Fresh Loaf

Creative Loafing and Sarah Palin’s doppelganger wish you and your gun-toting baby mamas a Happy Halloween. Check out more scintillating costume ideas for tonight from the L5P Halloween Parade and Netherworld photos.

And while you’re nursing your monster-themed-martini induced hangover tomorrow morning, check out all the photos from tonight’s Halloween parties on the Sideshow Atlanta photo blog. It’s the cure for what ails you.

(Photo by Joeff Davis)

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Now that I’ve got your attention … If you’re in dire need of visual stimulation tonight or this weekend, I suggest hitting up 7 Stages Theater in Little Five Points to catch a performance of Dirty Pretty. Modern dance company Zoetic Dance Ensemble has outdone themselves with a multimedia show that goes far beyond traditional stage dance into the realm of the future. Well, the highly technological present. Material hanging from the ceiling does double duty as set pieces and film screens. A bathtub replete with a soaking wet dancer makes an appearance. The music perfectly accompanies beautiful choreography that wavers effortlessly between moving and amusing.

I caught the open dress rehearsal and will definitely be going back for a second helping this weekend. Check out the photos from the preview show and go see it for yourself at 7 Stages Theater running from Oct. 30-Nov. 1 at 8 p.m. each evening.

(Photo by Tara-Lynne Pixley)

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We had Woodruff Arts Center covered Saturday night. If you missed it, you should cry. Or you could watch our video of the event and feel a little better.

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This past Saturday the BET Awards saw a bevy of well-dressed men and women swarm the Atlanta Civic Center. Fancy pants as so many of these people were, every non-celebrity had to walk through the metal detectors. Which is not so fancy. This man was waiting his turn as, right out of the frame, another guy was getting yelled at by several guards for trying and nearly succeeding to slip a camera past them.

(Photo by Tara-Lynne Pixley)

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SCANDINAVIAN FESTIVAL: Hanging with my gnomie

Oglethorpe’s Olde English ambiance seems an odd setting for Scandinavian culture. But if you’re into the lands of the Vikings or just couldn’t afford Taste of Atlanta tickets Saturday, there was Taste of Ikea. I mean, the 14th Annual Scandinavian Festival Atlanta.

Traditionally topped Danish hotdogs, Norwegian lefse and Swedish meatballs were some of the intriguing items on the menu that could be had after waiting in line for an eternity. Although, if you wanted a shorter line you could go for the Swedish pea soup. Intimate (read claustrophobic) classrooms paid cultural homage to each country as unfamiliar languages bounced around the walls.

And then there was Eric the Red in full Viking splendor and scary huge garden gnomes that attracted children like flies. Fun and educational for the whole family! Now we’re ready for a move to soon-to-be tropic aisle Iceland in preparation for global warming’s last stand.

(Photo by Stefani Byrd)

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Thanks to my spousal equivalent, I attend all sorts of racing events that I would never even know existed otherwise. Though I’ve learned to differentiate the sounds of revving engines, get excited about F1 qualifying and understand the varying specifics of stock classes in autocrossing, I’m still not quite on board with the cycling. Being a rather unsuccessful cyclist myself, I fail to see the draw of riding, much less racing, a bike for hours.

This past weekend I went to the Festival of Speed at the Dick Lane Velodrome in East Point. It was hours of different ages, genders, races and nationalities riding around and around, fast, slow and in-between. There were odd games and rules, races with funny names and through it all a cheering, smiling crowd.

I almost get it now. I think. Sometimes all it takes to appreciate something is to surround yourself with people who are insanely jazzed about said thing. Unless it’s politics — that’s a whole other story.

(Photo by Tara-Lynne S. Pixley)

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CL spent a day at Con with Casey Campbell and several of her friends, interviewing and photographing them as they got ready for a night out in costumed glory.

For more photos of Dragon*Con 2008, click here.

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The RNC is going strong now that weather patterns are no longer an issue. Also going strong are the multiple Palin controversies. But that didn’t stop the Republican VP candidate from presenting a speech invigorating to both right-wingers and the media.

(Photo by Joeff Davis)

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Hurricane Palin Gustav may have thrown a wrench in the Republican National Convention’s opening on Monday, but the protesters were not deterred. Reportedly, over 200 arrests were made out of 10,000 protesters marching on St. Paul, many of which were part of a violent anarchist group. The members of Code Pink kept it peaceful, though.

(Photo by Joeff Davis)

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As the Democratic National Convention’s stars, Barack Obama and Joe Biden, took the stage yesterday, an overflowing arena expressed every emotion that came to heart.

(Photo by Joeff Davis)

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As the DNC continues, big moments for the Democrats, like Hillary Clinton’s speech, are in abundance.

(Photo by Joeff Davis)

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We’re hosting an art show to show off all the fabulous winners of our first ever You Shoot contest. Why? Because we love you.

And you should love us back by attending on August 28 and checking out both the Flickr group members’ stunning images and CL staffers’ artwork.

Check out the ad below for more info.

We’ll see you there. Or else.

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 Our staff photographer Joeff Davis is reporting from the Democratic National Convention field and so far Denver is quite the happening place. There was a protest replete with police showing off their riot wear and then there was this guy.

(Photo by Joeff Davis)

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While on assignment for Best of Atlanta, I got harassed by an unreasonably incensed and idiotically aggressive someone claiming to be the owner of a nearby bar. Apparently, taking photos on a rooftop is a crime against humanity.

This was the last photo I took of the night, after deciding that DJ Asagi’s spinning abilities and the laid-back vibe of Cenci was too cool not to take advantage of.

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This is a Soapbox submission by a guest blogger.

Trouble in Paradise

By Hannah Palmer

When ABC’s “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” came to Stumptown, I was just as excited as everyone else at the office. The project site was one block from my high school, on a street where I had trick-or-treated, babysat and toilet-papered houses. Ahyoka Drive was one of the nicest streets in a low income neighborhood, which, by 2005, wasn’t saying much.

During the shoot, I cruised by to get a glimpse of the action. It was winter and through the naked trees I could see the construction zone, surrounded by cranes and lit up like a movie set. People with bullhorns and Starbucks were moving about purposefully. People from LA!

I even tuned in to the Sunday night broadcast to get a look at the interior, “meet” the family and share in the community-wide freakout. And I’ve cruised by a few times since the “dream house” was finished and the cameras cleared out. With its turrets and archways and copper gutters, the place looks like nothing else in Clayton County. It inspires gawking.

So now Lake City’s “Extreme Makeover” home is making the news again. I saw the headlines and thought, great. One more embarrassing story to put Stumptown in the national news. I was worried by the grouchy remarks of Lake City Mayor Willie Oswalt who said, “It’s aggravating. You do that much work, and they just squander it.”

He’s “aggravated.” The Harper family is losing their home. I thought a touch more compassion would be appropriate. And what did he think would happen? That they would live happily ever after? (more…)

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This is a Soapbox submission by a guest blogger.

Is the southside ready for rural renewal?

By Hannah Palmer

When you drive south on I-75 from Atlanta, heading out of the city and into the sprawl, you’ll pass Southlake Mall on your right. This is “The Mall” of my childhood – destination for Christmas shopping, gift certificate spending, giant-cookie-cake pickup and Glamour Shot sessions. There is no lake at Southlake, but there is a patch of woods between the mall and the interstate.

Over the past few years, and many trips down 75, I’ve watched the progress of a strange development on this site. One by one, these huge historic-looking houses were wheeled in on flatbed trucks and reassembled in the swampy no-man’s land between the Sears parking lot and the expressway.

They seemed so forlorn and out of place. Who was doing this? I wondered. And what for? I stopped to take a photo in September of 2006.

So I just got back in town after 6 weeks in the mountains, and had to make the rounds of Stumptown: Anne & Bill’s Restaurant, the Library, and of course, I pulled over to check out the progress at “Olde Morrow.” It’s fancy!

I called the City of Morrow’s Economic Development office to get the lowdown. Lawanda told me it’s going to be a 17-acre development that will include taverns, retail, restaurants and a bed and breakfast. The central fountain and gardens will host receptions and outdoor events. Here’s the craziest part: they’re building the lake. As in “Southlake.” It’s about goddam time! (more…)

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CL has launched a new blog called Sideshow that exists merely so happy party-goers can see their happy faces the day after.  We want to help people remember exactly how much fun they had before they were hungover. And we need a couple awesome photographers to do that.

We’ll be giving you the access to the coolest shows, parties and festivals. You’ll be posting wicked photos to our website. And we’ll pay you. It’s an exceedingly symbiotic relationship.

If you think you’re down for the task or know someone who is, contact me at taralynne.pixley@cln.com. Send me some shots you’ve taken that pass for “nightlife photos” (i.e. you and your friends at a party, drinking in your backyard or wreaking havoc elsewhere) and you just might get picked to be CL’s photo ambassador to the nightcrawlers of Atlanta.
Email me with any questions but check out the Sideshow photo galleries first to get an idea of what we’re looking for.  Don’t send me photos of your dog, your grandma or that artsy shot of a fire hydrant. Party pics, people.

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