New url for Peach Buzz
Bookmark this new url for Peach Buzz.. We have moved to Wordpress!
Access Atlanta > Blog > Archives > 2007 > November > 30
Friday, November 30, 2007
Seedy, smelly Santa’s not for everybody
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Leave it to Criminal Records in Little Five Points to offer a counterculture alternative to that high-end Phipps Plaza Santa. Today, for the fourth year running, hundreds of fans of the indie music emporium are expected to line up to have a photo taken with a particularly nasty St. Nick, played by Atlanta raconteur Henry Owings. Parents, be warned, this really bad Santa sports a bottle of booze, a smelly stogie and an even worse reeking suit.
And Criminal customers love him.
“Some people look at him and think it’s completely horrible,” concedes Criminal Records owner Eric Levin. “But other families have adopted this as their yearly Christmas picture and bring the children and Grandma along. If the kids are cool and their parents are cool, this is a good tradition for you. But you have to like getting yelled at. He gives a full performance.”
Customers can retrieve their free snapshots by going to Criminal.com next week.
Says Levin: “I’ll be behind the camera, snapping away. We tried this with a professional photographer, but they wanted everything perfect and that’s not what this is really about. You gotta keep that line moving!”
The Criminal Records Santa will be not so proudly on display today from noon to 6 p.m. at 466 Moreland Ave.
FRAM HONORED
The March of Dimes bestowed on 99X Program Director Leslie Fram the lifetime achievement award at its annual radio shindig Thursday night at the Intercontinental Hotel in Buckhead. The organization also raised $110,000, $10,000 more than its goal. Jimmy Baron, who worked with Fram for more than a dozen years at 99X until last year, introduced Fram.
“In my career, I’ve spent a significant amount of time flying around the country to banquets presenting Leslie with plaques,” he said. Baron, who is now producing a potential reality show for a major broadcast network, joined 99X in 1993 from Chicago. “I was looking to leave Chicago,” he said. “I was working for a guy who was temperamental and irrational and a raging jerk. I couldn’t wait till I came here so I didn’t have to deal with that type of personality.”
This got a big laugh because it’s well known Baron and fellow Morning X alum Steve Barnes, who was not in attendance, didn’t get along. And maybe, just maybe, this was an allusion to Barnes. Or maybe not.
PLEDGE TIME
For its pledge drive campaign tonight, WPBA 30 is pulling out the big bows. Specifically, “Bowfire,” a new TV special featuring the superstar string group created by artistic director Lenny Solomon. The jazz violinist is even flying in for an in-studio appearance Saturday night starting at 8:30. Bowfire has attracted a global following by daring to merge hip-hop, classical, jazz, Celtic and Chinese influences into an energized stage show with fiddling dancers.
“We look at them each night and just marvel,” Solomon told us this week, laughing. “It’s really quite amazing.”
While he was on the phone, Solomon spilled that the group is returning to the Fox Theatre for a scheduled May 8 gig. He says the venue is among the group’s favorites.
“Both aesthetically and acoustically, it’s just a jewel,” he says. “We’re looking forward to going back.”
As you might expect, Solomon says that having so many diverse players in Bowfire lends itself to some continuing musical education on tours. “You’ll be backstage and suddenly your ear is being pulled into a dressing room by what someone is playing,” Solomon says. “You walk in and inevitably ask, ‘What is that you’re doing!? We’re all constantly learning from each other.”
“Bowfire” debuts at 8:30 on WPBA 30 Saturday night.
CHELKO ART SALE TO HELP CHARITY
Collectors of late Atlanta artist Paul Chelko will want to head to his Buckhead gallery today through Monday. That’s when more than 500 pieces of his original works — from hand-painted clothing, ornamental vessels and original oils, pen and ink pieces — will be sold to help settle the artist’s estate and to provide some financial legs to the Chelko Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to empowering women and ending gender discrimination. According to foundation president Randi Layne, 25 percent of sales will go to the charity. Prices will range from $100 up to $50,000.
“Paul personally earmarked many of the pieces that will be sold,” Layne told us Friday. “I’ve already heard from many of his collectors who are excited about this opportunity.”
Chelko’s Gallery, at 5200 Peachtree Road, Suite 3413, will be open from noon to 6 p.m. today through Monday. When you arrive at the address, call 404-993-0306, and you’ll be buzzed up.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“Joyce is very trusting.”
— WSB-TV Action News anchor Monica Pearson on Thursday night’s broadcast as reporter Joyce Oscar gallantly walked across a busy rush-hour Alpharetta intersection during a live shot. Oscar was reporting on a police crackdown on motorists who fail to yield the right-of-way to pedestrians.
CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS
Today: Actor-director Woody Allen is 72. Actress-singer Bette Midler is 62. Comedian Sarah Silverman is 37.
Sunday: Actress Julie Harris is 82. Bassist Nate Mendel of Foo Fighters is 39. Actress Lucy Liu is 39. Singer Nelly Furtado is 29. Singer Britney Spears is 26.
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.
Permalink | |
Janet’s new album out in February
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Remember that new album Atlantan Janet Jackson is working on here? According to Billboard.com, the follow up to the singer’s 2006 “20 Y.O.” will be out in February via Island Def Jam.
The trade publication reports that the singer and actress also is prepping for a worldwide tour to coincide with the new disc.
While the “Why Did I Get Married?” star recently hinted on Q100 that her boyfriend Jermaine Dupri will be helping out on the new studio project, the as-yet-unnamed album is being executive produced by Def Jam CEO and former Atlantan Antonio “L.A.” Reid.
Billboard reports that Dupri currently is busy working on fellow 1980s hitmaker Mariah Carey’s new album, also due early next year.
Explained Dupri in an interview with Billboard earlier this year: “We’re going to make it seem like we’re in competition to see who’s going to have the biggest album of the year.”
At presstime Thursday, Buzz was managing to somehow suppress the urge to place a glass and our ear against a wall outside the couple’s Atlanta residence so we could accurately report Miss Jackson’s response to that. …
BRINGING YOUTUBE DEBATE HOME
Did you tune into Wednesday’s Republican YouTube debate on CNN? Nah, neither did we (it was on opposite “Gossip Girl,” after all).
However, an Atlanta father and son were all the rage on the Internet video Web site Thursday after their question was inserted into the national conversation on CNN Wednesday night.
In a video recorded in a weight room, Printess Tate II of Douglasville introduced his son Printess Tate III, who asked the candidates: “I notice you spend billions of dollars on the war in Iraq every year. But, what about the war going on in your own country, black-on-black crime? What are you going to do about that war? It feels like the Taliban is right outside.”
Candidates Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani swallowed hard and tried to provide thoughtful responses. Said Romney: “First of all, Printess is pretty fortunate because he’s got a dad standing next to him that apparently loves him, by all appearances there, and that’s probably the best thing you can do for a kid.”
Added New York’s former mayor: “I had a very strong record in doing precisely what the young man was asking about, reducing crime specifically in neighborhoods that would be regarded as poor.”
Not unexpectedly, the question from the 10th-grader at Alexander High School ignited a politically charged debate online, generating pages and pages of messageboard postings Thursday.
Before he moved to Douglasville shortly after Hurricane Katrina, Printess Tate III saw plenty of violence in his neighborhood in New Orleans’ Third Ward.
Those shootings, robberies and other crimes were on his mind when he submitted a videotaped question to Wednesday night’s CNN/YouTube presidential debates, says the 10th-grader at Alexander High School.
His question was one of about 40 asked of Republican candidates.
“I have a question for you guys,” Tate said on the video. “I know you’re spending millions of dollars a year on the war in Iraq, but what about the war going on in your own country — black-on-black crime?”
In the video, Tate stood with his dad, Printess Tate II — a fact noted by former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who tackled the question.
CELEBRITY DOCKET
More trouble is on the horizon for former Lynyrd Skynyrd drummer Artimus Pyle. He was arrested for a second time this week in St. Augustine, Fla., after failing to properly register as a sex offender, sheriff’s officials said.
The 59-year-old musician, whose real name is Thomas Delmer Pyle, was arrested Tuesday at one of three addresses he gave to authorities, Sgt. Chuck Mulligan said. He was being held on $50,000 bond, Mulligan told the Florida Times-Union in Jacksonville. Jail records do not show whether he had a lawyer.
Pyle had been released on $10,000 bond after being arrested on the same charge Nov. 19. He was arrested again after he still didn’t register a new permanent address, officials said.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“I opened it up, read it and I almost cried. But then I realized there were no cameras on.”
Steve Martin on receiving the announcement that he had been selected to be honored at this year’s Kennedy Center Honors on “The View” Wednesday.
HIGH FIVE
Television
The top five On Demand programs for the week of Nov. 18-26 as determined by Comcast customers in metro Atlanta:
1. “Soulja Girl,” Soulja Boy, music video, Music Choice
2. “Kiss Kiss,” Chris Brown, music video, Music Choice
3.”Pop Bottles,” Birdman, music video, Music Choice
4. “No One,” Alicia Keys, music video, Music Choice
5. “Girlfriend,” Bow Wow and Omarion, music video, Music Choice
— Courtesy: Rentrak’s OnDemand Essentials
CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS
Actor Efrem Zimbalist Jr. is 90. Actor Robert Guillaume is 80. TV personality and producer Dick Clark is 78. Director Ridley Scott is 70. Singer Rob Grill of the Grass Roots is 64. Bassist Roger Glover of Deep Purple is 62. Actress Margaret Whitton is 57. Singer-actor Mandy Patinkin is 55. Guitarist Shuggie Otis is 54. Country singer Jeannie Kendall of the Kendalls is 53. Singer Billy Idol is 52. Guitarist John Ashton of Psychedelic Furs is 50. Comedian Colin Mochrie (“Whose Line Is It Anyway?”) is 50. Rapper Jalil of Whodini is 44. Actor-director Ben Stiller is 42. Actress Sandra Oh (“Grey’s Anatomy,” “Sideways”) is 37. Country singer Mindy McCready is 32. Singer Clay Aiken is 29. Actress Elisha Cuthbert (“24”) is 25.
Contributing: News services
If you have a tip, call 404-526-2749. Or fax 404-526-5509. Or e-mail: buzz@ajc.com.
Permalink | |
