A little late with this, but Kathy just pointed out this CBS Atlanta video and story from noon today that showcases the clean-up of a enormous tree that fell across Fairview Avenue during last night’s storms.

Behold the 2011 AJC-Decatur Book Festival poster!

It was unveiled this evening at Eddie’s Attic as part of our annual press launch. After a couple years of mayhem, Bookzilla has retreated to write his memoir and to blog. Here you see him in his writing studio. Follow his rants on facebook.

The DBF website is up. Check there for the roster of authors. It’s a great one–Terra McVoy has done a fantastic job taking over for Tom Bell.

“But what about the big announcement?”, you ask. I’ve been saying that this year’s keynote get’s one of two reactions: “Who?” or “Holy sh*t!”

If you are in the “Who?” crowd then you should feel relieved that you won’t have to deal with getting a ticket, because the “holy sh*t” crowd is going to have them out the door quicker than a beer fest ticket in a frat house.

So, after much delay–Carson Ellis and Colin Meloy are headlining the festival with their first young adult novel, Wildwood.  Carson is a great illustrator, best known for her work on the Lemony Snicket series, and for her cover artwork for The Decemberists. She’s also married to Colin, the lead singer/songwriter for that band. Don’t know The Decemberists? Their last album, The King is Dead, debuted at #1 on Billboard’s chart this spring, and they just headlined Bonnaroo. Yes, I just buried that lead as deep as I could. So, tell me, are you in the “who” or the “holy sh*t” crowd?

 

Here’s something to chew on while you wait along the MARTA platform, traveling from Fulton to DeKalb and back again.

Cobb County held a telephone town hall meeting on Tuesday like the one DeKalb held last night, which Allison described in the previous post.   And guess what?  They showed preference for a rail project over a road project.  From the Mayretta Daily Journal…

A slim majority of poll respondents said connecting Cobb County to Atlanta via rail was more important than improving the Windy Hill Road and Interstate 75 intersection, though a quarter said neither of the two options took priority.

The poll was conducted during a telephone town hall regarding next year’s voter referendum for a 10-year, 1 percent sales tax to fund transportation projects in the 10-county metro Atlanta area. More than 16,000 Cobb residents participated.

Sure, pitting a single intersection against an entire rail line is sorta unfair, but still, more could’ve said neither was important, right?

So that “slim majority”.  Is that like 51%?

….during the call, a poll asked listeners “What is the most important for transportation investment that could be made in Cobb County?”

Just over 60 percent said connecting Cobb to Atlanta via rail was the highest priority, while 13.5 percent of responders said the county should improve the Windy Hill Road and Interstate 75 intersection. However, 25.5 percent said neither option was the most important. There were no other choices for the poll.

I’ll be damned.

Last night as the storms started, my land line rang from a number that identified as “GA ST GOVT.” Curious, I answered it, and I was greeted by a recorded message from Decatur mayor Bill Floyd, inviting me to participate in a “Telephone Town Hall” on the “Transportation Investment Act,” the July 2012 referendum to consider a 10-year penny sales tax to fund transportation improvements in 10 Metro regional counties. The discussion was taking place right that very minute. All I had to do was stay on the line.

I’ve been invited to participate in all sorts of “roundtables” and “town halls” and “webinars” and such, but never have I gotten a phone call like this one. On the one hand, it might have been nice to get a little bit of advance notice that this call was coming, but on the other hand, advance notice may not have changed the likelihood of my participation. As it was, it came at a good moment; I had unplugged the computer during the thunderbumper and was unloading the dishwasher and listening to that blessed rain fall. So I crooked the phone between my ear and shoulder while I cleaned the kitchen and paid attention.

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Patch reported yesterday that “The Beer Growler” – the Athens joint that was the first store in the state to start selling fresh beer in those throwback 64 oz jugs – is slated to open a second location in Avondale next month.   The growler-revolutionaries plan to renovate the former InMovement dance studio space at 38 North Avondale Road.

I’m just getting into the growler swing of things and have been wondering, can you use one growler store’s growlers at another location?   Also, is it just me, or do you tend to drink more when you have an open growler in the fridge?

Photo from The Beer Growler website