• Portraits of a storm
August along the Gulf Coast brings unwanted thoughts and discomfiting images from seasons past.

• The importance of being Welsh
Gareth Gibbs and his fellow actors have traveled thousands of miles to bring Oscar Wilde to the Mobile stage.

• 'Wishbones' Haines keeps mystery series fun
The Mississippi-born Alabama resident Carolyn Haines has a big-time publisher and several hits on her hands. The latest is "Wishbones," the eighth title in her Sarah Booth Delaney Mysteries series.

• Singer channels Janis Joplin in show that celebrates glory days of classic rock
When Katrina Chester sings Janis Joplin in the Mobile Civic Center arena on Aug. 27, the role will be familiar as family and completely new.

• Stage presence: Theodore native Candy Simmons forges a theater career on her own terms
Note this item from the Press-Register dated Dec. 9, 1993:

• Bay Weekend Briefs
American Legion Post 199 in Fairhope is holding a free "Living History Day" from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday.

• Bay Weekend Calendar

• Southern discomfort Poet's new collection of 'Unmentionables' has readers talking
Beth Ann Fennelly, who grew up in a Chicago suburb but finds herself at home in Oxford, Mississippi, and on the tenure track as an assistant professor of English at Ole Miss, is answering questions about her latest collection, "Unmentionables," when she asks the interviewer's indulgence for a brief pause. She leaves for a moment to give her 3-year-old, Thomas, a kiss before her husband, novelist and Clarke County native Tom Franklin, puts the tot down for an afternoon nap.