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Access Atlanta > Blog > Archives > 2007 > September > 24
Monday, September 24, 2007
Britney Spears drops by Juicy Couture at Phipps
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
With long dark brown hair and eyeglasses, embattled pop star Britney Spears was able to glide into Phipps Plaza over the weekend and shop almost undetected.
“Unless you actually spoke to her for a minute, you wouldn’t have recognized her,” Juicy Couture assistant manager Jake Barnaby told Buzz on Monday. Spears told Barnaby that she was in Atlanta to escape stress and the paparazzi and to relax. Casually dressed in black leggings and a shawl, Spears shopped for a short-sleeved sweater, some clothes for her canine and some, er, intimate apparel.
Back in Los Angeles on Friday, prosecutors had filed hit-and-run and driving-without-a-license charges against the singer after she allegedly left the scene of an accident in a parking lot there in August.
Apparently, her visit here agreed with the singer.
“She was very well put together and she was really quiet,” Barnaby told us. “The people with her were actually causing more commotion. After a while, it was like, ‘Oh, please. You’re nobody. Stop.’ “
While she was shopping, Spears expressed an interest in going clubbing Saturday night at Opera in Midtown. The pop star spent about $1,000 during her visit to Juicy Couture.
Barnaby, a self-professed Spears fan, says the tabloid-tattered performer — who’s currently going through a bitter child custody battle with her ex Kevin Federline while trying to regain her professional footing after a less-than-stellar performance on MTV’s “Video Music Awards” this month — seemed centered on Saturday. Her sons were not with her at the time of the visit.
“She’s human and she’s trying,” he said.
Later, the singer was spotted at Intermix boutique in the Buckhead mall. However, when we rang the shop Monday, we were firmly referred to the retailer’s New York-based reps. After some intensely dedicated discernment regarding how much a Manhattan flack could actually tell us about a celebrity shopper here, we opted to go for coffee instead.
Celeb in synagogue
Congregation Beth Tefillah in Sandy Springs had a notable worshipper in the synagogue during Yom Kippur services on Saturday. Bob Dylan, in town for a show with Elvis Costello at Gwinnett Arena in Duluth, was quietly seated in the rear of the temple. According to Rabbi Yossi New, the iconic singer’s people called in advance to ask if Dylan (who was born Robert Zimmerman) might join other attendees in observing the holiest holiday on the Jewish calendar.
The singer, donning a dark suit and head covering as is customary, took part in the service by doing a blessing over the Torah before quietly returning to his seat.
“He wanted to be treated just like any other congregant,” explained New on Monday. “I’m very proud of the [congregation]. No one bothered him at all. He was allowed to pray like anyone else. His presence really highlighted that, in the eyes of God, we’re all the same.”
Former 99X “Morning X” co-host Jimmy Baron, a member of the Beth Tefillah congregation, found the experience “a little surreal.” Said Baron: “A few people wished him ‘Happy New Year’ on the way out but otherwise he was just another guy there observing the holiday. I’m sure there were a few cases of neck strain.”
Africa is ‘Heart’ of new film
After the success of his documentary “Rwanda Rising,” former Atlanta Mayor and United Nations Ambassador Andrew Young is looking to an even bigger screen for his next project. Today at the Giant Screen Cinema Association’s conference in Vancouver, it will be formally announced that Young, along with executive producers Carlton Masters and C.B. Hackworth, are joining forces with MacGillivray Freeman Films to create a new IMAX film, “Heart of Africa.”
We’re told that the proposed film “will bring the real Africa to people in the U.S. and around the world in the only format that does the continent justice.” A projected shoot will involve half a dozen African countries and, yes, it’s likely that the production will be in 3D. As anyone who routinely partakes of the “Martinis and IMAX” events at Fernbank Museum here knows, MacGillivray Freeman previously has produced IMAX faves like “Everest,” “The Alps” and “The Living Sea.”
Trading ‘Company’ for ‘Uncensored’
V-103’s afternoon personality Ryan Cameron, who recently left WXIA’s “Atlanta & Company,” has nabbed another TV gig on the pay-cable network Starz, “Ryan Cameron Uncensored.” The show will feature comedy skits, on-the-street interviews and celebrity guests. Starz began taping the show Monday.
OVERSCENE
Los Angeles apparel gurus and “The Look For Less” Style Network hosts Chip and Pepper Foster dining at South City Kitchen in Midtown with a group of 11. We’re told that the blond twins ordered the pan-roasted Georgia trout with buttermilk mashed potatoes, grilled asparagus and basil-crawfish meuniere.
Actress Ashley Judd and 250 of her fans at the Goody’s store in Kennesaw. Judd is on a five-city tour to introduce the Ashley Judd Collection, her new casual apparel line, including organic cottons, natch.
CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS
Newswoman Barbara Walters is 78. Actor Michael Douglas is 63. Actor Anson Williams (“Happy Days”) is 58. Actor Mark Hamill is 56. Actress Heather Locklear is 46. Actress Aida Turturro (“The Sopranos”) is 45. Actor Tate Donovan (“Damages”) is 44. Actor-singer Will Smith is 39. Actress Catherine Zeta-Jones is 38. Atlanta rapper/actor T.I. is 27.
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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Not a night goes by without a party
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Mario Harris is one of the hardest-working guys in Atlanta nightlife. As head of Wassup N ATL, he runs several events at Django, Club 708 and Tower II catered to gay men and women.
He told Buzz, “Atlanta is probably the best and most exciting place in the country because it offers a variety of opportunities from upscale and high-fashion to the ultra urban experience.”
Buzz couldn’t agree more.
So we’ve rounded up a week’s worth of various nifty events. Clip out this calendar and save it to help plan your nighttime excursion.
Cheers!
Monday
How good is your groove? — Various DJs take turns on the open turntables. Get up and give it a shot. $3. 8 p.m. Apache Cafe, Atlanta. 404-876-5436, www.apachecafe.com.
Break it down — B-boys and B-girls strut their stuff. Also, free breakdance lessons till 10 p.m. $10; breakdancers free. 9 p.m. House nightclub, Atlanta. 678-528-7732, www.thehousenightclub.com.
Tuesday Get funky — Dance, funk party with DJ Romeo Cologne. $7. 9 p.m. Star Bar, Little Five Points. 404-681-9018, www.starbaratlanta.com.
Wednesday
Rock vs. rap — DJ Johnny Ether plays ’80s and ’90s rock and rap videos. No cover. 10 p.m. Eastside Lounge, Atlanta. 404-521-9666, www.eastsidelounge.net.
Thursday
Black tie — Garden of Eden “Flights of Fancy” Ball starts with cocktails in the Parterre Garden and moves to the butterfly-themed tent on the Great Lawn for dinner and music. 7 p.m.-midnight. To request an invitation, call Anne Fair Woodward at 404-591-1575, www.atlantabotanicalgarden.org.
Friday
Drive By Truckers — Athens band brings its Southern rock to the local masses. $25. 8:30 p.m. Variety Playhouse, Atlanta. 404-521-1786, www.variety-playhouse.com.
Thelma Houston — If you missed ’80s icon Lisa Lisa (“I Wonder If I Take You Home”) last week, check out this other disco diva who declared, “Don’t Leave Me This Way.” DJ Escape spins. WetBar, Atlanta. 404-745-9494, www.wetbaratlanta.com.
Bowling — Young Jeezy celebrates his birthday and wants you to join him. Come bowl, eat, drink, flirt and party. 18 and up after 10 p.m., 21 to drink. $7 per person per game, shoes $4.50. 300 Atlanta, 770-451-8605, www.300atlanta.com.
Saturday
REO Speedwagon — Sing along to “Can’t Fight This Feeling” under the stars. 8 p.m. Sept. 29. $33.50-$48.50. Chastain Park Amphitheatre. 404-249-6400, www.ticketmaster.com.
Gerald Levert tribute — Features the O’Jays, Angie Stone and the Manhattans. $56-$76. 8 p.m. Boisfeuillet Jones Atlanta Civic Center, Atlanta. 404-249-6400, www.ticketmaster.com.
That’s spooky — Netherworld Haunted House is No. 1 in the country. See why. $18-$25. 7-11 p.m. Norcross, 404-608-2484, www.fearworld.com.
Sunday
Classical music — The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra launches its new season “La Boheme,” a concert of Puccini’s opera. $16-$70. Atlanta Symphony Hall, Atlanta. 404-733-5000, www.atlantasymphony.org.
Party like a rock star — Wassup N ATL’s weekly party brings out mature hip-hop and old-school lovers. With DJs Truz, Danny Class and Chaoss. Django, Atlanta. $10. 7 p.m.-midnight. Atlanta. 404-246-9000, www.wassupnatl.com.
Radio history lives at Hall of Fame gala
For Atlanta radio aficionados, Saturday night’s first Georgia Radio Hall of Fame dinner at the Marietta Conference Center and Resort was a trip back in time, with a mini-reunion of alums from former top 40 powerhouse WQXI-AM aka “Quixie in Dixie.”
Among the attendees from QXI (now sports/talk station the Zone) were B98.5 jock Kelly McCoy, former morning host Ken Dowe, jock Tony “The Tiger” Taylor and emcee Joel Godard, Conan O’Brien’s mellifluous pony-tailed announcer who briefly worked as a sales guy at Quixie but soon realized his calling was voiceover work. The organizers also honored 22 radio inductees who have passed away such as “Skinny” Bobby Harper, “Price is Right” announcer Rod Roddy and TV weather forecaster Guy Sharpe.
Then the first dozen living inductees were announced, including WSB-AM stars Clark Howard and Neal Boortz, former WSB-AM talker Ludlow Porch, University of Georgia sports announcer and legend Larry Munson, former WQXI-AM star morning host Gary McKee, the radio man who brought the Beatles to Atlanta Paul Drew and the longest-running morning host in Atlanta, Eagle 106.7’s Rhubarb Jones.
Jones credited McKee for why he even got into radio, calling him the “platinum standard.” Then he joked about Howard’s absence: “He figured it was too expensive to drive here from his house.” And for Boortz: “He couldn’t be here because not all of you bought his ‘Fair Tax’ book!”
HIGH FIVE: MUSIC
1. Kanye West (“Stronger”)
2. Soulja Boy (“Crank That [Soulja Boy])
3. Timbaland (“The Way I Are”)
4. Fergie (“Big Girls Don’t Cry”)
5. 50 Cent (“Ayo Technology”)
— Billboard.com
Celebrity birthdays
Actor Gordon Clapp (“NYPD Blue”) is 59. Above, actress-writer Nia Vardalos (“My Big Fat Greek Wedding”) is 45. Guitarist Juan DeVevo of Casting Crowns is 32. Actor Kyle Sullivan (“Malcolm in the Middle”) is 19.
If you have a tip, call 404-526-2749. Or fax 404-526-5509. Or e-mail: buzz@ajc.com.
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