Q&A on the News

Q: How is Gregg Allman doing after his June liver transplant?

-- Martha Hunt, Hoschton

A: Gregg Allman performed in T-Bone Burnett's Speaking Clock Revue in Boston and New York in the past two weeks. Rolling Stone reported that Allman debuted material from his forthcoming solo album, "Low Country Blues," which is scheduled to be released in January, at New York's Beacon Theatre and "seemed tentative between songs, even a little naked without his usual band." He thanked the anonymous donor of his new liver and "found his strength in a cover of Muddy Waters' 'I Can't Be Satisfied.'" Rolling Stone also reported that he made a cameo on "Gone to Shiloh" by Elton John and Leon Russell. A Wall Street Journal blog reported that "Allman was much thinner than in recent years, but his raspy-blues voice was true." According to greggallman.com, the Allman Brothers Band has scheduled several dates in November in cities such as Washington, Albany, N.Y., and Atlantic City, N.J.

Q: What's the purpose of the extra-wide shoulders on each side of I-285 underneath the new overpass at the recently reconfigured Memorial Drive interchange?

-- Paul White, Stone Mountain

A: When the Georgia Department of Transportation reconstructs a bridge or interchange, it typically builds it to accommodate future expansion of the transportation facilities, spokesman Mark D. McKinnon wrote in an e-mail to Q&A on the News. Even though there are no plans in the near future to expand I-285 in that area, if and when it does happen, that interchange won't have to be rebuilt, he said.