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Access Atlanta > Blog > Archives > 2008 > February > 07
Thursday, February 7, 2008
WSB cancels July Fourth Parade
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
After nearly 50 years, WSB-TV is discontinuing its annual “Salute 2 America” July 4 parade. The family-friendly festival of floats, marching bands, balloons, TV stars and military personnel annually wound its way through the streets of downtown for 47 years.
Instead, the Atlanta ABC network affiliate plans to expand its metro area coverage on the patriotic holiday this year to include more geographically diverse July 4 celebrations.
“When the parade began, Atlanta was a very small town and now our coverage goals are very different,” explained WSB-TV general manager Bill Hoffman in an interview with the AJC on Thursday. “We’re trying to broaden our coverage over the July Fourth holiday.”
Added Channel 2 program director Art Rogers via a statement: “As a native Atlantan, I’ve personally witnessed the incredible growth of the metro area. Our celebration coverage plan will reach out to these fast-growing communities and capture the true spirit of these celebrations.”
Hoffman conceded that presenting the parade in state-of-the-art high definition television — as WSB has in recent years — is also an expensive proposition. Hoffman also cited declining ratings for the annual parade.
“In a county like Gwinnett, especially, people are soon going to have a new baseball stadium in their backyard,” explained Hoffman. “They also have many, many holiday celebrations closer to home. Perhaps, not as many people want to pack up the family in the car, drive into the city, look for parking and stand out in the heat.”
Hoffman says that WSB realizes that some viewers will be disappointed that one of their favorite holiday traditions is going away but “we’re lucky that we have so many great civic activities to enjoy on July Fourth and our hope is that viewers take advantage of the many other celebrations scheduled throughout the metro area.”
The cancellation of WSB’s parade is the second Fourth of July holiday tradition that is being altered this year. Earlier, due to drought conditions in Piedmont Park, Peachtree Road Race officials were faced with the challenge of finding a new location this summer for the end of the race.
What are your thoughts on the end of the “Salute 2 America” parade? Will you miss it?
If you have a tip, call 404-526-2749. Or fax 404-526-5509. Or e-mail: buzz@ajc.com.
Elton John’s Oscar party a go as usual
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The two dozen Atlantans scheduled to jet to the left coast later this month for Sir Elton John’s annual Oscar party won’t have to alter their arrangements.
Elton John AIDS Foundation Atlanta board member Barron Segar’s voice and e-mail boxes threatened to clog Wednesday as attendees nervously dialed to check the Feb. 24 party’s status in light of Vanity Fair magazine’s unexpected Oscar bash cancellation. Citing the ongoing Hollywood writers’ strike, the glossy announced Tuesday that it was ditching its popular, high-profile party this year.
Kirsty Wigglesworth
Elton John with artist Sam Taylor Wood and his partner, filmmaker David Furnish, at a charity event in London last month to raise money to fight cystic fibrosis.
“For the Elton John AIDS Foundation, canceling the Oscar party was never even on the table for consideration,” Segar told Buzz Wednesday. “The funds raised from the Oscar event translates into 40 percent of our annual revenue. There are just too many men, women and children living with HIV and AIDS that would be adversely affected by the loss of revenue.”
This year’s soiree at the Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood was strategically positioned next to the celebrity-dripping Vanity Fair festivities across the street.
“We were looking forward to utilizing the synergy of the two parties being located next to each other,” reasons Segar. “But now that Vanity Fair has canceled, we’re hoping to attract even more celebrities to our gathering.”
In addition to an as-yet-unidentified musical guest at the Elton Oscar bash, the part-time Atlantan himself and his entire band will perform a mini-set together for the first time at the party.
“Our feedback from past parties has always included requests from attendees that Elton performing should be more prominently featured,” says Segar. “Elton and the foundation were only too happy to accommodate the party’s many supporters.”
The Oscar night party is poised to raise a projected $4 million for the charity this year. Price tag for a table at the event: $55,000.
Still, Segar confided Wednesday one set of tickets remains for this year’s event — in exchange for $10,000 for Sir Elton’s favorite cause, that is.
TRIVIA NIGHT AT MMH
Ken Jennings is like Hannah Montana for the trivia set. The quick-witted Seattle-based Mormon is canonized for winning “Jeopardy” 74 times in a row, pocketing a cool $2.5 million.
More than 100 Jennings acolytes bowed before him at the Margaret Mitchell House Tuesday night. There, he hosted a trivia contest to promote his new trivia almanac, packed with 9,200 questions he compiled over a year’s time.
“Thank God for the Internet,” he told Buzz. “There’s no way I could have done that otherwise, unless I had my own staff.”
Bar trivia regulars Chuck and Cathy Jones of Acworth brought their 5-year-old son, Bret. He was snoozing by the time Buzz talked to them. They say Bret loves weekly trivia night despite the fact he isn’t well-versed yet on Shakespeare.
Alpharetta attorney Cannon Alsobrook, a trivia guru at Pepperoni’s Tavern, proudly pointed out his name in Jennings’ acknowledgment page for helping him vet some of the questions. “Ken’s funny and down to earth,” Alsobrook said with awe. “He’s done a masterful job marketing himself.”
At the end, Jennings threw out a bunch of Atlanta-specific trivia questions. When he asked what type of rock Stone Mountain is made of, dozens simultaneously yelled “Granite!” Taken aback, he cracked, “You guys are going to rise again, aren’t you?”
CRITICAL OF ‘CURVY’
“Curvy Widow,” Cybill Shepherd’s incomparable (and, at points, incomprehensible) one-woman show that memorably sputtered through the Alliance Theatre’s Hertz stage late last year, apparently isn’t finding any love in its new locale either. The autobiographical outing from first-time playwright Bobby Goldman that we (after attending the opening-night performance) later described as “the theatrical equivalent of Spaghetti Junction collapsing in on itself during Friday rush hour while being simultaneously attacked by killer bees,” is now open for business in San Francisco.
And since we’re all about sharing, here’s a snippet of the review penned this week by Variety critic Dennis Harvey: ” ‘The legendary’ Cybill Shepherd — as she’s billed in promotions for ‘Curvy Widow’ — experienced a late-fall Atlanta tryout that was legendary in a different, not so flattering, way. She reportedly line-stumbled through a text that critics considered unsalvageable. Star, director Scott Schwartz and first-time playwright Goldman gamely took their lumps, dug in, refined and rewrote through the full run. Now that ‘Curvy Widow’ has officially premiered in San Francisco, one can only ask: If this is the improved version, what the hell was onstage in Atlanta?”
CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS
Actor Miguel Ferrer is 53. “Boston Legal” actor James Spader is 48. Country singer Garth Brooks is 46. Comedian Chris Rock is 43. Actor Jason Gedrick (“Windfall,” “Boomtown”) is 41. Actor Ashton Kutcher (“That 70’s Show”) is 30. Actress Tina Majorino (“Napoleon Dynamite,” “Veronica Mars”) is 23.
OVERSCENE
Steroid-free home-run king Hank Aaron celebrating his 74th birthday at Pano’s & Paul’s in Buckhead with his wife, Billye, and several generations of their family, including children and grandchildren. We’re told that the birthday Brave enjoyed P&P chef Gary Donlick’s West Virginia pheasant.
Atlanta Falcon Warrick Dunn scoring a pedicure at 10Ten Nail Bar in Morningside.
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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