Peach Buzz

Lenox unveils plans for July 4 fireworks

Lenox Square representatives tossed us some details Wednesday on the Buckhead shopping mall’s plans for its landmark 50th annual Fourth of July fireworks celebration.

And while the mall strongly encourages attendees to arrive via MARTA, this year Lenox will also make available a limited supply of parking spaces, starting at 6 p.m. A portion of the $10 parking fee will benefit the Simon Youth Foundation.

A family-friendly Kids Zone featuring inflatables will greet the small fry while bands, vintage funk act the Regulars Band, Sons of Sailors (a Jimmy Buffett tribute band) and Party on the Moon will supply entertainment.

WSB-TV Channel 2 will broadcast live beginning at 9 p.m.

For those seeking a decidedly pricier vantage point, Buckhead’s brand-new W hotel is offering guests a special holiday package for its inaugural Independence Day celebration.

The hotel, a few steps from the Southeast’s largest fireworks display and the start of that morning’s AJC Peachtree Road Race, is offering a minimum two-night stay (July 3 and 4) of $299 per night. Included are a complimentary valet, access to the rooftop patio at Whiskey Blue and a complimentary bucket of beer.

Plus side? Post-bucket consumption, your bed is within stumbling distance.

For more information, visit www.whotels.com/buckhead and use with rate code IDAY*.

Anthology of poetry on a special DVD

After three print anthologies, Poetry Atlanta supporters knew it was time to do something different. Lucky for them, they had fans with cameras —- and hours of recordings from local poetry performances.

“We thought, ‘This is really good footage, we should compile it somehow,’ ” said Collin Kelley, a Poetry Atlanta community board member. “it’s essentially a documentary, a conversation with some of Atlanta’s spoken word artists.”

Some of that footage went into “Trouble and Hope,” a new DVD anthology of Atlanta-centric poetry and spoken word artistry. Footage shot at Java Monkey, the Decatur Book Festival and the now-closed Wordsmiths Books is on the DVD. It features Alice Lovelace, Natasha Trethewey and dozens more poets and a tribute to Shannon Leigh, a local artist who died last year.

Poetry Atlanta and Georgia Center for the Book will present a screening of “Trouble and Hope” at 7:15 p.m. today at the Decatur Library, 215 Sycamore St. The screening is free, and DVDs will be sold for $15. For more information, visit www.poetryatlanta.com.

One last round of Deignan tonight

If there’s a remaining visionary still employed in the crumbling infrastructure of the record industry, the Atlanta fans checking out budding singer-songwriter Ben Deignan’s intimate solo sets this month at the W hotel’s Drinkshop bar downtown may one day have some serious bragging rights.

You know, the way Atlanta music fans today tells stories about seeing the Black Crowes in the making at the 688 Club, the Indigo Girls at the tiny Little Five Points Pub or future Grammy winners John Mayer and Jennifer Nettles at Eddie’s Attic.

And while Deignan, 22, is still gigging hard with his bandmates, Suburban Soul (the band opens for pop star Ryan Cabrera at Smith’s Olde Bar this Saturday night), the Drinkshop gigs have afforded Deignan an opportunity to get closer to his audience, try out new songs and even a wacky cover or two.

“I haven’t really done the acoustic thing in a second so it’s exciting and a little scary,” Deignan, 22, tells us.

“The beauty of it is being able to do my set completely improv on the spot. It’s fun just to be that sound in the corner. It also gives me a chance to work a little in left field!”

The final evening of Deignan’s June residency at the W downtown’s Drinkshop begins at 9 p.m. today.

Contributing: Jamie Gumbrecht and news services.

Celebrity

birthdays

Musician Paul McCartney is 67. Movie critic Roger Ebert is 67. Actress Constance McCashin (“Knots Landing”) is 62. Actress Linda Thorson (“The Avengers”) is 62. Actress Isabella Rossellini is 57. Actress Carol Kane is 57. Singer Alison Moyet is 48. Country singer-guitarist Tim Hunt (Yankee Grey) is 42. Singer Nathan Morris of Boyz II Men is 38. Rapper Silkk The Shocker is 34. Country singer Blake Shelton is 33.

Richard Eldredge, reldredge@ajc.com

Contributing: Jamie Gumbrecht and news services.

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