PopSmart

1) Chris Rock performs at the Fox Theatre.

2) Atlanta Contemporary Art Center presents Artist’s Talks with Daniel Duford, Dave McKenzie and Susan Silton.

3) New Street Gallery hosts Vinyl Show.

4) Papa Grows Funk performs at Smith’s Olde Bar.

5) Charles Frazier signs his new book, Thirteen Moons, at Eagle Eye Book Shop.

My Speakeasy interview with “The Daily Show” writer and Atlanta native Rob Kutner gets the extended-online-version treatment on our website for this week’s issue, which includes a lot of funny/funnier stuff. Again Kutner will appear on Saturday, July 12, at the Barnes and Noble at Perimeter Mall and on Sunday, July 13, at the William Breman Jewish Heritage Museum.

Here’s a favorite “online-only” back-and-forth that didn’t make it in the print version:

According to Wikipedia, and Wikipedia is never wrong: “The Westminster Schools is a private secondary school in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Founded in 1951, Westminster has the largest endowment of any non-boarding secondary school in the United States.[1] The school’s expressed mission is ‘to develop the whole person for college and for life through excellent education.’” You now work for “The Daily Show.” Would you call yourself a ‘riches-to-rags’ story, then?
I’d say yes. All I can hope is that my story will inspire millions of would-be immigrants to give up and just stay in their country of origin.

And for those who are curious about Kutner’s work with the Shushan Channel, here’s a pee-in-pants promo for Jewno, their hilarious satire of Juno. Kudos for them to con J.K. Simmons (one of my fave character actors) into reprising his role as the dad.

(Photo courtesy Rob Kutner)

Not long after its witty Youtube trailer for Song of the Living Dead, Dad’s Garage Theatre presents a teaser trailer for the world premiere of its Top Shelf show, FWD. Mike Katinsky directs the madness-laced office satire written by Christian Danley and Randy Havens, which features two of my favorite performers in the Dad’s circle, Matthew Myers and Alison Hastings. (Incidentally, I interviewed Havens for a story that will run next week.) If FWD lives up to the standard of other Top Shelf premieres such as Drove, it should be a must see. Plus, the new Top Shelf comedies tend to be short!

The teaser emulates old-fashioned corporate training films and is quite clever. The Dad’s people seem to have a flair with the viral video form:

1) Civil Rights activist Dick Gregory speaks on Sen. Barack Obama, health and more at Shrine of the Black Madonna.

2) Soul Asylum and Gin Blossoms perform at Chastain Park Amphitheater.

3) CL hosts a raging party for Best of Atlanta 2008 at Star Bar.

4) Vans Warped Tour comes to Lakewood Amphitheatre.

5) Callanwolde Fine Arts Center hosts Summer Coffeehouse Series Open-Mic Poetry Reading with Kodac Harrison.

(Photo courtesy Dick Gregory)

1) Check out our Fourth of July fireworks roundup!

2) Welcome King Khan and the Shrines to Lenny’s Bar and experience the Indian guitar guru’s magic.

3) Watch comedian Greg Morton incorporate Mick Jagger and Tina Turner into his bit at the Punchline.

4) Celebrate Pride Day of Local Musicians and Poets this Fourth of July at Wordsmiths Books.

5) Atkins Park Tavern invites chef Andrew Smith to roast a Fourth of July Pig.

In honor of our nation’s birthday, I offer possibly the most patriotic song ever written. Chances are you’ve heard this anthem-to-end-all-anthems from Trey Parker and Matt Stone, but I’ll bet you’ve never heard the whole thing.

This year’s installment of The Animation Show (reviewed here), opening July 4 at the Landmark Midtown Art Cinema, features a charming little cartoon called “Western Spaghetti,” the latest cartoon confection from the animator PES (Adam Pesapane). “Western Spaghetti” is another of the animator’s stop-motion, doodle-like shorts that involves candy or other foodstuffs substituting for familiar objects: in the 11-second “The Fireplace,” PES renders a Yule log in candy corn and pretzels. A previous Animation Show featured “Game Over,” PES’ tribute to old-school arcade video games, with familiar sound effects:

PES’s fun food-related shorts are completely work safe and kid-friendly — which is more than you can say for his hilarious “Roof Sex,” which features furniture instead of food, as well as a killer punchline.

1) Emmylou Harris performs at Chastain Park Amphitheatre.

2) Anne Frank in the World: 1929-1945 continues at DeKalb History Center.

3) Inman Park/Reynoldstown MARTA Station gives Atlanta Beltline Tours.

4) Comedian Bob Saget performs at the Tabernacle.

5) Art Nouveau magazine presents All Together Now at Tilt Coffee Shop.

(Photo by Flabio Lovino)

1) Journalist Thomas Laird discusses and signs The Story of Tibet, and Columbia University professor Robert Thurman discusses and signs Why the Dalai Lama Matters at Jimmy Carter Library & Museum.

2) Comedian Eddie Izzard performs at Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre.

3) Chicago, the Doobie Brothers and Nicola Congiu perform at Chastain Park Amphitheatre.

4) Paintings, works in oil by Barry Sons, continues at Watson Gallery.

5) The Toadies and Lions perform at Masquerade.

(Photo Amazon.com)

Famously filthy-mouthed stand-up comedian George Carlin has died of heart failure at the age of 71. An icon of counterculture comedy and free speech rights, Carlin was most notorious for his “Seven Words You Can’t Say on Television,” a routine from his album Occupation Foole that eventually led to the Supreme Court:

A listener hearing New York’s WBAI-FM play Carlin’s “Filthy Words” routine on Oct. 30, 1973, in its unaltered entirety lodged a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission. The FCC, in turn, threatened to pull WBAI’s license. WBAI appealed the FCC’s bark all the way to the Supreme Court, where in 1978, the justices ruled in favor of the FCC, agreeing that the seven words “you can’t say on television,” shouldn’t be said on the radio, either—not during hours that children might hear them.

Carlin’s comedy encompassed more than just taboo-breaking profanity, however. He frequently examined life’s amusing minutia (”Urinals are 50 percent universal”) in a way that anticipated the observational humor of Jerry Seinfeld. He also delighted in wordplay and simple absurdity, like the headlines in his faux-news report: “A man attempting to walk around the world … drowned today.”

If you’ve been online at all on Monday morning, you’ve probably either seen the clip of “Seven Words” or a link to it. Here’s something a little different: an expanded, exhaustive version of the list from Carlin’s 1982 concert at Carnegie Hall. It features the familiar seven, as well as some terms that you may have never heard before (”donaker,” “sugarbowl pie,” “boy in the boat,” “71″) :

Updated: In case the Carnegie Hall footage gets pulled, here’s a similar routine, with Carlin’s audio synchronized to some extremely odd video.