PEACH BUZZ: ‘Peace’ onto T-shirts raise shelter funds

This holiday season, Pecan Pie Couture designer Clint Zeagler and Sandpiper boutique owner Melissa Murdock are collaborating for a good cause. The result: a timely, limited-edition hand-screened T-shirt with the saying: “Peace is Always in Fashion.”

One hundred percent of the proceeds from the $38 shirts will go to the nonprofit Soul Changers, a Marietta-based charity for women and children in need.

“Soul Changers is trying to raise money for a house, and that’s where we thought we could step in and help,” Murdock told Buzz. The shirts are now on sale in her Vinings Jubilee and City Walk shops and online at shopsandpiper.com.

“It was fun to collaborate with Melissa on something,” Zeagler said. “We wanted to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the peace sign and create something fun for daughters to give their moms and vice-versa. Plus, we figured this year everyone needs a little peace!”

Because each shirt is made by hand individually, each one is slightly different.

Even though she’s donating retail space and resources for the 120 peace sign shirts in stock, Murdock remained upbeat even as word spread that we’re now officially in a recession.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she cracked. “There’s something wrong with the economy?! Let’s just say we’re all working a little harder this holiday.”

Santa sans sleigh

Each holiday season, the folks who turn up at the Ritz-Carlton Lodge at Reynolds Plantation in Greensboro secretly wonder how the resort’s annual Lighting of the Lodge celebration will top itself. In past years, Santa Claus has arrived via hang glider, hot air balloon and on the back of a 7-ton Marine Corps truck.

On Monday, folks were still discussing last week’s lighting ceremony when about 3,000 attendees watched as Santa arrived in a 1959 Chevy Impala convertible. His chauffeur? NASCAR legend Richard Petty.

So which celeb resulted in a bigger swarm of fans?

“The kids were trying to get closer to Santa, and the adults were trying to get closer to Mr. Petty,” Lodge rep Liza Kubik told Buzz on Monday. “I would say their legendary status is equal. It was a complete surprise for everyone.”

“A friend of a friend” got Petty to participate in the seventh annual charitable event at the Middle Georgia tourist attraction.

As for our obvious follow-up question, Kubik told us: “Yes, Mr. Petty and Santa cruised up within the legal speed limit.”

Elton, Billy going back on road

Tickets go on sale Saturday for piano men Elton John and Billy Joel’s “Face 2 Face” tour, March 14 at Philips Arena.

The announcement was made Monday during a news conference downtown. Philips Arena president Bob Williams said the duo’s first sold-out tour together in 1994 included a stop at the Georgia Dome.

Remarkably, tickets this time around will range from $55.50 to $181 (at Live Nation and Ticketmaster outlets) —- almost the same price range as the last time they were in town in 2002 (those tickets went for $47 to $177). Promoter Peter Conlon told Buzz the music legends were very aware of the troubled economy when the prices were set —- even in a situation where a sellout is virtually guaranteed.

Putting the brakes on ‘Busted’

For the debut episode of the new Speed network series, “Busted Knuckles,” host Rich Ragains flew to Atlanta to get some dirt under his fingernails at Delta Air Lines. In the episode set to air Wednesday on the all-mechanics, all-the-time network, Ragains gets to help change the brakes on a Boeing 777 aircraft.

“Rich adds a colorful twist by using a witty mix of humor and curiosity as he experiences the grimy, passionate and sometimes bloody world of the American gearhead,” explained producer Brad Kimmel in a statement sent to Buzz Central. “Rich puts himself in some very interesting situations.”

Buzz would rather Ragains tackle something a bit more arduous during his Delta outing. Perhaps taking a crowbar to all the carry-on luggage crammed into those overhead compartments by travelers who inexplicably need to haul every single one of their possessions on board?

CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS

Actress Julie Harris (right) is 83. Bassist Rick Savage of Def Leppard is 48. Actress Lucy Liu is 40. Singer Nelly Furtado is 30. Singer Britney Spears is 27.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“People shave their heads every day.”

Pop star BRITNEY SPEARS, recalling her bizarro bald period in the new cringe-inducing-yet-fascinating-in-a-“Real Housewives of Atlanta”-kinda-way MTV documentary, “Britney: For the Record.”

Contributing: Sonia Murray and news services

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