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Access Atlanta > Blog > Archives > 2007 > April > 01
Sunday, April 1, 2007
Final Four: ‘Idol’ hands find tequila
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Sure, he looks all blow-dried and tailored on “American Idol.” But television’s most-watched TelePrompTer reader Ryan Seacrest secretly has a wild side.
And folks at Compound nightclub early Sunday morning got liberal doses of it.
Seacrest was in town this weekend to host Sunday’s Final Four My Coke Fest in Centennial Olympic Park with Maroon 5, LL Cool J, Sugarland and Chevelle.
The “A.I.” host and Dunwoody High School grad began the night sedately enough, having drinks with his parents at the Four Seasons hotel in Midtown.
Early Sunday, he turned up at Compound, where part-time Atlantan Janet Jackson and friends were partying in the club’s VIP suite, safely away from public consumption. After Seacrest popped in to say hello to Jackson, he and a few associates were whisked to their own VIP booth with bottle service.
That’s when Q100 “Bert Show” producer/celebrity enabler Jeff Dauler had a bottle of Patron tequila sent over. Dauler, “Bert Show” namesake Bert Weiss and Seacrest then did a series of tequila shots together.
“After the first round, Seacrest didn’t even use a piece of lime to chase it,” a still-recovering Dauler told Buzz on Sunday. “And the women? Let’s just say they all wanted a piece of him.”
We’re told that the “A.I.” fixture was gracious to every fan who approached and happily posed for pictures.
Meanwhile, with the precision of a presidential motorcade, Jackson’s security team safely transported the pop star and company into a waiting fleet of dark Escalades with tinted windows outside the club.
And after hitting the dance floor to Def Leppard’s “Pour Some Sugar on Me,” Seacrest officially declared himself out of the club around 3 a.m. Sunday.
Quote of the day
“Go to the strip clubs. All of them.” — Atlanta rapper/actor Ludacris, on what local sights Final Four attendees should hit while in the ATL
Clooney appearance falls flat
For weeks, the city’s A-listers gossiped endlessly about Castleberry Hill artists Carolyn Carr and Michael Gibson’s ultra-exclusive Final Four party. New frocks were purchased, jewelry was taken out of vaults, and hair was blown out. Backs were stabbed to get on the guest list. The reason: the guest of honor was to be actor George Clooney. Sure enough, guests, including philanthropist Laura Turner Seydel, artist Todd Murphy, fund-raiser Sally Dorsey, magazine editors Elizabeth Roth and Travis Ward, publicist Liz Lapidis and Pecan Pie fashion designer Clint Zeagler all dutifully turned up. A little past midnight, the couple hauled out a cardboard cutout of the actor and wished guests a “Happy April Fools Day!”
“I honestly didn’t detect any animosity,” Zeagler told Buzz on Sunday. “But it did thin out quite a bit after the cardboard George came out.”
There was no immediate word whether the folks at the ‘Se7en’ magazine launch party, who had the actor on their guest list, still sent a car for the hunk of cardboard.
Contributing: Elizabeth Cobb
Got scoop, celebrity sightings or fan craziness to report for Final Four Buzz? E-mail us at buzz@ajc.com or call: 404-526-7218.
If you have a tip, call 404-526-2749. Or fax 404-526-5509. Or e-mail: buzz@ajc.com.
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LL Cool J wins over the ladies
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
LL Cool J (AKA James Todd Smith) just finished an hour-long strip tease.
Onstage at the Cokefest, he took the stage in his requisite baggy pants topped with a long sleeve T-shirt. Hanging from his belt loop was a long silver chain connected to his back pocket. Occasionally pausing next to his gold mic stand with giant gold LL COOL J running down the side, Smith ripped through his material. He touched on his old standards (“Going Back to Cali”) and moved all the way through to new unreleased material (“Shake the Keys”).
And as he moved through the years, he peeled off the layers. Off went the shirt down to a clean white tank undershirt. Then reached into his pockets, pulling out wads of one-dollar bills, tossing them into the crowd. All the time pulling at his tee, finally stretching it off his shoulder.
(We’ve forgotten how good Smith — whose nickname is short for Ladies Luv Cool James — looks up close. From our vantage point, we would suggest that his book “LL Cool J’s Platinum Workout: Sculpt Your Best Body Ever with Hollywood’s Fittest Star” is no hyperbole.)
Declaring that he was going to “turn this stage into a club” Smith pulled women out of the VIP section and onto the stage, including the Star94 traffic reader, Shannon Holly.
(And it wasn’t just the female contingent rocking out. In the front row of the VIP section, wrapped in a clear Coke logo’d poncho, with his ball capped stuffed with Smith’s dollar bills, was Emanuel Lewis of television’s Webster fame.)
After each song, the dancing females would leave the stage, each snagging a hug from Smith. We couldn’t hear what they were saying to him, but he sweetly replied to each of them, “You, too.” Ahhh LL.
As he was flying through “Shake the Keys” a new song he’s working on in the studio, he hollered, “Do you want it? Should I flaunt it?” in what we can only assume was a rhetorical fashion. And off went the shirt, leaving him clad in just his baggy blue jeans hanging dangerously far down, revealing a wide swatch of white stretchy material.
Shortly thereafter, the set ended to the appreciative roar of the crowd, leaving us to wonder … boxers or briefs?
If you have a tip, call 404-526-2749. Or fax 404-526-5509. Or e-mail: buzz@ajc.com.
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Final Four: VIPs gather for ‘Se7en’ launch
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The VIPs hanging out in the seductively lit Glenn Hotel at the “Se7en Madness” party downtown barely blinked when the big dance ended for Georgetown on the wide screen TVs on Saturday night. Of course, potent mangopolitans and rubbernecking to see potential celebs like George Clooney and Ludacris might have been contributing reasons for the wavering attention spans.
The soiree, hosted by boxer Roy Jones Jr., Hawks legend Dominique Wilkins and Playboy Playmate Joanna Krupa, served as a launch party for “Se7en” magazine, a new national men’s magazine with a regional section devoted to Atlanta.
“Atlanta is such an amazing sports city, yet we didn’t have a men’s magazine,” explained “Se7en” co-publisher Brandon Lewis. “We’re hoping to fix all that.”
Also on the guest list for the late night/early morning private party: music producer Dallas Austin, rapper/actor/author L.L. Cool J and Oscar winner Jamie Foxx. And the evening’s special musical guest: 2007 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Grandmaster Flash.
Official madness
Each of the Final Four teams has an official fan headquarters downtown this weekend. On Saturday, Buzz popped in for a quick survey of the digs.
At Dailey’s restaurant, UCLA fans Renee Horton, Charles Thomas Jr. and Debra and Gary Elliott had been celebrating since 10 a.m. “It might be 3 o’clock here, but it’s only noon back home in California,” Horton said. Thomas, who suffers from allergies, said the pollen here has required some adjustment.
Explained Debra Elliott: “We’re used to smog, not pollen.”
Down Andrew Young International Boulevard, the scent of baking cornbread greeted Ohio State fans at Pittypat’s Porch. John and Candy Strawser, of Dublin, Ohio, were taking a breather with a couple of 24-ounce beers.
“He’s been to the Final Four before, but here it’s definitely more spread out,” Candy said.
Down at Azio, Florida Gators fans generously endured the Final Four apparel folks, selling Ohio State sweatshirts with Gators gear.
“It’s been very organized here,” said Karen Phelps, who drove from Columbus, Ga., with fellow Florida fan Chris Wightman. Since the pair visits Atlanta frequently, they didn’t have to contend with the wrap-around lines a few blocks away at the Georgia Aquarium.
Win or lose, the two said they would attend the final Monday night.
At Max Lager’s American Grill & Brewery, Georgetown fans were the most boisterous of the bunch, chanting “Hoyas, Hoyas!” as they awaited their next rounds. “We’re from New York, so this is a bit different,” explained Colleen Crawford, who was sporting some G-town face paint. “It’s spread out here. There, it’s just bar after bar after bar.”
Overscene
Michael Jordan dining at Dolce at Atlantic Station, Patrick Ewing Sr. lunching on a Caesar salad at the Lenox Square Houston’s and ESPN commentator and former UCLA coach Steve Lavin dining at Trois in Midtown.
Jethro vs. Britney
Now that the city has hosted Super Bowls, Final Fours, All-Star games and the 1996 Summer Olympics, Atlanta has become fair game to out-of-town journalists taking pot shots at our fair metropolis. This weekend, it’s rock-writer-turned-sports-blogger Chuck Klosterman, who described Atlanta thusly on his espn.com Final Four blog before he even he hit town: “Life on the streets of Atlanta … if by ‘life,’ you mean looking for bars that are womb-like and empty. I’ll try to write more when I arrive in Hot-lanta, perhaps while watching ‘Survivor’ and consuming foodstuffs that would make Jethro Bodine ecstatic.”
So, who exactly is this guy passing judgment on us? Why not have Klosterman tell us himself. Here’s an excerpt from page 16 of his memoir, “Killing Yourself to Live”: “I have everything Britney Spears has ever released to the public.”
Feel better?
Contributing: Jill Vejnoska.
Got Final Four Buzz scoop, celebrity sightings or fan craziness to report? E-mail us at buzz@ajc.com or phone 404-526-7218.
If you have a tip, call 404-526-2749. Or fax 404-526-5509. Or e-mail: buzz@ajc.com.
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Daughtry doesn’t reel ‘em in at Tabernacle
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Late Saturday night, 44 year-old Steve Hansen sat in the top balcony of the Tabernacle feeling pretty good. Hansen, who hails from Milton, Wisc., was with his brother and a buddy — they had bought tickets to Atlanta hoping that their beloved Wisconsin Badgers would make it to the Final Four.
The Badgers didn’t make it, but the guys came anyway.
They hung out earlier in the evening at the downtown pub Sidebar, and as they were leaving someone handed them tickets to the Tabernacle concert by bald rocker Chris Daughtry.
“We’re happy as can be,” Hansen said. Hansen and his crew also had tickets for Jet the following night.
Perhaps Jet’s show will be better-attended than Daughtry’s. It wouldn’t take much. The Tabernacle was humiliatingly empty for the former “American Idol” contestant’s show. Early in the concert, we counted counted 26 ticketholders — including ourselves — in our balcony. When we counted later, the “crowd” had thinned considerably. Things weren’t much prettier on the floor.
Few people, it seems, wanted to spend their night listening to Daughtry and his four-piece band play outdated, mediocre rock.
Neither did we. After five songs, we high-tailed it out of the venue with the band still on stage, confident that we weren’t going to miss much. It was a free show, so we couldn’t ask for our money back. But we at least wanted to not waste any more of our time.
If you have a tip, call 404-526-2749. Or fax 404-526-5509. Or e-mail: buzz@ajc.com.
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