CL’s Chante LaGon, Debbie Michaud and Curt Holman chat about this year’s Holiday Guide. Dubbed the Regression Issue, the guide revisits our childhood love for toys — with a few grown-up twists.
Air Loaf is broadcast weekdays on 1690 WMLB-AM at approximately 8:10 a.m., 12:20 p.m. and 6:20 p.m.
Subscribe to the Air Loaf RSS feed to download each new episode automatically
SOUND PURCHASE: A Woodruff Arts Center gift cardgets the recipient into events at the Atlanta Symphony (pictured), the Alliance Theatre and the High Museum of Art.
Our society covets few things so passionately as the gift basket — the richer, fancier cousin to the gift bag. People will gush over gift baskets full of crap nobody could possibly want, that’s how much cachet they have. To make the people on your shopping list feel special, consider loading up a basket with these themed suggestions. Some can be a little pricey, so consider the baskets a collective stimulus package for the still-anemic economy.
THE LOCAL ARTS BASKET
For boosters of local arts, or those who need a crash course in Atlanta culture
Centerpiece: The Help by Kathryn Stockett (Amy Einhorn Books/Putnam, $24.95, 464 pp). Usually this kind of thoughtful, female-oriented novel only becomes a New York Times best-seller with intervention from Oprah. Stockett, an Atlanta resident who hails from Mississippi, struck a chord nationwide with her tale of the symbiotic relationship of African-American domestics and more privileged whites in the 1960s. Inspired by the author’s own childhood, The Help explores with humor and sensitivity a legacy of knee-jerk racism and emotional ties.
Also: Pick out a stocking-stuffer-sized piece of original artwork from the SCAD Gallery Boutique. A Woodruff Arts Center gift card gets the recipient into events at the Atlanta Symphony, the Alliance Theatre and the High Museum of Art. If you want to multiply your generosity, give memberships or season subscriptions to smaller arts organizations like Eyedrum (a $40 membership gets you in for free all year) or Horizon Theatre (whose season coincides with the calendar year). Your loved one and the local arts scene will both thank you.
Continue Reading “A&E gift guide”
(Photo by Jeff Roffman)
Just ahead of this week’s premiere of Hillary Clinton Got Me Pregnant, a one-woman show by the often hilarious Megan Gogerty, Synchronicity Theatre artistic director (and mother of newborn twins) Rachel May has announced the removal of the last two shows of the company’s 12th season:
Due to the financial climate, Synchronicity has had to make some adjustments to our 09/10 season. We will unfortunately be indefinitely postponing the last 2 shows of our season: Dead Man’s Cell Phone and The Brand New Kid. We look forward to programming these shows (with the terrific production teams and casts we have assembled) in future seasons.
The remainder of the Synchronicity’s 12th season (which began with a terrific version of the family show Bunnicula) stays in place, including an updated version of the company’s acclaimed Women + War and the kid’s classic Free To Be You and Me.
NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD: Eyedrum swells with visitors during a recent art opening for Tweet Design's second annual Day of the Dead show on Oct. 23.
It’s appropriate for Eyedrum that, even when discussing such a mundane subject as financial viability, the arts organization’s board chairman, Allen Welty-Green, speaks in terms of colors.
“Using the threat advisory scale, I’d say we were code red in July, then orange, and now we’re down to yellow,” he says. “Sometimes it takes a crisis to give you a wake-up call.”
Welty-Green is referencing Eyedrum’s mid-year near-death experience, when the organization found itself unable to scrape together enough money to pay rent — again. At the time, the board issued an S.O.S. in the form of a press release titled “Eyedrum may soon call it quits,” which threatened the potential “demise of Atlanta’s longest-running alternative art and music space.”
But that was then.
Continue Reading “All eyes on Eyedrum”
(Photo by Alan Friedman)
Are you a current student with a passion for journalism? Would you like to gain real-world experience at the Southeast’s leading alternative weekly? Will you receive school credit for your internship?
If so, we want YOU.
Creative Loafing is currently seeking interns for the upcoming spring semester (mid-December through late May). CL offers internships with the News, Arts & Entertainment, Music, Food & Drink, and Events sections, as well as with our photography and video teams.
For more information about our internship program, please visit clatl.com/intern or e-mail alicia.wages@creativeloafing.com.
(Photo by Jeff Riley)
PAPER TRAILS: Pulitzer Prize-winning author and activist Alice Walker (left) views manuscripts of her novel The Color Purple with Emory University’s Rudolph Byrd. Walker’s archives are housed in the Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library at Emory.
What’s the most valuable resource filed away and catalogued in the Emory University Libraries? Could it be the first-edition copy of James Joyce’s Ulysses from 1922? One sold in London for 275,000 pounds earlier this summer. Actually, the copy of Ulysses is just a single volume of the 75,000 rare and first editions included in the Raymond Danowski Poetry Library, which opened at Emory in 2004.
There’s also the Flannery O’Connor archives, rich with handwritten correspondence and childhood ephemera. And don’t forget Sir Salman Rushdie’s archives, which were placed here in 2006 with an undisclosed price tag, as were Alice Walker’s papers in 2007. And that’s all aside from the invaluable library staff, which includes specialized liaisons for more than 50 subjects.
As Emory responds to a shrinking $4.3 billion endowment, though, some faculty members are expressing concern for the future of the library’s collections and workforce. In a letter published at the beginning of the year, university president Jim Wagner cited “worldwide financial turmoil” while explaining that the value of Emory’s endowment and investment portfolio had shrunk by more than 20 percent. On Sept. 23, Emory announced a $1 million library budget cut, which included the elimination of 29 out of 178 total jobs. Twenty-seven employees were laid off. “What we think of as the heart of the university is being cut deeply,” says Lynne Huffer, professor and chair of women’s studies at Emory.
Continue reading “Deep cuts wound Emory’s libraries”
(Photo courtesy Emory Photo/Video)
City Hall East hosts the Young Architects Forum (YAF) this Thurs. Aug. 27 from 7-10 p.m. for the final installment of their Summer Salon showcase. Architecture students and professionals will share their visions of the future. The YAF blog promises refreshments and even ghost tours, provided by the Medici Foundation. Click here for the full flyer.
The Metro Atlanta Arts and Culture Coalition (MAACC) has rescheduled their Mayoral Forum on public art for Mon., Oct. 12 from 6-8 p.m. The participating candidates for mayor are Lisa Borders, Mary Norwood, Kasim Reed, and Jesse Spikes. MAACC requests that RSVPs be emailed to advocacy@metroatlantaarts.org.
This Saturday is the third and final installment of Artspalooza, the first of many youth education initiatives by the Woodruff Arts Center funded by their recent $12 million grant. If you or your kids are into mural painting, African dance, or cartooning, why not treat the fam’ to a day of culture, courtesy the Goizueta Foundation?
And the City of Atlanta Office of Cultural Affairs proudly announces the restoration of the S. Truett Cathy monument, aka the No Goal Is Too High If We Climb With Care And Confidence sculpture. Samuel Truett Cathy is the 88-year-old founder of the Chick-fil-A fast food chain. He built his first restaurant when he was 25.
(Photo courtesy Young Architects Forum of Atlanta)
BUILDING BLOCK: Without quick financial support, Eyedrum could be forced to close its doors.
Eyedrum, Atlanta’s flagship venue for experimental art, music, and theater, will close or relocate this year if emergency financial support doesn’t cover a growing budget deficit. In an effort to stave off rising overhead debt, a massive art auction featuring works donated from more than 100 local artists, including Kojo Griffin, Lilian Blades and Angus Galloway, will be held Fri., Aug. 14. Robert Cheatham, Eyedrum’s executive director, points out that the scramble for funding is nothing new. “We’ve been in dire need since the minute we moved in,” he says with a laugh.
While operating on a tight budget for the last 10 years, the nonprofit has never missed a rent payment on its Grant Park warehouse space until two months ago. Cheatham says landlord Braden Fellman has been negotiable and easy to work with, but the late fees are pushing operating costs to an unsustainable level. “We want to work with them. We don’t want to leave our space,” stresses Woody Cornwell, who founded the group with Marshall Avett in 1998. How an agreement or solution may be reached is still unclear, especially considering the current economic climate and Eyedrum’s declining income from event rentals and attendance in the last year.
Continue reading “Eyedrum hopes to drum up support”
(Photo by Joeff Davis)
MGM is inviting Atlanta’s most talented to have a chance at fame. On Sat., Aug. 15, the studio will hold auditions for actors, singers, musicians and dancers to take part in its national talent content.
The Fame National Talent Search will be held at Six Flags Over Georgia on Saturday the 15th with the top ten semi-finals show on Sun., Aug. 16. Tionne “T-Boz” Watkins of TLC and CJ from 95.5 The Beat are two of the judges selecting the Atlanta finalists.
One grand-prize winner will receive a $5,000 cash prize, a photo spread in OK! magazine, a 5 day/4 night trip to Hollywood, a meet and greet with a top talent agent, a meet and greet with a studio executive and the winner’s final performance will live forever on the FAME DVD (release date tba).
Six Flags Over Georgia is one of the six Six Flags stops where MGM will be
holding auditions. Contestants can also upload a video entry via MySpace.com/fame.
Auditions will be held within the park so general park admission is required to participate.
For more registration and official rules, go to generationfame.com.
The contest is a promotion in conjunction with upcoming release of Fame, an updated, re-imagining of the Oscar winning film due in theaters Sept. 25, 2009.
Continue reading “Fame national talent search coming to Atlanta” »
Hollywood has lost another great director.
John Hughes, director of The Breakfast Club and writer of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off died earlier today at age 59 from an apparent heart attack.
Hughes was well known for creating his own unique spin on kid and teenage genre movies. He addressed the often awkward journey of teenagers, now and forever labeled as “teen angst,” with nostalgic humor and a surprising respect. Instead of the typical after school special hot topics of drugs and peer pressure, Hughes focused on the everyday situations teens face like acceptance, class, and the various tribulations of navigating through the high school social hierarchy. Starting with his first teen movie Sixteen Candles, Hughes re-engineered the genre set a new standard of family filmmaking.
Twitter is abuzz with testimonies from celebrities and fans alike. On CelebrityTweet.com Hollywood notables chimed in and shared their thoughts on his passing:
Diablo Cody: Truly saddened by passing of John Hughes. Was an idol to this magna-zoom-dweebie.
Ben Stiller: John Hughes…made so many classics. GREAT film maker. Planes Trains and Automobiles an underrated gem. influenced comedy in a huge way.
Kevin Smith: The flag’s at half-mast in Shermer, Illinois: John Hughes, the man who spoke for geeks way before anyone else did.
Fred Durst: I’m so sad about John Hughes. My sincere regards to his family and friends. His films and writing have been a huge (cont) http://tl.gd/bvj3
Chris Jericho: RIP-John Hughes Planes, Trains, and Automobiles is one of my top ten favorite movies of all time…
Marlee Matlin: So sad to hear that John Hughes passed. Home Alone, Breakfast Club. Was a fan. It’s been a tough year in Hollywood.
Larry King: Movie director John Hughes has died. What a shock! He was 59. What’s your favorite John Hughes movie?
In Atlanta, Criminal Records has posted several tweets about Hughes’ passing and his influence including a message informing followers of an upcoming memorial event:
@CriminalRecords: next Tuesday (Aug. 11), the W hotel at Perimeter is showing “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” for free, poolside: http://tr.im/vNSg
If you’re a fan of the music from Hughes’ films (and who isn’t), imeem.com has a created a “RIP John Hughes” where you can hear 39 songs featured in the movies. Sign up is free.
In memoriam, here’s a fan clip from youtube with one of his film’s most popular songs, “Don’t you forget about me” by Simple Minds.
Are we missing something important? Got an idea for a post that people just might want to read? Want to enjoy the MASSIVE privileges of writing for Culture Surfing?
Well, here’s your chance.
P.S. If you’ve got something meaningful to say about Atlanta’s news, music or restaurant scene, the above link will help you out with that, too.
On Sunday, July 26, nonprofit arts center WonderRoot will host a “cops and robbers”-themed shindig to celebrate the reopening of its digital media lab. (A recent break-in resulted in the loss of five computers, forcing the lab’s temporary closure.)
From WonderRoot Executive Director Chris Appleton:
Join us this Sunday at 8pm for a ‘Cops and Robbers’ themed reopening party of the WonderRoot digital media lab. As most of you have heard, there was a burglary at WonderRoot last week and we were forced to temporarily close our digital media lab. And while we are both sad and disappointed about the break-in, there is exciting news to report. The Digital Lab will reopen this upcoming weekend and we want you to join us in celebrating.
We would like to send a special thanks to the community for all the concern and willingness to help out. In fact, because of some of you the police were able to recover some of the stolen computers. We have been overwhelmed with the kind words and support expressed in light of the unfortunate events. This is why we want to celebrate. WonderRoot wants all of you to know that we are committed to continue providing state-of-the-art facilities. We believe that empowering the community with these resources will lead to a stronger, healthier, and more sustainable Atlanta.
(Photo by Kody Wynne / Flickr)
Eyedrum, the city’s longest-running alternative art and music space, is facing possible closure and asking for help.
From Eyedrum:
Facing a heavy rent burden and ever-increasing operating expenses, Eyedrum’s board of directors held an emergency meeting Sunday, July 11, to consider the survival of the longtime art and music organization.
The options are few. They include a significant decrease in rent, bringing on other Atlanta-based arts organizations to sublet part of the 6,0000-square-foot space, a move to a smaller space, or an end to the award-winning venue altogether.
…
The board plans to attempt a negotiation with its landlord, Braden Fellman, later this week, and will reconvene no later than July 26 to discuss any developments on rent reduction, and to consider proposals from other arts organizations. Arts organizations and investors who are interested in partnering with Eyedrum should contact Vice Chairman Allen Welty Green at agmedia(at)mindspring(dot)com.
Any donations received through Eyedrum’s website (www.eyedrum.org) will be directed toward operating expenses. And while such donations are greatly appreciated, the urgency and severity of Eyedrum’s financial burden cannot be overstated. Without a hefty reduction in overhead costs, a major move – physically or in terms of the organization’s identity – is unavoidable.
Full release here (PDF). We’ve got a call in with Robert Cheatham, Eyedrum’s executive director. We’ll update when we hear word.
A weekend break-in at WonderRoot Community Arts Center that forced the closure of its digital media lab won’t impact the Reynoldstown nonprofit in the long term, its executive director Chris Appleton says.
“It’s unfortunate it’s happened here,” Appleton tells CL. “A space that’s worked toward bettering and building the community. We’re sad that some people are not respectful of the work the artists have created.”
The five computers that were taken were all insured, Appleton says, so the digital media lab will most likely be back up and operating by next week.
“We’re not going to let it stop us or slow us down,” he says.
He says he was surprised by the outpouring of support from WonderRoot and community members. Minutes after he sent an email to notify artists about the break-in, Appelton says, he received 30-40 responses asking if the center needed any assistance.
