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1) Howlies, Gentlemen Jesse & His Men, and Vera Fang play the Earl.
2) Drive-Invasion is at Starlight Six Drive-In Theatres for the weekend.
3) The Human League, Belinda Carlisle and Flock of Seagulls play Chastain Park Amphitheater.
4) Grant Park Summer Shade Festival begins its Labor Day weekend festivities.
5) The AJC Decatur Book Festival kicks off.
(Photo courtesy Howlies)
Today’s Air Loaf features CL’s Chanté LaGon and Curt Holman chatting about blogging vs. authorship, with Dragon*Con and the Decatur Book Festival as a backdrop.
Air Loaf is broadcast weekdays on 1690 WMLB-AM at approximately 8:10 a.m., 12:20 p.m. and 6:20 p.m.
Thanks to the Decatur Book Festival and Dragon*Con, writers will be descending upon Atlanta like a horde of Visigoths this Labody Day Weekend. In advance of two of my favorite local events, in the Arts section this week, the story “Books vs. Blogs” explores the virtues and pitfalls of author’s blogs. Since so many writers have blogs, the story focused on a few noteworthy examples, including science fiction author John Scalzi and his popular, 10 year-old old blog Whatever (anthologized in the upcoming volume Your Hate Mail Will Be Graded); horror novelist Cherie Priest and her Livejournal blog; and cartoonist Rich Tommaso’s Seattle Sketchbook.
Since there are soooo many author’s blogs out there, I won’t claim to offer a complete list of blogging guests of the Decatur Book Festival, let alone Dragon*Con, but here’s a few interesting ones. If you have suggestions of the “How dare you not include this one!” variety, please offer them in the comments field. (No, really.)
Kristen Chase: Motherhood Uncensored
Mir Kamin: Woulda Coulda Shoulda
The Place Where Jack Pendarvis has a “Blog” (featuring “McNeil’s Gold Medal International Emergency Exit Theatre”)
The “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” host has backed out of the DBF because of “scheduling conflicts,” according to a festival press release. Pennington and his show recently made headlines when one of its projects, a colossal construction for a Lake City, Ga., family, was foreclosed upon and scheduled for auction Aug. 5.
Check out the festival’s website for updated schedules and details on author appearances.
(Photo courtesy www.typenningtonstyle.com)
One of the more popular features of last year’s Decatur Book Festival was the giant crossword puzzle hanging at the Decatur bandstand. People lined up around the block for the chance to fill in a few blanks. Because it was such a hit, and in an effort to keep lines down, this year’s DBF co-founder and director Tom Bell (and former CL contributor) has decided to have numerous crosswords hanging up at the book market street fair.
In order to keep each one different, he needs a lot of clues. That’s where you come in. If you think you might have a crossword clue (and, of course, an answer to go with it), put it in a comment at his blog (do not post it here on Fresh Loaf — much as I like crosswords — because it won’t be of any use to the festival).
You can provide as many clues and answers as you see fit regarding any literary-ish topic. Figurative bonus points if your clue has to do with a Georgia author or one of the authors featured at this year’s festival. I imagine it’d also be appreciated if your clues varied some in difficulty. If all the crossword clues are worthy of the Saturday New York Times, the DBF could have some ornery festival-goers on its hands. Bookworms don’t like feeling inferior.
The deadline to get your clues and answers in is Sun., July 27. Again, here’s the link for posting.
(Photo courtesy the Decatur Book Festival)
DECATUR BOOK FESTIVAL: Lady Hardin offers quiet, poetic reflection at Java Monkey.
Last weekend, Decatur’s town square and several nearby buildings were taken over by literati, bibliophiles and word nerds. The occasion: the AJC Decatur Book Festival, a gathering of distinguished authors, poets, book vendors and funnel-cake bakers.
This writer’s personal highlights? Illustrator/musician/author Chris Raschka performed his jazzy children’s book Charlie Parker Played Be Bop in the Target-sponsored kiddie tent. When I say performed, I mean he read it to the tune of “A Night in Tunisia†(a Dizzy Gillespie composition famously performed by Parker).
On Sunday, I listened to authors Chris Rose and Michael Tisserand discuss their books chronicling the ups and downs (mostly downs) of life in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina. Tisserand memorably called the post-Katrina death and devastation in New Orleans “friendly fire†since it was the failure of the U.S. Army’s poorly designed, poorly built flood-control system that wrecked the city. The storm itself did minimal damage.
(Photo by Eamon Siggins)
