Fresh Loaf

I solicited a Culture Surfing survey in this week’s issue from incoming artist Dave MacDowell, whose pop-surrealism will join three other artists (natch) for the 4 on the Floor exhibit at The Gallery at East Atlanta Tattoo. The gallery’s exhibits have become increasingly popular since its opening last fall, and I can’t watch to check out the work of all four artists.

I feel bad I didn’t mention more about Kennesaw native Jessica Elaine Blinkhorn, whose work (at least some of it, at least, reminds me of a trippier, drippier M.C. Escher — and I mean that as a compliment. Her “What God Does to One of His Own” (pictured) is particularly captivating. What’s going on in that head of hers? I wonder. One thing’s for sure: I won’t be hanging out next to her at the Star Bar anytime soon. Her MySpace quote: “You’re standing right next to me and FUCKIN SINGIN … cut it out !!!!” Either this 29-year-old is very angry, or has a great sense of humor. I can’t wait to find out.

I’ll be there with camera in tow, taking snaps for our Sideshow Atlanta photo blog. Come on up and say hi. I’ll be the one with the red hair and the Canon PowerShot.

(Image courtesy Jessica Elaine Blinkhorn)

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Seems like it took me a full day to recover from the Theatre of the Stars’ opening-night presentation of the Tony-nominated The Color Purple at the Fox on Tuesday, so please forgive my tardiness. There was so much going on with this show — the backstory of the production, the curious nature of its adaptation book to movie to musical theater, you name it — I’m still a bit overwhelmed.

Still, this production, despite some obvious flaws, is one of those classic examples of something being bigger than the sum of its parts, and is a heckuva homecoming for a musical that received its world premiere at the Alliance back in 2004 before heading up to Broadway. (Check out Curt Holman’s review of that production). That’s just a slice of the show’s now-storied past, if you throw in the local angle of the Pulitzer Prize-winning book having been written by Georgia’s own Alice Walker along with Steven Spielberg’s earnest 1985 movie version.

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Yup, you read it right. Everybody’s favorite Hellion, Crispin Glover (pictured, in Epic Movie), will host a two-night stand at the Plaza Theatre in which the sometimes brilliant actor, director and author will show off his stuff.

This, according to a press release from the Plaza’s Jonathan Rej:

The evening begins with Crispin Hellion Glover’s Big Slide Show, an hour-long dramatic presentation in which the actor narrates images from eight of his illustrated story books. The feature film It Is Fine! EVERYTHING IS FINE. screens next, followed by a question & answer period moderated by Crispin himself, who will then sign books (for sale in the lobby) after the Q&A session.

It Is Fine! EVERYTHING IS FINE. goes into uncharted cinematic territory with screenwriter Steven C. Stewart starring in this semi-autobiographical, psycho-sexual, tale about a man with severe cerebral palsy and a fetish for girls with long hair. Part horror film, part exploitation picture and part documentary of a man who cannot express his sexuality in the way he desires, (due to his physical condition), this fantastical and often humorous tale is told completely from Stewarts actual point of view as that of someone who has lived for years watching people do things he will never be able to do. Here, Stewarts character is something of a lady-killer, seducing a troubled, recently divorced mother (Margit Carstensen), her teenage daughter and any number of other ladies he encounters along the way. According to Crispin Glover, Stewart “wanted to show that handicapped people are human, sexual and can be horrible. He also states that It is Fine! EVERYTHING IS FINE. will probably be the best film he has anything to do with in his entire career. Crispin Glover and his co-director David Brothers wanted to bring Stewart’s story to the screen.

(Photo courtesy 20th Century Fox)

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If you missed Ed Helms‘ appearance on Friday night on “Conan,” here’s the link. Who else could come up with Tom Brokaw as fellow Atlantan Elton John? Hilarious stuff.

As you might have gleaned from this week’s Speakeasy, the Atlanta native attended Westminster Schools around the same time as fellow “The Office” funnyman Brian Baumgartner as well as “The Daily Show” staff writer and Apocalypse How author Rob Kutner. We also learn Ed is in the upcoming Eddie Murphy comedy Meet Dave, which features another NBC sitcom cast member, “30 Rock’s” Judah Friedlander, who appears July 17-20 at The Punchline and I interview in this week’s upcoming issue.

But, “Sean Hayes’ vagina”? Did we miss something? Maybe it’d be better to check out the whole episode on NBC’s “hulu.com.”

(Image courtesy Comedy Central)

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I can’t go to this evening’s Earth, Wind & Fire show at Chastain Park, but I’m sure two of our readers can! (Showtime: 8 p.m.)

First emailed, first served: davidlee.simmons@creativeloafing.com.

Let’s groove tonight, shall we?

UPDATE: We have a winner! Congratulations, Terrence!

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What is it with liberals and bake sales, anyway? They’re fascinated by them. I’m thinking of the bumper sticker plastered all over Volvos back in the day that bemoaned, “It will be a great day when our schools get all the money they need and the Air Force has to hold a bake sale to buy a bomber.” A more recent example came from the 2006 campaign, “Bake Sales for Body Armor,” which “is dedicated to saving the lives of our soldiers by raising funds to buy body armor, medical supplies, and other items that promote their health and welfare.”

Laugh all you want. There’s gold in them cookies, as the presidential campaign for Barack Obama proved over the weekend with its “Hungry for Change” campaign that staged more than 700 bake sales all over the country — including several in Atlanta. The timing of the Saturday sales could not have come at a more ironic moment as they came on the heels of the presumptive Democratic nominee’s pledge-breaking announcement that he would opt out of accepting public financing for his campaign. Under those restrictions, Obama could have received no more than $85 million — peanuts these days, considering that Obama already has raised a couple hundred million, and some estimates see him reaching half a billion by the fall elections.

The wisdom and ethics of his decision depends on your perspective, I suppose. Critics say his decision shows him as a two-timing hypocrite in that he had earlier pledged to accept public financing along with John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, and that he has campaigned as a reformer. Supporters say that, considering his unprecedented success at raising money at the grass-roots level — mostly on the Internet — Obama has redefined the entire concept of the term “public financing.”

Which brings us back to the bake sales, which could be found all over the Atlanta area on Saturday. (There was no confirmation about whether all the goodies were baked by left hands only.) I stopped by two of them in vastly contrasting neighborhoods: Little Five Points and Southwest Atlanta. The first one was hosted by Lexa King, an L5P resident of nearly a quarter century and Realtor. Like others, King learned of the bake sales through an email from MoveOn.org. (more…)

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So how did you spend your Creative Loafing Beer Fest? Did you pass by me on your way from the MARTA station, trying to figure out what the hell was up with the closed sidewalk for the last two blocks and why you had to cross the street twice just to get in? If I had a dollar for every person who gave me a screwy look as I played “Sidewalk Monitor,” I could have afforded a ticket to get in. The funny thing was, once I finished my shift and went inside Woodruff, I ran into several Fest-goers who seemed like it was totally worth the re-routing.

Read more and view photos from the event at PopSmart.

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The Gallery at East Atlanta Tattoo’s group art shows continue to draw fans of the lowbrow style, the Monster Mayhem opening on Friday night proved. This show struck a particular chord, not only with the huge crowd that jammed the narrow gallery hallway and back-side patio but also shop/gallery owner Dirk Hays. “I’ve loved monsters since I was a kid,” says Hays, who poured over copies of Creepy and Eerie magazines growing up in Opelika, Ala. This is the fourth show at the gallery, which opened last September. Ideally, Hays would like to have four big seasonal shows with four smaller ones dropped in between. But considering attendance at these events have gone from 300 to more than 500 (at April’s Damn Dirty Ape show), don’t be surprised if they do more. “More and more people are coming to check out these shows,” Hays says.

To read more and view photos from the event, check out PopSmart.

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Thanks to everyone who played our Summer Guide Contest this year. We had 180 submissions, which if memory serves was double the total of last year’s contest. Last Friday was the deadline, and we had a flurry of last-minute entries for the drawing that was held under a pounding June sun on Monday afternoon. As you can see, it was quite a challenge for Marketing Director Shana Langfur (pictured above right and below), who had her hands full in keeping track not only of all the submissions, but also of the prize package. Before we announce the winner, let’s tell her what she won:

* Two passes to see the IMAX film Ends of the Earth: From Polar Bears to Penguins, which opens Saturday, June 7, at the Fernbank Museum of Natural History. (We also threw in two general-admission Fernbank passes.)
* Two tickets to the opening-night performance of Broadway Across America’s touring production of Mamma Mia!, which opens Tuesday., June 10, at the Fox Theatre.
* Two tickets good for any performance of Georgia Shakespeare’s season: As You Like It (June 11-Aug. 1), The Merchant of Venice (June 26-Aug. 2) and All’s Well That Ends Well (July 10-Aug. 3). Performances are held at the Conant Performing Arts Center. Two tickets (good for any performance).
* Two tickets to Creative Loafing’s BeerFest: Beer’lympics, on Saturday, June 14, at Woodruff Park.
* Two tickets to any remaining screening of the Coca-Cola Film Festival: Shine a Light (June 5), Horton Hears a Who! or Atonement (June 8), Casablanca (June 17), No Country for Old Men (June 18), Enchanted or Ben-Hur (July 13). Screenings at the Fox Theatre.
* Four tickets and two parking passes to the series-opening game between the Atlanta Braves and the Milwaukee Brewers on Monday, June 23, at Turner Field.
* Admission for two on the guest list for Corndogorama on June 26-29 at Lenny’s Bar.
* Two tickets to see the Dave Matthews Band on Monday, July 7, at Lakewood Amphitheatre.
* Two tickets for Cocktails in the Garden, which runs from July 10-Sept. 1 at the Atlanta Botanical Garden. Also, two general-admission passes for Atlanta Botanical Garden.
* Two tickets to attend the Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival, which runs from June 12-15 in Manchester, Tenn.
* Two tickets to see Mark Knopfler on Tuesday, July 29, at the Delta Classic Chastain Park Amphitheater.

Shana did plenty of rummaging through the lottery bin before finally pulling out the name … BARBARA PAYNE! She found all 11 of the (oh so hard to find) clues to the best of the 111 things to do this summer. Thanks for playing, Barbara.

(Photo by Ed Adams)

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Monster Bash is like Drive-Invasion without the humidity and with more makeup. OK, it was already pretty warm on Sunday when hot-rodders, devil dolls, rock ’n’ rollers and ghouls of all ages got all tatted up at the Starlight Drive-In. The event sold out, with barely a parking spot available by mid-afternoon in which rockers and sci-fi/horror-movie fans could camp out, cook out and rock out. (”It’s like an inner-city version of a hippie fest,” said one Basher during the post-sundown viewing of Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (which was followed by The Werewolf vs. Vampire Woman).

To read more and view the image gallery visit PopSmart.

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We’d like to thank the record number of readers who have entered into our Summer Guide Contest for tickets/passes to 11 of the 111 best things to do this summer. (I say record number in that, it seems like a ton more than last year, which was my first year doing this, which will then count as the entire history of CL Summer Guide contests. So there.)So consider this a final reminder of the deadline for the contest, which is today (Friday), 5 p.m. We’ll then gather up all the applicants and place them in a lottery system so complicated I probably couldn’t even explain it to people. (Although it might involve printing out the answers, wadding them up into balls of paper, and drawing from a garbage bag. We’ll see.)

We’ll announce the winner on Monday, June 2, in the PopSmart blog. Until then, if you haven’t played the game, you have about two hours left. It’s really easy: Simply visit the Summer Guide online (either by clicking here or on the Summer Guide tile on our homepage), and scan through the 111 options, looking for hyperlinks on 11 of those coolest of cool events, and then filling out the form as described. We’ll take it from there.

Get crackin’.

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So much of Screen on the Green on Thursday night, with its showing of Jaws, felt familiar. There was the huge signature banner covering the monster screen. There was the crowd of picnickers camping out on the sloping grass, this time Centennial Olympic Park. There was the sort-of entertaining pre-screening music act, this time in the form of Athens’ Blue Flashing Light. There was, ultimately, a really cool community vibe that makes Screen on the Green one of my favorite Atlanta experiences.

For the entire PopSmart post and a gallery of photos from the event, click here.

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We wanted to alert our readers about this week’s Summer Guide, which features 111 things to do this season. We incorrectly listed the dates of the Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival; the correct dates are June 12-15. Thanks to the alert reader for correcting us on this.

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Is Ted Turner the real Captain Planet? That’s what he says in Lizz Widdicombe’s hilarious “Talk of the Town” segment of this week’s New Yorker (“Born Green”), in which she catches up with the man who claims to be the one who beat Al Gore to telling the world an inconvenient truth with his now-defunct TBS cartoon, “Captain Planet and the Planeteers.” (Sounds like a bad ’70s funk ensemble.) The story comes from an Atlanta fundraiser for Turner’s Captain Planet Foundation. In the article, he boasts that he was his own inspiration for the Captain Planet character, who does battle with all the earth-unfriendly nasties out there.

Here’s a sample from the article:

With the show, Ted Turner is fond of saying, he invented a television genre that he called “edu-tainment” — a noble endeavor but one that has taken a lot of grief over the years. Critics of “Captain Planet” have pointed to the broadness of its allegory (characters include “Kwame from Africa” and “Gi from Asia”), and the heavy-handedness of its plots (battles against a villain named Hoggish Greedly and a Pollution Syndicate), to suggest that it’s less entertainment than a vehicle for “left-wing propaganda,” as one watchdog group put it. But Turner remains unfazed. “In terms of programming, it’s the best thing I ever did,” he said the other day.

Really, Ted? As opposed to, um, non-programming? Whatev, it definitely struggles to stand the test of time, as this clip demonstrates. But there is a kitschy charm about the whole thing. See for yourself, Planeteers!

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In this week’s Summer Guide, we did something a little sneaky to make your summer a fairly cool one. Embedded in 11 of the “111 things to do” is a little sentence that reads: “Wanna attend this event for free?”
If you click on that sentence, you will be whisked away to a magical place, where you can enter our contest for tickets to those 11 fun things. Within that link is a link to a form to fill out all 11 events once you’ve found them. Then email that form to: summerguide@cln.com.
You’ll be glad you did.
Oh, and that photo? Take it as a very nice, very broad hint about one of the 11.
Start clicking …

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In this week’s issue, we offer our readers our 2008 Summer Guide, with the theme “111 Things to Do This Summer.” But really, we lied. There are tons of things to do this summer. This was just the tip of the iceberg.When I sat down to edit it, I had well more than 111 to choose from (which was the idea), so there was some serious whittling down. But that shouldn’t stop us from providing the ones that didn’t make it into print, should it? So here are the rest of the blurbs. We should also note that with the comprehensive work done on the Summer Guide often means an even healthier updating of all of our listings, which I strongly recommend checking out for further summer planning.

Continue reading PopSmart post.

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It sounds like a comedic match made in Nerd Heaven: The Economist political cartoonist Kevin “Kal” Kallaugher combining forces with Second City, the most enduring American improv comedy troupe. At a time when politics is particularly rich for satire, these two sharp-witted figures take the stage tonight at 7 p.m., at the Alliance Theatre for “The Art of Political Satire.”

Find out how to win free tickets to this event at its PopSmart post.

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(Sony Pictures Classics)

It feels like it’s been a decade since “The West Wing” went off the air, and I’m still waiting for a TV show that matches its blend of wonkish politics and lofty idealism whipped into a compelling and witty dramatic narrative. Maybe that’s because, in 2008, I’m pining for Jed Bartlet as my president, because Martin Sheen portrayed a greatest-hits/composite president that was one part John F. Kennedy, one (small) part Bill Clinton and bits of other Democrats who deserved a closer look but never made it to the White House.

Read the rest of this entry.

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Will Atonement make an epic showing? Can Juno carry its success to term? Will Michael Clayton be found not guilty? Can No Country for Old Men hit the target? Or can There Will Be Blood strike it rich?

Join our film critics, Felicia Feaster and Curt Holman, and me while we ponder those questions and plenty more as we present our first-ever live blog during the Academy Awards ceremonies Sunday, Feb. 24, right here on PopSmart. The ceremonies start at 8 p.m., but we’ll hop on a few minutes earlier and start the discussion. You’re welcome to join in the discussion, too, by coming to PopSmart and getting in on the action yourself!

We’ve loved the reader response to our live blogs for other recent events, including the Super Tuesday presidential primaries, the Grammy Awards and Thursday’s Democratic debate.

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(Courtesy Olympic Centennial Park)

While there’s tons of stuff in this week’s upcoming cover story on Robert Osborne and Turner Classic Movies, one thing that didn’t make it in by the print deadline was today’s announcement by Turner that it will relocate the wildly popular and very fun Screen on the Green movie festival to Centennial Olympic Park. The festival also will switch out presenting networks: Turner’s Peachtree TV (formerly WTBS) takes over from Turner Classic Movies.

The festival will start up May 29 and will run each Thursday evening at dusk through June 26; the schedule is yet to be announced.

The move, like so many others over the next few months, was inspired by the drought. Due to the related conditions, Piedmont Park will spend 2008 without hosting key events like the Dogwood Festival, Atlanta Pride Festival or the Atlanta Jazz Festival. It was only a matter of time before Screen on the Green, which draws tens of thousands of viewers and picnickers (more or less) over the month of June, would join the evacuees.

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Quill, the official publication of the Society for Professional Journalists, has an insightful piece by Ed Avis on the changing landscape of alternative newsweeklies. Creative Loafing’s Ben Eason is heavily quoted in the piece, naturally, in part because of the recent acquisitions of the Chicago Reader and Washington City Paper. In part Eason talks about the “generational shift” in the industry.

The article thoughtfully lays out many of the challenges facing alt-weeklies, including the Internet and the subsequent impact of Craigslist on classified-ad sales, and how consolidation is one of the responses to that challenge:

At least 18 media companies in the United States own two or more alternative weeklies, including Review Publishing, which owns the Philadelphia Weekly and Atlantic City Weekly, and Village Voice Media, which owns 16 papers, including the Riverfront Times in St. Louis, Westword in Denver and New York’s Village Voice.

“Does the corporatization of those papers mean there will be less enterprising reporting? I’m not sure,” said Medill’s [Charles] Whitaker. “In the corporate model, there is an emphasis on producing a lot of stories, which can hinder enterprise. People can become concerned with filling space. But it hasn’t played out yet.”

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(Photo courtesy http://duetonline.net)

We’re pleased to announce more reasons for folks to come check out our annual Fiction Contest party at 7 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 10, at Eyedrum. Not only were we blessed with a record number of submissions this year, but we’ve also got some cool sponsors (Café Intermezzo, Chattahoochee Review) and cool judges (David Fulmer, Joshilyn Jackson, Fiona Zedde).

Now we’re a bit geeked to have confirmed one of the more mood-enhancing musical acts in town in the form of Duet for Theremin and Lap Steel. Featuring Scott Burland (pictured, at right) on theremin and Frank Schultz on lap steel, this duet is often described as experimental, ambient and minimalist — their music seems to come more in surges and streaks, strains and swoops, with stops and starts thrown in for good measure. You might call it sonic! It’s intoxicating stuff that stands on its own or as a heady soundtrack behind the winning entries, which will be read by the winners at the end of the evening.

Check out this U.K. appearance …

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One of my favorite moments from the inaugural AJC Decatur Book Festival last year was an appearance by public-TV journalist Ray Suarez, who was pushing his latest work, The Holy Vote: The Politics of Faith in America (Rayo).

But then, Suarez is a hero of mine. In his best moments, as the host of NPR’s “Talk of the Nation,” he seemed like the best-prepared, most even-keeled and fair-minded of moderators, gliding conversations from multiple subjects to callers and back. As much as I enjoy his equally balanced segments as a senior correspondent for “The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer,” it feels like so much less compared to his NPR work — by about 50 minutes daily, in fact. But hey, Ray’s a rising star; he deserves the promotion onward and upward.
Suarez will be in town Thursday (Nov. 29), at the Jimmy Carter Library and Museum for a little schmooze-down from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Save your pennies; the tickets range from $50-$75.

I haven’t yet had a chance to read The Holy Vote, but loved watching Suarez do his thing at the DBF, making a compelling case for how religion has become indelibly woven into the fabric of modern-day politics and wondering very critically whether it’s a good thing.
Check out this clip from a Suarez book appearance …

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Yes, you read write on our homepage: The deadline for the annual Fiction Contest has been extended. We figured with the holiday looming people might feel hard-pressed to make the deadline and their oyster stuffing, so we thought we’d make it easier on folks (and harder on our judges!).

Keep ’em coming!

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The idea of blogging about popular culture and arts and entertainment with a slightly brainier approach might at first seem like a daunting proposition. You could be called pretentious, or you could fall short of your goal. But after watching our staff dip its collective feet in the blogging waters with Fresh Loaf, Crib Notes and Omnivore — covering news, music and food — and doing it very well, we figured this was the next logical step.

Hence, PopSmart, which we hope will be both: loads of pop culture, delivered with a smart, but still fun, tone that offers our readers a savvy, broad view of arts and entertainment in Atlanta and beyond. You’ll find news, observations, rants, essays, and humor along with all the whistles and bells of a fun, entertaining blog. There will be plenty of celebrity gawking as well, but we want to offer something with a little more meat on the bones. We’ve spent the past couple weeks getting up and running, but today marks our “official” launch. The word is out.

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