classic City. (Pleasant December evenings are not entirely unheard-of in Athens, but the Christmas Parade somehow manages to avoid them. Next time we find ourselves parched by drought, maybe we should schedule a series of Christmas Parades.)
Anyway, my friend’s soul-baring status update was something of a Siren song for me. Our plans for the evening didn’t include the Parade. In fact, I’m such a poor keeper-upper with local events sometimes that I hadn’t realized until a few days ago that the Parade was scheduled for last night. But we did have tickets for the UGA Holiday Concert. And I — as my son might say — was just “not feelin’ it.”
(Caution! Cuidado! Any of you subject to vasovagal incidents — and some of you know who you are — might want to skip the remainder of this piece. We went to the concert. It was great. Have a nice day. Bye.)
When I got up yesterday morning, I hadn’t had “anything to eat or drink after midnight.” Yes, yesterday was my annual Labs Day at the doctor’s office. Yippee. I drove over to Prince Avenue, trying to achieve a zen state floating somewhere above the reality of what awaited me. I signed the register and had my choice of waiting room seats as the morning’s first stick-ee. When Pat called my name, I breathed a sigh of relief. Pat’s a very talented sticker. She finds my vein easily, and she’s wonderful at small talk to distract me from the all-too-familiar litany of sounds preceding the inevitable ouchee and the filling of the vials.
All went well. Four vials filled. Needle withdrawn. Gauze and Band-Aid applied. It was then that I happened to remark to Pat, “I’m starting to feel a little weird.” I was tingly. My head was spinning. It was not inconceivable that I might slump forward out of the needle throne and find the linoleum floor within the not-too-distant future. And a little nap on the floor, to be honest, was looking pretty good to me. You know the old line that he or she “had broken out into a cold sweat.” Well, I’ll be darned. It really happens.
So Pat called for help. Animal Crackers and an orange juice were brought. On instructions, I tried to put my head between my knees. But even though I am a second-degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do, it’s something of an honorary title these days, what with the inflexibility and all. So I placed my head within shouting distance of my knees. I sipped the orange juice. I chewed an Animal Cracker. I began to shed my symptoms. Wow, those Animal Crackers work fast. And to think, you can buy them over the counter.
The best thing about my vasovagal incident (No. I’m not going to define that for you. You’ve probably Googled it by now, anyway.) was that three talented, professional, good-looking women focused their attention entirely on me, and in a good way. That was almost as therapeutic as the Animal Crackers.
Next year, I’ve been told, I’ll give my vials while lying down. Fine with me.
The rest of the day went well enough. We did a bit of homeschooling. I spruced up the website here and there. A former student called with a fascinating question about the right of a witness in a civil proceeding to consult her lawyer during her testimony. I took my jazz piano lesson. But upon reading my Facebook friend’s guilty musing about skipping the Parade, I detected a faint whisper from the little devil that sits on my right shoulder that I might prefer the coziness of my study, warmed by the stylish glow of my iMac, to shlepping over to Hodgson Hall for the UGA Holiday Concert.
(Caution! Cuidado! Those of you who haven’t attended a UGA Holiday Concert, but plan to attend one, and want to be surprised, should stop reading now. We went to the concert. It was great. Have a nice day. Bye.)
For one thing, we had seven tickets and would be using only three of them. The folks we had invited to go with us had to cancel. So I wouldn’t have the tacky pleasure of leaning over to one of the guests and saying, “You won’t believe how this thing starts. I’m not going to tell you. It would spoil the surprise. But keep your eyes on the aisles on the sides of the theater! And haven’t you wondered where all the singers are?” Honestly, I don’t think I would have succumbed to the temptation to spill the beans. I hope not. But just having the power to do it, having some inside knowledge about what’s about to go down, is a kick in itself, don’t you think?
Well, we went. And, as is so often the case, a chore in prospect became a joy in the event. Yes, the opening number, even if you’ve seen it, is glorious. And student conductor Thomas Taylor Dickey, entrusted with the baton by maestro Mark Cedel, was for me the highlight of the evening as he somehow managed to meld a stage and gallery nearly overstuffed with talented artists into a single, wondrous instrument for the first few pieces. I’ll never tire of hearing Leroy Anderson’s “A Christmas Festival,” partly because I’m always reminded of the swell of emotion I felt as a trombonist playing “Oh, Come All Ye Faithful” triple-forte with my section mates in an earlier incarnation.
Mr. Cedel, the orchestra, and the ladies in the chorus treated us to a captivating sliver of “The Nutcracker.” The Classic City Jazz, under the capable direction of Mitos Andaya, did their Manhattan Transfer thing with their usual cool hotness, and Allen Crowell, in his next-to-last Holiday Concert before retiring, took us on a trip down Memory Lane with an arrangement, originally crafted for Fred Waring and the Pennsylvanians, of “Twas the Night Before Christmas.”
The holiday season in Athens is now officially underway. -- Bob Brussack
Anyway, my friend’s soul-baring status update was something of a Siren song for me. Our plans for the evening didn’t include the Parade. In fact, I’m such a poor keeper-upper with local events sometimes that I hadn’t realized until a few days ago that the Parade was scheduled for last night. But we did have tickets for the UGA Holiday Concert. And I — as my son might say — was just “not feelin’ it.”
(Caution! Cuidado! Any of you subject to vasovagal incidents — and some of you know who you are — might want to skip the remainder of this piece. We went to the concert. It was great. Have a nice day. Bye.)
When I got up yesterday morning, I hadn’t had “anything to eat or drink after midnight.” Yes, yesterday was my annual Labs Day at the doctor’s office. Yippee. I drove over to Prince Avenue, trying to achieve a zen state floating somewhere above the reality of what awaited me. I signed the register and had my choice of waiting room seats as the morning’s first stick-ee. When Pat called my name, I breathed a sigh of relief. Pat’s a very talented sticker. She finds my vein easily, and she’s wonderful at small talk to distract me from the all-too-familiar litany of sounds preceding the inevitable ouchee and the filling of the vials.
All went well. Four vials filled. Needle withdrawn. Gauze and Band-Aid applied. It was then that I happened to remark to Pat, “I’m starting to feel a little weird.” I was tingly. My head was spinning. It was not inconceivable that I might slump forward out of the needle throne and find the linoleum floor within the not-too-distant future. And a little nap on the floor, to be honest, was looking pretty good to me. You know the old line that he or she “had broken out into a cold sweat.” Well, I’ll be darned. It really happens.
So Pat called for help. Animal Crackers and an orange juice were brought. On instructions, I tried to put my head between my knees. But even though I am a second-degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do, it’s something of an honorary title these days, what with the inflexibility and all. So I placed my head within shouting distance of my knees. I sipped the orange juice. I chewed an Animal Cracker. I began to shed my symptoms. Wow, those Animal Crackers work fast. And to think, you can buy them over the counter.
The best thing about my vasovagal incident (No. I’m not going to define that for you. You’ve probably Googled it by now, anyway.) was that three talented, professional, good-looking women focused their attention entirely on me, and in a good way. That was almost as therapeutic as the Animal Crackers.
Next year, I’ve been told, I’ll give my vials while lying down. Fine with me.
The rest of the day went well enough. We did a bit of homeschooling. I spruced up the website here and there. A former student called with a fascinating question about the right of a witness in a civil proceeding to consult her lawyer during her testimony. I took my jazz piano lesson. But upon reading my Facebook friend’s guilty musing about skipping the Parade, I detected a faint whisper from the little devil that sits on my right shoulder that I might prefer the coziness of my study, warmed by the stylish glow of my iMac, to shlepping over to Hodgson Hall for the UGA Holiday Concert.
(Caution! Cuidado! Those of you who haven’t attended a UGA Holiday Concert, but plan to attend one, and want to be surprised, should stop reading now. We went to the concert. It was great. Have a nice day. Bye.)
For one thing, we had seven tickets and would be using only three of them. The folks we had invited to go with us had to cancel. So I wouldn’t have the tacky pleasure of leaning over to one of the guests and saying, “You won’t believe how this thing starts. I’m not going to tell you. It would spoil the surprise. But keep your eyes on the aisles on the sides of the theater! And haven’t you wondered where all the singers are?” Honestly, I don’t think I would have succumbed to the temptation to spill the beans. I hope not. But just having the power to do it, having some inside knowledge about what’s about to go down, is a kick in itself, don’t you think?
Well, we went. And, as is so often the case, a chore in prospect became a joy in the event. Yes, the opening number, even if you’ve seen it, is glorious. And student conductor Thomas Taylor Dickey, entrusted with the baton by maestro Mark Cedel, was for me the highlight of the evening as he somehow managed to meld a stage and gallery nearly overstuffed with talented artists into a single, wondrous instrument for the first few pieces. I’ll never tire of hearing Leroy Anderson’s “A Christmas Festival,” partly because I’m always reminded of the swell of emotion I felt as a trombonist playing “Oh, Come All Ye Faithful” triple-forte with my section mates in an earlier incarnation.
Mr. Cedel, the orchestra, and the ladies in the chorus treated us to a captivating sliver of “The Nutcracker.” The Classic City Jazz, under the capable direction of Mitos Andaya, did their Manhattan Transfer thing with their usual cool hotness, and Allen Crowell, in his next-to-last Holiday Concert before retiring, took us on a trip down Memory Lane with an arrangement, originally crafted for Fred Waring and the Pennsylvanians, of “Twas the Night Before Christmas.”
The holiday season in Athens is now officially underway. -- Bob Brussack
2008-12-04
2008-12-03
Holiday homes tour at Georgia Club
The Georgia Club Foundation will be hosting its second annual Christmas Tour of Homes this Sunday to benefit local charities and service organizations. Six festively decorated homes from each of the Georgia Club neighborhoods will be shown, and in addition to the holiday decorations some of the homes' special features will be shown, including art collections and a "car lover's dream." Tickets are $20 in advance or $25 at the door, and proceeds will benefit a number of elementary, middle, and high schools, as well as Peace Place, Project Safe, and Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic. Tickets can be purchased at the Georgia Club, North Georgia Bank, the Peoples Bank, and the Barrow and Oconee chambers of commerce. They can be purchased for two timeslots, for arrival between noon and 2:30 p.m. or arrival after 2 p.m., with tours concluding at 5 p.m.
There will be a gift shop at the clubhouse offering gourmet food items, teachers' gifts, and holiday crafts, and these sales will also benefit the groups listed above. There is also a Sunday brunch between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. for which you can make reservations by calling (770) 725-8100.
There will be a gift shop at the clubhouse offering gourmet food items, teachers' gifts, and holiday crafts, and these sales will also benefit the groups listed above. There is also a Sunday brunch between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. for which you can make reservations by calling (770) 725-8100.
Athens Christmas Parade -- Thursday!
Don't forget the Athens Christmas Parade is this Thursday, Dec. 4 @ 7 pm.
2008-12-02
OCAF Holiday Market
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Find the perfect handmade gift for that special someone at the 2008 Annual Holiday Market in Watkinsville.
Saturday & Sunday December 6 & 7 from 10 am to 5 pm. FREE Parking. Come early and avoid the rush for parade parking!
Held in our Rocket Hall & 1902 OCAF Center Facilities
34 School St. Watkinsville GA, 30677 (click here for directions)
Food will be available for sale, so come hungry!
Admission is $3 per person over 16 year of age, Under 16 is FREE. All proceeds benefit the Oconee Cultural Arts Foundation, an independant non-profit 501(c)(3) organization. For more information about OCAF visit our web-site at www.ocaf.com
Find the perfect handmade gift for that special someone at the 2008 Annual Holiday Market in Watkinsville.
Saturday & Sunday December 6 & 7 from 10 am to 5 pm. FREE Parking. Come early and avoid the rush for parade parking!
Held in our Rocket Hall & 1902 OCAF Center Facilities
34 School St. Watkinsville GA, 30677 (click here for directions)
Food will be available for sale, so come hungry!
Admission is $3 per person over 16 year of age, Under 16 is FREE. All proceeds benefit the Oconee Cultural Arts Foundation, an independant non-profit 501(c)(3) organization. For more information about OCAF visit our web-site at www.ocaf.com
2008-12-01
uga holiday concerts
Members of the worldwide staff of bobbrussack.com will be converging on Athens from our bureaus around the world this week to mark the official start of the holiday season by attending the UGA Holiday Concert. We'll be at Hodgson Concert Hall for the Thursday performance at 8 p.m. A second performance is scheduled for Friday evening. On stage will be the UGA Symphony Orchestra, Georgia Brass, Concert Choir, University Chorus, Men's and Women's Glee Clubs, and Classic City Jazz. These are popular concerts. I don't know the current ticket situation. You can give the box office a ring at 706-542-4400. -- Bob Brussack
Shows and Auditions in December
Just updated AthensTheatre with info about some free University Theatre shows tomorrow night, Town and Gown's production of Arcadia, and auditions with both groups.
Short Version? University Theatre's Spring auditions are later this week, while auditions for T&G's Cabaret are next week.
Long version? You'll just have to read the original December Update.
Short Version? University Theatre's Spring auditions are later this week, while auditions for T&G's Cabaret are next week.
Long version? You'll just have to read the original December Update.
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