Fresh Loaf

In the third installment in our series of videos chronicling the bizarre trials and unusual tribulations of political candidates you’ve probably never heard of, we bring you … someone you probably HAVE heard of: Atlanta mayoral candidate and grassroots activist Kyle Keyser.

After being robbed at gunpoint outside an Poncey-Highland Old Fourth Ward Pizza Hut, Keyser started Atlantans Together Against Crime, a community anti-crime group. In September, he qualified as a candidate for Atlanta mayor.

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Participants in the notorious Little Five Points Halloween Parade let their freak flag fly high last year, leading some parents to cover their children’s eyes. It’s pretty much that intense every year and it’s coming up this weekend.

(Photo by Joeff Davis)

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Cooper Sanchez hosted Oakland: In the Greenhouse Ruins, a one-day art show of paintings and installations, last Friday at Oakland Cemetery.

(Photo by Dustin Chambers)

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This photo was shot Oct. 10 at the Rialto Center  for the Arts during auditions for the Apollo Theater’s 75th anniversary season of Amateur Night, that starts in January of next year. Anybody who wanted to try out had the opportunity as long as they were one of the first 300 in line at the Rialto that morning. Each contestant got up to 90 seconds to try out for the Amateur Night producers in an “American Idol” style audition, after which they were either informed that they were “going to New York” or offered a polite thank you.

Dwayne Terry, 26,  of Lawrenceville, GA was the eleventh person in line at the audition. He arrived outside the Rialto at 7:45 p.m. the night before the auditions and slept on the sidewalk in front of the theater. “When you really want something you have to go get it,” he said. “The biggest thing was I was so excited about the opportunity, that sleeping on the sidewalk really did not matter.”

When this photo was taken Saturday at 10:26 a.m. in the audition room, Terry was minutes from his life-long dream of trying out to perform at the Apollo. “When that photo was taken I was meditating, I was thinking about ministering to the people in the room through my art.” Dwayne, who goes by the performance name Inspirit, describes his talent as “Inspirational Mime.” During his performance he combines lip synching to Christian music sung by Yolanda Adams with miming. “What I try to do is lip sing every part of the song, every word, every beat and then I try to portray it in mime. I don’t think anyone else in the world has done this so completely.”

Terry was not one of the 47 contestants invited to go to New York and perform at the Apollo, “I was really disappointed, of course, but I think God had a bigger vision for me, he has a bigger plan. It was probably just to touch the people in that room. Next time the Apollo has another try out I will be there again, because the inspirational mime is not just for the church but for the world, the world has got to see it.”

(Photo and text by Joeff Davis)

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(Photo by Damon Sgrignoli/www.writerdamon.com)

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Taste of Atlanta brought all the flavors of the city to Technology Square for your eating pleasure Oct. 10-11.

Check out more shots from Taste of Atlanta.

(Photo by Ryan Purcell)

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For CL’s cover story this week “Atlanta Ballet defies gravity for 80 years” CL photographer  Joeff Davis was invited inside the Atlanta Ballet rehearsal studios on West Peachtree Street as the company rehearsed. Atlanta Ballet is the longest continually operating ballet company in America and the dancers are preparing for the first show of its 80th season.

Check out more photos from the cover shoot.

(By Joeff Davis)

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Grizzly Bear played the Variety Playhouse on Oct. 5 with Beach House opening.

Check out more images from the concert.

(Photo by Dustin Chambers)

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You might have heard about the Daily Beast’s ranking of 56 cities in terms of “smartness.” Atlanta earned a spot as the 23rd smartest city. Not great, but still twice as smart as Houston!

Unfortunately, we’re almost dead last when it comes to appearances — at least judging from the Beast’s photo slideshow of the nation’s smart and not-so-smart cities.

Minneapolis-St. Paul is depicted as a mysteriously sleek urban landscape. Denver is characterized, appropriately enough, by an outdoor sports enthusiast. D.C. gets cherry blossoms, joggers and the Washington Monument. Baltimore looks glittery and exciting. Milwaukee is oddly elegant. Charlotte is leafy, with tall buildings. Kansas City seems kind of awesome. Even Pittsburgh has a pleasantly urban cachet.

And what iconic image was used to represent Atlanta? The lovely view of the skyline as glimpsed across Piedmont Park’s Lake Clara Meer? Nope. The final resting place of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.? Unfortunately, no. The gritty graffiti gracing the Krog Street tunnel? We wish. The overwrought imagery of a Coke logo? Nada. The slightly awkward architecture of the Georgia Aquarium? Not even that.

Actually, we’re represented by the lamest, most provincial, lowest common denominator bushel of cliches ever. Jeez. This ain’t Fort Valley, folks.

But hey, at least we’re not as generic as Fresno.

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Yesterday was the eighth anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan. A group of Atlanta activists, who are part of a state wide “counter recruitment” effort, gathered on Ponce de Leon Avenue after a day of protesting recruitment tactics at various military recruitment centers around the city, as well as at Grady High School. At the recruitment stations they delivered an ACLU drafted resolution that called on recruiters to comply with International Protocol on the Rights of the Child which forbids any contact between military recruiters and children younger than 17.

According to American Friends Service Committee organizer Tim Franzen, this is a common practice by recruiters in high schools around the country. At Grady, Franzen said, they passed out counter recruitment literature with a couple of current Grady students which he says exposes some of the negative truths about recruitment practices and veterans lives after serving their country — including that 40 percent of homeless men in the United States are veterans. Another of their goals, according to Franzen, is to promote non-military options for low-income youth. The “counter recruitment” effort was  sponsored by the Georgia Peace and Justice Coalition and the American Friends Service Committee.

Their campaign comes against the backdrop of last weekend’s ambush of American marines that caused eight American military deaths — the biggest loss of American military lives in Afghanistan in over a year. Last week in another military combat death, Staff Sgt. Alex French IV from Milledgeville, Ga., was killed in Afghanistan. It is expected that President Obama will soon announce his decision on his strategy for the Afghanistan war.

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This image is from the Sweet Auburn Heritage Festival that took place Oct. 3-4. I thought it was funny how this guy’s face fit perfectly in a gap in the line of cotton candy hanging from his booth, especially because of his serious expression contrasted with something fun and light-hearted like cotton candy. Even while talking to people that walked by the booth, he never moved from that position.

Check out more photos from the street festival.
(Photos and text by Alan Friedman)

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(Photo by Joeff Davis)

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A young vendor guards his wares at the Sweet Auburn Heritage Festival on Oct. 3.

Check out more photos from the street festival.

(Photos by Alan Friedman)

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Rakim and Killer Mike played a show at the East Atlanta Icehouse on Oct. 3 as part of this year’s A3C Festival.

See more shots from the Rakim and Killer Mike performance.

(Photo by Dustin Chambers)

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Le Flash opened to an excited Atlanta for its second year of light-based installation works, gallery showings and street performance art. The event kicked off Atlanta Celebrates Photography’s month of showings, lectures, and art events.

Le Flash’s biggest crowd-pleaser was an intricate street performance work. Bright balloons carried by black-clad improvising dancers melded with dancers from Lauri Stallings’ new company gloATL as they traversed the streets through a massive following crowd.

See more photos from Le Flash.

(Photo by Joeff Davis)

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Chair lifting on Marietta Street — all in a day’s work for this dude.

(Photo by Joeff Davis)

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Criminal Records brought the band in for another one of the record store’s popular in-store performances on Sept. 30.

Check out more photos from the Phoenix show.

(Photo by Perry Julien)

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This car was parked on Alta Ave. NE when a tree fell on it at 5:45 p.m. on Sept. 26. The car was Billy Eiselstein’s. All week Billy had purposely parked his car in the front of his house because two big pecan trees in the back of his house had been staining his car with falling pecans. “I been parking in the front of my house all week to avoid pecan stains,” he said. “I didn’t know how bad it was ’til they removed the tree.”

(Photos by Joeff Davis)

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Laura Veirs opened for the Decemberists  as the band rocked and rolled the Classic Theatre of Athens on Sept. 26.

Check out more photos from the Athens Decemberists concert.

(Photo by Dustin Chambers)

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Cabbagetown Market held its third annual pig roast on Sept. 26. There were local pigs, locally grown sides and locally brewed beer, plus local music. Rain forced this year’s event to sheltered space so it was held at the Cabbagetown Community Center, but a little rain didn’t stop everyone from getting their roast on.

Check out more photos from the Pig Roast.

(Photo by Alan Friedman)

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Kid Congo — formerly of The Gun Club and The Cramps — and his band The Pink Monkey Birds rocked the Star Bar Sept. 26.

(Photo by Perry Julien)

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The second Allstate HBCU Step Showdown returned to Atlanta to build upon the momentum of last year’s show. The best nine teams faced off at the Atlanta Civic Center on Sept. 25.

Check out more photos from the Step Showdown.

(Photo by Alan Friedman)

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Firefighter and paramedic Ronnie Garcia demonstrates to students at Grady High School what he goes through far too often in a typical drunk-driving scene.  Grady student Darius Williams, 17, volunteered to play the victim. Many students are killed or seriously and permanently injured by either carelessly not wearing a seat belt or driving while intoxicated.

(Photo and text by Jeff Slate)

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As of this morning the Krog Street tunnel was still closed due to rainwater.

(Photo by Joeff Davis)

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I saw this hole in the ground Monday morning. I had never seen a sink hole and was surprised by how intense it was that a whole world of water existed right under the road.

(Photo by Joeff Davis)

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