News and Events - The LocaL

Rock Meets Revival: Springer’s Jesus Christ Superstar Set to Steal the Show

Posted on March 6, 2025March 6, 2025 by Editor - the Local

(Columbus, GA) – Hold onto your hats and prepare your vocal cords because the Springer Opera House is about to get a serious upgrade with the much-anticipated revival of Jesus Christ Superstar! Opening Friday, March 7, at 7:30 PM, this thrilling rock opera isn’t just another run-of-the-mill performance; it’s a modern spectacle that fuses gut-wrenching drama, gravity-defying choreography, and a set that will leave you questioning if you’ve wandered into a music festival instead of…

Riding the Rail

Posted on March 3, 2025March 3, 2025 by Editor - the Local

Annual Opelika Songwriters Festival showcases top musical talents and the good times to be had in the sleepy railroad town. By Frank Etheridge Downtown Opelika sure is a sweet lil’ bubble to be in. Bordered by two bridges and bisected by railroad tracks, the charming historic corridor dates back further than the town itself, as the Montgomery and West Point Railway Co. line arrived in 1848 — six years before Opelika (the Muscogee term for…

Grand Funk Railroad

Posted on March 3, 2025March 3, 2025 by Editor - the Local

Is Rolling Into Columbus By David Turner It was July 9, 1971, and all of Shea Stadium was shaking. Staff engineers were afraid the building might collapse. Whole sections of seating rode up and down as tens of thousands of screaming fans rocked to the music booming from the stage. The band and the crowd in the jam-packed stadium were locked together in the pure celebration called rock and roll. It took The Beatles three…

From the Bottom to the Top

Posted on January 22, 2025January 22, 2025 by Editor - the Local

By Frank Etheridge Talk about a glorious full-circle moment. When the raucous, untamed spirit of Ma Rainey takes the same Springer stage where the “Mother of the Blues” first performed 125 years ago at age 14, she rightfully returns as a now-iconic genius finally given her due. While Columbus native Gertrude Pridget (1886-1939) has long enjoyed critical acclaim, it wasn’t until America’s Cultural Reckoning of recent years, which allowed for new voices such as Black…

January Event Calendar

Posted on January 9, 2025January 9, 2025 by Editor - the Local

Around Town Birds of PreyA must-see since its debut in 2000. During suitable weather, these magnificent creatures – which cannot be released into the wild, due either to injury or having developed an unnatural association with humans known as “imprinting” – demonstrate their strength, speed, and natural instincts in daily flighted programs. Several birds appear at each program, swooping overhead and giving guests an up-close look “on the glove,” while our raptor experts explain how…

That’s a Wrap

Posted on January 8, 2025January 8, 2025 by Editor - the Local

Local Film – Image by Charley Windham

Made to Order

Posted on October 24, 2024March 3, 2025 by Editor - the Local

Uptown’s Fall Food Truck Festival serves up the goods, raises funds for vital community programs. By Frank Etheridge Over the last couple of decades, Uptown Columbus has transformed from a no-options food desert into a blooming onion of a mecca for foodies. This delicious change comes in large part due to the diligent efforts of the nonprofit entity Uptown, Inc. that not only champions the people and places inside this historic, yet vibrant, downtown corridor…

Come on Down!

Posted on October 11, 2024October 11, 2024 by Editor - the Local

Columbus is the next contestant on The Price Is Right Live By Frank Etheridge Todd Newton feels like the timeless daytime game show “The Price Is Right” is “as American as apple.” “My grandmother introduced me to The Price is Right,” explains Newton, the Emmy Award-winning host who was hand-picked by the late, great Bob Barker to conduct the game show’s touring production, which comes to the RiverCenter in Columbus for one spectacular night of…

A Spirited Affair

Posted on September 13, 2024September 13, 2024 by Editor - the Local

Uptown Beer & Wine Festival puts the fun in fundraiser, offering libations from around the world while supporting vital projects in our city’s downtown area. By Frank Etheridge ‘We got spirit, yes we do. We got spirit, how about you?’ This corny cliché of a high-school cheer applies not just to area high-school football this fall but to guaranteed good-time that is the annual Uptown Beer & Wine Festival, which this year has added spirits…

Making a Mark

Posted on September 2, 2024September 2, 2024 by Editor - the Local

The Fountain City Tattoo Expo Returns Thomas Randall started out just trying to right a wrong. What he wound up creating was the Fountain City Tattoo Expo., a successful, growing celebration for the local community now in its fourth year. By Frank Etheridge In order for Columbus, Georgia to finally arrive as a host city for a proper tattoo show, things had to change. First, there was an antiquated local law that made it illegal…

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