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Access Atlanta > Blog > Archives > 2007 > February > 06
Tuesday, February 6, 2007
“Hogs” stars ride into town
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Bless our hearts. Whether it’s “Gone With the Wind,” “Song of the South,” “City Slickers 2” or “Lost in Space,” we love to stand outside and swoon over Hollywood stars when they come to town to hawk a movie.
On Tuesday, hundreds turned out on Washington Street downtown outside the state capitol to welcome John Travolta, William H. Macy, Tim Allen and Martin Lawrence, the stars of the upcoming Touchstone Pictures middle-aged buddy comedy, “Wild Hogs.”
Clad in leather jackets, the Hollywood actors gingerly rode into the event on Harleys.
In what we construed as a way to somehow account for the taxpayer expense of re-locating half of the state’s motorcycle police force to downtown in exchange for a eight-minute photo op with the actors, Governor Sonny Perdue happily proclaimed it “Wild Hogs Motorcycle Safety Day” as he presented the actors with Harley-Davidson biker vests.
Perdue, who once drove a race car around the Capitol, wore a dark suit and refrained from hopping on a Harley.
Perdue rattled off some scary highway accident stats (“1700 Georgians were killed on our roadways last year”) and promised the introduction of a “Super Speeder Bill” in the state legislature Thursday before handing over the microphone to his guests.
Hundreds of onlookers taking photos clustered to take in the scene, many of which were motorcyclists sporting leather jackets emblazoned with slogans like “Riding for Christian Motorcyclists Association“ and “Bad [posterior] Girls Ride Bad [posterior] Toys.”
“Although it looks like we sometimes we don’t know what we’re doing, we had a month of training for this movie,” Travolta reassured the assembled.
Some one in the crowd shot back, “Way to go, Vinnie Barbarino!” referencing the actor’s 1970s sitcom past on “Welcome Back Kotter.”
Referring to his co-stars as “Johnny” and “Billy,” Allen told the crowd that he and Macy have a new love of motorcycling, thanks to “Wild Hogs.” Added Allen: “We did have some mishaps on this movie but Billy and I dig this now. I don’t like the helmet but I wear it.”
Citing exhaustion, Buzz gave up before getting an exact count of all the officers present and their flashing police motorcycles brought in from Cobb, Calhoun, DeKalb and Fulton counties. “Wild Hogs” arrives in theaters March 2.
If you have a tip, call 404-526-2749. Or fax 404-526-5509. Or e-mail: buzz@ajc.com.
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Fonda party and premiere one hot ticket
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jane Fonda has set May 7 as the date for her annual Georgia Campaign for Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention benefit. And, as expected, the evening will serve as the Southeastern premiere of “Georgia Rule,” the two-time Oscar-winning, Poncey-Highland resident’s next film.
Fonda shot the Garry Marshall-directed film last year with Felicity Huffman, Lindsay Lohan and Dermot Mulroney. And while nothing is set in stone, Fonda is hopeful that she will coax her co-stars to Atlanta to walk the red carpet with her at the Woodruff Arts Center.
As usual, the evening will feature the film screening, a private cocktail reception and the always inimitable live auction. (Compleeeetely unprintable stories from 2005’s G-CAPP auction with Wanda Sykes remain among our Top 5 cocktail party anecdotes to this day …)
“I had such a wonderful time making this film, and I am so happy to share it with some of my close friends while raising awareness about the work we’re doing in adolescent pregnancy prevention,” Fonda told Buzz via an e-mailed statement.
And since we enjoy cashing our check weekly, we asked the question most expected of us: Will the troubled Lohan, who in recent days has been in and out of rehab, attend the soiree?
“I don’t feel comfortable speculating on any of that,” event rep Tara Murphy told us graciously.
In the past year, while Lohan has made favorable acting impressions in “Bobby” and “A Prairie Home Companion” (Fonda herself has praised Lohan’s work), her tabloid-fodder personal life led to a dressing-down from the studio while she was shooting “Georgia Rule” last summer.
Murphy told us that tickets for the highly anticipated G-CAPP event are already being snapped up. For more info, go to gcapp.org or call 404-475-6051.
A new home for Randy & Spiff
Talk about radio survivors: Morning team Randy & Spiff is moving to news/talk WGST-AM starting Feb. 26, the pair’s fourth station in just over four years.
Randy Cook and Spiff Carner will forgo the Supremes and Rod Stewart in favor of business, sports and politics but say they’ll maintain the light humorous tone they’ve solidified over the past 18 years in the Atlanta market. “It’ll be a learning curve,” Carner said, “but we’re excited about it.”
The two were the bedrock of oldies station Fox 97.1 from 1989 through 2003. Later, they made homes at Cool 105.7 and soft rock Lite 94.9. They lasted at the latter about 18 months until Dec. 18, when Clear Channel dumped soft rock for country. “When we flipped Lite, it wasn’t about them,” said Clear Channel operations manager Clay Hunnicutt. “They’re great guys with a long history in the market. Unlike most AM morning shows, they’ll do it with a little more flair, a little more entertainment.”
Locke pays up for past sins
There was an open bar upstairs at Rainwater on Saturday night. Still, Star 94’s Vikki Locke ended up spending $700 on two martinis. While Locke was in the Alpharetta eatery for dinner, the owners asked her to poke her head inside the private 40th birthday party for Chris Glavine, thrown by her New York Mets pitcher hubby, Tom Glavine. The problem? When the 16-year vet left the Braves in 2002, Locke was so peeved she announced on-air that she would boo Glavine when the Mets came to town. As it turns out, Glavine has a good memory, and when Locke ran into him, with two free drinks in her hand, “The first thing out of his mouth was, ‘Are you trash-talking me at my own party?’ ” Locke told Buzz Monday. “I was mortified.” Locke apologized and then announced on the air Monday that she would donate $500 to CURE Childhood Cancer, Chris Glavine’s favorite charity, if Tom Glavine would call into the show. Co-host Steve McCoy then suggested that Locke pay an additional $100 every hour Glavine didn’t call. Consequently, Locke is writing CURE a check for $700, and Star 94 is matching the donation.
High Five
Top live auction items at the annual Winter Weekend in Cancun benefiting the Carter Presidential Center. The weekend raised $1,016,478:
5. Manuel Rodriguez flamenco guitar, $24,000
4. A 1991 signed photo of Presidents Carter, Reagan, Bush, Ford and Nixon, $26,000
3. A print of a painting by President Carter of the center’s Japanese Garden, $30,000
2. A North Georgia fly-fishing weekend with the Carters and guide Ted Turner, $43,000
1. President Carter’s handcrafted tiger wood baby cradle, $300,000.
— Courtesy of Carter Presidential Center
Uncoupling
Singer Kylie Minogue and her boyfriend, actor Olivier Martinez, have announced their separation.
Minogue recently resumed performing after treatment for breast cancer. In November, the 38-year-old singer told Elle magazine that Martinez had been an “incredible” support during her illness.
She and Martinez, a 41-year-old French actor who currently stars in “Blood and Chocolate,” confirmed the split via a statement.
“They have made it clear that the decision to go their separate ways was mutual and amicable,” the statement said, adding that the pair “remain close friends.” Natch.
Celebrity birthdays
Actress Zsa Zsa Gabor is 90. Actor Patrick Macnee (“The Avengers”) is 85. Actor Rip Torn is 76. Actor Mike Farrell is 68. NBC news anchorman Tom Brokaw is 67. Singer Fabian is 64. Singer Natalie Cole is 57. Actress Megan Gallagher (“Millennium”) is 47. Vocalist Axl Rose of Guns N’ Roses is 45. Singer Rick Astley is 41.
Contributing: Rodney Ho and news services
If you have a tip, call 404-526-2749. Or fax 404-526-5509. Or e-mail: buzz@ajc.com.
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