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Access Atlanta > Blog > Archives > 2006 > July > 24 > Entry
Starfest no Music Midtown
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Monday, July 24, 2006
Atlanta’s Star 94 radio, in its ads earlier this year, hyped Star Fest as a way to make folks forget Music Midtown, which ended its 12-year run last year. But in the end, it was like comparing a Snickers bar to a gourmet meal.
Music Midtown, which never had a Star 94 stage, drew up to 100,000 people a day with seven stages and 100-plus acts over three days. Star Fest, at Atlantic Station on Saturday, was a far more modest affair. Buzz stopped by to check out edgy singer Pink at 7 p.m., and there were maybe 2,000 people in attendance in a space that could easily have held 5,000.
Pink and pop-rock act Train were the only genuine headliners. Yet the cost ($35 to $50 a ticket) was similar to what Music Midtown charged just three years ago.
Oddly, Star Fest scheduled Pink for 7 p.m., before lesser-known bluegrass act Nickel Creek, a group not exactly compatible with Star 94’s Top 40 playlist. A publicist explained that Pink had “a prior commitment.” Indeed, after a relatively brief 40-minute set featuring most of her hits, such as “Just Like a Pill,” “Don’t Let Me Get Me” and “Get This Party Started,” the singer booked out of the site in a matter of seconds.
Typically, concerts include a buffer zone of four to six feet between the stage and the first row —- enough for security personnel and photographers. For some unexplained reason, the Star Fest main stage had a bizarrely wide gap of 15 feet between front-row patrons and the performers. Was this to keep those unruly Star 94 listeners —- many with children and blankets —- from bum-rushing the stage?
More tidbits from Janet
Some leftover lines from Friday’s Janet Jackson press conference at the Four Seasons hotel:
On what the Janet of 2006 would tell the Janet of 1986: “Fasten your seat belt.” (Buzz learned that her Sept. 26 release, “20 Years Old,” is a nod to the two decades that have passed since “Control” hit stores. Apparently the 1982 album “Janet Jackson” and 1984’s “Dream Street” don’t figure in her math.)
On working again with brother Michael: “He owes me! I’m not going to let him forget.”
Different talk at Punchline
Jamie Bendall, co-owner of the Punchline Comedy Club, offered unemployed former 99X jock Jimmy Baron an intriguing idea: Organize a monthly late-night talk show. The first one took place Saturday night following a raunchy set by comic Jimmy Shubert.
For the experiment, Baron brought in as guests legendary concert promoter Peter Conlon, Q100 radio morning producer Jeff Dauler and Neal Boortz’s engineer and former WSB-AM talk show host Royal Marshall.
With minimal promotion, about 50 people showed up. Baron shared anecdotes with his guests about celebrities, censorship, radio host and consumer guru Clark Howard’s cheapness and doing stand-up comedy. (Marshall is honing his stand-up skills and loves the instant feedback; Dauler prefers cracking wise in the solitude of a radio studio.)
With government raising the fines for obscenity, Dauler said radio jocks now do more self-censorship. For example, he said, “The Bert Show” recently had to cut short a bit asking listeners about bizarre injuries because it couldn’t allow people to describe sex acts on the air.
About 40 minutes into the show, Baron asked a leading question, meant for Conlon: “So has anyone here talked to Elvis on the phone?” A wiseacre named Michael Jordan raised his hand and complained, “I’m falling asleep here!”
“Let me know if we keep you awake,” Baron retorted.
Before the bored, 34-year-old Jordan walked out, he said he was expecting a comedy show. “This is like a fat man’s ‘View,’ ” he complained. “This is not a place for Barnes.” (Yes, Jordan thought Baron was Steve Barnes, Baron’s former 99X co-host.)
Baron said afterward that the show worked out well but that he wasn’t sure late Saturday night was the right time to do a local version of “Inside the Actor’s Studio.”
Random bits
Among the celebrities overseen at Compound nightclub Friday night: Allen Iverson, Kobe Bryant, Evander Holyfield, Jazzy Pha and Young Jeezy. Meanwhile, Fever nightclub brought in ultimate party gal Tara Reid Saturday night, who amusingly hung up on Q100 on Friday after Jenn Hobby had the temerity to ask Reid about her left breast popping out at an event in 2004… . The Rev. Al Sharpton, at a reception for black talk and R&B station WAMJ-FM 102.5 in the Ritz-Carlton downtown last week, celebrated his recent arrival on the Atlanta airwaves with his syndicated show, heard on the station weekdays from 1 to 3 p.m.
“It’s like having a long lunch with black America no matter where I am,” Sharpton told the crowd. He observed that Atlantans are especially vocal. “I know if I talk about crime, Detroit is there,” he said. “If I talk politics, it’s D.C. Atlanta, it doesn’t matter. I could talk about golf and you’d have something to say about that!”
Celebrity birthdays
Comedian Ruth Buzzi is 70. Comedian Gallagher is 60. Actor Michael Richards (“Seinfeld”) is 57. Actress Lynda Carter is 55. Director Gus Van Sant is 54. Actress-singer Jennifer Lopez is 37. Actress Anna Paquin is 24.
Contributing: Sonia Murray and news services. If you have a tip, call 404-526-5688 or e-mail: buzz@ajc.com.
If you have a tip, call 404-526-2749. Or fax 404-526-5509. Or e-mail: buzz@ajc.com.
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