May 2015
Features
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Relentless: Putnam County Sheriff Howard Sills chases a killer
The best Howard Sills could remember, there hadn’t been a double homicide in Putnam County since May 1984, 30 years earlier. In minutes, the mood inside the lake house swung from wild intensity to who the hell did this? This, the sheriff told himself, ain’t local talent.
Georgia’s coast is almost as fertile as a tropical rainforest—and almost as threatened
Among ecosystems, Georgia’s coast ranks near tropical rainforests in fertility and productivity. Its nine major estuaries (or sounds), 14 barrier islands, and some 400,000 acres of salt marsh—a third of all salt marsh along the entire Atlantic coast—connect to the ocean and each other.
How the Big Green Egg became a phenomenon
The Big Green Egg derives from a simple idea with an ancient lineage, as evidenced by pottery shards of cooking vessels in middens around the world. More specifically, it’s an updated iteration of a commonplace Asian rice cooker: the kamado, a Japanese word that translates as “place for the cauldron.”
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The Connector
Air fair? Why low-cost carriers can’t overcome Delta’s dominance
This year brings expanded service at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport from Spirit and Frontier, low-fare airlines that are so no-frills they’ll charge you to use the overhead storage. But hey, this is good news, right?
Bruce Munro lights up the Atlanta Botanical Garden with miles of fiber optics
Through October, hundreds of miles of fiber optics and glowing materials transform the Midtown woodlands into an ethereal, luminous stage.
Shaky Knees vs. Shaky Boots: Stacking up the Atlanta music festivals
If the name Shaky Boots, metro Atlanta’s new country music festival, sounds familiar, it’s because founder Tim Sweetwood also started the now-massive indie rock fest Shaky Knees three years ago. Here’s how Sweetwood’s two events stack up.
Study: Atlanta is a hotbed of summer thunderstorms
Atlanta summers follow a predictable cycle: muggy mornings, sweltering afternoons, stormy evenings. Think thunder rumbles here more than elsewhere? You’re not imagining things. Atlanta “births” storms frequently, according to an analysis of 26,000 Southeastern storm starts.
Meet Dina Marto, Atlanta’s latest hip-hop impresario
Dina Marto, who credits her success to “risk, work ethic, relationship building, vision, and seeking out mentorship,” left Def Jam in 2012 to open Twelve Studios and Twelve Productions. Now she’s the mentor.
Born Again: Dad’s Garage Theater converts a church
When apartment construction booted Dad’s Garage Theatre from its longtime Inman Park space in 2013, artistic director Kevin Gillese began a months-long quest for a new home. After touring 20 properties, Gillese entered a cavernous Old Fourth Ward church last spring. His reaction: Hallelujah!
The Bite
Technique: Miller Union’s Steven Satterfield on the art of the salad
“Everyone thinks salad-making is so friggin’ easy,” says Steven Satterfield. “But there’s a lot more nuance to it than people realize.” How you choose, wash, dry, store, dress, and toss those leaves can mean the difference between a salad that dazzles and one that disappoints.
The Cockentrice
As I listened to Kevin Ouzts, the very affable chef-owner of Krog Street Market’s the Cockentrice, describe how he makes a number of dishes on the menu, I thought what I did during my dinners there: Is this a new form of extreme eating?
A UGA professor wants to make caviar sustainable
Doug Peterson sells the last thing anybody would expect from a college professor working in rural Georgia: caviar. But just outside Chattanooga—three hours northwest of the University of Georgia, where he works as a professor of fisheries and aquatic sciences—Peterson produces the state’s only sustainable caviar at a 5,000-square-foot facility in the town of Cohutta.
Fresh on the Scene: Superica, Illegal Food, and more
A look at 4 of Atlanta’s newest restaurants, including Superica, Community Smith, Illegal Food, and Colletta.
The Christiane Chronicles: Brunch is a cult, and why Ri Liu is the new master of Sichuan
Brunch is a cult, really, a religion established by greedy restaurateurs who charge criminal prices for weak mimosas and mostly generic slop. Plus, why Atlantans should follow chef Ri Liu.
The Goods
Six reasons to love Reynoldstown
Settled after the Civil War by freed slaves who rebuilt the train tracks at the nearby rail yard (now CSX), Reynoldstown now enjoys a growing diversity, which is what prompted Chris Appleton—executive director of the arts nonprofit WonderRoot—to make his home there nine years ago.
May Getaway Guide: Alabama’s Hangout Music Festival, 3 great hotel bars, and more
Enjoying top-caliber live music at Alabama’s Hangout Music Festival, learn H. Harper Station owner Jerry Slater’s favorite hotel bars, and more.
Room Envy: A LaVista Park family room opens to the outdoors
This family room in LaVista Park easily opens to the outdoors with a retracting glass garage door, inspired by the home’s modern-industrial look. “We wanted to incorporate something that wasn’t typical Atlanta architecture,” says Jim LaVallee, principal at Epic Development, which offers renovation and new construction.
Editor’s pick: Very Fine South handbags
The studio in Laura Slate Shope’s Candler Park house, where she creates her accessories line Very Fine South, smells like a saddlery.
The Love List: Hit the road
There’s nothing like the promise of Memorial Day weekend to set the mood for a great Southern road trip.
Standard owner Farshad Arshid shares his style favorites
This summer, local retailer Arshid and his wife, Sandy, will open an as-yet-unnamed denim hub at Ponce City Market. Arshid plans to offer indigo in every imaginable size, wash, and style, from the most basic ($50 Levi’s) to the most exclusive (handcrafted Japanese denim).
Miscellaneous
May 2015: Southern Gothic—alive and well
I first was introduced to Joe Kovac Jr. the way most people run across each other these days: on Twitter. Joe has been a reporter for the Macon Telegraph since 1991. A native Georgian (he grew up in Warner Robins), Joe knows Southern Gothic when he sees it.
One Square Mile: Lockheed Martin Aeronautics, Marietta
They build airplanes here, and the noise is terrific: a general whirring and whining, a clatter of rivet guns. Seated before the upper wing panel of a C-130J Super Hercules, Valerie Branch plays her own part in the cacophony.
