New url for Peach Buzz
Bookmark this new url for Peach Buzz.. We have moved to Wordpress!
Access Atlanta > Blog > Archives > 2006 > November > 14 > Entry
What were those dummies doing at Lindbergh?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Folks visiting Lindbergh City Center on Piedmont Road over the weekend no doubt witnessed the oddity of more than 100 mannequins strategically posed in front of LongHorn Steakhouse and Chili’s.
The 72-hour dummy display was a “public art installation,” devised as a way to promote the area’s upcoming condo development, Eon at Lindbergh, due in mid-2008. The mannequins were all sporting black “Bring Lindbergh to Life” T-shirts, pointing to the area’s recent extensive retail and residential redevelopment project.
The artistic statement, we were told, hopes to “blur the line between art and advertising by forcing people to engage with mannequins in a public space.” In other words, developers want to replace the dummies with future residents, each willing to part with $180,000 for a 700-square-foot condo overlooking the Lindbergh MARTA station.
“Most of our customers had the same question: ‘What the [expletive] is that? ’ ” Taco Mac manager Fred Crudder related when we rang on Monday. “It was very interesting and unique, but in order to read the slogan on the T-shirts, you had to either be on foot or get out of your car. I’m not exactly sure how effective it all was. Plus, we like to think that Lindbergh [City Center] already has some considerable life going on right now.”
Alas, not all the mannequins survived the weekend. Buckhead revelers made off with two of them while others posed for pictures with them and performed CPR on one that had gone horizontal.
In the coming weeks, look for the dummies to pop up at Park Tavern, the Real Chow Baby, the Market and Bazaar.
Barbados calling, and Kitty’s working
For a 96-year-old, Kitty Carlisle Hart — the former “To Tell the Truth” fixture and widow of legendary Broadway producer Moss Hart — has an ambitious schedule this weekend in Atlanta. The singer-storyteller has booked four performances of her tell-all cabaret Thursday through Sunday at the Woodruff Arts Center’s 14th Street Playhouse.
What motivates the woman, you ask? “I need money!” she says, via e-mail. “I love to travel with friends and family. Eight of us recently made a trip to Barbados. To do that, I have to make a lot of money. To do that, I sing.”
Between songs, Carlisle Hart dishes on her old friends George Gershwin and the Marx Brothers (she co-starred with them in the 1935 comedy “A Night at the Opera”) and reveals anecdotes about Hart’s huge Broadway hit “My Fair Lady.” Oh, and she performs something called “Lime Jell-O Marshmallow Cottage Cheese Surprise.”
Or, as we refer to it, Thanksgiving.
For tickets and info: www.kittycarlisle.com or 404-733-5000.
Help La Rocco ‘Refuse to Lose’
As longtime Atlanta restaurateur Tony La Rocco (who has graced the city with Fratelli di Napoli and the Tap Room) continues his battle with leukemia, friends are banding together to lend a hand.
On Thursday night, pals Scott Strumlauf, Michael Krohngold, Paul Dagnese and others will host “Refuse to Lose,” a benefit for La Rocco at Tongue & Groove in Buckhead.
“Only when those close to us become ill do we find ourselves focusing on the value of life, our family and our friends,” Strumlauf explains.
La Rocco’s pals are urging folks to attend the 8-10 p.m., $75-per-person event. The Atlanta Fish Market, Sotto Sotto and Tongue & Groove are contributing food and drink for the evening.
On Monday, we were informed that La Rocco recently finished a 40-day stint at Emory University Hospital. He’s looking at another year of cranial and spinal chemotherapy, along with stem cell transplants, all costly treatments. For info: www.tonylarocco.com.
Coupling
“Grey’s Anatomy” star Ellen Pompeo and her boyfriend, record producer Chris Ivery, are engaged, Pompeo’s publicist confirmed Monday. Ivery, 38, proposed to the actress on Friday, her 37th birthday, after breakfast at home, says publicist Jennifer Allen. The Boston area natives, who have been dating for three years, have not set a wedding date, Allen said.
On my iPod
Terry Gross, host of National Public Radio’s “Fresh Air,” who was in town for an appearance at Georgia Tech Saturday night:
“It’s always filled up. Every time I want to add something, I have to remove another. Right now, I am listening to Susannah McCorkle, Billie Holiday, Walt Whitman poems set to music. Lots of George Jones. I’ve been on a George Jones kick. And there is a new book about early Nashville record labels, and it comes with a disc of obscure records from those labels. It’s kind of a pain because I have to enter each of the song titles by hand. “
Celebrity birthdays
Jazz pianist Ellis Marsalis is 72. Writer P.J. O’Rourke is 59. Zydeco singer-accordionist Buckwheat Zydeco is 59. Rapper Reverend Run of Run-DMC is 42. Atlanta record producer and singer Butch Walker is 37. Actor Josh Duhamel (“Las Vegas”) is 35. Drummer Travis Barker (Blink-182, Plus 44) is 31.
Contributing: Elizabeth Cobb and news services.
If you have a tip, call 404-526-2749. Or fax 404-526-5509. Or e-mail: buzz@ajc.com.
Permalink | |
