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Arts on Parade

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Morning fog had lifted from Georgia’s gold-domed state capitol yesterday by the time Cameron Bean addressed at its front steps the group he assembled on behalf of the Columbus Cultural Arts Alliance. “Our trip here has a three-fold purpose, Bean, executive director of development at CSU, said of Arts Day activities: “Big” check presentation in the rotundaLunch & Learn tourism industry meet...

Role of a Lifetime

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Big Daddy’s plantation comes to Paul Pierce’s farm “I can really relate to Big Daddy,” Paul Pierce says of the first leading role to lure him back on the Springer Opera House in decades. Sitting in the Springer’s lobby Tuesday afternoon, he then explains the parallel he discovered between Big Daddy, the central character in Tennessee Williams’ superb Southern Gothic dark comedy Cat on a Hot Tin...

New Year, New Leader, New Vision

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Sunday Q & A with Stefan Bloodworth Executive Director, Columbus Botanical Garden What led you to a life working in gardens?“It really started for me with being fixated on ecology, natural history and conservation in high school. I took a detour: Got an English degree—writing is another passion. To pay the bills I started a landscaping and design contracting business. That grew into the...

Old Times Not Forgotten

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Columbus historical attractions& America’s cultural reckoning There used to be a joke told around here that went something like this: “Westville: Where It’s Always 1850. And Columbus—where it’s still 1950. Today, that joke no longer applies. For one, Historic Westville, an antebellum living-history attraction in Stewart County for 90 years, has moved to Columbus and since dropped that...

Two for Tuesday(s)

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Two Republicans win Georgia’s Two Statewide Election Run-Offs Two Campaign issues may carry-over after Slim margins once again in a former Red State The so-called “Blue Wave” of Democrats taking back Georgia after decades of Republican domination netted no gain in statewide seats in 2018 . Yet, the races in Tuesday’s two runoffs for Secretary of State and a place on the...

Camera Ready: Ty Manns’ Silver-Screen Gospel

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“I’m a preacher’s kid,” Ty Manns begins in describing a life path that led him to the film world. “My dad was a Holiness preacher,” the writer/director/producer continues during an October interview at Fountain City Coffee. “He preached for a long time in West Virginia before cancer made him move to be with family in North Carolina. All those years growing up, we’d watch and talk about movies...

Of Men, Music & Myth

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Now entering its second weekend at the Springer Opera House, Kudzu the Musical celebrates in story and song this place we call home—the quintessential eccentric Southern community that is Columbus, Georgia. In this Q&A with Electric City Life Editor Frank Etheridge, local music luminary Allen Levi shares his insights into the original musical theater production he created in collaboration...

COLUMBUS, GA NAMED TOP 10 PLACES TO RETIRE IN THE U.S.

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Livability.com named Columbus, Georgia as one of the 10 Best Places to Retire in the U.S. in its “2018 – 10 Best Places to Retire” rankings. According to Livability.com, each of these 10 cities offers access to affordable and quality healthcare, an accessible cost of living, retiree-friendly businesses and services, as well as amenities to keep residents active and engaged. See...

Good Viberations

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“St. EOM made up his own words, like Pasaquan and viberations,” Charles Fowler says. “We decided we wanted to bring back Artists for Pasaquan weekend but to put our own spin on it. So in the spirit of St. EOM, we renamed it a word we came up with: Pasafest.” An artist and musician, Fowler is also caretaker of Pasaquan: the surreal vision of inter-planetary utopia on 7 acres erected by mystic...

(Not) Hidden Figures

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“You can’t hide anything—it’s all out there,” Garry Pound says of the allure for artists to capture the nude human form. “You can’t fake it. You either get it, or you don’t.” Transferring the naked body into fine-art form has been the focus of live drawing sessions Pound, an acclaimed portraitist, has hosted for decades. Originally held at the Columbus Museum, these Friday morning gatherings...