AUTOMATIC Y'ALL

Weaver D's Guide to the Soul
Dexter Weaver with Patrick Allen

• $17.50 NOW $8.75 hardcover
  
• 192 pages with 14 photographs & 50 recipes
• 1-892514-27-3
• African American/Cookbook

As seen in Spin, Rolling Stone, Southern Living, and other U.S. and European newspapers and magazines, as well as on MTV, VHI, CNN, CBS, and at the Grammy Awards. Read the REAL story behind R.E.M.'s "Automatic for the People."

“We've eaten at Weaver D's a lot over the years. It's just good home-cooking and you can always count on Weaver to make you happy.”—Widespread Panic

the book

Raised in Athens, Georgia and Baltimore, Dexter Weaver took his illustrious name—Weaver D—when his teacher asked for his "last name first, first name last." The quintessential teacher's pet, his family was poor but full of love and his first memories were of food and cooking, which he loves to this day. Always watching, listening, and learning. He learned about the heartbreak of otherwise good men who lost everything gambling and had to face their families; saw his neighborhood burn during the ‘60s race riots as soul music pumped from nearby juke joints. He instinctively became an entrepreneur (first selling seeds and lightbulbs, then giving 35 cent shoe shines). He also discovered the power of positive thinking ("There's no room for 'can't' in this world" and "Always be the victor, not the victim," he says). Foremost, however, he learned the power of music from gospel deejays, disco divas, and southern indie rock bands.

"Automatic for the People" joins "Come Out of that Coma" as Weaver D's signature phrases known around the world, not only inspiring hometown, rock legends R.E.M., but also with computer advertising campaigns, on bagged peanuts, and preached from revival tent pulpits. The wisdom of Weaver D is a medley of inspirational lyrics with the power to keep you going: "How I got over: some times up, sometimes down"; "It's my turn to reach and touch the sky . . . no one's going to say I didn't try"; "I'm coming out"; and, of course, the old school classic, "I will survive." Once a Holiness evangelist, today Weaver D "ministers to the people through his food."

In Automatic Y'all we have Weaver D's guide to the "soul," his advice about working hard, his love for his mama, his guide to small business success, and his rollicking memories of the Athens southern college rock music scene, as well as a melt-in-your-mouth collection of his long sought-after and never-before-published soul food recipes. "Automatic!"

the author

Weaver D was born in Athens, GA in 1954 but was raised in Baltimore. He has lived in Athens since the early 1980s where he owns a very successful restaurant and catering business. This is his first book.

the praise

"We've eaten at Weaver D's a lot over the years. It's just good home-cooking and you can always count on Weaver to make you happy."—Widespread Panic

"[I'm] going to be 'Automatic for the People.'"—Vice President Al Gore

"Dexter's down-home food [is] as inspiring as his friendliness."—Southern Living

"Superb southern cooking."—Spin Magazine