River Posts
Back from the Blue Ridge
Just a quick note to say that I have been "on the road" for the past five days, and I have lots of exciting adventures and read more...
Alabama Rules: From Blue-Eyed Soul to Soulful Blues
My friend Deryle Perryman, native of Florence and read more...
A Humorous Comparison of College Football Between the South and the North
As our beloved college football season nears, we at Tribal Fever thought everyone should read this comparison between college read more...
Buffalo Roaming: Day Four, Cooper's Party
What a great weekend. Sunday morning, I woke up and went downstairs for one of those great made to order omelets at read more...
The Dog Star Rages and Leos Roar
It is August and the dog days of summer are upon us. The ancient read more...
Buffalo Roaming: Day One, Down By The Lazy River in Bamalama
Well, after seven hours of driving, two torrential storms and one near death experience, I find myself in the comfort of a beautiful read more...
Is 8 Wins The SEC's New Over/Under For Coaching Success?
An interesting debate was sparked last week when the University of Tennessee announced it had
Alabama in July
The Fourth of July is over and along with it Willie read more...
Alabama: A Place in the Sun
It is July in Alabama and the corn is literally as high as an elephant’s eye. Jungles of lush green flank the country roads. read more...
NBA Draft Post-Mortem
It was an interesting NBA Draft night with Miami and Memphis from our region making big headlines. Before I take a look at some of read more...
Southern Literature Series to Premiere on Swampland
“The past isn’t dead. It isn’t even past” (
Father's Day and Rick Bragg
If you are looking for a gift for Father’s Day, look no further than
FONO Announces the Capitol Hill Bayou Bash!
This Tuesday, June 17, anyone in or near the DC area should come out to the American Legion as
Friends of New Orleans and Swampland.com Join Together!
Swampland.com is proud to announce that we have joined Friends of New Orleans (FONO) as an official cultural partner for this worthy read more...
With Leadership In Flux, the BCS Proves Its Worth to the Big East
Tribal Fever will never stop its defense of the greatest sport in our Footprint - college football. How a sport that has record read more...
Duke Over Notre Dame: College Sports Are Still The King Down South
Since the SEC just wrapped up its meetings down in Destin, Tribal Fever thought it would be a good time to check in. College read more...
Kentucky Finally Gets Its NASCAR Fix
If you build it, they will come.... That seems to be the delayed result at the Kentucky Speedway. This track is read more...
More Six Degrees: From Florence, Alabama, to Florence, Italy
On March 4, 2006, my old friend Deryle Perryman and read more...
Conference USA Must Step Up to Avoid Potential College Football Upheaval
Last year, Tribal Fever presented a modest proposal about read more...
South Dominates College Baseball
by Patrick Snow There is one more week of college baseball before the conference tournaments, and the teams in our Swampland read more...
Farewell to Art Icon Robert Rauschenberg
Texas born painter, photographer, printmaker, sculptor, choreographer, onstage performer, set designer and, in later years, even a read more...
SEC Football Update, Memphis Style!
Ron Higgins was on fire over the weekend. He's one of the best writers about SEC football newspaper writers outside of Tony read more...
Too Much Fun
When Deryle Perryman contacted me last week to say read more...
Why Swampland Sports Loves the BCS
Despite winning back to back national titles in football, the SEC susre seems to hate the BCS. Lately, this hatred has been read more...
Post - NFL Draft Newspaper Wrap Up
We found this article from a week or so back that is about NFL Network being
SPF's NFL Draft First Round Log (Live All Day!!)
read more...
April in Alabama
Nothing could be more beautiful than April in Alabama and, in my case, nothing could be more exciting. I recently returned from the read more...
Snowflakes: What Are SEC Football Critics Going To Do Now?
With spring football in full gear, it’s never too early to look ahead to the upcoming season. We at Swampland have focused many read more...
Alabama: Places to Be and People to See
The Alabama Book Festival held in Montgomery, read more...
Alabama Beat: Words and Music in the Deep South
The three poems currently appearing in the Poetry section of Swampland are by Mississippi born Pulitzer Prize winner
Snowflakes: Southern Sweet 16
Here a quick primer for our teams in this weekend’s NCAA Tournament. East – This is read more...
Season Summary: Cincinnati Bengals
Quick Summary: The Bengals were SPF's most disappointing team from this past season. They have all the read more...
Alabama's Going Green: "Let's Get Dirty"
Huntsville, Alabama, has chosen
Alabama's Going Green: A Delicate Balance
Yes, I read the article in the New York read more...
Snowflakes: Why SEC Hoops is No Longer Just Kentucky
With Mississippi and Florida both dropping first round games in the conference tournament, the SEC contingent for the Big Dance seems read more...
Snowflakes: Small Conference Hoops Does the Footprint Proud
It’s the most exciting time of the year for many of the smaller schools around our region. Their conferences tournaments have read more...
Alabama's Going Green
Holden Caulfield wanted to know where all the read more...
Snowflakes: C-USA/Big East Hoops
* West Virginia has won 3 of their last 4 and really seems to be coming together at the right time. One of the main reasons for their read more...
Black History Month: Look Back, but Move Forward
“Look back but move forward” was the credo of civil rights activist
Water, Water, Everywhere, Nor Any Drop To Drink
Today the New York Times ran an article entitled
Let The Sunshine In
I was listening to NPR on Saturday morning when I heard the bluesy sound of an acoustic guitar and a voice that reminded me of read more...
Snowflakes: Big East Hoops
Louisville got a monster win last Saturday night when they knocked off first place Georgetown. The Cardinals are playing much better read more...
It's Not Easy Being Indie
I always thought that in my next incarnation I wanted to come back as an independent documentary filmmaker. I held on to that dream read more...
Snowflakes: SEC Hoops
* The Kentucky Wildcats finally look to be playing the kind of winning ball that Big Blue fans expect. It took a while to adjust to read more...
Snowflakes: Smaller Conference Hoops
One mid-major club that higher seeded teams will not want to see in the Big Dance is Davidson from the Southern Conference. The read more...
Season Summary: St. Louis Rams
Quick Summary: This was the first year SPF covered the Rams, and it wasn't an auspicious beginning. It read more...
Adventures In The (Pig) Skin Trade On Super Bowl Sunday
Roving Notes On Super Bowl Sunday 2/3/08
The Day The Music Died
The day was February 3, 1959. At approximately 12:55 AM, Buddy read more...
Snowflakes: SEC Hoops
by Patrick Snow * Someone forgot to tell 2-time National Champion Florida that they were supposed to struggle this read more...
Lest We Forget: Four Spirits
January 30, 2008, marked the 60th anniversary of the assassination of India’s political and spiritual leader
Snowflakes: Small Conference Hoops
by Patrick Snow The regular season seems to get a little overlooked in many of the smaller or “1-bid” leagues in read more...
Snowflakes: C-USA/Big East Hoops
by Patrick Snow * Could this week finally bring the contest where #1 Memphis actually loses a conference game? The read more...
The Best of All Possible Worlds or Is There Balm in Gilead?
I live in the boonies, the hinterlands of Northern Alabama. For years, I made do with erratic reception from local television read more...
Luther Dickinson: Night Before theTour...
Luther Dickinson Talks Present, Past & Future 1/16/08
Six Degrees of Separation
In the south we not only claim kin we also claim friends. I have learned that behind every new acquaintance there lies the read more...
SPF T.I. Poll (Week 19, Part 4): Down By The River
12. Cincinnati Bengals and 13. St. Louis Rams - Our final Poll spots are held by two teams that have a connection read more...
SPF T.I. Poll (Week 19, Part 3): Teams at the Crossroads (aka the NFC South)
We've now gone through the first 7 teams in the T.I. Poll. So far, the entire AFC South has been covered as well as the read more...
SPF T.I. Poll (Week 19, Part 2): Teams "On the Verge"
This is SPF's group of teams that are "On The Verge" of reaching elite status. They all have challenges, but they are read more...
SPF's Divisional Playoffs Pre-Pregame Show (or T.I. Poll Week 19)
There are three SPF teams left in the Super Bowl hunt, but the news doesn't stop with them. Of the 4 current coaching read more...
LIghts, Camera, Action! Film Festivals and Film Debuts in the South
Late winter and spring of 2008 will see the blossoming of a host of film festivals in the South. A number of the festivals read more...
SPF T.I. Poll (Wild Card Weekend Edition)
We're mixing it up again going into the playoffs. In an up and down year, six of the 13 SPF teams made the playoffs. Two, read more...
Dr. John Voices Frustration At Friday New Orleans Show
Dr. John Expresses Frustration With Katrina Fallout 12/29/07
SPF's Week Seventeen Pre-Pregame Show
Playoffs and draft slots. It's all on the line in a strange season-ending weekend in the Footprint.
White Pelicans on Elk River
White Pelicans are a rarity on Elk River. I have never seen one north of Gulf Shores, but on Christmas morning a friend down the read more...
SPF T.I. Poll (Week Seventeen)
It's the last week of the NFL season. There isn't much left to be decided. Two SPF teams (Washington and Tennessee) can read more...
Music and Movie Making in Alabama
Sorry to have been incommunicado since Thanksgiving. This time I was overwhelmed by the holiday madness and computer read more...
SPF's Week Sixteen Pre-Pregame Show
SATURDAY NIGHT Dallas (12-2, 6-0 away) Carolina (6-8, 2-5 read more...
SPF T.I. Poll (Week Sixteen)
SPF laid down the gauntlet before last weekend's games. Many teams answered the bell. With two games left in the regular read more...
SPF's Week Fifteen Pre-Pregame Show
It has been a largely disappointing season for SPF, but these final weeks can redeem or further decimate a team's momentum for read more...
SPF T.I. Poll (Week Fifteen)
SPF will say it - this has been a very tough year for pro football in the Swampland Footprint. Of our 13 teams, more than half read more...
SPF's Week Fourteen Pre-Pregame Show
SPF has been beating a few drums this year, but one is about letting players play. Coaches coach systems. read more...
John Sayles Interview
Mystery & Manners John Sayles Interview 12/8/07 On Thursday I interviewed
SPF T.I. Poll (Week Fourteen)
SPF has looked at the coach/QB relationship. Now, it's time to look at the owner/coach relationship. When this read more...
SPF's Week Thirteen Pre-Pregame Show
While Tribal Fever nation witnessed their conference championships this weekend, SPF has found a few of their own. There are read more...
TF Conference Championship Preview
Today is the day we find out whether it will be an all-Swampland matchup in the BCS Championship Game. If all goes according to read more...
SPF T.I. Poll (Week Thirteen)
Coaching changes. They happen every year even though it seems as though jobs are more than safe. Changes are usually made read more...
SPF's Week Twelve Pre-Pregame Show
Leadership. Is it there? The leader(s) of each SPF team define that team to their fans. Already, Thanksgiving read more...
TF Rivalry Week Preview
Rivalry games define college football. More than bowl games or even conference championships, a win against your rival means read more...
SPF T.I. Poll (Week Twelve)
SPF often talks a team's style when it comes to identity. Style, though, is kind of a catch all. Dig a little deeper and read more...
Confessions Redux
This year marks the fiftieth anniversary of Auburn’s 1957 National Championship. Not only did the Tigers go undefeated that read more...
SPF's Week Eleven Pre-Pregame Show
This week, more than any other this NFL season, the fan will find out who their teams are. Are teams going to the read more...
TF Saturday Preview: The Year of Transition Nears An End
The wild year continues. In many ways this was just a sign of the transition college football around the Footprint has read more...
SPF T.I. Poll (Week Eleven)
Week Ten was a very weird football weekend. Many of the SPF teams lost games. Few had important wins. It just seems read more...
SPF's Week Ten Pre-Pregame Show
SPF will stick by this point - no team set the NFL back more than the Super Bowl champion Baltimore Ravens. This read more...
TF Saturday Preview: Everything's Still To Be Decided
Patrick Snow has it right. This year's
SPF T.I. Poll (Week Ten)
Everyone knows that football is the dominant sport in the Footprint, but it has always been college dominating the pro variety. read more...
SPF's Week Nine Pre-Pregame Show
It's it the "Clash of the Titans!" The Colts-Pats game deserves the hype that it is getting. Both teams read more...
Tiger Rag
In the spring a young man’s fancy may turn to baseball, but in the fall in the South everyone’s fancy turns to read more...
SPF T.I. Poll (Week Eight)
Things continue to settle out in the SPF Footprint. This week's big question is whether the South's best is the NFL's read more...
SPF's Week Eight Pre-Pregame Show
Much like yesterday's college slate, this week's SPF schedule features teams looking towards the season's end and where they want to read more...
TF Saturday Preview: Pole, er.. Bowl Position
If you aren't a Florida or Georgia fan, this weekend might be a good one to spend with the kids. This is a pretty thin weekend read more...
SPF T.I. Poll (Week Seven)
SPF's season previews are looking pretty good so far. The teams we singled out like the Jags, the Texans, and the Dolphins have read more...
Take Me Out to the Ball Game
Wednesday night’s opening game of the 2007 World Series at
It is Raining on the River!
I guess I rattled my rain stick enough this weekend to wake up the clouds. We In North Alabama are reveling in what the Navajos call read more...
SPF's Week Seven Pre-Pregame Show
Getting on the same page. Coaches and players that have the same sense of urgency signify teams that are winning. The NFL read more...
TF's Saturday Preview: Act Like You've Been There Before!
It's the old saying when a player celebrates a little too much - act like you've been there before. This rules seems to also read more...
SPF T.I. Poll (Week Six)
Here we are again for SPF's weekly Team Identity Poll. Things have shaken up a bit. We are much closer to how we saw read more...
On the Road Again
Sorry I have been incommunicado lately. I am still struggling with allergies that seem to get worse rather than better. Ah, fall in read more...
SPF's Week Six Pre-Pregame Show
It's week 6 for the SPF teams. Four teams are basically done, but the rest have critical games that will go a long way to read more...
TF's Saturday Preview: The History Behind SEC Dominance
Tribal Fever would like to start this weekend's festivities by directing everyone to a fantastic series on
SPF T.I. Poll (Week Five)
The rich seem to be getting richer (and the poor, poorer) in the SPF Footprint. There is happiness at the top, confusion in the read more...
SPF's Week Five Pre-Pregame Show
It's week five in the NFL season. Overall, the SPF Footprint is shaping up to be a year of the haves and have-nots. The read more...
Tribal Fever's Weekend Slate (10/6/2007)
Let's start with this week's College Football Preview from Athlon. Swampland's own Patrick Snow hosts each read more...
SPF T.I. Poll (Week Four)
Just like in the college ranks, it was a bit of a crazy week in the SPF Footprint. Right now, there are more bad teams than read more...
Arrivederci Roma, Ciao Athens (Alabama)
I have just returned from ten days in Italy (Venice, Florence/Tuscany, and Rome) and am way behind on my blog, so please bear read more...
Upset Saturday, or not?
Patrick Snow mentioned in his last column read more...
SPF's Week Four Pre-Pregame Show
Welcome SPF fans! Here's today's slate. (SPF teams in BOLD) Early read more...
Swampland welcomes Tribal Fever!
It was only a matter of time before Swampland Sports starting covering the colleges in earnest. Today marks the start of Tribal read more...
SPF T. I. Poll (Week Three)
Back to our weekly gauge of how each SPF team is resonating with its fans. First, let's take a look back at last week's Team read more...
SPF 's Week Three Pre-Pregame Show
Here we are again. Let Week Three begin! SPF Teams in BOLD Early read more...
SPF Friday Fishwrap-up: the Cowboy/Redskin paradigm
We've just posted a new analysis of the Wayne issue in read more...
Swampland Sports Thursday Links
Just a few quick hits here on Thursday.... Snowman's Latest Column Patrick Snow's
CD and DVD releases for week of September 18, 2007
New Releases Doyle Bramhall
SPF T. I. Poll (Week Two)
Time for our Week Two "Team Identity" Poll. Things keep getting interesting, and that's how we like read more...
SPF's Week Two Monday: Playmakers making plays
THE "BEATING THE DEAD HORSE" THEME Our theme for this week is similar to last read more...
More Alabama Authors: Eric Smith
Eric Smith is assistant professor of English at the University of Alabama-Huntsville where his speciality is Post Colonial read more...
SPF 's Week Two Pre-Pregame Show
Each week, it will be SPF's pleasure to bring you the best pregame show on the Net. We provide our audience with clips from read more...
SPF Friday Fishwrap-up: LeBatard vs. Galloway
Another great southern tradition is writing. We have a whole section called Discourse that is dedicated to this read more...
SPF's T. I. Poll (Week One)
Team Identity. This is our constant gauge for the success or failure of NFL teams in the South. College football reigns read more...
"When I die, the brush dies": Remembering Jimmie Lee Sudduth
SPF Week One Game Log
Thursday's game didn't do nearly what yesterday's college slate did to pump us up here at SPF. Our own James Calemine is
Spotlighting Alabama Authors
During the next few weeks I will be featuring the poetry of several Alabama writers whose poems were published in the recent read more...
Hot and Wet or Hot and Dry?
The state of Alabama made the national news on two consecutive days this week: first regarding the referendum that could read more...
Turtle Tracks
In the fall of 2005, my sister Peggy bought a 1985 Toyota Dolphin RV from her son in Seaside, CA, and in late October Peggy, our read more...
West "by God" Virginia and The Free State of Winston
Is West Virginia really a part of the south? Jason Headley in an article entitled "A State of Confusion" pleads the case read more...
Look Homeward, Angel: In Memoriam Doug Marlette
On Tuesday, July 10, Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Doug read more...
A Quiet Fourth of July
It is a strangely quiet Fourth of July on the river. Due to the devastating
Dysfunction Junction
There is a interchange in Birmingham, Alabama, that is so infamous it has been dubbed Dysfunction Junction. After the last deadly read more...
Charlie Daniels, Ricky Skaggs to Appear On New Gospel Album
Charlie Daniels is participating is in a religious-themed CD of contemporary Christian songs done country-style. Time Life is slated read more...
Po Monkey's: One of the Last Great Juke Joints
Swampland Gets The Blues
Ain’t nothin’ like the blues. From the distant wail of Son House, to the darkness of Robert Johnson running from the Hell read more...
"Honeyboy" Edwards Still Playing The Blues At 91
2/19/07 David "Honeyboy" Edwards, born June 28, 1915, in Shaw, Mississippi, began playing the guitar at an early read more...
River Reviews
One Foot In The Groove
Donnie is simply one of the best songwriters around. "One Foot in the Groove" is humorous, clever and read more...
From The Reach
Sonny Landreth From The Reach Landfall Records Sonny Landreth returns with his first record in 5 years. read more...
The Prince of Frogtown
“My father was the prince of Frogtown” writes Alabama author and Pulitzer Prize winner Rick Bragg in his latest book read more...
Riverbend Music Festival: Chattanooga, Tennessee
The Riverbend Music Festival Chattanooga, Tennessee The Black Crowes 6/6/08 By James Calemine
Lie Down In The Light
Indie-hero Will Oldham began his career in "entertainment" as a teenage actor. Most notably, he read more...
Being Dead Is No Excuse
Being Dead is No Excuse: The Official Southern Ladies Guide to Hosting The Perfect Funeral Hyperion Press, 2005
Darius Goes West
“Something’s gonna happen like…Just spark the whole world,” exclaims Darius, the star of the read more...
Song of America
Song of America Various Artists 31 Tigers Records By James Calemine This 50-song, 3 CD read more...
KELBRN
Runnin' With The Big Dogs
Part of [beating Texas] is that old Okie inferiority complex. There’s no better cure for that than whipping Texas’s read more...
The Scene of the Crime
Bettye LaVette
Whatever Remembers Us: An Anthology
Whatever Remembers Us: An Anthology of Alabama Poetry edited by Sue Brannan Walker and J. read more...
Blues Story
(Shout! Factory) Up until now, the definitive blues documentary had to be Deep Blues, The Robert Palmer read more...
Hooker
John Lee Hooker Hooker (Boxed Set) (Shout! Factory) In a beautiful 4-CD set that both read more...
River ArticlesResurrection
by Penne J. Laubenthal Birthdays are often opportunities for self-examination and reflection. Some birthdays provoke more introspection than others. A couple of years ago I decided it was time for me to "live deliberately," in the words of Thoreau: " to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, read more...
Wynton and Willie and the Blues
by Penne J. Laubenthal The Marsalis family and Willie Nelson and I go way back. I have been a fan of Ellis,
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 cookie-cutter tracks in large (TV markets) urban areas where racing is more of a novelty than a read more...
Guest blog by Bebe Gish Shaw: Magical Mississippi Tour
There are magical moments in teaching which remind us that we do not teach to live but rather live to teach, and Saturday, April 19, 2008, was one of those halcyon days of academic heaven in which one goes into third person, watching himself watching the wonderment sparkle in students’ eyes. It was a pristine spring day, the azaleas and dogwood in bloom, and 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 how prosperous (both in wins and revenues) the conference has read more...
Eddie Hinton Does Porretta--Again!
by Penne J. Laubenthal Eighteen years ago in April of 1991 an Italian named Graziano Uliani, founder of the Porretta Soul Festival, came to
Hurricane Season
An excerpt from HURRICANE SEASON: A COACH, HIS TEAM, AND THEIR TRIUMPH IN THE TIME OF KATRINA By Neal Thompson Free Press, a division of Simon & read more...
Southern Sporting "Events"
by Patrick Snow As I attended a Kentucky Derby function this past Saturday, it was never more evident that Southerners must throw a pretty good party. We are probably more known nationally for our college football crowds and pageantry, but the spring read more...
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 every proposal for a college playoff is a horrible idea for college football at large and especially read more...
Snowman's 2008 Draft Wrap Up
The annual NFL Draft is now over, and the critics will have a field day with opinions on who did well and who faltered with their choices. I thought I would take a look at the Draft from the collegiate view and see who from our region will have the biggest impact on their new read more...
SPF's 2008 NFL Draft Awards
Although the NFL Draft still have rounds 3-7 to go, we at SPF think it is time to hand out some awards. Except in very rare cases, team's drafts are defined by their day one picks, and we learned a lot about how the SPF slate of teams are approaching the coming season - for better or worse. Let the cermony begin! THE "DAMN THE TORPEDOES 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, Billy Reid, in his boutique housed in the historic and elegantly appointed Pickett Place read more...
Record Stores of the Swampland Footprint
ALABAMA CD Cellar Anniston AL Oz Music Tuscaloosa AL ARKANSAS Sound Warehouse Fayetteville read more...
Th' Legendary Shack Shakers: "Treulogizing the Gothic South"
A review of “The Tentshow Trilogy”, consisting of “Believe”, “Pandelirium” and “Swampblood” (All on Yep Roc Records) by Frank Gutch
Natasha Trethewey: Winner of the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry
by Penne J. Laubenthal Pulitzer Prize winner Natasha Trethewey is a poet who gives voice to the voiceless, names to the nameless, and who creates monuments in words for those whom history has forgotten. Relying on photographs, personal memory, read more...
Poems by Natasha Trethewey
Miscegenation In 1965 my parents broke two laws of Mississippi; they went to Ohio to marry, returned to Mississippi. They crossed the river into Cincinnati, a city whose name begins with a sound like sin, the sound of wrong, mis in Mississippi. A year later they moved to Canada, followed a route the read more...
Billy Bob Thornton in Florence, Alabama
by Penne J. Laubenthal Severe weather warnings had been issued for North Alabama when I made my way to Florence for the Friday afternoon session of the 11th Annual George Lindsey Film Festival featuring Billy Bob Thornton. But apparently neither sleet nor snow read more...
Deryle Perryman and Dangerous Highway, a Film About Eddie Hinton
by Penne J. Laubenthal Dangerous Highway is an amazing documentary about the life and music of the incredibly talented and tragically fated Eddie Hinton, called the "greatest unknown musician you have ever heard." The film was made by read more...
The Sounds of David Barbe
THE SOUNDS OF DAVID BARBE
Darius Goes West: Twelve Guys and a Dream
Once in a great while, just when you think there is no reason to get up in the morning and that there is no hope for humanity, and that people will just go on killing one another forever, and that tomorrow will be probably be even worse than today, then something happens to turn your world around. For me, that something was seeing a feature length documentary read more...
Logan Smalley: Creator and Director of Darius Goes West
In 2005 Logan Smalley, a special education major at the University of Georgia-Athens, undertook a venture that would change his life, not to mention the lives of those who view his amazing film. Smalley rented a handicapped accessible RV, recruited ten
Fifth Annual Oxford Film Festival
The Fifth Annual Oxford Film Festival (OFF) will open Wednesday evening, February 6, in Oxford, read more...
SEC: Conference King Once Again
By Patrick Snow It’s an argument that will never end-whose Conference is better? Fans will debate this topic vociferously every season, and the answer always tends to lie close to your address. I’m not sure that the Bowl games are the best way to evaluate league strength across college football, but it is basically all we have. Here’s my opinion read more...
Huge Hires for the SEC Old Guard
By Patrick Snow It has already been quite the postseason in the SEC coaching ranks, and it’s only going to get more interesting. With the recent additions of Nick Saban and Bobby Petrino along with Houston Nutt and Les Miles staying in the conference, wins are going to be harder and harder to come by in the nation’s toughest gridiron league. Each read more...
Billy C Farlow is Having Too Much Fun
by Penne J. Laubenthal Billy C Farlow, blues musician, song writer, and harmonica player who skyrocketed to fame in the early ‘70s with Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen, is a force to be reckoned with on the music circuit. Billy C has been out there for over forty years making his music, writing read more...
Goodbye, Babylon: A Patchwork Quilt of American Music
GOODBYE, BABYLON A Patchwork Quilt of American Music By James Calemine
SEC Coaching - None Better
In the end, it was a surprise. But the surprise came in the school chosen, no the destination - the SEC West. Bobby Petrino finally made it to the coaching promised land when he was named the head coach of Arkansas late last night. Fresh off of a Monday Night Football debacle against New Orleans, Petrino made the move. Today, the SEC stands as the read more...
Way Down South With John Sayles
Way Down South with John Sayles By James Calemine John Sayles’ films command respect. His latest film, Honeydripper, takes place in Alabama during the 1950s. Honeydripper counts as Sayles’16th film which read more...
Coaching Carousel
By Patrick Snow The end of the college football season always brings with it unfulfilled goals which translates into coaching changes. There has been quite a bit of movement in our region. Some of the firings were inevitable while others showed us just how unrealistic certain fan bases are with their expectations. I thought I would examine each job, and how it matches up read more...
First Goal: Win Your Conference
By Patrick Snow 2007 - What a crazy and dramatic season of college football. It seems like the Number 1 or 2 position in the national polls is the most dangerous place to be this year. As hard as it may be for many teams to adjust to all the parity, I believe it’s been more difficult for the fan bases to change their perspective on this “new read more...
Confessions of an Auburn Fan or It's Not Easy Being Orange (and Blue)
by Penne Jones Laubenthal The state of Alabama is a red state. It has been slowly turning red politically since 1960. In the past twenty-seven years, Alabama voters have increasingly voted for Republican candidates at the federal level, especially in Presidential read more...
Interview with Charles Ghigna
by Penne J. Laubenthal Charles Ghigna (aka Father Goose) is the author of more than 5,000 poems and 30 award-winning books of poetry. His books have been featured on ABC-TV’s "Good Morning America" and NPR, selected by the Book-of-the-Month Club and the Parents' Choice Book Award. He is a poet, read more...
Hunting the Cotaco Creek
by Charles Ghigna His hand in hold so trigger tight even its blood believes in ghosts. It clings with set finger on steel and waits inside a dream of ducks. The twilight gives into a rise of eastern sky as sun reveals herself too proud and instantly receives full face a splash of mallard flock. A shotgun blasts the read more...
The Alabama Wiregrassers
by Charles Ghigna Dry rooted in penny coated clay, the wiregrassers come suntan tamed in drawl through the mire faster. Machetes high aimed for home, they carry the clues of day across their open, flying clothes. Blade for blade, steel for grass, they flog the wire with a hungry denim run.
Baseball Dreams
by Charles Ghigna In memory of Jack Marsh, second baseman, Yale University, 1943 Before the bayonet replaced the bat, Jack Marsh played second base for Yale; his spikes anchored into the August clay, his eyes set deep against the setting sun. The scouts all knew his numbers well, had studied read more...
Shacks on Highway 231, Along the High Red Clay Embankments
By Bonnie Roberts These words are for those who never wrote a word, or sang a song, or thought a great thought, or invented something, or made something lasting. These words are for those who lived extraordinary non-extraordinary lives, of getting up each day, and walking through the day,
Troy Johnson, (Columbus, GA) Ledger-Enquirer
Writing as a sports columnist for the Columbus read more...
Enjoy the Season
By Patrick Snow Another college football season--another initial release of the BCS standings. This annual ritual seems to send everyone running to call a local talk show to scream about a Playoff system and how the middle letter should be removed from ‘BCS’. Enough already. If all that you’re worried about is how January turns out, you’re read more...
Joe Biddle, (Nashville) Tennessean
Joe Biddle has been covering sports in Nashville since read more...
Ron Higgins, (Memphis) Commerical Appeal
Ron Higgins grew up around sports during his youth in Louisiana. He has spent read more...
SEC: Top Level for Coaches?
By Patrick Snow Many of us who grew up in the South have always believed that the SEC was King when it came to sports and our allegiances. We watched and cheered for professional teams, but our passion was always at the collegiate level. For many years, coaches have moved from the Amateurs to the ‘Pros’ mainly for monetary reasons, but you read more...
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, and Washington Nationals) I do want to sound too negative about a game that I absolutely 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 Footprint has become downright confusing. It used to be that there were three main conferences, the read more...
Athletic Directors: Be Ready To Ante Up
Southern college football-we live it and breathe it year-round, and it has become abundantly clear that the stakes of the game have been raised with some of the recent coaching hires. The ‘price of poker’ is increasing steadily, and if your school is not ready to ante up, your team will be left behind. We’re witnessing a changing of the guard when it comes to read more...
Auger and Old Shoes
by Eric Smith I. On her rocker’s each forward pitch she glimpses the scuffed toes of shoes down the hall, unlaced, empty, still at the foot of the bed, a very old cliché, like the read more...
Sunshine State Swoon
Sunshine State Swoon By Patrick Snow Has professional football hit its lowest point in the state of Florida? I’m not trying to overreact to three Week 1 losses, but one has to wonder what direction the franchises in the Sunshine State are going. None of the three squads ran for over 90 yards as a team in Week 1, and it’s hard to see much read more...
My South
By Doris Gabel Welch My South is Hot Humid Sultry Just like its women. My South is
Phillip Quinn Morris
Phillip Quinn Morris, author of Mussels and
W.C. Handy Music Festival, Florence, Alabama, July 22-29
“If Beale Street could talk Married men would have to take up their beds and walk…” Beale Street Blues W. C. Handy wrote those words when he was living in Memphis in 1916. It had been a long road from Florence, Alabama, to Memphis, Tennessee, read more...
Cassandra King
Alabama native Cassandra King is not only the wife of author Pat Conroy, but she is also a celebrated novelist in her own right. She is currently touring the South to promote her most recent novel
Tall Stacks 2006
Tall Stacks 2006 A Music Festival Where The Steamboats Rule Cincinnati, Ohio - October 4th through the 8th By Derek Halsey November 2006 In 1988 the city of Cincinnati decided to commemorate its 200th birthday by putting together a festival that celebrated its life as a river city in southern read more...
Mudcat: Shake 'Em On Down
MUDCAT: SHAKE ‘EM ON DOWN By James Calemine October 2004 Daniel “Mudcat” Dudeck sits in a wooden chair on the small stage playing Blind Willie McTell’s “Savannah Mama”, sliding the brass cylinder up and down the neck of his acoustic Gibson guitar. His read more...
Cincinnati Five Way Chili
King-Federal, and the Queen City's Claim to Fast Food Fame Cincinnati Five Way Chili by Ron Williams December 2001 (OK, so I lied about waiting till March to write another column! This is my gift to the readers for the Holiday Season. Truly! I was going to retire off of this recipe. I can't believe I'm read more...
Bonnie Bramlett
Don't You Remember You Told Me You Loved Me Baby? A Conversation with Bonnie Bramlett by Jill McLane Smith Summer 2000 From her work with Delaney and Bonnie and Friends, to her friendships with a who's-who of '60's and '70's rock and roll, to her role on TV's "Roseanne," Bonnie Bramlett has always managed read more...
Dick Cooper
On and Off the Road with Dick Cooper by Mitch Lopate 2000 Dick Cooper wears many hats: music museum curator, band road manager, free-lance writer and photographer, motorcycle racer, traveler, martial arts disciple and all-around wellspring of rock-solid advice and counsel. He's been there with Lynryd Skynryd, especially at read more...