Almost 40 years ago, the James Brown Arena started out as part of a larger vision to invigorate Augusta’s faltering downtown district. Back in 1973, the Augusta-Richmond County Coliseum Authority first asked Chinese-born architect I.M. Pei’s New York firm to perform the design work and site selection for a new civic center. While Pei is […]
Many local residents were shocked last week when they heard at least one Columbia County commissioner was apparently upset because he had not been given any free tickets to this past weekend’s Merle Haggard show at the Columbia County Exhibition Center. That was bad enough. But when citizens learned commissioners are also considering changing the […]
While a lot of people are talking about Columbia County Commission Chairman Ron Cross’ email last week to Royce Richardson of Triple R Concert Productions discussing free tickets to future shows at the Columbia County Exhibition Center, it appears Cross doesn’t have a lot to say about the matter. Cross has not returned phone calls […]
If you are sitting back at a distance, watching the current school rezoning squabbles in Columbia County, thinking that it is “much ado about nothing,” don’t be too quick to dismiss the discord. Similar “small” skirmishes in our metro area have given birth to snowballing citizen movements that have seen laws and policies changed, and […]
Many local residents were shocked this week when they heard a few Columbia County commissioners were apparently upset because they had not been given any free tickets to this weekend’s Merle Haggard show at the Columbia County Exhibition Center. That was bad enough. But when citizens learned commissioners are also considering changing the rental contracts […]
I seldom read long whines. If your gripe doesn’t catch my attention in the first sentence, I’m on to the next one. Just saying. Thank the Lord for the internet and Facebook! A few short years ago I would be branded “unemployed”. But now I’m a business owner! Don’t believe me? Check out my page! […]
It was the sudden but easy and charming way their friendship began that moved me the most. Our then 7-year-old daughter, Mia, walked toward the church altar Sunday after Sunday, arms folded in an “X” across her chest to receive her weekly blessing from our priest. I, always just behind her,
It was around the 15-second mark of the UFC on Fox main event between Anthony Johnson and Alexander Gustaffson that the narrative began to change — if that’s too ominous or definitive, then let’s say that a glint of alternate reality began to slip through into our universe. At about that time,
Thump thump. Thump thump. I’m sure my heart beat was audible. I pulled in to the parking space right in front. It was a good sign. I gathered everything I needed, being careful not to forget a thing. I did turn the car off and locked it, keys in hand. The front doors were all […]
Author’s Note: More than a few years ago, back when my daughters still thought Dora was really cool, our bedtime routine would always include a nonsensical story about various and assorted talking animals in strange and interesting environments. Somehow, I’ve always thought that the Metro
A grocery store is a grocery store, right? Well, not exactly. Take Whole Foods, for instance. Open since last September, the chain prides itself of being “America’s healthiest grocery store.” That, says Marketing Team Leader Melissa Brown, tends to scare some shoppers. “I think a lot of people
The nonprofit TED has been holding conferences for 26 years and has given speakers of all kinds and from all fields a chance to give “the talk of their lives” in 18 minutes or less. In recent years, these TEDTalks have become increasing popular, so, naturally, the community was more than a
The wonderful fact of watching “Mortdecai,” a runaway tomato truck of a movie, is that it will compel you to wonder throughout, Who the hell thought this was a good idea? And unlike asking that in so many other areas of life, the answer arrives immediately: Oh! These people on
According to Wikipedia, a fall guy refers to “a person to whom blame is deliberately and erroneously attributed in order to deflect responsibility or blame from another party.” I have a theory. It is a bit of a conspiracy theory. It is farfetched. It is a little absurd. Still, I think it is
If you frequently find yourself completely stressed out while sitting in a long line of traffic on any of the major thoroughfares in Columbia County, new District 1 Commissioner Doug Duncan wants you to know one simple fact: You are not alone. “I often get hacked off and say, ‘What the heck?’”
When Royce Richardson of Triple R Concert Productions decided to bring country music legend Merle Haggard to the Columbia County Exhibition Center this Saturday, Richardson felt it was a win-win situation for Haggard, his fans and Columbia County. With ticket sales extremely strong for the
Just a few short hours after Georgia Regents University President Ricardo Azziz submitted his letter of resignation to officials with the state’s board of regents last week, he felt a great sense of accomplishment regarding his time in Augusta. But Azziz said he is also ready for the next
To Brandon Brune, artistic director of Les Chatons Noir young actors collective, “Book of Days” by Pulitzer prize-winning playwright Lanford Wilson reminds him of another classic play… in an evil doppelganger sort of way. “In a lot of ways it’s similar to the classic ‘Our Town’ in that you have
We are told — in elementary school science classes, in college philosophy seminars, by “Big Bang Theory” writers just after their mid-morning tweak — that, for every reaction, there is an equal yet opposite reaction. The natural world, at least at the atomic level and above, seems to back this
The only thing worse than critiquing something (a restaurant, a film, a book) with which you are largely unfamiliar is heaping tons of praise on similarly uncharted material. I have not seen “American Sniper” so I cannot and will not recommend that you see it. At least not based on
It’s science fair project season. Ask just about any parent, and they’ll tell you it’s more like torture season. In theory, science fair projects are a good idea. They provide good training for completing a big project, step by step. Students learn about science. They also learn to pick an
Undoubtedly, email has evolved into the most flexible, useful and ubiquitous form of communication. Email is used for everything. Think about it. When you have a tidbit of information that you send out, how do you do it? Email, of course. Before the Internet, a bin on an office desk used to be
It’s hard to evaluate “American Sniper” on its merits alone, without considering its subject, the late Chris Kyle. The sharpshooter killed something like 255 people in Iraq, a stupefying total for a single lifetime, even if you accept only the confirmed number of 160.
So, what were the first words out of Georgia Regents University President Ricardo Azziz’s mouth when a Metro Spirit reporter asked him the reason behind his resignation this week? “This is all good,” Azziz said. “This is all positive.” Spin. Spin. Spin. It was as if the members of Azziz’s
“I’ve got some good news for you, and I’ve got some bad news for you. Which do you want to hear first?” We’ve all had someone say that to us before, and hopefully it hasn’t been in a doctor’s office. Well, the first month of 2015 has sort of turned into a good news/bad news […]
Just a few short hours after Georgia Regents University President Ricardo Azziz submitted his letter of resignation to officials with the state’s board of regents, he felt a great sense of accomplishment regarding his time in Augusta. But Azziz said he is also ready for the next chapter in his