See The New Opera perform their original work An American Story: George Gershwin on Friday Oct 19th and Saturday Oct 20th at 8p at Theatre Decatur (420 West Trinity Place, Decatur). A press release describes the performance as a “jazz-infused opera” that follows the lives of George and Ira Gershwin as they first started to experience success as songwriters.

Tickets for the Theatre Decatur performances are $12 Adults, $10 Students/Seniors and can be purchased over the phone (404/373-3904) or in person at the Theatre Decatur box office.

Tickets for a subsequent Saturday, October 27th performance at Winters Chapel United Methodist Church, 5105 Winters Chapel Road Atlanta, GA can be purchased by phone (770/396-4550)

You can listen to audio selections from the work on The New Opera’s website.

From Emory Press Release…

Emory University’s eighth annual “State of Race” event will feature the subject of the movie “Hotel Rwanda, Paul Rusesabagina (“woo-ses-ah-bah-gee-nah”), who will deliver a lecture in Glenn Memorial Auditorium on “Hotel Rwanda: A Lesson Yet to be Learned” at 8 p.m., Tuesday, Oct 16.

Also a “Screen on the Green” of “Hotel Rwanda” will be held at 8 p.m., Monday, Oct. 15 on the Jenkins Courtyard of Goizueta Business School.

The event is free and open to the public. Tickets are available at the Dobbs Center on campus, 605 Asbury Circle. 404-727-8425.

Tickets for the Decatur Wine Festival on Nov 3rd from 1p-4p are now available for $30 a piece.  Click here to purchase.

Move fast!  Only 2,000 tickets are sold for this event and it will sell out.

3 hours to taste over 200 wines on the Square in Decatur?  AND a commemorative glass?!  I’m up to the challenge! (Hick!)

In Decatur points out the following note on the City Schools of Decatur website:

UPDATE: We have recently received notification from the Georgia Department of Education that the deadline for submitting System Charter applications has been moved to January 15, 2008. In light of this recent change, the Decatur Board of Education will NOT be holding a special session on October 29^th to vote on the System Charter application. Instead, the board will hold a special session in November to decide whether or not the City Schools of Decatur will apply for System Charter status. More information to follow.

Please send feedback on this work in progress to .

Regardless of your stance on this issue, I think it’s good that the city has a little more breathing room to consider this change.  Everything was feeling just a little too rushed for such a big decision.

The Public Input Session is still on for tomorrow at 6:30p at Westchester Central Office.

Saturday’s weather was perfect for the Oakhurst Arts & Music Festival. Click “More Photos” to the right to see a couple more.

Also make sure to check out AsianCajuns well-dressed pictorial report from Oakhurst…