PopSmart

1) APEX Museum features a free screening of Black Gold, an eye-opening exposé of the $80 billion coffee industry, for Movies with a Mission.

2) Comedian Christian Finnegan starts his four-day tour at the Punchline.

3) Sarah Dessen, popular young adult author, reads and signs Lock and Key at Decatur Library.

4) More than 50 top chefs from the Atlanta area will participate in Share Our Strength’s Taste of the Nation at Georgia Aquarium.

5) American Music Club plays the Earl.

(Photo courtesy SankofaSpirit)

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“Initially, he had been thrilled to have earned a spot in the National Science Challenge. He’d come here to demonstrate and explain his remote controlled, electronic sniffer. But the events of the past few days had changed all that; he had much more serious concerns, now. A human life hung in the balance. Playing with robots seemed foolish.”

– From Chapter 1 of Steel Trapp: The Challenge, by best-selling mystery writer Ridley Pearson, who will be signing books at 5 p.m. Saturday, May 3, as part of Atlanta Thriller Book Fest at Eagle Eye Book Shop in Decatur.

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On April 30, Jewish Theatre of the South opens its final production, the comedy The Last Schwartz (pictured). Harry Stern served as executive director of the Marcus Jewish Community Center of Atlanta for 12 of JTS’ 13 seasons and nurtured the partnership of the two groups. Stern picks his five favorite shows from the theater’s history.

Continue reading Culture Surfing.

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Naomi Silva apparently has a recurring dream: serving as jurist for the Atlanta Photography Group’s In Your Dreams competition (”Journey’s End” by David Swann pictured). Silva returns for this year’s exhibition, which runs May 2-June 20 at APG. There will be a reception Friday, May 2, at 7:30 p.m., and a juror’s talk June 21.

Continue reading Speakeasy.

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Of the many Marvel Comics movies from the past 10 years (the X-Men and Spider-man trilogies, etc.), none is better than Iron Man, opening Friday and reviewed here. With the vibe of an American James Bond film, Iron Man features terrific acting, smart writing and more of a grown-up sensibility (while still being a light-hearted PG-13 movie). Iron Man will have more appeal to non-comic fans than the usual superhero adaptation, but it includes some gold nuggets for the comic readers:

In 1963’s Tales of Suspense #39, Marvel Comics introduced Iron Man and his alter ego Tony Stark (described on the story’s third page as “the dreamiest thing this side of Rock Hudson!” Uh…). Stark was partially inspired by playboy industrialist Howard Hughes, and “Howard Stark” provides the name of his deceased father on page and screen.

In the film’s early scenes in Vegas, a jazzy musical theme follows Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.) around and even provides his ring-tone. It’s an orchestral version of the title song of the all-but-forgotten 1960s “Iron Man” cartoon, as captured in its swingin’ 22-second credits:

(more…)

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This week’s Time and Place photograph comes from a shoot I did at the dress rehearsal for the Atlanta Opera’s Cobb Energy Center performance of The Marriage of Figaro. This series was inspired by New Yorker magazine, which does a similar column to Time and Place to lead off its “Goings About Town” section. I have been admiring some of the backstage images of New York theater that they run and waiting for an opportunity to try my own.

I really like this series because they present a reality a theater-goer never gets to see — the harp-tuner tuning up a harp in an empty theater, the characters getting transformed into peeps from the 18th century. My favorite pictures from this series are the images of the chorus warming up. To me, these images are humorous and force you to contemplate what is going on. They remind me of Lee Friedlander, one of my photographic heroes. He did a series titled “At Work” that featured people in the 1980’s working at computers. Friedlander shot the portraits so that the computer screens could not be seen by the viewer and all one sees is the subject’s head, which forces the viewer to puzzle over what is going on. Those photos had the effect of showing the dehumanization of people as they work in front of computers, with their bland expressions and bored looks. To me, the chorus images have the opposite effect. Their animated expressions show the utter joy and focus these great artists bring to their work.

I owe a big thank you to Cristina Herrera and the Atlanta Opera for letting me photograph them in their most vulnerable state.

(Photos by Joeff Davis / slideshow produced by Tara-Lynne Pixley)

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Need something to do this week? Look no further. Today’s Air Loaf features CL’s Amber Robinson and WMLB-AM’s Max Arbes discussing a few of the happenings going on around town.

Air Loaf is broadcast weekdays on 1690 WMLB-AM at approximately 8:10 a.m., 12:20 p.m. and 6:20 p.m.

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Summoning slow metal, drone and dirge from the Pacific Northwest, Seattle post-grunge survivor EARTH returns Wed., APRIL 30, in support of its latest full-length, The Bees Made Honey in the Lion’s Skull (Southern Lord). With this go-round the group, under the direction of founding member Dylan Carlson, moves deeper into the realms of gospel and Americana influences while adopting improv, psychedelic rock and jazz leanings. Madeline and Fur Elise open. $10. 9 p.m. The Earl, 488 Flat Shoals Road. 404-522-3950. www.badearl.com.

(Photo courtesy Southern Lord)

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1) The Acorn plays Drunken Unicorn.

2) Jenifer Fox reads and signs Your Child’s Strengths: Discover Them, Develop Them, Use Them at Wordsmiths Books.

3) The Hawks play the Celtics in Game 5, with tip-off in Boston at 8:30 p.m.

4) Menopause the Musical continues its run at 14th Street Playhouse.

5) Student Art Exhibition and Open Studios, featuring work from select students, opens at Emory University.

(Photo by Aaron Mckenzie Fraser)

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The High Museum of Art recently acquired four Impressionist works to add to its permanent collection, strengthening the current holding of French Impressionist and post-Impressionist works.

The works include:

“Mother and Child,” by Mary Cassatt (pictured on right)
“Snowscape with Cows, Montfoucault,” by Camille Pissarro
“The Breakfast,” by Pierre Bonnard
“Villa les Écluses, St. Jacut, Brittany,” by Édouard Vuillard.

Thanks to the Forward Arts Foundation, the Robert D. Fowler Family, Helen C. Griffith and Joan N. Whitcomb, the purchases were made possible. The works were purchased from Kathryn Welch Hartzog, a longtime Atlanta resident.

Here’s what David Brenneman, the High’s Director of Collections and Exhibitions, has to say about the new works:

The acquisition of these four major works makes the Museum’s holdings of French Impressionist and Post-Impressionist artists one of the most important in the Southeast.

The paintings will be on display starting on Mother’s Day (May 11) until Aug. 17, along with other works by the featured artists in an exhibit titled Cassatt, Pissarro, Bonnard, Vuillard: New Acquisitions for the Collection.

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