BOOKS
The Greats of Cuttercane Terry Kay (Mercer University Press)
Terry Kay is a cor-
nerstone of Mercer University Press, where he has pub- lished an outstanding
series of titles over the years, including the award winning To Dance with the White Dog, as well as The Kidnapping of Aaron Greene; After Eli; The Valley of Light; and The Year the Lights Came On, to name a few. The Greats of Cuttercane is a collection of
short stories that introduce us to a few of the truly southern characters in Kay’s setting, a small Georgia town called Cuttercane. What Garrison Keillor did for Minnesota with Lake Wobegon Days, Kay does for Georgia with Cuttercane. This book was such an easy read and so en-
joyable, I really and truly didn’t want it to end. It’s loaded with real characters - many similar to folks I grew up with here in Car- olina - and I absolutely love all the colloqui- alisms throughout the book. In fact, that’s the thing that draws me in most with great south- ern writers – they lived here, and they have heard/said these things their entire lives, bless their hearts! The characters just keep coming- Felton
Eugene Weaver, moonshine runner turned movie star; Mattie Mae Blair, who finds her niche as the striptease artist called Princess Salome; Asa, the town drunk who becomes a war hero; and other interesting characters like Newell Proudfoot, Elmo Parker, and
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Monroe Dawson. All of these folks are “some- thing else.” If you want a real slice of rural Georgia,
just read Kay’s book. Maybe get yourself a slice of watermelon or some sweet tea and hoop cheese and crackers, and get comfort- able. Once you start your adventure down the back roads of Cutercane, you may not want to stop. Y’all come.
- Michael Buffalo Smith
The Losers - Tampa A Rock and Roll Music Emporium and Performing Arts Center Discotheque Dave “Tex” Anders
The Losers was one of
the most popular night- clubs in Florida during the
seventies, a place where rock and roll and good times flowed freely like a mighty river. It was a place considered by many bands to be the best rock and roll club in America. This is the story of that club, its people and music, and its transformation into Florida’s first up- scale disco. Losers was a club where blacks, whites, Latinos, straights and gays could co- exist night after night, year after year without incident during the seventies, a feat still un- heard of even today. Tex Anders (with contributions from Don
Outzen, Bobby Stoner, David Poppe and Benny Young) tells the story with the love of a proud papa, leaving no stone unturned. Liv- ing way up here in South Carolina, I never ex- perienced the magic of The Losers, but I have heard from many of my Southern rock friends
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