Fresh Loaf

Clayton Henry County is ringing in 2009 with a deep-fried, artery-clogging bizz-ang.

From the AJC:

Truett’s Grill in McDonough will kick off 2009 tonight by dropping an 800-pound chicken nugget into a tub of honey mustard.

Chick-fil-A officials insist no chickens were harmed – the 6-foot-tall nugget is made from plaster. And the honey mustard is really just karo syrup with food coloring, but it looks like honey mustard, said Becky Ragsdale, a hostess at Truett’s Grill.

“It took six guys to lift it. It’s now hanging from a huge crane,” Ragsdale said. “Some of the other [Chick-fil-A] restaurants have New Year’s Eve celebrations, but we’re the only nugget drop.”

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1) Band of Horses plays Variety Playhouse.

2) Lil Wayne performs at Philips Arena.

3) The Rent Boys play the Earl.

4) Anna Kramer & the Lost Cause play Star Bar.

5) Zoroaster invades the Clermont Lounge.

And there’s so much more in our New Year’s Eve Guide …

(Photo courtesy Sub Pop Records)

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Soprano Teri Dale Hansen sings with the ASO on New Year's Eve.

The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra bids farewell (and good riddance) to 2008 with the help of two powerhouse vocalists, soprano Teri Dale Hansen and tenor Eric Van Hoven, under the baton of conductor Michael Krajewski. Van Hoven made his New York debut with the New York City Opera and has impeccable classical credentials, while Hansen has won international recognition as a Kurt Weill specialist and a crossover artist who moves between opera and musical theater styles. Both former Florida State University students, they offer a tag-team discussion of the ASO’s New Year’s Eve show, which begins at 8 p.m. Dec. 31.

Do New Year’s Eve shows have a unique vibe?
Hansen: Absolutely. I think it’s pretty much a drunken vibe. We start the evening by drinking, which sets the tone early.

Van Hoven: This show, involving more classical music than usual, I find takes on an entirely different feeling. If it was a Lerner & Lowe revue, we’d spend the evening moving through their collaboration. In this one, because of the combination of early pieces and later ones, we’re bringing more of an updated feeling to the opera pieces. We don’t necessarily want to do it in character as we would in opera — we want to entertain and connect to the audience.

Hansen: It’s opera presented in an entertaining way, not like it’s been extracted from the original show. It’s an interactive show. It’s 3-D. It’s hands-on. Eric sings “La donne e mobile,” which is sung by the biggest cad in Rigoletto, so Eric’s going to go out in the house and accost all of the women.

Van Hoven: Not all of them. Just two or three. (more…)

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Ryan: It was awesome, and I was really, really wasted. There was this really big shiny ball thing and it dropped from the sky, like a meteor. It was awesome, yeah dude, awesome. I remember this older guy asking me where he could get some Xanax. He opened a bottle of champagne, so we had some champagne. There was a perimeter around the whole thing. They searched you, but we snuck in a bottle of wine. I was pretty wasted. I’d go back this year if I had nothing better to do.

Lil Jon: Atlanta is a city full of energy, man. We got a new energy from the Hawks and the Falcons, so of course these Atlanta People are going to be out and having a good time. Underground is one of the best places. You can go club hoppin’ and act like you’re in a Vegas or a Miami, but you’re in Atlanta so you get that Atlanta culture. It’s not the Big Apple, but the Peach Drop is good for us. And don’t drink and drive. Get a driver. If not, stay home and get drunk.

Cat: All I remember is giant goggles and me accidentally sitting on someone else’s baby because it was so unbelievably crowded. There was a lot of screaming going on, mostly from the mother. She had a cow and she was in shock, as was I. I ran away, like “Sorry bye,” and disappeared into the crowd. I remember the rest of it was fun. Definitely try it once. But it’s not everybody’s cup of tea.

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Creative Loafing’s on the lookout for some party pics to be featured in our New Year’s Eve Guide Dec. 17. Anything that captures the essence of New Year’s Eve is fair game — Magic Markered declarations lovingly bestowed on faces, the classic couch pass-out, amusingly bad acrobatic endeavors, whatever. As long as it tells a New Year’s Eve story, we’re listening. If we like your image, we’ll slap it on CL’s cover.

Check out our You Shoot page for details on how to submit your images. Just make sure to tag any New Year’s Eve submissions with “clnyeve08.”

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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.

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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.

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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.

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