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Access Atlanta > Blog > Archives > 2007 > August > 07 > Entry
In and out at Chastain
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
First, the good news.
The “Queen of Soul” Aretha Franklin has been booked as part of the city’s Montreux Jazz Festival Atlanta set for Labor Day weekend. The soul legend will perform Sept. 1 at Chastain Park.
Tickets range from $36.50 to $58.50 and are on sale now.
Folk legends Peter, Paul and Mary meanwhile, have had to cancel their appearance at the venue this Friday.
Member Mary Travers recently had back surgery and her recovery is taking longer than expected. Ticket-holders are asked to contact their place of purchase by Thursday for refunds.
Usher: ‘We are happily married’
It’s official: Atlanta pop star Usher and Tameka Foster, who are expecting their first child together, have tied the knot.
“I exchanged vows with Tameka Foster in Atlanta on Friday and we are happily married,” Usher told Usmagazine.com in a story posted online Monday.
According to the magazine, a small, private ceremony was held in the office of Usher’s lawyer and, yes, his mother and former manager, Jonetta Patton, was in attendance.
The lawyer was not named.
E-mails to Usher spokeswoman Patti Webster seeking details and an official statement did not bring an immediate response.
In a postponement reported globally last week, Usher and Foster called off their July 28 wedding amid reports that Foster had checked into a hospital because of problems with her pregnancy.
Usher told Us Weekly last week: “Everybody’s fine. Tameka and the baby are fine.”
And no, we still haven’t been given any guidance on where to send the couple’s fondue pot. But at this late date, we may just have to find an alternate use for the fresh strawberries and dark chocolate sauce …
Dogs get chance to chew on Vick
The latest creative entrepreneur to seize upon Michael Vick’s woes for a fast buck is selling, that’s right, Michael Vick chew toys for dogs. Get it?
We weren’t able to reach anyone from the corporate headquarters of www.vickdogchewtoy.com, apparently a Jacksonville-based enterprise. But the creative minds behind the merchandise are clearly troubled by Vick’s alleged involvement in dogfighting, as evidenced by the polemic on the Web site.
“Now a new type of retribution has been created to give every dog a little pay-back,” the site trumpets. The items go for $7.99 and look an awful lot like Michael Vick figures that just happen to be marketed as chew toys.
The chew toys are but the latest in a stream of Vick-related opportunism. One eBay seller is hawking a “Dog Fighting Special” Michael Vick jersey for $6 (it’s just a plain old jersey), while another is hoping to rake in close to $30,000 for the domain names www.MichaelVicksDogFights.com and www.RonMexicosDogFights.com.
Proceeds of the questionably hot Vick chew toys reportedly will be given to the Jacksonville Humane Society, where spokeswoman Chere Garrard says she’s getting calls from all over the country but hasn’t actually talked with anyone from the Vick chew-toy outfit.
North Carolina: ‘A Better Place’
Pssst, Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin: Here’s a humble suggestion. Herzzoner may just want to spend a second or two in the city that elected her twice in favor of all that glitzy globe-trotting that’s been on the itinerary of late.
Why?
For starters, next Monday night North Carolina Secretary of Commerce Jim Fain has rented out the Georgia Aquarium, your city’s biggest tourist attraction, for a business recruiting session.
For North Carolina.
Fain will be in town to introduce local business leaders to the state’s nifty new Internet software that can be utilized “to provide maps and data to business leaders looking to expand or relocate to the state.”
Interestingly, when we reached out to North Carolina marketing rep Jessica Tuquero for additional info Monday, we were briefly put on hold before being transferred to her voice mail. The music being pumped through the phone? Billy Joel singing “New York State of Mind” at ear-shattering decibels.
Oh, and herzzoner? You might also like to know that, in your absence, nearly every single street in your city is currently impassable due to street-devouring sinkholes, pot holes, omnipresent tire-shredding steel plates or sewer projects.
You’re welcome.
On my TiVo and iPOD
Dallas Austin, Atlanta music, film and TV producer: ” ‘Boondocks’ and ‘Weeds’ are on the TiVo. I think ‘Weeds’ is brilliant. And I’ve downloaded recently, of course, Amy Winehouse, TV on the Radio and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs are on my iPod as well. Actually I have iPods! An iPhone. I’m all about i right now.”
Celebrity birthdays
Writer-producer-humorist Stan Freberg is 81. Humorist Garrison Keillor is 65. Country singer Rodney Crowell is 57. Actor Wayne Knight (“Seinfeld”) is 52. Actor David Duchovny (“The X-Files”) is 47. Country singer Raul Malo of the Mavericks is 42. Actress Charlize Theron (right) is 32.
Contributing: Jennifer Brett 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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