Fresh Loaf

ARTIST SAM FLORES PAINTING LENNY’S: Pretty fancy. What’s next, guys? Doors on the bathroom stalls, perhaps?

(Photo by Alan Friedman)

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1) Lenny’s Bar hosts Ignite What’s Next with artists N8 Van Dyke, Alex Pardee and Sam Flores.

2) Indigo Girls play Chastain Park Amphitheater.

3) Zoo Atlanta hosts Jazzoo.

4) Comedien Nick DiPaolo performs at the Punchline.

5) Silver Jews play Variety Playhouse.

(Photo courtesy Sparks)

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Jamie Karns is a bouncer at Lenny’s Bar and Grill. At six-feet two-inches tall and 415 pounds, 37-year-old Karns is also known as Fat Guy.

What kind of training do you need to be a bouncer?

Patience is the biggest factor. There’s not really a special class on how to throw someone out, but you need to be able to control your temper when somebody is obviously drunk and not get mad at him for being rude.

How can you recognize a fake ID?

Most of them are pretty bad. Things like, the girl’s eyes are blue but the girl your talking to’s eyes are green. The manufactured fake ID, things like the watermarks are wrong, the color of ink they use is wrong.

Just how bad do they get?

I’ve gotten several IDs from people I know. A total stranger walks up and gives me an ID of someone I actually know. And I’m like, “This isn’t you.” And they’re like, “Oh, yes it is.” But I’m like, “This is the guy I went to high school with, it’s not you.”

What would you do if someone brought in a McLovin ID (from the movie Superbad)?

That would definitely not fly. First off, no one has just one name, you know? But odd states like Hawaii and whatnot, don’t work. Give me the one of the state you’re in.

Do girls try to flirt with you to get in?

Mm-hmm.

Does it work?

(more…)

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Lenny’s in Old Fourth Ward will have to find a new home when its lease expires in two years. The music venue and bar’s Decatur Street strip mall location was sold for $3.3 million, according to the AJC.

“For us, it just means in 2-3 years we’ll probably have to move again,” says Bean Summer, the music venue’s booking agent.

“On a larger scale, I think it’s a horrible trend for the city. I think they’re pushing out culture and making really ugly choices. They’re losing control of whatever the beauty of Atlanta is becoming. What are we going to do as a city if we have miles and miles of apartments and nothing to do?”

(Read more at Crib Notes)

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RIDERS ON THE STORM: Lenny’s Bar sustained damage but reopened the next night. (photo provided by Bean Summer.)

It takes more than a tornado to silence this town.

Rumors of Lenny’s death have been greatly exaggerated. Although the seamy local punk and indie rock club at 486 Decatur St. in Atlanta’s Old Fourth Ward stood directly in the path of the tornado that struck downtown, Cabbagetown and East Atlanta on Friday, March 14 around 10 p.m., the club was open less than 24 hours later.

In the wake of the storm rumors spread that Lenny’s roof had been torn off and the club was closed. But according to Lenny’s booking agent Bean Summer the rumors were unfounded.

The Friday night line-up was to feature performances by local bands the Preakness and Sleep Therapy, as well as the St. Louis, Mo. psychedelic rock band, Wormwood Scrubs.

The first band had just started when the storm hit.

“I was in the office checking my e-mail and I thought a bomb had gone off downtown,” Summer recalls. “The air was sucked out of the room and I could hear a bunch of loud pops from things hitting the building.”

Some roof tiles were blown off of the building, air conditioning units were knocked over, windows were broken, and a gas line ruptured but was repaired within a few hours.

Read more about this story at the Crib Notes post.

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