Screen on the Green — Jaws
Friday, May 30th, 2008
So much of Screen on the Green on Thursday night, with its showing of Jaws, felt familiar. There was the huge signature banner covering the monster screen. There was the crowd of picnickers camping out on the sloping grass, this time Centennial Olympic Park. There was the sort-of entertaining pre-screening music act, this time in the form of Athens’ Blue Flashing Light. There was, ultimately, a really cool community vibe that makes Screen on the Green one of my favorite Atlanta experiences.
But there were plenty of differences, some perfectly understandable, others irksome, others a little of both. For starters (and I should have known this given the persistent warnings), there was no outside alcohol permitted, which meant I had to trudge back to my car to drop off that awesome $6 bottle of Cabernet. I loved the cops’ response to my questioning why we could do this at Piedmont but not here: “This is a different park.” Indeed. Centennial Olympic Park is different in a lot of ways. For starters, the lovely view of Midtown is replaced by an almost equally lovely view of downtown. I’m no fan of Atlanta’s bizarro modern aesthetic — where the motif seems to be “20th Century Hodgepodge” — but almost anything looks good at sundown, including the skyline. But still, being forced to pony up $6 for crappy, plastic-bottled Budweiser seemed a ripoff from the get-go. Even more annoying was reliance on the CNN Center for on-the-go food. Am I the only one who misses access to places like Silver Grill? (Added travel note: I decided to use the MARTA train for the first time since moving here, and while I was bummed I wasn’t accosted by Soulja Girl, I LOVED the perspective it gives on the city. Lesson learned.)
Stacey Singer was so moved by the power of the Rock ’n’ Roll Camp for Girls in Portland, Ore. that she decided to help set up a similar camp in Atlanta. That’s why Singer and others will be at the 