Fresh Loaf

LIVE MUSIC AT DECATUR BEACH PARTY FRIDAY: “Good evening, Decatur, are you ready to nap?”

(Photo by Dustin Chambers)

Bookmark It

HEALTHCARE PROTEST: All we are saying is give comprehensive single-payer, universal coverage, including prescription, vision, dental and mental a chance.

Fifteen people gathered outside Blue Cross Blue Shield Georgia’s Buckhead quarters Thursday to protest for-profit health insurance.

“People are not getting the care they need,” says Margie Rece, a retired nurse who helped organize the protest. Because they now determine things like care procedures and which drugs to use, Rece says insurers have turned doctors and nurses in to little more than “record keepers.” She and her fellow protestors voiced support for HR 676, a bill in Congress that would extend Medicare coverage to all Americans.

After holding up signs for cars and handing out information to passersby, the protestors gathered on the steps and read aloud a multi-count indictment of all insurance companies (ex. “Count #3: That insurance companies drop people from coverage while they are sick, when they can longer work at the job from which they get their insurance or can no longer pay their premiums).

An amusing side note: I almost missed the protest because of a run-in I had with building security.

When I pulled into the headquarters building’s driveway, a security guard stopped me to ask which of the building’s tenants I was there to see.

I told her I’m a writer with Creative Loafing and I was there to talk to the protestors.

Oh, no, you can’t park here for that, she said.

“Isn’t this a pay lot? Can’t I just pay to park?” I asked, gesturing to the numerous unoccupied parking spots.

“No, you can’t park here,” she insisted.

“Alright, I’ll turn around,” I said, and rolled up my window.

Before I pulled away, however, she motioned to me to roll down my window again. She wanted to tell me something.

“Are there any administrative assistant jobs at Creative Loafing?”

(Photo by Collin C. Chappelle)

Bookmark It

RALPH REED AT ATLANTA PRESS CLUB: I swear that it’s perfectly Christian to take millions from one casino to lobby against a competing casino.

Ralph Reed is a long-time master of fiction. What J.K. Rowling has done for juvenile wizard stories, Reed has done for the myth that the Republican Party is a beacon of Christian decency. Despite his well earned reputation as a masterful teller of tales, it’s only recently that the Duluth political consultant has turned his attention to novels.

Reed’s new book, Dark Horse, is a “political thriller” about a fictional presidential campaign featuring a black Democratic candidate, a loudmouthed minister and an assassination. Discussing the book at the Atlanta Press Club last Thursday, Reed said any parallels to the actual 2008 campaign are coincidental since he started the book years ago.

Asked about this year’s campaign, Reed said if the election is about style that Obama will win, but if it’s about substance that McCain will win. Never mind polls that show voters consistently agree more often with Democrats on policy issues. Once a tale-teller, always a tale-teller.

(Photo by Joeff Davis)

Bookmark It

VAMPIRE WEEKDAY: Wednesday’s Vampire Weekend show at Variety Playhouse ended with a stage invasion

(Photo by Dustin Chambers)

Bookmark It

GEORGIA TREE FARMER AND ROLLING STONE KEYBOARDIST CHUCK LEAVELL INTRODUCES STONES’ CONCERT FILM AT THE FOX THURSDAY WITH A THREE-SONG SET: Without people like Chuck, people like Keith Richards wouldn’t have anything to fall out of.

(Photo by Perry Julien)

Bookmark It

VA-HI SUMMERFEST: Artist Bill Winn sells puppets of famous people like Stevie Ray Vaughn, Jimmy Buffett, Frank Zappa and, um, Bill Winn.

The Virginia-Highland annual neighborhood festival, Summerfest, is supposed to be a misnomer. Seasonally speaking, summer doesn’t actually start until June 20. But this year’s Summerfest took place in the middle of a Spring heat wave that saw daytime high temperatures in the 90s all week. Damn you, Al Gore.

Despite the wrath of Helios, fun was still had at the festival. Highlights included performances by Shawn Mullins, Sister Hazel and Michelle Malone, a come-as-you-were in 1984 costume party (which I did not participate in because it was way too hot for a Members Only jacket and parachute pants), and a 5K (which I did not participate in because I’m exceptionally lazy).

(Photo by Dustin Chambers)

Bookmark It

PART-TIME KING CRIMSON-IAN AND FULL-TIME GUITAR-ACE ADRIAN BELEW AT SMITH’S OLDE BAR THURSDAY: The Goldthwait Years

(Photo by Perry Julien)

(Note: The original caption named the incorrect venue. I apologize for my error.)

Bookmark It

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.

Bookmark It

STATE CEREMONY FOR FALLEN SOLDIERS: 24 fellow members of Spc. Tracy Smith’s National Guard brigade have died in Iraq. (Photo by Joeff Davis)

On a day when presumptive presidential nominees McCain and Obama sparred over veteran’s benefits, Gov. Sonny Perdue hosted a somber pre-Memorial Day service at Mount Paran Church of God to honor the 137 Georgians who have died in Afghanistan and Iraq since 2001.

So many family members of fallen Georgia troops were in attendance that, when they were asked to stand, half the church stood up. Keynote speaker Retired Army Lt. Gen Russel Honoré said the best way to honor soldiers, sailors and Marines is expanding veterans’ benefits.

Not long after the ceremony, a veto-proof Senate majority (including Obama and Sen. Saxby Chambliss, but not including McCain) defied President Bush by voting to greatly expand benefits for veterans of the nation’s current wars.

(Additional reporting by Joeff Davis)

Bookmark It

MACK MESSIAH AT DRUNKEN UNICORN LAST WEDNESDAY: Band leader Kenny Crucial’s shadow-puppet-solo brought down the house. (Photo by Perry Julien)

More photos from the show can be found on our music blog Crib Notes.

Mara Shalhoup’s 2007 cover story about Kenny is also a great read.

Bookmark It

On May 17, the NAACP and Amnesty International jointly sponsored a rally to bring awareness to the cause of Troy Davis. Emotional loved ones and supporters gathered to try saving the life of a man they all believe to be innocent.

Bookmark It

MID-EAST FOOD FESTIVAL: A flake of cigar ash adds spice to any meal. (Photo by Dustin Chambers)

If you’re the sort of Atlantan who likes his/her meat-on-a-stick seasoned with Eastern Christianity, then man, oh woman, last weekend was heaven (on Earth) for you.

On Saturday, the St. John Chrysostom Melkite Catholic Church in Druid Hills held its 43rd annual Mid-East Food Festival. And all weekend, the Holy Transfiguration Greek Orthodox Church in Marietta held its annual Marietta Greek Festival. Along with abundant lamb, beef and pork, the feta’d fete featured traditional Greek folk dancing, and a Greek musical history lesson with included folksy Zorba-ish tunes as well as modern club hits. Did you ever know that you’re my gyro?

Bookmark It

OUT OF HAND THEATER‘S RENE DELLEFONT: Apparently this is how you stand when your schreib is stück. (Photo by Joeff Davis)

Bookmark It

GOV. PERDUE MEETS U.N. SECRETARY-GENERAL BAN KI-MOON: Ban’s job requires him to meet regularly with tyrants and despots. (photo by Joeff Davis)

His driveway freshly pressure-washed for the occasion, Gov. Sonny Perdue welcomed U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to the Governor’s Mansion on Friday. Perdue greeted the Sec-Gen at his car and escorted him inside for a joint news conference during which he answered polite questions about Georgia (he apparently likes it), Jimmy Carter (he apparently likes him) and the military junta in Burma (he apparently doesn’t like them).

Among the dignitaries at the press conference were Secretary of State Karen Handel, and, um, Bert Weiss of Q100’s The Bert Show in a suit-and-tie. Weiss told me he was invited by the governor to join him for lunch with Ban after the press conference. If I were Frank Ski, I’d be ticked.

Bookmark It

JONNY GREENWOOD AT SOLD-OUT LAKEWOOD AMPHITHEATRE LAST NIGHT: Despite apparently letting an 8-year-old girl title their most recent album, Radiohead’s popularity among rock music fans continues to grow. (Photo by Perry Julien)

More photos and a “review” here.

Bookmark It

INMAN PARK FESTIVAL: Inman Park native Eugene Bales risks trampling to secure a good viewing spot for Saturday’s parade. (Photo by Joeff Davis)

Bookmark It

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN AND STEVEN VAN ZANDT AT PHILIPS ARENA FRIDAY: The Boss and The Consigliere. (Photo by Perry Julien)

More than four decades into his music career, Bruce Springsteen is still playing concerts so lengthy that they test the endurance of even the most well-cushioned of fan ass cheeks. CL staff writer Thomas Wheatley, who describes his ass as boyish, won CL’s office ticket to Springsteen’s sold-out show at Philips Arena. Wheatley describes the concert as “awesome” and “fucking intense.”

At his seat, he says, he was surrounded by middle-aged dads who stood with their arms crossed mouthing every word Springsteen sang. Wheatley also reports that when Springsteen sang “Blinded By The Light,” a cut from his debut album famously covered by the Manfred Mann’s Earth Band, that the lyrics sounded more like “rolled up like a deuce” than “wrapped up like a douche.”

Bookmark It

RECORD STORE DAY AT CRIMINAL RECORDS IN L5P: Judi Chicago singer Ben Coleman cut short his Tae Kwon Do practice to support independent record stores. (Photo by Perry Julien)

Bookmark It

PROTEST IN L5P: Despite a chronic police shortage, Atlanta still managed to have three cops available to ticket a peaceful protestor on Tuesday. (Photo by Joeff Davis)

Last Tuesday in Little Five Points, Amnesty International held another of its public “Tuesdays for Troy” rallies – an effort to draw attention to and stop the pending execution of Troy Anthony Davis.

Davis was sentenced to death for the 1989 murder of a Savannah police officer. Although seven of nine witnesses who identified Davis as the killer have changed their testimony and there is no physical evidence linking Davis to the murder, the Georgia Supreme Court ruled four-to-three in March not to grant him a new trial. The day before the rally, the state affirmed its decision. Because of Wednesday’s U.S. Supreme Court decision on Wednesday lifting a nationwide moratorium on lethal injections, Georgia can now set a date for Davis’s execution.

The demonstration was small, only about seven or eight people holding up signs and distributing flyers along Moreland Ave. The event ended abruptly after a protester was surrounded by police and ticketed for standing in the road while handing flyers to drivers in stopped cars.

(Additional text by Andisheh Nouraee)

Bookmark It

JAY-Z AT PHILIPS ARENA TUESDAY: “I’ll only retire three more times. I promise.”

(Photo by Perry Julien)

Bookmark It

FULTON COUNTY CHIEF JAILER EDWARD MCNEIL: Jail to the chief

(photo and additional text by Joeff Davis)

On Thursday, Fulton County Sheriff Myron Freeman invited us to a party at the Fulton County Courthouse to welcome the county’s new Chief Jailer, Edward McNeil. It was the strangest and saddest party we’ve ever been to.

After 10 minutes of God-themed speeches, we pulled McNeil aside to ask him hard-hitting questions about being a jailer. But before we could ask him if he thinks it’s just a coincidence that jail rhymes with bail, a guest at the party had a heart attack and died. Kidding around was obviously out of the question after that, so we just wished McNeil luck and departed.

He’ll be a busy man.

A recent Pew Center study put the U.S. prison population at more than 2.3 million people. We have more people in prison than China – a rampant human rights abuser with four-times as many people as the U.S.

Georgia spent nearly $1 billion imprisoning people in 2007 and the state employs the second highest percentage of employees in corrections in the country, behind Texas.

According to Pew, one-in-nine black men in the U.S. between the ages of 20 and 34 are behind bars.

Bookmark It

CABBAGETOWN RELIEF ART AUCTION: “shpg 4 trndo art. hm in 5 :-)”

(photo by Alex Gibbs)

Artists aren’t typically people with a lot of cash on hand, but when their friends and neighbors are in need, they always seem to step up.

Cabbagetown Relief, a benefit concert and silent art auction at Studio 900 in Inman Park, raised $5,500 dollars Saturday for victims of the March 14 tornado that pummeled several intown neighborhoods.

Cabbagetown was among the ‘hoods hardest hit by the storm, with several homes destroyed and the top floor of one the buildings at the iconic Fulton Cotton Mill lofts ripped off. Since Cabbagetown has long been an enclave for creative people, it wasn’t surprising that artful photos of tornado damage in Cabbagetown comprised the bulk of art being auctioned.

According to event co-organizer Michael Pisarri, Cabbagetown Relief will continue to raise money by auctioning art online.

Additionally, the Cabbagetown Neighborhood Improvement Association will try to raise money for tornado victims with the Dine-Out for Tornado Victims event on April 14.

Bookmark It

RISING APPALACHIA LIT UP EDDIE’S ATTIC WEDNESDAY: Sisters Leah and Chloe Smith are like the Jackson Five, only they’re white, there are two of them, they’re women, and they don’t play the same kind of music.

(photo by Joeff Davis)

Bookmark It

A3C HIP-HOP FESTIVAL EARLY SATURDAY: Biz Markie scans the audience for a girl who got what he need.

(photo by Alex Gibbs)

Bookmark It

IRAQ WAR PROTEST MARCH ON PONCE DE LEON AVE.: Crappy Anniversary

(all photos by Joeff Davis)

Hundreds of Atlantans marked the fifth anniversary of the start of the Iraq War with a march down Ponce de Leon Avenue during afternoon rush hour Wednesday.

Accompanied by a marching drummer and a chorus of honking horns from passing cars, the marchers sang and chanted demands for peace. Their destination was the U.S. Army recruitment center at Midtown Plaza, where two days earlier, 10 local grandmothers were arrested for trespassing while trying to enlist. The grandmothers participated in Wednesday’s march, as well.

When the march reached the enlistment center, participants laid five mock coffins at its front door. Written on the coffins were the words “Truth”, “Justice,” Iraq” “Troops” “Economy” – all casualties of this war, according to organizers.

(more photos after the jump) (more…)

Bookmark It