George grew up in a small town in South Alabama on the eastern shore of Mobile Bay.
After graduating from the University of Alabama with a BA then an MA in journalism, he spent a number of years working as salad chef, folk singer, newspaper reporter and photographer, and VISTA volunteer. But not all at once.
A motorcycle wreck in Maine sobered him up. After tipsy hippies pulled him from the ravine into which he'd plummeted, he limped back to Alabama, and got serious. For the subsequent 30-odd years, he worked as a copywriter and creative director, both full time and freelance, for some very fine ad agencies.
He moved recently to Tampa and founded a company, Cranial Garage, that helps ad agencies and other organizations create environments where their creatives and managers can productively (and peacefully) coexist.
He also plays a banjo and sings.
Editor David Warner of Creative Loafing said some kind and encouraging words on page 26 of the August 26, 2009, issue. Partial quote, "At a moment when ignorance is being aggressively defended, Deep Carnivale still respects our intelligence. Imagine that."
Esther Martinez, in a story at The Florida Book Review" says she knows "Deep Carnivale will be 'A Celebration of Words' and not a Bourbon Street bacchanal."
"But logophile that I am, I reason I’ll get drunk on language. With over 70 writers and artists scheduled [for the 2008 Carnivale] to perform or read from their works, my beaded necklaces will be strung with verse. I imagine haiku shooters..."
"It is just before 10am when I arrive at the corner of Palm Avenue and 14th Street—Deep Carnivale ground zero. About a dozen vendor tables are lined up around the Hillsborough Community College courtyard where a band of teenagers [Next Exit] are setting up their instruments.
"The vendor tables sell books by local writers, HCC publications and baked goods. I grab a Cuban favorite, papa rellena, a potato stuffed with savory ground beef. Belly satisfied, I cross the street and enter the historic Circulo Cubano. A nearly 100 year old neo-classical building of ionic columns and marble staircases, it served as the Cuban Social Club and remains the oldest building of its kind in the country."
"When I look back over 2008, my visit to the second edition of Deep Carnivale was a
highlight. You and your staff did a great job and I loved being part of it, again.
I am sure there will be bigger festivals to come. But maybe not better!!!"
– Darrell House,
children's book author and 2008 Deep Carnivale presenter.