It’s not about the pork.
It’s about the occasion to exhale, the chance to be in a space with people, throw back a beer, tell a good story.
Did you know that Memphis’ firebrand Circuit Court Judge D’Army Bailey just got back from a weekend at the Esalen Institute in California, where he chilled out and took some get-in-touch-with-your-feelings classes? He tells a funny story about it. And he told it at a booth at the MIM barbecue fest lastweek.
It wasn’t the angry D’Army, stirring up passions about race. It was the warm, friendly, self-effacing man who let his guard down around barbecue.
And Al Lyons’ bad knees?
Next year’s chairman of Memphis in May has been walking around his neighborhood with a big backpack to get in shape for a summer trip. Except that now his knees have given out. His story, told in another MIM barbecue booth, brought a laugh and commiseration.
Winding through the tents of the barbecue festival are the connections that bind people together. You see folks you haven’t called for a time. You catch up on who is sick (Pat Tigrett’s mother is in the hospital) and who is beating disease, who has a son graduating this year, and who has a son who will have to go back because of that bad grade in English composition.
Nothing really big changes around the barbecue grill.
The war is still out there. Along with senseless violence, ignorance and greed, all of which can fill up your craw and make you want to gag.
Standing there waiting for ribs fills you up with something else.
It’s a moment to savor, a moment to stitch together much of what is good about the South.

commercialappeal.com

HOW TO: To get an item on the Calendar, e-mail it to donm@evansnewspapers.com; mail it to our office at 1210 Washington St., Perry 31069, Attn: Don Moncrief; or fax it to his attention at 988-1181.
n NATIONAL DAY OF PRAYER CEREMONY – A National Day of Prayer ceremony will be held May 1 at noon at the Perry City Hall in the court room. It will be hosted by Perry Ministerial Association. Pastor Steve Schave of the Lutheran Church, is in charge. Everyone in invited to attend.
n CENTERVILLE PRAYER COMMEMORATION – The City of Centerville will commemorate the National Day of Prayer May 1 at noon at the City Hall Flag Pole located at 300 East Church. Dr. Allen Hughes, Pastor of the First Baptist Church Centerville will officiate the ceremony. The public is invited to attend this event. For more information contact Centerville City Hall at 478-953 -4734.
n NORTHSIDE HS CLASS REUNION – Northside High School Class of 1998 will hold its 10th Reunion July 25-27. There will be events on Friday, Saturday and Sunday of that weekend. E-mail northside1998@hotmail.com or call Wesley Walker 478-954-1320 for more information.
n PERRY COMMUNITY BLOOD DRIVE – The Perry Community Blood Drive will be held May 5 at Crossroads United Methodist Church, 1600 Main Street from 2-7 p.m. Identification is required. For further information call the church office 987-3721 before noon or Vivian Bethune at 747-5595.
n GEMA INTERNET SAFETY CLASS – The Georgia Emergency Management Agency’s School Safety Unit will present, “Internet Safety, Cyber Bullying and Crime Prevention Techniques,” a free class for parents and anyone else who supervises children’s online activity. This class will be at 6 p.m. May 6 at Huntington Middle School, located 206 Wellborn Road in Warner Robins. It is open to the public.

news.mywebpal.com

By SETH SUTEL – Apr 28, 2008
NEW YORK (AP) — Circulation fell sharply at most top U.S. newspapers in the latest reporting period, an industry group said Monday, with the exception of the two largest national dailies, USA Today and The Wall Street Journal.
Those papers eked out gains of under 1 percent, while The New York Times, the No. 3 paper, fell 3.9 percent in the six months ending in March, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations.
Newspaper circulation has been on a declining trend since the 1980s but the pace of declines has picked up in recent years as reader habits change and more people go online for news, information and entertainment.
National newspapers like USA Today and the Journal have tended to hold their ground better, as have smaller-market dailies where competition from other media like the Internet isn’t usually as intense.
Gannett Co.’s USA Today remained the top-selling paper in the country with an average daily circulation of, 2,284,219, up 0.3 percent, while The Wall Street Journal rose 0.4 percent to 2,069,463. Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. bought the Journal’s parent company Dow Jones & Co. last December.
The New York Times Co.’s flagship paper remained the third-largest with circulation of 1,077,256, down 3.9 percent from the same period a year earlier. That company also owns The Boston Globe and International Herald Tribune.
Metropolitan dailies have suffered the worst declines, a trend that continued in the most recent reporting period, with the Dallas Morning News reporting a 10.6 percent drop to 368,313.
The Dallas paper’s corporate owner A.H. Belo Corp., newly spun out of broadcasting company Belo Corp., said as part of its earnings statement Monday that the company was culling back on less valuable circulation such as copies distributed through third parties.

ap.google.com

ATLANTA (AP) -Atlanta Hawks spokesman Arthur Triche said Philips Arena apparently sustained little damage from the severe windstorm that hit downtown Atlanta on Friday night.
Inside the arena, there were no immediate signs of fallen debris, but small pieces from a ceiling tile landed on the Hawks’ practice court.
“From what I hear, we’re OK,” Triche said after the Hawks’ win over the Los Angeles Clippers. “They’re checking the roof right now in one corner, but everything looks fine so far.”
The Hawks were playing the Los Angeles Clippers in the fourth quarter when the storm tore a hole in the roof at the Georgia Dome, which is located in the same complex as Philips and less than a half-mile from the arena.
During the Hawks’ game, arena officials made no public announcements about the storm.
At the dome, Southeastern Conference officials stopped the next-to-last game of the night in the men’s basketball tournament, but play later resumed in Mississippi State’s overtime win over Alabama.

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“I think he went a little overboard,” four-time series champion Jeff Gordon said. “He kind of made it personal.”
Gordon, Greg Biffle and Ryan Newman tested tires for Goodyear at the newly paved Darlington Raceway on Monday, and all agreed the rubber at Atlanta wasn’t favorable for driving conditions.
But none was as angry as Stewart, who said Goodyear gave him “the most pathetic racing tire I’ve ever been on in my professional career.”
“If I were Goodyear, I would really be embarrassed about what they brought here,” Stewart said. “I guarantee you Hoosier or Firestone or somebody can come in and do a better job than they are right now.”
The tire company issued a statement defending its Atlanta product, while promising to retest the rubber before the series returns to the track in October.
Gordon said he spoke with Stewart, the two-time champion, before Sunday’s Cup race, and “could tell he was pretty wound up about it.”
“We were all pretty out-of-control out there,” Gordon said after Sunday’s race. “I don’t disagree with him as far as the comfort level in the situation we were in.”
“The tire thing is a little blown out of proportion,” Newman said. “There’s a lot of things he said that were true. Obviously, he took it to another level. That’s Tony.”

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