Fresh Loaf

Dear Sexorcist,

I’m 38 and married to a great guy, but I’ve been seeing this woman on the side for about three months. Lately, she’s been sticking her nose where it doesn’t belong, telling me I need to “confess” to my husband that a) I’m lesbian and b) I’m cheating on him. Bull. First, I have a great sex life with my husband, and second, sex with another woman isn’t cheating! It’d be a completely different thing if she were a man. I think she’s just pissed off that I have no intention of leaving him. Do I need to break it off with her or is there some way to go back to our no-strings sex relationship?

— Uncertain in Sandy Springs

Dear Uncertain:

I haven’t seen someone this self-absorbed since my last boss. I’d say “good morning” in the hall and she’d reply, “Thank you.”

You know what burns my ass more than a three-foot flame? Your logic. Heterosexuals “count” in breaking your vows, but lesbians don’t? You’re not just a cheat, you’re a homophobic one to boot.

If you’re in a heterosexual marriage, same-sex cheating is worse than its opposite-sex counterpart. It’s the difference between peeing on the floor and taking a dump on the coffee table. Ask Dina McGreevey. When she found out her husband, the then-governor of New Jersey, was cheating on her with a man, she knew infidelity was the least of her problems.

Comment here: Continue Reading “Girl-on-girl infidelity isn’t really cheating … or is it?”

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You’re a TV junkie, a film buff, a viral video addict, a “Situation”-in-training, and you need a special place online to work it all out. That’s why we’ve created Screen Grab, a new movie and TV blog. From now on, Screen Grab’s where you’ll find all our pop culture goodies, from “24″ and “Lost” recaps, to informed film criticism, to Laser Cats(!).

Don’t worry, though, our beloved Culture Surfing isn’t going anywhere. From now on, it’ll be focused on all things local and artistic. Book, theater and visual art reviews, artist interviews, local arts news, info on openings and more. So bookmark the new site, and be sure to leave your thoughts, questions and musings in the comments below!

Oh and if you’re Twitter inclined, follow us here: @cl_atlmoviestv.

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What do you lust after? Answer that very question by video response or comment after subscribing to our YouTube page for a chance to win Bon Jovi tickets when they play Philips Arena April 15. You must be a subscriber to our YouTube page to win. The video contest ends Feb. 12.

Leave your responses here.

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MARA SHALHOUP

I honestly don’t remember when I started reading Creative Loafing, though it must have been around the time I got my driver’s license. That’s when the paper first became useful to me, a suburban teenager in search of the tools for navigating the city’s music scene – both its all-ages shows and the ones I tried to sneak in to. The paper introduced me to the Somber Reptile and International Ballroom, the Point and the Masquerade, Fantasyland Records and Wax ‘n’ Facts. It was the guidebook for those who hoped to escape the homogeny of strip malls and chain restaurants and high school life in general.

Over the years, the paper became useful in other ways. I began to soak up the Best of Atlanta issue, which revealed other worlds within the city that I’d never had the occasion to enter: the political scene, the arts circles, the better restaurants. By the time I was 22 and writing crime stories for the Macon Telegraph, I started to view Creative Loafing as still something else: an avenue for exploring the deeper meaning of social issues. Within a few years, I began to search for a publication that would grant me the space to tell in-depth and longer-form stories. I wanted to work for a paper whose ideals and aspirations matched my own. Creative Loafing was a natural fit.

All of this is to say that I came of age with the paper. Its sensibilities made journalism seem … relevant. I might have learned the basics of the trade at UGA’s J-school and cut my reporter’s teeth at the Telegraph, but Creative Loafing ultimately allowed me to relate to readers in a way I couldn’t before, to find a voice that served both of us, to be part of something that was smart and cool and important. At the risk of sounding hokey, I consider it a badge of honor to work here – even when I have to explain to out-of-towners what we are (”You know, the Village Voice of the South”), or when I find myself repeating the paper’s name to a confused source in New York or L.A. (”Not Creative Living, Creative Loafing. Yes, Loafing.”)

Continue Reading “Rebuilding the Loaf“

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For more than a year, Creative Loafing has been without an editor in chief. No longer.

Creative Loafing Atlanta Publisher Luann Labedz today named award-winning writer and and longtime CL staffer Mara Shalhoup as CL’s new editor in chief. As the Atlanta paper’s head editorial honcho, Shalhoup will lead the print and online publications and guide the voice and coverage of the city’s longest-running alt-weekly.

In a company press release sent out today, Labedz said, “With Mara’s rich history in the community and deep knowledge of journalism and Atlanta, she is the perfect choice to lead our editorial team. Mara is a standout executive who has been a leader in innovation and is a great example of the paper’s next generation of leaders.”

“Ever since I was a teenager growing up in the ’burbs, I’ve had much respect and admiration for Creative Loafing,” Shalhoup said in the press release. “It’s scrappy and smart and provocative and cool. The paper speaks to people in a way that matters, and I’m thrilled to lead a super-talented staff through some changes that will make Creative Loafing even more essential. I’m also eager to hear from readers and the community about how we can do a better job.”

Prior to joining CL in 2000, Shalhoup was a crime writer at the Macon Telegraph. Such CL investigative pieces as “Learning to hit a lick” and her groundbreaking work on the Black Mafia Family saga have earned Shalhoup numerous state, regional and national awards, including 2007 Journalist of the Year from the Atlanta Press Club. Her book BMF: The Rise and Fall of Big Meech and the Black Mafia Family will be released in March by St. Martin’s Press. Shalhoup lives in Ormewood Park with her husband and badass dog Jojo.

(Photo by Joeff Davis)

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We at Fresh Loaf take our jobs as reporters of the city very seriously. But every now and then, it’s time for you,  the reader, to report to us! We’re asking you to do what you do best — fantasize about the people you can’t have! Share with us all the babes of the service industry, blue collar hunks and seductive locals you just can’t get out of your head, so that some pretty faces can finally replace Gov. Sonny Perdue’s round head constantly popping up on this blog.

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(In no particular order …)

Roger Walker
Keely Durham
Ed Hula III

These three smarty-pants Fresh Loaf readers apparently know more than you do about what went on in Atlanta over the past decade. Or at least they got off their butts and entered our Decade in Review cover contest.

Not only did Roger, Ed and Keely correctly guess at least 25 of the 66 images printed on the cover of our Dec. 30 issue, they also wowed us with the pithiness of their responses. After the jump, a sampling of the winners’ wit.

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CLICK FOR FULL-SCREEN IMAGE

Only two hours remain in our contest to guess the relevance of as many images as possible from our Decade in Review cover. You only need to guess 25 — out of 66! — to win.

Here are the deets:

Want to show off your knowledge of Atlanta, wow your friends and enemies, and earn the respect of Creative Loafing’s immensely powerful staff? Here’s how:

Shoot us an e-mail in which you explain the meaning of each of the photos printed on the cover of this week’s Decade in Review issue. The more photos you can describe — and the better the description — the greater your chance of admittance into an elite inner circle of immeasurable privilege.

The three participants with the best responses will be announced Monday, Jan. 4, on clfreshloaf.com — and will get to choose from an array of pretty decent prizes, including tickets to the Hawks, the Thrashers, Muse, Bon Jovi and Slayer/Megadeth, as well as a theater preview or film screening with Arts Critic Curt Holman.

Deadline: Monday, Jan. 4 at noon. Send your guesses to decadeinreview@creativeloafing.com.

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The decade that gave us Bill Campbell and Shirley Franklin (pictured)

Oh, 2000. How quaint you were. How innocent. How oblivious to such ills as tornados tearing up downtown Atlanta, drought drying up Lake Lanier, and rains causing creeks and rivers to rage, destroying homes, roads, businesses and lives. This was back before the housing market tanked and unemployment soared and nightlife (in Atlanta at least) soured — even before terrorists crashed planes into NYC’s skyscrapers.

But the aughts weren’t for naught. There was some good news in the past decade, predominantly in the form of technological time-sucks and cultural growth. Seriously, do you remember life before Gmail, Twitter, Wikipedia, YouTube and Facebook? Do you recall an Atlanta devoid of smartly crafted cocktails, chef-driven restaurants, DIY arts collectives, and such staples as Trader Joe’s, H&M and IKEA?

Most important, though, are the intangibles that injected deeper meaning into our lives: the camaraderie that followed the devastation of 9/11, the pride that accompanied the election of President Obama, the in-it-together attitude that has risen from the decade of disappointment and challenge. Is Atlanta the better for it? Did we collectively learn from the highs and lows of the ’00s? In some ways, yes. In others, no.

Continue Reading “Decade in Review”

How well do you know the past decade? Correctly guess the relevance of the images on the cover of this week’s paper and win an amazing prize!

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Dear Sexorcist:

I never thought I’d settle down. Now I’m engaged. Great woman. Soulmate, really. But anybody who knows me knows that standing up in front of a crowd promising that I’ll never break my vows is a bit of a stretch for me. Though I haven’t cheated yet (it’s been two years of monogamy — a record), I’m not sure I can do it. Forsake all others? Who came up with this shit? I don’t really know what to do here. On the one hand, I love this woman more than anything; on the other hand, every time I think she’ll be the last woman I ever sleep with, it makes me wanna build bombs. Of course, I can’t talk to her about it. She’d freak. And all my buddies are like, “Get over it — that’s what marriage is about. Just cheat and shut up about it.” Got any advice?

— Screwed in Alpharetta

Dear Screwed:

Men experience monogamy a little like the Medicare Doughnut Hole. We’re covered for the first 2,000 days, then coverage drops off completely and immediately kicks back in when we reach the catastrophic threshold (old age).

It’s this “Monogamy Doughnut Hole” that gets men in so much trouble. Rarely do we cheat when we’re covered, but once we enter the hole — and we all do — good luck.

Most of us — men and women — get railroaded into monogamy. Either by a partner who holds a bat over our heads when they ask us how we really feel about monogamy, or by swallowing society’s poison pill: that monogamy is the only path to transcendent love. Well, you know what? Society has been wrong on almost everything when it comes to sex and love. What society has said is fake, dangerous and sick (homosexuality and interracial love come to mind), people experience as genuine, safe and healthy.

Continue Reading “The Sexorcist: He’s set to wed, but his oats aren’t totally sown”

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CLICK FOR FULL-SCREEN IMAGE

Want to show off your knowledge of Atlanta, wow your friends and enemies, and earn the respect of Creative Loafing’s immensely powerful staff? Here’s how:

Shoot us an e-mail in which you explain the meaning of each of the photos printed on the cover of this week’s Decade in Review issue. The more photos you can describe — and the better the description — the greater your chance of admittance into an elite inner circle of immeasurable privilege.

The three participants with the best responses will be announced Monday, Jan. 4, on clfreshloaf.com — and will get to choose from an array of pretty decent prizes, including tickets to the Hawks, the Thrashers, Muse, Bon Jovi and Slayer/Megadeth, as well as a theater preview or film screening with Arts Critic Curt Holman.

Deadline: Monday, Jan. 4 at noon. Send your guesses to decadeinreview@creativeloafing.com.

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Dear Sexorcist:

I’m a female about to turn 30, so I should be “in my prime,” right? Well, both my boyfriend and I are totally frustrated by my lack of sex drive, which seems to rear its head only on the weekends. Once. Maybe twice. We argue over the situation if he wants to get it on during the week, leaving me even less likely to cave in and do it, which, I’ll admit, I do on occasion just to make him happy. WTF is my problem? Help!

— Suffering in Stone Mountain

Dear Suffering:

Wow. You’re turning into the kind of woman who’d rather sleep in her bed than make love in it. I Am Woman, Hear Me Snore. Don’t beat yourself up over it, grandma, there’s help. You’re wrestling with one of two kinds of libidinal depressions: low libido or low sensation.

With low libido, you don’t want it, you don’t fantasize about it, you’re not even receptive to it. You’re the vegan at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack.

With low sensation, you think about it, you want it, you’re receptive to it, but your body isn’t. A classic case of “the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.” As much as you want it, there’s a measurable lack of lubrication, decreased nipple sensitivity and reduced clitoral and labial sensation. You’re Mary Norwood on election night.

Continue Reading “The Sexorcist: Has she reached her sexual peak before reaching 30?”

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Dear Sexorcist:

I’ve come to realize I have a thing for dominant women, though I haven’t acted on it. I can’t help but think that women into BDSM or dominance have serious psychological problems and do I really want to go there? I mean, are these women to be avoided at all costs or do normal, sane dominant women exist?

— Skeptical in Suwannee

Dear Skeptical:

So the guys who want to be dominated are sane but the women who want to dominate are not? “Hello, Pot? This is Kettle. You’re black.”

I’d beat you with a cane if I didn’t think you’d get hard. But then again, I should be nicer to a guy who’s just coming out about his sexual desires. Your predicament is remarkably similar to closeted gay guys: horrified at your own feelings and attacking the people who share them. Then, drunk on the feeling of superiority (“I’m not like them”), you’re certain that “they” are morally wrong or psychologically impaired.

Christ, you’re not a submissive; you’re a Republican!

Continue Reading “The Sexorcist: Are girls who are into BDSM real-life psychos?”

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The Twitterverse can be a vast and scary place. Luckily you can connect with CLATL on Twitter for the most essential updates on Atlanta news, food, music, events and a&e.

Click here for all you need to know.

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Creative Loafing’s newest columnist, Michael Alvear, aka the Sexorcist, comes to the aid of a girl in Stockdale about the eternal issue of condom-or-no-condom:

Dear Sexorcist:
Condoms sometimes make my boyfriend go limp the second he puts them on, so he’s insisting I go on the pill. I’m like, no way. Why should I take something that’s going to fuck up my hormones, make me gain weight and possibly put me at risk for cancer just because he can’t get used to a little rubber? He’s pissed off that we’re not having much sex and I’m resentful that all of the burden falls on me. On top of that, he thinks he’s being fair and balanced. How do we settle this?
— Stumped in Stockdale

Read how Alvear answers S.I.S. in his latest column.

No stranger to sticky subjects, Alvear will answer all your sex and relationship questions, which you can submit anonymously at clatl.com/sex. And meet the Sexorcist in person at CL’s Very Sexy Holiday Party at Halo Lounge this Friday! (Facebook invitation here)

Happy sexing!

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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).

For more information about our internship program, please visit clatl.com/intern or e-mail alicia.wages@creativeloafing.com.

(Photo by Jeff Riley)

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1. Police raid gay leather bar Atlanta Eagle (Patrons allegedly were cuffed and ordered to lie on the floor. If you’ve seen the Eagle’s floor, you’d know that’s cruel and unusual punishment.)

2. Mayor, City Council qualifying ends … here’s the list (More than 50 candidates are vying for 17 seats. Is your district’s seat up for grabs?)

3. Atlanta’s largest homeless shelter sues City Hall (Lawsuit claims the city conspired to shutter the controversial Peachtree-Pine shelter.)

4. Trees — yes, trees — stolen along the Beltline (Seriously?)

5. Kyle Keyser’s social media skills pay off in mayoral fundraising (The community activist and mayoral candidate got his Facebook and Twitter followers to help him raise the $4,425 needed to qualify.)

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1. In the auction for Creative Loafing, the winning bidder is … (… these guys. Hey, they seem pretty OK!)

2. The mayoral ‘machine’ goes haywire, Reed fires back (Memo urges Atlanta’s black leaders to rally behind a single black mayoral candidate — to keep a white candidate out of office.)

3. Wendy Whitaker, symbol of flawed sex offender law, rearrested (When she was 17, Whitaker gave one of the most regrettable blow jobs ever.)

4. Sen. Jeff Chapman’s views on water conservation, water wars (Chapman’s one of the Gold Dome’s greatest enigmas — one of the few Republicans who doesn’t march in lockstep with his fellow pachyderms.)

5. Oxendine: Build an interstate through East Atlanta? Let’s talk! (Um, no.)

(Photo by Joeff Davis)

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CL’s Chanté LaGon and Thomas Wheatley discuss the equity auction that took place on Tues., Aug. 25, where Atalaya Capital Management gained ownership of Creative Loafing Inc. from former CEO Ben Eason. Wheatley goes into detail about what took place at the auction as well as the events that led up to Creative Loafing Inc. filing Chapter 11 bankruptcy in September 2008.

Air Loaf is broadcast weekdays on 1690 WMLB-AM at approximately 8:10 a.m., 12:20 p.m. and 6:20 p.m.

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Ben Eason

(Updates below, with additional reporting by Thomas Wheatley.)

… Atalaya Capital Management.

The auction, which began this morning, determined who will control Creative Loafing Inc.’s six newspapers, which compose the nation’s second-largest altweekly chain. It also marks the end of CLI’s yearlong bankruptcy.

Outgoing CEO Ben Eason lost control of the company his parents founded in 1972 to the New York hedge fund from whom he borrowed $30 million to buy the Chicago Reader and Washington City Paper.

Atalaya won the auction with a $5 million cash bid. Eason’s highest offer was a $2.3 million bid, nearly $1.5 million of which was “in-kind contributions.” Had Eason won, he also would have had to repay Atalaya at least $12 million.

Reporters, CLI managers, and Eason family members filled the courtroom to capacity.

Bankruptcy Judge Caryl E. Delano opened the equity auction with CLI’s bid. Tyler Brown, representing Atalaya, asked the judge if bids needed to be entered in increments of $50,000, to which Delano replied they did. People who might have been prepared for a game of one-upmanship were then disappointed, as Brown submitted Atalaya’s bid of $5 million in cash.

CLI’s lawyers asked for a brief recess.

When the recess ended and Delano returned to the bench, CLI’s lawyers asked her to close the auction. They wanted to argue that Atalaya’s bid might have been the “highest,” but it wasn’t necessarily the “best.” If Atalaya gained control of the company, they said, there was no guarantee that the hedge fund wouldn’t split the company into pieces and sell off the papers.

(more…)

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UPDATE: We have a winner.

In case you haven’t heard, today is equity auction day!

Creative Loafing reporter extraordinaire Thomas Wheatley is in sunny Tampa to cover what might be the final chapter in Creative Loafing Inc.’s yearlong bankruptcy saga. Wheatley’s first update is posted a little further down — hold on! — and he will continue to offer dispatches throughout the day.

First, to bring you up to speed: The auction pits current CLI CEO Ben Eason, whose family founded Creative Loafing 37 years ago, against Eason’s biggest creditor, Atalaya Capital Management, from whom Eason borrowed $30 million to buy the Chicago Reader and Washington City Paper in 2007. Eason has said the burden of the loan forced him to seek Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last year.

If Eason prevails, he will have to pay Atalaya back at least $12 million (on top of any amount exceeding a bid of $2.5 million or higher). The remainder of the $18 million owed Atalaya — if there is any — will be written off.

Wheatley reports that Eason’s opening bid is $2.3 million, including $825,000 cash and the remainder in “in-kind contributions.” Yesterday, Atalaya filed a motion contesting the contributions, but the judge ruled this morning that they were admissible. Atalaya then reserved the right to challenge them later today.

Following Eason’s opening bid, Wheatley reports, Atalaya upped the ante: $5 million cash, on top of including the $2 million cash and $1 million line of credit it already promised in its own opening bid.

Eason’s attorney then asked for a brief break.

(more…)

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UPDATE: The auction is now underway.

On the eve of the Aug. 25 equity auction that will determine who controls Creative Loafing Inc., Creative Loafing’s biggest creditor is trying to disqualify current CL CEO Ben Eason’s bid. If the creditor, Atalaya Capital Management, is successful, it will automatically win control of the company.

Either way, the rightful owner of the six-newspaper chain will almost certainly be determined tomorrow in a federal courtroom in Tampa, the culmination of a yearlong bankruptcy-court battle that pitted Eason against Atalaya, the investment firm from whom he borrowed $30 million to purchase the Chicago Reader and Washington City Paper in 2007.

This showdown is heating up!

Atalaya’s objection offers a glimpse of Eason’s bid, which it calls “facially incomprehensible.” Neither Atalaya’s nor Eason’s bid — the only two that were accepted by the court — has been made public.

The rules of the auction state that prospective bidders must match Atalaya’s opening bid amount of $2.2 million. Bids can be a combination of cash and “in-kind contributions.” Basically, Atalaya is contesting the contributions portion of Eason’s bid.

If Eason prevails, he will have to pay Atalaya at least $12 million (on top of any amount exceeding a $2.5 million bid at auction). The remainder of the original $30 million loan will be written off.

Here’s Atalaya’s objection to Eason’s bid:

(more…)

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1. AJC moving to metro Atlanta’s real downtown (The daily will be abandoning its intown digs for a new, OTP office. Yep.)

2. Lisa Borders up in latest mayoral poll (Though Councilwoman Mary Norwood still holds the lead, Council Prez Borders appears to be making progress. Someone’s pissed.)

3. Creative Loafing Inc. and its largest creditor will duke it out next week (The fate of the six-newspaper chain will be determined at an equity auction TOMORROW. Stay tuned.)

4. Threesome assault defense, ‘Ah jest wanted to watch’ (Total weirdness.)

5. Troy Davis deserves hearing, says Supremes (Somebody — the U.S. Supreme Court, no less! — is finally granting the longtime death row inmate a hearing on his innocence claims.)

(Photo by Joeff Davis)

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Only two bidders will compete in next week’s equity auction that will determine who controls Creative Loafing Inc.’s six newspapers: a team headed by current Creative Loafing CEO Ben Eason, and the New York hedge fund to whom Eason owes $30 million, Atalaya Capital Management.

According to a document filed today in federal bankruptcy court in Tampa, where Eason filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last year:

Creative Loafing, Inc. and affiliated debtors … hereby file for in camera review …  the documents comprising the respective bid packages received from Atalaya … and Creative Loafing Management, LLC (“CLM”), which are the only bidders identified as Qualified Bidders pursuant to the Bidding Procedures Order.

The deadline for bidders to join the Aug. 25 auction was 4 p.m. yesterday.

Details of the bids have not been filed in bankruptcy court, though past documents state that Atalaya will present the opening bid of $2.2 million. If Eason prevails, he will have to pay Atalaya at least $12 million (on top of any amount exceeding a $2.5 million bid at auction). The remainder of the original $30 million loan will be written off.

UPDATE: Our colleague Wayne Garcia, at Creative Loafing Tampa, attended a hearing related to the case this afternoon and has this to report:

(more…)

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CL’s Chanté LaGon, Amber Robinson and Alicia Wages chat about this year’s College Guide. The Creative Loafing interns helmed this year’s issue which features top 5 lists, volunteer and internship opportunities, cheap eats, artistic endeavours and more.

Air Loaf is broadcast weekdays on 1690 WMLB-AM at approximately 8:10 a.m., 12:20 p.m. and 6:20 p.m.

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Subscribe to the Air Loaf RSS feed to download each new episode automatically

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