Fresh Loaf

No Show: There is no Memorial Day to me. I love my country, but am I to memorialize all my brothers I lost? I watched them get shot in front of me. Memorial Day for me, brother, there is none. I got my own Memorial Day in my heart. I’m pretty mixed about Memorial Day. I live and breathe it every day. It’s a delicate situation. The parade I had was getting shit on. That’s Memorial Day.

Bill: A day we honor the people willing to put aside personal interest for their country. It’s become a long weekend for most people. Hopefully this country will realize again that when you send kids to war, you have a responsibility to take care of them afterward. We’re not doing that. Honor the dead by supporting the living. Go to a VA Hospital and visit these guys. I was a paramedic in the Air Force. I had 47 combat rescues in Vietnam.

Professor: I’m not going to a Memorial Day parade. When I came back from Vietnam, the first woman I talked to told me I was a baby killer and an Uncle Tom. If I do anything, I would go to Arlington Cemetery. Twenty-seven friends [there]. I counted. I was in Kilo Company, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marine. I was treated pretty bad and I’m still treated pretty bad. I wouldn’t tell anybody for years that I was a Vietnam vet. A parade, I don’t want to participate.

Bookmark It

Bruce, Philadelphia: I like Atlanta. It’s got some cool, underground culture. Philadelphia’s art scene is great, but it’s not much of a festival town. People in Philly leave in the summer and go to the beach. And Philly is a union town so it’s too expensive to put on a festival. You’d have four guys charge you $400 to plug a plug in. They probably would charge you to set up a tent even if it’s on the street.

Peter, New Orleans: I find people here looking for art that’s handmade. That’s nice. The best place is New Orleans, just because that’s home. Since Katrina, there’s a difference. There’s more of an appreciation for New Orleans so people support the local artists more, from musicians to visual artists. Even here, people want to support the city. People want to talk about New Orleans to us.

Pia, Unicoi, Tenn: I do approximately 44 festivals a year, but I stay away from Tennessee. We don’t do one show in the whole state. Honey, I love Tennessee but they’re Wal-Mart-bound. They get their $30, get their clock for $10, keep their $20 for groceries or gas. We go to North Carolina, just 30 miles away. It’s like a different world. We’ve been well-received here. Atlanta is wonderful for the arts. We are going to come in more and try different neighborhoods.

Bookmark It

Camille: I am definitely everything my mother hoped I would be and more. Raising me was nothing but a joy for her. Raising me was nothing but a pat on the back at my grand achievements. She’s always been nothing but in awe of my accomplishments. And I’ve tried my best to use the morals that she instilled in me. I’m like the golden child. I’ll probably snag her an outfit for Mother’s Day.

Don: Yes and more. I was a surprise to her, but she loved me very much. It didn’t matter what I did; she always loved me. It isn’t easy being pretty. My mother never saw this look. My mother saw me when I was the drum major in my little man outfit. She was proud. I’m pursuing my dream again. There’s just not a big call for male majorettes over the age of 23. But when there is, I’m there.

Mbica: Yes, because I have not gone to jail for any significant amount of time. Knock on wood. My mother is happy with me because I am happy. I’m not a doctor like my brother but I’m not a troublemaker, either. No major incarceration. I’m not a young man, so to make that claim is major in these times. I’ve stayed out of the system. And for Mother’s Day, she’s going to get a surprise visit. I’m going to go to church with my mom.

Bookmark It

Clayton: You would probably have to have some fighting. It [commemorates] Napoleon III shooting up Mexico. Any Mexican restaurant with a large patio, you’ll see some kind of action there by the end of the night. But you can always go down to the Mexican consulate in Brookhaven and find a way to volunteer for some immigrant assistance program if you want a nonhedonistic, humanitarian way to celebrate the holiday. Do all our holidays have to be about getting drunk?

June: I celebrated it in Buckhead last year at Rio Grande. I think it’s getting bigger actually, which is more fun. But if you’re really going to do Cinco de Mayo, it’s all about Mexican traditions. We really don’t do that. We don’t even have Mexican flags. It’s more about drinking Coronas and listening to a band. Midtown is becoming the new place to go, but Buckhead, despite them trying to turn it into Rodeo Drive, still has a hold on Cinco de Mayo [compared with] Midtown.

Jose: Party. When we were in school, we had parades. It was a war between the French and the Mexicans. The Mexicans beat them with sticks and brooms and stuff, so it’s a big celebration. A lot of American people think it’s Mexican independence but it’s not. I like Cinco de Mayo here. You go to American bars and they celebrate with you. I’m thankful. The countries are next to each other, so I think it’s good that two cultures are coming together for Cinco de Mayo. In Mexico, we get drunk for Cinco de Mayo, too.

Bookmark It

Richard: We’re a real transient town. I get disappointed when I see more Detroit or Laker fans than Hawks fans. We have the potential to be a tremendous basketball town; if the play is inconsistent, then there’s no continuity. People don’t expect the Hawks to win with regularity, so they’re not avid fans, much as I would like them to be. I’m from New York, so I’m more used to a partisan fan base.

.

.

Jackie: They should, if people would just turn their attention to what these Hawks have done here lately. We have a great team here. Atlanta has no excuses. In the playoffs, it will expose some things about the Hawks to people who have lost interest. Al Horford is a great weapon. They’re very young. They haven’t had Mike Bibby for very long. Once people see the chemistry and how well they play together, people will really be pleasantly surprised.

.

Landon: Atlanta is a hard city to please. It’s a ‘show and prove’ kind of city. We don’t get excited [at games] like other cities do. It’s for all sports, but more so for the Hawks. We need a superstar, somebody to support, before we come out. We’re laid-back fans. I don’t know why. I’ve been trying to figure that out for a long time. People are going to look at one season as just a fluke. But for the first time in a long time, I like every player on the team.

Bookmark It

Mahtseelah: It all has to do with my children. When daylight-saving time comes, we can stay in the park later. We can ride our bikes later. I don’t like driving at night. I’m from Los Angeles. I’m a city girl and my eyes haven’t quite adjusted to the darkness here. The lights aren’t even the same in the city of Atlanta. And if you go anywhere outside an eight-mile radius of Atlanta, it’s darker still. I prefer to drive in the day.

.

Matt: I don’t like it. I’m a musician and I like playing shows when it’s dark. It’s hard to start shows when the sun is up. A lot of people end up coming out later, so a lot of times it puts the start times back even further. When the sun is down it makes you feel like, ‘hey, no problem,’ like you can go out and start doing stuff. I think music and darkness go hand in hand. Some of the best music comes out of hole-in-the-wall dark clubs.

.

Mandy: I changed my clock weeks ago. I wanted an extra hour of daylight, so I ended up going to bed an hour earlier, waking up an hour earlier, and going to work an hour earlier, so I can get out an hour earlier. I did it as soon as it started to get warm. I was getting to work at 8 rather than at 9. When daylight-saving time comes, I’m going to try to keep my hour. Maybe even I’ll have to add an extra hour.

Bookmark It

Renee: Lenny’s. Most of the time the sound is terrible. Last time I was there I saw the Booze. Typical Atlanta band. Mediocre. Lenny’s is just dark, dirty and really smoky. The bathrooms are appalling. Plus, the door guy at Lenny’s is a big jerk. I like the Earl. The sound guy is great. The environment is better for hanging out and listening to music. The crowd is more relaxed, alternative, indie-rock sort of people.

.

Korri: MJQ. They don’t follow trends. No radio music. It’s the best dance music. It’s upbeat like a club should be. The Velvet Room [is the worst]. They just play what the radio plays. It’s the kind of music that makes guys think they can grind on you. At MJQ, you can dance by yourself. Dance by yourself at the Velvet Room and somebody will come up and put their groin up on your booby like it’s an OK thing to do. Like it would be like shaking hands.

.

Tom: Lenny’s. A lot of good bands in Atlanta only got good because of places like Lenny’s that allowed them to become good. It’s a place for people to do their thing. It’s important for a place like Lenny’s to exist. Worst place — the Masquerade. Easy. That’s the stupidest shit I’ve ever heard in my life. It’s dangerous and it sounds god-awful. The local bands are trying to get there because it’s a big stage. They think it’s kind of just neat. They’re not really interested in trying anything necessarily new.

Bookmark It

Jason: The new Movies ATL near Camp Creek Parkway is a little low-budget. I went to see I Am Legend and instead of having movie posters on the wall, they had photocopies of the newspaper ad. They really went bargain basement. It’s like a walk-in drive-in. [The best is] Buckhead Backlot. You can sit and drink a beer. If they wouldn’t turn the lights up at the end and make you pay your check, it would be perfect.

.

Nisha: [The best is] Perimeter. You can actually lift the armrest. You can cuddle and you can get comfy. It’s for high school kids that want to score. [The worst] is the IMAX at Mall of Georgia. I guess we had a bad experience. We watched a bad movie, Batman Begins, and it seemed like Batman was very, very close to my face. I was getting a headache. Your neck hurts. You can’t really see what’s going on.

.

Mark: [The best is] Plaza Theatre. You can have a beer next door at the Righteous Room. The crowd is always fun to watch. You got punks, hipsters and drag queens. Not many places you can go and see all those people. [The worst is] Atlantic Station. It reflects everything bad about this country. It’s movies Hollywood wants you to see, bad concessions, discourteous people. It’s a factory. They get you in, take you through the process and get you out.

Bookmark It

Wendy: Atlanta is a good city for straight, single men. Atlanta can be romantic. It’s just hard to find the right person with straight, single men being a high commodity. Unless you have that magical, wonderful boyfriend or girlfriend, Valentine’s Day makes a lot of people unhappy. I don’t like people to be unhappy. I don’t feel I have to prescribe to what my nation makes a romantic day. My idea of romance is being taken out for pool and beer.

.

Almeta: Valentine’s Day sucks. I’m having an anti-Valentine’s Day hump and grope party for my birthday, which is the day before Valentine’s. I don’t have a date for Valentine’s. My apartment is really tiny so I’m going to invite a lot of people. Forget that couple shit; let’s just get in a room and hump and grope. Valentine’s Day should not exist. It’s made to make single people feel bad. I’m expecting to sit home, drink a bottle of wine and maybe cry.

.

Bubba: No. I always get turned down on Valentine’s. It’s just a good reason to get drunk. Atlanta is not a romantic city. I mean, where are you going to go? Are you going to go to the zoo? Are you going to go to the aquarium or the CNN Center? Six Flags ain’t open. I guess I hang out in the wrong places, looking for the wrong thing. I never have a date for Valentine’s. It’s been so long, I’ve forgot. Hawaii would probably work better.

Bookmark It

Stanton: Very exciting. Instead of just griping about what these people are doing in office, I can actually vote. And then I can talk about it because I put my two cents in the election. Now that I voted, I feel like I’m entitled to talk about the president and the election altogether. I can understand if you don’t vote because you don’t want to do jury duty, but other than that, you don’t have the right to complain because you didn’t actually go out and vote.

.

Mallory: I’m not really concerned with the issues of our country right now. I’m just going to come out and say it. A lot of youth are concerned with bigger things. I’m not voting. It’s not my responsibility. I look at people on a one-to-one level instead of looking up to the leaders. I’m just going to leave it up to the majority, which is why we vote in the first place. I’m not going to try to pretend to care about something that I don’t, even if everybody around me does care.

.

Christopher: I had convictions in my early life. I can’t vote now. I would like to vote. I’m in between Hillary and Obama. I would like to express how I feel. It’s highly unjust I can’t vote. A lot of people have been through the situation I’ve been through. The situation I was placed in was wrong. I still had a choice, but it was things I had to do to feed myself, to feed my family. I’m not really agreeing with the Republicans so I wanted to check out on my Democratic candidates and give them a shot.

Bookmark It

Rob: I think it looks awesome, and the consensus is that it looks superdope. Most Atlanta hats are boring. This hat is crazy as hell and everyone would agree I’m crazy as hell. The girls like it better than the boys. Most guys wouldn’t normally wear this. The girls ask me where I got it from, but it’s a secret. I don’t want to tell them and I wouldn’t want to give a plug to this place because they’re a corporate monster. And it glows in the dark. That’s what separates it from the pack.

Danielle: I really don’t care. I don’t look in the mirror when I put on a hat. I just wear it when it’s cold. But it’s important that my boyfriend likes it, ’cause I care if he’s embarrassed to walk with me. And it’s old and my hair is messy. If he hadn’t liked it, I would wear the messy hair. But I get to approve his hat, too. He has a hee-haw hat that’s pretty cool. I wish I had that hat. My hat was purchased in Montreal, made in Bolivia, and I wear it in Atlanta.

.

James & John: We enjoy the hard hats. I [James] like the color. It’s very visible. The color of our hard hats means something. Yellow is “caution,” and green is “high-visibility humans ahead.” Yellow draws bees. Green doesn’t draw anything. Bees gravitate to the yellow. It must look like a flower to them. You don’t see any green flowers. When you put on the hat, you feel “GIT ‘R’ DONE.” And there’s something about hard hats and women. They like them. I don’t know what it is, but they do.

Bookmark It

Tony & Socks: I don’t know. But I’ll tell you about Cats — it’s no Sweeney Todd. You’re never going to see a movie about Cats starring Johnny Depp as a cat. It’s the longest Broadway show in history because nobody knows what’s happening so nobody says it’s bad. That’s the crux of it. I couldn’t understand a word they said. I saw it years ago. I’m not going to see that thing again. I have a cat, but I’ve never liked Cats. It has no plot. Give me West Side Story or Oklahoma! or Sweeney Todd.

Cliff & Pilot: I hope not. So many of us love animals, love music, love dance, and all of these are incorporated into the final product.