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Merchantry Article Archives

Gimme Some Sugar, Darlin': The Quintessential Southern Cookbook

If you love to cook or just love to collect cookbooks, start making space on your bookshelf now because there's a new cookbook in town. This delightful compendium of all things culinary, Gimme Some Sugar, Darlin' by Mississippian Laurance Daltroff Triplette, is true piece read more...

The Shoals Area Heats Up for the 31st Annual W. C. Handy Music Festival

It's almost that time again when the hills of North Alabama are alive with the sound of music. The 31st annual W. C. Handy Music Festival, which runs July read more...

The Paintings of Georgia Artist Steve Penley

The Paintings of Georgia Artist Steve Penley By James Calemine Born in Chattanooga, Tennessee, in 1964, Steve Penley was raised in Macon, Georgia. By the time he attended the University of Georgia, he'd been painting and drawing for as long as read more...

Going Up The Country: The Sixth Annual Sautee Jamboree

Going Up the Country: It’s Music for the Little Masses as the Sixth Annual Sautee Jamboree Rocks the Hhillsides By Jerry Grillo “I’m gonna leave this city, got to get away; All this fussing and fighting, read more...

Making Merry in the Marigny: FMIA Tour of Homes, New Orleans

Visitors to New Orleans who think the city is defined by the French Quarter and the Garden District are in for a delightful surprise when they wander past Esplanade and across Elysian Fields into the fabulous Faubourg Marigny. Popularly known as the

HOMEGROWN: An Exhibit of Regionally Influenced Designs in Nashville, TN

HOMEGROWN is a special exhibition of regionally influenced, culturally significant, contemporary design, bringing the designs to an underexposed market outside of the major design centers. The exhibit will take place from place from June 1 through June

Alabama's Artisanal Goat Cheese Belle Chevre:"You Can Taste the Love!"

Belle Chevre Fromagerie, a tiny creamery nestled in the countryside of rural north Alabama, is a small business that packs a big punch. Just pick up any food related magazine this month and you may see

Rock and Roll in the Rocket City Part 2: Rock and Roll Boomtown

by Jane DeNeefe Last month in

The Buzz Around Savannah Bee: The Ted Dennard Interview

The Buzz Around Savannah Bee: The Ted Dennard Interview By James Calemine Ted Dennard's company, Savannah Bee, ranks as one of the most vibrant read more...

Athens Cobbler Practices "Dying Art" by Holly Hollman

ATHENS, Ala. (AP) — Dust particles dance in the dim light at Dobbs Shoe Shop as Mike Latimer grinds a custom sneaker sole for an orthopedic patient. Grit and black polish outline his calloused fingertips. The smells of beeswax, used for

New Orleans Journal Episode Three: Culture, Cuisine, and "Coffee Shop Chronicles"

Randy and I arrived in NOLA on April 9 by way of Hattiesburg, MS. We elected to spend the first night of the trip in Mississippi because we had heard of a superb restaurant in downtown Hattiesburg read more...

UA Press Releases Alabama's Civil RIghts Trail: An Illustrated Guide

This amazing 350 page volume, Alabama's Civil Rights Trail: An Illustrated Guide to the Cradle of Freedom, is every person's guide to the last 150 years of the civil read more...

Johnny Mercer: A Georgia Peach of a Songwriter

by Billy C. Farlow Elk River November 2009 Johnny Mercer is not your usual Southern music icon. In the genre of down-home music greats most life stories are all too read more...

Going Green in New Orleans--Worn Again Art in NOLA

by Penne J. Laubenthal Having had its share of trouble over the years but forever out there on the cutting edge, New Orleans is a city whose name has always evoked history, music, literature, and art. Now read more...

Rags to Riches: From Anderson Books to Books-A-Million

By Penne J. Laubenthal The old Anderson Bookland store in downtown Florence, Alabama, will soon house the elegant corporate headquarters and retail store for internationally known clothing designer read more...

Billy Reid: A Touch of Southern Style in NYC

For lack of a better explanation the South is a place where city and rural cordially interact and blend daily. This makes for a very interesting environment and culture - Billy Reid Nestled within a construction-filled street in the NoHo area of NYC, read more...

Calipari, SEC Hoops, and the Coming NBA "Bubble"

Watch out - Rick Pitino and Louisville! John Calipari gave Kentucky what it wanted - a coach that makes them instantly competitive in their state, their conference, and the nation at large. There is little doubt that it has been hard for Kentucky to watch their read more...

A Southern Strategy For The NBA

Now that we welcome another NBA team to our Footprint (three cheers for OKC), it's time for the NBA to start making some other changes that will help this league's popularity continue to grow in our read more...

NASCAR: Driving in Different Directions?

by Patrick Snow Some recent events in the world of NASCAR have made us here at Swampland ask the question: In what direction is this sport going? I’ve expressed frustration before about how NASCAR seems to want to forget its Southern roots as they try to put read more...

The SEC At A Crossroads: Don't Make NASCAR's Mistake

The SEC sets the pace in all of college athletics. The question is what will it do for an encore? Last week's meetings in Destin, FL ended up largely becoming a time to reflect on

The BCS: A Friend to the SEC (and the Rest of the Footprint)

We at Tribal Fever find it odd that it would be the SEC who would call for a playoff system. We wonder how the SEC can be so blind to the fact that the BCS has been great for that conference. For those that love the idea of a playoff, we will list the reasons why most read more...

New York City Southern Style: Alabama Studio Weekend in the Shoals

by Penne J. Laubenthal Imagine starting off your Saturday morning with the perfect Bloody Mary, garnished in typical southern fashion with pickled okra, and served to you by one of the country’s foremost clothing designers,

Record Stores of the Swampland Footprint

ALABAMA CD Cellar Anniston AL Oz Music Tuscaloosa AL ARKANSAS

The State of Baseball in the South

By Patrick Snow (editor's note: Swampland Sports considers the following teams to be part of the Footprint: Atlanta Braves, Baltimore Orioles, Cincinnati Reds, Florida Marlins, Houston Astros, St. Louis Cardinals, Tampa Bay Rays, Texas Rangers, read more...

A Modest Proposal: Southern College Conference Realignment

Now that Swampland Sports has launched Tribal Fever (TF), our dispatch dedicated to college sports in the South, we figured it was time to do weigh in on the current state of college football conferences. The college football conference landscape in the read more...

An SPF Tale of Two Waynes

After NFL's week one, Patrick Snow sounded the alarm. The Florida teams in the SPF Footprint were in trouble. It wasn't just about losing games. It was about losing read more...

St. Simons Island: Seaside Reckoning

The Challenge of Pro Sports in the Southeastern United States

It seems like a simple equation. Growing markets equals new growth opportunities for outside businesses seeking new markets. New economic engines in the South (new factories, new banking and financial concerns, growing tech base, growing populations, and increased buying power) have read more...

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