Monday, February 4, 2008

A Lovely Time Was Had by All.

First off, sorry for the confusion with the blog exchange -- even Mr. Daddy got confused today when he sat down to read. He was like "Who is Boog?" I hope everyone enjoyed it, though. I thought it was fun. Thanks again, Niki, for asking me. And thanks for doing all the legwork since I was out of town.

And speaking of being out of town...what a lovely weekend we had.

On Friday morning we dropped the kids off at daycare and headed out of town. It was raining and about 34 degrees. As we drove south, the rain lessened, the clouds parted and the sun began to shine. When we arrived in Savannah it was a breezy 60-something degrees. Ahhh....heaven.

First stop, Byrd Cookie Company, the company I used to work for. It was a great place to work and a lot of the people I worked with are still there. If you ever need a gourmet food gift -- or heck, even some for yourself! -- I highly recommend their cookies. The key lime coolers are the best and kind of their claim to fame. But the pumpkin spice cookies are pretty good, too. And the chocolate mint. And the oatmeal.

At 5:30 on Saturday we went to the Lucas Theater in downtown Savannah for the keynote event of the Savannah Book Festival. The Lucas is a 1920s era theater that has been completely and gorgeously restored. John Berendt introduced Terry Kay, the keynote speaker. I know Terry Kay a little bit. My department coordinates the Georgia Writers Hall of Fame and he's on the Board . But it was fascinating to see him in front of this huge crowd. He had them eating out of his hand, hanging on every word. And it was fascinating to hear him talk about writing and the writing process. Pat Conroy actually had to trick Terry into writing his first book and he admits that he still doesn't feel like a "writer," though he has published 1o novels.

Afterwards we got to go hobnob with the elite of Savannah, as well as some of the authors. I met Mary Kay Andrews (she has also written mysteries under the name Kathy Hogan Trochek, which happens to be her real name). I also met Sonny Seiler -- though that name won't mean much to most of you, to Dawg fans he is the equivalent of royalty. He has owned all the Uga's since the 1950s and is the current owner of Uga VI, pictured below.

If you've read Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, Sonny was also Jim Williams' attorney, and actually played the part of the judge in the movie version. So that was pretty interesting.

BUT, he was not the MOST interesting person I met that night. That distinction belongs to a man who was standing near me for a large portion of the evening. I was fascinated by him because he looked like your stereotypical idea of a debauched, hard living author. His hair was a little mussed, his hands slightly trembly, and his beard couldn't decide if it wanted to be a beard or a five o'clock shadow. I finally asked someone who he was and that's how I came to meet Starkey Flythe. And seriously now, is that not the best name ever? A man with a name like that is just bound to be interesting, right? By trade, Starkey Flythe is a poet. But I think he spends his days as an eccentric. Mr. Daddy and I had a fascinating conversation with him on Friday night and then he remembered us when we went to his reading again on Saturday morning and chatted with us again. I think he's my new favorite person.

Interesting digression, Mr. Flythe's host for the festival was a local Judge named Louisa Abbot. Her mother, Louise Abbot, was a close friend of Flannery O'Connor. Very cool.

On Saturday we awoke early and headed down to Telfair Square. Mr. Flythe's poetry reading was our first event. I've decided that I'm a fan of poetry after all. I had sort of suffered through poetry during high school and college. I find that poetry is especially interesting if you can hear it read aloud -- you can hear the rhythm, the humor, the wordplay. It's even better when you can hear the author himself read them. If you get a chance, you should check out some of Mr. Flythe's poems.

I feel like this is running a little long....tune in tomorrow for the rest of Saturday's adventures.

13 comments:

Tootsie Farklepants said...

I enjoyed poetry in a class setting better. Because I could have someone EXPLAIN it to me! LOL! Welcome back!

1blueshi1 said...

oh that is all so cool! I've read Midnight, do you remember the part about all that stuff that lady used to do while she drove, putting on makeup and watching her soaps? hilariously terrifying. and now I have another author to put on my To Read List. I LOVE Pat Conroy--although must admit tried to read The Sunday Wife by his wife and couldn't even finish it--so I've got to try this Terry guy. Having Pat Conroy trick you into becoming a published writer...what a fantasy!

1blueshi1 said...

oh and I forgot to say that writersalmanac.org from NPR has FANTASTIC poems of the day

Angie McCullagh said...

Good, literary times!

Angie
www.AllAdither.com

Anonymous said...

Your trip sounds wonderful. I love Savannah, and the reason why you went sounds GREAT. I'm thoroughly impressed. (And a little intimidated now.) I didn't know that you knew the hotshots of Southern lit. :-)

Anonymous said...

Wow, sounds like you had quite the adventure! Can't wait to hear more.

BTW, does this mean that we'll be getting a little dose of poetry on your blog??

Burgh Baby said...

My brain doesn't have the capacity for poetry right now as the Toddler has it clogged with annoying crap. Buh wook at da cude doggy!

Laurel said...

What a fantastic trip. Just you and Mr. Daddy...a bit of heaven. Good for you. That and a crazy poet besides? Lucky girl.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx said...

I'm totally jealous---Terry Kay, John Berendt, a crazy poet AND Uga's Daddy! I'm turning green just sitting here!

Karen said...

Sounds like you had a wonderful time. And to hobnob with all those writers must have been so much fun!

Esme said...

What a great trip!

Welcome back! Looking forward to reading the rest...

Susan said...

It sounds like a great opportunity to mingle and meet. I'm jealous!(60 degree Savannah sounds cool, too.)

Wineplz said...

I'm so glad you had such wonderful weather and got to meet so many neat people. I'm like you--barely tolerated poetry in college unless it was being read aloud.