🚘 Joe Earle, editor-at-large for Springs Publishing (and Atlanta Senior Life's editor), traveled backroads and highways throughout Georgia for years to locate the local oddities often described simply as “roadside attractions.” Along the way, he catalogued scores of the state’s one-of-a-kind monuments, markers and museums, and other strange sights standing on the side of the road. Here are his Top Five: 
 
1. The Georgia Guidestones: This monument, sometimes described as an “American Stonehenge,” appeared on an out-of-the-way hilltop in Elbert County in the 1980s. It stands nearly 20-feet tall, works as an observatory, and is inscribed with advice to the people of earth in eight modern languages (Arabic, Chinese, English, Hebrew, Hindi, Russian, Spanish, and Swahili) and several ancient languages (including Sanskrit and Babylonian). A local granite company built the monument, supposedly to the specifications of a mysterious visitor who called himself “R.C. Christian.”
 
2. Pasaquan: The late Eddie Owens Martin, sometimes known as “St. Eom,” transformed his family home in the little West Georgia town of Buena Vista into a place like no other in the world, perhaps like no other in this galaxy. With concrete and bright paint, Martin added walls and outbuildings, sculptures of giant heads, painted mandalas, carved concrete snakes, and murals of folks who could fly.
 
3. Paradise Garden: Folk artist and preacher Howard Finster created colorful visions of paradise at his home near Summerville in North Georgia. Finster started work on his garden in the 1960s. Over the years, he created a labyrinth of paths and structures made from recycled objects such as bicycle parts or tools. In 1976, at age 61, Finster had a vision that he should paint and produce sacred art. He created more than 46,000 works (he numbered them) before his death in 2001. His garden remains open to the public. See Paradise Garden for yourself Oct. 9-10 when Finster Fest hosts more than 60 folk and craft artists, and live music spread across three stages.
 
4. The Iron Horse: This metal sculpture of a horse stands tall (ten-plus feet) in a field outside Watkinsville like a lonely, abstract scarecrow. It surveys the landscape, its hindquarters turned toward Athens, home of the University of Georgia, where it was made and shunned. University officials briefly displayed the sculpture on campus in 1954, but students, apparently not ready to accept abstract art, defaced it with spray paint and balloons, and tried to set it on fire. University officials quietly removed the horse, and kept it in a secret hideaway. Years later, it appeared on a farm north of Greensboro, where, head held high, it has stood since.
 
5. Pig Hill of Fame: This hillside display of affection for pork got its start in the 1980s, when barbecue restaurant owner Oscar Poole decided he needed to draw attention to his roadside eatery in East Ellijay. Poole put up little wooden signs shaped like pigs, and soon customers were paying $5 apiece to have their names painted on similar signs to be included in the porcine display. Hundreds of colorful wooden pigs cover the hill behind the restaurant.

🎹 Jazz musician Joe Alterman (above, photo by Stephen Payne) grew up in Sandy Springs, and began taking piano lessons from a very young age. 
 
“I remember when I was like three or four going to my parents and asking for piano lessons,” Alterman says. “I do not remember why at all, but I remember asking them. They gave me the lessons, and I took a few and hated it. I wanted to quit. They wouldn’t let me.”
 
Alterman, now 32, went on to earn a Bachelor of Music and a Master of Music at New York University’s jazz program. Since starting his career as a pianist, he has also met many jazz legends, such as Ramsey Lewis and Les McCann. 
 
“The most special things I’ll take with me forever are the times when I was able to connect with the real people who created the music and share the stage with them,” he says.
 
In August, Alterman released his latest album “The Upside of Down,” which features a collection of original numbers performed live at Birdland in November 2019 and February 2020.

Read Atlerman's interview with writer Beth E. Concepción, and catch his next hometown appearance Fri., Oct. 8 at Callanwolde Fine Arts Center’s Jazz on the Lawn.

MARTA wants you to vote on the design of its new rail car fleet as part of the “Your Ride, You Decide” campaign, which kicked off Sept. 9.

What you need to know:
 
➊ There are eight new designs to choose from. Each one brings a surprisingly modern look, arranged according to four design themes: Minimalist, Flowing Ribbons, Neighborhoods, and Tracks.
 
➋ The first new rail cars should be on the tracks by 2023, while the rest of the fleet will arrive through May of 2034.
 
➌ An initial order of 254 cars will be provided by Swiss manufacturer Stadler Rail as part of a $600 million+ contract. There's also an option to purchase an additional 100 cars.

➍ Head to ideas.itsmarta.com to cast your vote and leave comments.