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Access Atlanta > Blog > Archives > 2007 > April > 04
Wednesday, April 4, 2007
Mike-E stops by Morehouse
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Rapper, poet and actor Mike-E and nine other artists have been performing at black colleges on the East Coast for the past five weeks, and they stop at Morehouse’s King’s Chapel at 7 this evening. He’s billing it as the Afro Flow Tour, and the American Cancer Society is behind the free concert because he talks about cancer and other risks involved with smoking. “My music is hard-hitting and entertaining without being preachy, without being corny,” Mike-E told Buzz on Tuesday. “My aunt is a cancer survivor, and I’ve lost several people who were close to me, so it wasn’t a stretch for me to be a part of something like this…. I actually had anti-tobacco themes in my music before this, so it’s a natural fit.”
Mike-E is a former publicist turned independent hip-hop act. “And people look at me kind of crazy for going from wearing tailored suits all of the time, getting tickets to all of the games, to doing poetry and rap without a major deal,” he said with a laugh. “But I’m walking in my purpose now. … Plus I’ve been on Russell Simmons’ ‘Def Poetry Jam’!”
‘GMA’ AT CENTENNIAL OLYMPIC PARK
Tory Johnson, CEO of Women for Hire and ABC’s “Good Morning America’s” workplace contributor, is hitting the road to launch a Take Control of Your Life tour with anchor Diane Sawyer. The tour comes to town with the Atlanta Women for Hire Career Expo (a free event for women) to be held 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Thursday at the Cobb Galleria. During today’s 7-9 a.m. segment, Johnson reports live on local women for “GMA” from the Southern Company Amphitheater in Centennial Olympic Park.
SCREEN ON THE GREEN MOVIE LINEUP
1. “A kiss is just a kiss.”
2. “The boss don’t mind sometimes if ya act a fool.”
3. “I’m never gonna stop the rain by complainin’. “
Turner Classic Movies’ annual free outdoor Screen on the Green will run for five consecutive Thursdays in Piedmont Park starting May 31.
The lineup:
May 31 — “Casablanca” (1942).
June 7 — “Car Wash” (1976).
June 14 — “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” (1969).
June 21 — “Funny Girl” (1968)
June 28 — “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial” (1982).
All films will be shown on a 45-by-24-foot screen in the meadow area behind the Park Tavern (10th Street and Monroe Drive). Each film starts at sunset (about 9). Last year’s total attendance topped 75,000 moviegoers. Attendees are asked not to bring pets.
ON MY IPOD
Susan V. Booth, artistic director of the Alliance Theatre: ” ‘Trouble’ by Ray LaMontagne, ‘No Mirrors in My Nana’s House’ by Sweet Honey in the Rock, ‘All My Friends’ by Amos Lee, ‘Avulekile Amasango’ by Soweto Gospel Choir and Bono, ‘Tall Trees in Georgia’ by Eve Cassidy. The litmus test for anything going on the iPod: It has to either make me dance or make me cry.”
TUNED OUT? WABE’S FUND DRIVE MISSES GOAL
For the first time in at least five years, public radio station 90.1 (WABE-FM) failed to reach its goal in its latest pledge drive, which ended Friday.
The station fell short by about $65,000 of its $900,000 goal, said John Weatherford, general manager for the past three years. A year ago, the station hit its $850,000 goal.
WABE shortened the pledge drive from 10 days to nine, which may have backfired. (The fall drive will certainly go back to 10 days, he said.) Other factors, he said, could have been the slowing economy, the distraction of the NCAA Final Four in town and spring break schedules.
The anticipated financial shortfall won’t affect programming, Weatherford said.
Perry Mitchell, a local resident who runs the Atlanta Public Radio Initiative and is pushing for more news/talk on WABE, said many of his group members have purchased HD radio, where WABE offers separate streams for news/talk and classical (as well as the hybrid format on 90.1). Others are listening online or picking up podcasts off the NPR Web site. “Some of my cohorts are opting out” of WABE and didn’t even hear the pledge drive, he said.
Weatherford also said WABE has a new hire: Steve Goss, who was a DJ on Peach and Lite 94.9 for 28 years until the station went country in December. Goss will be the local “Morning Edition” host starting next week and will do reporting and interviews as needed.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
Author-poet Maya Angelou is 79. Actor Craig T. Nelson (“Coach”) is 63. Actress Caroline McWilliams (“Benson,” “Soap”) is 62. Actress Christine Lahti (“Chicago Hope”) is 57. Singer Steve Gatlin of the Gatlin Brothers is 56. Writer-producer David E. Kelley (“Ally McBeal,” “The Practice”) is 51. Actor Robert Downey Jr. is 42. Actress Nancy McKeon is 41. Country singer Clay Davidson is 36. Singer Jill Scott is 35. Magician David Blaine is 34. Singer Kelly Price is 34. Actor James Roday (“Psych”) is 31. Actor Heath Ledger is 28. Actress Jamie Lynn Spears (“Zoey 101”) is 16.
OVERSCENE
Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Richard Ford (“Independence Day,” “The Lay of the Land”) dining on a barbecue chicken burrito (which he stripped of its tortilla) at the Flying Biscuit in Candler Park. He is a big sports fan (he started out as a sports journalist), but had no allegiance to either team in Monday’s NCAA basketball final. He was with David Hershey, a senior VP at HarperCollins in New York. … Michael Connelly, author of the best-selling Harry Bosch mysteries, with his latte and laptop at the Starbucks on 14th Street near the Four Seasons. Connelly is one of six siblings, most of whom went to the University of Florida, where Connelly met his wife. He bleeds orange and blue — he was at the national football championship in Phoenix in January, too. Since coming to town, he’s had shrimp and grits at the Oceannaire on Peachtree and a cheeseburger at the Vortex in Little Five Points.
STORK REPORT
Former Spice Girl Melanie Brown has given birth to a daughter in California, her publicist says. No name has been chosen yet for the girl, publicist Nadine Bibi said. Brown has said ex-boyfriend Eddie Murphy is the father, but the actor has said he’s not sure.
Contributing: Rodney Ho, Bob Longino, Sonia Murray, Kirsten Tagami, Teresa K. Weaver 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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