Fresh Loaf

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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I’m afraid to call.

What sort of dreams require a white van with opaque windows?

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The following These Four Walls article is part of the Urban Living section, CL’s monthly focus on city home life. If you live in a neighborhood where CL is available and your place is unique somehow — interesting-looking, history-filled or funky fun — leave a comment below with a description, or e-mail chante.lagon@creativeloafing.com.

Less than a mile from downtown Decatur and safely hidden out of view from nearby Ponce de Leon Avenue, Ryan Gainey has handcrafted his own two-acre floral sanctuary. White hydrangeas are the order of the day and in the delicate morning sunlight his garden paints a picturesque setting for a play like Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. One can almost sense Puck hiding in the foliage.

Gainey sits on his back porch with a rambunctious band of beagles by his side. “To me, that’s the passion behind everything that I do – to create a sense of beauty,” he says, reminiscing about his gardening inspiration. He has unquestionably succeeded in bringing an abundance of beauty to his property and plenty of people have taken notice. Not only does his garden bring in visitors from across the country, but Gainey also has been able to make a living from what he does best. His business, Ryan Gainey & Company, designs public and private gardens nationwide, and Gainey continuously leaves an impression on the people he works with, from our Peach State all the way to California. “Once I become involved with someone, I awaken in them the same passion [for gardening] that I have inside myself,” he says. “It becomes their life.”

(more…)

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Whether it’s with sparklers at a backyard cookout, or choreographed explosions lighting up the night sky, most people enjoy heading outside to watch fireworks on the Fourth of July. Here at CL we are no exception, so we went ahead and put together a roundup of where you can calm your fireworks craving this Fri., July 4.

Not one to disappoint, Stone Mountain will celebrate the Fourth with a dual lasershow and fireworks display. Come early to enjoy all the park’s attractions for the day and then find a comfortable spot on the Memorial Lawn to check out the new and improved Lasershow at 9:30 p.m., followed by fireworks from the top and bottom of the mountain. $10 parking fee per vehicle. 770-498-5690. www.stonemountainpark.com.

The annual Fourth of July event at Centennial Olympic Park is becoming a tradition for its family-friendly and fun activities. From noon to 5 p.m. bring the kids to enjoy arts and crafts, face painting, performances, stilt walkers, inflatables and more. Beginning at 5 p.m., local band Stokeswood will put the evening in high gear, with a performance from 911 Band following. The Atlanta Symphony Youth Orchestra headlines the musical event at 8 p.m. and will feature solo performances by actor Ric Reitz, vocalist Wendy Bennett and string trio True Dixon. The AirTran Airways Fireworks Spectacular will wrap up the event with an amazing show framed by the downtown skyline and synchronized to a selection of patriotic music. Can’t make it to the show? 11 Alive (WXIA-TV) will broadcast the show live, and the music will be broadcast on radio station Star 94 (WSLC-FM). 404-223-4090. www.centennialpark.com. (more…)

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Today we received a postcard from Greenville, South Carolina showing a woman wearing a bikini riding a horse.

On the back it reads “MythicalMaidens.com, DVDs for sale! Horseback Riding, Swords, Viking Helmet, the Greek Goddess, plus custom DVDs. Order Today!”

If you’re into women with swords standing on garden furniture, you’ll love this clip:

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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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Publicists have to make an impression quickly, lest we trash their e-mails before we get to the point. Here’s the latest gold nugget from Epic Records about one of the label’s “hot new groups,” the White Tie Affair: “Think Good Charlotte mixed with Maroon 5 but edgier.”

Yeah, I know.

To top it off, the band plays tomorrow, Thurs., June 12, at Six Flags in Austell. Grab your Coke cans kids.
“The Hills’” Audrina Patridge currently works at Epic and has been shown on the reality series scouting new bands. Could this be her doing? I can imagine the conversation between her and Lauren now:

Audrina: “So, last night, me and Justin Bobby went to this club and saw this band called the White Tie Affair.”

Lauren: “Are they like, like, Plain White T’s?”

Audrina: “No. They’re more mature. Think, like, Good Charlotte mixed with Maroon 5 but edgier.”

Lauren: “Oh.”

Audrina: “Yeah.”

Lauren: “Spencer sucks.”

(Photo courtesy www.thewhitetieaffair.com)

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It looks like my dream of leaving journalism to become a door-to-door bruschetta salesman will have to wait another year.

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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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From the blog Trichloroethane:

I just had a long talk with my roommate about how much Atlanta sucks. And it depressed me.

But then he told me that he say Big Boi turning onto our street the other day, and I felt better.

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Today’s Air Loaf features CL’s own Chanté Lagon and David Lee Simmons chatting about the 2008 Summer Guide — dropping today! Check it out for the best 111 things to do this summer.

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

Download

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Mrs. Winner’s gives you gas:

Mrs. Winner’s Chicken Kicks Off “Free Gas For A Year” Promotion

Customers register to win at participating Atlanta restaurants
ANNOUNCEMENT:
ATLANTA, GA (May 9, 2008) – Mrs. Winner’s Chicken & Biscuits announced on April 24th that for a limited time it is offering a “Free Gas for a Year” promotion to provide its customers some relief from the rising cost of gas throughout the Metro Atlanta area. (more…)

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If newspapers disappear, who’s gonna be left to write, edit, and circulate news stories with sentences as wonderful as:

Rumors of penis theft began circulating last week in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo’s sprawling capital of some 8 million inhabitants. They quickly dominated radio call-in shows, with listeners advised to beware of fellow passengers in communal taxis wearing gold rings.

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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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Watch your back, Norway.

A Subaru owner who was at Octane coffee this morning appears eager to topple your government.

(Photo by Andisheh Nouraee)

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I thought he only had one design.

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A famous figure from U.S. history once declared, “Fool me once, shame on you… Fool me — I won’t get fooled again!” We’ve taken those inspiring words to heart and, rather than attempt to hoax people, we’re revealing the April 1st, 2008, hoaxes in the media on this post on PopSmart. If you come across any stories that are too good to be true, be sure to mention them in the comments field. And you might want to keep an eye on your family and friends until midnight, just to be safe.

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America has apparently run out of artists, blues singers, classic sitcoms, flowers, ethnic and religious holidays, and landscapes to commemorate.

The United States Postal Service is now commemorating jury duty.

I asked a clerk in the Decatur post office if jury duty stamps are popular.

“Two judges came in and bought some,” she said.

Exactly.

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Horton Hears a Who! was the number-one movie for the second straight weekend. I might not have guessed that when my daughter and I attended the first Saturday show at Landmark Midtown Art Cinema, since she and I were literally the only people in the theater. Then again, that was at 11:40 a.m. on a gorgeous Easter-weekend day. (As my wife suggested, “Maybe most of the Midtown residents were still at brunch.”)

Watching Horton for my second time during the neverending presidential primary season, I couldn’t help but look for contemporary political implications.

Find out which Horton Hears a Who! characters parallel presidential candidates at PopSmart.

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One of my favorite headline writing techniques is damning someone by pretending to defend or absolve them.

For example, take this headline from Saturday’s AJC:

I don’t know much about the case or the people involved.

All I know from this headline is that an adult woman involved in some sort of sex case is married to a teenager who’s sticking up for her. This doesn’t exactly leave me with a positive first impression of any of the people involved.

In this instance, the negative first impression was reinforced by AJC.com’s front page tease for the story, which said something like “My wife is not pedophile.”

When someone is quoted in a newspaper insisting on your behalf that you’re not a pedophile, that’s not a good thing.

Today’s New York Daily News web site features this terrific headline about New York’s newly sworn-in governor, David Paterson:

I’m sure everyone’s glad the governor did not use taxpayer money to pay for sex, or for hotel rooms inside which he had sex with someone who isn’t his wife.

I’m also pretty sure that Paterson’s admission of extra-marital affairs just hours after he took over the governorship from Gov. Eliot “Client 9″ Spitzer, is not going to win him any new admirers.

By far my favorite damned-by-defense headline in recent days is this one from The Huffington Post:

Really? Very interesting. Tell me, HuffPo, which other actors aren’t being charged with rape today?

I feel like this headline writer is disappointed Morales isn’t being charged.

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A friend of mine who works at a local marketing firm is interviewing applicants for an open position today.

The following appears as the “Objective” on the résumé of the person she’s interviewing right now.

Seeking a challenging directional position with a diverse and dynamic company, that will gain profitable use of my achieved skills in communications, media, marketing & management.

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Overheard this morning in Aurora Coffee, Little Five Points: One lean guy wearing light, somewhat worn clothes and work boots passes my table in the back to the one just behind me. Another lean guy wearing light, somewhat worn clothes, a black jean jacket, and baseball cap and work boots is sitting there, charging his phone.

“Hey, man, are you traveling?”

“No, I’ve been here for a while.”

“I just got to town, man, and I’m trying to figure out where everything is.”

“Well, I don’t really live here anymore. I spend most of the year up in Alaska.”

“I’m just trying to figure out what’s going on.”

“There’s not really anything going on in Atlanta anymore. You might want to head over to Athens.”

“Athens? Where’s that?”

“It’s this little town about 45 minutes away. They got more of a punk scene — a lot more stuff going on. You just head on down to DeKalb Avenue and catch the CSX.”

“DeKalb Avenue, where’s that?”

“Just go out of here and take a right. And when you get to the tracks, there’ll be two MARTA tracks and then there’s a CSX track. Just go left, and follow it down to where it forks up there, and the one that goes left — that’ll take you to Athens.”

“Oh, hey, man, thanks a lot, man. That’s great.”

After the guy asking the questions got out of the bathroom, they conversed more. The guy asking the questions was from New Hampshire. The other guy had been charging his phone. He warned the questioner to keep an eye out for people who’d been working on the lines.

This is a world I did not know about before.

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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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I’m supposed to be concentrating on a feature story I have to turn in tomorrow.

But I can’t stop reading Garfield Minus Garfield, a website that makes Garfield comics funny by simply removing the titular cat.

(Tip of the lasagna tray to Andrew Sullivan)

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From the AJC:

“The coffee house is closing all 7,100 company-owned U.S. stores for three hours on Tuesday for remedial espresso training for its baristas.”

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