PopSmart

I reviewed the Actor’s Express production of Hedwig and the Angry Inch in this week’s issue, and while I believe there’s room for improvement, it remains an impressive production. And as I stated in my review, one of the reasons why watching Hedwig is such a compelling experience is because John Cameron Mitchell’s collaboration with Stephen Trask is the most authentic stage rendering of rock music you’ll ever witness. (And before we continue, I don’t count Tommy in this mix; the Who’s rock opera started out as an album.)

There are a lot of reasons for this, some of which speak to how audiences — both gay and straight — related to both traditional musical theater and rock ’n’ roll. The best thing about Hedwig and the Angry Inch is how it can unite all theater-going (and some non-theater-going) audiences. (more…)

The theme for this year’s AJC Decatur Book Festival could easily be “Bigger, Stronger, Faster.” Bigger, in that its programming has been expanded. Stronger, in that the authors lineup continues to improve in this, the festival’s third year. And Faster, in that, much to the staff’s relief, the lineup is all but set. (Compared to last year at this time, about half the lineup had been confirmed.)

So the organizers could be forgiven for their delighted grins at Monday morning’s press conference, held at the Old Courthouse in Decatur’s Downtown Square to announce the programming. The conference was hosted by co-founder Daren Wang; and the lineup went live on the website later in the morning.

I’ll dispense with the laundry list of big names, but Decatur native and humorist Roy Blount Jr. was on hand to give an idea of the local flavor at the festival. Blount, a regular on the NPR quiz show “Wait, Wait … Don’t Tell Me!” (carried by WABE on Saturdays at 11 a.m.) has become a fixture at the festival. Some other major names this year include former U.S. Poet Laureate Billy Collins (2001-2003). (Check out his now-famous poem “The Names,” which he read to a joint session of Congress after Sept. 11, 2001.) Other heavyweights include John Dean (pictured) and his new book, Broken Government: How Republican Rule Destroyed the Legislative, Executive and Judicial Branches; Sara Shepard, author of the “Pretty Little Liars” series, who will help kick off the festival’s new “The Escape” programming for teens; and John Bemelmans Marciano, author of Madeline and the Cats of Rome, the first story from the famed “Madeline” series in 50 years. (Marciano is the grandson of the series’ creator, Ludwig Bemelmans.)

OK, so it’s a laundry list. Sue me. The festival runs Aug. 29-31 (Labor Day Weekend) in downtown Decatur.

(For images from the press conference, visit our new Sideshow photo blog.)

In the world according to Jay Louis, there’s no such thing as too many douchebags. No, not the countless politicos that Jon Stewart likes to skewer on “The Daily Show,” but the tatted-up, hair-spiked, shiny-foreheaded, six-pack-packed, hand-symbol-thrusting, shades-sporting, wife-beater-wearing, tongue-thrusting, hand-gesturing and pec-bearing American men who somehow wind up with really attractive women in living color.

Louis, aka douchebag1, hosts the phenomenally popular website Hot Chicks with Douchebags, in which he and alert readers hip the rest of us “normal” folk to the cheesily over-packaged American men hanging out with women who would seem way out of their league. As popular as the site is, the next logical step would seem to be a book, Hot Chicks with Douchebags (Simon Spotlight Entertainment), which fell into our reluctant hands this week and will hit bookstores July 8. The book’s thesis seems simple enough:

In this book, we will identify every type of ’bag within the douche spectrum, from the youthful stage-1 Fratbags to the polluted, noxious stage-4 DJ Club Douche. We will tap directly into the core of not only how douchebaggery manifests, but also how it corrupts the hottie within its wily, greased-up charms. These unnatural cohabitations must be exposed to the disinfecting light of detailed scrutiny if we have any hope of societal redress.

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Emmy-winning actor and favorite Atlantan Leslie Jordan is going to be all over Atlanta this weekend and beyond, all in honor of the recent release of his memoir, My Trip Down the Pink Carpet. The former “Will and Grace” guest performer is one of those guys who’s just funny once he opens his mouth; I firmly believe that he could read the mayor’s budget-cut proposals and get a laugh. (His 2006 interview with Curt Holman proves as much.)

Jordan will be plenty busy over the next few days, starting Saturday with a book-release appearance at Outwrite Books. The reading/signing starts at 7:30 p.m.; admission is free. He follows that up with a two-night stand at the 14th Street Playhouse with his one-man show of the same name, Sunday and Monday at 8 p.m.

Unfortunately, the status of the sitcom “12 Miles of Bad Road” (in which he co-stars) seems hopelessly up in the air, according to this article in the San Francisco Chronicle. Anyone know anything different? Perhaps Leslie will enlighten us, in a way only he can, as he shows in this clip taken during his recent Stonewall Columbus fundraiser.

I was unable to screen The Love Guru for this week’s paper. Apparently I’m not alone; looking for an alternative newsweekly review of the horrifically reviewed comedy from the former clown prince of Hollywood is an exercise in futility. (Maybe that’s because studios are making it more and more difficult for alt-weeklies to screen movies in time for their weekly deadlines, but then, they’re making it difficult for everyone to screen indie films for review because they keep changing the release dates, but whatever. More on that later.) I’m struggling to think of a more poorly reviewed film this year by someone held in such high esteem.

But as chronicled in Entertainment Weekly’s recent profile of Myers, there’s no love lost for him in Hollywood. In a city filled with egomaniacs, Myers seems to be a particular target of scorn. Some think he’s singled out unfairly; others wish he’d just go away. The man who once supposedly had the Midas touch with the Wayne’s World, Austin Powers and Shrek franchises seems to have, ahem, lost his mojo on this one.

I know it’s a predictable bit of pile on, but while I’ve always found Myers amusing, I’ve never really gotten the depths of praise heaped on him over the years. I’ve often thought of him as the right comic talent at the right time, a “Saturday Night Live” sketch genius who had been able to stretch sometimes brilliant gags, sound bites and wordplay into movie-length hits. But, really, how hard did you laugh at any of the Wayne’s World or Austin Powers sequels? (I completely avoided the last AP installment, Goldmember, as well as the third Shrek cuz just I figured it would be more of the same.) Frankly, I think the most daring movie work Myers did was portraying Studio 54 owner Steve Rubell in 1998’s 54. Besides delivering a spot-on mimic job, Myers captured the tragedy of Rubell.

A lot of Myers’ critics believe his style of comedy is already played out. I’m inclined to agree. The thing is, Myers’ style is so facile, it doesn’t warrant much examination. To borrow the current phrase du jour, it is what it is. And that’s just not that much to get excited about. I have a bad feeling that, come Monday, the box-office receipts will bear that out.

(Photo courtesy Paramount Pictures)

Here’s a fond PopSmart wish of good luck to the folks at PBA30’s “This Is Atlanta,” which is up for a Southeast Emmy this Saturday for Best Magazine Program under the umbrella category Outstanding Achievement: Television Programming Excellence for its segment, “The Atlanta Downhill Challenge,” about the city’s popular soapbox derby race. (Oddly enough, the program is up against two episodes of “TBS Storyline,” which was canned when Turner changed TBS to last year Peachtree TV. Unfortunate, considering Peachtree TV’s “hyper-local” mission statement.)

We mentioned the Telly Award-winning program in one of our first PopSmart blog posts back in November, so we’re excited to see what happens on Saturday. Jack Walsh and Gordon Ray are the nominated producers of the show, and do an impressive job of providing witty polish to a type of community program that, when not in the right hands, can run on the dull side. This stuff is compelling work, though, reminding Atlantans just how diverse its city really is. (more…)

1) Meghan Coffee performs at Smith’s Olde Bar.

2) Healthcare NOW rallies against for-profit health insurance companies outside the Buckhead office of Blue Cross Blue Shield.

3) Dr. Lemoine D. Pierce discusses and signs copies of her book, George Washington Carver: Scientist, Artist and Musician, at Auburn Avenue Research Library on African American Culture and History.

4) Documentary photographer Erin Ashford showcases her new mixed-media work in Manipulations at P’Cheen.

5) Marcus Jewish Community Center of Atlanta’s Jewtopia opens at 14th Street Playhouse.

(Photo by Zack Arias)

1) The Band of Heathens plays Eddie’s Attic.

2) Author Michael Rose discusses and signs Historic Photos of Atlanta at Manuel’s Tavern.

3) Diary of a Madman opens at Holy Innocents’ Episcopal Church.

4) International Rescue Committee and nine Atlanta restaurants partner for World Refugee Day: Make Dining Out Count, a fundraiser for the IRC.

5) For the Waters of Lethe by Richard Sudden continues at Whitespace Gallery.

(Photo courtesy the Band of Heathens)

As tactless and morbid as it might sound, I’m glad to know I’m not the only one who in just a couple days grew weary (and a bit wary) of the media, ahem, overkill coverage of Tim Russert’s death. But here comes Slate’s Jack Shafer, doing the dirty work and calling out the media (print and electronic) for its incessant coverage of Russert’s untimely passing last Friday due to a heart attack. Here’s Shafer’s most astute observation …

I wonder whether the media grievers gave a moment of thought to how this Russert torrent they produced played with viewers and readers. Did the grievers really think Russert was so important, so vital to the nation’s course, and such an elevated human being that he deserved hour upon hour of tribute?

There’s also nice pulled quotes from the New York Times‘ Mike Liebovich’s remembrance, which fairly and objectively points out some of Russert’s possible flaws, including my favorite: “Mr. Russert liked to seem sheepishly above-it-all, but was also as acutely status-conscious, befitting the local water.”

What irked me most about Russert was what felt like more than a newsman’s obsession with politics as gamesmanship (a flaw he shared with another former political operative, George Stephanopoulos). His Red State/Blue State carping during the 2002 mid-term elections practically helped make the terms mainstream, which is a shame considering how that kind of jargon has dumbed us all down.

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1) Lighting the Sun by Donna Mintz continues at Sandler Hudson Gallery.

2) Craig Seymour discusses and signs It Was All I Could Bare: My Life in the Strip Clubs of Gay Washington, D.C. at Outwrite Bookstore & Coffeehouse.

3) Harvey Milk performs at the Earl with Pride Parade.

4) Young Blood Gallery presents Samuel Parker’s The Road to Excess.

5) The Spill Canvas visits Masquerade.

(Image by Donna Mintz)