Y'all Magazine – June 2005

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50 STEAMIEST SOUTHERNERS | BILL ENGVALL | SOUTHERN BASEBALL PARKS | DOROTHEA BENTON FRANK

ʼall

JUNE 2005

Lee Ann Womack

Mark Martin

THE M AGA ZINE OF SOUTHERN PEOPLE

Lee Ann Womack

Emeril Lagasse

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Paula Deen

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Sizzling Southern Chefs $3.95 U.S. / $5.95 CAN

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MAY/JUNE 2005

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CHICKEN KINGS

Southern Food Issue

4/8/05 6:32:43 PM

My South

talks about lunch at breakfast and dinner at lunch. In My South, we eat to live, and eat and live better than anyone. My South is on Turner South.

live to eat,

Weekdays 5PM ET Saturdays 12PM ET

For Marvin’s new Home Plate cookbook and other Turner South merchandise go to TurnerSouth.com!

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4/13/05 5:37:09 PM

WE’RE OPEN TO WONDERFUL POSSIBILITIES. Opening in Spring 2005, the Marriott Shoals Hotel & Spa, located on the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail, brings sophisticated ambiance, attentive service and warm hospitality to the Tennessee Valley. Experience extraordinary golfing on Fighting Joe, named one of the top 10 new courses by Golf Magazine and Travel and Leisure Golf. Enjoy world-class fishing, stunning views of the Tennessee River—as well as the cachet of opening season at the resort destined to become the area’s premier destination.

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Marriott Shoals Hotel & Spa Florence, Alabama

Call 866-746-2506 or visit www.shoalshotel.com to become part of our premiere season.

©2005 Marriott International, Inc.

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4/8/05 6:20:18 PM

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THE M AGA ZINE OF SOUTHERN PEOPLE Volume 3 | Number 3

this-n-that 9 Where Y’all?

Capturing hot Southern stars, from Dollywood to Hollywood.

Photo courtesy of Lee Ann Womack

StephenShugerman/Getty Images

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LEE ANN WOMACK East Texas girl Lee Ann Womack is back on top of the charts with her country gem, “I May Hate Myself In The Morning.” Read all about the way this platinum beauty balances a dynamic singing career with two daughters, and home-cooked meals.

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On the Money

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Coach Max Howell

50

Cajun Humor

51

Cranky Yankee

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Star Gazing

Money man Dave Ramsey gets you prepared for a Total Money Makeover.

Football season’s only a few months away. Are you ready?

Max shares his inside track on the South’s collegiate future.

Lawd have mercy, dat Tommy Joe Breaux dun brought a nodder humorous look at life down in Breaux Bridge, La. Born to be a redneck, no matter if you are from North of the MasonDixon.

Joe LoCicero reports on Hollywood cusine and his favorite down home diners.

Wine Down South

71 Doc Lawrence breaks out the good stuff for Y’all.

Collar 73 Blue Bill Engvall’s “Here’s Your Sign” is

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a success. Learn how the Texas funnyman got the act going.

CHICKEN KINGS

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A salute to the men that have made chicken easily accessible and devoured; whether it’s a Chick-Fil-A sandwich, or Hooters’ wings.

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Peter Kramer/Getty Images

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What Southern Women Know Ronda Rich’s dose of Dixie wisdom.

In Memoriam Remembering Southerners who have passed to the Great Beyond.

82 Festive South

The heat is rising in Dixie, and that means festivals galore. From peaches, ballons and watermelon, find out the hot spots.

4/11/05 5:47:39 PM

e so GLEN WILSON/UNIVERSAL IVER STUDIOS

SSouthern CHEFS 26

Something all y’all can agree on. Southern food rocks! 13 lucky Southerners get to spend their work days stirring up great Dixie dishes.

EMERIL & PAULA’S COVER PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE FOOD NETWORK

features 52

Baseball Parks

55

Ray McKinnon

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Music Family Traditions

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Dorothea B. Frank

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From appearing in O’ Brother to directing his own films, this talented Southerner is a rising face in Hollywood.

Hank Williams Jr. once sang about family tradition.

Daughter Holly is now carrying the torch. So is Waylon Jennings’ son, Shooter, and more.

Book lovers in the South have caught on to South Carolina author Dorothea Benton Frank. Her novels Isle of Palms, Sullivan’s Island, and the new one, Pawley’s Island, are great reads. Discover this author’s success.

What Southern Women Know About Flirting Y’all columnist Ronda Rich’s latest book spills the beans on the exciting way Southern girls have all the fun.

southern sounds

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You don’t have to live in a Major League city to have a great baseball park. Minor League parks in Memphis, Louisville, Chattanooga and Mobile are home runs too.

The South has some hot new music to listen to as you get ready to head out to the beach or lake. John Brannen has worked the clubs of Texas, Nashville and his native South Carolina. A new DVD captures the genuine Blues players from Mississippi.

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4/7/05 9:05:49 PM

Looking for new and unique merchandise for your store?

Stand Out With Mississippi Market Wholesale Show

Friday, June 10, 2005 9am - 5pm and Saturday, June 11, 2005 9am - 3pm The Trade Mart — Jackson, MS Pre register by May to attend the South’s premier order only wholesale show featuring Mississippi companies designing producing and selling merchandise available only to retail store buyers

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No cash and carry No cost to attend but you should pre register Call or visit our website for more information

Call toll free 1-888-886-3323 or visit us at www.mississippimarket.org

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inside

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Growing up in Gainesville, Florida, singer Aslyn filled up on good greens and great music. The rocker hits American airwaves with her debut album.

LEFT TO RIGHT: STREETER LECKA/GETTY IMAGES, CAPITIOL RECORDS

inner VIEW

Aslyn

Mark Martin

KEVIN WINTER/GETTY

From rural Arkansas to Victory Lane, Mark Martin has captured checkered flags and America’s heart. The NASCAR star shares thoughts on his final season in InnerView.

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Blind Boys of Alabama CARLO ALLEGRI/GETTY

50 Steamiest Southerners

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E! Entertainment Television recognized the South’s domination with the countdown show 50 Steamiest Southern Stars. Y’all was invited to Hollywood to chime in on the Dixie domination.

Watermelon Queen

This Southern “Colonel” brought fried chicken to the world.

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The sweet Southern watermelon is an important part of the South’s history and economy. Queen Stephanie Noel Duda is out spittin’ seeds about her favorite fruit.

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Y’all of Fame Colonel Sanders

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For decades, this group of Southern singers has brought the house down with its vocal mastery, despite the challenges.

Quilts of Gee’s Bend

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Passed down from previous generations, a group of artistic ladies turn out amazing quilts in Lower Alabama.

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A Soldier’s Story Chattanooga native Andrex Exum shares his experience in Afghanistan.

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4/7/05 9:10:11 PM

yʼall

HOLLYWOOD GOES Y’ALL

™

THE M AGA ZINE OF SOUTHERN PEOPLE ™

President & Publisher Jon Rawl jon@yall.com Managing Editor Molly Fergusson molly@yall.com

VP & Associate Publisher Keith Sisson keith@yall.com

Art Director Carroll Moore carroll@yall.com

Account Executive Meredith Dabbs meredith@yall.com

(662)236-1928 Circulation Director Rachel Thompson Twiford rachel@yall.com New Media Andy Young andy@yall.com Art Assistant Crace R. Alexander Photographer Chad Mills Asst. Managing Editor Mary-Kathryn Millner Copy Editor Dianne S. Fergusson Illustrators Don Maters Contributing Writers Deborah Ford Ronda Rich Kristin Gravatt Tommy Joe Breaux Bill Engvall Doc Lawrence Paula Dabbs Dave Ramsey Annabelle Robertson Joe LoCicero Laurie Stieber Jennifer Russell Amanda Manning Jenna Blackwell Molly Matthews Max Howell Ginger Weston Easley Tabatha Gardner Laura Lee Fleming Terrell Johnson

Editorial Assistants Tabatha Gardner Michael Nozinich Mallory May Brian Ferguson Matthew Bandermann Alabama Bureau Paula Sullivan Dabbs alabama@yall.com Arkansas Bureau Jason Nall arkansas@yall.com Kentucky Bureau Colleen Cassity kentucky@yall.com North Carolina Bureau Jason “Pig” Thompson northcarolina@yall.com Oklahoma Bureau Lee Cartwright oklahoma@yall.com Tennessee Bureau Joshua Wilkins tennessee@yall.com Texas Bureau Matt Heermans texas@yall.com Virginia Bureau Clay Reynolds virginia@yall.com Publishing Consultant Samir Husni Circulation

Y’all is published bimonthly by General Rawl Media, LLC (May/June 2005), Volume 3, Number 3. Editorial and advertising offices at 1006 Van Buren, Suite 211, Oxford, MS 38655-3900. Mailing address: P.O. Box 1217, Oxford, MS 38655. Telephone: 662-236-1928. Basic subscription rate: 6 issues, U.S. $19.95; Canada $32.69. 12 issues, U.S. $34.95; Canada $45.80.

Entire contents copyright 2005, General Rawl Media, LLC. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited. Products named in these pages are tradenames or trademarks of their respective companies. Opinions expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect that of the publisher.

For subscriptions, queries, and customer service, please visit www. yall.com Y’all Magazine Business phone: 662-236-1928.

E-mail us at: mail@yall.com Subscriptions: Toll-Free 1-800-935-5185 Application to mail at Periodical Postage Rates is Pending at Oxford, Mississippi and at additional mailing offices.

POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Y’all, c/o Magazine Processing Center, P.O. Box 0567, Selmer, TN 38375-9908.

Printed in the USA.

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The South’s known for many things. Food just might be the most important one. You don’t rush to have Midwest, Pacific Northwest or New England cuisine, now do you? Dixie is the home of sweet tea (iced of course), grits, fried chicken, collards, turnips, okra, hush puppies, crawfish, oysters, Coca Cola, MoonPies, pecan pie, etc. What has Oregon or New Hampshire done for our bellies lately?

This issue of Y’all takes a closer look at Southern cooks who know how to stir up our Southern cuisine, including Emeril Lagasse, Paula Deen, Marvin Woods, and more. Paula, who’s as Southern as Albany, Ga. (her hometown), shares a delicious interview and a delicious Shrimp and Grits recipe from her new cookbook, Paula Deen & Friends: Living It Up, Southern Style. We also salute the “Kings of Chicken” on page 38. ChickFil-A, Popeyes, Kentucky Fried Chicken and Hooters have all brought the “official” Southern bird to the plate, in their own unique ways.

Y’all in Hollywood? That’s right! The Magazine of Southern People was invited to participate on E! Entertainment Television’s 50 Steamiest Southern Stars show, which premiered in April. It was a blast to go west and bring a little Southern charm to Tinseltown, where I appeared as a commentator on the show. The production team loved the MoonPies I brought out to them. 50 Steamiest Southern Stars, which re-airs in May, showcases the sexiest Southerners today. To find out if your favorite Dixie Diva or Dude made the steamy list, check out page 60 for a recap.

Thank you for reading Y’all, the Magazine of Southern People.

Southernly yours,

Jon Rawl

Y’ALL • THE MAGAZINE OF SOUTHERN PEOPLE

4/7/05 9:15:29 PM

where y’all?

ATLANTA BRAVE: Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue (R) presents Ashley Smith with her $10,000 reward from the State of Georgia for assisting in the apprehension of quadruple-murderer Brian Nichols in March. Smith received a total of $70,000 in reward money from the State of Georgia, the FBI, the U.S. Marshals Service, the City of Atlanta, the Georgia Sheriffs’ Association, the Georgia Fraternal Order of Police and the Georgia Associciation of Chiefs of Police.

(Photo by Parker Smith/Getty Images)

SAVE THE DOLPHINS: Volunteer rescuers load rough-tooth dolphins into a Publix Supermarket semi-trailer March, 5, 2005 in Marathon, Fla. The dolphins were transported to the Marine Mammal Conservancy in Key Largo for rehabilitation.

They are a facet of about 68 that stranded March 2 off the Florida Keys.

(Photo by Rob O’Neal/Florida Keys News Bureau via Getty Images)

BE MY VALENTINE: Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee (C) and his wife, Janet, watch as their covenant marriage paperwork is certified by the Pulaski Country Circuit Court Clerk, after being married for 30 years February 14, 2005 in Little Rock, Ark. Several thousand married couples from around the state of Arkansas gathered for the Celebration of Marriage in observance of Valentine’s Day. (Photo by Mario Villafuerte/Getty Images)

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where y’all?

SOUTHERN BOYZ: Actor Chris Tucker, from Decatur, Ga., Atlanta producer Jermaine Dupri and St. Louis rapper Nelly attend the 2005 NBA All Star Game at the Pepsi Center on February 20, 2005 in Denver, Colo. (Photo by Mark Mainz/Getty Images) 10

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PLAY BALL: (Far left) Chipper Jones of the Atlanta Braves strikes a pose during Media Day 2005. The Jacksonville, Fla., native will lead the club in its quest for a 14th straight title.

(Right) Tampa Bay Devil Rays slugger Roberto Alomar of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays is all smiles at his team’s media event in St. Petersburg, Fla. (Chipper Jones photo by Doug Pensinger,Getty Images/ Alomar photo by Andy Lyons,Getty Images)

TREE POINTER: One Tree Hill’s James Lafferty welcomes cheers at the start of the One Tree Hill Charity Basketball Game on Feb. 11 at Trask Coliseum in Wilmington, N.C. The game raised over $12,000 for Girls Inc., the Wilmington Children’s Museum, and St. Jude’s Hospital. The WB show is filmed in Wilmington. (Photo by Logan

GOOD NIGHT: CBS News staff members salute Dan Rather after his last CBS Evening News broadcast from the CBS Broadcast Center in New York on March 9. Rather began anchoring on March 9, 1981.

During his 24 years in the job, the Wharton, Texas native interviewed every living U.S. President, traveled to more than 35 countries, and won numerous awards. (photo by John P. Filo/CBS News Archive)

Mock-Bunting/Getty Images)

BACK HOME AFTER 23 YEARS: YEARS: A horse drawn military caisson carries the casket of CDR Thomas Earl Dunlop, USN, during a full honors funeral at Arlington National Cemetery March 21, 2005 in Arlington, Va. Dunlop, of Neptune Beach, Fla., was shot down in 1972 while on a bombing mission over North Vietnam. Last year, human remains were excavated at a crash site and were later indentified as Dunlop’s.

(Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

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Daytime Emmy Nominees The 32nd Annual Daytime Emmy Awards air on CBS Friday, May 20th at 9PM/E. There are four SOUTHERNERS nominated in the lead category:

GRANT ALEKSANDER Baltimore, Md.

OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTRESS IN A DRAMA SERIES: KASSIE DEPAIVA (Blair Kramer) One Life to Live (ABC)

OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES: GRANT ALEKSANDER (Phillip Spaulding) Guiding Light (CBS) JACK WAGNER (Dominick Payne Marone) The Bold And The Beautiful (CBS)

CHRISTIAN JULES LEBLANC New Orleans, La.

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ALL PHOTOS COURTESY OF CBS EXCEPT KASSIE FROM ABC

CHRISTIAN JULES LEBLANC (Michael Baldwin) The Young and the Restless (CBS)

Y’ALL • THE MAGAZINE OF SOUTHERN PEOPLE

4/18/05 7:06:14 PM

JACK WAGNER Washington, Mo.

FREDERICK BROWN/GETTY IMAGES

We’d love

to hear from y’all!

Letters should include the writer’s full name, address and daytime phone number and may be edited for clarity and space.

KASSIE DEPAIVA (also at left) Morganfield, Ky.

TO CONTACT THE EDITORIAL STAFF Write to us: Y’all Magazine Editorial Dept.

P.O. Box 1217 Oxford, Mississippi 38655

Call us: 662-236-1928 E-mail us: editor@yall.com

MAY/JUNE 2005 • Y’ALL

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reviews Carbon Leaf, Indian Summer T name might sound new to you, but Carbon The Leaf has been around over a decade, and thanks to the breakout single “Life Less Ordinary,” they may be around for a long time to come. They have mature lyrics and rhythms that blend elements from jazz to country ballads, complete with bluegrass beats. These are mainly laid-back tunes to relax to, with lyrics pondering the unanswerable questions of life and love. These five guys aren’t trying to find their sound- they’ve found it and perfected it.

This results in a collection of songs, each of which has its own unique melody and lyrical focus, yet are tied together by a common male-vocal sound and lyrics that move beyond the clichéd subjects of drugs, violence and fashion trends. “What About Everything?” questions all aspects of life over a guitar beat solidified with strings, “Paloma” has a

John Brannen, The Good Thief

jazzy/world beat that rises and falls with intensity, and “One Prairie Outpost” has a beat with a hint of country twang. Carbon Leaf has amassed a solid fan base due to their continent-spanning touring schedule and a solid sound that is all their own. If their single “Life Less Ordinary” catches your ear, this is definitely a band you will want to check out. Try it at www.carbonleaf.com.

On his fourth album, John Brannen shows you music with a country soul woven through the beats of rock, soul and blues. Brannen’s hometown is Charleston, S.C. He has done his time in Nashville, and he’s played in his share of Texas bars. He he is a country boy at heart. But Brannen takes these elements and mixes them with his time in Hawaii and the West Indies, then blends in lyrical inspiration from Bob Dylan to make an album with a variety of beats and styles. “Witches Rain” starts you off with a rock tune with a touch of soul blues in the backup singers, “Waiting” builds up to a rocking beat laced with a country voice, while “Don’t Wanna Lose Like That Again” has a slow, twangy beat and vocals sounding like David Bowie.

“A Pair of Dice” sounds like a rocking tune to gamble to, “Lookin’ Good” has a heavy drum beat for a lusty song, but many of the album’s later tunes slow down and sound the most like pure country. Don’t miss the hidden track, a soulful slow country version of “Amazing Grace.”

reviews by Kristin Gravatt 14

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Y’ALL • THE MAGAZINE OF SOUTHERN PEOPLE

4/7/05 9:40:46 PM

You See Me Laughin’: The Last of the Hill Country Bluesmen This DVD from Fat Possum Records is aptly titled, for it records the lives of the Southern musicians considered to be some of the last true bluesmen: R.L. Burnside, T-Model Ford, Junior Kimbrough and Cedell Davis among others. The story of Fat Possum’s beginnings and the lives of these true bluesmen is told through personal interviews and stories. Make no mistake though; these are no rags to riches stories, these are the stories of hard-lived lives and the daily struggles these talented musicians still endure. Cedell Davis is confined to a wheelchair due to polio, typhoid fever, malaria fever and a time that he was trampled in a club, yet still manages to grip a butter knife in one disfigured hand to play his unique style of blues. T-Model Ford didn’t pick up a guitar until his wife left him at age 58. He taught himself to play and now makes his money as a musician at age 76, though he and his family still live in a dilapidated house in need of much

repair. R.L. Burnside, Fat Possum’s most profitable artist, was born in Oxford, Miss., and then moved to Chicago in his 20s only to have five family members murdered in just eight months. After that, he was happy to come home to Mississippi, settling in Clarksdale, where he still lives today. These are just a few of the stories these men have to tell about their lives, stories that are a mere background to the soulful and original music they love to play.

These men taught themselves and played for themselves; they did not want fame and fortune. Fat Possum Records was created for the purpose of recording these talents and getting their music out so these raw talents will not fade away after death but live forever through their music. It is music from the soul for the soul, and this DVD documents some true Southern musicians, their real-life struggles and unbelievable talent. It also documents the beginnings of Fat Possum Records and the relationship the artists have with the label. This DVD is a must-have for anyone interested in Southern blues today and the legendary artists on the Fat Possum label.

Jamie O’Neal - Brave This gorgeous country crooner realized a few years back that “There Is No Arizona,” and now Aussie-turned-Tennessean Jamie O’Neal is “Trying To Find Atlantis,” her current single.

One thing’s for sure, Jamie found a hit song.

This comeback CD offers the listener a wealth of well-written songs. “When Did You Know” is a gorgeous piano-and-strings power ballad punctuated with a penetrating chorus.

Jamie had a hand in writing “Ready When It Comes.” The inspirational lyrics and melody will certainly lift you up. One song that’s a bit much is “Devil On The Left.” Its chaotic concoction of instrumentation will leave you scratching your head.

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Lee Ann Womack

by Jennifer Russell

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Y’ALL • THE MAGAZINE OF SOUTHERN PEOPLE

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Back to her Texas country roots, Lee Ann Womack has produced her newest album, There’s More Where That Came From, in a style with less pop and more Loretta Lynn and Tammy Wynette-inspired sounds. After a disappointing crossover album attempt in 2002, Womack, 38, releases this new album with her first single “I May Hate Myself In The Morning,” featuring a voice lamenting over a drunken late night phone call. Her new, more country style sound includes both a steel guitar and a fiddle reminiscent of a more traditional country background. Even the album cover has a retro ‘70s country look.

“I wanted the artwork to look like an old album, so we had the label make that,” Womack says. “Then they decided they would press them in actual vinyl for collectors.”

Womack grew up in Jacksonville, Texas, acquainted with the music scene because her father, Aubrey Womack, was a disc jockey.

As a child, Womack went to work with her father and helped select albums to play on the radio. She was so interested in country music that she skipped her senior trip for a chance to go to Nashville to tour Music Row and watch TNN tapings.

Womack’s new album seems to have a historical country charm in its new sound that she learned in her childhood in East Texas. As a teacher, her father taught history to Neal McCoy, another country music star. With her father’s historical knowledge of country music history, Womack says that she is “fairly knowledgeable” of the subject.

“My dad was a disc jockey before he taught school and I think I learned more there than I did with history [class],” Womack says.

After finishing high school, Womack went to South Plains Junior College in Levelland, Texas, where she earned her degree in country bluegrass music. As a member of the school band Country Caravan, Womack developed a distinct sound. In 1986, Womack made

“

her way to Nashville and began school studying the country music business at Belmont University. She also interned at MCA Records, which would become her recording label.

While at Belmont, Womack married a fellow singersongwriter, Jason Sellers. They later divorced and Womack stayed home with daughter Aubrey for a few years. She developed her song writing ability and eventually signed with Tree Publishing in 1995.

Shortly after, she was able to sign with Decca Records as an artist.

Her first single “Never Again, Again,” contained her traditional country sound and managed to climb the charts to No. 22. Womack received great reviews from fellow country stars like Alan Jackson and George Strait.

“We’re (Womack and Alan Jackson) big fans of each other,” Womack says. “I hope I get to work a lot with Alan in the next few years. We don’t run into each other much because we’re going different directions Womack’s biggest hit “I Hope You Dance” topped the charts at No. 1 for five weeks in 2001 and received popularity from pop and country fans alike. After marrying producer Frank Liddell in 1999, Womack had another daughter, Anna. Both children appeared in the “I Hope You Dance” music video. A Country Music Association Female Vocalist of the Year

COURTESY OF LEE ANN WOMACK

My dad was a disc jockey before he taught school and I think I learned more there than I did with history [class].

”

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The Womack File

4 No. 1 Singles “The Fool” “A Little Past Little Rock” “I’ll Think of a Reason Later” “I Hope You Dance”

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Top 10 Hits

“You’ve Got To Talk To Me” “Now You See Me (Now You Don’t)” “Ashes By Now” “I May Hate Myself In The Morning”

Platinum Sales Lee Ann Womack CD Certified Platinum

Some Things I Know CDCertified Gold I Hope You Dance CD Certified Triple

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Platinum

Award and three million records sold later, Womack’s career catapulted.

Womack received so much attention from the pop music world that she attempted a crossover album, Something Worth Leaving Behind, in 2002. After poor record sales and bad reviews, Womack left this record “behind” (only featuring one song from it on her greatest hits album).

Womack’s return to traditional country is a refreshing rebirth, she says. “I took some time off so it’s great when you can come back with full guns blazing. You know, I feel refreshed.”

Much of Womack’s time off has been dedicated to raising her girls, now 14 and 6. Womack says that she stayed home and took the girls to school and picked them up. “Normal people stuff” became a part of her everyday lifestyle. Being back in the music scene, she has learned to juggle being a professional artist and mother at the same time in her typical day.

“When I’m at home, Frank takes the kids to school, but I usually get up to see them off,” Womack says. “Then it’s coffee for a while. My assistant shows up and we get on the computer, and I may have a few hours of interviews or meetings,

things like that. Then the kids are home from school, and I take care of that if they need help for school or a project.”

Her life has influenced her song writing and comically inspired one of her newest songs from her album, the memorable “Twenty Years and Two Husbands Ago.” “That song was just a song that I wrote with Steve Dillon and Bill Dodson,” Womack remembers. “My assistant asked me a question and I told her that I didn’t remember because it was twenty years and two husbands ago, and I knew immediately that was a song that needed to be written.”

The more traditional sound of her album may be a part of her home in Texas. With her Lone Star roots, Womack has not left behind the pride that both Southerners and Texans feel for their homeland. Peach cobbler and country fried steak are still some of her favorite Southern style dishes..

This summer, Womack will be promoting her highly praised album while touring with Toby Keith. To see where Womack is and what she is doing, fans can go to her website and view her diary, which showcases her tour visits, www.leeannwomack.com.

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inner VIEW

NASCAR’s Mark Martin is saying goodbye to the high octane spectacular in 2005. Martin, 46, has achieved everything just short of a Cup title in 24 years, earning 34 Winston or Nextel Cup victories and finishing second in the point standings four times (1990, 1994, 1998 and 2002). The Batesville, Ark., native will be able to pit more with wife Arlene and the couple’s five children, once the season’s complete.

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L TO R: DARRELL INGHAM/GETTY IMAGES, STREETER LECKA/GETTY IMAGES FOR NASCAR, STREETER LECKA/GETTY IMAGES, ROBERT LABERGE/GETTY IMAGES

Mark Martin

4/7/05 9:48:03 PM

Y’ALL: What led to your decision to retire?

MARTIN: I’m not really retiring. I’m stepping back out of the Nextel Cup series basically because I’m 46 years old and I’ve been racing for over 30 years and I’ve dedicated every ounce of my being toward that, and every year Nextel cup racing takes more and more out of you to be competitive and do all the things that you need to do for the fans, for the sponsors and for the competition, as well. I’ve had enough of that. I’m not retiring. I’m not going to quit driving race cars. I’m not a young man. I have a family and I have put a lot of things in life on the back burner that a lot of people take for granted and I’m ready to embrace those things.

I desperately don’t want to be caught hanging on to something I can’t hang on to. In other words, I’m getting out at the top or near the top of my game.

Y’ALL: Of all the races, which is your favorite and why?

MARTIN: Oh absolutely, my favorite is Charlotte, Lowe’s Motor Speedway. I haven’t had any kind of emotional feelings about this being my last year, yet, but I’m not so sure that won’t come later on this year at some of the places that I really love to compete on.

Y’ALL: Is it different when you race in the South at Daytona and Talladega vs.

California and New York?

MARTIN: Just that the venue is different and the fans are a little bit different people. For the biggest part, you just like some tracks better than others.

Each race track is different and you have a different feeling toward each one.

Y’ALL: When you win a race, what do you do to celebrate?

MARTIN: You do what you have to do. It’s a routine of responsibility. After you win a race you have the responsibility of going through the enormous amount of regimented stuff in Victory Lane which you think is supposed to be a celebration but it’s really just putting 50 or 75 different people’s hats on and taking a picture in each one. That might be a story in itself. Very little of it is a celebration. From there you go do the press and the media and when you get everybody taken care of, then you go home. It’s not what you think. It’s different than what you would think as a spectator.

Y’ALL: Well, you make it look like a lot of fun.

MARTIN: Yeah, well that’s what they want it to look like.

Y’ALL: What’s it like with the Nextel Cup versus the Winston Cup? MARTIN: Not really all that different.

It’s a different name and a few different people and different strategy, a different marketing strategy. The racing is no different.

Y’ALL: How do you feel about the old NASCAR and do you think it should still be called stock car racing because there’s nothing stock about it anymore?

MARTIN: I think stock car racing is still appropriate because it’s not literally that, but it still is. The cars still represent passenger cars we drive on the streets. But I am an old timer and I am a traditionalist and very much savor the old school NASCAR or the old school

racing period. All racing has changed over the last 30 years since I started.

Even the short track racing and the dirt track racing where I came from. I’m an old school guy. I still reminisce about how racing used to be.

Y’ALL: What would you consider the best part about how racing used to be?

MARTIN: It was a lot more simple and it was a lot more man in his machine back then. Simpler time.

Y’ALL: You grew up in Batesville, Ark. What was it like growing up in the South and in a small town and how would you say that’s affected your racing career?

MARTIN: Well, it’s who I am. Everybody is a product of their environment from their family to their environment.

Y’ALL: Do you have any kind of side projects?

MARTIN: No, staying focused on racing?

Y’ALL: What’s it like to have the best sponsor in NASCAR? MARTIN: It’s pretty awesome. You can go from the bottom to the top and I know it’s the opposite of not having a sponsor in NASCAR. That’s the worst things could be. And having the best sponsor in NASCAR would have to be the best.

Y’ALL: Do you ever hope that your son Matt gets into NASCAR? MARTIN: I don’t hope that. I just hope that whatever he does, he’s good at. I want to support him no matter what he does so I hope he’s happy. compiled by Tabatha Gardner

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COURTESY OF CAPITOL RECORDS

Aslyn

“I’m South all the way. I’m a chicken and dumplings and turnip greens kind of girl,” declares new pop-rock singer Aslyn. The Sunshine State native has her first CD in stores, Lemon Love, and a new love interest, Sean “P Diddy”Combs. Find out for yourself why many insiders say she is the next, big pop star.

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Y’ALL: Aslyn isn’t a name you hear every day. Where did you get your nickname?

ASLYN: You know what, the name was actually inspired from the Chronicles of Narnia. The lion that’s in the wardrobe children’s story book. So that’s kind of where the inspiration for that one came from.

Y’ALL: Is there any song on the debut album that you feel is really close to you?

ASLYN: All of them are particularly something, but I would mention the song that I wrote about my grandmother and grandfather on the record. They have an inspiring story. They met at a USO dance and were married for 55 years after love at first sight. But 55 years, I think in this day and age just in itself is inspiring. My grandmother got sick and unfortunately passed away a couple of years ago and that song is just really special and a tribute to them and their ups and downs. Every single line in that song has something underneath it, even at the beginning of the song when it says, ‘I’m writing to tell you the sweetest boy I’ve ever known’ that is from when my Papaw went overseas, she sent him a picture of herself and it said, ‘to the sweetest boy I’ve ever known, Love Faye.” He held that picture the whole weekend when she passed. So that song is really, really special to me because it is something to aim for and just something that’s inspiring to me.

Y’ALL: How has being raised in Chiefland, Fla. (a small town near Gainesville) and the South affected you?

ASLYN: I definitely grew up with a strong sense of family which is something that I’m proud of. There are certain hospitalites that you can say are from the South. Growing up in a small town is part of what drives me to be honest and real in my music. Because although there are great things about a small town, sometimes there’s a one way mentality or vision to see the world around you. As if there’s one way to do everything, underneath that you can be later disappointed. Or maybe just end up surprised - if you get caught up in thinking the whole world is just as you know it.

The South makes up who you are- your mannerisms, how you see things, how you respond, what you like and what you don’t and so many things in between. So if I’m true to myself in my music, and keep my songs little mirrors of what’s inside, then inevitably the South comes through! I’m very proud to be from the South.

Y’ALL: What are some of your hobbies?

ASLYN: I love to shop, if I have the time. Even if it’s just window shopping. When I’m at home, honestly, I love just to stay in and rent a movie. That’s like the most relaxing, fun thing for me. I love to eat.

When I get home I’m boring, because I’m traveling all the time. So, when I get home I love to just hang out. I’m very simple.

Y’ALL: You left Florida for Atlanta right after high school. What made you decide to leave and why?

ASLYN: I wanted to move to a big city that was still in the South, so that I wouldn’t be so far from home. Now, being familiar with New York, I feel like, “Wow, I probably would have been eaten alive in that city because it’s so different from the culture that I grew up in.” I

moved there to just do my thing and pursue music. I started playing the clubs and roughed it out for a while and lived off of peanut butter and jelly and got by.

Y’ALL: What made you decide to sing and be an entertainer?

ASLYN: Music has always been a big part of my life. Music was the only thing that I just knew that I enjoyed. The more I found myself sitting down at the piano and banging it out, I realized that if that was the only thing I would do the rest of my life, I felt like I would be satisfied. Really for me, there was no turning back. There was no other choice once I decided I wanted to be a performer.

Y’ALL: Do you ever get stage fright?

ASLYN: I haven’t really had any stage fright.

I really enjoy playing so I look forward to it. I definitely had an instance in Lake Tahoe this past summer where it was an outside performance and the wind was really, really strong. And silly me, I wore a skirt that day. I sat down and I’m in the middle of playing my first song and all the sudden I feel my skirt on my chin. I was freaking out. Talk about stage fright, that was a different kind, not knowing what to do. Thinking is it okay if I stop or do I keep going and just like twist my legs in, what do I do? I’m just not the girl who would let it all hang out and be like ‘What’s up, rock and roll!’ I was freaking out.

Y’ALL: If you weren’t a singer, what would you be?

ASLYN: That’s is a good question because I never had another plan.

Can I say that I would be a songwriter? What would be fun? I read in a magazine the other day that they hire people to go to a restaurant and eat the food and then write about how the service was. I thought, ‘Wow, what a great job that would be.’ You order all these foods and you try them all and you give a review. I thought, ‘That’s a job right there, that would be fun.’ I love to eat.

What a great job that would be. Just jump on the treadmill every morning and go eat out for lunch and dinner, for free.

Y’ALL: What are some of your favorite things?

ASLYN: Favorite clothes, I’m really into finding old boots and getting them all cleaned up and wearing them. I found some amazing boots. I get compliments all the time and it’s so funny, I paid like $4 for them. Favorite food, I love lasagna. I love chicken and dumplings. I love cookie dough ice cream. You say favorite, and like four pop into my head. I love cereal. I love Waffle Crisp. I’m probably supposed to say something like Bran, but hey, let’s get real. I love granola, that’s sort of healthy. I’ve gotta balance out all my answers or I’m going to seem like a slob in the interview.

Y’ALL: What’s your favorite place you’ve been to and why?

ASLYN: San Diego I think is incredibly beautiful. One thing that I never saw in the South was water and mountains in the same place and it was pretty surreal to me to be on the beach and see mountains in California. Nature is really, really beautiful.

Y’ALL: Advice to the world...

ASLYN: If I could give one piece of advice, I would tell people to learn to be cool with themselves, just to be proud of who you are and where you came from. compiled by Tabatha Gardner

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music usic

higher ground

66 years after they first got together, the Blind Boys of Alabama are still going strong with Atom Bomb

by Terrell Johnson

W

hen they took the stage at this year’s Grammy Awards alongside hiphop artist Kanye West and R&B up-and-comer John Legend, the Blind Boys of Alabama might have seemed a little out of place. For more than six decades, the group has staked its fame on its commitment to singing gospel music – and only gospel music.

“That’s all we do, all these years, that’s all we do,” says vocalist Jimmy Carter. “If it’s not gospel, we don’t want it.”

After the opening notes of their haunting a cappella rendition of “I’ll Fly Away,” it was clear that they were right at home after all – bringing gospel music to a new and bigger audience than ever before, something they’ve strived to do since their beginnings.

“I had a vision, and I said what I wanted to do, and I wanted to be,” says Clarence Fountain, who founded the Blind Boys back in 1939 when he, Carter and fellow vocalist George Scott were schoolmates at the Alabama School for the Negro Deaf and Blind. “But I never dreamed we’d accomplish what we’ve done now.”

For the past few years, the group has been riding a wave of commercial and critical success only a handful of music acts ever experience. Their 2004 collaboration with Ben

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Harper, There Will Be A Light, won them their fourth straight Grammy for best traditional gospel album, and catapulted them into the Billboard Top 100 album chart for the first time in their career.

Even the Blind Boys themselves say they’re amazed at their newfound success. “I had no idea that it would become this big,” Carter says. “In the old days, we were content to sing around, make a little money, but never, never did I think it would become like this.”

They’ve done it by blending their love of traditional gospel with blues, funk, rock – and even hip-hop on their new release Atom Bomb – into a mix that’s uniquely their own, teaming up with artists like Tom Waits, Aaron Neville, Ben Harper, Charlie Musselwhite, and many others along the way.

Their commitment to “old traditional gospel music,” as Carter says, is what has sustained them. “Sometimes we throw the contemporary in there, because we’ve got to keep up with the times,” he adds. “But the Blind Boys are a traditional group, we sing traditional gospel music.”

Of course, none of it would have happened if not for a home remedy gone wrong. Fountain was five years old in 1938 when his mother, using a remedy she hoped would cure her

son’s eye infection, accidentally blinded him for life. Facing few alternatives in segregationera Alabama, she enrolled him the next year in the state’s School for the Negro Deaf and Blind.

Fountain quickly gravitated toward the choir and glee club, where he met classmates Carter and Scott, who likewise knew they wanted more out of life than making furniture – the only work then thought suitable for the blind.

Along with three other classmates, they formed the Happy Land Jubilee Singers, hitting the road full-time in 1944. They later changed their name when a concert promoter, trying to whip up interest in a showdown concert with the Blind Boys of Mississippi, billed them “the Blind Boys of Alabama.”

The name stuck, and they became a huge success on the traditional gospel circuit. By the late 1950s, however, their popularity began to wane as gospel was eclipsed by rock-and-roll, prompting many gospel singers to cross over.

Fountain was offered a contract but turned it down, and says he’s never regretted it.

A string of disappointing albums followed, and by the late 1960s the Blind Boys were looking like they might be at an end. The group broke up for a time while Fountain

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(Left to Right) Tracy Pierce, Jimmy Carter, Ricky McKinnie, Clarence Fountain, Caleb Butler, Bishop Billy Bowers and Joey Williams Photo by Henry Diltz

tried a solo career, but when he got them back together several years later, “we really took off,” he said.

In 1983 they joined the Broadway musical “The Gospel at Colonus,” which introduced them to an entirely new audience. “You had theatre people, you had the NPR crowd,” seeing them for the first time, says Chris Goldsmith, the group’s executive producer.

“That was really the launching point.”

Buoyed by their Broadway success, the Blind Boys started touring again. “Because their live show is so great, we had them playing at festivals, in front of tens of thousands of people at a time,” Goldsmith, who was then their booking agent, recalls. “Probably millions saw them over the years.”

As the 80s rolled into the 90s, however, traditional gospel was giving way to a more contemporary, R&B sound, Still, the inklings of a brighter future were there. On 1992’s Deep River, the group covered Bob Dylan’s “I Believe In You,” a surprising choice at the time. “But that was the first time that they showed this aptitude for grabbing pop songs and turning them into gospel songs,” he adds.

The idea stayed with Goldsmith. After Holdin’ On was released in 1997 and soon after fizzled, he talked with friend and producer John Chelew about making a record with musical styles the Blind Boys hadn’t yet tried.

Pairing them with artists like Musselwhite, John Hammond and others, they recorded a blend of traditional gospel songs and “gospelized” contemporary songs by artists like Waits and the Rolling Stones.

The sessions became 2001’s Spirit of the Century, their “breakout” album after more than 60 years together, winning the Blind

Boys their first-ever Grammy Award. The reaction in the auditorium at the ceremony, recalls guitarist Joey Williams, left no doubt they had indeed arrived.

“Onstage, when they announce the artists, sometimes you don’t really get a big response,” he says. “But when they announced the Blind Boys as the winners, the place just exploded, even stars that we didn’t know really knew us, standing up and giving us an ovation.”

Every year since, the Blind Boys have returned to the studio, striking Grammy gold again with 2002’s Higher Ground, 2003’s Go Tell It On The Mountain, and last year’s Light, which started as just a song or two with Ben Harper but blossomed during recording into a fullfledged album.

Along the way, producer Chelew says he’s found that while the Blind Boys work quickly in the studio – their recording sessions rarely last longer than a week.

Atom Bomb’s hip-hop-flavored second track “Demons” reveals that process. “They were a little bit ambivalent about it at first, because many have tried it before and not successfully fused the two worlds,” Goldsmith says. The result, however, seamlessly fuses Gift of Gab’s rap-style lyrics with the Blind Boys’ backing vocals.

Longtime fans need not be worried: the record “gets us closer to the new millennium,” Goldsmith says, while keeping them firmly rooted in traditional gospel. “It’s an attempt in some ways to get more intimate with the band – this is a lot about the voices, we wanted to get back close to the voices.”

Breaking new ground within that tradition is exactly what the Blind Boys are about, says Fountain. “What keeps me going is

that I’m motivated to do greater things than we’ve already done,” he adds, pointing to the group’s two new concert DVDs, one of their Christmas tour for Mountain and another featuring an October 2004 concert with Ben Harper of the entire Light song list.

“Our aim, when you come to hear the Blind Boys, we want you to go back feeling a different way, not the same way as when you came,” he says. “When people come up and tell me how good they feel, how much they enjoyed the concert, you made me get up and dance, you made me get up and praise the Lord, that’s my highlight, that’s what gets me going.”

Sixty-six years after they first got together, they’re still going strong, performing up to 200 dates a year. You might ask, of course, why a group of men in their seventies would keep going when they’ve long since earned the right to rest on their laurels.

“I think the first answer to that is that we love what we do, we love it, and the second answer to that is that we don’t know nothing else to do!” Carter says with a laugh. “We love serving and praising God, so it’s all good.”

Note: Sadly, the Blind Boys’ legendary baritone vocalist George Scott died at his Durham, N.C. home on March 9, 2005 at age 75. “We’re grateful to the Lord for letting us have George for as long as we did,” Fountain said in a statement announcing Scott’s passing.

“He and I grew up together and sang together from little boys to old men. George was a great singer, he could sing any part in a song. We loved him and he was one of the ‘Boys.’ He lived a life of service and now he’s gone on to his reward.” When he retired from touring in 2004, Scott urged the band to continue on.

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s ’ B y r a M its Biscu & presents a

Sou CHEF

Bakers Dozen of

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“if you can’t stand the heat, then get out of their kitchens.”

uthern FS

by Jennifer Russell and Molly Matthews

Paula Deen Marvin Woods Kathy Cary Frank Stitt Mama Dip Alton Brown

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Mama Rose Robert St. John Wally Joe Claire Smith Paul Prudhomme Holly Clegg Emeril Lagasse

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Photo courtesy of The Food Network

Paula Deen

“I’m not a chef. I’m a cook,” says Paula Deen, with her sweet, slow Southern drawl. “To me a chef is somebody that’s paid their money and gone to school. I was trained in my grandma’s kitchen.”

A good Southern cook she is, but that’s not all she is known for.

Deen is the bestselling author of four cookbooks, television host of her own program, Paula’s Home Cooking, on the Food Network, an actress and a role model and inspiration to her fans.

“Our food down South does not know any boundaries,” says Deen, 58, who owns and operates two restaurants, The Lady & Sons and Uncle Bubba’s Oyster House, in Savannah, Georgia. “Our Southern cooking is just decadent to me. There at the restaurant I have people coming literally from all over the world—all colors, all regions. Everybody loves it. It’s all about home cooking—good, honest, simple food.”

With her self-made story of success, Deen has now inspired and touched the lives of millions of fans.

It all started 16 years ago in Savannah, Georgia, with tuna sandwiches, her two sons Bobby and Jamie, and brown paper bags. Deen, who was unemployed, going through a divorce and raising her two sons turned to her love for cooking and began The Bag Lady, a homemade lunch delivery system, in June of 1989. The Bag Lady grew and led to the opening of The Lady and Sons restaurant in Savannah’s historic downtown city market in January 1996.

“We had nothing after the divorce, and I was working very, very hard on building my boys and me a living,” says Deen.

“That’s where The Lady and Sons finally came from, but it started out as The Bag Lady. My children were real young and I had to kind of beg ‘em to help me. But, it went from mamma’s passion to our passion.”

And it was that passion that led Deen to publish her first book only a year later, The Lady and Sons Savannah Country Cookbook. With promotion on QVC television, she picked up national recognition, and it became a bestseller in 1998, along with her other two cookbooks that would follow, The Lady and Sons, Too! and The Lady and Sons Desserts.

In 2002, Deen began to touch the lives of millions on her own Food Network show, Paula’s Home Cooking, which airs weekdays and weekend mornings. The idea of her own show arose after she had done a couple guest appearances on the Food Network. However, Deen admits that Food Network was unsure for about a year on whether or not she have her own program.

“I don’t think the network thought there was a big demand for me and what I do,” she says.

Until September 11, 2001.

“Tragedy struck when 9/11 happened, and everybody was scared and looking for those things that meant security and a time in their life when you didn’t have all these problems,” explains Deen.

Food Network later decided that the country needed someone like Deen to help provide an image of safety, and someone people could turn to in order to feel at ease. So, Paula’s Home Cooking was born.

As a result, Southern hospitality and down-home cookin’ with Deen began making waves among millions who tuned in to the lovable lady and her deep Southern accent that she admits she never wants to lose.

The warmth of the Albany, Georgia native’s show and her personality rose from the kitchen table and her sensational meals and into the hearts of her viewers.

“The country was hungry for that mamma image and what it felt like to put your feet under mamma or grandma’s table,” she says.

Paula’s Home Cooking showcases this motherly image that many

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viewers can relate to.

Deen’s individuality blends well with her casual method of creating mouth-watering edibles, while admitting that she enjoys getting down and dirty.

“I like touching my food and I especially love rubbing my meat and all those seasonings in it. I think that meat likes that,” she laughs.

“And, I’m a finger licker!”

And now, in her new cookbook, Paula Deen and Friends: Living It Up, Southern Style, she continues to warm the hearts of those who are not only hungry for those recipes known to guarantee a trip back for seconds, but also for her deliciously attractive personality and down-home Southern hospitality.

“I really wanted to know what my girlfriends were doing out there— what they were cooking and what occasions were they having that they wanted to pull out some of their favorite recipes on,” says Deen on the hard decision of determining what special recipes would make the cut for her new book. “Naturally, I wanted different things that weren’t in the other book,” But, not only does the new cookbook include new treasured recipes like her Shrimp and Grits (at right), Deen is also proud of mixing-

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in the personal stories behind the recipes and stirring it with successful tips on cooking.

For example, she says in her new book that one of the most important parts of planning a party is the guest list and determining who will be the lucky ones to attend.

“You can eat a hot dog with people who are fun and have a great time. On the other hand, you can have a filet mignon with a bunch of stick-in-the muds and be miserable. I always try to surround myself with people who love life.”

Deen’s new cookbook, which she hopes her readers will have food stains on in no time, shares exciting new ways for its readers to enjoy cooking by showing them how to create special entertainment events for themselves. In her book, she admits that the actual menu planning is usually the hardest part of entertaining, not the cooking.

As a result, she takes the Southern love of entertaining just one step further by planning the menu and event for her readers, leaving us nothing left to do but cook and set the table. A bridge club supper, a Saturday night grill party for those steamy, humid summer nights, a christening brunch for the family, a teenager’s slumber party, a dinner for when the boss comes over, a cookie swap and even a tailgate party for those football frenzy fans are only a few of the many occasions she includes.

“My business is 16 years old,” she says. “Twenty years ago, you’d have still found me in my kitchen, only I was cooking just for my family and battling agoraphobia.”

But, still today with her success and hectic schedule, Deen admits to having one other love in her life—her husband of one year, Captain Michael Groover, a docking pilot from Savannah, whom she met thanks to her two Shi-Tzu’s, “Otis” and “Sam,” who ran away from her one day and found Michael.

“When I’m not cooking, I’m usually with my husband,” she says.

“We’re just like two soul mates. We just have fun whatever we’re doing. One look at him and you see he’s not undernourished.”

“But, you know, I’m running around working on cookbooks, running around signing books and I’m running in and out of kitchens at two restaurants.”

And, she just finished running off to film a movie for Paramount. Deen’s role of “Aunt Dora” in Elizabethtown, a Tom Cruise production directed by Cameron Crowe and co-starring Orlando Bloom, Kirsten Dunst, Susan Sarandon and Alec Baldwin, is set to be released in October.

“I had an absolute ball doing it,” says Deen. “That call just came out of the blue. The head of casting saw me on my show and said, ‘Oh my goodness, I have not been able to find her,’ but she said, ‘That’s my Aunt Dora.’”

But, no matter what role she may play in her life, whether a film star, a host of her own television show, a bestselling author, a loving wife and mother, or a cook whom readers and viewers from all over can relate to, Deen has stamped her Southern trademark on the society of today, not to mention she drops about 100 “y’alls” on each episode.

She says it best in the introduction of her new cookbook: “My life has been an amazing journey. It’s my wish for those who have felt loneliness and despair, experienced failure and defeat, and been crippled by fear, that my story will bring encouragement and hope, ‘cause I’m here to tell y’all, if you wake up on the right side of the dirt, it’s a good day; we got one more chance! And always remember, I send y’all best dishes and love from Savannah, Georgia.”

Hey Y’all Paula’s SHRIMP and GRITS Here it is, y’all! Martha’s [Paula’s pal] beloved shrimp and grits recipe! If you have everything chopped and measured before you start cooking, it takes only about fi fteen minutes to prepare. It’s perfect as a one-dish meal for family.

1 cup stone-ground grits Salt and pepper 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter 2 cups shredded sharp Cheddar cheese 1 pound shrimp, peeled and deveined, left whole if small and roughly chopped if medium or large 6 slices bacon, chopped into tiny pieces 4 teaspoons fresh lemon juice 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley 1 cup thinly sliced green onions, white and green parts 1 large clove garlic, minced 1. In a medium saucepan, bring 4 cups water to a boil. Add the grits and salt and pepper to taste. Stir well with a whisk. Reduce the heat to the lowest possible setting and cook the grits until all the water is absorbed, about 10 to 15 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the butter and cheese. Keep covered until ready to serve.

2. Rinse the shrimp and pat dry. Fry the bacon in a large skillet until browned and crisp, then drain on a paper towel. Add the shrimp to the bacon grease in the skillet and sauté over medium heat just until they turn pink, about 3 minutes. Do not overcook!

Immediately add the lemon juice, parsley, green onions, and garlic.

Remove the skillet from the heat.

3. Pour the grits into a serving bowl. Pour the shrimp mixture over the grits. Garnish with the bacon bits.

4. If you are serving this as an appetizer, spoon _ cup grits onto a bread or salad plate. Top with _ cup of the shrimp mixture. Garnish with a sprinkling of crisp bacon bits and serve immediately.

Serves 8 as an appetizer or 4 as a main course Reprinted with permission. From the Paula Deen & Friends: Living It Up, Southern Style cookbook (Simon & Schuster)

by Molly Matthews MAY/JUNE 2005 • Y’ALL

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Marvin Woods

Top to Bottom: Photo courtesy of Turner South, photo by Eric Williams, Sophistication Mag.

Not all Lowcountry food has to be full of fat, according to Miami chef, Marvin Woods. Marvin’s cookbook, The New Low-Country Cooking, inspires Southern chefs to look at old Southern classics with a fresh, lighter taste. Marvin may have grown up in New Jersey, but his family heritage is Carolina Southern cuisine.

Marvin moved to Florida from Charleston, S.C., where he was the executive chef of Anson Restaurant.

After the publishing The New Low-Country Cooking, which shares Woods’ recipes for the Southern classics along with historical information on how these dishes became a part of Southern heritage, Woods opened his own restaurant, M. Woods, in Miami in May 2004. As the host of Turner South’s popular Home Plate, Marvin demonstrates exactly how people can experience the joy of Southern cooking in a more health-conscious way.

Kathy Cary As a child, Kathy Cary learned the fundamentals and the joys of cooking in her mother’s Kentucky kitchen. Kathy first developed her skills in Washington D.C., where she opened a small catering service. After working as a chef at a Georgetown restaurant, Kathy moved back to Kentucky and opened her La Peche, gourmet-to-go shop in 1979. Lilly’s, her award-winning restaurant, came next with its French and Southern-inspired cuisine. Her creative combinations include items like a spiceencrusted seared salmon and crab flan in a saffron-vanilla bean beurre blanc.

Kathy was selected as a James Beard Award Nominee in the category of Best Chef of the Southeast in 2002, 2003, and in 2004. Kathy also uses her culinary ability to benefit inner city at-risk teens through her program, From Seed to Table.

Teens participate in cooking classes, gardening, and field trips throughout the year.

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Frank Stitt After traveling to California and the French countryside, Frank Sitt learned the culinary techniques that would eventually lead him to opening his first restaurant, Highlands Bar and Grill in Birmingham, Ala. His cuisines combine the influences of both Souths, the American South and the south of France.

Frank decided to start two other restaurants that showcased some of his other culinary influences of Greece, Spain and Italy. Bottega’s Mediterranean style includes simple Venetian fish dishes and Tuscan roasts. At Café Bottega, a wood-fired brick oven is used to bake pizzas topped with farm eggs, mascarpone and prosciutto. Frank’s first restaraunt, Highlands Bar and Grill was selected the No. 5 restaurant in the country by Gourmet Magazine. Frank returns to Europe and researches old recipes whenever possible to inspire new recipe ideas.

He appears on Turner South’s Off the Menu.

Top to Bottom: Photo courtesy of Turner South, Photo courtesy of Holly Clegg

Holly Clegg “I was the queen of whipping cream and butter,” admits Holly Clegg, describing her cooking and entertaining style prior to her Trim & Terrific cookbook series. Over 400,000 copies later, Holly reigns supreme when it comes to healthy, delicious family meals and party fare.

The Fort Worth, Texas native became turned off by both diets and diet foods, taking her culinary training and experience as a caterer and began to formulate recipes. Her mission? To give cooks the ability to put a healthy meal on the table in 30 minutes or less.

As Holly adds cookbooks to her Trim & Terrific series, her “never sacrifice taste” philosophy remains intact. Her message is simple: food that is good for you can be delicious and easy to prepare.

Holly’s reputation for her healthier approach continually garners national media coverage.

Holly makes regular local and national television appearances including NBC Weekend Today Show and Fox & Friends. The mother of three lives in Baton Rouge, La.

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Mama Dip Mama Dip, aka Mildred Edna Cotton Council, was born in Chatham County, N.C., where she learned how to cook from her mother’s “dump” method, no recipes, measuring by eye, feeling, tasting, and testing.

She was called “Dip” by her siblings because she was so tall and had such long arms that she could reach way down in the rain barrel to scoop up a big dipper full of water when the level was low.

After working for the Kappa Sigma Fraternity house at the University of North Carolina, Mama Dip decided to start her own restaurant featuring country food. With $64, Mama Dip went to her neighborhood grocery, and the next day founded her restaurant.

Simple country foods inspired by her family’s Southern heritage are signature items at Mama Dip’s Kitchen.

Old-fashioned chicken pie, nine-day sauerkraut, quick country style cabbage, sweet potato bread, cocoa bread, and fresh apple cake are a few of Mama Dip’s Southern specialties. Council has penned a successful cookbook, and a new one is hitting homes and kitchens this fall.

Alton Brown Top to Bottom: Photograph by Ann Hawthorne, Photo courtesy of The Food Network

Working on a career in film, Georgia’s Alton Brown never even thought about becoming a chef. In between working as a director of commercials and corporate films, Alton found himself constantly watching cooking programs. As a child, Alton grew up in his mother’s kitchen, and he found himself cooking in restaurants all through high school. Alton realized that with his experience in film and cooking, he could create a show that would be entertaining and informative at the same time.

Alton left his film career and moved his family to Vermont, where Alton studied at the New England Culinary Institute.

In his studies, Alton developed his show Good Eats, which would show people how to understand food and not simply a recipe. Good Eats is now in its fifth season on the Food Network, with its popularity still spreading.

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Y’ALL • THE MAGAZINE OF SOUTHERN PEOPLE

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Robert St. John Restaurateur/chef/food writer and humorist Robert St. John, a native of Hattiesburg, Miss., has been in the restaurant business for twenty-three years. For the past seventeen years, he has served as Executive Chef/ Owner of Purple Parrot Company, Inc. which operates the Purple Parrot Café, Crescent City Grill, and the Mahogany Bar in Hattiesburg.

St. John is the author of A Southern Palate, a coffeetable cookbook collaboration with watercolor artist Wyatt Waters, currently in its fourth printing. His second book, Deep South Staples or How To Survive In A Southern Kitchen Without A Can Of Cream of Mushroom Soup, is in its second printing.

St. John writes a weekly food column for 24 Southern newspapers. In the fall of 2004, St. John released Nobody’s Poet, an anthology of his food columns with illustrations by Marshall Ramsey.

Robert St. John, the other white meat.

Top to Bottom: Photo courtesy of Robert St. John, Photo courtesy of Turner South

Wally Joe Cooking experience came early for Wally Joe, who grew up in his family’s restaurant, KC’s, in Cleveland, Miss. His own restaurant, Wally Joe’s in Memphis, Tenn., like KC’s, relies heavily on the idea of serving foods that are in season. Southern dishes with a hint of Asian flavor like Crepinette Mississippi quail are a part of his distinct menu.

Wally Joe also serves as the executive chef for Viking Range corporation, a company that specializes in commercial-type cooking products. Wally Joe was named one of 28 “Rising Star Chefs of the 21st Century” by The James Beard Foundation and is the first Mississippi chef to be invited to cook at the James Beard House in New York City. A graduate of Ole Miss, Joe was also selected to prepare a luncheon in 2001 for King Juan Carlos I and Queen Sofia of Spain. He appears on Turner South’s Off the Menu.

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Claire Smith As an art student at Rice University, Claire Smith put more time and work into her restaurant jobs than her school work. After graduating with degrees in Art and Art History, she turned her artistic abilities to cooking and studied at the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco. After finishing school, Claire returned to Houston to open the Daily Review Café in November of 1994. The Daily Review’s innovative style and new daily features helped make it Esquire’s Best New Restaurant in 1995.

Claire left Houston and The Daily Review and moved to Chicago with her husband Russell Murrell.

She returned and opened her newest restaurant Shade, which also quickly became popular in Houston. At Shade, Claire fuses Southern dishes, Tex-Mex dishes and Asian dishes, bringing new and creative dishes to the table.

Paul Prudhomme

L to R: Photo courtesy from each chef

Growing up on a farm near Opelousas, La., Paul Prudhomme learned the values of using the freshest ingredients. As the youngest child in a family of thirteen, Paul found himself helping his mother in the kitchen. They had no refrigeration, so Paul’s family only used what was fresh and in season, whether it was a fresh vegetable or some crawfish caught out on the bayou.

After finishing school, Paul traveled the country working at various restaurants and learning all kinds of cooking techniques.

He eventually made his way back to Louisiana, and in 1979, he and his late wife, K. Hinrichs Prudhomme, opened a restaurant, K-Paul’s Louisiana Kitchen. His restaurant, located in New Orleans’s French Quarter, became an instant success with his signature dishes blackened catfish and blackened steak.

Since the opening of his restaurant, Paul has appeared on the Today Show, Good Morning America, CBS This Morning with Forest Sawyer, 20/20, Live with Regis and Kathie Lee, Donahue, Late Night with David Letterman, NBC Nightly News, Larry King Live, Nightwatch with Charlie Rose, and the QVC shopping channel.

Paul was the first American-born chef to receive the coveted Meritè Agricole of the French Republic, and in 1986 he was honored as “Culinarian of the Year” by the American Culinary Federation.

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Y’ALL • THE MAGAZINE OF SOUTHERN PEOPLE

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Mama Rose Durden Chef Mama Rose Durden has been stirring things up for 16 years in a style all her own at Carolina’s Restaurant in Charleston, S.C. Separated from her mother at age eight in Vietnam, Mama Rose would soon find herself marrying an American serviceman and moving to the American South at age 18. She found her niche cooking classic Southern dishes with a little Vietnamese attitude. Mama Rose quickly became one of the best known and most respected chefs in South Carolina while working at Charleston’s renowned Carolina’s, and has received national praise for her flair in the culinary arts. The New York Times hailed the restaurant as “one of the most elegant restaurants on the East Coast…and among the best.”

Carolina’s easily lends itself to a fusion of Mama Rose’s Vietnamese culture and our own South Vietnam-South Carolina roots.

Signature dishes include a vast variety of dishes to please every palate, from Shrimp and Crab Meat Wontons to Carolina’s Pecan Brittle Basket filled with Vanilla Bean Ice Cream and fresh seasonal fruits and berries.

Mama Rose is dedicated to the up and coming chefs in the area, often taking them under her wing and encouraging them. Her philosophy is that each day ends with comfort, knowing that she has taught her staff to rise to the challenge of being the best in the business. “I think of all of my cooks as children. This is my instinct and my kitchen is like a big home. I have enough love to spread around,” she says. Mama Rose likes to think of the restaurant as “…a bustling household where the staff and guests interact like family and where each meal is prepared with love.” Come on home to Mama Rose and Carolina’s at 10 Exchange Street in historic Charleston.

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Emeril Lagasse The Southern port city of New Orleans is known for everything from the parades of Mardi Gras to the culture and architecture of the French Quarter. But, it is the deep Southern tradition of Creole-Acadian cooking that brought Chef Emeril Lagasse down South to “The Big Easy” in order to “kick it up a notch.”

“When you look at Louisiana food, you’ll see there is a tremendous amount of respect, mainly because it has 200 years of history. There are restaurants that have menus that are older than most US cities,” said Emeril, in an interview with StarChefs.

“I came here because the city has a tradition and is a very respected food city. I loved its culture, music, food,” he says.

“I never disrespect the tradition, but I add new cultures.”

Lagasse, 45, who has become one of the best known chefs in the nation, is chef/proprietor of three restaurants in New Orleans: Emeril’s, NOLA (an acronym for New Orleans, Louisiana) and Delmonico’s. His flair for a new style of Creole cooking adds a spice of new cultures, including Portuguese, Southwest, Caribbean, and Vietnamese, to the traditional bayou food.

When Emeril is not seeing over award-winning restaurants, he is busy hosting Food Network’s highest rated programs since 1993, The Essence of Emeril, which was voted as one of the “Top 10 TV Shows” in 1996 by Time magazine, and Emeril Live, which Cable Ace awarded “Best Informational Series.” Together, these two shows reach over 78 million homes per day.

Emeril, who was executive chef at Commander’s Palace for seven and a half years, first learned the tricks of the culinary trade from his mother, Hilda, as a young boy growing up in Fall River, Mass. He later studied at one of the culinary institutes of America, Johnson and Wales, where he received a Doctorate degree. Later, after studying French cuisine in Paris and Lyon, he began practicing as a chef in New York, Boston and Philadelphia, before deciding to head south.

And “Bam!,” 15 years after opening Emeril’s Restaurant, in New Orleans, he has reached a milestone not only as a chef/proprietor of nine restaurants but as a television personality as well.

“Spice is life,” Emeril told StarChefs. “It depends upon what you have fun with. Yes, food is serious, but you should have fun with it.”

Photo courtesy of The Food Network

by Molly Matthews

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Chicken K Al Copeland

ALL PHOTOS COURTESY OF PUBLICATIONS DEPT.

Louisiana “fried chicken king” Al Copeland made his mark on history, and climbed his way from rags to riches, when he founded Popeye’s Famous Fried Chicken restaurant in New Orleans.

Popeye’s did not start off being famous, however. In 1972 Copeland opened a fast food restaurant called “Chicken on the Run,” but his blend of spices was mild and left a lot to be desired. So after experimenting, this Cajun-chicken guru created a spicier version and reopened his restaurant under the name of Popeye’s. The results were anything but bland.

Four short years later, the first franchise location was established, and the next decade saw over 500 franchises

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added. Today, there are over 1,800 Popeye’s restaurants scattered about the United States, and 21 other countries including Japan, Korea, Guam and Saudi Arabia, just to name a few.

As Copeland watched his hard work turn into chicken success, his restaurant took over the number two chicken chain spot, stealing it from Church’s, in the 1980s. However, while this was good news, bad news was to come. Because of financing difficulties, Copeland lost ownership of Popeye’s.

The quality recipes and its reputation have kept Popeye’s a thriving business.

And, its former fearless leader bounced back and has moved on as well, all the while staying loyal to New Orleans.

Being the smart businessman that he is, Copeland retained the recipes and the corporate owners still had to pay him

for seasonings and almost every other aspect of the business.

In addition to that cushion, Copeland went on to open other restaurants in the area, such as Copeland’s of New Orleans and Copeland’s Cheesecake Bistro.

His business motto is proudly declared on the Copeland’s opening page for their website, “My vision reflects my basic philosophy: Be the best! Succeed at this goal and the sky is the limit! That’s why my hospitality businesses are growing locally and nationally…Over the years my name has become synonymous with the taste and spirit of the town I call home-New Orleans,” he says.

So, with a love for his home, a passion for the kitchen and an unstoppable spirit, Copeland, 61, has spread Cajun seasonings all over the world.

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n Kings of Dixie

by Amanda Manning

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Y’ALL • THE MAGAZINE OF SOUTHERN PEOPLE

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Truett Cathy Fried chicken, coke and deep religious convictions are Truett Cathy’s perfect recipe for success in the South. Opening his fi rst restaurant in 1946, Cathy’s creation eventually became Chick-fi l-A, which thrives in 37 states today.

Chick-fi l-A did not invent the chicken sandwich; they just introduced the fi rst fast-food boneless breast of chicken sandwich. The idea was clearly a hit; there are over 1,125 restaurants around the country and Chick-fi l-A is one of the largest privately owned chain restaurants.

However, Cathy didn’t start with chicken. His business savvy began when he was a little boy selling cokes. His mom ran a boarding house, and through this he gained experience shucking corn, shelling peas and washing dirty dishes.

In addition to these restaurant skills, the young businessman also sold cokes for five cents apiece, making a five cent profit per six-pack.

Cathy got the business bug from these early sales days. He says, “I wasn’t excited about school but was excited about working. I fi nd there’s nothing wrong with being excited about your work.”

From this attitude the original restaurant ‘The Dwarf’ was born soon after Cathy graduated high school. He and his brother invested $10,600 into their steak, burger and breakfast eatery in Hapeville, Ga. Dedicated from day one to the 24-hour, six-day-a-week operation, Cathy lived right next door and handled any problems that arose.

“I learned the true meaning of the word commitment then. I was fully committed to the task. There was no way I was going to fail, no way I could afford to fail because everything was at stake,” Cathy says. Obviously, he did not fail.

The founder of this famous chain is not only fully committed to his business but also to his religious beliefs. From day one, none of his restaurants has ever been allowed to open on Sunday. This hasn’t hindered his success any. In fact, Cathy puts a positive spin on it saying that Chick-fi l-a has proven that they can generate more sales in six days than their competitors can in seven.

Determination to “rest” on Sundays is not the extent of his religious practices.

When speaking to the CIA recently, he

proudly declared his beliefs. “There’s no such thing as business ethics,” he told them, “it’s just personal ethics. I see no confl ict with integrating biblical principles with business practices because they work.”

In all fairness, employees are not required to be Christians; they just have to behave with biblical principles in mind. Cathy says no one argues with this policy.

How could they when Chick-fi l-A provides benefits such as a scholarship program in addition to such a positive workplace? Cathy is very proud of his establishments and believes wholeheartedly in their practices.

“We don’t serve everything,” he says, “but what we do serve we like to think it’s at its very best and that’s what we built our business on.”

Humble through and through, Cathy constantly says how grateful he is for all of this success. And while he’s being so thankful, others are begging him to share his knowledge. He is always being asked to speak at churches, colleges and business meetings. Even in his mideighties he’s still going strong, attending every one he possibly can.

Not only that, but when he can manage to escape from his business obligations, the 84-year-old spends family time with his twelve grandchildren and rides around town on his motorcycle.

Hard to imagine this Southerner has time to relax and has his health intact, considering he built the business that now has over 1190 restaurants around the country.

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Delightfully tacky, yet unrefined.

With that battle cry, Chairman Bob Brooks and the politically incorrect Hooters of America, Inc. have brought chicken wings to the South’s palate, and Hooters Girls into the national spotlight. The Atlanta-based operator and franchiser has over 375 Hooters locations in 46 states, Canada, Mexico, South America, Euruope and Asia.

Men, women and kids alike can come to Hooters and enjoy great wings, oysters, and more. “We want you to be happy,” Brooks says.

The first Hooters opened October 4, 1983, in Clearwater, Fla. During its history, the Hooters concept has undergone very little change. The current logo, uniform, menu and ambiance are all very similar to what existed in the original store. This lack of change is understandable given the tremendous success the Hooters concept has enjoyed. Hooters continues to rank high amongst the industry’s growth leaders. Hooters has proven successful in small-town America, major metropolitan areas and internationally.

The element of female sex appeal is prevalent in the restaurants, and the company believes the Hooters Girl is as socially acceptable as a Dallas Cowboy cheerleader, Sports Illustrated swimsuit model, or Radio City Rockette. The Hooters system employs over 25,000 people - over 15,000 of which are Hooters Girls. The “nearly world famous” Hooters Girls are the cornerstone of the Hooters concept, and as part of their job, these all-American cheerleaders make promotional and charitable appearances in their respective communities.

The origin of Hooters Girls was simple. “As long as you have cold beer, hot food and good looking girls, you’re probably going to have some business,” explains the Loris, S.C., native.

Sex appeal or not, Hooters is a great place to eat. The wings the chain introduced have become the South’s hottest. Brooks admits the restaurant first added them to the menu because they were the cheapest item at the time.

Drawing a mostly male audience aged of 25-54, Brooks and Hooters have capitalized on what that demographic enjoys, even in the Bible Belt. “We ride the line, there’s no question about it. We just don’t want to fall off on the other side,” he laughs.

Brooks, 68, lets it be known that Bible meetings have taken place in his restaurants.

The Hooters brand is everywhere, on the ground and in the air…literally. In addition to great chicken, the company sponsors a professional golf tour, a stock car racing circuit, and Hooters Air is now taking passengers into the sky with Hooters Girls and chicken wings in tow.

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ALL PHOTOS COURTESY OF PUBLICATIONS DEPT.

Robert Brooks

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yʼall

of fame

Colonel Harland Sanders (1890-1980)

Travel to any foreign country and tell them that you’re from Kentucky. Most people respond with one of two things, “Oh, the Kentucky Derby,” or “Yes, Kentucky Fried Chicken.” Certainly the brand is known around the world, and as for KFC’s creator, his face is also recognizable to most people.

Colonel Harland Sanders was born September 9, 1890, in Henryville, Ind. When Sanders was six, his father died, leaving behind a wife and three young children.

As the oldest, Harland was expected to do much of the cooking while his mother worked long days to support her family. By age seven, he had mastered many regional dishes and was quickly becoming a very independent child.

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COURTESY OF KFC

Harland had little interest in school, so he dropped out after completing sixth grade, and went looking for work. At the age of 10, he began his first job, working on a nearby farm for a mere $2 a month. His mother remarried when he was 12, and he left his home for a job on a farm in Greenwood, Ind. Throughout his young life, he would hold many different jobs, ranging from streetcar conductor, to a 16-year-old private, soldiering for six months in Cuba. Later he became a railroad fireman, sold insurance, operated an Ohio River steamboat ferry, sold tires, operated service stations, and even studied law by correspondence and then began practicing in justice of the peace courts.

Colonel Sanders could undeniably do it all, but his biggest calling in life would not begin until 1929. He was 40 years old when he began cooking for travelers who stopped in his service station in Corbin, Ky. He didn’t even have a restaurant, but that didn’t matter because people were satisfied to be eating at the small dining room table in his living quarters.

More and more, people began visiting his station just for the food, so he moved across the street to a motel, and there he opened what would become Sanders Café. He had a knack for cooking “down-home, country” foods and the 142-seat restaurant was filled to capacity quite often. Over the next nine years, he perfected his secret blend of herbs and spices and the basic cooking technique that has made KFC what it is today.

In 1935, Harland received the title he is known as today. Governor Ruby Laffoon made him a Kentucky Colonel in recognition of his contributions to the state’s cuisine. His fame continued to grow and in 1939 his establishment was first listed in Duncan Hines’ Adventures in Good Eating, a famous guide covering American restaurants at the time.

In the early1950’s, a new interstate highway was planned to bypass the town of Corbin. World War II and the new interstate led to a decline in customers and mounting debts, so the Colonel decided to auction off his operations. Although he was reduced to living on his $105 Social Security checks, the Colonel didn’t give up his dreams.

The Colonel was confident of his secret recipe, and so in 1952, at the age of 65, he and his wife Claudia began to travel the country by car.

They visited restaurant after restaurant cooking batches of chicken for the owner and employees. All he needed was a handshake agreement and this restaurant had entered into a franchise agreement. These deals stipulated that he would make a nickel every time a piece of his delicious chicken was sold.

The first two years were slow, and he only acquired five franchises, but by 1960 business was booming and the Colonel had made agreements with 200 restaurant owners.

The Colonel, however, was not only interested in selling his franchises.

He wanted to help people in the restaurant business. If some of their vegetables, meats or pies weren’t just right, he taught them how to do it all.

He wanted every restaurant that sold his chicken to have good food and in addition to learning the secret recipe, each of those owners learned the secret of restaurant success.

In less than 10 years, Sanders had built an empire of more than 600 outlets. In 1964, the Colonel made the decision to sell his company to a group of investors for $2 million.

Investors knew that it wouldn’t be the same without him, and so the Colonel remained as the public figure of the company. In 1976, a survey ranked the Colonel as the world’s second most recognizable celebrity.

Until he was fatally stricken with leukemia in 1980 at the age of 90, the Colonel traveled 250,000 miles a year visiting the KFC restaurants around the world.

No one could deny the charming allure that the Colonel possessed. He was truly an authentic character, a good ole boy from the South that people were drawn to. The Colonel is recognized today by the familiar image of a charming man in a white suit but he will be remembered for his hard work and dedication to a dream that eventually became his reality.

by Laura Lee Fleming

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on the money

BABY ST STEP SEVEN:

BUI BUILD B W WEALTH

by Dave Ramsey

Dave Ramsey is a financial counselor, host of the popular syndicated radio show “The Dave Ramsey Show,” and author of the New York Times best-seller The Total Money Makeover. His columns appear regularly in Y’all.

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For seven issues of Y’all I have walked you through the Baby Steps to a Total Money Makeover. We have now reached that perfect number, Baby Step Seven. Wherever you are in the steps – stay intense, keep going, you’ll make it!

When you reach Baby Step Seven you are TOTALLY debt free – NO house payment, NO car payment. You are not Mastered by a Card, you have not Discovered bondage, American Excess has left your life, you have NO student loans (your old pet), and YOU ARE FREE! You live on a monthly written plan and agree on it with your spouse, if you’re married. You have a retirement destiny that looks considerably better than Alpo and Social Insecurity. If you have children, they will be students without a student loan. You have lived like no one else, so now you will be able to live like no one else. Through sweat and sacrifice, you have reclaimed control of your life and your most powerful wealthbuilding tool, your income.

At this stage in The Total Money Makeover, you are Arnold Schwarzedollar, Mr. Universe of Money, with serious abs, pecs and quads.

You have all this financial muscle, so now you should do something intentional with it. It is not just to look at. We built this financial superbody for a reason. To have FUN, INVEST and GIVE. The kid in us like the FUN part of this equation, and since we have made this kid behave for a long time with promises of ice cream if he does so, he should get some ice cream. Should anyone wear a $30,000 watch?

Should anyone drive a brand-new $50,000 car? Should anyone live in a $700,000 home?

Absolutely; they should. The problem with people is, they buy things when they can’t afford them.

One of the reasons to have a Total Money Makeover is to build wealth that allows you to have fun. So have some fun! Taking your family, even the extended ones, on a sevenday cruise, buying some diamonds, or even buying a new car are things you can afford to do when you have millions of dollars. You can afford to do these things because when you do them, your money position is hardly even affected. If you like travel, travel. If you like clothes, buy some. I am releasing you to have some fun with your money, because money is to be enjoyed. That guilt free enjoyment is one of the three reasons to have a money makeover.

The grown-up inside us like the INVESTING of money because that is part of what makes you wealthy. Also, the growing dollars are a way of keeping score in our Total Money Makeover game. After a while investing can feel a little like Monopoly. When you play Monopoly, you can be up, or you can get behind. Sometimes the market fluctuates, but as mature investors, we ride out the waves and stay in for the long term. Sometimes I meet people who arrive at this step and are scared

because just as they reach retirement age, their investments are heading down. Never fear; if you have quality investments with long-term track records, they’ll come back. Besides, you don’t need all the nest egg at once to retire on; you just need some of the income from it.

Be patient with the market while living off the income the nest egg produces.

You can choose to be a little more sophisticated, but until you have more than $10 million, I would keep your investing very simple. You can clutter your life with a bunch of unnecessary stress by getting into extremely complex investments. I use simple mutual funds and debt-free real estate as my investment mix – very clean.

Always manage your own money. You should surround yourself with a team of people smarter than you, but you make the decisions. When selecting and working with your wealth team, it is vital to bring on only members who have the heart of a teacher, not the heart of a salesman or the heart of an “expert.” The salesman is always chasing a commission and thinking short-term, and the “expert” can’t help being condescending which is humorous because he likely has less money than you.

“” Money gives power to good intentions. That’s why I’m unashamedly in favor of building wealth.

The most mature part of who you are will meet the kid inside as you learn to involve yourself in the last use of money, which is to GIVE it away. Giving is possibly the most fun you will ever have with money. I can promise you from meeting with literally thousands of millionaires that the thing the healthy ones share in common is a love of GIVING. Only the strong can help the weak, and that is true of money too. A toddler is not allowed to carry a new born; only adults who have the muscular strength to ensure safety should carry babies. If you want to help someone, many times you can’t do so without money.

Margaret Thatcher said, “No one would have remembered the Good Samaritan if he hadn’t had money.” The Good Samaritan had a good heart and a heavy enough purse to pay an innkeeper to help take care of the injured man. Money was involved. Money was at its best that day. Money gives power to good intentions. That’s why I’m unashamedly in favor of building wealth.

There are only three uses for money: FUN, INVESTING and GIVING. You cannot claim Total Money Makeover status until you do all three.

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max’d out

PIGSKIN PR PROGN OG Throughout most of the Deep South, college sports usually start to take a back seat when the temperature rises and the

by Max Howell

beach begins to call. So it is now. But before I hit the beach, I’d like to offer some insight

A

t my last briefing, I gave you what I thought about the major coaching changes in the SEC. Let’s now review the major questions that had to be answered from spring practice!

In the SEC East:

Coach Max Howell can be heard on MAX’d OUT, syndicated throughout the Southeast weekdays, 9-12 noon CT. www.maxhowell.com

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Florida: New Coach Urban Meyer dealt with big offensive changes putting in his system. Time will tell if QB Chris Leak is up for the running package Meyer will require. Charlie Strong, Defensive Coordinator, will have to replace LB Channing Crowder’s leadership and presence to make Florida Championship Contenders.

Georgia: Gone are QB David Green, DE David Pollack and WR Fred Gibson. But more important is the loss of Defensive Coordinator Brian Vangorder.

There is much talent at Georgia, but can QB D.J. Shockley provide the leadership and on-field presence to compete for the SEC East.

Tennessee: Returning are three very good QBs, Brent Schaeffer, Eric Ainge and Rick Clauson, plus newcomer Jonathan Crompton, from North

Carolina. Add RB Gerald Riggs who rushed for over 1000 yds in 2004, a solid defense, and you will probably get the SEC East Winner.

Bottom feeders: South Carolina, with new Coach Steve Spurrier, will struggle.

Kentucky will most likely replace Rich Brooks. Vanderbilt will be Vanderbilt and finish near or at the bottom.

In the SEC West:

LSU: New Coach Les Miles will be expected to have LSU nationally ranked, win the SEC West and look good doing it. A great offense, plus being able to keep Jimbo Fisher from the NFL, should put everyone on notice that the Tigers are alive and well. Look for them to win the SEC West.

Auburn: Coming off a 13-0 record and with a very good defense returning, fan expectation is running high. BUT, no experience at QB and no experience at RB plus a new defensive coordinator and a tough SEC schedule, spell a couple of losses. They will compete with Alabama for 2nd in SEC West.

Alabama: Providing Brodie Croyle

LES MILES/JEFF GROSS-GETTY, STEVE SPURRIER/CRAIG JONES-GETTY, URBAN MEYER & ED ORGERON/HARRY HOW-GETTY IMAGES

into what’s coming in just a few months.

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ROGNOS GNOSTICATION TICATION

Tennessee RB Gerald Riggs

and Ken Darby (both injured) can come back to playing form, the Tide’s offense will be adequate.

It’s the defense that will make Alabama a contender. It should be LSU, Alabama, and Auburn for the Western title.

Bottom feeders: Ole Miss, with new Coach Ed Orgeron, will be better than 4-7. Mississippi State should be better than 3-8, and I trust Coach Houston Nutt will get Arkansas back in the bowl picture, if not he will be on the “hot seat.”

ACC / Big XII

In other areas of the South, the ACC will have their first championship game in 2005.

Look for Virginia Tech, Miami and Florida State all making a run for the title.

It’s Texas and Oklahoma in the Big Twelve for their championship. Once again, after spring workouts, the SEC was voted the toughest football conference in America with the ACC camp in second. Isn’t it ironic the best football is

always played in the South?

What’s new in the big picture of NCAA College Football in ‘05...still no playoffs, but the BCS will get a new look. No AP poll will be part of the formula to select participants for a championship. That poll will be replaced by a committee of writers or athletic administrators, combined with the USA Today, ESPN poll and six computer polls to make the selection.

Oh, and don’t forget the SEC, Big 10 and ACC all will experiment with instant replay... a novel idea taken from the NFL. Well, guys like Bill Callahan at Nebraska, Rich Brooks at Kentucky, Clemson’s Tommy Bowden, Mike Shula at Alabama, Houston Nutt at Arkansas and who knows who else will welcome any change to help them stay off the “Hot Seat”.

As we have said before...”there ain’t no off season” in football, but with summer coming on strong, some of us will stop to soak up some rays at the beach and dream of what will or can be in the fall.

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cajun humor

““Children’s Art Class”

by Tommy Joe Breaux

O

ne day de art teacher, Miss Frida Kahleaux, axed de chirren to use day ʻmaginations an draw whatever dey like. Miss Kahleaux was walkinʼ ʻround de class lookinʼ at all de papers wit pictures of fire engines, boats, airplanes, butterfly, rainbows, an jusʼ all kine of cute lilʼ tangs. Den she walk by lilʼ Mitzy Hebertʼs desk and she couldnʼt quite make out wat lilʼ Mitzy was drawinʼ. Miss Kahleaux say, “Mitzy, dat seems to be a nice picture, but wat is dat you drawinʼ?” Mitzy look at her an say, “Miss Kahleaux, Iʼm drawing God.” Miss Kahleaux say, “How could you draw Him? Nobody knows wat God look like.” Lilʼ Mitzy, without blinkinʼ an eye or missinʼ a word look at Miss Kahleaux and say, “Dey will in a minute!”

Humorist Tommy Joe Breaux has been delighting the South with his cajun stories for years.

Breaux has numerous tapes, videos and books available at www. tommyjoebreaux.com.

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cranky yankee

THE BIRTH OF A

“BREDNECK”

by Laurie Stieber

Laurie Stieber is an Atlanta-based entertainment attorney and freelance columnist. The New York City native can be reached at yankee@yall.com

I could not find my husband, Andrei, the Romanian Ricky Ricardo, liver transplant surgeon, anywhere in our family room. “Ba-ba loo! Ba-ba loo!

Come out, come out wherever you are!”

Not a peep. Hmm. Should I file an Amber Alert on the grounds that a 52year-old man, who is drawn to mischief and practical jokes like a moth to a neon sign, ought to be downgraded in age to infantile? Civic mindedness keeps me from calling the cops. It would set a bad precedent. Why? Because the spouse of every man who left for Home Depot allegedly for ten minutes to buy a screwdriver and did not return until three weeks later due to binge testosterone intoxication, would all be crying Amber.

Still, there is no sign of Andrei in the family room. He lost weight on the Atkin’s diet, so I searched for him in the Sharper Image CD Tower that is shaped like a thin, black, dizzy palm tree. Paris Hilton couldn’t fit in there! Well, maybe she could without the hair extensions.

Oh, what a pleasure it is to be a Cranky Yankee sometimes.

“Ba-ba BOO!” blasted, in a Romanian accent, from the oblong and ugly leather couch. The call from the wild scared me into realizing I missed that one lousy moment in time when Ricky Ricardo morphed into Davy Crockett, dressed in full camouflage gear. Davy was also buried beneath a camo quilt he had ordered from an army surplus catalogue.

You may be wondering why I didn’t notice the lump on the couch. Truth is, I did. But, I figured our cat, “Pandora,” and his street pals ate some rancid possum and gang-barfed on the sofa sectional.

Earthy shades of barf are the inspiration for designers of camouflage attire.

“Davy,’ I asked in an artificially calm voice, ‘would you like to share with me why you are wearing Barf Couture?”

“Yes,’ replied “Davy,” ‘I’m goin’ huntin’ with Glenn at his mountain cabin. Deer season’s startin’.” (This was also spoken with a Romanian accent, but I don’t have the room here to include subtitles.)

Misty eyed, I began humming “Sunrise Sunset,” with custom-made lyrics: “Sunrise, sunset. Is this the little man I married? Wasn’t it yesterday when he wasn’t a Redneck?”

Sniffle. Sniffle. Tissue please.

It is my fault. Where did I go wrong

raising my husband, sweet Ricky Ricardo-Crockett? I grew up gratefully with privilege, but Andrei, an only child, grew up in an elegant European family with breeding. In two notes, he can identify the classical piece. In two seconds of observation, I can identify the shade of Chanel lipstick my friend is wearing.

Genius is relative.

Andrei is a wine connoisseur, scientist, linguist, and an epicurean. Even when his Southern adrenaline is pumping at “Cabin Glenn’s,” he knows that wedding music is “Pachelbel’s Canon” and not “Taco Bell’s Canyon,” although he has memorized Taco Bell’s drive-thru menu.

“ ” I’m goin’ huntin’ with Glenn at his mountain cabin. Deer season’s startin’.

What is a privileged, Cranky Yankee girl like me supposed to do, besides having recurring nightmares of road kill mounted on our wall, hanging above an exquisite Oriental rug on the floor? I don’t know if I should guzzle a Xanax or be merciful and put it into the hog feed.

It is too late. “Cabin Glenn” has already honored Andrei by initiating him into the brotherhood of Rednecks with a key to the farm, and more importantly, a nickname, “Doc.” Yup, “Doc” and “Cabin Glenn” are now forever loyal buddies on their way to the land of venison pate after they whack a couple of deer.

Halogen moment, y’all! I’ve come up with a brand new concept that is sure to ignite the world like a bunch of bean eating cowboys at a blazing camp fire: A well bred Redneck is a BREDNECK! Here’s an example; “Doc’s” bottle opener comes from Williams Sonoma. He is going to donate it to Glenn’s cabin, where Glenn will proudly pop his brewsky with it because he and “Doc” are blood brothers.

Shalom Y’all! There will be more of the continuing saga of ‘Doc’ and ‘Cabin Glenn’ and Cranky Yankee’s first visit there (Yankees don’t do out-houses, Glenn) in the next issue. Stay tuned.

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sports

Everything Old Is New Again

AutoZone Park, Memphis, Tenn.

by Terrell Johnson

The new classic ballpark is a major trend in the minor leagues and a hit with fans

by Terrell Johnson 52

Slugger Field, Louisville, Ky.

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S

ettle into your seat along the third-base line at AutoZone Park, home of the AAA Memphis Redbirds, and you’ll swear you’re at a major league game – back in the golden age of baseball.

“We wanted a ballpark that looked like it had always been here,” says David Chase, the Redbirds’ president and general manager. Though the team didn’t play its first game here until April 2000, the park feels like it’s been nestled on its spot near the Peabody Hotel on the banks of the Mississippi for decades.

Traditional-style stadium lights tower over the outfield sky beyond the scoreboard, while the facade hanging over the main seating area is a throwback to an earlier era, echoing the look of Chicago’s Wrigley Field and Boston’s Fenway Park. And the park’s designers didn’t stop there.

“It’s a venue that allows you to enjoy it at whatever level you want to,” Chase adds, with modern touches such as picnic areas, games and amusement areas for children, and stages adjacent to the park that feature live bands before and after games. “It’s a carnival atmosphere out there for families, especially for kids who are too young to watch pitch counts.”

If you’ve only been a fan of the Braves, Marlins or the Devil Rays, it’s time to give the South’s minor league teams another look. Memphis is just one of many cities throughout the region that have begun opening new ballparks in the classic style of the 1940s and 50s, turning their teams – and venues – into tourist attractions on a par with their major league brethren.

“They’re really like miniature major league ballparks,” says Jim Ferguson, director of media relations for Minor League Baseball. “Plus, they have the added benefit of being close to the action. Even if you’re in a bad seat at a minor league game, you can be closer to the action than you are in a good seat at a major league game.”

Bringing the field of play close to the fans was a key part of the design of Slugger Field, which also opened in 2000 as the home of the AAA Louisville Bats. With the batter’s box

“People can come and throw a towel down and enjoy the game,” says Louisville public relations director Svend Jansen.

Riverwalk Stadium, Montgomery, Ala.

set just 60 feet from the front row of seats behind home plate, the fans – especially those with great seats – can hear the hiss of every fastball that hits the catcher’s mitt.

“In most seats at a minor league game, you can see expressions on a [player’s] face, you hear what they say on the field, and that has a lot of appeal,” Ferguson adds. “Kids who are playing in their own games can see the effort, hear the effort right there on the field.”

For families with children, making a night at the ballpark something they can enjoy – and afford – is also a big part of the appeal. Slugger Field’s ticket prices range from $4 to $8, a far cry from major league stadium prices that can range as high as $40 to $50. Once they get inside, fans can visit the grassy lawn area with seating for 400 behind left field, or take their younger kids to the carousel in right field.

“People can come and throw a towel down and enjoy the game,” says Louisville public relations director Svend Jansen.

“At the minor league level, it’s more about entertainment, and that’s what we provide.”

Entertainment options are plentiful both inside and outside the newer stadiums, as many are being built to take advantage of downtown areas and nearby attractions. When the AA Chattanooga Lookouts were scouting locations for their new BellSouth Park in the late 1990s, they realized that downtown was where they had to be, even though at first, the site they

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chose looked less than ideal. find once you get inside. This AA affiliate of the Tampa Bay “It was just an empty field, Devil Rays opened its 7,000-seat Riverwalk Stadium in 2004, used for auxiliary parking and its picturesque design, incorporating the abandoned train next to the Tennessee station building just beyond the outfield, is fast becoming a Aquarium,” said Lookout’s fan favorite. Just a stone’s throw away is the Alabama River assistant general manager that flows through the city, as well as downtown Montgomery, John Maedel. “There wasn’t blending a day at the game with nearby attractions. Ticket a lot of land to use there. prices start at $6 for lawn seats on the right-field side, and But downtown Chattanooga range up to $8 for box seats and $10 for “super-box” seats is going through a real overlooking home plate. revitalization, and it was For more info: http://www.biscuitsbaseball.com important to our owners to put it downtown, to be part Slugger Field, Louisville, Ky. of that revitalization.”

Built on the banks of the Ohio River, Slugger Field continues The result is a park that fits a proud tradition of baseball in Louisville dating back to the in seamlessly with the fabric origins of the major leagues. Its proximity to its parent club, of the city surrounding it, the Cincinnati Reds, makes AAA baseball “a perfect fit” for making it possible for Lookouts fans to make a day of visiting the city, says team public relations director Svend Jansen. “It’s the ballpark as well as the Aquarium and nearby restaurants great for the fans because they get to see players like Adam and pubs.

Dunn and Austin Kearns, and then they get to see them go For the true baseball fan, of course, it’s what is inside the up to play in Cincinnati at the highest level.” Tickets range park that counts. Because of their attention from $4 for lawn seats up to $8 for upper deck to detail and their affection for baseball’s reserved seats. past – the Durham Bulls Athletic Park, For more info: http://www.batsbaseball.com “Family-oriented which opened in 1995, features a Fenwayamusements and style manual scoreboard in left field – many AutoZone Park, Memphis, Tenn. parks are winning the loyalty of longtime Opened to rave reviews in 2000, the a large outfield fans.

Redbirds’ park comes perhaps closest of all of plaza allows After opening its gates five years ago, the new minor league parks to replicating the baseball and nonLouisville’s 13,000-seat Slugger Field has feel of a major league stadium, especially that consistently drawn about 650,000 fans of Baltimore’s Camden Yards. The buildings baseball fans to a year, Jansen says. “At the triple-A level, that line the outfield are reminiscent of the come out and view of the famous B&O Warehouse along where the players change so much, that’s the Baltimore park’s right field wall, and the really saying something.” enjoy the park. red brick exterior lends the park an elegant So whether your team is triple-A, doublecharm all its own. Also like Camden Yards, A or single-A, if you haven’t been out to a AutoZone is also a “total entertainment minor league game lately, it’s time to get complex,” says president and general manager David Chase, your old baseball glove out of the back of the closet and get with family-oriented amusements and a large outfield plaza down to the ballpark to check out what you’ve been missing. that “allows baseball and non-baseball fans to come out and enjoy the park.” Ticket prices range from $5 for bluff seats to Durham Bulls Athletic Park, Durham, N.C. $14 for lower dugout seats.

Celebrating its tenth anniversary this year, Durham’s is For more info: http://www.memphisredbirds.com the oldest of the “new” baseball parks in the minor leagues.

With 10,000 seats at ticket prices that range from $5 for lawn BellSouth Park, Chattanooga, Tenn. seating to $8 for field box seats, taking in a AAA Bulls game is Named for Lookout Mountain, the historic Civil War within reason for just about any size family. battlefield that looks over this city nestled in the foothills of And though it’s not the same park where Kevin Costner Tennessee’s Cumberland Plateau, the Chattanooga Lookouts and Tim Robbins filmed their now-legendary baseball movie also boast a baseball history that dates back to 1885. Now Bull Durham, the new park features perhaps the most famous the class AA affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds, the team’s signature of the old stadium, the snorting bull perched atop new home, BellSouth Park, is a mix of the new and the old, the 32-ft.-high Blue Monster left field wall. “We still get featuring a real working train that steams out on tracks set up people who come from out of town to see it,” says Bulls media behind the outfield wall for every Lookout home run. And relations director Matt DiMargio. with ticket prices ranging from $2 for children up to $8 for For more info: http://www.dbulls.com the best seats in the house, it’s well in keeping with the team’s promise to provide “affordable family fun.”

Riverwalk Stadium, Montgomery, Ala. For more info: http://www.lookouts.com The Montgomery Biscuits is the name of the team, as well as the unique concession item (for a baseball stadium) you’ll

”

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Ray: Doing It His Way

by Annabelle Robertson

R

ay McKinnon has a Southern axe to grind. After decades of watching godawful Southern movies – and even acting in them – he figured that if something was going to change, it would have to come from him.

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“W

e’re getting so used to this literal explanation that we can’t see parables anymore. Even our television shows are reality based. We’re losing our myths and our legends.”

So the Adel, Georgia-born actor, who has appeared in films like Apollo 13, O Brother Where Art Thou and Driving Miss Daisy, to name just a few, decided to make his own movies.

With his wife, actress Lisa Blount (An Officer and a Gentleman) and their close friend, Walter Goggins (Shanghai Noon, The Apostle), McKinnon formed Ginny Mule Productions. Their goal? To produce top-quality films that portray the South, and Southerners, realistically.

“I just became so offended at bad Southern films – over and over and over. And it’s still going on,” McKinnon says.

“There’s a long tradition of Southern writers, and wellrespected Southern writers. And yet, for whatever reason, Hollywood has been very unwilling to let Southern filmmakers film Southern stories. Therefore, we get these hackneyed, badly-done Southern movies. Most of them don’t go beyond the surface of the Southern thing.”

Despite the lack of authentic films in Hollywood – or perhaps because of it – the establishment was impressed with Ginny Mule’s first film, which McKinnon wrote, directed and starred in alongside Goggins. The Accountant, which centers around two brothers trying to save the family farm, took home the 2002 Oscar for “Best Short Film.”

In his acceptance speech, McKinnon said, “We’d like to thank the Academy for this wonderful honor in a category that still allows for a person who is just burning to make a movie, to load the camera in the back of his daddy’s old truck, gather up some talented dreamers and do it. And if the stars align and the fates conspire, that person might find themselves standing right here at the Good God Almighty Academy Awards.”

Not one to sit on his overalls, McKinnon has now just released his first feature film. Starring Billy Bob Thornton and Blount, Chrystal tells the story of “Joe” (Thornton) and his wife, “Chrystal” (Blount), who have been separated for 16 years because of the violent car wreck that killed their child and sent “Joe,” who was evading the authorities, to prison. Having survived the loss of her child and her husband, “Chrystal” also suffered a broken neck in the accident and is still emotionally traumatized.

“Chrystal” has acquired a bad reputation during “Joe’s” absence, but it’s clear that she’s merely seeking relief, however momentary, from her pain. So rather than despise her, we sympathize with her. We also empathize with “Joe,” who refuses to go back into the drug business with “Snake” (played

by McKinnon), the local kingpin.

Not surprisingly, Chrystal opened to mixed reviews.

Southerners loved it; the rest of the country was split.

“Back in L.A., people just didn’t get the film, so we took it down South,” McKinnon says. “And whether or not it was their kind of story or not, Southern critics say it’s real.”

As he did with The Accountant, McKinnon wrote Chrystal as a parable – a story that is highly realistic, but not always literal.

“We’re losing the ability to tell stories,” he says. “We’re getting so used to this literal explanation that we can’t see 56

parables anymore. Even our television shows are reality based.

We’re losing our myths and our legends. But what is literal and what is true?”

Set in the Ozark Mountains of Arkansas, Chrystal was inspired by the people of Blount’s childhood. The GoldenGlobe actress grew up just a few miles from Eureka Springs, Ark., where the film was shot – a very different culture from South Georgia, where McKinnon was raised. McKinnon says he also wanted to explore the human question of whether two introverts, separated by time, death and suffering, could make their relationship work.

As he has so many times before, McKinnon again plays the bad guy in Chrystal – a speed-sniffing, manipulative drug lord.

“I was interested in taking an archetype like ‘Snake’ and making him really smart. He was an evil S.O.B. but he was a smart S.O.B. I also wondered what makes a guy like him tick, and it’s this huge ego. It was fun being able to play an egomaniac unapologetically,” McKinnon says, with a huge laugh. “There were two ways I could go. I could go against the stereotype of the hillbilly or just ratchet it up about ten notches, put him in overalls and get him steeped up on speed.

‘Snake’s’ partly making fun of the sterotype of his people. He understands that – he’s not a fool.”

In one revealing scene, “Joe” makes fun of “Snake” by calling his girlfriend his sister. Rather than have “Snake” grow angry, as so many other directors would, McKinnon instead had the character laugh.

“Often you see Southern characters who don’t have a sense of humor,” he says, by way of explanation. “They are the butt of someone else’s joke, but they don’t have their own sense of humor. And that’s a real putdown, to say that they aren’t bright enough to have a sense of humor about who they are, what they are and where they are.”

An important part of the film’s authenticity, as well as its success, is Thornton, who plays the lead role. McKinnon has nothing but praise for the Arkansas-born actor.

“Billy’s legacy is going to be these multi-leveled Southern films like Slingblade, Monster’s Ball, A Simple Plan and One False Move,” he says. “He has changed that genre from a two-dimensional stereotype to a real, three-dimensional experience.”

McKinnon is grateful for the audiences who have looked beyond the megaplexes toward the smaller theatres for his film.

“When I wrote Chrystal, we knew that it was going to contain elements of darkness, and I don’t want to upset anybody who’s not looking for this kind of experience,” he says. “However, at the end of the day, I believe Chrystal finds the light. The final message of this movie is one of hope and redemption.”

No doubt, Southerners are also finding hope in Ray McKinnon, who’s finally giving us a voice – a real one – in Southern film.

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A documentary of General Nathan Bedford Forrest featuring commentary by Shelby Foote.

Presenting the first documentary to look exclusively at the life of the Confederacyʼs “Wizard of the Saddle.” This film on Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest features expert analysis from Civil War writer Shelby Foote, Gen. Parker Hills, Nelson Winbush and others. Portrayed by Stan Dalton, Gen. Forrest comes to life in this objective work by director Jon Rawl. Ride with Forrest and discover for yourself the extraordinary life, controversy and myth that surrounds this Southern legend.

Also available is the full 49 min. audio interview CD with Shelby Foote, featuring commentary not heard in the documentary VHS.

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To Order: $17.95 (plus $4.00 shipping & handling) Call toll-free 1-800-247-6553 or visit us online at: www.healthcarebook.net Or special order through your favorite local bookseller. ym52-57_HP.indd 57

4/7/05 11:39:06 PM

rising south Introducing three singers with OUTLAW bloodlines.

It’s a

Family Tradition.

In his song “College Days,” Django Walker claims to have made a 1.0 grade point average, but he seems to have graduated with honors with a degree in country music. One influential professor was his dad, Texas-country icon Jerry Jeff Walker. Django’s debut album, Down the Road, came out a few years back. Currently he is doing his homework for his second record on his independent label, Lazy Kid Music.

For two years, young Walker did get some education; he attended the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts in Liverpool, England. His training may have been useful for performing, but his homesickness for Texas really paid off. Walker penned the tune “Texas On My Mind,” recalling his home state while lovesick in Liverpool. The established musician Pat Green heard the song at the 2000 Willie Nelson Fourth of July Picnic and recorded it one month later.

Throughout his term on the proverbial “road,” Walker has worked with some of the big-shots of the Texas country-rock scene, and played for large audiences with Pat Green, Cross Canadian Ragweed, and dear-old-dad. But tit is he collegebar scene is where Django has learned how to have a good time and show off his country music edumacation.

Shooter Jennings

Walker photos courtesy of Django, Jennings pub photo from James Minchin and Jennings & father/Getty Images, and Williams pub photos by Henry Diltz/Universal Records and family photo by Gabe Palacio-ImageDirect

Django Walker

“It’s about not being afraid to cross any boundaries. It’s about freedom. And I know that the people in that little place between New York and L.A. called America will come, as long as the music is real,” shoots newcomer Shooter Jennings. The only child of Waylon Jennings and Jessi Colter, his dad certainly had an influence on Shooter. “Junior” had an impact on Ole Waylon too. “My dad got his ear pierced when he was – I swear to God – 60, becuase he wanted to be like me,” Shooter, 26, states. “This was the earring he wore – and I’m wearing it now.” Shooter’s rockin’ debut single, “4th of July,” from Put the ‘O’ Back in Country is out now. The Nashville native will appear as his father in the upcoming Walk the Line movie.

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Holly Williams

Sean Gallup/Getty Images

Her grandfather Hank defined the country music genre, and then her dad Hank rowdy-ed it up, each making country music to suit them. Now Holly Williams is giving country her own delicate tone. Her debut album The Ones We Never Knew is reflective country-folk music that explores themes of love and pain.

She grew up in Nashville, but music was never her chosen path. Williams did, however, start writing her own songs when she was an introspective eight-year-old.

She found making music almost unavoidable, although the influences of her father and grandfather were distant.

Holly picked up a guitar when she was 17, and then decided to devote a year to exploring her options around Nashville. That year turned into three, and soon she was beginning to pick up some momentum. She wrote and performed alone for the most part, then took a three-month trip to Los Angeles and spent her time playing the piano. Later she spent time in Europe playing with Ron Sexsmith.

Throughout 2003, Holly played shows with John Mellencamp, and toured with Billy Bob Thornton. After signing with record label Universal South, Holly released her new CD. Her songs are sad. The 24-year-old channels her emotions into melancholy lyrics. And like her legendary grandfather and father, Holly Williams is using the tenets of country music to suit her style in her own distinctive way.

Holly Williams with her father, Hank Williams Jr., and sisters, Hilary and Katie, backstage in Nashville, Tenn.

by Jenna Blackwell

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E e5a0 t s e i m

southe stars st

by Jonathan Craig

50 49 48 47 46 45 44 43 42 41 40 39

Molly Sims (Murray, Ky.) James Denton (Goodlettsville, Tenn.)

LeAnn Rimes (Pearl, Miss.)

Sandra Bullock (Arlington, Va.) Shannon Elizabeth (Houston, Texas) Emily Procter (Raleigh, N.C.) Tim McGraw (Start, La.) Kim Basinger (Athens, Ga.) George Eads (Ft. Worth, Texas) Brandy (McComb, Miss.)

Lance Armstrong (Austin, Texas) Farrah Fawcett (Corpus Christi, Texas)

38 Reese Witherspoon (Nashville, Tenn.)

37 Josh Holloway (Free Home, Ga.) 36 Angie Harmon (Dallas, Texas) 35 Johnny Knoxville (Knoxville, Tenn.)

34 Renee Zellweger (Katy, Texas) 33 Harry Connick, Jr. (New Orleans, La.) 32 Andie MacDowell (Gaffney, S.C.) 31& Luke Wilson and brother, 30 Owen Wilson (Dallas, Texas) 29 Jennifer Love Hewitt (Waco, Texas) 28 Dennis Quaid (Houston, Texas) 27 Ali Landry (Beaux Bridge, La.)

l to r: Mark Mainz-Getty, Evan Agostini-Getty, Vince Bucci-Getty, Frank Micelotta-Getty, Vince Bucci-Getty, Scott Gries-Getty, Frank MicelottaGetty, Kevin Winter-Getty, Kevin Winter-Getty, Frank Micelotta-Getty, amd Mark Mainz-Getty Images

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Stars may be made in Hollywood. But when it comes to where the steamiest of stars are born, look no further than the good ole South. E! Entertainment Television dished out a hefty helping of pure southern-fried sex appeal with the countdown special, 50 Steamiest Southern Stars, which premiered April 3rd, and re-airs on the cable channel in the coming weeks.

Hosted by Southern beauty Jaime Pressly, the show features the hottest beaus and belles ever to be born and bred south of the Mason-Dixon line.

Y’all Magazine publisher Jon Rawl was invited to go to Hollywood and appear as a commentator on the countdown.

Y’all columnist and What Southern Women Know author Ronda Rich also appears as a commentator.

Whether it’s their down-home charm or wholesome sex appeal, these Southern celebs are so hot, even their collards are green with envy! Not only do these stars of television, music and film have Texas-sized success, they are all down-home folks. All in all, the show will give you 50 reasons why it isn’t only the weather that’s steamy down south! It’s one sultry list y’all won’t want to miss.

In case you miss it, Y’all gives you the sizzling list:

Blair Underwood (Petersburg, Va.) Julia Roberts (Smyrna, Ga.) Courteney Cox (Birmingham, Ala.) Benjamin MacKenzie (Austin, Texas) John Corbett (West Virginia) Brooke Burns (Dallas, Texas) Anna Nicole Smith (Houston, Texas) Ty Pennington (Atlanta, Ga.) Kristin Davis (Columbia, S.C.) Ian Somerhalder (Covington, La.) Sela Ward (Meridian, Miss.)

Jamie Foxx (Terrell, Texas) Faith Hill (Star, Miss.)

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Usher (Chattanooga, Tenn.)

Jamie Pressly (Kinston, N.C.) Josh Lucas (Sullivan’s Island, S.C.) Justin Timberlake (Memphis, Tenn.)

Ashley Judd (Franklin, Tenn.)

Johnny Depp (Owensboro, Ky.) Britney Spears (Kentwood, La.) George Clooney (Augusta, Ky.) Jennifer Garner (Houston, Texas) Matthew McConaughey (Uvalde, TX) Eva Longoria (Corpus Christie, TX) Jessica Simpson (Richardson, TX) Beyonce (Houston, TX)

MAY/JUNE 2005 MARCH/APRIL 2005 •• Y’ALL Y’ALL

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Lowcountry Inspiration

by Annabelle Robertson

Bestselling novelist Dorothea Benton Frank might take exception with Thomas Wolfe. You can go home again. After all, she did.

After decades of living up North, she finally got a place of her own back in South Carolina, where she grew up. And now, thanks to her bestselling books, people all over the U.S. are getting a taste of the Palmetto State’s Lowcountry.

“It’s funny that my teenage children now refer to New Jersey as where they grew up,” says Dottie, as she prefers to be called. “Ho-ho-ho-ho-home? Come on! I always thought it was temporary. Eighteen years later, I finally have a house on Sullivan’s Island, so I can give my children some understanding of why I am so torn between both places.”

A true-blue Southern girl with more than a bit of sass to her sweetness, Dottie has the kind of determination that most people dream of. But getting that house – which represented her childhood – proved more difficult than she imagined.

After moving to San Francisco and New York City for a career in the garment industry, Dottie married her husband Peter and settled into the suburbs of New Jersey, focusing on family and charitable work.

When her mother died and the family home on Sullivan’s Island came up for sale, Dottie saw it as the perfect opportunity.

But Peter didn’t believe in second homes, and as a stay-at-home mother, Dottie didn’t have any money of her own.

Fine, she told him. Then I’ll just write a bestselling novel and buy the house myself.

“I felt very, very passionately that I didn’t want to lose my mother and my sense of place at the same time,” she says. “I was caught, not having the money to be able to do something for myself. But I knew I could write. I’m not Proust, but I can certainly hang a story together and I figured I would be fine if I could figure out the publishing universe.”

As an advocate and volunteer fundraiser for literacy and the arts, Dottie knew that writing – especially good writing – was about far more than determination. So she decided to take some courses at a local college. Encouraged by professors and her peers, who said she had a way with words, Dottie began working on a book. Into it she funneled the many emotions she had felt during her parent’s deaths, as well

as the joy of growing up as a Geechee girl during the Civil Rights Movement.

Sullivan’s Island grabbed the number nine slot on the New York Times bestseller list. A novelist was born, and America could not get enough of the lush, Lowcountry books that author Pat Conroy heralded as being “always damp with seawater.”

Each of Dottie’s next three books – Plantation, Isle of Palms and Shem Creek – also became bestsellers.

Her latest, Pawley’s Island, releases this month. It tells the story of a talented watercolor artist whose life is transformed when she walks into a gallery and asks about selling her paintings. Like all of Dottie’s books, “Rebecca,” the protagonist, is a wife and mother struggling to redefine herself after the trauma of divorce.

“Pawley’s Island is about people who love secrets,” Dottie says. “Everybody has a secret that they’re either keeping from themselves or from others. It’s about how coming clean heals you and makes you happier. We’re at that delicate age, and quite a few of our friends are going through upheavals like divorce, but the real story is about the secrets.”

Pawley’s Island takes place, of course, in the Lowcountry.

“I turn to the Lowcountry for inspiration because there is something indisputably sultry about bodies of water that ebb and flow, and that sultriness invites your mind to drift,” Dottie says. “I’ve always believed that it was important for everyone to have a place where they can renew themselves, and water has been a metaphor for rebirth since the Bible.”

Dottie knows that it’s a slice of the South – the Coast – that all Southerners appreciate.

“There’s a world of difference between the barrier islands of South Carolina and the style of living that goes on in its cities,” she says. “Ask any native of Charleston, Columbia or Greenville and they will give you anecdotes about vacations they’ve taken at our beaches with a sigh in their voice.”

Being Southern, and writing about the South, Dottie says, means everything to her.

“Can I tell you how worn out I am of correcting Northerners

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on how they should behave?” she quips, with a laugh that ripples like ocean waves. “I got a sister who still makes pickles and chow-chow. And the almighty pound cake. It’s a blessing to be Southern. I think everyone secretly wants to be Southern.”

Dottie laughs at the idea that Southerners have it all together, but insists that our reputation for dysfunction is definitely farfetched.

“Southerners did not corner the market on dysfunctional families,” she laughs. “We may have coined the terms, but we did not invent the condition – although you’d never believe it if you read Flannery O’Connor, Tennessee Williams or

even, saints preserve us, my work. Southerners would never dream of encouraging anyone to retire to Florida, which is what Yankees do to thin out their population. We just take old Aunt Helen and put her in the back room. Contrary to rumor, never the attic. Everyone down South knows that the attic is too hot, even for mousies.”

Dottie got her house, of course, although not the one she grew up in. In this house, which is located just a few blocks from her childhood home, Dottie and her family are creating memories of their own.

For more information about Dorothea Benton Frank, her books and her summer publicity tour across the South, visit www.dotfrank.com.

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by Amanda Manning

Smile and say “watermelon.” And eat it, think about it, and dream about it, and well, you get the picture. At least that will be the life of the 2005 National Watermelon Queen, Stephanie Noel Duda.

Duda, a 21-year-old from Mission, Texas, will spend the next year traveling throughout the United States promoting the watermelon industry. From giving tips on selection of watermelon to sharing information about the nutritional value of the fruit, Duda will be the beaming spokesperson for the National Watermelon Association.

“It is a true joy to do a job in which I promote a product I take pride in and represent people whom I respect and call friends,” says Duda.

Before claiming the national crown, Duda had been the Texas/Oklahoma Watermelon Association Queen in 2004. To become the ultimate watermelon queen, she spent several days in competition with seven other State Associations’ queens in Orlando, Fla. Along with now being watermelon royalty, Duda also attends the University of Texas at Austin and is majoring in Government and Communications.

Now Duda did not work hard to win a “fluff” crown; the NWA has been around since 1914. With corporate offices located in Plant City, Fla., the association promotes the watermelon industry from production to consumption. The lovable fruit has an important agricultural and economic impact throughout Dixie. The NWA has members in 29 states.

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COURTESY OF THE NATIONAL WATERMELON PROMOTION BOARD/THE WATERMELON QUEEN

Watermelon Royalty

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The

Quilts of Gee’s Bend

by Ginger Weston Easley

An exhibition organized by Atlanta’s Tinwood Alliance and Houston’s Museum of Fine Arts is a collection of awe-inspiring works that, while crafted from what remained of otherwise unusable clothing and linens, scraps of fabric and grain bags, transcend traditional notions of “art.”

The quilts date back to 1930 and were completely handmade by a group of more than 40 amazing women in Gee’s Bend, a relatively small area of land in Wilcox County, Alabama that is bounded on three sides by the river that bears the state’s name. For years, Gee’s Bend was isolated from modern America, both physically and culturally, and its inhabitants are primarily the ancestors of slaves who worked a plantation owned by former North Carolinian Mark H. Pettway in the mid-1800’s. Except for one cook, the slaves who traveled to Gee’s Bend with Pettway from North Carolina reportedly made the long journey on foot, and many of the quilters and other residents still carry the Pettway name.

The ladies most often created the exquisite pieces featured in the exhibit to provide much needed warmth for their families, but Arlonzia Pettway recalls that a quilt made in 1942 by her late mother, Missouri Pettway, was pieced together from her father’s work

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clothes after he finally succumbed to a long illness. According to her daughter, the late Mrs. Pettway said of the quilt, “I going to take his work clothes, shape them into a quilt to remember him, and covet’ up under it for love.”

While their living conditions were modest, you won’t hear any of the ladies complain about their lot in life, and they are quick to advise that they have always been thankful for whatever they had. Many of them learned to quilt at very early ages, often receiving their first needle and thread from their own mothers as early as age 7. While Loretta Pettway has been quoted as saying that she didn’t like to sew and was too tired to make quilts after walking about 50 miles in the field each day, her grandmother urged her to make quilts, and she admits that she did need them for warmth once she got “a raggly old house.” Quilting was truly a necessity in the Gee’s Bend community for many years, but the draw for young quilters was more than the

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acquisition of a new skill, as the activities flanking the quilting table often included a capella singing, praying, bible reading, and lively discussions on any number of topics.

While the quilters’ compositions embody the soil, sweat, and stains of long days working the land in Gee’s Bend, the ladies make their public appearances adorned with their Sunday best, wearing hats and gloves and sitting with a striking sophistication and gentility, ankles crossed and hands folded elegantly in their laps. When asked how she felt when she saw the quilts in a museum for the first time, Arlonzia Pettway told a reporter, “I had the happiest time I had in my life to see our quilts hanging on the wall, and peoples just praising our quilts, and everybody’s eyes full of water…White peoples was crying, and black peoples was crying, and everyone was crying. And I had such a good time and I enjoyed myself so much, I had to ask myself a question. I said, ‘Am I dead and in heaven?’” While another quilter featured in the exhibit, Mary Lee Bendolph, regrets that the quilts were not recognized early enough for those who handed down quilting skills for so many years to share in the public’s appreciation, she is so thankful for the acclaim that she and the other ladies of Gee’s Bend are now receiving.

Matt Arnett, son of collector, researcher, and Tinwood Alliance co-founder William Arnett, is traveling with the exhibit on its noble journey, and he continues to be inspired by the fearlessness and creativity of the remarkable women of Gee’s Bend, the acceptance and praise that their works have garnered, and the courage of the museums displaying the quilts. Fascinated and awed by his childhood experiences following his father around, Matt swells with pride as he reminisces that most of the Western world regarded Europe, New York, and later places like Chicago and Los Angeles, as the principal pillars of fine art. Long before the New York Times hailed the quilts

from Gee’s Bend as “...some of the most miraculous works of modern art America has produced,” his father’s keen eye was focused on the important but overlooked works originating in the Deep South.

Matt astutely notes that other components of Black American culture, like spirituals, Jazz, Blues and a rich literary tradition, naturally lent themselves to mobility and were, therefore, appreciated much earlier than their equivalents in the visual arts such as the quilts of Gee’s Bend, which were found hanging only on clotheslines in Lower Alabama. Of course William Arnett had an early interest in European art, but as he traveled the world and encountered the artistic compositions of varying cultures, he soon rejected the notion that art consists only of the mainstream pieces so often collected by Western museums. He is known for his unrepentant support of the black artists scattered around the South, as well as his recognition that their works are a part of a cultural continuum.

Patricia C. McKissack is an author of a children’s book exploring quilting in Gee’s Bend that’s due out in December of 2006 from Random House, in collaboration with Tinwood Books, and she crystallized the relationships in that tiny Alabama community when, in referring to her mother’s maiden name (Petway) and describing her kinship with the ladies, she said that they were all related …“If not by blood, then by plantation.” Ms. McKissack’s husband, Frederick, captured the inescapably uplifting experience of just being in the presence of the extraordinary ladies of Gee’s Bend when he remarked that, while one familiar with their history might expect them to be without hope or joy, they were absolutely full of hope and brimming over with joy. Their story is a testament to the ability of an artistic community to flourish despite seemingly insurmountable cultural and geographic barriers and to the fervent resolve of the human spirit.

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star gazing Hungry for Southern Restaurants

PRACTICAL WHIMSY southern hospitality hollywood style

by Joe LoCicero

Stone Mountain, Ga.-raised Joe LoCicero is a Hollywood writer-publicist and entertaining guru whose eclectic, collective credits include Entertainment Tonight, The All-New Captain Kangaroo and Frasier. He began the “Practical Whimsy” movement in 2003. For groovy goods and hip tips, check out www.practicalwhimsy.com.

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Experiencing food in Southern California — I’ve finally come to realize — is just not the same as fine dining in the South. When I first moved to Los Angeles a decade ago, my first major culinary outing was to Wolfgang Puck’s “Chinois on Main,” an Asian fusion restaurant that was all the rage in Santa Monica. New to town, and totally not sure of any of the intricacies of getting a good reservation, I called ahead two weeks in advance for a 10:15 p.m. seating. Once there, I still had to wait with my party for 45 minutes.

Recalling that night, I sort of remember the food but, more than that, I remember the scene: a hopping bar, starlets-inwaiting, black turtle-necked actors, and a distinct, irrepressible feeling that I wasn’t in Georgia anymore.

Fast-forward a few years, and I’m at a happenin’ industry party that Wolfgang Puck is catering. It’s at the Barney’s New York in Beverly Hills and, weird though it sounds, the department store had been converted into a party palace. There’s no doubt that Wolfgang’s menu was his usual awe-inspiring best but, once again, I hardly remember the hor d’oeuvres and entrees because of the scene. Hundreds of celebrities — the likes of Kelsey Grammer, Brandy and the Malcolm in the Middle cast among them — cavorted amidst designer clothes (on racks that lined the walls) and imbibed on clear cocktails. (Cranberry juice and red wine had been banned from the bar lest they stain any of the Versace and Gucci goods).

In between and beyond those Puckrelated events, I’ve taken in a slew of L.A.’s finest restaurants. And while all of them have served up meals that were — by and large — perfectly fine (and more than a couple mightily expensive), they have led me to a familiar cry lately: I’m hungry for Southern restaurants.

That feeling was brought home — to my physical one in L.A. as well as my Atlanta-based soul — recently with visits to Atlanta and New Orleans and a trio of Southern restaurant experiences… and some unexpected encounters. In Athens, Ga., my wife and I were with my brother and his wife at the Five & Ten. We were there late one evening, feasting on rosemary and garlic braised lamb shank and a crazy good cheese plate. And then in Savannah, there was a trip to The Lady & Sons — and delicious servings of hoecakes and fried green tomatoes from current Y’all cover girl Paula Deen.

On both of those dining excursions, I came in contact with two of my absolute

favorite “stars” whom — appropriately — I’ve never seen in L.A., though they each have entertainment ties. At Five & Ten, it was R.E.M.’s Michael Stipe. And our time at The Lady & Sons brought me face-to-face with Deen, whose Southernaccented voice on the Food Network is like a beacon call to my two-year-old son, who’s infatuated with her drawl. But those sightings at those restaurants only spiced up the experiences; they didn’t make them.

The restaurant’s “scene” was about oh-somuch more than those amazing-thoughthey-are celebrities.

Then there was a memorable evening at New Orleans’ K-Paul’s — celebrating a milestone birthday of my Dad’s with my two brothers and brother-in-law — and diving into blackened Louisiana drum and shrimp-and-corn maque choux. No celebrity sightings there stirred up my regard for Southern restaurant dining even more. I finally realized what’s been missing at the trendy L.A. restaurants we visit. Southern eating places seem to know that the real experience is always what you bring to the table, not what’s there before and after you leave.

No matter how nice the atmosphere in a Southern eatery, how nattily dressed the wait staff and maitre d,’ how hot the locale, I always feel like an experience awaits, like your very own, well-told story unfolding. In the Southern restaurants of my fondest memories, it’s not about the scene — it really never should be — it’s about who you’re there with. The meal, the ambience, the cocktails, the pecan crème brulee… they’re all there to complement the company, not detract from it.

That being said, I’ll ‘fess up. Of course, there has been a time or two when a Hollywood hotspot wowed me, when the food was more than just a passing fancy or a flip element of the evening. There was the night at the artful, four-star Patina. Our eclectic menu there included a grits soufflé which, if you’re a foodie familiar with this restaurant, I’m so not giving the proper description to, except that there really were grits served with an exquisite bacon sauce. And then there was the evening at Ivy at the Shore, located across from the beach in West L.A. We were having dinner with Brent Spiner (The Aviator, Star Trek: The Next Generation) and celebrating a recent accomplishment of one of the guests. On that night, I remember eating a gourmet take on delicious, crispy fried chicken.

Yep, so many L.A. restaurants and — out of all of them — I remember the ones with the grits and fried chicken.

Apparently, I’m just a Southern boy, yearning for my own soul food in a scenesaturated city.

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wine down south

THE GREAT SOUTHERN WINE DINNER

by Doc Lawrence

Wine dinners are as common in the modern South as yesterday’s church revivals and classic creek baptisms. Hardly new, there are just more of them. Some may need refining but a growing number are already exalted. A great wine dinner is comparable to a memorable barbecue experience. The secret is in the planning, preparation and presentation.

The first New World wine dinner was at Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello. He supervised everything from food and cooking to pouring, introducing guests to bottles from his great cellar collected from the vineyards of France, Italy and Germany. An accomplished gourmet, Jefferson mastered the fine art of pairing different wines with dishes made from local products like Smithfield and country ham, fowl and vegetables. Today’s wine dinners are his epicurean descendants.

Wine dinner memories come from a tour de force of great evenings at special tables.

Typically, the chef and wine presenter selects the courses and matching wines in advance. That’s simple enough, but North Carolina restaurant developer Marty Kotis, a founder and past president of Bacchus, a regional wine association, advises “you need to introduce new wines to keep the events interesting.” Beginning with a stimulating Champagne or superlative sparkling wine, then proceeding to lighter courses leading to the entrées and desserts, the wines should be compatible in weight and flavor to each course. More precise, the perfect wine dinner experience begins with white wines, extends to reds and finishes with regal dessert wines alongside menu counterparts.

Wine dinners are big deals in the major cities of the South. Karen Bremer’s opulent City Grill in Atlanta’s historic landmark Hurt Building, hosts one of the best each month, introducing old and new world wines, brilliantly presented by an articulate conductor, paired with spectacular dishes prepared by esteemed Chef Anne Moriata.

Nearby Athens, Ga., showcases a growing number of gourmet restaurants like Bischero Specialta’ Italiane where Chef Antonio Bianco regularly entertains wine diners ranging from football coaches and professors to writers and homemakers eager

to learn more about the wonderful wines and cuisines from Italy.

And smaller towns like lovely Decatur, Ala., are on the wine dinner train, even adding an original charity twist. Victor Melona, owner of Decatur’s Café 113 devised monthly events titled “Charitable Dining,” an admirably successful gourmet gala that raises money for Junior Achievement. The sold-out feasts feature innovative menu items, properly aligned with wines from places like Argentina, Australia and California, presented each month by a different maestro.

Located near the South Carolina and Georgia border is Gayle and David Darugh’s award winning Beechwood Inn. Supplied by a 3,000-bottle cellar, they offer a wildly popular prix fixe menu featuring a five-course gourmet meal--a medley of Southern Appalachian and Nouveau South cuisine--matched with different wines.

Lucky guests are sometimes entertained by opera diva Karen McGoon singing great songs about food and wine. Old Edwards Inn in neighboring Highlands, N.C., also presents highly acclaimed monthly winemakers dinners while North Georgia’s beautiful Brasstown Valley Resort premiered perhaps the South’s most imaginative wine and food program, pairing wines from nearby wineries with grilled native trout, cheese grits, smoked pork chops and bread pudding. I left these high elevation affairs wondering whether I actually experienced a preview of paradise.

If you really want to push the wine dinner envelope, book a luxury cruise on a Radisson Seven Seas’ Monte Carlo to Fort Lauderdale express, or an epicurean excursion on the Queen Mary II, which has one of the world’s most hallowed on-board wine cellars. Both are docked in South Florida’s Port Everglades, and each day at sea is a prelude to the almost perfect wine dinner.

Early on I concluded that memorable wine dinners with real bang for the buck simply emulate what Mr. Jefferson did on so many Virginia evenings when, along with friendly conversation, he led guests through a gourmet food and fine wine adventure and firmly established a growing tradition.

Doc Lawrence writes about wine and Southern cuisine from his homes in Atlanta and Fort Lauderdale. Doc is 2005 Chairman, Food and Beverage Section, Public Relations Society of America and welcomes comments: doc@yall.com.

MAY/JUNE 2005 • Y’ALL

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blue collar

The Origin of Here’s Your Sign

by Bill Engvall

Bill Engvall, Jeff Foxworthy and Larry the Cable Guy star in Blue Collar TV, airing Fridays at 9:30/8:30 Central on The WB.

I used to do this bit in clubs all the time that stupid people should be slapped. One night, my wife said, ‘Bill you just don’t look like the kind of guy that walks around slapping people.’

So, I was in the clubs and we were working six days a week so I had time to mess around with it and come up with this idea about the signs.

This was back in the ‘80s. I used to sell those little signs that read “I’m Stupid” after the show for $1 a piece or two for $5. You’d be amazed the people who would buy two for $5 thinking it was a good deal. It’s always been there, people always liked it.

I had seen what Jeff Foxworthy did with You Might Be A Redneck, and I was just waiting, whoa, we’re going to pop now. The first week the Here’s Your Sign comedy album came out in 1996, it sold 100 copies across the country. I said, ‘No, this isn’t what it was supposed to do.’ Then we did the music video and it shot into the 10,000 a week because of the mass exposure there on CMT, which was great. The album would ultimately go Platinum.

Now, people ask if I mind being known as the “Here’s Your Sign” guy and I go, no, not at all because if that’s what brings people to the party, then they’ll see that there’s other material. It’s just like Jeff with the redneck stuff. That’s only a little part of his act but if they come and then they see that there’s more to you than just that, it’s a bonus.

“

And like redneck jokes, the sign ones keep coming. A buddy of mine recently told me one. He said he spilt beer on his cell phone and lost all his phone numbers and you know, you spill beer on something, you can smell it for a week after. He took the phone in and the repair guy said, ‘You spill any beer on it?’ And he said, ‘Nope, I was calling Budweiser.’

I’ll tell you a here’s your sign thing that happened last October and it just made me laugh out loud. My brotherin-law and I went deer hunting and he got a deer in the morning. We were taking it to the processor and he wanted me to pull into this little convenience store so he could get some Copenhagen or something and we walked out and there was a woman looking in the back at that deer and I thought, ‘Oh Lord, here it comes.’

She looked up and she said, ‘Did y’all shoot this deer?’ And my brother-inlaw, who I love to death — you want to talk about a redneck — without missing a lick, said, ‘No ma’am. We were at that intersection down there and this deer hopped into the back of the truck, handed us a suicide note and shot himself.’ I said man, that’s pretty hip; I’m using that one.

Rednecks and stupid people are everywhere. You know what, you go outside of New York for 20 minutes and you’re going to find a redneck.

I forget who said it, it may have been Larry the Cable guy, who said, ‘everybody hates rednecks... until their truck breaks down.”

I used to sell those little signs that read “I’m Stupid” after the show for $1 a piece or two for $5.

”

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what southern women know

Food for Thought

by Ronda Rich

Ronda Rich is the author of What Southern Women Know About Flirting and the novel, The Town That Came A-Courtin’. www.whatsouthernwomenknow.com

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It is a tradition in my family of women as fervently observed as Thanksgiving dinner or Christmas brunch.

Mama started it, my sister continued it and I – I must admit – practice it, too.

After preparing a big meal for guests, the hostess will plop down wearily at the head of the table and watch anxiously, perhaps chewing her lower lip nervously, as everyone takes the first few bites. Then, with a deep sigh, she will ask, “Is anything fit to eat?”

That is the cue for all the “hmmms”, lip smacking and eyes rolling heavenward in ecstasy to begin, followed, of course, by varying comments of “It’s delicious!”

Then, without fail, we will begin a tale of some kitchen travail such as “I tried a new flour that was on sale and I just couldn’t get the gravy to stir up right. That’s what I get for using anything other than Martha White. I know better than that” or “Something must be wrong with my oven.

I had to turn the broiler on to get the tops of the biscuits to brown.”

Well-raised Southern women are eager for our food to please. Every conscientious Southern cook aspires to be famous for something like Mama is for her chicken and dumplings; my godmother, Mary Nell, is for her coconut cake and Aunt Ozell is for her sinfully rich macaroni and cheese.

You know you have achieved proper Southern status when lists are being made for family reunions or church gatherings and someone says, “Louise has to make her pork tenderloin. She has to.” Then, without your approval, it is put down on the list and you have no choice but to prepare it, though you are sick and tired of making the same thing over and over again.

It is sheer joy.

Food is the center of Southern hospitality, where the most direct route is taken through the back door. Don’t waste time by ringing the doorbell or taking the walkway to the front door. That’s for the delivery folks and strangers. In the South, friends parade through the back door into our fabled hospitality by letting the screen door bang softly behind them as they pull out chairs and sit down at the kitchen table.

Routinely, we will say to our beloved guests, immediately after the greeting, “What do you want in your coffee? Oh wait, ‘til you taste the muffins I made this morning.”

For Southern outsiders who are invited for meals, it is always astonishing to see

the bounty of food that is spread out on our tables. It simply is not possible for a Southern woman to cook one meat, three vegetables and a dessert. Oh no. That would be disrespectful to generations of Southern womanhood. Instead, we must laden the table with two or three meats, several vegetables – heavy on the carbs because we never met a potato we couldn’t fry, steam, mash, bake, broil or mix with mayonnaise – biscuits as well as cornbread, some kind of casserole made with cream of mushroom soup and no fewer than two desserts. Without fail, sweet tea will be served because unsweetened tea is a travesty to all we stand for. Besides, it dries the tongue out and twists it into a tart, tingling tangle.

Why go to all this trouble when a dab of collard greens and a bowl of soup beans will fill the stomach to satisfying proportions?

“Nothing is more horrifying to a Southern woman than a empty bowl when the meal is over,” pronounces my niece, Nicole, shuddering with repulsion at the thought. “It means that we didn’t fix

Food is the center of Southern hospitality, where the most direct route is taken through the back door. enough and nothing’s worse than that.”

Nicole’s right. Our goal as Southern women is to clear the table after a meal and take bowls away filled, no less, than half full. Anything less is a breach of our motto: Serve one; Serve all; Serve ‘em all plenty!

And, when you leave the home of a traditional Southern woman, those who reside mostly in my mama’s generation rather than mine, you’ll take something with you. A jar of relish, homemade preserves, pecans or peaches from the trees out back or a little bag of new potatoes just dug up from the garden. It’s the punctuation mark on the final sentence in our storied hospitality.

The South is famous for many things such as literature and music ranging from blues and rock and roll to country, gospel and jazz but nothing that springs from our midst has more celebrity than that of our famed hospitality.

Food for thought, isn’t it?

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f

g n i t r lf i

Ronda Rich’s

What Southern Women Know About

by Paula Dabbs

Flirt:

(a) To behave amorously without serious intent; (b) to show superficial or casual interest or liking; (this is the definition of the word, flirt, according to Webster’s). The definition of flirting, according to best selling author, Ronda Rich, is “simply the art of being real nice which, in turn, makes others feel good about themselves and about you. It is a personal interaction that is fun, playful, light-hearted, and extremely productive in creating and enhancing relationships. Its greatest attraction is that it is never mean spirited or unkind. It spreads a feeling of goodwill and good humor as steadily as kudzu spreads on a warm summer’s day.”

In Ronda’s new book, What Southern Women Know About Flirting, she gives us a complete primer on the art of social flirting, courtship flirting, and seductive flirting as practiced by a Southern belle. What makes this Y’all columnist an expert? Born and raised in Gainesville, Ga., an eleventh generation Georgian, Rich moved around for a while after college. She returned to her roots because the people and the land were so much a part of who she was and what she became. She was born late in the lives of her parents.

Her oldest sister was a freshman in college when Rhonda was born, so naturally she was such a joy to all that no one could deny her playfulness. She always loved wearing dresses and layers of ruffled petticoats even when she was playing outside. Shades of Scarlett O’Hara!

Ronda believes that all little girls come into this world knowing how to flirt. Sadly many of us grow out of it.

The good news is that anyone can flirt. There is no age limit, no beauty secret, or even personality type. It simply begins with being friendly and open with others so that they want to get closer. The key elements are strong self-esteem, irresistible humor, high-heeled hopes and brightly colored spirits, lighthearted and playful tone, spirit of goodwill, genuine interest, knowledge, compliments aplenty, engagement, and sparkle.

Some people have good self-esteem because they were lucky enough to have been born into a family that instilled it when they were children. Others have to learn it.

Southerners are known for their sense of humor and it’s the greatest ally one can have. Don’t take yourself or the game seriously. The core of flirtation is fun, frivolity, and

delightful humor. Have fun with it! Listen to the other person and respond accordingly. People respond to inner beauty quicker than outer looks. Everyone has a story, so listen to theirs and always have a good story yourself. By the way, Southerners never let the facts get in the way of a good story. Read and learn so that you are well versed on a variety of subjects. Flirting and flattery go hand-in-hand.

When you make people feel good about themselves they will feel good about you. Use your eyes and your smile to “high-heel kick you to the top of someone’s favoriteperson’s list. Sparkle, sparkle, sparkle.”

Social flirting, courtship flirting, and seductive flirting are the three types of flirting with a capital “F”. Social flirting is charming and effective and an enormous help with those around you, even in the workplace. Flirting in the workplace? ...in today’s environment?... read on.

Ronda explains that the key is to treat others with humor, courtesy, thoughtfulness and never with sexual overtones.

Co-workers respond to others who are sunny, engaging and always willing to lend a helpful hand. Smart women flirt with coy intelligence and never forget to say thank you.

Courtship flirting is practiced with such finesse that a Southern woman can flirt and the man doesn’t even realize what’s going on, or know what hit him when it’s gone. “Southern women love to use terms of endearment such as ‘Darling,’ ‘Sweet Dear,’ ‘Honey,’ ‘Sweetie Pie,’ and ‘Precious.’ Sweetness is the nectar of Dixie divas who know that more flies are captured in a small jar of honey than in a big ol’ tub of vinegar. Men melt like homemade ice cream in July when they’re called ‘baby’,” Rich explains.

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“Give Ronda a great big diamond “F” to wear around her neck and an A+ for her take on the quintessential Southern “F” word – flirt!”

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Other than name calling when you see a guy you are interested in, you must attract his attention, be available for the chase, ask the right questions, know what sport season it is, and nurture the man by cooking for him.

According to Rich, to be successful at seductive flirting, the ultra-feminine woman will make a concentrated effort to make all the men around her feel like ultra-masculine men.

She uses all five senses: Sight- dress for him; Smell- a woman in a lovely fragrance is an aphrodisiac; Touch- men love a woman who is soft and sensuous; Sound- compliment him in your most feminine voice; Taste- home-cooked food and you. All he ever needs.

Spoil your man until he is reduced to just a pile of soft grits. Let him think he’s boss until the time comes he needs to know he’s not.

Ronda was the first woman to cover the Georgia Bulldogs on a full-time basis as a sportswriter. Later, she became a sports marketer and was one of only five women who traveled on the NASCAR circuit, alongside 400 men. No wonder she has the experience needed to write a self-help book for the rest of us. She was the first woman to win top Associated Press sports writing honors. Her story proves that even though she knew nothing about sports growing up, with hard work and determination and a desire to learn, anything is possible. Her philosophy of life is that “Joy is contagious. So is misery.”

Life is fun because she works hard to make it that way.

Her very successful 2000 debut, What Southern Women Know (That Every Woman Should), as well as her book entitled Life in the Pits, are both full of anecdotes about how Southern women succeed in accomplishing their goals by applying these principles. Another book, The Town That Came A-Courtin’, her first novel, just hit bookstores. Ronda envisions a series of self-help books for today’s woman on topics in which Southern women excel.

The Georgia Peach certainly loves to write. In addition to her books and Y’all columns, “Dixie Divas” is a syndicated newspaper column in which Ronda offers her thoughts on all things Southern. So many women of all ages desire to be successful Southern belles that there are about 75 Dixie Diva Clubs organized by those wanting to pass along traditions, values and opinions which are life’s blood to Southern women.

One thing is for sure. Ronda Rich is an incurable, incredible flirt and I like her definition of the word better than Mr. Webster’s. And is there someone special in her life she likes to practice her wiles on? Well, that question “kinda ouches” her to think about.

But she is always “open to being swept off my feet by that one irresistible, charming fella.”

Spoken like a true Southern Belle! The book will take you from primer level all the way to becoming an artist at flirtation. If I were passing out grades, I’d give Ronda a great big diamond “F” to wear around her neck and an A+ for her take on the quintessential Southern “F” word—flirt!

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B

orn and raised in Chattanooga, Tennessee, Andrew Exum joined the military for the same reason that most young men do, as a way to pay for his education and to find a little bit of adventure. Soon after graduating from the University of Pennsylvania in 2000, Exum found himself going through the Army Ranger training program, one of the toughest schools the Army has to offer. After completing Ranger school, Exum became a platoon leader in the 10th Mountain Division, stationed at Ft. Drum, N.Y. While still in his early twenties, Andrew watched the Twin Towers fall on 9/11, and immediately began to ready his platoon to deploy to Afghanistan, where he would go into the heart of Osama Bin Ladenʼs stronghold to face and eventually kill Al Qaeda. The young Souherner chronicled his experience in, This Manʼs Army: A Soldierʼs Story from the Front Lines of the War on Terrorism, which details his journey through ROTC at Penn State, the Ranger program, Afghanistan and the difficulties he faced upon his return home. Mostly, though, the book shows the world what it is like to be a soldier. It portrays the brotherhood of the United States Army and it gives us some insight into the mind of the soldier.

Exum wrote the book when, “Out of the blue, I was approached by an editor at Penguin Putnam who had read some of the things I had written while in college. Then, after injuring my knee (in a game of street hockey with some other officers in the Rangers), I had a lot of time in which I could sit down to write. This was the time of the Iraq invasion, and I worried the deeds of my soldiers in Afghanistan were being forgotten. So I wrote it for them more than for anything else.”

In a recent interview, Exum detailed the hardest challenge he faced while overseas in Afghanistan. “I think the toughest thing is getting so close to a group of men whose lives you then have to risk on a daily basis in order to accomplish the mission. I loved both my platoon in the 10th Mountain Division, as well as my platoon of Rangers. But no question about it, I often had to make decisions that put their lives and mine at risk,” Exum says. He also discusses

ASOLDIER’S STORY

by Tabatha Gardner

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Joe Radle/Getty Images

While stationed in Afghanistan in 2002, Exum and his soldiers found time to play catch. the small things that people stateside did to help he and his fellow soldiers make it through their deployment.

“Many things were sent, but Iʼll give you two examples that came from my hometown in Tennessee. When we first arrived in Kuwait just after September 11th, we were shocked to find the PX there didnʼt stock Gold Bond Powder, the best friend of every army infantryman. Gold Bond, however, is made by Chattam Drugs in Chattanooga, and its president, Alec Taylor, is my sisterʼs godfather and a great friend of my family. So I made one little mention of our problem to my dad back home, and the next thing I know there was a big box in the mail full of Gold Bond powder for my entire platoon. Mr. Taylor also got hot on the problem of the PX not stocking Gold Bond, and within a few weeks, the problem was solved. Also, around the time of our first mission in Afghanistan, the Chattanooga Bakery sent us a giant box of MoonPies straight from the Volunteer State. Boy, in Afghanistan in those days, those were a treat! Iʼve always remembered the lengths that folks back home went to for my boys in Kuwait and Afghanistan. Iʼll be eternally grateful.”

Captain Exum would eventually decide to leave the Army in May of 2004 for many reasons. “The biggest involved a knee injury I suffered in January 2003 that would have meant me not doing the things I joined the Army to do. I had joined the Armyʼs 75th Ranger Regiment a few months prior and loved my new job, but I now have two screws holding my right knee together. I eventually recovered enough to lead my platoon of Rangers in both Iraq and again in Afghanistan, but my doctors told me my long-term future could no longer involve jumping out of airplanes. That said, I didnʼt join the Army to sit behind a desk.” Although he “would like to serve again. I liked the sense of purpose I got in the Army, serving my fellow citizens. I donʼt know how things will turn out, though. I guess the Westminster Catechism puts it best: ʻManʼs chief end is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.ʼ Pretty good advice – if I can do that by serving my fellow Tennesseans and Americans, Iʼll be happy.”

Although he endured a struggle that no one should ever have to, Exum has no doubt in his mind that he did the right thing,

“I am a patriot and was tremendously proud to have served my country in combat and to have led American soldiers. That doesnʼt mean I didnʼt have my doubt about the politics behind things sometimes, but thatʼs every soldiers right. At the end of the day, I was proud to have served.”

Today, the Ivy Leaguer can be found in Beirut as a graduate student at the American University of Beirut, studying the Middle East and Arabic. His decision to return overseas as a civilian came soon after his discharge from the army, “Iraq changed me a lot. Before Iraq, I was dead set on returning to Tennessee and going to law school. But after what I observed in Iraq, I realized I had a greater responsibility to learn more about the region and the language here and hopefully put that knowledge to use for my country someday, maybe in the State Department. Not the CIA, though – like I said, my ʻjumping out of airplanesʼ days are over!”

Although he is thousands of miles away from the Tennessee Valley, this Southern boy proudly confesses, “I donʼt think I have ever really left Chattanooga. Or rather, itʼs never left me.

I carry it with me everywhere I go, and I love the fact that itʼs a place to which I can always return.”

There are many words you hear when someone comes home from fighting the war on terrorism in Iraq and Afghanistan, words that resonate through our minds and touch our hearts.

Words like hero, bravery and words whose meanings were somehow lessened until we watched the Twin Towers come down on that fateful day in September. One of those words is courage. Everyone can be proud of our men and women fighting overseas, men and women like Andrew Exum who have shown us the true meaning of courage as they enter a fight with brave faces and return home to us slightly changed, but deep down still the good Southerners they left us as. Thanks to all of our servicemen for the sacrifices they have made and continue to make.

Editors note: The author of this story, Tabatha Gardner, had a special interest in penning this piece. Her fiance, Sgt. Samuel Hunter, is fighting the War on Terror as a member of the Mississippi National Guardʼs 255 MI CO. Hurry back from Iraq soon, Samuel.

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ininmemoriam memoriam JOHNNIE COCHRAN Johnnie L. Cochran Jr., whose fierce, flamboyant and electrifyingly effective advocacy in the O. J. Simpson murder trial captivated the country and solidified his image as a master of high-profile criminal defense, died March 29th at his home in Los Angeles. He was 67. The cause was a brain tumor.

The Shreveport, La., native, a great-grandson of a slave, was a prominent Los Angeles lawyer in 1994, when Mr. Simpson, the former football star, asked him to join and then lead the lawyers defending him on charges that he had killed his former wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and a friend of hers, Ronald L. Goldman.

The televised trial riveted the nation for most of 1995 and rocked it that October, when the jury acquitted Mr. Simpson. He was later held responsible for the killings in a civil case, where another jury evaluated much of the same evidence against a more relaxed standard of proof.

Before the Simpson case, Mr. Cochran was best known for bringing police brutality cases on behalf of black clients and for representing celebrities in trouble. Both experiences proved valuable at the Simpson trial.

MERLE KILGORE One of country music’s great songwriters, and a longtime manager of Hank Williams Jr., Merle Kilgore was truly a character. He wrote the classic “Ring Of Fire” for Johnny Cash, and served as “The Man in Black’s” Best Man during his marriage to June Carter.

Kilgore died February 6 of congestive heart failure in Mexico, where he had been undergoing cancer treatments.

He was 70. He was a native of Chickasha, Okla., and grew up in Shreveport, La. He often hung around the Louisiana Hayride radio show, where he introduced himself to numerous performers including Hank Williams Jr.

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SAMMI SMITH Jewel “Sammi” Smith, the 1971 Grammy winner for Best Country Vocal Performance by a Female for the song “Help Me Make it Through the Night,” passed away Feb. 12 in Oklahoma City after a long illness. She was 61. Smith moved to Nashville in 1967, encourged by her friend Johnny Cash. It was there she met famed songwriter Kris Kristofferson, who penned for the Grammywinner.

EDWARD PATTEN

Gladys Knight & The Pips member Edward Patten died Feb. 25.

The Atlanta native was. 65. He was in the legendary group for more than 30 years.

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REGGIE ROBY

Former punter Reggie Roby, a 16-year NFL veteran and three-time Pro Bowl selection, died Feb. 22 after being found unconscious at his Nashville home. He was 43.

Roby was a sixth-round pick in 1983 out of Iowa by the Miami Dolphins, where he played from 1983-92. He also played for the Washington Redskins, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Houston/Tennessee Oilers and San Francisco 49ers, where he wrapped up his career with a final season in 1999.

CHRIS LEDOUX

A world champion bareback rider who parlayed songs about cowboys he knew on the rodeo circuit into a successful country music career, Chris LeDoux died March 9th in Casper, Wyo. from complications of liver cancer. He was 56.

The Biloxi, Miss.-born, Austin, Texas-raised cowboy will forever be remembered, thanks in part to Garth Brooks’ debut hit “Much Too Young,” which mentions LeDoux’s name.

HUNTER S. THOMPSON

Eccentric author and journalist, Hunter S. Thompson, 67, was found dead in his home in Woody Creek, Colo., of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head on Feb 27. His body was cremated and arrangements were made to have his ashes shot from a cannon.

The timing of his death was a shock to most, especially his family. He had a few upcoming writing projects and a rumored movie in the works based on his novel, “The Rum Diary.”

The former Rolling Stone editor grew up in Louisville, Ky.

RICK MAHLER

Rick Mahler, who won nearly 100 games during a 13-year career spent mostly with the Atlanta Braves, died of a heart attack at his Jupiter, Fla., home on March 2.

He was 51.

Rick Mahler spent 13 years in the big leagues, going 96-111 with a 3.99 ERA. He was preparing for his second season as a minor league pitching coach for the New York Mets when he died.

DICK WEBER

Bowling legend Dick Weber died in his sleep at his home in the St. Louis area on Feb. 13. He was 75 years old.

Weber was one of the first big stars of bowling, capturing 26 Professional Bowlers Association tour titles. He was named Bowler of the Year in 1961, ‘63 and ‘65, and won the PBA Player of the Year Award in 1965.

TERRI SCHIAVO

Terri Schiavo died March 31 in Pinellas Park, Fla. For 15 years, she was kept alive on a feeding tube prompting an epic legal and medical battle that would divide the nation. She was taken off a feeding tube March 18th. The parents and husband had fought for years over ending her life. Her husband said she would not want to be kept alive this way.

GEORGE & GERMAINE BRIANT

The oldest married couple in Louisiana, inseparable almost from the night they met, died at 103 and 101. The couple had been married for 83 years. George died at Belle Maison Nursing Home in New Orleans, where Germaine had died three days earlier on January 29.

GOV. ERNEST VANDIVER

Georgia’s chief executive from 1959-1963, Vandiver died at his Lavonia, Ga., home at the age of 86 on Feb. 21. During his reign, the University of Georgia was desegregatetd, breaking Vandiver’s campaign pledge to maintain segregation in the state’s public schools.

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festive south May 6-8

May 27-29

June 10-12

Market Street Festival Columbus, Miss.

This music and art festival features multiple music stages, a children’s stage, over 250 arts and crafts booths, antique arena and good Southern food.

Enjoy trains rides, helicopter rides, a car show and a 5K run. 662-328-6305; Jan Miller; http://www. marketstreetfestival.com; jmiller@columbusmainst reet.com

The Masters Water-ski & Wakeboard Tournament at Callaway Pine Mountain, Ga. This televised tournament on Robin Lake is the longest-running water skiing competition in the world, and you can get an up close and personal chance to see it live on the beautiful grounds of Callaway Gardens. 888-806-2783; Rachel Crumbley; http://www.callawayonline.com; info@callawayonline.com; masters@correctcraft. com

Dublin Dr Pepper 114th Birthday Celebration Dublin, Texas Dublin officially becomes DR PEPPER, TEXAS on the second Saturday in June each year as Dr Pepper aficionados from around the world come here to celebrate the oldest Dr Pepper bottling plant in the world - and the only one which has always used pure cane sugar. It’s a day of family fun with food, games, tours, entertainment, contests, arts and crafts and all things Dr Pepper. For more information, call 254-445-3466.

Biltmore Estate Winery’s Alfresco Jazz Weekend Asheville, N.C. A weekend of live jazz, cooking presentations and wine tasting at the Biltmore Estate Winery. Includes a grape stomp, cork toss, and wine and food seminars. 800-543-2961; Priscilla Rhoades http:// www.biltmore.com; happenings@biltmore.com

Great American Brass Band Festival Danville, Ky. An old-time brass band concert in the park that recaptures the nostalgia of peaceful, turn-ofthe-century America. Features military, ragtime, Civil War and international bands, a band history conference and decorator picnic.

800-755-0076/859-236-7794; Kay Berggren; http://www.gabbf.com; tourbc@bellsouth.net

Pensacola Crawfish Creole Fiesta Pensacola, Fla. Considered one of the finest crawfish boils in the state, this festival features Cajun and Creole food specialties along with live Cajun and Zydeco music - all in celebration of the Cajun influence in Northwest Florida. 850-433-6512; Angie Irvin; http://www.fiestaoffiveflags.org; info@fiestaoffiveflags.org

May 13-15 International Bar-B-Q Festival Owensboro, Ky. Barbecue at its best! Cooking teams compete in this world famous festival with its more than 10 tons of mutton, 5,000 chickens and 1,500 gallons of burgoo, plus live concerts, arts and crafts, games and rides. 800-489-1131/270-926-1100; Owensboro-Daviess Co. Tourist Commission; http://www.bbqfest.com; info@visitowensboro.com Jazz & Gumbo Music Festival Shreveport, La. This year’s party during Mother’s Day weekend features a swing dance workshop, the Fireman’s Taste of Fire Cook-off and the Famous Gumbo Eating Contest. Also features Louisiana cuisine, unique shopping and outstanding musical performances. 318-226-4552; Robert Jackson; http://www.jazzandgumbo.com; ldavis@SBCTB.org

May 20-22 Warrenton Spring Festival Warrenton, Va. An eight-block section of historic Old Town Warrenton’s main street is the stage for more than 200 artisans and crafters. Great food, live entertainment and children’s activities complete the day’s experience. 540-347-4414; Karen Henderson visitorcenter@warrentonva.gov

11th Annual Iris Festival Greeneville, Tenn.

This event offers juried arts and crafts and so much more! From storytelling at the Andrew Johnson historic site, to the Miss Iris Festival Pageant, to the entertainment stage which offers everything from Bluegrass to Jazz to Country, there is something for everyone at this great event. 423-638-4111; Tammy Kinser; http://www. greenecountypartnership. com; kinser@xtn.net

Delaplane Strawberry Festival Delaplane, Va. Enjoy delectable strawberries in every form imaginable - strawberry sundaes, pies, cobblers, shortcakes and more and then walk off those calories by perusing arts and crafts vendors, antique automobiles, petting zoos and entertainment stages. 540-592-3556/540-364-2772; http://www. delaplanestrawberryfestival.org; visitorcenter@warr entonva.gov

June 3-5 54th Annual Sun Fun Festival Myrtle Beach Area, S.C. This event spans over 60 miles of beaches and includes beach games, a parade, the Miss Sun Fun USA/Miss Sun Fun Teen USA pageants, Miss Bikini Wahine pageant, sporting events, a kid’s fair and a beach air show. 843-916-7221; Stephen Greene; http://www.sunfunfestival.com; mcmillanh@mbchamber.org Sports Car Club of America National Braselton, Ga. The Sports Car Club of America is the backbone of American road racing and the best competitors from 30 states will be on hand at Road Atlanta for two days of exciting races. 800-849-RACE; Joey Greene; http://www.roadatlanta.com; info@roadatlanta.com Tupelo Elvis Festival Tupelo, Miss.

Elvis Presley™’s hometown plays host to this annual downtown festival. Events include a Running with the King 5k race, an Elvis look-a-like pet contest and a recliner race. The entertainment is headlined by Chuck Berry, Tracy Byrd and Elvis tribute artist Travis Ledoyt. For more information call (888) 273-7798 or visit www.tupeloelvisfestival.com

June 17-19 Jubilee Jam Jackson, Miss.

The city’s biggest outdoor music and arts festival features performances by great local, regional and national artists. Past performers have been Bob Dylan, James Brown, Little Richard, Aaron Neville and Greg Allman. 601-960-2008/ 601-948-0888; Malcolm White; http://www.jubileejam.com; rharris@visitjackson.com South Carolina Festival of Flowers Greenwood, S.C. A celebration of spring with tours of gardens and showcase homes, church tours, bicycle tour, 5K road race, softball tournaments, gospel fest, beach dance, BMX bike races and more. 864-223-8411; Frank Cuda; http://www.scfestivalofflowers.org; frank@greenwoodscchamber.org

June 24-26 AthFest Music & Arts Festival Athens, Ga. The music scene that brought the world REM, and is called the No. 1 college music town in the country, showcases current local musicians and artists. It features day and night stages, a “club crawl”, a juried artists market and a kid’s fest.

706-548-1973; Jeff Montgomery; http://www.athfest.com info@athfest.com Hellen Keller Festival Tuscumbia, Ala. The festival annually attracts over 50,000 people to events held throughout the city. It has grown to include arts and crafts, art exhibits, athletic events, a parade, street concerts, and performances of William Gibson’s world famous drama, The Miracle Worker. Phone 256-383-0783 or 1-800-344-0783.

New Melle Festival New Melle, Mo. This outdoor street festival offers something for everyone. It is famous for chicken gizzards, served along with cold beverages and great music.

For more information, call 636-828−5158

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