Saturday, July 19, 2025

Pic(k) of the Week: Festival dancers

Festival dancers (02)
Click on the image for a larger, hi-res version (on Flickr).

Dance (drink!) to the music.

Inman Park Festival: City of Atlanta, Georgia, USA. 26 April 2025.

Taking place on the last full weekend in April, the Inman Park Festival & Tour of Homes is Atlanta’s largest all-volunteer festival. Organized by the Inman Park Neighborhood Association since the 1970s, the festival has grown to become a full weekend jam-packed with events, including music, kids' activities, a Tour of Homes, a marvelous street parade, an artists’ market, and some of the city’s best people-watching.

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Sonny Rollins: Tune Up
Album: Newk's Time (Blue Note, 1959)

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Saturday, July 12, 2025

Pic(k) of the Week: Halfway Crooks' draught "Farina"

Halfway Crooks' draught Farina
Click on the image for a larger, hi-res version (on Flickr).

"Farina": a delightfully delicate 'Kölsch-style' beer brewed by Halfway Crooks Brewery (in Atlanta, Georgia, USA).

Here, served on draught (in its own glassware!), at the Brick Store Pub in Decatur, Georgia, USA, on 24 May 2025.

"Farina" is a top-fermenting lager brewed with German pilsner malt, hops sourced directly from Seitzfarm in Bavaria, a classic Kölsch yeast, Atlanta water. Notes of white wine, pear, German pilsner malt, floral German hops, and a refreshing dry finish. 4.8% ABV [alcohol-by-volume]
Halfway Crooks
Light herbal, earthy aromas. Mild bitterness, moderate spicy, earthy hop flavors, then some light white-grape acidity. Subdued soft fruit esters come out in the middle. Nicely balanced sweetness and bitterness.
Craft Beer & Brewing


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What is Kölsch (-style beer)?

1) Kölsch has the pale color of a fine Pilsner but the fruitiness of a fine ale. It has an aromatic bitterness and noticeable hop character, is well-fermented [like an ale], but is lagered cold for 14-40 days. Kölsch is properly served in a tall, narrow, straight-sided 200-ml (6.8 US fl oz) glass about 5 inches (13 cm) tall, at 55 °F (13 °C), with a pale white collar about an inch deep.

Kölsch is defined by German law as top-warm-fermented and cold-aged, with an alcohol content of 4.4 to 4.9 percent by volume. Also by German law, the beer must be brewed from Pilsner and Vienna malts, but may also contain up to 20% wheat malt.
Encyclopedia of Beer (1995). Christine Rhodes, Thomas Bedell, Fred Eckhardt, et al.
2) Since 1997, the term 'Kölsch' has had a protected geographical indication (PGI) within the European Union, indicating a beer that is made within 50 km (31 mi) of the city of Cologne (Köln) and brewed according to the Kölsch Konvention as defined by the members of the Cologne Brewery Association (Kölner Brauerei-Verband).
Wikipedia.

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A series of occasional reviews of beer (and wine and spirits).
No 'scores'; only descriptions.

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Saturday, July 05, 2025

Pic(k) of the Week: Pre-concert preparations

Pre-concert preparations
Click on the image for a larger, hi-res version (on Flickr).

Bassist Teja Veal prepares for Rhonda Thomas' Red Dragonfly concert.

Inman Park Festival: City of Atlanta (Inman Park), Georgia, USA. 26 April 2025.


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Rhonda Thomas Rhonda Thomas at Inman Park Festival.

Soul/jazz vocalist Rhonda Thomas incorporates jazz, soul, gospel, house, and funk in her music. From 1997-2008, Ms. Thomas was a background singer and soloist for soul music legend, the late Isaac Hayes. She has also performed with Roy Ayers, Roberta Flack, Eric Roberson, Avery Sunshine, Frank McComb, Stephanie Mills, The String Cheese Incident, and others. She performs internationally, in her own right.


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Rhonda Thomas with Isaac Hayes: Do Your Thing.
Montreau Jazz Festival, 2005

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Saturday, June 28, 2025

Pic(k) of the Week: Black Sheep brass

Black Sheep brass
Click on the image for a larger, hi-res version (on Flickr).

Black Sheep Ensemble performed during the WigWag Art & Music Festival — "a hyperlocal art and music festival, celebrating local artists and musicians" — in Avondale Estates, Georgia, USA. 31 May 2025.

Black Sheep Ensemble is a modern brass and percussion band from Atlanta, Georgia. Our performances are rooted in Second Line traditions but with a repertoire that blends Prohibition-era Swing, Jazz, Balkan, Latin, Ska, Punk, and more into one danceable sound. We bring a crowd to its feet and keep them there. Low brass belts out the bass line while drums drive the rhythm.

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Black Sheep Ensemble: St. James Infirmary.
Clips of live performances, in 2020, in New Orleans, Atlanta, and Boston.

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Saturday, June 21, 2025

Pic(k) of the Week: At Rest

At rest
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At rest: street tableau as a festival abounds.

Decatur Arts Festival: City of Decatur, Georgia, USA. 4 May 2025.

The Decatur Arts Festival brings the community together through a multi-day offering of live music, dance, comedy, theatrical performances, children's book festival, exhibitions, and an expansive and diverse artists’ market.

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Count Basie: Cute
Album: Basie Plays Hefti (Roulette, 1958)

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