PopSmart

1) Less Than Jake performs at the Masquerade with openers Mustard Plug.

2) Urban wear brand Sol Munki celebrates street culture with its shoe release party at MJQ.

3) Decatur ships in 60 tons of sand for the annual Decatur Beach Party.

4) Beep Beep Gallery hosts a closing reception for Double Feature: New Works by Blink and Rene Arriagada with DJs, a cookout and music performance by All the Saints.

5) Melissa Etheridge performs at Chastain Park Amphitheatre.

(Photo courtesy Less Than Jake)

Bookmark It

While digging around for my recent post on the True Colors Tour, which concludes tonight at Chastain Park, I learned that wrestler “Rowdy” Roddy Piper explained what happened when he (accidentally?) kicked True Colors headliner Cyndi Lauper back in 1985 when she was into the whole Wrestlemania scene. The cool thing is that Piper is seen telling the story at another Atlanta event: the annual International GI Joe Collectors Convention.

It takes awhile for Piper to get to the Lauper incident, but everything’s hilarious …

Bookmark It

You’ll have to forgive me if I wax a little nostalgic after watching the True Colors Tour’s opener of a two-night stand last night at Chastain Park. We all have our B-52’s stories to tell around here, so I’m sure hearing one from someone who didn’t live in Atlanta until that last two years probably won’t dazzle anyone. But they’re fun to tell anyway. But first, about last night … well, before that, here’s the True Colors credo, as pulled from its site …

The goal of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) equality is at the heart of True Colors. From day one, the tour has sought to raise awareness about the discrimination the GLBT community still faces and raise significant funds for the organizations that work everyday on their behalf. This year, the True Colors Fund of Stonewall Community Foundation has been created to enable increased and efficient fundraising for the tour’s national non-profit partners through various revenue sources.

The brainchild of the Human Rights Campaign and the tour’s headliner, Cyndi Lauper, the True Colors is an entertaining mix of music, comedy and wee bit of get-out-the-boat speechifying. And what was most impressive about the proceedings was how little pontificating was done, even considering comedian Rosie O’Donnell’s sour-grapes rant on her tenure on “The View.” Actually, Rosie was quite funny and more than a little melancholic as she recalled her late mother, and how the more things change, the more they stay the same. Her point: Teach your children well. Point taken, Rosie, who’s got four kids and brought at least some of them along for the ride. But she was at her funniest when she grabbed a chunk of her own flab in a righteous display of healthy body self-image and yelled to an absent Donald Trump: “I’m gonna rub some of this on his orange, bald head. Here, ya prick!” And if the crowd still didn’t dig her plus-size sexiness, she recalled how, when in Mexico, she was all the rage with the menfolk, one of whom explained to her, “Bone is for the meek; meat is for the man!” Good stuff.

(more…)

Bookmark It

(EDITOR’S NOTE: LOTS MORE PICTURES AFTER THE JUMP!) 

The Gallery at East Atlanta Tattoo’s group art shows continue to draw fans of the lowbrow style, the Monster Mayhem opening on Friday night proved. This show struck a particular chord, not only with the huge crowd that jammed the narrow gallery hallway and back-side patio but also shop/gallery owner Dirk Hays. “I’ve loved monsters since I was a kid,” says Hays, who poured over copies of Creepy and Eerie magazines growing up in Opelika, Ala. This is the fourth show at the gallery, which opened last September. Ideally, Hays would like to have four big seasonal shows with four smaller ones dropped in between. But considering attendance at these events have gone from 300 to more than 500 (at April’s Damn Dirty Ape show), don’t be surprised if they do more. “More and more people are coming to check out these shows,” Hays says.
(more…)

Bookmark It

1) Cat Power performs her rescheduled show at the Tabernacle with Dirty Delta Blues.

2) Real Men Cook for Charity celebrates Father’s Day with a feast at Georgia Railroad Depot while raising money for various nonprofits.

3) Stone Mountain holds its annual Arts and Crafts Festival.

4) The first annual Atlanta Gospel Festival is held at the Boisfeuillet Jones Atlanta Civic Center.

5) Grace Braun performs at the Earl.

(Photo by Stefano Giovannini)

Bookmark It

Ginny Tonic (sometimes known as Michael Howell) is one of the pack leaders of the East Point Possums (Possi?), who get together each year, throw one helluva drag ball, and raise lots of money for their charity of choice. This year’s beneficiary is the Jerusalem House, which provides more than half of Atlanta’s permanent housing designated for homeless persons living with HIV/AIDS. One of the show’s claims to fame was it was the first show that Gigi Monroe performed before she became Atlanta’s “First Drag Idol” winner from Charlie Brown, according to co-founder Rick Westbrook. Other famous names include Alexandria Martin, Owen McCord, Genre, and Summer Knight.

This year’s East Point Possums party will be held from 8-11 p.m. Saturday, June 14, on the East Point Commons in downtown — near the Corner Tavern, a major supporter of the event. The show also features such familiar performers as Prissy Scilla and the MC, Dina Daintymouth.

We had a chance to catch up with the legendary Ginny Tonic to figure out why the Possums make such friendly pets.

(more…)

Bookmark It

1) Nick Longo Band plays at Callanwolde Fine Arts Center’s Jazz on the Lawn series.

2) Monster Mayhem opens at the Gallery at East Atlanta Tattoo, with more than 50 artists paying homage to their favorite monsters.

3) Local cool-kid outfitter Wish launches its own clothing line with Block Party, featuring entertainment by Just Blaze, DJ Don Cannon and more.

4) Comedian Henry Cho performs at the Punchline.

5) Wordsmiths Books celebrates its one-year anniversary with a weekend of poets, music, authors, food and festivities.

(Photo courtesy Nick Longo)

Bookmark It

So Atlanta’s favorite cheftestant Richard Blais didn’t win “Top Chef” last night. He’s still a winner in our eyes. And to prove that he — like his food — is not bitter, he’ll be appearing at Wordsmiths Books on Sunday, June 15, at 2 p.m. to discuss the show and sign Top Chef: The Cookbook (in which his winning “Quickfire Challenge” recipe appears) to help celebrate Wordsmiths’ one-year anniversary.

If you’re not up to following even autographed recipes, you can experience Blais’ unique creations at Home Restaurant and Bar in Buckhead.

The Wordsmiths One Year Anniversary Extravaganza kicks off tomorrow with live, in-store music and continues through the weekend with poetry, author appearances — including certain well-known chefs — and more.

(Photo courtesy Bravo)

Bookmark It

1) Unwed Sailor plays the Earl with Sybris.

2) Managing editor Hank Klibanoff of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution discusses and signs The Race Beat: The Press, the Civil Rights Struggle, and the Awakening of a Nation with Doris Derby and Brett Gadsden at the High Museum of Art.

3) Zappa Plays Zappa performs at Variety Playhouse.

4) Zombie Romance, comic-inspired paintings by Rod Whigham, continues at Rabbit Hole Gallery.

5) Star Bar hosts Freakout!!! with Derek Lyn Plastic, Mammals and the Shining Path.

(Photo by Jaret Ferratusco)

Bookmark It

1) Comedian Margaret Cho performs at the Tabernacle for one night only.

2) Indie Craft Experience hosts “Lucky No. 7” at Centennial Olympic Park.

3) Little Five Points’ Five Spot hosts a solid bill including Feeding Fingers, Slow Motion Crash, Cinetrope and more.

4) A (new) Genre Landscape opens at Cyclorama in Grant Park.

5) ZZ Top performs at Chastain Park Amphitheatre with the Zac Brown Band.

(Photo by Austin Young)

Bookmark It