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Access Atlanta > Blog > Archives > 2008 > May > 08
Thursday, May 8, 2008
At 104, she’s grieving for bowling beau
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
As soon as we received word of Bill Hargrove’s passing Thursday at Buzz Central, we immediately picked up the phone and rang Rachel Rosen Lehmann, our favorite 104-year-old reader.
As you’ll no doubt recall, Lehmann first called us back in March 2005, after reading about bowler Bill “Tiger” Hargrove, then 102, who had just been featured in the AJC Sports section. Lehmann wanted his digits. We happily obliged. The two ended up getting on so well, Hargrove showed up at the longtime Atlanta Opera volunteer’s 102nd birthday party in June of that year with three long-stemmed red roses. Sporting a jacket and tie, Hargrove gave her a hug and purred in her ear: “I came in here looking for an old lady but I couldn’t find one.”
We took copious notes and the pair ended up on the front page much to the delight of readers.
“Oh, Bill, what a darling sweet man,” Lehmann reflected Thursday. “He was a real Southern gentleman. He would always call me ‘Rachel darlin’ ’ in that accent of his. It was the cutest thing.”
Lehmann told us the two met up from time to time when they could arrange transportation but mostly kept up via phone calls.
Said Lehmann: “He would tell me, ‘When I go to bed at night, I see you in my dreams.’ How can you top that? They aren’t making gentlemen like that anymore.”
Regrettably, Lehmann never had a chance to take Hargrove to her beloved Atlanta Opera. But she did attend his 106th birthday party last year.
“I brought him a big bottle of wine!” Lehmann recalled with a wicked laugh. “I mean, at our age, why not? We always had so much fun together. I just wish we could have started a little earlier. But I’m so happy I got to meet him. And so handsome!”
In tribute to her bowling beau, the Zaban Tower retirement community songbird plans to attend Hargrove’s memorial service Saturday at 2 p.m. at Atlanta’s Grace United Methodist Church.
With three long-stemmed red roses in hand.
A GOSPEL ‘JESUS’
Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber’s production company has tapped Atlanta’s Susan V. Booth to direct the forthcoming gospel version of “Jesus Christ Superstar,” scheduled to run at the Alliance Theatre on Jan. 14-Feb. 22 in 2009.
The Alliance artistic director said she was called to London recently for a sit-down with Webber’s Really Useful Group. “Sir Andrew wasn’t there,” Booth said, “because he was on his way to Las Vegas for ‘American Idol.’ “
Detroit native Louis St. Louis is restaging the classic musical as “Jesus Christ Superstar GOSPEL.” To prepare, Booth said they will be hitting Atlanta’s gospel churches in the coming weeks. She says part of the fun is being able to check out churches “other than Presbyterian,” which is her denomination.
Apparently, the search for a director was quite competitive.
“This is their prime copyright,” Booth said. “This is the first major reconception of the work in a long time and that’s a big deal.”
“It’s very humbling and it’s very challenging, and it’s the greatest thing in the world when you get to do that,” she said of her new assignment.
Booth’s connection to the ’70s rock opera is personal. She says she sang “I Don’t Know How to Love Him” in a sixth-grade talent show.
“I thought it was stunning, but I don’t think everyone else did,” she said. She says she now croons “Everything’s Alright” to her 4-year-old daughter, Moira.
COUPLING
Mariah Carey really did get married to Nick Cannon in the Bahamas last week — and they have the tattoos to prove it.
The 38-year-old singer and the 27-year-old actor confirmed to People magazine, out today, that they tied the knot at Carey’s Bahamian estate April 30 after a courtship that began in late March.
In the interview, Cannon said they clicked instantly when Carey cast him as a lover in the video for her new single, “Bye Bye.”
“From the first time we sat down to discuss the video at the Beverly Hills Hotel, we connected,” Cannon said. “We had so much in common spiritually, and we laugh at the same things. I didn’t have to put on my Mac Daddy suave mode. I was able to be myself with her. We are both eternally 12 years old.”
CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS
CBS News correspondent Mike Wallace is 90. Actress Candice Bergen is 62. Singer Billy Joel is 59.
HIGH FIVE
Television
The top On Demand programs for the week of May 5, as determined by Comcast customers in metro Atlanta:
1. Lil Wayne, “Lollipop,” music video, Music Choice
2. Shawty Lo, “Dunn, Dunn,” music video, Music Choice
3. Usher, “Love in this Club,” music video, Music Choice
4. Keyshia Cole, “Heaven Sent,” music video, Music Choice
5. “Family Guy,” “Mr. Griffin goes to Washington,” TBS
— Courtesy: Rentrak’s OnDemand Essentials
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“It is a sad day when an icon like Barbara Walters, in the sunset of her life, is reduced to publicly branding herself as an adulterer, humiliating an innocent family with accounts of her illicit affair and speaking negatively against me all for the sake of selling a book. It speaks to her true character.”
Disgruntled former “View” employee Star Jones to US Weekly on ex-boss Barbara Walters’ new memoir, “Audition.”
Contributing: Wendell Brock 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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Girlfriends sit within eyelash of Oprah
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Atlantans Mara Davis and Amy Leavell Bransford literally have front-row seats for today’s “Oprah Winfrey Show,” recently taped at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas and featuring Tina Turner and Cher.
And since Dave FM midday diva Davis has the BuzzBerry hotline number, we have all the scoop you won’t see on-air on WSB at 4 p.m. Last month, Davis, Leavell Bransford and friends were in Vegas for a girls weekend away when they bumped into “Oprah” audience coordinator Sally Lou Loveman who hooked them up with front-row seats, three chairs down from Oprah BFF Gayle King.
“Honestly, I don’t ever expect to be in a room with that many wigs or hair extensions again!” Davis told Buzz. In addition to the faux follicle-favoring icons on stage, the Caesar’s Colosseum also contained numerous Cher and Tina impersonators invited for the show.
Davis says the taping took several hours as Turner and Cher recorded various renditions of musical performances. When Cher’s headset mike got caught in her wig during “Take Me Home,” she retaped the tune with a handheld mike. And taping temporarily halted when Winfrey lost a false eyelash.
“Cher had to point it out to Oprah,” Davis dished. “Oprah told Cher, ‘Hey, you know who your real friends are when you lose an eyelash!’ Cher was very down to earth but Tina’s a little wacky. She’s very European now.”
On the way out, Leavell Bransford prompted Davis to say something to the departing King.
Explained Davis: “Amy comes from a show biz family [she’s the daughter of Rolling Stones keyboardist Chuck Leavell], but even she was a little starstruck. I yelled to her, ‘Hey Gayle, nice shoes!’ She said, ‘Thank you,’ and kept walking.”
Footnote from Davis: “Gayle was wearing Lucite wedges but not the trampy type of Lucite wedges. These were very stylish.”
MOORE SWABBING FOR TV SWEEPS
Like the rest of the city endlessly intrigued by those radio and TV spots touting WSB anchor Jovita Moore’s sweeps-inspired purse swabbing, we raced home Tuesday night to catch the report on Action News. For the story, Moore swabbed the bottom and handles of her purse, along with 36 other purses at random and sent them to Nelson Laboratories in Salt Lake City for testing. Like most of the women interviewed for the report, Moore conceded that she routinely places her bag on her desk and her kitchen counter. So what did the lab tests reveal?
Well, fecal contamination, for starters, due to placing purses on the floors of restrooms and public sidewalks. Explained Nelson’s Beau Rollins in the report: “It’s like wiping feces on your plate and then eating it.” That’s about when the city collectively put down its dinner fork.
Naturally, after the segment, we had lots of follow-up questions for Moore. And while the anchor was game to talk to the likes of us, her bosses at WSB politely nixed our request.
So we rang Rollins. He told us that the 37 test samples were placed in “general enrichment broths that are a perfect environment for organisms to grow if they’re present.”
In addition to fecal coliforms, staph also was detected in the results.
“It’s really about creating awareness,” Rollins told Buzz. “If you interviewed 100 women, 95 of them would tell you they’ve never washed their purse. It’s just not on people’s radar screens. But it’s really the same as washing your hands.”
A spokesperson for Moore’s purse, meanwhile, told us the embarrassed accessory was in seclusion and not available for comment Wednesday.
DEALS FOR REHAB, SOMMERVILLE
Another day, another major record label move on the Atlanta music scene.
On Tuesday, ajc.com reported that rap duo Rehab has been resurrected as a quintet by original member Danny Boone and has a deal with Universal Republic.
Now there’s news that much-buzzed-about local trumpeter Joey Sommerville has inked a deal with Three Keys Music — a label launched by BET founder Robert Johnson and pianist/businessman Marcus Johnson, and distributed by Koch.
“Joey is a great musician, and he understands the new music business model,” Marcus Johnson said in a news release. “His talent, tremendous work ethic and drive have allowed him to create a truly incredible album.”
Sommerville’s latest CD, “Like You Mean It,” will be released next week, with guest appearances from Wayman Tisdale, Mike Phillips, Marion Meadows and Phil Perry.
On May 15, there will be a CD release party/performance at Sambuca Jazz Cafe, from which Sommerville’s performances have been broadcast live each Thursday on Smooth Jazz 107.5.
CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS
Comedian Don Rickles is 82. Singer Toni Tennille is 68. Drummer Alex Van Halen of Van Halen is 55. Actress Melissa Gilbert is 44. Singer Darren Hayes (Savage Garden) is 36. Singer Enrique Iglesias is 33.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“Randy, stop. ‘Hell’s Kitchen’ is going to start!”
“American Idol” host and Dunwoody High grad Ryan Seacrest (left) to long-winded judge Randy Jackson during Tuesday night’s live show as the broadcast threatened to creep into the 9 p.m. time slot.
Contributing: Shane Harrison, Sonia Murray and news services
If you have a tip, call 404-526-2749. Or fax 404-526-5509. Or e-mail: buzz@ajc.com.
