Back in November, while working on a production of “Annie” for CAST community theater, Jacksonville State University drama professor Carrie Colton noticed something odd about the stage at the Anniston Performing Arts Center. It really wasn’t suitable for a musical theater show.
Many of you enjoy live music. Live art, too can be just as exciting. Events that highlight both forms are scheduled this week, with a worship musical tonight at Parker Memorial Baptist Church in Anniston and interactive art demonstrations at Talladega’s Heritage Hall Museum this month from M…
In “A Spool of Blue Thread,” her splendid 2015 novel about a family and their house, Anne Tyler writes about the human inclination to set a home — both edifice and family — in order. The night before they move into their house, a husband tells his wife: “I’m just trying to pass muster.”
Christopher Buckley has treated readers to satirical looks at Washington politics in novels such as “Thank You for Smoking” and “No Way to Treat a First Lady.” Now he has delved into colonial history to produce “The Judge Hunter,” an eventful and often funny tale depicting the clash of compe…
Two new openings on the art scene provide pathways to American history. One is in the form of entertainment, and the other showcases facts about our local World War II heroes.
The title of this shattering and original first book from Tommy Orange references a phrase found in a couple of places. Gertrude Stein said famously, and with a kind of “painful nostalgia” about her hometown of Oakland, Calif., “There is no there there.”
There’s a familiar quote about life’s goals that applies to Anniston’s downtown revival; “To reach the top of the staircase, take one step at a time.”
Stephen McCauley is still as incisive as he’s always been. From “The Object of My Affection” on, he has commented on our middle-class foibles with an acuity that in some hands might have become caustic, but in his remains affecting and compassionate.
Enjoy your summer vacation, but return soon. There’s a burst of not-to-miss attractions filling the calendar, including Noonday Notations at Anniston’s First United Methodist Church … Vintage Bazaar and opening of the redesigned Pearl Harbor room at The Berman Museum … “Bringing Back Shakesp…
Early in “The Opposite of Writing,” the introduction to this winning collection of occasional pieces, Michael Chabon recounts a conversation he had with an author “at a literary party the summer before my first novel was published.” That author tells Chabon the key to being a successful writ…
“The world is a great book,” St. Augustine once said. “Those who never stir from home have read only a page.”
Richard Russo is one of our American treasures. His books come as close to the truths of modern living as any contemporary writer gets. His writing is vivid, graceful and wise. He quickly invites us in, making us as comfortable as he can, while he shows us the worst and the best of modern life.
Two art forms — rock and roll and Broadway musicals — live on today in various degrees. Three area artists — Mike Gagliardo, Kim Dobbs and Ramsey Whitney — bring us face to face with events that feature these forms in the coming weeks.
Richard Flanagan’s “The Narrow Road to the Deep North” won the Man Booker Prize in 2014. This new novel, his first since that time, appeared in Australia last year and has just recently been published in this country.
For years, my brother Jack insisted that I give the “Harry Potter” novels a read. But I held my ground since, after leafing through it in an Australian bookstore, I had already rejected a book at that time called “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.” “I’ll wait for the movies,” was my …
“Aetherial Worlds” is the first collection from Tatyana Tolstaya to be translated into English in more than 20 years. Therefore, the 18 stories that comprise the volume will surely be new to most readers, even though the author is regarded as one of contemporary Russia’s preeminent writers.
Christianity is a singing faith, it’s been said.
A rich mixture of history, artistry and creativity is offered this month for those who are interested in learning more about church’s architectural features or reading an historical fiction set in the War Between the States. Stephanie Bain, Oxford author of “The Girl I Left Behind,” centers …
Next to the Bible, “To Kill a Mockingbird” is considered one of the most popular books ever written. Published by author Harper Lee in 1960, it remains, to this day, a classic in American literature.
Carl Brady is a human kaleidoscope. One day’s schedule sees him change from doing editing, graphic arts and advertising to supervising the news crew, writing and shooting commercials for WEAC TV24. When time allows, he plays guitar, reads and enjoys family. There are changing patterns in his…
As we celebrate Alabama’s 200th birthday, it’s time to honor the people who have shaped and developed our state. On the list of influential names are musicians, writers and artists who have had a lasting impact on our daily lives.
“It’s all about the line.” That’s the theme of the featured artists’ work in the current exhibit at Noble Frame & Gallery in downtown Anniston. But if you read between the lines of the theme title, you discover that the two artists use the line not only to catch the viewer’s eye but to c…
Julian Barnes wrote in “The Sense of an Ending,” his novel that won the Man Booker Prize in 2011, “How often do we tell our own life story? How often do we adjust, embellish, make sly cuts? And the longer life goes on, the fewer are those around to challenge our account, to remind us that ou…
Friday's performance will pull from several different projects, including “Rhapsody In Bluegrass,” a bluegrass reimagining of George Gershwin’s masterpiece, as well as more personal selections such as “Cherokee,” “Where You’ve Always Been” and “Orange Blossom Special.”
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Facebook finds itself in a brewing controversy over how its users online habits were revealed to political campaigns. Do you trust social media companies to guard your private information?
