Saturday, December 20, 2008
Southern Accents Magazine Lights Up Our Life, Yard
Posted by: Amelia // Category: Fame and Fortune, Gussying up, Victorian Christmas // 12:56 pm
Behold — the “holiday” (Christmas) issue of Southern Accents magazine.
Ooh, what a sparkly tree. I wonder who designed it?
None other than Barbara Howard, Mrs. Shakespeare’s* Monday night bridge partner.
Man, if only I knew where all those pretty lights went after their late-August photo shoot.
Wait, is that the Wren’s Nest? All gussied up for its fall concert? It is!
Wow, who knew our lights were such glamorous cover models. And who do we have to thank, other than Barbara up there?
Karna and Ellis! They stole them! Thanks, everyone!
Though this post is more than a little late, we figured it made sense to do it now for the following reasons:
- ‘Tis the Christmas season, a time for giving and thanks!
- The Wren’s Nest is poor, so giving and thanks play significant roles over here. Any gift, large or small, is a big deal to us.
- And really, we probably have a use for most of your discarded items. I mean, Christmas lights in August were huge. Look how easy we are!
*Great-great granddaughter of Joel Chandler Harris. Sure, you should totally know that by now, but I’m feeling generous.
Comments: 2Versace Mansion Open for Tours — Just Like the Wren’s Nest!
Posted by: Amelia // Category: Birds of a feather, Fame and Fortune, Historic Preservation, House Museums // 11:10 am
Yesterday the AJC published an Associated Press article about the Versace Mansion, dubbed Casa Casuarina, in Miami. It has recently opened to the public for tours.
Welcome to the house museum club, Casa Casuarina.
Previously, the home was only open to, well, very very rich people who needed a place to crash for the night. But you know what? The Wren’s Nest isn’t so different.
Sure, Madonna, Cher, and the Clintons stayed at Casa Casuarina in years past. Did we mention we had James Whitcomb Riley and Teddy Roosevelt?!
So what if their tours cost a wallet-boggling $65. Many adults are stunned by our $8 price tag!
You say you’re impressed by a pool made of more than one million Italian mosaic tiles and 24-karat gold pieces? Have you seen our bird bath out back? It’s cement!
They have one tub? We have one tub!
(We too have tiles in our home!)
Our upstairs is off-limits to tourists, too! But mostly because we don’t want you to trip on something.
The guides at the Versace Mansion don’t like to dwell on their namesake’s death, nor where he died. They will, however, gesture you towards the general area. Here, we threw a centennial celebration and call Joel Chandler Harris’s bedroom a tour highlight. Well, that one wasn’t my best example.
(We... do not have one of these.)
Really, the only difference between us and the Versace Mansion is that we’re a non-profit, while they’re… very much the opposite. But what’s $1,200 a night (base price, peak season) when tourist season historic preservation is at hand?!
In short — how much would you pay to stay here for a night? Contributions are tax-deductible!
Comments: 6Patrick Heagney at the Hagedorn Foundation Gallery
Posted by: Amelia // Category: Fame and Fortune, Goblin-Burlesque Photo Shoots, Gussying up, House Museums, Marketing Tricks // 4:05 pm
Last Thursday Lain and I went to go see Patrick Heagney’s show at the Hagedorn Foundation Gallery in Buckhead. Two of the photographs from the show were taken at the Wren’s Nest!
Photo by Jenn Alexander at Burn Away
We met Patrick a couple years ago here at the Nest when we hosted a goblin-burlesque photo shoot. You know, typical house museum stuff.
Patrick’s work speaks for itself, but I will say this in the meantime — he is a super, super nice guy, which is an added bonus. You need to see his show.
Some related items:
- The Hagedorn Foundation Gallery is a non-profit. Their website may not be up right now, but no matter — they have a working phone and proceeds from artwork sales go to various charities, both local and national.
- The Wren’s Nest looks way better as shot by Patrick. The goblins definitely add something.
- The Hagedorn Foundation Gallery’s sales manager is Maggie Hagedorn, one of Lain’s high school friends.
- One of my own chums from high school in Illinois, whom I had not seen for about 10 years, has a collection showing in the bathroom of the gallery. That was an unexpected run-in, I tell you what.
The show runs through January 15th, with an artist’s talk on January 8th at 6 pm — you should totally go if you can. Don’t believe us? Check out the review at the really cool art blog Burn Away.
Comments: 3CNN en Español at the Wren’s Nest — En Familia Video
Posted by: lain // Category: Atlanta, Brer Rabbit, Fame and Fortune, Joel Chandler Harris, Storytelling, Uncle Remus // 6:56 am
Have you ever wondered what the Wren’s Nest looks like in Spanish?
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8245944374249364941Me neither.
But, this particular episode of En Familia (as opposed to its usual tripe*) is pretty cool. It’s about storytelling around the (spanish-speaking) world. We talked about this in August. You remember.
Things to look for — Akbar plays a prominent role, and then Amelia, Jeri, and I have small cameos. If you stick around to the end and look closely, you can see that I forgot to wear socks that day.
Finally, recall that we were worried about if anyone in Spain or Latin America had heard of Brer Rabbit or Joel Chandler Harris.
Welp, turns out that CNN Producer Kevin’s intern–from Chile–was all like, “OMG I totally have that exact book at home!” And she speaks for 350 million people, so obviously our worries were assuaged.
* I’m kidding, CNN. Sheesh.
Comments: 2Iverson Park Literary Festival: Awesome Birthday Party for a Young Philanthropist
Posted by: Amelia // Category: Big Money No Whammies, Birthdays, Fame and Fortune, Not As Cruel Games // 11:44 am
This weekend Lain and I attended one of the most fun, creative, and altruistic birthday parties ever. For a nine-year-old we had never met. Would you like some background?
Several weeks ago, Lain and I received the following email:
Lain and Amelia,
My name is Jeff, long-time blog reader, first time writer, as well as 19th century folk-tale enthusiast (who isn’t?) and fan of house museums. I write to you with a proposal/request/announcement/heads-up. My 8, soon to be 9 year-old daughter Matilda has for the last several years hosted birthday parties at our home in which, instead of children bringing gifts for her, she raised money for some worthy cause. A car wash for the Humane Society at age 5, hit the dads with pies in the face for the Red Cross and Katrina Victims at age 6, a backyard Hawaiian fair for bookshelves for her school at age 7, and last year’s American Shoe-Kicking Association (ASKA) National Championships for the Red Cross. I’m proud and a little nonplussed to write that this was her own initiative, though I’m sure taken from some TV show.
I write you now to let you know that this year you are on the docket as planned beneficiaries of the first (and perhaps last) Iverson Park Literary Festival! Mathilda visited the Wren’s Nest with her class this past year and was impressed by he experience and wants to join in the fun. Possible events include a short-story telling contest and for those less inclined to prose, a book throwing contest.
Within about two minutes we told Jeff we were in. Playing it cool is not our strong suit.
The Iverson Park Literary Festival wildly exceeded any expectations we could have had. I mean, they had tote bags. And a mascot!
(Haiku the bookworm)
There was a lot of literary fun going on. You could guess the number of pages in the book.
(Waiting has never been so exciting!)
You could throw books at William Shakespeare, Louisa May Alcott, or Edgar Allen Poe.
(This activity made Lain nervous thanks to the children shouting “KILL SHAKESPEARE!”)
You could even tell your own story. Curtis warmed up the crowd, and then the kids competed to see who was the best storyteller. Lain and I served as Celebrity Judges.
Unfortunately, we did not get any pictures of the amateur storytellers, as we took our judging jobs VERY seriously.
Jeff, author of the above email, played the part of our host — Dr. Armstrong, PhD, MA, RN, NASA, from Valdosta State Technical Community College and State University A & M.
We even wore our most literary duds. A Kenyon shirt and tweed for Lain, and my “I’m a Bibliophile” shirt from age 5 for me. Still “fits”!
Curtis played it cool, as always.
We especially felt at home because some of the kids tried to bribe the Celebrity Judges by wearing their Wren’s Nest t-shirts.
The children really wailed on the authors. So much so that they broke and had to be fixed with a nail gun.
We would have left the nail gun by the snacks, too.
By the end of the Festival we had totally forgotten about how we benefited monetarily, being too busy making exclamations like “This is the best thing ever!” and “I love tote bags!” and “Too bad I will never produce a child as awesome as Matilda.”
So thanks to Jeff, Marisa, Matilda, and everyone at the first (and possibly last) Iverson Park Literary Festival. Did we mention we had a great time?
Comments: 7Hip Hop Blog Features Awkward Wren’s Nest Staff
Posted by: Amelia // Category: Fame and Fortune, This is awkward // 7:31 am
Yesterday, the staff of the Wren’s Nest was were was nobodies. But today, we’re nobodies with slightly more internet exposure!
You see, someone chose US to be their nameless vision of awkwardness! Have you ever been so elated?! First, the famous awkward picture:
Next, the use of said picture ON A BLOG ABOUT HIP HOP. Go on. Check it out. The hip hop community loves us. It’s about time we gave back.
I hope you realize I am not kidding about my excitement. Seriously, I could not have asked for a better home for my image. This is rich.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go back to being thrilled and twirling in circles. Yippee! Famous! Kinda!
Comments: 3CNN en Español Tapes En Familia at the Wren’s Nest
Posted by: lain // Category: Brer Rabbit, Celebrity Requests, Fame and Fortune, Joel Chandler Harris, Storytelling, Uncle Remus // 1:33 pm
Today CNN en Español is taping their program En Familia here at the Wren’s Nest.
I’m pretty sure the title of this specific program will be called “¡Este Museo Heule a Mierda!”, based on the fact that they kept on saying that over and over again. I believe it roughly translates to, “This Is a Great Museum!”
The show will feature stories about storytelling from around the world, but it’ll be based at the Wren’s Nest. Man, it sure does pay to be right down the street from CNN.
En Familia is hosted by Carolina Escobar, who was late but forgiven.
CNN en Español reaches every continent ending in ‘merica, which is good because most of our foreign visitors hail from Europe and Asia. We need to diversify our portfolio.
I’m not sure what kind of legacy Uncle Remus and Brer Rabbit have in Spanish speaking countries. We do have a copy of La Fiesta del Zorro from Argentina, but I think we’re bigger in Japan. They sent their film crew first, anyway.
Just in case nobody had heard of Brer Rabbit, the film crew suggested that my sister bring over my family’s Song of the South poster.
Apparently Disney goes a long way in terms of Latin American street-cred.
The crew, the producer, and Mrs. Escobar have all been terribly gracious and promise they’ll send along the final video when it’s finished. I’ll upload it if I can.
Comments: 1The Concierge Society of Atlanta is Here, and We Like It
Posted by: Amelia // Category: Atlanta, Big Money No Whammies, Fame and Fortune // 5:58 pm
Remember that time you were staying in a hotel in a new city and were like, “Oh hey–I’ll just ask the concierge!” I remember, and that was very smart of you.
If that scenario took place in Atlanta, chances aren’t shabby that the concierge you spoke with is at the Wren’s Nest right now.
We like this. We like it a lot.
Naturally, we’re not pleased for some flim-flammy reason like “we enjoy being part of the Atlanta community”. Oh no. Instead, it has everything to do with making a good impression on the people who count. And in our world, that’s the Concierge Society of Atlanta.
We only got our brochures into metro Atlanta hotels this last year, and it’s key that concierges point them out to visitors looking for, say, this nation’s most exciting house museum (patent pending).
In order to up our visibility, we’ve even gone door to (hotel) door to say charming falsehoods like, “Do you have the Wren’s Nest brochure?! My important and well-traveled chums told me I just had to see it! I hope it’s prominently displayed at your fine hotel! Cheerio!”
Needless to say, we’re on our best behavior.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go stand guard in front of the historic bathroom and smile pleasantly.
Comments: 5Lain Won an Award from the Atlanta Urban Design Commission
Posted by: Amelia // Category: Atlanta, Big Money No Whammies, Fame and Fortune, Historic Preservation, Victorious! // 10:44 am
On Tuesday night our fearless executive director was awarded the Atlanta Urban Design Commission Award of Excellence.
Specifically, it was the Jenny D. Thurston Memorial Award for an Outstanding Preservation Professional.
(Lain, his parents, a fleeing Mayor Shirley Franklin, and my inability to keep my eyes open in pictures)
Lain was honored alongside people and projects like the oft-profiled architects Brian Bell and David Yocum, the renovated old-timey train depot and current restaurant The Depot, and the firm that renovated Rockefeller Hall at Spelman College. You can find the full list at the end of this article.
But Lain got the biggest award! We’re super proud, and Lain is super embarrassed when you mention it. It’s great.
Also great was the reception at the new Hilton Garden Inn, which boasted the sickest views of Atlanta I’ve ever seen.
(Wowee, right?)
Since the architect of the building was in attendance (not sure this makes it legit, but it helps), we got to go up to the helicopter pad and do our best to not fall off.
However, the absolute highlight of the night (that has nothing do with accomplishments) was courtesy of a woman in the elevator who asked, “Are you the baby who does Uncle Remus?”
When Lain confirmed, she incredulously (and loudly) recounted “I hear this long list of accomplishments, and then this BABY comes up to receive the award. You’re just a baby!!”
I laughed for about 4 minutes.
(Surprisingly young award recipient, awesome views)
Congratulations, you big baby.
Comments: 15New, Polished Version of the Wren’s Nest Theme Song
Posted by: lain // Category: Fame and Fortune, Sing Songery // 8:47 pm
The braintrust that is the Duck and Herring Company has done three important things recently–
- Released their brand-spankin’-new Warm Weather Pocket Field Guide.
- Recorded a soon-to-be-released podcast for said Field Guide.
- Recorded an updated, polished version of the Wren’s Nest Theme Song for said podcast.
The staff of the Wren’s Nest recommends that you buy the Warm Weather Pocket Field Guide while supplies last, then listen to the new version of our theme song below.
We’ll keep you posted on the podcast.
Previously–the live version.
Comments: 1