“Days up and down they come Like rain on a conga drum.” -“To Live’s To Fly” Townes Van Zandt John Kruth’s book on Townes Van Zandt stands as a close-to-the-bone account of America’s most underrated songwriters. Kruth details Van Zandt’s Texas upbringing to his...
Johnny Neel: Mr. Soul By James Calemine On the first day I met Johnny Neel we talked for probably an hour before I said, ‘I’ll send you something to read.’ He responded by saying ‘I can’t read! I’m blind!’ It was not my greatest moment, but we became fast friends. I...
The Georgia Girl Drive-In sign counts as an old favorite. It's located on the corner of East 17th Street and Bedell Avenue in Woodbine, Georgia. It's one of the few places where I've returned numerous times to photograph under the various weather conditions for...
Established in 1954, a liquor store also operated on the Riverside Motel premises. When I-95 opened, this place began to lose business as traffic diverted to the new limited access (and egress) highway. The Riverside Motel was owned by Knud Olfort and Nellie Vanzant...
"Settle down far from town get me a pirogue And I'll catch all the fish in the bayou..." --Hank Williams "Jambalaya (On the Bayou)" The writer Jim Harrison once ate 144 oysters in one sitting. That's twelve dozen, if you're wondering. Harrison's book The Raw and the...
“She could be a Miss Nevada but would rather play poker…” --Raylan Givens Elmore Leonard died in 2013. Raylan counts as Leonard’s last novel. U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens first appeared in Leonard’s books Pronto (1993) and Riding the Gap (1995). In 2001, Leonard wrote...
Released in 2001, The Man Who Wasn’t There was written and directed by Ethan and Joel Coen. The noir film stars Billy Bob Thornton, Frances McDormand, Scarlett Johansson, James Gandolfini and Tony Shalhoub. The plot revolves around barber Ed Crane (Thornton) and his...
“They weren’t going to run me out of Hollywood. I was Hollywood, what was left of it.” –Nick Belane Pulp counts as Charles Bukowski’s last book. Published before Bukowski’s death in early 1994, Pulp is a Los Angeles detective story revolving around the 55-year-old...
Eggleston captures an essence of the 1970s in these pages. The vintage cars alone evoke time travel. The Outlands contain revelatory images of Memphis environs such as gas stations, barber shops, barbecue joints, abandoned storefronts, nightclubs, beer signs, drive-ins, billiard parlors, churches, cemeteries, bus stations, rural highways, shotgun shacks, liquor stores as well as his wife, children, friends and strangers. The Outlands contains pure magic and counts as this writer’s favorite Eggleston collection.
Americana at its finest. Memories. This rare scene renders stories handed down through generations. The antique fire truck is awesome. The red Dodge looks rather sleek. Pollen and dust cover everything amid allergy season. The old barn was surrounded by pine trees...