road trip MERCER UNIVERSITY PRESS AUTHOR LUNCHEON
BOOKS & AUTHORS
By Michael Buffalo Smith My buddy (and Mercer University
graduate) Hal Stewart and I headed out Fri- day morning for Atlanta. We got an early start. Hal’s a lot like me, he’d rather arrive early than late, and one has no way of know- ing what kinds of delays you may encounter on Interstate 85. We arrived at the beautiful Interconti-
nental Buckhead Hotel around check in time, and made our way to the room. Seventh floor, room 714. A “3.” After all the years married to an astrologer and numerologist, I tend to au- tomatically calculate the numbers, and re- member that a “3” is a very good number. Natch.
A little rest, a bit of depressing news on
CNN (isn’t it always?) and it was time to get dressed, complete with red neck tie, for the Mercer Press dinner, a wonderful evening to kind of kick things off prior to the Saturday luncheon. This was the 30th Annual Author’s Luncheon and vey special. Of course, the first place I made a bee
line for was the bar, where the bartender mixed me an amazing Jose Cuervo gold mar- garita. It truly hit the spot. The dinner started out with a lovely
beet appetizer, and included a nice fillet mignon with a piece of salmon, spinach and potato. Mighty fine eats. Mercer Press Director, Dr. Marc Jolley
and his lovely wife Susie sat at our table. Marc is the best. Just a fun guy. I met some very nice folks at the table and enjoyed our pre-
Michael Buffalo Smith and Carl Ware.
dinner conversation immensely. Jo Ann Nicholson and her lovely daughter were there. Jo Ann and I and Hal spoke for quite some time. Among the great folks that I got to
speak with were: William Rawlings and his wife Beth. William has a great new novel out which I am currently engaged in; Doc Schnei- der and his wife Helen hosted the party, and Doc acted as MC. He is a great singer and au- thor as well; Bill and Linda Underwood. Bill is the President of Mercer University and now a record executive! Mercer Music at Capri- corn; Fritz and Susan Zimmer came in from San Francisco. Fritz is a professional vocalist with an amazing voice; Carl Ware and his wife Mary. One of the highlights of the week- end was hearing Mr. Ware speak, getting his book (a review is forthcoming!) and sharing a signing table on Saturday. The man has lived a remarkable life (chronicled in his book) and he and his wife are two of the sweetest spirits I have ever been blessed to meet. No small wonder the great Nelson
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