Month: June 2012

Hunter Barnes’ ‘A Testimony of Serpent Handling‘ is *so* good.  Photographs here.

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Hugh Acheson writes at Epicurious of Eugene Walter’s Southern Food book in the 70s Time-Life series.  I bought my copy on eBay ten years ago and it is fantastic.

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Soul Food Junkies’ trailer — Independent Lens on PBS is picking it up and will run during the 2012-13 season.

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The Edgar Ray Killen drama keeps going. James Stern, who said that ERK gave him Power of Attorney, is planning to hand over the land to the Feds to search for bodies. Meanwhile, the AP reported regarding the validity of the PoA at all.

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The NYT reports on the new photography exhibit at the High, ‘Picturing the South‘.

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Artnet Magazine is no longer.

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Chris Lilly of Big Bob Gibson’s is depicted (sweetly) in cartoon at Memphis in May, in Saveur.

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Gee’s Bend quilters show Martha Stewart quilting techniques.

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From the NYT Magazine: How William Faulkner Tackled Race — and Freed the South From Itself.

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A Neshoba County fair cabin that’s been donated to the county’s historical museum is undergoing a $30k renovation to show the different aspects of life at the fair — ‘family, the racetrack and barns, the pavilion, carnival rides and cabins’.  This fair cabin — remember, you only really live in these one week a year, when the fair is on — was listed for $99k.

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The James Castle art lawsuit has been decided: “ ‘Finders, keepers’ is a playground chant, not a legal doctrine,” 4th District Judge Deborah Bail said in ruling that Idaho folk artist James Castle’s family is the rightful owner of any art found in Castle’s former house.


“In Idaho, the person entitled to identifiable mislaid property is the owner and his or her heirs, not the finder,” Bail said in a ruling Friday.

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Events in Oxford for Faulkner’s 50th yahrzeit here.

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The NYT reports that the reason tomatoes don’t taste as good as they could is because they’re so beautifully red:

“The unexpected culprit is a gene mutation that occurred by chance and that was discovered by tomato breeders. It was deliberately bred into almost all tomatoes because it conferred an advantage: It made them a uniform luscious scarlet when ripe.


Now, in a paper published in the journal Science, researchers report that the very gene that was inactivated by that mutation plays an important role in producing the sugar and aromas that are the essence of a fragrant, flavorful tomato. And these findings provide a road map for plant breeders to make better-tasting, evenly red tomatoes.


The discovery “is one piece of the puzzle about why the modern tomato stinks,” said Harry Klee, a tomato researcher at the University of Florida in Gainesville who was not involved in the research. “That mutation has been introduced into almost all modern tomatoes. Now we can say that in trying to make the fruit prettier, they reduced some of the important compounds that are linked to flavor.”

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…and Shug had his 5th birthday this week, with a big pool party on Sunday, then a smaller supper on the day of his actual birthday. Love my big boy!

I spent part of today with Wade Wharton in Huntsville, and his latest art:

This is the bridge troll (which I obv couldn’t figure out how to photograph particularly well):

He’s chained to the footbridge behind — his bridge:

The mosquito, and Wade holding the swatter that got him:

Riding lawnmower, with reel mower as front wheel, and tractor seat. Lights, too:

Thin Buddha — he made this in the spring — remains my favorite:

He’s working on a new exhibit even now, so there will be more creations soon (including a time machine to keep the ending Mayan calendar from being a problem for anyone).  More pics of his art environment here.

Guess what?

Nashville is getting a Gus’ Fried Chicken.

Now, I’ve been to the one in Memphis and need to go to the original in Macon (Bozo’s is across the street from it there, after all) but the one in Memphis is *incredible*:

It’s top five, definitely:

Nashville already has incredible fried chicken, though.  It has fried chicken you have to ‘steel’ yourself to eat — Av gets the extra-hot at Prince’s Hot Fried Chicken and that is some crazy spicy chicken:

It’s inevitable that one city’s signature food will go elsewhere.  After all, Jackson exported a Big Apple Inn to Atlanta this year. Pig ear sandwiches on RDA now (this one from our trip to Farish Street:).

Of course, there’s the whole thing with Scott, Broussard, and Jennings, Louisiana — three cities all being the world capitol or something to that effect…of boudin.  It made the WSJ today.

“If you like hot, you’ll get hot. If you want mild, you’ll find mild. We have boudin balls as big as a softball. We have smoked boudin…”


(this was a boudin ball from Opelousas, but I was inspired to put it here after reading the softball remark:)

The softball ones are the best.

Two or three weeks ago, John Lytle Wilson mentioned that he was painting the bathroom at Rojo in B’ham, and I told him that I couldn’t wait to see!  What exactly do you paint in the bathroom?

His signature monkeys, and robots with laser beams!

Ah, the lighting in there really doesn’t do it justice.  You can see how fantastic he is here.

As odd as it sounds, I’d also like to see the washrooms at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center in Sheboygan.  Pics here.

As always, unless otherwise noted, all images here copyright Deep Fried Kudzu.  Ask me before using in any fashion.  Thank you.

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The new Druid City Brewing Company in Tuscaloosa — their logo clearly inspired by…

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Bettye Kimbrell’s tent at Kentuck a few years ago:

The National Heritage Fellowship has been awarded each year since 1982 by the NEA. Among those featured at their Masters of Traditional Arts Educational Guide are Bettye Kimbrell (AL, quilt), Earl Barthe (LA, plaster — the NYT ran piece on him when he passed away), Mozell Benson (AL, quilt), Gladys LeBlanc Clark (LA, weaving fiber), Tootie Montana (LA, costume, MG Indian), Five Blind Boys (they designate as GA, but Five Blind Boys of Alabama).

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Ben Windham wrote earlier this month in the Tuscaloosa News about Truman Capote, Eugene Walter, and manners.

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There’s a historic preservation project going on for Bryce hospital in Tuscaloosa; one thing I found at the site was about the hospital’s newspaper started in 1872, called The Meteor.  It’s said that the paper was named that because “meteors come as a surprise, appear at irregular intervals, and have brilliant though short, temporary careers. The paper was also meant “to glow with a kindly and generous sentiment to all mankind.” 


An “outstanding observation comes from the very first issue where one patient compares Alabama’s hospital for the insane with its neighbor the state university by saying, “The inmates of the University come to acquire ideas. We to get rid of them.” 


The site also mentioned the architecture of the hospital, how it was inspired as a Kirkbride System building.


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Jim ‘N Nick’s has their own beer now: Rev. Mudbone — and while I don’t have a lot of knowledge of tap handles, theirs has to be one of the best anywhere.


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Creative Loafing writes about Zen Dixie, an art exhibit in a Cabbagetown home.  Lonnie Holley (Lonnie has been doing music) performing there on 6/22.


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‘Hard Truths: The Art of Thornton Dial’ is at the Mint Museum in Charlotte beginning June 30.  The Walter Anderson Museum of Art in Ocean Springs is undergoing a $700k expansion beginning July 6.

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Al Head, exec director of the Alabama State Council on the Arts, received the Bess Lomax Hawes NEA National Heritage Fellowship award last week for being a traditional arts advocate.

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According to the Hattiesburg American, ‘The Elvis Presley Birthplace and Museum in Tupelo is planning for an August completion of a $4.3 million expansion.


The expansion includes a 120-seat theater where fans can watch films and live performances…and an outdoor amphitheater with seating for 75.’


‘When it’s all done, the covered area of the birthplace will go from about 6,000 square feet to 16,000, Guyton said.


The goal of the expansion is to double the visitor count to the birthplace during the next five years. It had about 40,000 paying visitors last year, according to the Tupelo Convention and Visitors Bureau.’


‘The gift shop will be bigger and will connect to the snack bar and theater.


“One of the things we decided early on is that we needed hot tea because the folks from Europe, especially England, love their hot tea,” Guyton said.’

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The University of Mississippi Museum (Ole Miss) will have on exhibit paintings by Estelle Faulkner, many of which they say have not been seen by an audience.  The show is from July 3 – October 6.

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NPR’s The Salt blog posted about how hot kosher food is, thanks to its perception as being more wholesome.

We used to keep kosher at home (with the copious amounts of china, silver, and pots/pans to go along) and stopped right around the time when the awful stories of the Postville, Iowa kosher slaughterhouse came about.  Not to go into the ethical component of how I currently define kosher for my family, but certainly, finding a hechsher (that little OU or Circle-K et al) doesn’t/won’t make any sort of guarantee into a food’s wholesomeness.  There are worlds of junk food out there that brandish a hechsher.  Little Debbies are Triangle K, after all.  And yes, Triangle K is in the middle of all this right now, too.  Whew.

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I would have *loved* this in high school: the Margaret Mitchell home in Atlanta puts on a summer camp for young writers: create meaningful prose through a variety of techniques, like stream-of-consciousness writing, journaling, free verse poetry.

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Robert St. John writes in the C-L about ‘little old lady salads’.  On the contrary: Aspic forever!

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NPR covers Garden & Gun.

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The Daily News on Memphis’ artistic Metal Museum.  Love these metal quilts.

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Chattanooga is, thanks in part to Kickstarter, the ‘first city in America with an exclusive, custom typeface‘ — called ‘Chatype’.  The first commercial use of Chatype is the new DeBarge Vineyards & Winery in Chattanooga, with their new…wait for it…Chardonooga.

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Artist Earl Simmons’ home burned down (this is twice for him now, I think) and on July 1 at the Vicksburg Art Association Firehouse building, a benefit for him will be held from 2-4p.  There will be music and a silent art auction, with 100% of the proceeds going to Earl.  Interested artists willing to donate should please contact sweet Lesley Silver of the Attic Gallery in V’burg (and her gallery is amazing too).  Thank you!