Fresh Loaf

GWINNETT COURTHOUSE VALENTINE’S DAY WEDDINGS: “You may now give a beso to your esposo.”

(Photo by Joeff Davis)

Courtroom 1C at the Gwinnett Justice and Administration Center isn’t typically decorated with balloons and scattered rose petals. It’s also not typically the site of 60 weddings by 2 p.m. like it was on Valentine’s Day, when Chief Magistrate George Hutchinson opened the court for free, no-appointment weddings. The seven couples we witnessed entering single and leaving married seemed overwhelmed by the day’s significance. Hutchinson and the judges helping him with the Spanish-language ceremonies, however, were beaming. Being a part of such a happy occasion is a pleasure, Hutchinson explained. “Sometimes judges don’t see life at its most pleasant.”

Bookmark It

ATLANTA PRESS CLUB PANEL: Everyone is excited about the Internet.

Last Thursday at the Atlanta Press Club, the Honeycomb Hideout of Atlanta journalism, four local masters of political webitude participated in a panel discussion on how electronic media are affecting political campaigns.

Former AJC-er and current Southern Political Report-er Tom Baxter noted how the Web allowed for a proliferation of political news outlets such as Politco and the Huffington Post. The entire panel — which included CNN.com’s John Helton, Shelby “Shelbinator.com” Highsmith and James “Griftdrift.blogspot.com” Williams — agreed the electronic media allow both facts and bullshit to go further and faster than ever, and for average people (be they bloggers, YouTubers or idiots who think Sen. Barack Obama is Muslim) to shape political debates in ways that were, until 10 years ago, limited to people with access to TV studios or printing presses.

So how are electronic media affecting campaigns? They are changing the tools, the tactics and speed without necessarily changing underlying principles.

Bookmark It

FIGHT NIGHT AT WILD BILL’S: “Enough fighting. Let’s hug this one out.”

(Photo by Joeff Davis)

More of Joeff’s fantastic photos from Friday’s Fight Night after the jump.

(more…)

Bookmark It

ANNA KRAMER AT CRIMINAL RECORDS: Another left-leaning musician

(Photo by Joeff Davis)

Even if you don’t write for the music section, when you work at CL people sometimes feel compelled to give you CDs. Sometimes it’s annoying – not because I’m looking a gift horse in the mouth, but people often give you really shitty music then ask what you think next time you see them.

A couple of years ago, while reading-but-not-buying magazines at Criminal Records in Little Five Points, Shannon Mulvaney handed me a copy of the Selmanaires‘ debut album, Here Come the Selmanaires (released on Mulvaney’s record label, International Hits).

A love affair was born – not between me and Mulvaney, he’s too tall and male for me, but with the group’s music: melodic, exuberant garage rock that drew inspiration from my favorite guitar bands of the ’60s (the Kinks, the Rolling Stones) without being retro, derivative or fake-English. I hate fake-English.

On Tuesday, the band celebrated the release of its second album, The Air Salesman, with an in-store gig at Criminal Records. Since its last outing, the band’s gotten stranger and more rhythmic – both good things.

Sharing the bill with it was Anna Kramer & the Lost Cause, labelmates celebrating the simultaneous release of their CD, The Rustic, Contemporary Sounds of Anna Kramer & the Lost Cause. I think another love affair may have just started – not between me and Anna Kramer, I’m engaged and I think she’s seeing someone, but with her music.

If you care to investigate, the links above will take you to samples of their music. The two groups are playing at the Earl Saturday night as well.

Bookmark It

SEN. BARACK OBAMA PRAYS AT EBENEZER BAPTIST CHURCH SUNDAY: “Must beat Hillary in South Carolina. Must beat Hillary in South Carolina. Must beat Hillary in South Carolina.”

(More photos of Obama at Ebenezer are below the jump. All photos are by Joeff Davis.)

(more…)

Bookmark It

HOSEA FEED THE HUNGRY: Sheila Zackery readies a load of bread to distribute to Atlanta’s homeless.

(Photo by Joeff Davis)

Every Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the Hosea Feed the Hungry program feeds, clothes and offers medical care to more than 10,000 of Atlanta’s needy at Turner Field. It’s what the program is best known for, but it’s not all it does.

On Friday, the charity distributed food, blankets and toiletries to homeless Atlantans in shanties around the city. Loading the truck with supplies, outreach coordinator Sheila Zackery said poverty in Atlanta has grown in recent years, despite the city’s overall economic good fortune. Nearly 6,000 people came to the charity for meals last Christmas, up from 4,500 in 2006, she said.

Afemo Omilami, who is a board member and husband of the group’s president, Elisabeth Omilami, says 50 percent of the people the charity serves have jobs, but cannot keep up with housing and health care.

“In this great city, people are living in Third World conditions,” he said. “What does that say about us?”

Bookmark It

Shot last Friday at Atlantic Station

Bookmark It

From last week’s news conference at the governor’s office, which was billed as including Speaker Glenn Richardson, Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle and Gov. Sonny Perdue “to share their common agenda for the 2008 session of the Georgia General Assembly.” Richardson did not show up.

Bookmark It

MATTHEW SPALDING AT PLAZA THEATRE ELVIS BASH: His G.I. is blue.

(Photo by Alex Gibbs)

Bookmark It

From a Georgia State University hallway Thursday night

Bookmark It

BELTLINE ART OPENING: Waiting for the train

(Photo and additional text by Joeff Davis)

Progress on the Beltline has been so agonizingly slow that I’ve had time to go from excited to skeptical to hostile and back to excited again about four times already.

I’m back at excited again, not because I expect to be able to (nor especially want to) ride a train from Ormewood Park to the Bellwood Quarry in my lifetime, but because the Beltline has inspired some good art.

Last night Urban Intervention: The Beltline opened at the Ernest G. Welch School of Art & Design at Georgia State. Artists included Joan Tysinger, who documented her exploration of the city from her wheelchair, and Danielle Roney and Ryan Gravel, whose Domain videos argued for the importance of witty, provocative, unannounced public art.

Bookmark It

MOURDELLA AT THE STAR BAR LAST NIGHT: Lead singer Jessica Juggz shows off the denim miniskirt Satan bought her for Christmas.

(photo by Alan Friedman)

Bookmark It

Robert: Yes, it is. There are so many clubs and restaurants in this city holding New Year’s Eve bashes. On top of that, you got the Peach Drop. I was there last year — absolutely insane, in a good way. I was standing there and there were transsexuals to my left, 7 feet tall. I just thought, “This is cool.” I couldn’t move, but it was very happening. It’s a smaller version of Times Square. Atlanta is in the top five for New Year’s.

.

Guyton: It used to be. The law changing the closing times, that’s when Atlanta became a nonhappening place. Personally I’d rather be home with friends. Before the law, I probably would have gone to some crazy dance party or a club, like Blue or the Warehouse. But clubs close too early now. Atlanta is no longer a party town. Most people now go out of town for New Year’s. Compared to other large cities, Atlanta is near the bottom.

.

Jamil: In the South it is. Miami is overplayed. It’s been done before. Nothing new. It’s always water, alcohol, little outfits, predictable. Atlanta can offer a Southern culture feel, party-like-a-rock-star atmosphere. I’m staying in Atlanta for sure. Atlanta has a few hotel parties, you buy a ticket and you can just go and drink with your friends. Those are really the best places. On the East Coast, New York definitely has that stereotypical New Year’s Eve. But we’re better than Miami.

Bookmark It

PALM READER AT PSYCHIC FAIR ON SATURDAY IN SANDY SPRINGS: “Your love-lines looks great, but your life-lines could use some Lubriderm.”

(photo by Joeff Davis)

Bookmark It

CAFÉ TACUBA LAST THURSDAY AT MASQUERADE: One of the band’s less-enthusiastic fans

(photo by Joeff Davis)

Even by the Masquerade’s high standards, the audience at Mexican quartet Café Tacuba’s one-night stand last Thursday was wildly enthusiastic. From dancing and cheering loudly for more than two hours, to rushing the stage, grabbing the microphone and shouting out lyrics while lead singer Ruben Ortega smiled approvingly, the band’s audience proved its devotion for all things Tacuba.

The Mexican quartet didn’t disappoint, either, offering up a poptastic mash embracing alternative-rock, ska and punk, while referencing Depeche Mod’s “Policy of Truth” and the Beatles’ “Tomorrow Never Knows.” The band’s misstep: not setting up a merchandise table so fans could buy T-shirts and copies of its new CD, Sino. It would have made a killing that night.

Bookmark It

TWISTED TOYLAND SALE: “This one’s from our Abu Ghraib Collection.”

(photo by Joeff Davis)

Here’s a rule of thumb we at CL follow: Any holiday gift sale with the phrase “no genitals showing” in its ad is worth at least stopping by – if not to shop, then at least to browse, people-watch and write about.

So on Saturday, we stopped by Twisted Toyland, a fetish gear sale benefiting the National Leather Angel Fund, which raises money for needy members of the BDSM community. Vendors hawked a wide range of sex-related knickknacks, from vibrators and dildos to handcuffs and whips, the latter of which were demonstrated with skill and gusto by people who liked to be addressed as master.

(post co-authored with Andisheh Nouraee)

Bookmark It