Fresh Loaf

(Photo by Joeff Davis)

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(Photo by Joeff Davis)

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Kasim Reed is going up against Mary Norwood in an upcoming runoff election for Atlanta Mayor.

More photos of the two candidates.

(Photo by Joeff Davis)

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Creative Loafing staff photographer Joeff Davis visited the election night parties of four Atlanta mayoral candidates, including Mary Norwood, Kasim Reed, Lisa Borders and Kyle Keyser on Nov. 3.

Check out his photo gallery of the night’s events.

(Photos by Joeff Davis)

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Atlanta Pride 2009 was in full swing this year as it returned to Piedmont Park. It was a sunny Sunday as Pride took to the streets for the parade at 1 p.m. on Nov. 1.

Check out more images by staff photographer Joeff Davis and Pride photos submitted by Atlantans.

(Photo by Joeff Davis)

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What’s Halloween without the blood and guts?

(Photo by Joeff Davis)

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(Photo by Joeff Davis)

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This photo was shot at 2:22 p.m. at the corner of Marietta and Peachtree streets in downtown Atlanta. The photo is of a sign advertising for Eddie’s Gold Teeth. I shot it really tight to emphasize the weirdness of all the open mouths.

(Photo by Joeff Davis)

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This photo is from the Atlanta media preview on Oct. 26 for Cavalia. The tripped-out horsey Cirque Du Soleil opens tonight at the white tent (yeah that one) at Atlantic Station.

(Photo by Joeff Davis)

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Crystal Johnson marches down Peachtree Street in protest against police brutality.

A spirited group of demonstrators showed up at Woodruff Park on Oct. 22 to rally and march as part of the National Day of Protest Against Police Brutality. Organizers cited seven deaths in Georgia at the hands of police officers since March 2009 as a sign of the “epidemic of police brutality in Georgia” according to their press release.

Following the rally at Woodruff Park more than 50 protesters marched to the Atlanta Detention Center briefly shutting down one side of Peachtree Street. Outside the Detention Center a “speakout” was held. Some of the topics referenced by speakers outside the jail included the Kathryn Johnston murder, the Atlanta Eagle Raid and the need for an independent citizen police review board. As protesters spoke, cheers could be heard from prisoners inside the Detention Center.

Check out a gallery of photographs from the rally and march.

(Photo by  Joeff Davis)

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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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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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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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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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(Photo by Joeff Davis)

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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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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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>> Before you die tell us how we can kill you better

>> Everybody for more troops in Afghanistan raise your hand

>> So again, why’d you throw the shoe?

>> 44,000 Preventable American deaths

>> Sneeze refreshing course

>> Tell us what you really think about dogs in a bar

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Eddie Ray celebrates the reopening of the 14th Street bridge by donning a cape and being one of the first to go across the new and improved connector. The road opened for car traffic Sept. 3.

(Photo by Joeff Davis)

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On Sept. 3, health care reform advocates took to the steps of the Capitol to voice their support for nationwide health insurance with a public option — and call on U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., to stop opposing the Democrat-led initiative. The event, which was sponsored by Moveon.org, Health Care for America Now, and Organizing for America, drew nearly 1,000 people.

See more photos from the rally here.

(Photo by Joeff Davis)

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I took this picture Sunday morning, Aug. 30, as I was heading for a walk with my friend on a trail near the Chattahoochee River. A group of people was gathered by the riverbank. As we walked closer we saw people being dipped into the river and then pulled out. They were being baptized. At the river’s edge, people gathered around those who had been baptized, talking about them and praying over them. Joseph Harmon (center) was one of the people who had been baptized. Joseph is 14 years old and in eighth grade. “At that moment,” he explained to me after looking at this picture, “it felt like everybody was concentrating on me and praying for me. It felt kind of awkward, just how everyone was praying over me. I didn’t know what to think. It was kind of breathtaking.”

(Photo and text by Joeff Davis)

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Pole dance instructor Brianna MacDowell at 411 studio in East Atlanta where she teaches women how to use pole dancing for fitness and self esteem.

Check out more photos of the pole dance instructor.

(Photo by Joeff Davis)

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In the second of CL’s series of videos chronicling mayoral candidates you’ve probably never heard of, Duvwon Robinson, who grew up in notorious housing project Bowen Homes, talks about cleaning up the streets (literally) and using confiscated drug money to create jobs for the unemployed.

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