Thirty years after 'The Wheel,' Rosanne Cash, John Leventhal still making beautiful music
Madisyn Welborn for Savannah Morning News
Amy Grant to perform first new music in decade along with hits at Lucas Theatre, June 24
Amy Grant and I barely discuss music or her upcoming concert on June 24 at the Lucas Theatre for the Arts. We were given only 15 minutes, but we stole 45 as our conversation over the phone turned toward the setbacks and sublime moments she has experienced over the past few years and what gifts can be found within struggle.
Natalie Chanin tried to quit Florence, Alabama, many times.
She left her hometown in the fertile delta when it was still the t-shirt-making capital of the world for design school in North Carolina. Afterward, she traveled the world, working in fashion and film, living abroad and in New York’s fabled Chelsea Hotel until the moment she stood at a literal and figurative crossroads, filled with fear and vulnerability, and realized Florence, Alabama, might be the only way home to herself. READ MORE >>
Wynonna Judd was so overcome by the love emanating from the fans attending her concert in Hershey, Pennsylvania, on Jan. 26, she grew dizzy on stage.
“It literally knocked me over, almost.”
To steady herself, she spread her barefoot toes, anchoring herself to the stage, and rocked back and forth.
From the Savannah Morning News
Sixby expands service to seven days a week with Friday night oysters, all-day weekend brunch
Something interesting is happening in this far residential corner of the Starland/Thomas Square Streetcar District – a movement that was initiated by Green Truck Pub when it opened 14 years ago on Habersham Street across from Al Salaam Deli. The latest entry, Sixby, opened in July – first with breakfast and lunch service between 7 a.m. and 3 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday. In August, Sixby added snacks, beer and wine from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m., and beginning the first weekend in October, they expand service to seven days a week with Friday night oysters and wine pairings, and all-day brunch menus Saturday and Sunday.
'Wildcat' director Ethan Hawke discusses the challenges, contradictions of Flannery O'Connor
For people of a certain age, Ethan Hawke has grown up alongside them on screen, beginning with his debut in Joe Dante's sci-fi fantasy "Explorers" in 1985. Moviegoers held their breath then cheered as Robin Williams' Mr. Keating helped release the artist in the shy, sheltered Todd Anderson in the timeless "Dead Poets Society."
Ear Buds: Garden & Gun’s new podcast guides listeners through The Wild South
David DiBenedetto and T. Edward Nickens are having fun. That fact is clear from the first listen of The Wild South, the podcast launched by Garden & Gun magazine in early June. “Dave,” G&G’s editor-in-chief, and “Eddie,” the magazine’s sporting life contributor, share the easy banter and congenial ribbing of longtime friends who’ve waded into the rough surf together.
Wexford's Irish pub fare nods to tradition while embracing Savannah's subtleties
Listening to Jennifer Strickland talk about conducting “research” over 10 days, tasting her way across Ireland, pub by pub, makes you positively Kelly green – until the realization crosses your tastebuds that she is sharing that good fortune with guests at Wexford, Savannah’s Irish Pub.
Savannah's Emily McCarthy goes big and bold in joyful style at new shop on Victory Drive
Well, paint my door green and call me Emily McCarthy!*
After eight years at her eponymous storefront on Abercorn Street, designer and coastal Georgia lifestyle maven Emily McCarthy is spreading her joy to 2237 E. Victory Drive.
Peter Roberts celebrates anniversary with exhibition of 'travel posters' to storied landscapes
Peter Roberts entered his first art show in second grade with his version of a cover for L. Frank Baum’s classic travel story, “The Wizard of Oz.” He even won a prize and a handwritten note of congratulations from the Fairfield (Connecticut) children’s librarian.
A protest, arrest and misidentification: How a Savannah family got doxxed by social media
As soon as an article by the New York Post went live on April 19, Joni Saxon-Giusti, owner of The Book Lady Bookstore, began receiving messages and phone calls, some of them merely unkind, others angry or threatening.
Former Savannah reporter examines leaving the white evangelical church in "The Exvangelicals"
Part memoir, part journalistic inquiry, “The Exvangelicals” — a hashtag reporter Sarah McCammon started seeing across social media — offers riveting insight about a subculture that has transformed American politics over the last 40 years and that has entrenched a sense of both ideological and political purity into debate.
Amateur magicians cast their spell at Memorial Health's Children's Hospital
Kaidyn Jackson dabs a damp washcloth against her nose to hold back a nosebleed – a result of the tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy she endured the day before. She is missing class at the STEM Academy at Bartlett Middle School, but she is getting a lesson in misdirection as magician Tina Kelly throws her an “invisible deck” of cards.
'We're still open': Back in the Day Bakery building listed for sale
The ping on the phone came around noon, Aug. 7, a message from a friend with a Realtor.com post showing 2401-2403 Bull St., the Art Deco-era flatiron-style building that was once home to the Starland Dairy General Store was up for sale.
Special Thanksgiving 2023 Section
No other holiday is constructed so firmly around the table and the idea of abundance and sharing, where with the addition of a couple of leaves, there’s always room for more — more chairs, more place settings, more pies.
More Dirt on Jane: A Tribute
She might admonish me for being so clichéd, but when I think of Jane Fishman, I think of seeds.
Three-part Education Series
How misunderstanding of CRT, social emotional learning failed Savannah students, parents >>
Political climate, lack of transparency, missteps by SCCPSS lead to distrust of SEL, surveys >>
Adolescent mental health is in crisis. Schools are first line of support and need help. >>
This Little Light of Ours
The mission for the Beacon Project, as it became known, was two-fold: to present a common set of facts to ground the topic and to offer solutions to our most persistent problems. Through the magazine and a weekly podcast, the hope was that Beacon’s long-form style of service journalism would spur continued community conversations and place the daily news in a larger context.
What Would Howard Do?
His boundless curiosity, egalitarian ethos, wit and wisdom enjoined people of all stripes and persuasions on causes as diverse as technology and the environment, women’s health and historic preservation, energy innovation and youth enrichment, ginger and turmeric. Stalwart programs we now take for granted, such as the Oceans Exchange, Creative Coast, Savannah Children’s Choir, and Loop It Up, all began in conversation with Morrison.
Two Ears, One Mouth
In Dare to Lead: Brave Work, Tough Conversations, Whole Hearts, author Brené Brown writes, “People are opting out of vital conversations about diversity and inclusivity because they fear looking wrong, saying something wrong, or being wrong. Choosing your own comfort over hard conversations is the epitome of privilege, and it corrodes trust and moves us away from meaningful and lasting change.” So, how do we get better at those tough conversations?
Want Better Leaders? Look in the Mirror.
Throughout this issue, we have sought neither to demonize those who have had the courage to run for office nor king-make. We have tried, however, to illustrate how each one of us has the opportunity and the honor to take responsibility for the future of our community. Here, we offer a recap of what we can do collectively and as individuals to assemble “a deeper bench.”
Taking Stock: The City’s Ambitious Plans for Affordable Housing
Not far from the proposed canal district on the city’s west side, Martin Fretty parks his car on Cummings Street in front of a lot where the ruins of a concrete foundation and front porch steps rise out of a tangle of weeds. From behind the wheel of his car, Fretty points to the house next door, abandoned with a roof caved in by fire. A few houses down the street, another dilapidated cottage is marked by an orange placard declaring the house unfit for habitation.
Tightening the Belt: Time to Rethink How to Move Through the City
It sat there on the desk, this uncredited, institutional-looking brochure with a most innocuous title: Chatham County Regional Transportation Improvements Concept Plan. The pages inside, however, traffic in the big, dreamy ideas that make this former urban and parks planner a little giddy, because the conceptual drawings and potential solutions presented simply ask, “Is there a better way?”
Nonprofit Helps Refugees Find Safe Haven in Savannah
If ever there were a classic American bootstrap story, Sarmad Al Khazraji’s would be it. He grew up the only boy with five sisters in a middle-class neighborhood in Baghdad, Iraq. His father was an English teacher at the military school where his son attended. His mother was a homemaker. They were Muslims living among mainly Christians neighbors, but those distinctions hardly mattered in the Baghdad of the late-1970s and early-1980s, which enjoyed a thriving economy, a rich and storied history, and served as a cultural crossroads for food, arts and intellectual exploration.
School lottery can seem like game of Win, Lose or Draw
In a surprisingly candid moment during an interview three years ago, Savannah’s Mayor Eddie DeLoach and former mayor Otis Johnson agreed that the most important municipal election was not who would lead the city, but who would lead the board of public education.
PERSONALITIES
For “Mayor Joe,” Tough Moments Offer Best Opportunities to Serve
I have been told it’s not a good thing to meet your heroes. That may be true in some cases, but not in [Joseph P.] Riley’s. He’s every bit as gracious and humble in person, even as he talks about the lessons gained from such tempests as Hurricane Hugo in 1989 and the murders of nine members of Mother Emanuel in 2015, bookends of his 40-year tenure as the Holy City’s mayor.
Oracle of Fashion: Fern Mallis
A frequent guest of the Savannah College of Art and Design’s School of Fashion, Fern Mallis sat down with Savannah magazine before her freewheeling conversation with colorful designer Betsey Johnson to discuss her endless curiosity and seemingly boundless energy when it comes to fashion.
Of Time and the Island
The summer of 2012 marked 40 years since Pat Conroy’s The Water is Wide introduced the world to Daufuskie Island’s children. Amy Paige Condon crosses the river to see what time has wrought.
St. Francis of Savannah
A prodigal son returns to the fold and finds his calling as a pet minister.
Garden & Gun
Savannah’s Hot Spots: A Surging Tide
Travelers have always flocked to this charm-laden river city, and nowadays there are more reasons to visit than ever.
Savannah’s Welcome Committee
Four locals bringing people together in the Hostess City.
FOOD & DRINK
The South’s Florence
When his restaurant opens this May, celebrated Top Chef Hugh Acheson will make his move on Savannah. Amy Paige Condon breaks bread with the talented culinary team leading the city’s Italian Renaissance.
Killer Crab
Under the tutelage of a Daufuskie Island native, Amy Paige Condon sinks her claws into some Gullah home cooking.
Nita’s Place
Back in the ‘90s, Juanita Dixon helped usher in Savannah’s soul food revival, winning over the passions and palates of celebrities, city leaders, and simple folk alike. Amy Paige Condon gets the gravy.
Off the Menu
Beyond the beach-fare standards, a Tybee Island chef reveals his true heart in chalk. Amy Paige Condon shakes off the sand and pulls up a chair.
Simple Math
Savannah is filled with pockets of get-real grub—modest establishments where the patrons are city workers who plant trees, street lawyers with rolled-up shirtsleeves and ties askew, and moms toting a kid on each hip. These outposts—meat-and-threes—are where you can still find authentic, unfussy food that is humble, hearty and made with heart by self-taught cooks. With origins in the backs of corner stores and neighborhood grocery stores, meat-and-threes combine the convenience of fast food with the flavor of slow cooking.
Grape Expectations
I’m hammered. Maybe that’s an overstatement, but I’m definitely a shade past happily buzzed by the end of a tasting session with Michael Jaeger, Michael Ambrose and Stan Ray—the self-described “cork dorks” at the Savannah Wine Cellar. This trio of oenophiles tries hundreds of wines a month and is smart enough to spit out the 10 different wines we sample on this day. By contrast, I’m a novice when it comes to discerning balance, body and bouquet. I’m all in and here to learn.
BUSINESS & ECONOMY
When Life Gives You Lemons
Citrus growers claim greater market share as climate, disease, and opportunity push crops north of the Georgia-Florida line.
First Flying Cars to Roll Off Production Lines
Inventor and science fiction writer Hugo Gernsback first proposed the concept of a two-wheeled helicar in a 1923 issue of Science and Invention magazine. Since then, we have imagined all manner of flying automobile, from “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” to hovercraft to “The Jetsons.” Save for special effects and animation, however, our cars and trucks remain planted on terra firma as traffic continues to frustrate and our carbon footprints expand. But, the future of car flight may be upon us, just in time to mark the 50th anniversary of man’s walk on the moon.
HOME & DESIGN
Object Lessons
Free from the constraints of Victorian formality, a fashion-forward couple makes an elegantly lighthearted retreat.
Storybook Cottage
After leading a nomadic life—24 houses in 10 years—a local writer transforms an early 1900s Thunderbolt cottage into a creative haven.
Go Big, Go Bold
Vintage advertising posters from the early 20th century are the Shelby Cobras of wall art—exuberant, muscular and ageless—and just as collectible.
TRAVEL & DISCOVERY
Blaze A Trail
The 400-mile stretch of southeastern coast between Cape Fear, North Carolina and Jacksonville, Florida is an irreplaceable geography, marked by the meeting of sea and soil that is low and lush. And, it is as distinctive for its impacts on more than 300 years of American history. It is the only place in the world where the remnants of indigo, cotton and rice plantations—and the West and Central African slave labor that supported them—has yielded a singular culture of folklore, family, food, music, language and dance that has been kept alive by the first freedmen’s descendants—even today. But, it is a culture in danger of fading for good.
Paranormal Activity
Ambivalent about specters, Amy Paige Condon encounters the inexplicable and begins to wonder if there’s more to the afterlife than meets the eye.
Against All Odds
On Wassaw Island, a plucky nonprofit helps Georgia’s loggerhead sea turtles make a stunning comeback.
New Leash on Life
Behind the bars (and barks) at the county jail, prisoners find hope.