This Week’s Various

A super-short This Week’s Various.

As always, all images unless otherwise noted copyright Deep Fried Kudzu. Like to use one elsewhere? Kindly contact me here.

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Purchased Wayne Flynt’s new book, Afternoons with Harper Lee, this week at Alabama Booksmith which has a stunning attribute: every book there is signed by the author and sold at the regular publisher’s price. And they’ll ship. Before it was this way, I got an amazing collection of (unsigned) Eugene Walter books that were almost impossible to get anywhere else.

Alabama Booksmith, Birmingham AL

Nelle Harper Lee Books at Alabama Booksmith, Birmingham AL

Nelle Harper Lee Books at Alabama Booksmith, Birmingham AL

BTW, Mobile is spending 2022 celebrating its late renaissance man, Eugene Walter (and namesake of my cat — I’ve waited since the ’90s to have a boy cat to name Eugene). They included this quote:

“I know when they took him to the hospital, when he was dying and they were carrying him into the hospital and on the way in, one of the nurses asked him if he was allergic to anything and he said ‘only one thing…Fob James,’” said Haines with a chuckle at the joke at the expense of Alabama’s former Governor.


In Arkansas: Rural Teacher Prep Program Delivers ‘Job-Embedded’ Degrees — For $75 a Month, at Daily Yonder



Scottsboro Boys Museum, Scottsboro AL

The Scottsboro Boys Museum reopened this week and I attended the dedication and ribbon cutting. Will make a post later this week (and the exhibits are new and fabulous).


At the NYT: How Did a Minister Come to Own Hundreds of Edward Hoppers? An exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art exploring Hopper’s vision of New York has also rekindled questions about how a Baptist minister came to own so much of his art.

Edward Hopper, New York Office, Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, Montgomery AL

Saw this Edward Hopper, his 1962 ‘New York Office’, at the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts last year. Part of the permanent collection there since 1989.


Spotted around UAB last week:

Bible Verses Car, Birmingham AL


Finally got to the Carnegie Visual Arts Center in Decatur, Alabama to view the Daisie Hoitsma + Jason Tanner Young: reach exhibit, which was on through November 5 — nice, nice, nice. Really looking forward to the Sophie McVicar Symbols of Transformation exhibit that opens Nov 15 and goes through Jan 15.

Carnegie Visual Arts Center: Daisie Hoitsma + Jason Tanner Young: reach, Decatur AL

Carnegie Visual Arts Center: Daisie Hoitsma + Jason Tanner Young: reach, Decatur AL

Carnegie Visual Arts Center: Daisie Hoitsma + Jason Tanner Young: reach, Decatur AL

Carnegie Visual Arts Center: Daisie Hoitsma + Jason Tanner Young: reach, Decatur AL


In Helvetia, West Virginia, from the Johnson City Press:
The fresh flowers that grace each table at The Hűtte, the collection of black-iron skillets purchased over the years at estate sales, and the meticulously waxed floors are all testament to the enduring lessons and influence of Eleanor, who insisted on being called “Műtter,” to honor her father’s family heritage and her adopted hometown’s reason for being.

…Although the population of Helvetia has remained below 100 people for years, Eleanor felt it was the center of the universe. “Thank G-d, it’s not easy to get here. It’s just wonderful,” she said.

Some 85 people live there today, and they celebrate their life together often, bringing home-baked cakes to the annual community ramp dinner in the spring and roasting a whole pig in a pit in the fall.

Several of the recipes used at The Hűtte came from families in the community. From the umlaut in the name of the business to the sauerkraut served with a dill pickle slice on top, the menu strongly reflects the Swiss-German heritage of Helvetia.

The aroma of frying potatoes is ever present in The Hűtte’s kitchen as cooks prepare order after order of rosti, a Swiss potato dish fried in butter in one of those black-iron skillets.


At the National Gallery of Art in DC, through March 26, 2023, Called to Create: Black Artists of the American South. The 40 works include those by Gees Bend Quilters, Thornton Dial, Lonnie Holley, Joe Minter, Joe Light, Ronald Lockett, Purvis Young, Nellie Mae Rowe, and Georgia and Henry Speller.


Super random.

Reebok x Eames

Just a reminder that McMansion Hell is still fire

Speaking of, one printing of Farenheit 451 came in asbestos binding


Forgot to mention we had supper at Mary Ruth’s in Georgiana, Alabama — this is the town where Hank Williams Sr grew up.

Mary Ruth's, Georgiana AL

Mary Ruth's, Georgiana AL

we knew we were in for some good food when they put the pepper sauce in Crown Royal bottles

Mary Ruth's, Georgiana AL


A visit to Juniper in Birmingham a few days ago

Juniper, Birmingham AL

big remembrances of the Caribbean Room at the Pontchartrain in New Orleans (Jack Rose is in that space now)
Caribbean Room, Pontchartrain Hotel, New Orleans

Caribbean Room, Pontchartrain Hotel, New Orleans

with this Ashley Longshore


At West Virginia Public Broadcasting’s Inside Appalachia: This week, we travel to Charleston, West Virginia, to learn about the importance of funeral singers to Black communities (& more)


David Zwirner Gallery in NY has an exhibit of (mostly) never-before-seen images by William Eggleston, William Eggleston: The Outlands, on view through December 17.

From the press release:
A photograph of a glass of iced tea resting on a table in a diner seems to almost self-consciously reference Eggleston’s now iconic image of a drink resting on an airplane tray table, also taken during this period. A photograph of a blue 1956 Dodge station wagon appears to have been captured on the same street and from the same low vantage point as Eggleston’s well-known image of a tricycle, which donned the cover of William Eggleston’s Guide.2 A view of the corner of a graffitied interior, drenched in a deep pinkish-red hue, brings to mind another of the artist’s best-known images, depicting a lightbulb projecting from a bloodred ceiling. Familiar yet startlingly fresh, these images conjure a sense of déjà vu–like reverie, reflecting the poignancy of Eggleston’s artistry.

Here, a few Egglestons from an exhibit at the Ogden in 2017

William Eggleston, Ogden Museum

William Eggleston, Ogden Museum

and here, from the Memphis Brooks, also from a 2017 visit

William Eggleston at Memphis Brooks Museum of Art


Horseback Riding at Rusted Roof Barn, Oak Mountain State Park

Great time last weekend horseback riding with an adventure group I lead. Recommend Rusted Roof Barn at Oak Mountain State Park. Had TWO huge wins last week. Such really terrific things, both of them, and each are embargoed for a few days but will absolutely show up here when they can be announced. Everyone’s doing great and enjoying autumn. Hope you are too. xoxo!