Jeff Payne

The Abominable South Jersey

Civil wars exist everywhere. Some are defined by demographics or religious beliefs while some are defined by physical boundaries. Some are defined by both. There runs a gamut of emotion through all variations; some are as fierce as the American Civil W... Read >

Beer, Bourbon, & BBQ Festival

The Charlotte Symphony Orchestra makes its home at the aptly named Symphony Park in Charlotte, North Carolina at the South Park Mall. Here the orchestra performs a smorgasbord of audible poetry throughout the year to the delight of thousands. But not on... Read >

Camden Windjammer Festival

When you live on the coast - and I mean live on the coast, where you can smell the salt of the ocean in the air of your daily travels (and aren't simply someone who "goes down the shore" on weekends) - you are most definitely privy to a slew of nautically... Read >

Windsor Chairmakers Tour – A Taste Of Maine Coast Mystique

Modern comforts, by their very nature (or, rather, when filtered through our own flawed human nature) are taken for granted. Don't feel so bad about that, though. It's built into our psychology to implement into our daily lives the technologies of our w... Read >

Florida Strawberry Festival

When I think of Florida I think of oranges. For this I like to blame years of Saturday morning orange juice commercials with companies depicting hundreds of miles of oranges groves and laying claim to their "pure Florida orange juice with no additives or... Read >

My Adventures at the Gasparilla Pirate Festival – Tampa Bay, FL

By: Jeff Payne As much as I wanted it - and as much as most Tampa Bay area residents wanted the same - it was virtually impossible for me to secure a spot aboard the José Gasparilla. Not that I didn't try. But the 165-foot nautical namesake of the que... Read >