Q: Who is the individual singing “The Most Wonderful Time of the Year” on the Nissan television commercials? He really is good, and sounds like Andy Williams, who made the song famous.
-- Jim Miskimen, Atlanta
A: Dante Marchi's voice has been heard on many TV and radio commercials, including ones for Nissan, Coca-Cola, Heineken, Intel and McDonald's, Steve Parrett, a Nissan spokesman, told Q&A on the News in an email. Marchi, who is from New York and lives in Los Angeles, also has performed with Slash, Avril Lavigne, Lenny Kravitz, Chaka Khan, Andy Summers of The Police, Vanessa Carlton and Poncho Sanchez, and he was the musical director on Comedy Central's "The Man Show." Marchi also is in the band Dizzy X.
Q: What is the rationale for throwing out all bids on the airport concessions because 41 vendors submitted incomplete documentation, rather than selecting from among the 54 that got it right?
-- Michael Poynor, Atlanta
A: The city has said it wants to revamp concessions throughout Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport before the opening of the new international terminal in the spring. It would like a large pool of competitors to choose from, so the bidding was opened again after 41 vendors submitted proposals missing documents the first time. Of those, 34 had problems with the Georgia Security and Immigration Compliance Act, which ensures the legal status of workers. "We felt the loss of competition through disqualification was too great," Atlanta chief operating officer Peter Aman told the AJC in September. "We're trying to maximize the revenue over a seven- or 10-year period."
Andy Johnston wrote this column; Kelly Yamanouchi contributed. Do you have a question about the news? We’ll try to get the answer. Call 404-222-2002 or email q&a@ajc.com (include name, phone and city).
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