Fresh Loaf

From Emory’s press release:

Salman Rushdie, Distinguished Writer in Residence in the Department of English at Emory University, will consider the process by which one art form is “translated” or “migrates” into another form and, by extension, the way people of one world are transplanted  or “translated” into another.

It’s an appropriate subject (if a bit obtuse sounding) for a man who was forced into exile in the late 1980s for his representation of Mohammed in The Satanic Verses. Cultural clashes drive much of Rushdie’s writing as does contemporary pop culture.

Curt Holman noted in his feature on Rushdie last year: “If journalism is the rough draft of history, Rushdie at times treats pop culture like the rough draft of mythology. ‘I’ve grown up with rock music, movies, TV, and see no reason not to use them as familiar reference points in my work. Once upon a time, a reading audience would be familiar with references to mythology that would now be somewhat arcane, but we have a shared storehouse of film and musical knowledge that fills that gap.’”

Rushdie spoke last July at the Carter Center about his latest book, The Enchantress of Florence. That event sold out early, so plan ahead for this one. The following evening, Rushdie will appear again at Emory to introduce Luchino Viscont’s The Leopard, as part of the university’s Great Novels and Great Films series.

“Adaptation.” Public Lecture by Salman Rushdie. Sun., Feb. 22, 5 p.m. $5-$10. Glenn Memorial Auditorium, Emory University. www.emory.edu/events.

The Leopard Mon., Feb. 23, 7:30  p.m. Free. White Hall 208. 404-727-6761, www.filmstudies.emory.edu.

(Photo by Beowulf Sheehan/PEN American Center/Opale)

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Acclaimed artist Maira Kalman, whose work is currently on view at Jackson Fine Art, has a new illustrated blog for the New York Times about the inauguration. Stream of consciousness musings tie together simple yet poignant illustrations of Kalman’s visit to Washington for the event.

From the blog:

(Photo by Maira Kalman/Courtesy nytimes.com)

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From the New Haven Advocate:

On the eve of his inauguration, painting walls at a Habitat for Humanity dwelling, Obama joshed that this was good practice as he was moving into a new house the next day.

But that MLK Day event also emphasized the critics’ worst fears: Sure, he can make fun of himself, but how easy is it for anyone else to mock a guy who’s out helping the homeless the day before one of the most jam-packed weeks of his life? Where’s the opening for humor there?

A president who takes too many vacations, or mangles speeches, or starts international conflicts when he’s barely traveled out of the country — that’s a guy ripe for the plucking. But Obama’s “no drama” persona translates to “no huma” as well.

The cartoon-Teflon concern is hardly a new one: jokesters have had two years (and Illinois newsies even longer) to come up with Barack characteristics they can exaggerate and crack wise about. All they’ve located so far is his ears.

What are Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert to do now?

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God certainly was tired on the seventh day and the same seems to be true for “24.” It pains me to say as much, but six hours and one made-for-TV movie into the series’ seventh season and my pulse ain’t pounding like it used to. Preposterous and over-the-top plotlines made “24″ must-see TV. Hell, the show could even make you root for torture. (Make him talk Jack! He wants to kill Americans, the sonofabitch!)

But now, where “24’s” next move used to be utterly unimagineable, it all just feels too contrived, too predictable. Hotwire a car and drive it off the second story of a parking deck crawling with FBI agents? Sigh. Fake kill a woman who was the only one to trust you but now thinks you’ve betrayed her so that the bad guys think you’re one of them? Seen it. Infiltrate a terrorist network with a rogue band of former CTU cohorts because the government can’t be trusted? Yawn.

“24″ set the bar so high from the start that it’s slowly but surely become it’s own cliche. I’m starting to wonder if Jack Bauer can save this one, and dammit, we’re running out of time!

(Photo courtesy Fox)

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Hear ye, Hear ye! City of Atlanta just released the 2009 wheres for some of our city’s most beloved and attended events. Particularly exciting is the Peachtree Road Race finish’s move back to 10th Street. Last year’s home stretch along Juniper was a hellish change of pace from 10th Street’s smooth descent, not to mention the David Bowie-esque labyrinthe participants were funneled into post-race. Also of note: a new fall date for the Pride festival.

Additional details from the press release:

The Organizers agreed to the following arrangements.

Dogwood Festival will be held in Piedmont Park on April 3-5, 2009.
Screen on the Green will be held in Centennial Park starting on May 29, 2009.
The Atlanta Jazz Festival will continue its Memorial Day tradition in Grant Park.
The Peachtree Road Race will be held on the Fourth of July starting at Lenox Square and ending on 10th Street. T-Shirt distribution and family gatherings will be held in the Meadow at Piedmont Park.
Atlanta Pride, originally scheduled for June 26-28, 2009 at Central Park, has now been moved outside the festival season and will take place on October 31-November 2, 2009,  at Piedmont Park.

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Brendan Fraser (left) in 'Journey to the Center of the Earth'

According to Variety.com, Brendan Fraser’s signed on to star in the live-action family comedy Furry Vengeance (seriously):

Fraser will play a real estate developer whose new housing subdivision pushes far into a pristine part of the Oregon wilderness, pitting the developer against a band of angry critters.

Which made me stop and wonder: When — no, how — did Brendan Fraser become a hot Hollywood commodity? I’ve never been able to shake the images of Fraser from Encino Man (mostly good) or Bedazzled (not so good) from my brain and chocked up his success with blockbusters such as the Mummy movies and Journey to the Center of the Earth to sheer, I dunno, luck? I certainly never credited his acting ability. Even diehard members of the Brendan Fraser Fan Club are scratching their heads about his recent roles.

(Photo courtesy New Line Cinema)

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Pull on your fancy pants people, it’s time for ATLart[09], the Atlanta Gallery Association’s 18-day visual arts extravaganza full of champagne wishes and caviar dreams. Like other citywide cultural blowouts that strive to “[expand] the reputation of Atlanta as a cultural capital,” various galleries around town will wear the ATLart[09] badge through Feb. 8.

One of ATLart[09]’s signature events is its annual ARThouse, a mansion, nay palace, transformed by high-end art into a “museum-style” experience (because museums are too artsy). This year’s ARThouse takes place at 514 W. Paces Ferry, aka the Pink Palace, in Buckhead and features a Frederick Hart sculpture garden.

Tomorrow night’s opening gala isn’t for the faint of wallet (tickets run $275/person or $500/couple), but the ARThouse will open its doors to the rest of us Fri., Jan. 23 for a more reasonable fee ($12-$22). The three-week ATLart[09] culminates with the annual ART PAPERS art auction Sat., Feb. 7.

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Not a bad look for the White House’s home page:

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"Johnny Pabst and the Blue Ribbon Two" by Alex Doucette, grand prize winner in 2008's painting category

It only seems logical that PBR would pay people for drinking its “blue-ribbon” brew.

For the third year, the trademark hipster libation is hosting the PB-Arts contest, a chance for folks to show the beer, and its marketing department, some love (oh yeah, and win $1,893).

On Jan. 24, the Graveyard Tavern in East Atlanta Village will display 2008’s winning entries. (Judging from last year’s finalists, the competition ain’t too stiff.) Artists will also be able to submit their photographs, paintings, sculpture and poetry for the 2009 contest. The deadline for this year’s competition is Jan. 31. The winner gets a year’s supply of beer (yes, PBR) as well as the above-mentioned $1,893 (the year Pabst won its blue ribbon).

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For this year’s pop-themed Fiction Contest, we decided to make things even more interesting with a pop culture trivia contest. Senior Art Director Jason Hatcher carefully selected eight images for last week’s cover that tie into the theme, two of which have double meanings.

We promised the first to name the eight main hidden messages a CL gift pack, and the first to figure out all 10 a little something extra.

We had a lot of good and sometimes, uh, creative, guesses. Here’s the list of all 10 correct answers:

1. POP Tarts
2. Keith Moon applying Clearasil to a zit – POP a zit
3. POPcorn
4. Clowns POP out of Jack-in-the-boxes; DOUBLE MEANING: Jack-in-the-boxes play to the tune of POP goes the weasel
5. RC Cola is a type of soda or POP to you Midwesterners
6. Iggy POP
7. Black Cat firecrackers go POP
8. Michael Jackson is the King of POP; DOUBLE MEANING: His monkey’s name is Bubbles and bubbles go POP

Congrats to our winners!

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"Newyorkistan" by Maira Kalman

We’d be remiss not to mention two exceptional art openings this evening before heading out for the week. Jackson Fine Art strays from its usual focus on photographs to feature designer/illustrator Maira Kalman. Kalman’s work is synonymous with color and whimsy, and has been featured in more than 12 children’s books, on the cover of the New Yorker, and in the illustrated edition of Strunk and White’s grammar standard, The Elements of Style. Her gouaches, silk screen prints and photography from a variety of projects will be on view. Besides appearing at tonight’s opening from 6-8 p.m., the artist will also hold a book signing tomorrow, Sat., Jan. 10 at 11 a.m.

Also on the bill is French photographer Willy Ronis. Ronis, now 98, has been capturing everyday moments with striking black-and-white photography since the 1930s. He founded Magnum photography agency along with Henri Cartier-Bresson. The show remains on view through Feb. 6.

"Florence" by Kristen Ashburn © 2008

Award-winning photojournalist Kristen Ashburn’s Bloodline: AIDS and Family opens at the Atlanta Photography Group gallery tonight from 7:30-10 p.m. with Ashburn in attendance. Bloodline will literally shine a light on the sub-Saharan AIDS pandemic when Ashburn’s 32 images in light boxes are illuminated this evening. The exhibit continues through March 6.

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Tell all your friends! It’s time for the 8th annual CL Fiction Contest Party!

Joins us TONIGHT from 7-9 p.m. at Eyedrum (290 MLK Jr. Drive, Suite 8, 404-522-0655, www.eyedrum.org).

We received more than 200 entries and had to whittle them down to our three faves. It wasn’t easy, believe us. We had amazing help from our three local judges: award-winning children’s author Carmen Deedy; author, playwright and professor Phillip DePoy; and bookworm, aspiring author and Wordsmiths Books marketing guru Russ Marshalek.

The party, which is FREE!! and open to the public, is a great chance to mingle with writers in the community, listen to author readings from the three winning stories, dance to some smooth party jams by local band Night Moves Gold and indulge in refreshments from Highland Bakery.

Aside from the readings, live music and food, Wordsmiths Books will be on hand to sell books, CL will open up its press closet for a book swap and party co-sponsors Oxford Comics and Eyedeology, who’ll be collecting old eyeglasses, will have tables at the event.

Come help Creative Loafing support Atlanta’s burgeoning literary scene. We think you’ll like what you hear.

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We popped the question for the eighth annual Fiction Contest and you responded with a resounding “Yes!” through stories about soda pop, popping pills, mom and pop, pop music, and Snap, Crackle and Pop, just to name a few. Our three winners were anonymously chosen by Creative Loafing’s editorial staff and three independent judges from a pool of more than 200 entries. Read the winning entries here.

We decided to make things even more interesting this year with a pop culture trivia contest. Check out the paper’s front cover. Senior Art Director Jason Hatcher carefully selected eight images that tie into the theme, two of which have double meanings. The first to name the eight main hidden messages wins a CL gift pack. The first to figure out all 10 wins a little something extra.

Send guesses to debbie.michaud@creativeloafing.com by 5 p.m. on Tues., Jan. 13.

And don’t forget to join us tomorrow, Thurs., Jan. 8 from 7-9 p.m.. for the Fiction Contest Party at Eyedrum (290 MLK Jr. Drive,  Suite 8, 404-522-0655, www.eyedrum.org).

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The Emmy-nominated and Telly-award winning (not to mention 2008 CL critics’ pick for Best Locally Produced TV Show) “This is Atlanta” rings in the New Year with a new episode that’s all about animals. Host Alicia Steele finds out what’s going on with everyone from the competitors in the Cotton States Cat Club to Jim Stacy, the man behind Palookaville Gourmet Corn Dogs to the Elephant Leaders of Women of the Giwayen Mata dance and drum troupe.

The episode debuts tonight at 10 p.m. on PBA 30 and will air again Thurs., Jan. 22 at 11 p.m.; Sun., Feb. 8 at 9 p.m.; Tues., Feb. 10 at 10 p.m.; and Tues., Feb. 24 at 11 p.m.

Just when you thought you knew everything about our fine city…

(Photo by Joeff Davis)

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Tell all your friends! It’s time for the 8th annual CL Fiction Contest Party!

Joins us Thurs., Jan. 8 from 7-9 p.m. at Eyedrum (290 MLK Jr. Drive, Suite 8, 404-522-0655, www.eyedrum.org).

We received more than 200 entries and had to whittle them down to our three faves. It wasn’t easy, believe us. We had amazing help from our three local judges: award-winning children’s author Carmen Deedy; author, playwright and professor Phillip DePoy; and bookworm, aspiring author and Wordsmiths Books marketing guru Russ Marshalek.

The party, which is FREE!! and open to the public, is a great chance to mingle with writers in the community, listen to author readings from the three winning stories, dance to some smooth party jams by local band Night Moves Gold and indulge in refreshments from Highland Bakery.

Aside from the readings, live music and food, Wordsmiths Books will be on hand to sell books, CL will open up its press closet for a book swap and party co-sponsors Oxford Comics and Eyedeology, who’ll be collecting old eyeglasses, will have tables at the event.

Come help Creative Loafing support Atlanta’s burgeoning literary scene. We think you’ll like what you hear.

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Hey, there. We know you’re feeling down, maybe a little out. (We’re right there with ya some days.) So, we thought it’d help to point out that 2008 hasn’t been a complete loss. As a matter of fact, Atlanta achieved a lot this year in the way of the arts. Here, CL theater critic Curt Holman and visual arts critic Cinqué Hicks take a look back to recall some of their favorite moments. (more…)

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After an unfortunate run in the Lenox parking lot earlier this year, Atlanta’s beloved Dogwood Festival returns to Piedmont Park, where they actually have, like, trees, and stuff. From today’s press release:

HOMECOMING
The 73rd Annual Atlanta Dogwood Festival returns home to Piedmont Park to
host the city’s best-loved springtime tradition. Taking place April 17, 18
and 19, 2009, the weekend of fine art, music, and food, offers the ideal
way for families and friends to spend time in the beautiful Atlanta spring
weather.

Keep your fingers crossed that the Peachtree Road Race gets lucky too.

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GUIDING LIGHT: Artwork by Marc Chagall used in Phos Hilaron.

The holidays can be a tough nut to crack. The same traditions that give the season its cozy familiarity — Christmas carols, Rudolph, pine trees — sometimes start to feel a bit, well, stale. If I were a Bravo reality TV judge, I might even call it (gasp!) a “one note.”

Lucky for Christmas, the innovative holiday pageant Phos Hilaron has saved it from elimination (so to speak). Greek for “gladdening light,” Phos Hilaron draws on many centuries worth of faith-inspired art and music. The performance art production includes video by local video artist and editor Matt Gilbert; a 32-voice choir from Georgia Tech’s Chamber Singers; world music with indigenous strings and percussion from Asheville musicians and Free Planet Radio; and highlights artwork by Modigliani, Gaugin, Dürer, Picasso, Chagall and others.

Watcha gon’ do ’bout that, Tiny Tim?

Phos Hilaron $20. Fri.-Sat., Dec. 12-13, 7 p.m. All Saints Episcopal Church, 634 W Peachtree St. 404-881-0835. www.faithandreason.org.

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Self-portrait, San Francisco, 1970

What was it like to work side-by-side with Hunter S. Thompson and Tom Wolfe? What did it take to earn Mick Jagger’s trust? What was John Lennon doing in the hours leading up to his murder in 1980? Photographer Annie Leibovitz answers such questions and more in her new book, Annie Leibovitz: At Work, which chronicles her singular experiences capturing some of contemporary culture’s most mythic personalities and moments. Leibovitz comes to the MJCCA’s Zaban Park location for a sold-out appearance Wednesday, Dec. 10, as an extension of the center’s book festival.

Would you talk about the writing process and how you developed the narrative to accompany your photos?
It’s been a process over the years to learn how to talk and to mean what [I] say. With Susan Sonntag, you know … she was the one who helped me have a voice. After Susan died, I sat down with Sharon [Delano] to work on the introduction for A Photographer’s Life and there were about five sessions where she literally put it together. She says I said everything on some level, but you know she put it together in a way where for the first time you could really hear my voice. You’re hearing me and it has emotional context to it.

I had always wanted to do a book on the making of the photographs, you know the making of a photograph. (more…)

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Today marks the 28th anniversary of John Lennon’s assassination by Mark David Chapman. The event’s been chronicled and dramatized in books, films and other media, but perhaps the most intriguing and heart-wrenching tribute is Annie Leibovitz’s photo taken hours before Lennon’s death. The image ran as Rolling Stone’s cover shortly after, with no text save the magazine’s logo. Twenty-five years later, the American Society of Magazine Editors named the image the No. 1 magazine cover of the last 40 years.

In Leibovitz’s new book, Annie Leibovitz: At Work, the photographer offers a detailed account of the story behind the photo, her moments with the couple just before Lennon’s murder, as well as the aftermath, including a devastated Yoko Ono laying in a dark room reacting to the image.

From the book:

I photographed them at their apartment in the Dakota early in December, and then a few days later I came back with something specific in mind. … I thought about how people curl up together in bed, and I asked them to pose nude in an embrace. … I made a Polaroid of them lying together and John looked at it and said, “You’ve captured our relationship exactly. … The picture looks like a last kiss now.

Leibovitz’s experiences capturing such singular moments fill At Work, an endeavor intended as “a textbook for a young photographer,” she said when I interviewed her last month. But the book transcends any sort of Photo 101 primer to offer a backstage pass to some of contemporary culture’s most mythic events and personalities: “I had this idea about a pamphlet and I was going to pick 10 photographs and try to talk about them in a way from beginning to end, everything about them — the making of them. … it was gonna be just this small little book … and I started talking about the pictures and I realized “God there’s so much more to say about them” than I had thought, and we went from 40 pages to 240 pages.

Leibovitz appears in Atlanta this Wednesday, Dec. 10 at the MJCCA’s Zaban Park location. Check back tomorrow for my Q&A with Leibovitz.

(Photo by Annie Leibovitz/Courtesy www.magazine.org)

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Jack is back.

And not a moment too soon. I’ve been feeding my addiction with late-night marathon viewings of seasons 1-6 (shout out to Blockbuster Rewards’ two-for-one deal). Season 7 premieres Sun., Nov. 23 at 8 p.m. with the two-hour “24: Redemption.” Jack’s in South Africa protecting the children, killing the bad guys and torturing evildoers when necessary. Plus, it’s in real time, y’all

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Local all-around arts maven Louise Runyon and former CL dance and lit critic Tom Bell present their new contact improvisation piece “Chairs: Unseated” this weekend during Language/Listening. The duet forms the centerpiece of the evening’s four dance performances and involves two individuals vying for a single chair, the pair floating back and forth to illustrate the give and take of sharing. Post performance, Bell and Runyon will lecture on and demonstrate contact improvisation methods.

Among the show’s other bits and bobs, local poet, artist and activist Alice Lovelace will perform from forever, her recently published book of poetry informed by her relationship with her daughter and the loss of her husband. Runyon will also take the stage as a poet to read from her latest work LANDSCAPE/Fear & Love.

But wait … there’s more! Women’s drumming group ConunDrums opens and closes the evening with rhythmic West African, well, drumming. A smorgasboard of treats from the Decatur Organic Farmers Market tops everything off.

Language/Listening. $10. Fri.-Sat., Nov. 21-22, 8 p.m. Beacon Hill Arts Center Studio Theatre, 410 W. Trinity Place, Decatur. 404-728-8991. www.LouiseRunyonPerformance.com

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It’s that time of year again folks – Fiction Contest time! And we know that given the current economic situation (there’s some serious cash at stake here people), there are more starving artists out there than ever.

So, submit a manuscript of no more than 3,000 words either as a hard copy to our offices or online. All works of fiction must in some way incorporate the word “pop” — as a theme, a metaphor, whatever. You can use the word as any way you like; just use it well. Originality is encouraged, and the word count is enforced.

DEADLINE IS TODAY, FRI., NOV. 21 AT 5 P.M.

Click on the image below for more details or to submit an entry.

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Laura Bush (left), YEA member Kamil McFadden, YEA executive director Debi Barber, PCAH representative Caren Prothro

The President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities recognized the local African-American youth theater company last Fri., Nov. 14 with $10,000 and a ceremony at the White House.

From the press release:

The Coming Up Taller Awards recognize and support outstanding community arts and humanities programs that celebrate the creativity of America’s young people, and provide them with new learning opportunities and a chance to contribute to their communities. … “The connection between YEA participation and academic success is a testament to the power of the arts for motivating young people to be their very best,” said Adair Margo, chairman of the President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities.

This is the second Coming Up Taller award for YEA. They were first recognized in 1998.

Catch the Youth Ensemble of Atlanta Dec. 11-21 at the 14th Street Playhouse when it stages its annual holiday performance Urban Holiday Soup. The video below shows YEA’s performance of “Soweto!” at the Trumpet Awards, and should give you a little pre-show taste of what the group has to offer.

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It’s that time of year again folks – Fiction Contest time! And we know that given the current economic situation (there’s some serious cash at stake here people), there are more starving artists out there than ever.

So, submit a manuscript of no more than 3,000 words either as a hard copy to our offices or online. All works of fiction must in some way incorporate the word “pop” — as a theme, a metaphor, whatever. You can use the word as any way you like; just use it well. Originality is encouraged, and the word count is enforced.

Click on the image below for more details or to submit an entry.

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