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Access Atlanta > Blog > Archives > 2007 > November > 14
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Karatassos, McKerrow honored with GRACE awards
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Ted’s Montana Grill President George McKerrow Jr. and Buckhead Life Restaurant Group founder Pano Karatassos both received Lifetime Achievement Awards on Sunday night at the city’s inaugural GRACE Awards (the Georgia Restaurant Association’s Crystal of Excellence Awards) at the Grand Hyatt in Buckhead.
Hosted by the Georgia Restaurant Association, or GRA, McKerrow’s business partner Ted Turner served as the keynote speaker. Awards were nominated by GRA membership.
Cracked McKerrow in a voice mail to Buzz on Tuesday: “It was a honor to be recognized but I’m not sure I deserved it!”
Overscene
Atlanta Falcons Michael Boley, Alge Crumpler, Warrick Dunn, DeAngelo Hall, Michael Jenkins, Byron Leftwich and Lawyer Milloy, along with team owner Arthur Blank, hosting the Atlanta Falcons Celebrity FootBowl Tournament benefiting Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta on Monday night at Ten Pin Alley at Atlantic Station. Other bowling celebs in attendance included rapper Ne-Yo, former “Webster” actor Emmanuel Lewis, and Big Boi of Outkast.
We’re told that Hall helped emcee the evening and somehow cajoled Boley, Jenkins and Lewis into a “dance off” against the Falcons cheerleaders to “Soulja Boy” as a crowd of 300 cheered.
Hanging out at home, T.I. gives fans a shout-out
Sporting a fluffy robe, a stogie and sitting on an orange couch accented with what appear to be fuchsia (?!) pillows, T.I. issued his first public statement to fans this week since his arrest on federal weapons charges last month via the Web site Streetcred.com. The rapper and actor said he was spending his days writing songs for a new CD, expressed confidence that he will be found not guilty, and declared, “the king ain’t dead.”
T.I., whose real name is Clifford Harris Jr., spoke out in a 2 1/2-minute video message posted on the social networking Web site that he started.
“You know, it’s a very trying time right now, but I want to let everybody know that I plead not guilty and I gotta stress my innocence, you know, to everyone out there who’s listening,” he says in the clip.
Harris, 27, added that he had faith in the system and looked forward to being exonerated.
“God will never take you to what he can’t take you through,” he says in his message.
Harris said he was spending his free time reading, writing and working on his new CD, “Paper Trail.”
Harris has gone most of his career without writing down any of his rhymes, emulating peers such as Jay-Z, Lil Wayne and Ja Rule, according to MTV. The title of his new CD comes from the fact that he once again has put ink to pad, the network reported.
The network, quoting Harris’ publicist, also said that an engineer was cleared to visit Harris a week and a half ago, and the two began working on songs.
“I’m getting a lot of work done, man. A lot of music, man, being recorded,” Harris adds in his message. “But, my main message is, it’s not over. And the king ain’t dead.”
Harris, who was arrested Oct. 13 in a Midtown parking lot and accused of trying to buy machine guns illegally, is out on a $3 million bond under strict conditions.
He can continue to live in his Jonesboro home with his girlfriend and his children. He cannot consume alcohol. He can only have up to three visitors at a time, all of whom have to undergo a background check. And his movements are confined to his property.
Still, Harris appears to be taking his bond conditions well.
“And thank you to the judge,” he says in the video, in a shout-out to U.S. Magistrate Judge Alan Baverman, “for even allowing me the privilege of being on house arrest and being here — instead of, you know, the clear alternative.”
CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS
Jazz pianist Ellis Marsalis is 73. Zydeco singer-accordionist Buckwheat Zydeco is 60. Actress Laura San Giacomo (above) (“Saving Grace”) is 46. Atlanta singer and record producer Butch Walker is 38. Actor Josh Duhamel (“Las Vegas”) is 35. Drummer Travis Barker of Plus-44 (and Blink-182) is 32.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“It seems like the heads of the studios like to come to Wall Street and say how much money they’re making online. Right now, no one has to be Nostradamus to know that in three years, everyone’s going to be watching television in a totally different way.”
— SETH MEYERS, head writer on “Saturday Night Live” and co-anchor of SNL’s “Weekend Update” speaking in an Associated Press story on the writer’s strike where writers say they’re not getting a fair share of profits from online content
Contributing: Saeed Ahmed 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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