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Access Atlanta > Blog > Archives > 2006 > February
February 2006
It’ll soon be summer: Chastain’s lineup set
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Here’s a warm thought to take your mind off that four-figure heating bill — the Chastain Park Amphitheatre summer concert series is slated to begin April 15 with the Black Eyed Peas and the Pussycat Dolls.
The first series of shows, set to be officially announced Wednesday, also includes: rockers Train May 6; disco act K.C. and the Sunshine Band with Gloria “I Will Survive” Gaynor on May 20; songstress/poet Jewel May 28; Matchbox 20 vocalist Rob Thomas May 29; 1970s and ’80s band Blondie on a double bill with “a very special rock band reunion” June 17; Simon Cowell-manufactured operatic boy band Il Divo June 18; blues guitarist and singer Bonnie Raitt with Keb Mo June 20; ’60s sex symbol Tom Jones with Tower of Power June 22; British piano phenom Jamie Cullum July 9; ’80s hair bands Journey and Def Leppard July 13.
Alas, last season’s fave, “A Prairie Home Companion” host Garrison Keillor, hasn’t announced a 2006 Chastain date as yet… .
Series/mini series tickets go on sale Sunday at 10 a.m. For info: www.livenation.com or 404-233-2227.
Up at Lanierland in Cumming, the area’s premier outdoor country concert venue kicks off its 36th season with Blake Shelton and Andy Griggs on May 6; Jeff Bates and the Bellamy Brothers June 3; country legend Don Williams in what is being touted as a “farewell show” with Gene Watson on June 24; Decatur native “Whisperin’ Bill” Anderson and Connie Smith July 29; Tanya Tucker and Exile Aug. 26; Ronnie Milsap and veteran comic James Gregory Sept. 16; and Banks & Shane and Forsyth County’s own the Estes Brothers Sept. 23. The season closes out with country legend George Jones and Confederate Railroad on Oct. 21.
Lanierland season tickets are already on sale while individual tickets go on sale March 18 at 9 a.m. For info: www.lanierland.com or 770-887-7464.
Elton John musical cleans up
As he puts the finishing touches on his annual fund-raising Oscars party this week, Elton John has something to celebrate. His U.K. musical “Billy Elliot” scored a small armload of awards at the Laurence Olivier Awards, Britain’s equivalent of the Tonys, over the weekend.
James Lomas, George Maguire and Liam Mower, the three young actors who alternate in the musical’s title role, eclipsed “Star Wars” star Ewan McGregor to win best actor in a musical Sunday.
McGregor was nominated for his turn as New York gambler Sky Masterson in an acclaimed revival of “Guys and Dolls.”
The gritty story line and energetic tunes of “Billy Elliot” have made it a critical and popular hit, and it took awards in three other categories at the London ceremony. John’s music and the book and lyrics by Lee Hall won “Billy Elliot” the best new musical category, and it also scooped best theater choreographer and best sound design.
Metro resident on ‘Jeopardy’
Look for Tucker resident Amit Bose as a contestant on “Jeopardy!” this week. While Buzz tried its best on Monday to determine exactly how far Bose goes in the competition, the info, for now, is under wraps. However, we can enthusiastically report that Bose is smiling on the clip being offered on the TV game show’s Web site. …
Quote of the day
“I’ve never had one in real life. … Everyone thinks I’m this giant alcoholic, but I’ve actually never even had a martini. Are we gonna get drunk?” — “Will & Grace”actress Megan Mullally on the differences between her and her boozehound Karen Walker character while preparing blood orange martinis with Martha Stewart on “Martha” Monday.
Celebrity docket
Ex-Wham! man George Michael said Monday that his arrest over the weekend for suspected drug possession in London was “my own stupid fault, as usual.”
The 42-year-old pop singer was arrested Saturday after he was found slumped at the wheel of his car at Hyde Park Corner in central London. He was bailed out and is to return to a police station next month.
“I was in possession of Class C drugs, which is an offense, and I have no complaints about the police, who were professional throughout,” Michael said Monday in a statement.
On the off chance that you’re not Pete Doherty and don’t have a good working knowledge of English drug laws, Class C drugs are the lowest category of illegal drugs, include marijuana, anabolic steroids and some amphetamines.
Celebrity birthdays
Actor Charles Durning is 83. Actor Gavin MacLeod (“The Love Boat,” “The Mary Tyler Moore Show”) is 75. Actress Kelly Bishop (“Gilmore Girls”) is 62. Actress Bernadette Peters is 58. Singer and Atlantan Cindy Wilson of the B-52’s is 49.
If you have a tip, call 404-526-2749. Or fax 404-526-5509. Or e-mail: buzz@ajc.com.
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Smyrna mom, daughter in latest ‘Amazing Race’
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Phil Keoghan lost the “Survivor” host job to Jeff Probst six years ago. But he got a heckuva consolation prize: “The Amazing Race.”
“This show is more challenging logistically” than “Survivor,” he told Buzz in a phone news conference last week promoting the latest edition, which starts at 9 p.m. Tuesday on CBS with a two-hour special. It then goes to 10 p.m. Tuesdays.
Despite logging 400,000 miles on the program, Keoghan still loves to travel: “With the beauty of hindsight, I ended up getting the gig most suited to my skills.”
Keoghan, who Americanizes his New Zealand accent for our consumption, acknowledged that last fall’s “Family Edition” fell flat with four-person teams.
There is a local player in the new series: Wanda Lopez-Rochford, a corporate trainer from Smyrna, and her daughter, Desiree Cifre, a 24-year-old writer from New York.
“The daughter is the more conservative, levelheaded one,” Keoghan said. “The mom is just out to have a great time.”
Opera auditions
Atlanta’s Ryan Smith was one of the crowd favorites Sunday afternoon at the Metropolitan Opera National Council auditions at Spivey Hall. But Smith, 29, wasn’t among the three winners who will be advancing to the national finals in New York City. Smith, a Morehouse graduate, received enthusiastic applause and shouts of “bravo” for his first aria, “E la solita storia del pastore” from Cilea’s “L’Arlesiana.”
After the auditions, judge Brad Woolbright, artistic administrator for the highly regarded Santa Fe Opera, said the group of young singers was one of the best he’d ever seen. In fact, the judges were so impressed with the contestants that they bent the rules and named three winners rather than the usual one. They were: Zulimar Lopez-Hernandez, 26, a soprano from Puerto Rico; Donovan Singletary, a 22-year-old bass-baritone from Florida; and Jonathan Beyer, 24, a baritone from Chicago who competed in the district finals in Puerto Rico.
Sick bay
Sheryl Crow underwent surgery for breast cancer last week and the prognosis for a full recovery is excellent, her publicist reported Friday. In a statement on her Web site, Crow said she would postpone a North American concert tour that was scheduled to begin in March, including an appearance at the Fox Theatre on March 9.
Batters up!
Mets fans still fuming over John Rocker’s many slights will get a chance to take a swing at the former Braves reliever. Nine lucky New Yorkers will have the opportunity to hit three pitches off Rocker when Spike TV brings the surly one to town for a promotional stunt to coincide with the premiere of “Pros vs. Joes” (airing at 10 p.m. March 6), in which regular guys get to compete with professional athletes. Rocker, with copious security in tow, will be at Bryant Park from 7 to 11 a.m. March 6. (Buzz, coincidentally, may be there to torture Rocker with questions.)
A fun TLC show
Tionne “T-Boz” Watkins of TLC and Paper City held a fund-raiser for the Sickle Cell Foundation of Georgia this weekend, with a heavy emphasis on fun. The singer’s daughter, Chase, was among many well-dressed little ones running around the Mercedes-Benz Buckhead dealership Friday night, as Mommy oversaw the trunk show of wares from her children’s clothing boutique, Chase’s Closet.
In between impromptu dances, Shaniah delivered a plate of catered goods from Nine Restaurant and Bar to her dad, music mogul Jermaine Dupri. Teen rapper-actor Bow Wow’s mom, Teresa Caldwell, a retailer in her own right, thumbed through onesies with statements printed on them like, “My grandpa’s a stud.” Meanwhile Dupri, fellow newly minted Grammy winner Johnta Austin, singer-songwriter Kandi Burruss, former Atlanta Falcon Ray Buchanan and others took looong glances at the luxury automobiles in the showroom.
“This is a lot of fun for me,” Watkins said. “[Chase’s Closet] was voted the best baby store in Houston the third month I was open, by H magazine. So I’m blessed. … Next I want to bring a store here called Grunge Girl. It’ll be for older kids. My daughter’s getting older, so pretty soon she’ll be growing out of Chase’s Closet. So I’m going to keep that in Houston and bring [Grunge Girl] to the A, where I really wanted to be in the first place.”
Celeb birthdays
Actress Joanne Woodward is 76. Actress Elizabeth Taylor is 74. Atlanta singer Rozonda “Chilli” Thomas of TLC is 35.
Contributing: news services. If you have a tip, call 404-526-5688 or e-mail: buzz@ajc.com.
If you have a tip, call 404-526-2749. Or fax 404-526-5509. Or e-mail: buzz@ajc.com.
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Poke fun? There’s a Slim Chance
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
It took nearly a decade, but Slim Chance and the Convicts — Atlanta’s premier “Redneck Underground” musical act — has finally graced fans with a new album. The title alone, paired with the cover art, was nearly worth the wait.
In a parody of the classic 1973 Pink Floyd album, the Convicts’ new release, “The Dark Side of the MoonPie,” comes complete with the namesake Southern delicacy standing in for the lunar sphere.
“I actually had the idea for the title years ago,” frontman James Kelly (aka Slim Chance) told Buzz Friday. “It’s so Southern.” But when Kelly rang up MoonPie manufacturer Chattanooga Bakery Inc. seeking permission to use the iconic image and name, he was initially met with stunned silence.
“They were kind of speechless,” he recalled, laughing. “Apparently, not a lot of people call up to actually ask permission.” After he sent the bakers an old CD, and assured them there would be “no cussing” on the new project, they graciously granted permission to use the MoonPie image.
Today, old fans and their families can check out material from the disc during a live performance in Decatur. It’s scheduled at the decidedly family-friendly hour of 3 p.m., during an all-ages concert release party.
In the decade between Slim Chance projects, Kelly became a licensed psychologist and now works as a behavioral analyst. “I guess all those years being in the house band at [the late, lamented Little Five Points watering hole] Austin Avenue Buffet, I learned a few things,” cracked Kelly.
And, as usual, Kelly has some classic song titles on “MoonPie,” including: “Flat on the Floor,” “Don’t Sell Daddy No More Whiskey” and “I Hate to See You Go (But I Love to Watch You Leave).”
“I gotta give props where they’re due,” Kelly conceded. “I actually heard [World Wrestling Entertainment wrestler-turned-commentator] Jerry ‘The King’ Lawler use [“Hate to See You Go”] on ‘Monday Night Raw.’ I just knew it would be a great title for a country song!”
Slim Chance and the Convicts will perform today at PushPush Theater at 3 p.m. $2-$5. 121 New St., Decatur. 404-377-6332. Check out www.pushpushtheater.com for directions.
Money not enough
“On the Down Low” author J.L. King is up to several new pursuits. The first one hits local newsstands Wednesday. It’s billed as Just Living Atlanta-Magazine, a publication “for Atlanta’s urban, sophisticated and alternative-lifestyle communities.” And Thursday night at Gallery 253 in the Castleberry district downtown, hundreds of invited guests got an early peek.
“I’m very proud of my new baby,” said King, who celebrated with the National Black Arts Festival’s Judith Service Montier, Grammy winning singer-songwriter Kandi Burruss, Glue Inc.’s Sheri Riley and Catalyst Magazine’s Keith Brown. (Pictures can be seen at jimiflixx.com). “And this is just the beginning,” he said. “I’ve got a TV talk show deal in the works. I’ve got a radio show in the works. I’m working on my third book right now. And now with this magazine, we’re going to kick it off in three cities — Chicago next, in July, and D.C. in September.
“I’m an overachiever,” continued the Atlanta resident. “I can’t stop. I’m like the Energizer Bunny. I was telling my staff in a meeting recently, ‘I don’t know why I keep doing all of these things when I really could just stop. Enjoy my money. Play golf everyday. Be a good father. Play with my grandson.’ But that’s not enough for me. I need to do more. I want to do more.”
Festival to honor Ned Beatty
The RiverRun International Film Festival next month will honor Ned Beatty, star of 1972’s filmed-in-Georgia adventure-thriller “Deliverance.”
Beatty will receive the Master of Cinema Award, festival officials announced Wednesday. The 68-year-old actor has appeared in more than 100 movies, including “Nashville,” “Silver Streak” and “1941.”
He was nominated for a best supporting actor Oscar for his role in 1976’s “Network.”
“The purpose of the Master of Cinema award is to honor someone who has mastered their craft, and Ned Beatty is a master of what is almost a lost art,” said Dale Pollock, executive director of the festival.
“He is a true character actor who can really register in any role — large or small, dramatic or humorous.”
The festival, which will include 25 feature films and 44 short films, is March 16-19 in Winston-Salem, N.C. It had not yet been decided Friday whether attendees would be required to “squeal like a pig!” before entering the gala.
Celebrity docket
Actor Brad Renfro has pleaded guilty to attempted possession of heroin in a case stemming from his December arrest during a sting in Los Angeles’ Skid Row area.
The 23-year-old actor, whose films include “Ghost World,” “The Jacket” and, as a child in 1994, “The Client,” entered the plea Thursday.
Renfro was given three years’ probation and must enter a drug rehabilitation program under a law that allows people convicted of nonviolent drug possession to receive treatment instead of jail time.
He faces up to 18 months in prison if he violates the terms of his sentence, said Superior Court Judge David Horwitz.
Celebrity birthdays
Country singer Ralph Stanley is 79. Actress Tea Leoni is 40. Actor Sean Astin is 35. Actor Justin Berfield (“Malcolm in the Middle”) is 20. Actors James and Oliver Phelps (“Harry Potter”) are 20.
Sunday: Actress Betty Hutton is 85. Singer Fats Domino is 78. Singer Mitch Ryder is 61. Singer Michael Bolton is 53. Singer Erykah Badu is 35.
Contributing: 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.
If you have a tip, call 404-526-2749. Or fax 404-526-5509. Or e-mail: buzz@ajc.com.
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Friends set to roast Fonda at fund-raiser
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Bernie Marcus may want to go ahead and test all those fire extinguishers at the Georgia Aquarium. They’ll likely come in handy on June 1 at the venue.
That’s the date and place for the Georgia Campaign for Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention’s first-ever celebrity roast of Jane Fonda.
Buzz Central’s “save the date” card arrived this week.
Among the two-time Oscar winner’s famous friends who will be flying in to serve as roasters: “Vagina Monologues” playwright Eve Ensler; “Star Wars” actress and novelist Carrie Fisher; Fisher’s Hollywood legend mother Debbie Reynolds; actress and comic Rosie O’Donnell; Fonda’s “Monster-in-Law” co-star Wanda Sykes and ex-hubby Ted Turner.
Fonda told us last week that she was especially happy to be able to persuade Sykes to fly in for the occasion. When she turned up last year as a celebrity auctioneer at the G-CAPP “Monster-in-Law” benefit premiere, Sykes brought down the house while trying to unload a golfing trip to Scotland (when bidding stalled at one point, the comic grabbed a microphone and lectured the monied crowd: “Come on! Girls are gettin’ pregnant! ”).
David Letterman, meanwhile, is providing a Fonda-themed “Late Show” top 10 list for the occasion. CNN chat show icon Larry King has been recruited as the evening’s “master of flames.”
Fonda told Buzz that the roast will serve as G-CAPP’s big fund-raising event this year. Traditionally, the activist-actress has organized lavish Hollywood-in-Atlanta premieres for films like “Twister,” “The Perfect Storm,” “Lost in Space” and “retro premieres” for “9 to 5” and “Barefoot in the Park.”
And according to www.gcapp.org, glitzy patron packages are running $1,500 to $25,000. Honorary co-chairs for the evening are Ginny and Charles Brewer and Sue and Bob Nardelli. Steering committee members include Marilyn Krone, Scott Seydel, Barbara Roos, Julia Sprunt, Suzanne Inman, Pam Yarbrough, Peter Conlon and Sarah Monsour.
For tickets and more info: www.gcapp.org.
Channeling late INXS singer
The late Michael Hutchence’s name was never uttered Wednesday night at the sold-out INXS concert with new lead singer J.D. Fortune. But his afterglow remained.
Fortune opened at the Boisfeuillet Jones Atlanta Civic Center with the INXS hit “Suicide Blonde,” which seemed vaguely inappropriate, given that Hutchence committed suicide in 1997. Fortune seemed stiff and tentative at first, but warmed up as the concert progressed. The band sounded tight, the original five INXS members joyously rejuvenated by their young lead singer’s antics.
Vocally and visually, the 32-year-old Canadian occasionally evoked Hutchence with his slinky sexiness. But he projected enough of his own charisma to keep the crowd pumping through the hits (“Original Sin,” “Don’t Change,” “New Sensation”) and new cuts from the comeback album “Switch,” including Fortune’s own “Pretty Vegas.” He did a few bars of “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” and climbed partway up a balcony, wading into the crowd, as a band manager watched nervously from the stage.
During a special Star 94 session at Nickel and Dime Studios in Avondale Estates before the Civic Center appearance, sax player Kirk Pengilly said the reason folks think Fortune sounds like Hutchence is because of the songs themselves. “It’s an illusion,” he said.
‘Madea’ makes the rounds
Atlanta writer-director-producer-actor Tyler Perry was all over the morning talk shows Thursday to promote today’s theatrical release of “Madea’s Family Reunion.”
On “Live With Regis & Kelly,” Perry told the pair that watching Oprah Winfrey inspired him to write down his thoughts and inspirations in a journal.
Cracked Kelly Ripa: “Did you ever learn anything watching our show?” Perry replied: “Yes, I learned that Regis has a very small foot.” (Last year Reege no doubt caused millions to reach for the remote as he related how his 4-ish shoe size varies from country to country.) On “Tony Danza,” Perry gave away “Madea” church fans and blank journals for the audience.
Alas, you can’t please everyone.
Perry awoke in New York to a blazing headline in the Post : “Advance Film Reviews in Critical Condition.”
The article chastised movie studios for not screening new films “Madea” and kiddie-friendly fare “Doogal” in advance for critics. Lions Gate Films President Tom Ortenberg told the Post the reason why his distributor didn’t screen the film: “We are not going to spend $50,000 for the privilege of negative reviews for a film that isn’t going to be affected by them.”
In other words, come Monday, Perry and Lions Gate will be waay too busy counting enormous piles of money to care about the Post’s snit.
FYI: In Atlanta, Lions Gate and Perry screened “Madea” numerous times this month for critics and advance audiences. See Eleanor Ringel Gillespie’s review in today’s Movies & More.
Bonding over Bond
It took an old Bond to come to the rescue of the new Bond.
Roger Moore, who played Agent 007 in seven of the James Bond movies, said critics of the film franchise’s new star, Daniel Craig, should give him a chance.
“He’s a helluva good actor,” said Moore, 78, noting that critics haven’t even seen Craig in the role yet. “So why attack him?”
The fair-haired Craig, whose recent screen credits include “Munich” and “The Jacket,” was tapped last October to play the secret-agent icon in “Casino Royale.”
A group of Bond fans have launched a Web site (www.craignotbond.com) to protest the hiring of Craig and boycott the upcoming movie.
Moore, whose Bond films include “A View to a Kill,” “Moonraker” and “Live and Let Die,” suggested the group was merely trying to attract people to its Web site.
He also dismissed suggestions that Bond is obsolete in a post-Cold War, post-9/11 world.
“Bond is fantasy, there’s no real substance to it,” he said. “It’s a figment of imagination. … [It’s] sort of crazy, you know, a spy who is recognized wherever he goes. Spies ain’t like that.”
Celebrity birthdays
Actor Abe Vigoda is 85. Actor Dominic Chianese (“The Sopranos”) is 75. Actor Edward James Olmos is 59. Actress Debra Jo Rupp (“That ’70s Show”) is 55. Country singer Sammy Kershaw is 48. Actor Billy Zane is 40. Actress Bonnie Somerville (“NYPD Blue”) is 32. R&B singer Brandon Brown of Mista is 23.
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.
If you have a tip, call 404-526-2749. Or fax 404-526-5509. Or e-mail: buzz@ajc.com.
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‘Moses’ of soul gives China a lesson in funk
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Augusta’s main man James Brown taught the city of Shanghai how to “Get Up Offa That Thing” Wednesday during a concert in the People’s Liberation Army acrobatics theater.
The 72-year-old Godfather of Soul made his mainland China debut, belting out his soul classics before a capacity crowd.
“We are going to funk you up before we finish,” Brown said three songs into his set, which he kicked off with “Make It Funky.”
Dressed in a cherry red satin suit, he shimmied, shook and leapt — although not quite as high as he once did.
Behind him, a nine-piece band, complete with gold epaulets on their suits, put on a virtuoso display of rhythm and horns. His quartet of backup singers, egged on the cheering, clapping crowd that filled the Yunfeng Theater in the heart of Shanghai’s once-thriving nightclub district.
Brown is little known in China, and Wednesday’s audience was overwhelmingly European, American and Japanese — evidence of Shanghai’s increasingly international, cosmopolitan complexion.
The singer has shown no signs of slowing down, with the Shanghai concert coming in the middle of an Asian tour that also included a swing through Australia.
In an interview with the Associated Press last year, Brown shrugged off talk of retirement and said his work is the root of much of today’s music.
“Retire for what? What would I do? I made my name as a person that is helping. I’m like Moses in the music business,” he said.
A surprise win for teachers
The 10 finalists in the 2006 Michaels Family Awards for Excellence in Education competition sat nervously on the stage of the Atlanta Speech School Tuesday night waiting for Ed Michaels to announce the five winners, each of whom would receive $2,000 for themselves and $2,000 for their school. The 10 were teachers and principals in the Atlanta Public Schools who had proven success in raising student achievement and had innovative classroom strategies.
With Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin, City Council President Lisa Borders and APS Superintendent Beverly Hall on hand, a teary-eyed Michaels described how difficult it was to select five winners out of such an outstanding field. “So all 10 are going to win,” he announced, to the stunned delight of the finalists and the audience.
The finalists had to submit an educational project that they would underwrite with their winnings. Teacher Kathy Edwards of F.L. Stanton Elementary School, for example, will create mini science labs. Principal Cynthia May of West Manor Elementary will use her money to pay for after-school tutorials for third and fifth graders at risk for retention. East Lake Elementary second graders will study and design zoos and then spend a night at Zoo Atlanta, courtesy of their teacher Julie Rogers-Martin. The other winners were principals Betsy Bockman of Inman Middle School, Cynthia Kuhlman of Centennial Place Elementary and Eunice Robinson of Jones Elementary School, and teachers Stephanie Blake of Hill Elementary, Beth Crenshaw of Peyton Forest Elementary, Jacqueline Giles of Carver School of Entrepreneurship and Mariel Lawrence of Benteen Elementary.
Celeb sex tape update
Good news, retinas! Hick hop artist Kid Rock has won an initial victory in his attempt to stop a California company from releasing an explicit sex video featuring the rap-rocker, former Creed singer Scott Stapp and four women.
U.S. District Court Judge John Feikens signed a temporary order that stops David Joseph and his World Wide Red Light District company from posting a preview clip of the video on its Web sites.
On Tuesday, Kid Rock’s lawyers sued Red Light (which made headlines in 2004 by distributing the Paris Hilton sex video), accusing the firm of violating Kid Rock’s trademark and privacy rights. The lawsuit seeks a permanent court order halting sale or distribution of the video.
In what we can only assume is a stab at asserting Mr. Rock’s masculinity, his lawyer William Horton tells the Detroit Free Press: “We don’t deny the authenticity of the tape. But they’re using this without his permission to drive the sales of their other products.”
“Even rock stars are entitled to privacy,” says co-counsel Michael Novak.
The order remains in effect until a court hearing Friday.
Red Light lawyer Ray Tamaddon said he couldn’t comment on the lawsuit because he hadn’t seen it. But he said the company is confident that it is within its legal rights.
“These are public figures, and the standards are different,” he said.
In an affidavit filed with the lawsuit, Kid Rock said the video was shot in 1999 near Miami. At the time, Stapp was the lead singer of Creed, a band that, ironically, was heavily steeped in Christian imagery at the time of the shoot.
Joseph has said previously that he got the tape from a third party. It involved women from a strip club and was taken in a motor home, he said.
Celebrity birthdays
Actor-director Peter Fonda is 66. Musician Johnny Winter is 62. Actress Patricia Richardson is 55. Actress Kristin Davis (“Sex and the City”) is 41. Bassist Jeff Beres of Sister Hazel is 35. Actress Dakota Fanning (“The Cat in the Hat,” “I Am Sam”) is 12.
Contributing: Maureen Downey and news services. If you have a tip, call 404-526-2749. Or fax 404-526-5509. Or e-mail: buzz@ajc.com.
If you have a tip, call 404-526-2749. Or fax 404-526-5509. Or e-mail: buzz@ajc.com.
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‘Rent’ actor’s book recalls tough times
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
With the release of “Rent” actor Anthony Rapp’s new book, “Without You: A Memoir of Love, Loss and the Musical ‘Rent’ ” (Simon and Schuster, $25), fans of the Pulitzer Prize-winning play have one more reason to weep this week.
In the tome, Rapp, one of the musical’s earliest hires, writes that he had to endure nightly the play’s emotional themes of AIDS and “AZT breaks” set in New York City’s East Village in 1989.
Plus, there was the sudden death of “Rent” creator Jonathan Larson of an undiagnosed aortic aneurysm literally on the eve of the show’s off-Broadway opening in 1996, and also an overwhelming personal life.
While Rapp was playing sold-out shows with VIPs like former President Bill Clinton, first lady Hillary Clinton and daughter Chelsea in the audience, his mother was in the final stages of terminal cancer, languishing in hospice care in Joliet, Ill., where he would fly on his one day off a week.
“I never had any doubt that I was going to be as honest as possible,” Rapp told Buzz as he was leaving Manhattan for a national book tour. In exchange for that honesty, readers often get a glimpse of an exhausted, angry, imperfect son and a mother who, even riddled with cancer, still isn’t comfortable discussing her son’s homosexuality.
Rapp’s memoir is often just as unblinking, unflinching and as unyielding as Larson’s gritty Broadway Bohemia.
“It’s rare in our culture when we have a clear-eyed relationship to death and dying,” said Rapp. “In a lot of ways, Sept. 11 first gave many people an opportunity to grieve where the grieving process was actually up in people’s faces. To me, that may have been the only positive thing to come out of it. We had to engage in that dialogue. I hope we can keep that door open.”
With the two-disc DVD of “Rent” hitting stores this week, Rapp is also defending the film adaptation of the musical on his book tour. Rapp’s anger rises when discussing some of the critical slams the film took on its theatrical release last December.
“It’s unconscionable that some critics wrote that dealing with HIV and AIDS is now somehow a dated thing. You don’t have to love the piece. But to say that [the themes of] friendship, family and people living with AIDS is somehow now passé is absolutely absurd.”
Rapp also takes offense at critics who assert that the Broadway show only succeeded because of Larson’s untimely demise.
“That’s an insult not only to Jonathan and the truth and the relevance of ‘Rent,’ but also it’s an insult to his parents and friends. ‘Rent’ is celebrating its 10th anniversary on Broadway this year. A show doesn’t run for a decade based on that. At some point, the relevance of the work has to affect people.”
Sir Elton, Celine raise funds
Peachtree Road resident Elton John and his Las Vegas Caesars Palace theater mate Celine Dion sang together for the first time Monday night at a benefit to raise money for Harrah’s Entertainment Inc. workers affected by last year’s hurricanes.
The pair, who sang duets of “Sorry” and “Saturday Night” before a packed Colosseum at Caesars Palace on Monday night, also were joined by Jerry Seinfeld to raise $2.1 million for about 8,000 casino workers in the Gulf Coast region.
The money came on top of $4.5 million the world’s largest casino operator already had collected for its staff, said Harrah’s CEO Gary Loveman.
“I’ve played in Biloxi [Miss.] many times,” John said. “I’m just glad we can do a little something for those people’s lives that will never be the same again for many, many years. God bless them.”
About 4,100 people paid $100 to $1,000 each to watch the trio take turns on the stage.
Ray Charles’ daughter helps, too
The daughter of Georgia native Ray Charles says she hopes a recent performance in Pascagoula, Miss., will help keep the victims of Hurricane Katrina in the public eye.
“One of the things that happens when you have such a huge natural disaster is it’s big news for about a week,” said Sheila Raye Charles.”Then it’s easier for people to rest and sleep at night, because they think once they don’t see it on the news, that it’s gone away. And it just sincerely hasn’t.”
Charles, 29, performed Sunday at the Pascagoula High School gym. The event was sponsored by the Minnesota-based nonprofit groups Max Respect Foundation and Agape Food for Peace Missions.
“I’m here to bring some joy and happiness, and hopefully, even for the moment, try to bring people to a different mind-set than where they’re at in their life,” she said.
Celebrity birthdays
Announcer Don Pardo is 88. Director Jonathan Demme is 62. Actress Julie Walters (“Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone,” “Billy Elliot”) is 56. Actor Kyle MacLachlan is 47. Naturalist Steve Irwin (“The Crocodile Hunter”) is 44. Comedian Rachel Dratch (“Saturday Night Live”) is 40. Actress Jeri Ryan (“Boston Public,” “Star Trek: Voyager”) is 38. Actor Thomas Jane (“The Sweetest Thing”) is 37. Actress Drew Barrymore is 31.
Contributing: news services. If you have a tip, call 404-526-2749. Or fax 404-526-5509. Or e-mail: buzz@ajc.com.
If you have a tip, call 404-526-2749. Or fax 404-526-5509. Or e-mail: buzz@ajc.com.
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Suwanee woman factors in a debate with O’Reilly
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Suwanee resident Christy Mellinger was selected from among 4,500 pundit wannabes to debate Fox News gabber Bill O’Reilly on his show today, in what’s being called the “Bloviate With Bill” contest.
The award: Bloviating with Bill. Mellinger plans to debate him on the subject of “Jessica’s Law,” which requires mandatory sentences for first-time sex offenders, about 8 p.m. on “The O’Reilly Factor.”
In preparation, “my husband [James] is drilling me on the subject,” Mellinger told Buzz. A serious O’Reilly fan, she noted her 18-month son, Michael, always calms down when he hears O’Reilly’s voice. “I think it’s because he heard O’Reilly so much in utero,” she said.
Beaux Arts Ball ‘sparkle’
More than 580 Mardi Gras revelers, including a king and queen and a bevy of princesses, danced and made merry Saturday night at “Carnival 2006,” the 29th Beaux Arts Ball. Black-tie clad guests feasted on chicken and beef piroshkis, fillet of sole and filet mignon, plus fruit dipped in a chocolate fondue fountain, at the Hilton Atlanta. WSB-TV’s Monica Kaufman — looking party perfect in hot pink satin paired with harlequin-patterned sequin pumps — was mistress of ceremonies for the event, a benefit for the Atlanta College of Art, while Marianne Broadbear chaired the ball.
Ed Reynolds, president of Network Services for Cingular Wireless, served as carnival king and his wife, Peggy, reigned as queen. They were attended by princesses dressed in white gowns: Ashley Brooke Brady, Julia Kemp, Nina Mustafa and Cassidy Beeman Russell.
Some guests wondered whether this might be the swan song for the Beaux Arts Ball, since the Atlanta College of Art will merge with the Savannah College of Art and Design at the end of the school year in June. Not so fast, said SCAD President Paula Wallace. She attended the ball with her husband, Glenn, and was host to two tables of friends and colleagues. “We helped out with the idea this time and are now seeing if people want to continue it [the ball],” Wallace told Buzz. “We might tweak it a bit, but it is a fund-raiser that has a sparkle to it. I’m here to learn and lend my support.”
Odds are good, said John Spiegel, the chairman of the Atlanta College of Art’s board of directors, that the ball will continue. “SCAD has expressed interest in carrying the ball forward,” Spiegel said. “Although it might not have older supporters from previous balls, it has a new influx of young people.”
Polyester pants required
Two-thirds of the Bee Gees, Barry and Robin Gibb, reunited onstage for a Miami charity concert Saturday, their first performance since the death of brother Maurice three years ago. The Brothers Gibb performed a private concert Saturday night at the Diplomat Hotel to raise money for the Diabetes Research Institute at an annual benefit for the organization, Paul Bloch, Barry Gibb’s publicist, said Sunday.
The brothers performed dozens of Bee Gees hits spanning 35 years, including “Stayin’ Alive,” and “How Deep Is Your Love.”
Maurice Gibb died at age 53 in January 2003 after emergency surgery for an intestinal blockage. He had been admitted to Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami four days earlier and had suffered cardiac arrest before the operation. The Bee Gees’ younger brother, Andy, who had a successful solo career, died in 1988 at age 30 of a heart ailment.
The Bee Gees had nine No. 1 songs and sold more than 110 million records — placing them fifth in pop history behind Elvis Presley, the Beatles, Michael Jackson and Paul McCartney.
Celebrity docket
Former British rocker Gary Glitter, currently cooling his heels in a Vietnamese slammer, will stand trial in early March on charges he committed obscene acts with two underaged Vietnamese girls, the head of the Vietnamese provincial People’s Court said Monday. Glitter, 61, who won fame as a flamboyant glam rocker in the 1970s, has been accused of kissing and fondling a 10-year-old and 11-year-old and “engaging in other physical acts” at his rental home in the coastal resort city of Vung Tau last year.
Nguyen Van Co, head of the provincial People’s Court in southern Ba Ria-Vung Tau province, said the date for Glitter’s trial would be set this week. If convicted, he faces between three and seven years in prison. Glitter, whose real name is Paul Francis Gadd, has been in police custody at a jail near Vung Tau since Nov. 19, when he was seized in Ho Chi Minh City trying to board a flight out of the country.
Glitter was convicted in Britain in 1999 of possessing child pornography and served half of a four-month jail term. He later went to Cambodia and was permanently expelled in 2002, but Cambodian officials did not specify any crime or file charges.
No word on whether his sports stadium anthem “Rock and Roll (Part 2)” will be cut from rotation at the Ted.
Roundup
Berne Poliakoff, aka “Frenchy” from the swinging gal-harmony trio Cowboy Envy, rode herd on a crowd of guest musicians Sunday at Eddie’s Attic, where she showcased a selection of solo tunes. No one was trampled on the tiny stage at the Decatur nightspot as a host of musicians trooped on and off, bringing along the sounds of fiddle, accordion, trumpet, tuba, ukulele, pedal steel and assorted stringed instruments.
The show included performances by Caroline Aiken, Mick Kenny, Sue Wilkinson, Mark Van Allen and Poliakoff’s cowgirl colleagues DeDe Vogt and Kathleen Hatfield. “I feel like Ed Sullivan up here,” said the mistress of ceremonies, “except I don’t have Topo Gigio with me.”
Celebrity birthdays
Opera star Charlotte Church is 20; actress Jennifer Love Hewitt (“Ghost Whisperer”) is 27; alt-country star Mary Chapin Carpenter is 48; television actor Kelsey Grammer (“Frasier”) is 51; actress Tyne Daly (“Gypsy”) is 60; record executive David Geffen is 63.
Contributing: Rodney Ho, Marylin Johnson and news services. If you have a tip, call 404-526-5688 or e-mail: buzz@ajc.com.
If you have a tip, call 404-526-2749. Or fax 404-526-5509. Or e-mail: buzz@ajc.com.
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Shawn Mullins back making music his way
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
In 1998, local singer-songwriter Shawn Mullins became a big shot for about a year with his breakthrough hit “Lullaby” and platinum-selling album “Soul’s Core.”
But life calmed down after modest sales of his follow-up CD and the ill-fitting trio the Thorns. Now he’s back as a solo artist on a smaller label with “9th Ward Pickin’ Parlor.” Buzz caught up with him by phone Sunday:
On what he’s trying to say with his new rootsy CD: “Even though I’ve never been gone, I’m back. I feel like I’m where I want to be, making music I want to make.”
On seeing a recording studio he used in New Orleans flooded by Katrina: “It was a shock. I saw it on TV. People were standing on the roof. It was a 100-year-old house. Now that area is ‘Road Warrior’-ville.”
On the brush with worldwide fame: “It was nutty. At a zoo in Sydney, Australia, I had to run away from a group of Catholic schoolgirls. It was like ‘Hard Day’s Night.’ ”
On meeting Kiss at the American Music Awards in 1998: “Leaving the performance area, I run into this big black leather thing. It’s Gene Simmons’ back. He turns around in full makeup and says, ‘Hey, that was really good, man.’ And Paul Stanley is giving me the thumbs up. It was like a dream.”
On his friend and fellow singer-songwriter Kristen Hall quitting touring with Sugarland: “She never liked the road much. She wants to be home to create and write music. I can totally understand her. It takes real strength to pull out of that.”
Nick seeks help from Jessica
Nick Lachey is seeking spousal support from Jessica Simpson and wants his jewelry back. In court papers filed Friday in response to Simpson’s Dec. 16 divorce filing, Lachey cited irreconcilable differences for the dissolution of the three-year marriage. Lachey, 32, also asked for “miscellaneous jewelry and other personal effects,” part of Simpson’s earnings from after the separation and other assets. The couple had no prenuptial agreement, and in her petition, Simpson asked the court not to grant Lachey spousal support.
Closer look at 2 ‘Idol’ finalists
Paris Bennett of Fayetteville, a high school senior, used to be a “tomboy” who loved football and wrestling but says she’s “become a princess.”
Kinnik Sky, 28, of Duluth is a recent divorcée and actress who used to go by Kinnik but added the name Sky because it sounded good. (She won’t reveal her real last name.)
Buzz last week spoke with the two metro Atlantans in the final 24 of “American Idol.”
“I want to be versatile,” Bennett said. “I try to keep people guessing.” The granddaughter of Ann Nesby loves everyone from Dolly Parton to Beyoncé, from Gladys Knight to Bette Midler.
She attended Starr’s Mill High School until “Idol” came along and will probably graduate via online courses. She also does a variety of dancing and “loves choreography.” (We might see some moves during her upcoming “Idol” performances, starting Tuesday.)
“I don’t have a nervous bone in my body,” she added. “I’m ready for this.”
Sky said she has done plays for Kenny Leon and Tyler Perry and improv work with the group Laughing Matters. She most recently worked at the Buckhead restaurant Twist. “I love singing and acting,” she said. “This gives me a platform to leverage my career and open myself to more opportunities.”
Sky said she’s not concerned she didn’t get as much airtime as Bennett and other semifinalists. “We’re going to be given our time to do our thing regardless,” she said.
Don’t send in those clowns
Hannah Ellis, a 19-year-old student at Gordon College in Barnesville, will be on a future episode of “The Tyra Banks Show,” where Ellis tries to exorcise her fear of clowns. Part of the therapy included a Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus show Saturday night at Philips Arena. “It went a lot better than I thought,” she told Buzz. “I freaked out for a minute during the preshow. The clowns were all around me and I started crying, but I calmed down and enjoyed the show. It was amazing!”
Around the radio dial
While in Houston for the NBA All Star Game, 790/The Zone’s the 2 Live Stews won a celebrity billiards tournament, defeating the likes of Atlantan Ludacris, actress Regina King and NBA players Alonzo Mourning and Paul Pierce. …
V-103 has hired a replacement for Magic Man: Osei “The Dark Secret,” formerly at WKYS-FM in Washington, D.C. …
99X’s Fred Toucher, former 99X stunt guy Rich Shertenlieb and ex-99X traffic guy Crash Clark did a tryout at Phoenix’s FM talk station KZON-FM late last week. …
Pete Davis, sportscaster and fill-in host at 640/WGST-AM, was let go last week. “I saw it coming,” he told Buzz. “They want to get away from a more abrasive style.” A fixture for 17 years, Davis said he had survived nine program directors “and only one didn’t like me. That’s pretty good in radio.” That ninth program director, Randall Bloomquist, declined to comment, citing personnel policies.
Celebrity birthdays
Movie director Robert Altman is 81. Actor Sidney Poitier is 79. Jazz and soul singer Nancy Wilson is 69. Actress Sandy Duncan is 60. Model Cindy Crawford is 40. Local singer Brian Littrell of Backstreet Boys is 31.
Contributing: news services. If you have a tip, call 404-526-5688 or e-mail: buzz@ajc.com.
If you have a tip, call 404-526-2749. Or fax 404-526-5509. Or e-mail: buzz@ajc.com.
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Soap opera stars give help to Katrina victims
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Local Hurricane Katrina evacuees are getting some very real help from the fictional folks who reside in the ABC soap cities of Pine Valley and Llanview.
Georgia native Bobbie Eakes, who portrays Krystal Carey, the sexy, Southern-fried mama on “All My Children,” and her castmates have been attending Erica Kane’s Mardi Gras New Orleans benefit ball on the show during February sweeps. In what is perhaps a first on daytime, the show is also running public service announcements in between the soapy plot twists to raise money for the effort.
“I’m so proud of this, especially being from the South,” Eakes told Buzz. “People forget that people are still in need there.” Eakes’ relatives in Texas volunteered at the Astrodome after the disaster last year. She says their stories helped to bring the tragedy home for her.
“To combine the ball on the show with a real time fund-raiser was a brilliant idea,” she says. Several ABC soap stars plan to be on hand for Tuesday’s Mardi Gras events in New Orleans while “Good Morning America” plans a live remote.
Over at “One Life To Live,” actress Robin Strasser, who normally stays busy playing busybody Dorian Lord, has another priority off-screen.
She recruited more than 20 of her co-stars to sing or record spoken-word selections for “One Life: Many Voices for Hurricane Relief,” a benefit CD being sold at Barnes & Noble stores nationwide.
Strasser says she watched, like many Americans, the hurricane devastation on TV. A few days into the relief effort, she decided to oversee the benefit project.
“At work, every day people would hand me CDs of their contributions for the project,” she recalls.
“I have a CD player in my dressing room. On some days, I needed to lock the door and have a little boohoo session. Everyone’s response and their dedication to this was just so extremely touching. I’m so darn proud of this CD. But this isn’t going to be over any time soon. People have had their entire homes and histories wiped away. We can’t forget that.”
To order online: www.onelifemanyvoices.com.
Getting into B.E.D.
More than 400 attendees tucked into B.E.D. together at the opening party of downtown’s chic new restaurant and lounge Thursday night.
Guests sipped on lemon-accented martinis and noshed bite-size beef Wellingtons as owners Oliver Hoyos, Dirk van Stockum, Parnell Delcham and Richard Silverman greeted boldfaced Atlantans.
Among those Buzz spotted beyond the velvet rope: singer Usher, musicians Dean Roland and Cary Franklin of Collective Soul, former Falcon Ray Buchanan and wife Sheree, fashionistas Bill and Cindy Hallman, restaurateur George McKerrow and wife Ginair, nightclub owner Michael Krohngold and party promoters Nicole Johnson, Eboni Elektra and Kim Porter. More than one sleek server did a double upon seeing WGCL-TV “Restaurant Report Card” consumer reporter Adam Murphy in the crowd. Fortunately, Murphy was off the clock.
A hungry ‘Shine’-ing Star
In the end, Star Jones Reynolds came, signed and sampled some pork shoulder and macaroni and cheese Thursday night during her “Shine” book tour stop in Atlanta.
Showing up about 20 minutes late to her scheduled signing at the Barnes & Noble store off Moreland Avenue, “The View” co-host surprised fans by bringing along her husband, Al Reynolds. After signing copies of “Shine,” the self-help author, Reynolds and former Atlanta Mayor Bill Campbell tucked into some menu favorites at Two Urban Licks.
R&B singer to tour again
Except for Broadway musicals and a few select appearances, part-time Alpharetta resident Toni Braxton hasn’t done many live performances in the past decade. But that’s about to change.
The R&B diva is embarking on her first tour in 10 years to support her latest album, “Libra.” The tour will kick off March 10 in Atlantic City, N.J., and end July 3 in Houston at the Essence Music Festival.
“I’m thrilled to be going out on the road again,” Braxton said Friday in a statement to The Associated Press. “I can’t wait to bring not only the hits that people know and love but to share the new music from ‘Libra’ with the audience.”
No word yet on an Atlanta date.
Quote of the day
“I would say to you, ‘I have a little job for you, too’ and then I would show you one of my fingers.” — Kelly Ripa to guest co-host and “American Idol” judge Simon Cowell on Friday’s “Live With Regis & Kelly”
Cowell had just informed Ripa that one of his current girlfriend’s “little jobs” in their relationship is to schlep his luggage through airports for him.
Celebrity birthdays
Today: Jack Palance is 85. Actor George Kennedy is 81. Toni Morrison is 75. Movie director Milos Forman is 74. Yoko Ono is 73. John Travolta is 52. Vanna White is 49. Matt Dillon is 42. Dr. Dre is 41. Molly Ringwald is 38.
Sunday: Singer Smokey Robinson is 66. Singer Bobby Rogers of Smokey Robinson and the Miracles is 66. Guitarist Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath is 58. Actor Jeff Daniels is 51. Singer Seal is 43. Actress Justine Bateman is 40. Actor Benicio Del Toro is 39. Singer-actress Haylie Duff is 21.
Contributing: News services. If you have a tip, call 404-526-2749. Or fax 404-526-5509. Or e-mail: buzz@ajc.com.
If you have a tip, call 404-526-2749. Or fax 404-526-5509. Or e-mail: buzz@ajc.com.
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Sir Elton wins award for libel, helps charity
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
On behalf of his charity, Peachtree Road resident Elton John accepted an undisclosed financial settlement Thursday of a libel lawsuit against the Sunday Times in London.
His lawyer, Hanna Basha, said in court that the newspaper had repeated a false rumor in June that the rocker acted in “a self-important, arrogant and rude manner” by telling guests at a fund-raising ball not to address him unless spoken to.
The 58-year-old singer wasn’t in court for the announcement of the settlement.
Times Newspapers Ltd. said it had agreed to pay damages to John, who will donate the funds to the Elton John AIDS Foundation.
The settlement came complete with some sweet groveling from the newspaper’s suits too: “As soon as the defendant found out the story was untrue — it had been picked up from another newspaper — it immediately apologized to Sir Elton and it is happy to repeat that apology here today,” said the newspaper’s lawyer, Alastair Brett.
Meanwhile, Atlantans heading to Los Angeles for the singer’s 14th annual Oscar party fund-raiser for the foundation, to be at the Pacific Design Center in Los Angeles, will be serenaded by singer-songwriter John Legend. An e-mail sent to Buzz Central from Sir Elton’s reps announced that Legend will perform selections from his latest disc, “Get Lifted.” Via a statement, Sir Elton says: “I have been a huge fan of John’s since I first heard his album. I am so thrilled that he won three Grammys last week and even more thrilled that he will be playing at our Oscar party. “
Reader e-mail of the week
Oddly, getting stiffed on an interview with Star Jones Reynolds isn’t our fave part of this gig. It’s actually getting drop-dead, laugh-out-loud funny e-mails from readers. In response to our monthlong tribute to “The View” co-host’s new self-help book, Roswell’s Don Sadler wrote : “Now that you’re able to remove the tongue that has for so long been lodged in your cheek, I wish to thank you for taking the bullet for the rest of us. That you were willing to slog through ‘Shine’ instead of your loyal readers is no less a testament to your courage than were you to have fallen on a live grenade. I trust your psyche’s scars aren’t permanent.”
In fact, we were so touched by Sadler’s note that Buzz Central has relented and is semi-proud to leave you with …
The very last (we mean it) final moment to ‘Shine’
“Remember: You can’t do all the exercises, all the time. You can do some of them, some of the time.” — the author on her gym regimen
‘Home Plate’ chef likes ATL
“Home Plate” cooking show host Marvin Woods is eyeing Atlanta locations for a new restaurant.
Woods, who travels here several times a year to shoot episodes for the Turner South series, wants to bring his lightened Southern specialties somewhere he gets TV exposure.
He closed his Miami restaurant, M. Woods, in January and chalks up problems to an out-of-the-way location and no “Home Plate” airings in South Florida.
Woods, in town while taping episodes for next season at the show’s new location in the Westye Group Southeast’s Sub-Zero/Wolf showroom in Duluth, likes Midtown as a venue for his Caribbean- and South American-influenced Southern food.
That would put the restaurant within convenient drop-in distance of Turner headquarters, as well as netting him a cable audience of would-be diners. “It would be a win-win for us and for Turner,” Woods says.
Sick bay
Columnist and novelist Art Buchwald is in a Washington-area hospice after having part of his leg amputated, his assistant said.
Cathy Crary said Thursday the leg was amputated below the knee because it wasn’t getting enough blood due to a vascular condition.
She said the 80-year-old Buchwald also has a kidney problem but wasn’t undergoing dialysis.
“He’s really doing very well,” Crary said.
Buchwald’s column, which began in the Paris edition of the New York Herald Tribune in 1949, is not running currently.
He won a Pulitzer Prize for commentary in 1982, and his 80th birthday was celebrated last fall at the French Embassy in Washington.
Court docket
Country singer John Michael Montgomery was arrested early Thursday in Lexington, Ky., and charged with driving under the influence and possession of a controlled drug, jail officials said.
The 41-year-old vocalist also was charged with having a prescription drug not in its proper container, two counts of carrying a concealed deadly weapon, disregarding a traffic control device and improper turning, said Darin Kelly, a spokesman for the Lexington jail.
Montgomery was released several hours later, Kelly said.
The singer’s publicist, Erin Morris of Morris Public Relations in Nashville, said Montgomery didn’t have any immediate comment.
Kelly said the police report listed the controlled substance as Endocet, which is a painkiller. Or a breakfast food washed down with coffee if your job description happens to include thumbing through a copy of “Shine” for weeks at a time… .
Celebrity birthdays
Hal Holbrook is 81. Actress Rene Russo is 52. Actor Lou Diamond Phillips is 44. Singer Chante Moore is 39. Actress Denise Richards is 35. Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day is 34. Actor Jerry O’Connell (“Crossing Jordan”) is 32. Actor Jason Ritter (“Joan of Arcadia”) is 26. Paris Hilton is 25. Actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt (“3rd Rock from the Sun”) is 25.
Contributing: Elizabeth Lee and news services. If you have a tip, call 404-526-2749. Or fax 404-526-5509. Or e-mail: buzz@ajc.com.
If you have a tip, call 404-526-2749. Or fax 404-526-5509. Or e-mail: buzz@ajc.com.
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Alas, with ‘The View’ co-host’s arrival today, adieu to ‘Shine’
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The city’s hairstylists and manicurists were no doubt turning customers away Wednesday as Atlantans made final preparations for today’s long-awaited book signing by “The View” co-host Star Jones Reynolds.
The reading, signing and Q&A tonight at 7 at Barnes & Noble off Moreland Avenue is part of Jones Reynolds’ national book tour to promote “Shine: A Physical, Emotional & Spiritual Journey to Finding Love.”
Buzz readers will recall that Jones Reynolds first endeared herself to Atlanta radio listeners last month when she hung up on (or her publicist ended, according to whom you ask) a phone interview with Steve McCoy and Vikki Locke on Star 94, arguably the least confrontational radio morning show in the city. McCoy allegedly agitated Jones Reynolds by asking her about speculation that she had a gastric bypass here. (She addresses her dramatic weight loss in “Shine” but does not disclose how she lost it.) The incident was later splashed across Page Six in the New York Post with a quote attributed to the daytime diva, stating that McCoy “was the single rudest person who ever interviewed me.”
This week, Star 94 listeners have been clogging the station’s phone lines now that McCoy and Locke are offering the quote on a commemorative Star Jones T-shirt.
McCoy told Buzz on Wednesday that he has re-invited Jones to the show “to help clear the air. I really don’t want to attack this woman.” The Jones Reynolds camp has turned down the offer. The female-skewing Q100 “Bert Show” also was rebuffed when producer Tracey Peluso’s interview request was turned down by Jones rep Paul Olsewski.
And Buzz’s request for an in-person interview with Jones Reynolds? Her publicist Brad Zeifman indicated that we shouldn’t hold our breath waiting for one. Zeifman politely informed us that Jones Reynolds “doesn’t speak to gossip columnists.”
Yes, gentle readers, he went and used the “g”- word. We kindly pointed out that Buzz is not a gossip column but rather an ongoing journalism exercise referred to in the industry as a people/newsmaker feature. And because we were taught manners, we chose not to point out that Jones Reynolds and her co-hosts spend the first 10 minutes of “The View” each weekday trafficking in celebrity gossip.
Buzz spent the remainder of Wednesday applying a topical ointment to our wounds and planning a nonviolent, candlelight vigil outside Barnes & Noble tonight.
As a final parting gift to faithful Buzz readers, we proudly present …
A final moment to ‘Shine’
“Temporary abstinence can be kind of a quiet, resting state, a temporary fast that forces you to find other emotional outlets. Eventually, it makes you even hungrier for sexual intercourse, but hungrier for a full meal, not fast food.” —the author on her and her future husband’s mutual decision to be celibate for six months prior to their marriage.
B-52’s update
After we informed Buzz readers of all the details of a meal recently enjoyed by the B-52’s at the Globe in Midtown, we received a Valentine’s Day voice mail from member Fred Schneider. “We also had bread!” cracked Schneider in the voice mail message. Responding to our inquiry about the Athens-born band’s new recording, he informed us that “we get together in Atlanta and work on songs every so often.” A record and tour are being planned for the fall. Look for the band to perform a new song on Showtime’s “The L Word” on Sunday.
A class act of Ebony fashion
Need a fur shawl that transforms into a coat, a pair of genie jeans or a metallic handbag large enough to pass for a suitcase? Neither do most Atlantans, but that didn’t stop 1,800 locals from attending the 48th annual Ebony Fashion Fair fashion show this week. The event at the Woodruff Arts Center’s Symphony Hall was dedicated to its founder, the late John H. Johnson, who died last August, just one month before the tour began. In the name of charity, attendees applauded fashions by designers ranging from Anna Sui to Zang Toi. Chairwoman Marie Baker Wilson of the Atlanta Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, which hosts the event, summed it up in two words: “It’s class,” she said.
‘Brokeback’ inspiration
Willie Nelson sang “Mammas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow up to Be Cowboys” and “My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys” more than 25 years ago.
The 72-year-old singer released a different sort of cowboy anthem on Valentine’s Day.
“Cowboys Are Frequently, Secretly (Fond of Each Other)” may be the first gay cowboy song by a major recording artist. But it was written long before this year’s Oscar-nominated “Brokeback Mountain” made gay cowboys a hot topic.
Available exclusively through iTunes, the song features choppy Tex-Mex style guitar runs and Nelson’s deadpan delivery of lines such as “What did you think all them saddles and boots was about?” and “Inside every cowboy, there’s a lady who’d love to slip out.”
The song, which debuted Tuesday on Howard Stern’s satellite radio show, was written by Texas-born singer-songwriter Ned Sublette in 1981. Sublette said he wrote it during the “Urban Cowboy” craze and always imagined Nelson singing it. Someone passed along a copy of the song to Nelson in the late 1980s and, according to Nelson’s record label, Lost Highway, he recorded it last year at his Pedernales studio in Texas. Nelson also sings “He Was a Friend of Mine” on the “Brokeback Mountain” soundtrack.
TomKat denounce split story
Not true. That was Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes’ response to a Valentine’s Day report by Life & Style magazine claiming the Hollywood superstar and his pregnant paramour have split up. “It should be known that the story is 100 percent false,” Arnold Robinson, a publicist for the couple, said in a statement. “Mr. Cruise and Ms. Holmes are still engaged and are moving forward with their wedding plans, as well as planning for the arrival of their child.”
The magazine’s Feb. 27 issue, on newsstands Friday, says in a cover story that the pair “plan to keep up the charade of their romance until after their baby’s birth this spring.”
Holmes, 27, and Cruise, 43, have been engaged since June. They announced her pregnancy in October.
“Despite the malicious fallacies put forth by Life & Style magazine, the couple is looking forward to a long and happy life together as a family,” Robinson said.
Producers of freekatie.com, meanwhile, remained inconsolable at press time Wednesday.
Celebrity birthdays
Actor Pete Postlethwaite is 60. Actor Jeremy Bulloch (Boba Fett in “The Empire Strikes Back”) is 60. Actor LeVar Burton is 49. Rapper-actor Ice-T is 48.
Contributing: Nedra Rhone and news services. If you have a tip, call 404-526-2749. Or fax 404-526-5509. Or e-mail: buzz@ajc.com.
If you have a tip, call 404-526-2749. Or fax 404-526-5509. Or e-mail: buzz@ajc.com.
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Brides are willing, but cake trick falls a bit flat
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Q100 billed Tuesday morning’s frosting-laced free-for-all in the Lenox Square food court as the Big Cake Dive. Big?
Not so much.
The teetering, multi-tiered pastry— which the 10 gowned brides-to-be were supposed to toss themselves into to collect bridal party prizes — wasn’t exactly baked with diving in mind. Unless you later wanted to window-shop for a neck brace, that is.
Still, in the name of journalism, Buzz waded into the icing as the Q100 listeners thrust their faces into the goo (no hands were allowed) that promptly landed on the floor. As the contestants gnawed through the baked goods, looking for the 10 gold coins hidden inside, their rented wedding gowns quickly accumulated smears of frosting and chocolate cake.
So did bride Dee Dee Hill, 38, of Marietta lose anything while crawling on all fours pushing her face through the crumbs? A contact, an earring or perhaps her dignity?
“Well, that’s definitely gone!” she conceded afterward, laughing. “I’m just hoping my family doesn’t see this!”
That might be unlikely.
Ajc.com was filming the proceedings for a video package displayed on our home page today.
Sharon Johnson, 33, of Cedartown even brought her fiancé, Keith Weathington, 31, along.
And he brought his video camera.
“Everybody is going to want a copy of this!” he told Buzz. “We have a little girl who’s 8. I may go get her out of school early so she can see this.”
Gary Coltek, owner of PerfectWedding
Cake.com, defended his company’s creation (and inadvertently re-enacted an entire scene from “This Is Spinal Tap”), telling us: “We went over the dimensions a hundred times with the radio station. We delivered exactly what was ordered.”
Originally, several local TV news stations were also set to shoot the cake dive, but a major house fire diverted their crews.
Glancing over at the petite pastry prior to its demise, Lenox Square rep Kitsy Rose sighed and said: “Normally, I’d be upset if TV got called away from an event. But not today.”
Crooning around the cake
With frosting and cake flying around him, singer-songwriter Josh Kelley quietly tuned his acoustic guitar Tuesday morning. The Augusta-raised musician, out touring in support of his second disc, “Almost Honest,” was on Q100 to promote Tuesday night’s gig at Vinyl in Midtown.
As the brides-to-be got their cake game faces on, Kelley reflected on a fateful 2001 gig at Eddie’s Attic in Decatur. “I got the call at the last minute,” Kelley recalled. “I was living in Oxford, Miss., at the time, and I immediately jumped in the car and drove six hours.” Kelley didn’t even have time to lock his car —or park legally, for that matter —before his set. Not only did he win first prize at the open mic gig, the evening’s on-the-fly live recording provided Kelley with a record-company-ready calling card. The live selections helped him snag his recording contract with Hollywood Records.
“It’s probably a good thing that I didn’t know the whole Eddie’s Attic back story before I played,” Kelley said of the esteemed acoustic music venue’s reputation. “Otherwise, the pressure would have been crazy. After my set, I moved my car. I couldn’t believe I didn’t even get a ticket.”
Next up for Kelley: a video shoot in New York for the single release of “Almost Honest.” His director? Fan and Oscar-nominated actor Joaquin Phoenix.
‘Madea’ makes early ATL debut
“Madea’s Family Reunion” director-writer-producer Tyler Perry held a mini cast reunion Monday night as actors from the locally filmed, upcoming comedy — and one two-time Oscar winner — walked the red carpet at the Atlantic Station Regal Cinema. The flick, set to open Feb. 24, stars Perry in the title role, Blair Underwood, Lynn Whitfield, Rochelle Aytes and Atlanta actress Lisa Arrindell Anderson, all of whom were in town Monday.
“It was the first real opportunity to be able to work at home on a film project,” Arrindell Anderson told us. “It was a fantastic opportunity, plus I got to sleep in my own bed every night and see my husband and children.”
Veteran actress Whitfield loved playing the vampy Victoria in the film. “I immediately tried to get a seduction scene added,” she said. “I mean, if she didn’t try and seduce her son-in-law, what’s the point?!”
Atlanta resident and Perry fan Jane Fonda was also on hand. “I really adore him,” she told Buzz. “That’s why I’m here. I love that he had a dream and gave everything he had to it and made it work.”
For video from Monday’s night’s red carpet interviews, go to ajc.com.
A moment to ‘Shine’
With a meager 24 hours until Star Jones Reynolds’ Atlanta book-signing, we barely had time to select an excerpt from her self-help book “Shine: A Physical, Emotional & Spiritual Journey to Finding Love.” But since we actually get paid to perform such tasks … (Page 275): “It’s not conceited and it’s not selfish to love yourself. Bask in the glory of who you are. Be friendly to you.”
Celebrity birthdays
Comedian Harvey Korman is 79. Actress Jane Seymour is 55. Matt Groening (“The Simpsons”) is 52. Singer Brandon Boyd of Incubus is 30.
Contributing: news services. If you have a tip, call 404-526-2749. Or fax 404-526-5509. Or e-mail: buzz@ajc.com.
If you have a tip, call 404-526-2749. Or fax 404-526-5509. Or e-mail: buzz@ajc.com.
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‘Electric Company’ still delights Rita Moreno
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
She may have an Oscar, a Tony, an Emmy and a Grammy on her mantel, but Rita Moreno is most proud of helping to teach an entire generation of kids to read.
As a core member of the 1970s PBS kiddie series “The Electric Company,” Moreno, now 74, was part of an acting and comedy ensemble that taught kids basic reading and grammar skills each weekday afternoon. Her co-workers included Morgan Freeman, Bill Cosby and Spider-Man. A four-disc DVD set collecting 20 of the series’ best episodes is in stores today. Moreno provides interviews and commentary for the boxed set.
“I am so thrilled,” Moreno told Buzz by phone recently. “It’s such a worthy show. It was so hip and so smart. We never patronized or talked down to the audience. I could not be happier. My grandchildren are 7 and 5. I was always disappointed that they were never going to get to see this.”
During the final two seasons of the Children’s Television Workshop staple in 1975-77, Moreno pulled double-duty in New York, shooting sketches for the show while doing “The Ritz” on Broadway at night. That role won her a Tony in 1975.
“For ‘The Electric Company,’ I would go in and do enough sketches for 15 days of shows. It was a tough schedule doing both shows, but I didn’t care. Even then, we all knew that ‘The Electric Company’ was a very noble undertaking. We were using comedy — vaudeville and burlesque, really — to teach kids in a new way. It was extremely exciting to be a part of that. Plus, at lunch every day, we would laugh like hyenas!”
And, yes, that’s Moreno yelling “Hey you guuuuuys!” at the top of every episode.
“Bill [Cosby] and I did this sketch in the first season where I played Millie the helper and he played a milkman. As a kind of homage to the ‘Hey Abbott!’ bit that Abbott and Costello did, I just blurted that ‘Hey, you guys!’ line out. It just worked. And the kids adored it. When they added it at the beginning of the show, it became this kind of call to kids to sit down and watch.”
And Moreno’s former TV-watching students still remember their teacher fondly.
“I was in this restaurant last week,” she recalled, laughing. “And this bald man in a business suit yelled across the room to me, ‘Hey you guuuuys!’ I walked up to him and said, ‘Now I know I’m not that old!’ “
A Valentine Repast
It’s Valentine’s Day 2006. And once again, you’ve waited until the last minute to make dinner reservations for your much better half. As a community service to procrastinators across the city, married restaurateurs Joe Truex and Mihoko Obunai are officially opening their Midtown bistro, Repast, to the public today. What’s more, reservations are available, as is a $90 per couple four-course chef menu. Hours today: 5:30 to 10 p.m. Phone: 404-870-8707. One drawback: The eatery doesn’t as yet have a liquor license.
And, yes, if all goes well this evening, we hereby grant you permission to name your first-born Buzz…
Coupling
Scott Stapp, former lead singer of the rock band Creed, has married former Miss New York Jaclyn Nesheiwat, People magazine reports on its Web site.
The couple exchanged vows Friday night at the Vizcaya Museum and Gardens, an estate on the waterfront of Biscayne Bay in Miami, the magazine reports.
Stapp’s 7-year-old son, Jagger, served as the best man.
The 32-year-old singer founded Creed and won a Grammy Award in 2000 for the song “With Arms Wide Open.” He struck out on his own last year with the solo album “The Great Divide.”
Nesheiwat is the director of public affairs for the Scott Stapp Foundation, which promotes healthy parent-child relationships.
Spears ready for Mardi Gras
Britney Spears, a Louisiana native, will celebrate Mardi Gras in New Orleans later this month when the devastated city hopes to revive some of its old partying ways.
“I am honored to be a part of the Mardi Gras celebration in New Orleans this year,” Spears said in a statement Monday. “It is so important for this amazing city to continue its annual traditions, and I am really looking forward to being involved.”
The 24-year-old pop star will appear on ABC’s “Good Morning America” on Feb. 28 (7 a.m EST), when the morning show reports live from New Orleans. The Mardi Gras parade season will run from Saturday to Feb. 28; Fat Tuesday, or Mardi Gras Day, is Feb. 28.
A moment to ‘Shine’
As the city continues to gear up for Thursday’s Star Jones-Reynolds book-signing here, Buzz continues to provide our readers with snippets of wisdom from “The View” co-host’s self-help book, “Shine: A Physical, Emotional & Spiritual Journey to Finding Love.” Page 36, the author on her food dislikes: “I hate and despise beets — don’t put them anywhere on my plate. I hate cottage cheese—ickh. Anything that’s squishy like Jell-O or raw oysters going down my mouth messes me up, uh-uh, I can’t do it.”
Celebrity birthdays
TV personality Hugh Downs (“20-20”) is 85. Actress Florence Henderson is 72. Saxophonist Maceo Parker is 63. “Access Hollywood” host Pat O’Brien is 58. Magician Teller of Penn and Teller is 58. Actor Enrico Colantoni (“Just Shoot Me”) is 43. Singer Rob Thomas is 34. Actor Freddie Highmore (“Finding Neverland”) is 14.
Contributing: news services. If you have a tip, call 404-526-2749. Or fax 404-526-5509. Or e-mail: buzz@ajc.com.
If you have a tip, call 404-526-2749. Or fax 404-526-5509. Or e-mail: buzz@ajc.com.
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Friends, fans turn out to toast ‘Crash’ Clark
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Christopher “Crash” Clark arrived at his own “Crash Bash” party Saturday “already pretty wasted,” he said.
“I appreciate everybody who showed up,” added the always colorful Clark in a moment of clarity at Central City Tavern, where the party was organized by a fan. Clark was fired in December by 99X for allowing a woman to perform a sex act on a patron at a bar in exchange for concert tickets. “I love you all and will be back!”
Among the attendees were current 99X morning co-hosts Fred Toucher and Jimmy Baron, Baron’s wife and Ralph Reed spokeswoman Lisa Baron, and former 99Xers Chris Williams and Whip, now at rival station the 105.3/The Buzz. A surprise appearance: former 99X stunt guy Rich Shertenlieb, who recently left a gig in Dallas to do his own morning show.
“I never want to be him but thank God he exists,” Shertenlieb raved to Buzz about Clark. “He’s a walking, talking story.”
What about rumors that he, Toucher and Clark are shopping around a new show nationally if Cumulus, soon to take over as owners of the struggling 99X, dumps Toucher? “No comment,” Shertenlieb said, with a grin.
Unusual UPN cameo
Like many singers, Destiny’s Child star Michelle Williams apparently couldn’t wait to act. But she gets major points for not going the usual pretty-cameo route on her three-episode arc on UPN’s “Half & Half” starting tonight.
As hotshot record producer Naomi Dawson, Williams is a rival to “Half” star Rachel True’s character, Mona. Making things worse for Mona, her best friend Spencer (Chico Benymon) has the hots for Naomi.
But it turns out Naomi has a secret, too — she’s HIV-positive. The resulting storyline is powerful without being preachy. The episodes support KNOW HIV/AIDS, a joint venture between CBS and Viacom, in partnership with the Kaiser Family Foundation. “Half & Half” airs at 9:30 p.m. Mondays.
New WSB-AM talker
WSB-AM realizes that local talk-show hosts Clark Howard and Neal Boortz are not going to be around forever. So execs are giving 32-year-old Chicago native Chris Krok a chance to develop and potentially take over for one of them down the road.
Krok starts tonight with the low-pressure 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. shift, a time when listenership is low and he can learn the town.
“I will be taking a lot of local calls and I love callers who disagree with me,” Krok told Buzz. “I’m very visceral, very passionate.”
Krok (yes, he says that’s his real name) refused to be pigeonholed politically: “I take positions based on how I react to them, not what the majority tends to think.”
Former boss Steve Konrad at KSTP-AM in Minneapolis/St. Paul didn’t offer much clarity: “He’s a good guy, outspoken, but not particularly political.”
Krok, married with a child and a second on the way, admits to a bad habit: He’s a big smoker. “My wife would like me to stop but I can’t. I love smoking so much!”
Soldiering on with INXS
INXS’ new leader singer J.D. Fortune has struggled recently with bronchitis, forcing the cancellation of a few dates.
“He’s scribbled notes to us all day yesterday,” guitarist Tim Farriss told Buzz. “He didn’t talk at all.” (Fortune won last year’s reality show competition “Rock Star: INXS” to replace the late Michael Hutchence as lead singer.)
Farriss blamed the cold weather in cities they’ve recently played, such as Toronto.
“There’s been a bug going around,” Farriss said. “I’m on antibiotics right now. We’ve come from 95 degrees in Sydney [Australia] to minus 6 in Detroit. It’s playing havoc with us.”
Will Fortune be OK by the time the band hits Atlanta Feb. 22? “He’ll be fine. It’s a lot warmer down there.”
The second edition of “Rock Star” is slated for this summer, though CBS isn’t sure what band will be attached. (Van Halen is one of the rumors.)
Interested? Go to rockstar.msn.com/Season2 or show up 10 a.m.-4 p.m. March 6 at the Velvet Underground in Hard Rock Cafe downtown.
All-Star Game gig on tap
Rashan Ali, Hot 107.9 morning host, has been a Hawks’ roving sideline reporter this season, interviewing celebrities such as Nelly and Ludacris, and players. The NBA liked her so much, the league invited her to do the same thing during the NBA All-Star Game weekend Feb. 19 in Houston.
Her former boss Ryan Cameron, now at V-103, is the public announcer for the Hawks. “People ask me all the time about that, but we’re all good,” she told Buzz.
Celebrity birthdays
Actor George Segal (“Just Shoot Me”) is 72. Actress Stockard Channing is 62. Jerry Springer is 62. Peter Gabriel is 56.
If you have a tip, call 404-526-2749. Or fax 404-526-5509. Or e-mail: buzz@ajc.com.
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Pieces from ‘GWTW’ author’s home hit block
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Those who can’t get enough of all things “Gone With the Wind” have a chance to own a piece of author Margaret Mitchell’s life today. A Buford auction house will offer an odd collection of Mitchell belongings that includes furniture, ticket stubs and even old jelly jars. The collection once belonged to the Atlanta Museum on Peachtree Street and is being auctioned by the same company that disposed of the rest of the museum’s collections last year.
Steve Slotin of Slotin Folk Art Auction says his company usually handles self-taught and primitive art but took on this sale because of a friendship with the Elliott family, former owners of the museum.
There are scores of items in the Mitchell belongings, including an ottoman, wardrobe and sofa from her Ansley Park apartment, where she lived after leaving “the dump.” Also included is a program from the “GWTW” premiere, signed by actress Anne Rutherford, Mitchell’s Red Cross uniform, her books, stemware, dishes and an orange juice squeezer. All will be sold in a single lot, said Slotin, in an auction that begins at 10 a.m. today. “We do about 70 lots an hour, more than one lot a minute,” he said. “It moves quickly, if you’re not paying attention, we can blow past an item.”
Slotin said the auction will probably slow down a bit when the Mitchell lot comes on the block.
For more info, www.slotinfolkart.com or bid online at www.ebayliveauctions.com.
Overscene
Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger chowing down on Buckhead Diner grub twice this week. On Thursday, Jagger and guests shared sweet and spicy chili calamari, tuna tartare and mini crab cakes. While the singer obviously created a ripple in the restaurant, his fans remained well-behaved during his visit. On Wednesday prior to their gig at Philips Arena, the English rockers ordered take out from Diner chef Joey Riley, who, we’re told was “thrilled and flattered” to provide the fuel for the act’s tour stop here.
A moment to ‘Shine’
As the city counts down to author Star Jones Reynolds’ long-awaited book-signing here Thursday, we offer yet another snippet from “The View” co-host’s self-help book “Shine: A Physical, Emotional & Spiritual Journey to Finding Love.” (Page 249): “Al’s a big old baby. He’d be the first one to tell you. ‘Nobody knows how to take care of me the way my wife takes care of me. What am I gonna do with those little hoochies out there — they don’t even know how I like my shirts.’ ” — the author, quoting her husband Al Reynolds.
A breathrough for Barry
Mary J. Blige, 35, now knows how the Beatles felt when Dean Martin knocked the mop tops out of the No. 1 slot on the charts back in 1964. Barry Manilow, 62, has landed on the top of the charts this week with a just-released album for the first time in 29 years.
Manilow’s “The Greatest Songs of the Fifties” debuted atop the Billboard 200 chart, followed by Blige’s “The Breakthrough” and Andrea Bocelli’s “Amore.”
The album of 13 standards such as “Are You Lonesome Tonight?” and “Unchained Melody,” has sold more than 156,000 copies in the United States since it arrived Jan. 31.
His previous chart-topper was the 1977 concert recording “Live,” an album that Buzz became painfully familiar with during the Carter administration, courtesy of a “Fanilow” younger sister.
Anchor expecting
ABC’s “World News Tonight,” scrambling to fill the gap left by its injured anchor, Bob Woodruff, is facing further instability: Elizabeth Vargas, Woodruff’s co-anchor, is pregnant.
Vargas and her husband, singer-songwriter Marc Cohn, are expecting their second child in late summer, they announced Friday. The couple have a son, Zachary, 3, and Cohn has two children — Max, 14, and Emily, 11 — from a previous marriage.
Vargas, who with John Stossel also co-anchors the ABC newsmagazine “20/20,” will continue to anchor both programs through late summer.
“I told Elizabeth that during such a difficult time for all of us, it’s good to get such wonderful, life-affirming news,” ABC News President David Westin said in a statement.
Woodruff is being treated at Bethesda Medical Center in Maryland for injuries he sustained in an Iraqi roadside bombing on Jan. 29.
Celebrity birthdays
Today: Movie director Franco Zeffirelli is 83. Sportscaster Joe Garagiola is 80. Keyboardist Ray Manzarek of The Doors is 67. Singer Michael McDonald is 54. Arsenio Hall is 51. Christina Ricci is 26.
Sunday: Actor Leslie Nielsen is 80. Actress Tina Louise (“Gilligan’s Island”) is 72. Actor Burt Reynolds is 70. Musician Sergio Mendes is 65. Singer Sheryl Crow is 44. Actress Jennifer Aniston is 37. Singer D’Angelo is 32. Vocalist Mike Shinoda of Linkin Park is 29. Singer-actress Brandy (“Moesha”) is 27. Singer Kelly Rowland of Destiny’s Child is 25.
Contributing: Bo Emerson and news services. If you have a tip, call 404-526-2749. Or fax 404-526-5509. Or e-mail: buzz@ajc.com.
If you have a tip, call 404-526-2749. Or fax 404-526-5509. Or e-mail: buzz@ajc.com.
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Local talent steps up the action at Grammys
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Rolling Stone magazine’s Christlike cover guy Kanye West wasn’t the only hometown talent high-stepping through the aisles at the Grammys on Wednesday night.
Florida A&M’s Tallie Brinson III of Hampton and Shawn Turner of DeKalb County were among the 20 band members accompanying the Atlanta-born West during his performances of “Gold Digger” and “Touch the Sky” on the telecast.
Hours before their prime-time debut, Buzz spoke with the trombonist and snare drum player, who had just completed the last run-through for the music industry’s biggest night.
“That was one of the major highlights so far,” said Turner, a sophomore pharmacy major. “Just sitting in the audience and seeing all of the celebrities, Ciara, John Legend, Jay-Z with Linkin Park, doing their thing.” Of course, two nine-hour rehearsals with West and his duet partner Jamie Foxx were way up there, too.
“I knew Jamie Foxx would be cool because he just seems that way, even on TV,” recalled Brinson III, a senior music education major. “But um, I didn’t know what Kanye would be like. I kind of thought he was kind of cocky, kind of arrogant, which I don’t think is a negative because people think I’m cocky and arrogant. And he was that. But he is also very creative and was open to our ideas and what the Marching 100 could bring to his show.”
Sip a pomegranate margarita
With the opening of Rosa Mexicano this week, Atlantic Station has gained a gleaming, posh upscale Mexican restaurant. Co-founded by Josefina Howard in 1984 in New York, the chain boasts three NYC eateries and one Washington location and has extended south into Atlanta before debuting two locations in Florida this year.
At Wednesday night’s media dinner, Rosa Mexicano COO Howard Greenstone related the chain’s business philosophy, saying: “Dine here if you want, but come here to eat. We’re a roll-up-your-sleeves kind of place.”
Diners (or eaters) new to the concept may also want to roll out their wallets. The guacamole ($12), whipped up in a lava rock bowl, is prepared fresh tableside (without lime juice) and serves two to three guests.
The restaurant’s potent signature drink, a frozen pomegranate margarita ($10), is not on the menu as a nod to current cocktail fashion. Explained Greenstone: “Pomegranate juice drinks are very popular right now, but we’ve been serving our frozen pomegranate margaritas for 22 years. We started out doing our signature drink by hand, with employees in a basement kitchen, squeezing juice for our margaritas 40 hours a week. For us, pomegranate juice is nothing new.”
Mud routs Emotions singer
Singer Wanda Vaughn of the Emotions was forced to dash out of her Glendale, Calif., home after a torrent of mud crashed down a hill and poured into her kitchen and living room Wednesday.
The mudslide may have been caused by a leaking irrigation pipe found at a cemetery up the hill from her house, said city fire Capt. Steve Parrish.
“It’s like one of those ‘Jurassic Park’ things, you know, but it was just mud, and it kept getting higher,” said Vaughn, whose R&B group is best known for the 1970s songs “Best of My Love,” “I Don’t Wanna Lose Your Love” and “Don’t Ask My Neighbors.”
The singer’s daughter, Whitney Vaughn, was trapped in mud that piled 8 inches to 16 inches high, and she injured a knee while trying to make her way out of the muck, Parrish said.
“It was like quicksand, it was bad,” she told KNBC-TV.
Vaughn grabbed her awards before leaving her home, including her Grammy. Building inspectors deemed the home dangerous and evacuated Vaughn’s family and two neighboring homes, Parrish said.
‘Idol’ outdraws Grammys
Original “American Idol” winner Kelly Clarkson couldn’t even help CBS’ Grammy telecast, which was crushed during the 8 p.m. hour Wednesday against the juggernaut reality show. “Idol” drew 28 million viewers vs. 15.1 million during the Grammys’ first hour, which featured a leotard-wearing Madonna, a scraggly looking Chris Martin of Coldplay and a teary-eyed Clarkson, who ultimately won two Grammys. The Grammys picked up more viewers later that night and averaged about 17.6 million viewers, still one of the lowest-rated shows in its history despite the star power of Paul McCartney, Bruce Springsteen, Mariah Carey and U2.
A moment to ‘Shine’
Recent news cycles proved too busy for us to bring you words of wisdom gleaned from “View” co-host Star Jones Reynolds’ new self-help book, “Shine: A Physical, Emotional & Spiritual Journey to Finding Love.”
In advance of the daytime diva’s Atlanta signing on Thursday, we proudly renew our commitment to snag Star for a sit-down while she’s in town. In the meantime … “If you want to be your most gorgeous, go to the nearest good cosmetic counter in a large department store on a day when they’re doing free makeovers, and get your face done by someone who’s good at it. Makeup is your friend. … Makeup is fun, child.” — the author on face painting (Page 105).
Celebrity birthdays
Actor Robert Wagner is 76. Singer Roberta Flack is 67. Singer Jimmy Merchant of Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers is 66. Country singer Lionel Cartwright is 46. Actress Laura Dern is 39. Country singer Dude Mowrey is 34.
Contributing: Rodney Ho, 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.
If you have a tip, call 404-526-2749. Or fax 404-526-5509. Or e-mail: buzz@ajc.com.
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Purveyor of society news bows out amid illness
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
In a memo faxed to advertisers last month, magazine editor Gloria Lane announced that she will not be able to continue publishing Season magazine due to health problems.
“After 25 wonderful years, it is with considerable sadness that this action has been determined to be necessary,” she said in the memo.
The glossy quarterly detailed Atlanta’s social scene as well as stories on celebs, fashion, travel, dining, home and design as well as health and beauty.
Lane, a former anchor at WSB-TV in the ’60s and ’70s, was scheduled to have hip replacement surgery last December. Efforts to reach Lane or Tom Sangster, the associate publisher and marketing director of the Season, were unsuccessful. Telephones have been disconnected.
“None of us saw this coming,” said Eileen Freeman, who sold ads and wrote stories for the now defunct magazine. “I got a call from Gloria in mid-January and she said, ‘Stop selling ads. I’m closing the door.’ That was it. But I felt we [the staff] were a well-oiled machine and had value as a group.”
However, the former Season staff are not out of jobs. Freeman will launch the new Southern Seasons magazine. The premiere issue of the quarterly, ($4.95), hits newsstands in April, with Freeman as publisher and editor.
Bob Brown, owner of the Atlanta staple Red Baron’s Antiques, owns the new publication.
Southern Seasons will carry on the tradition of the old Season, with a few changes, Freeman said. “We want to appeal to a younger demographic,” she said, “while still maintaining the highest standards of positive journalism set by Gloria Lane.
“We plan to support fund-raising events throughout the Southeast and feature lifestyles of fascinating Atlantans.”
The magazine also hopes to raise its print base from 60,000 to 100,000 within a year.
Overscene
Rolling Stones members Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and family dining at Brasserie Le Coze in Buckhead. “The Rolling Stones always stop in at least once when they are in town,” Brasserie owner Fabrice Vergez e-mailed us. Jagger enjoyed the truffle cream of mushroom soup and a filet mignon, while Richards dined on mussels and fresh buttered poached shrimp with lemon whipped potatoes. So who paid? Mick who also left “a generous tip.” … B-52’s members Fred Schneider, Kate Pierson and Keith Strickland at the Globe in Midtown. We’re told they ordered roasted beet salad, tempura frites (asparagus, haricot verts and mushrooms) with lemon aioli, pan-seared tuna, pan-roasted cod and slate-grilled salmon.
Note to the B’s: Buzz Central would be eternally grateful if someone would drop us a line so we can update fans on the status of your much-anticipated new album…
Homeboys on ‘Regis & Kelly’
It was nearly an all-Georgian edition of “Live With Regis & Kelly” on Wednesday morning. North Georgia native and “Lost” actor Josh Holloway was in New York to discuss his super-hot ABC series. Clad in blue jeans, a T-shirt and a sports jacket, Holloway prompted Reege to ask “Didn’t I see you in ‘Deliverance?’ ” Holloway laughed and shot back a classic piece of dialogue from the filmed-in-Georgia thriller: “You sure got a pretty mouth, boy!”
Aside from complimenting Philbin’s facial features, Holloway explained how he got into modeling and acting: “[I was told] you’re a lousy chicken farmer, and you’re not a good mechanic. Get out of here.” Closing out the hour was a performance from Stockbridge rock band Collective Soul, who are making the rounds promoting their new live DVD and CD with the Atlanta Symphony Youth Orchestra.
LAPD vs. Spears?
Apparently lacking anything else to do with taxpayer money, Los Angeles authorities are now investigating an incident in which “Toxic” pop mom Britney Spears was photographed driving with her infant son on her lap but don’t intend to pursue charges against the pop star, officials say.
Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Sgt. Diane Hecht said Tuesday that deputies went to Spears’ home to collect information for the county Department of Family and Children Services. A DCFS spokesman wouldn’t offer specifics.
“We don’t say who, what or if we’re investigating,” department spokesman Stu Riskin said.
The sheriff’s department won’t pursue any charges, Deputy Luis Castro said.
“Unless a deputy saw the violation, there’s nothing we can do,” he said. “We don’t even know if this took place in our jurisdiction.”
Several photos published Tuesday showed Spears driving with her son, Sean Preston, perched on her lap rather than strapped into a car seat in the back seat. Spears said she did it because of a “horrifying, frightful encounter with the paparazzi.”
The photos show Spears holding the wheel of the car with one hand, and her 4-month-old baby in the other. A person is shown sitting in the passenger seat next to Spears.
“I was terrified that this time the physically aggressive paparazzi would put both me and my baby in danger,” Spears, 24, said in a statement released late Monday.
“I instinctively took measures to get my baby and me out of harm’s way, but the paparazzi continued to stalk us,” she said. “I love my child and would do anything to protect him.”
The agency that snapped the photos, X17, said the pictures were taken “in a very peaceful context, in which photographers exhibited no aggressive behavior.”
“We believe that the pictures speak for themselves,” the agency said in a statement.
Uncoupling
Two-time Oscar nominee Ralph Fiennes and longtime partner Francesca Annis have separated, lawyers for the actress said.
The announcement came after the Mail on Sunday newspaper reported that Fiennes had an affair with a Romanian singer.
“Ms. Annis confirms today that she and Ralph Fiennes are to separate,” said a statement issued Tuesday by her law firm, Schillings.
Fiennes, 43, and Annis, 61, met while starring in a 1995 stage production of “Hamlet,” in which Fiennes played the title role and Annis played his mother.
Celebrity birthdays
Singer Carole King is 64. Actor Joe Pesci is 63. Actress Mia Farrow is 61. Country singer Travis Tritt is 43. Actor David Gallagher (“Seventh Heaven”) is 21. Actress Camille Winbush (“The Bernie Mac Show”) is 16.
Contributing: Marylin Johnson and news services. If you have a tip, call 404-526-2749. Or fax 404-526-5509. Or e-mail: buzz@ajc.com.
If you have a tip, call 404-526-2749. Or fax 404-526-5509. Or e-mail: buzz@ajc.com.
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Young stars dare to bare for Vanity Fair
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
With award season still under way, Scarlett Johansson and Keira Knightley are exchanging ball gowns for birthday suits.
Under the artful eye of photographer Annie Leibovitz, the starlets posed nude for the cover of Vanity Fair magazine’s yearly Hollywood issue, to be released today.
Fashion superstar Tom Ford also appears on the cover photo, though he stuck with a more traditional suit — one of black fabric.
Ford, the issue’s guest art director, said he hadn’t planned on becoming part of his own project, but he stepped in when “Wedding Crashers” star Rachel McAdams, 29, backed out.
“She did want to do it, and then when she was on the set I think she felt uncomfortable, and I didn’t want to make anybody feel uncomfortable,” Ford said Tuesday on ABC’s “Good Morning America.”
Other Hollywood stars weren’t difficult to persuade, Ford said.
“A lot of women actually, a couple of men, too, wanted to take their clothes off,” he said. “These are such beautiful people, beautiful women, and who doesn’t want to see a bit of them.”
Angelina Jolie also got naked for the Hollywood issue, posing in a bathtub.
Another shot depicts a fully clothed George Clooney as a director filming a large cast of women wearing skin-tone underwear.
For the cover photo, Knightley, 20, was photographed sitting sideways, with legs and arms carefully placed. The 21-year-old Johansson, draped over Ford’s leg, is somewhat more exposed: Readers who open the foldout cover will see her bare buttocks.
Knightley is nominated for a best actress Oscar for her performance in “Pride & Prejudice.” Johansson co-stars in Woody Allen’s current release, “Match Point.”
Little dog lost
B.B. King’s dog, Lucille, has disappeared, and the legendary bluesman is offering an autographed copy of one of his signature “Lucille” guitars in an effort to get her back.
The 2-year-old white female Maltese went missing about 10 days ago in West Hollywood while she was under the care of his co-manager, Matthew Lieberman.
“We’re not sure how she got out of the yard. Perhaps a gate was ajar,” Lieberman said in a statement Monday.
Canvassing nearby animal shelters and putting up some 500 signs failed to turn up any trace of Lucille, so the 80-year-old musician decided to offer a signed guitar as a reward.
Country for a cause
Listeners of country station Kicks 101.5 over the weekend pledged nearly $1.2 million for Memphis-based St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, beating last year’s numbers by about $20,000. “It got me crying a couple of times,” said new morning host Craig Cornett.
Tuned in, turned on
An estimated 90.7 million people watched the Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday, the largest Super Bowl audience since the Steelers last played in the title game in 1996.
The audience was 5 percent bigger than the 86.1 million people who watched the New England Patriots beat the Philadelphia Eagles last year, according to preliminary estimates from Nielsen Media Research.
“Grey’s Anatomy” enjoyed a post-Super Bowl boost, as well.
In Sunday night’s episode, a superfluous fantasy shower scene with three of its hottest interns worked to keep many of the football fans around. The episode, which featured a “code black” evacuation, drew about 38 million viewers, the best post-Super Bowl showing since “Survivor II” in 2001 and the third-highest total in the past 20 years.
Drinks and a movie
In the lead up to the Oscars, Turner Classic Movies has released some actor-inspired drink recipes.
Italian Stallion: Fill glass with ice, add 1 1/2 ounce licorice liqueur, and stir. (“Rocky” airs on Feb. 18 at 11 a.m.)
Cleopatra Snakebite: Fill glass with ice, adding 1 1/2 ounce Canadian whiskey and 1/2 ounce peppermint schnapps. Stir and strain into chilled glass. (“Cleopatra” airs today at 8 p.m.)
Osbotini: Robert Osborne’s favorite martini is made by stirring 2 ounces top-shelf vodka with a light splash of vermouth. Garnish with three large olives.
The Atlanta-based cable network is playing a string of Oscar-nominated movies, including “Out of Africa” on Feb. 12, “Fried Green Tomatoes” on Feb. 21 and “Gone With the Wind” on Feb. 26.
‘Cash’ calling
Producers of HGTV’s “Cash in the Attic” are in town this week looking for a few Atlanta-area families who won’t mind having an appraiser and a TV crew poking around their house looking for things to sell. Then they’ll film the auction of a home’s junk and then the completed home project, done courtesy of the money raised at the sale.
Anyone interested can apply at www.leopardfilms.com/applications or call 212-627-1181, Ext. 404.
Celebrity birthdays
Actor Nick Nolte is 65. Comedian Robert Klein is 64. Actress Mary Steenburgen is 53. Singer Vince Neil of Motley Crue is 45. Actor Gary Coleman is 38. Bassist Phoenix of Linkin Park is 29. Actress Karle Warren (“Judging Amy”) is 14.
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.
If you have a tip, call 404-526-2749. Or fax 404-526-5509. Or e-mail: buzz@ajc.com.
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Stipe sends a little sun to victims of Katrina
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Unsettled by what he calls the “pretty pathetic” response by the U.S. government toward the victims of Hurricane Katrina, R.E.M. frontman Michael Stipe is hoping a new benefit single will raise money for the displaced Gulf Coast residents.
During a teleconference with reporters Monday, the Decatur native announced the formation of the In the Sun Foundation and the release of his duet of “In the Sun” with Coldplay lead singer Chris Martin.
Stipe says the song, penned by singer-songwriter Joseph Arthur, came to mind in the aftermath of Katrina.
“I loved the song before Katrina ever happened,” he explained. “But the line ‘a nightmare comes, you can’t keep awake’ really hit me after it happened.”
In addition to Martin, Stipe enlisted help from Will.I.Am from Black Eyed Peas and Justin Timberlake to remix a version, and Arthur recorded a version with Stipe as well. A live version culled from an R.E.M. and Coldplay performance on “Austin City Limits” is also available. The digital downloads are all for sale at the iTunes Music Store. According to Stipe, “100 percent” of the proceeds will go to Mercy Corps, via the In the Sun Foundation, to aid hurricane victims.
Of his motivations, Stipe said: “As an American and a Southerner … I felt I needed to help. People are still in very desperate straits. They are not fine even now, and the news cycle has moved on.”
Love says drug woes in past
Courtney Love told a Los Angeles judge that she has put her drug problems behind her and that she has a new outlook on life.
Love, 41, appeared in court last week as part of a progress report after violating probation in three criminal cases. Judge Rand Rubin had sentenced Love to 180 days at a drug treatment center, but she was released to an outpatient program in November.
Rubin ended the outpatient requirement but ordered her to return to court May 12.
“You’re doing really, really well,” Rubin said. “We’re all pleased with your progress.”
Love, the former leader of the band Hole and the widow of Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain, admitted in August that she had violated her probation in three cases, including two drug-related charges.
But Love said she has improved over the past several months.
“I feel like I’m getting my creativity back … and that I’ve put a very gnarly drug problem behind me,” Love said. “I want the court and the community to know I feel great.”
Celebrity docket
Police have confirmed that Oscar-winning actor Joe Pesci is being investigated after a fan said the star punched him in the mouth because the fan snapped a photo of him in a shopping center parking lot.
The “Goodfellas” star gave his account of the Jan. 22 incident last week at a Boca Raton, Fla., home where he was staying, police spokesman Sgt. Jeff Kelly said. Garry Serino, who was with Pesci at the time, also gave police a statement.
Kelly did not provide details because of the investigation. “There are two sides to every story,” Kelly said.
Police were preparing to send the investigation results to the Palm Beach County, Fla., prosecutors to determine whether Pesci should be charged with misdemeanor battery for allegedly punching Juan Carlos Montenegro, 24.
Montenegro, a Broward Community College student, told police that after encountering Pesci, 62, he shook the actor’s hand and told him he was a big fan. He then purchased a camera, walked toward Pesci and asked for a picture, but Pesci refused, he said.
Montenegro kept asking to take a picture, and when Pesci turned, Montenegro took the photograph. Pesci then punched him with his right fist, the report said.
If Pesci is charged, he would be issued a court summons and would not be booked into the county jail, said Mike Edmondson, state attorney’s office spokesman.
Sick bay update
Former “Eight Is Enough” actor Dick Van Patten made his first public appearance Sunday since suffering a diabetic stroke two weeks ago, his publicist said.
Van Patten joined Bill Maher, Penny Marshall and other celebrities for a Super Bowl party at Wolfgang Puck’s Spago restaurant, said publicist Daniel Bernstein.
Van Patten, 76, spent several days at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center after having a stroke last month, Bernstein said. The actor showed no apparent long-term effects and is expected to make a full recovery, he said.
Van Patten is “feeling great and is very excited to be watching the big game with friends,” his publicist said in a statement.
Celebrity birthdays
Actor Miguel Ferrer is 51. Actor James Spader is 46. Country singer Garth Brooks is 44. Keyboardist David Bryan of Bon Jovi is 44. Comedian Chris Rock is 41. Actor Jason Gedrick (“Windfall,” “Boomtown”) is 39. Actor Ashton Kutcher (“That ’70s Show”) is 28.
Contributing: news services. If you have a tip, call 404-526-2749. Or fax 404-526-5509. Or e-mail: buzz@ajc.com.
If you have a tip, call 404-526-2749. Or fax 404-526-5509. Or e-mail: buzz@ajc.com.
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Twins rockin’ along despite ‘Idol’ ditching
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Buzz finally reached Maurice Bennett, attorney for the Brittenum twins, one of whom spent a weekend in jail in Rockdale County last month. He confirmed that “American Idol” booted the talented twosome after they were arrested for alleged forgery and identity theft to steal a local man’s Dodge Magnum. “It was bittersweet, but they don’t have hard feelings,” Bennett told Buzz.
Bennett said “we’re currently in negotiations” with SoSo Def Records. A rep for the label offered them a production deal during Frank Ski and Wanda Smith’s morning show on V103 two weeks ago.
Ken Warwick, an executive producer for “Idol,” told Buzz on Friday during a phone press conference that the show has let many finalists with skeletons in the closet stay as long as the contestants give them advance notice and it’s in the past (i.e., Bo Bice with drugs and Nikki McKibbin’s time as a stripper).
But the Brittenum case was too recent to ignore.
“From what I heard under the circumstances, I think it was a prudent decision,” Warwick said. “There’s a lot of money involved and kids watching this.”
He does say the twins will get plenty of airtime once the pre-taped Hollywood auditions begin Wednesday.
The South stirs on ‘Survivor’
It’s been four years since Georgia could boast a contestant on “Survivor.” (Remember Thomaston judge Paschal “Pappy” English?). For edition No. 12, there are yet again no residents from our fine state.
But three “Survivor” cast members have modest Georgia connections. Melinda Hyder worked for two years at Six Flags Over Georgia about a decade ago. Courtney Marit was a gymnast and attended the University of Georgia. Misty Giles — a wily engineer from Dallas (Texas, not Georgia) and the first unlucky contestant to spend a day on “Exile Island” during last Thursday’s debut — was born in Valdosta.
What a makeover!
Wes Wilson, a Georgia Tech grad still on the WB’s “Beauty & the Geek” reality show, got his hair cut and shed his glasses in last Thursday’s episode and became stud boy. He looked unrecognizable from his previous shaggy-haired, glasses-wearing self.
With a shot of confidence, he won the “speed-dating” competition and suddenly sprang into front-running position with his partner Sarah, for a share of $250,000.
This is a major turnaround for a man who, in a previous decorating contest, finger-painted “Time stands still when I’m not with you” around a broken clock in blood-red paint. “Psycho!” said “beauty” Sarah.
Crow, Armstrong splitsville
The intriguing pairing of champion cyclist/cancer survivor Lance Armstrong and female pop rocker Sheryl Crow is over.
Armstrong and Crow broke it off just four months after getting engaged and weeks before their expected nuptials.
They released a joint statement late Friday that was about as generic as celebrity breakup announcements can be: “After much thought and consideration we have made a very tough decision to split up. We ask that everyone respect our privacy during this very difficult time.”
And all the unfunny fixin’s
NBC said a press release describing an upcoming “Will & Grace” storyline with Britney Spears as a conservative Christian doing a cooking segment dubbed “Cruci-fixins” was wrong.
“The storyline will not contain a Christian characterization at all,” the network said in a subsequent statement. The “Cruci-fixins” joke roused the ire of the American Family Association, which encouraged members to blast local NBC affiliates with e-mails to complain, especially since the show was set to air the day before Good Friday.
More than 300 e-mails and calls flooded the local WXIA affiliate in protest.
Crash bash on the way
Come toast Christopher “Crash” Clark this Saturday night at Central City Tavern near Piedmont Hospital. 99X fired Clark in December for encouraging a woman to do oral sex on a random guy at a nightclub for concert tickets.
Joey Mills, a tech-support employee from East Atlanta and a Crash fan, decided to hold a party to honor the rowdy ex-traffic reporter.
“It’s completely flattering,” Crash told Buzz. “I’ve had ex-girlfriends and wives who have forgotten me faster than my listeners.”
Mills said nobody got a chance to say goodbye to Crash: “He brought a lot of energy to the station. I thought it was a horrible mistake to let him go.” He hopes another local station will hire him. Crash said he’ll show up, beers in hands, by 10 p.m.
Celebrity birthdays
Actress Zsa Zsa Gabor is 89. Actor Rip Torn is 75. Actor Mike Farrell is 67. Singer Fabian is 63. Singer Natalie Cole is 56. Actor-director Robert Townsend is 49.
If you have a tip, call 404-526-2749. Or fax 404-526-5509. Or e-mail: buzz@ajc.com.
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Emeril in the soup over Orleans comment
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Controversial comments attributed to New Orleans and Atlanta restaurateur Emeril Lagasse in gossip maven Cindy Adams’ New York Post column this week have landed the celebrity chef on the front burner in his hometown.
Adams quotes Lagasse discussing what’s currently happening in New Orleans thusly: “Nothing. The mayor’s a clunk. The governor is also a clunk. They don’t know their [posteriors] from a hole in the ground. All three of my restaurants got hit. I’ve reopened Emeril’s, but only a few locals come. There’s no tourists. No visitors. No spenders. No money. No future. No people. It’s lost. It’ll never come back.”
Not unexpectedly, Times-Picayune journalist Chris Rose had a few problems with Lagasse’s assessment. Wrote Rose in Friday’s newspaper: “Like the weather’s not bad enough, we need THIS?”
In an attempt to explain the quote, Lagasse’s reps released the following statement from him to the New Orleans newspaper Thursday: “The article is not an accurate representation of the way I feel about New Orleans. I completely support the city, which is the reason I have based both my family and my business operations here for over 20 years. I did, however, express my concerns about the leadership in our city and the state. I have absolutely not lost hope in our city. I just sometimes lose patience, as I feel that things should be moving forward much faster than they are at this time.”
At press time Friday, Buzz was still perfecting using the word “clunk” correctly in a sentence…
It’s Elton – the sitcom
Former “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” actor Anthony Stewart Head, who is British, will portray a Sir Elton-inspired rock star on “Him & Us,” a situation comedy being considered by ABC for the fall. John is producing the show, loosely based on his experiences over his nearly four decades in the music business.
Coupling
Comic Jay Mohr and actress Nikki Cox are engaged, Cox’s publicist announced Friday.
The couple plan to marry next winter, publicist Alisha Mahon said.
Cox plays Mary Connell on the NBC series “Las Vegas.” She and Mohr, host of “Last Comic Standing,” met when Mohr guest-starred on the Sin City drama, Mahon said.
Cox, 27, was previously engaged to comedian Bob Goldthwait.
Mohr, 35, was married to model Nicole Chamberlain for six years. They had one child together before divorcing in 2004.
Work to begin on ‘Harry’ 5
A veteran Academy Award nominee and a 14-year-old unknown will join the cast of J.K. Rowling’s epic Harry Potter series as filming begins next week on the latest movie, producers said.
Millions of fans across the world are awaiting the adaptation of Rowling’s fifth book — “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” — which sees the return of young actor Daniel Radcliffe in the title role.
Filming will begin Monday in Hertfordshire, a county in southern England. The movie is slated for release next year.
The plot centers on the arrival of Dolores Umbridge, an unpopular new professor at wizard academy Hogwarts. She will be played by actress Imelda Staunton, nominated for an Oscar for her performance in 2004’s “Vera Drake.”
Potter also wrestles with his attraction to new character Luna Lovegood, a role taken by 14-year-old newcomer Evanna Lynch.
Lynch beat out 15,000 young rivals in an open casting for the part in Britain.
The last film in the series, an adaptation of the fourth book, “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire,” was directed by Mike Newell and has grossed over $285 million.
“The Order of the Phoenix” will be helmed by British director David Yates, who made the HBO movie “The Girl in the Cafe.”
‘Interview’ was a hoax
An item in Friday’s Peach Buzz about “American Idol” host Ryan Seacrest storming out of a radio interview was incorrect. According to the Philadelphia Daily News, the original source of the information, New Jersey 101.5 did an interview with a man pretending to be Seacrest as a hoax.
Celebrity birthdays
Today: Actor Conrad Bain (“Diff’rent Strokes”) is 83. Country singer Clint Black is 44. Singer Gavin DeGraw is 29.
Sunday: Comedian-actor Red Buttons is 87. Actress Barbara Hershey is 58. Actor-director-comedian Christopher Guest is 58. Singer Bobby Brown is 37. Country singer Sara Evans is 35.
Contributing: news services. If you have a tip, call 404-526-5688 or e-mail: buzz@ajc.com.
If you have a tip, call 404-526-2749. Or fax 404-526-5509. Or e-mail: buzz@ajc.com.
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‘Blue Collar’ comic goes old-school with Leno
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Atlanta comic Ron White brought some of his funnier (and relatively clean) jokes to Jay Leno’s show Wednesday night to promote his new CD, “You Can’t Fix Stupid,” out Tuesday. With his signature cigar and scotch in hand, he cracked up fellow guest Snoop Dogg.
That cigar clearly broke California no-smoking laws, but Leno obliged with an ashtray. “We haven’t had to do this since George Gobel,” Leno joked, referencing the squat, mild-mannered late comic, a regular visitor to the Johnny Carson show many moons ago.
White told Snoop he had “a golf coach back in Atlanta who is 5-foot-6-inches and weighs 300 pounds, a white guy. When I told him you were going to be on the show, he said, ‘I’m a rapper.’ I stopped laughing about 30 minutes ago.”
The comic then handed a CD supposedly of his golf coach’s raps to Snoop.
White followed that with a lengthy, likely apocryphal story about his wife losing a dog and how resistant she was to getting another. But he took her to a breeder, where all the puppies were hopping up against the window saying “Pick me! Pick me!” A new black terrier puppy, White said, “healed her broken heart.”
Then her dad died. “So I get her in the car and we’re on our way to the old folks’ home and she’s saying, ‘I don’t want a new daddy.’ All the old people are hopping up against the window saying ‘Pick me! Pick me!’ She ordered a black one,” he cracked. “Keep it simple.”
White will also be joining buddies Jeff Foxworthy and Larry the Cable Guy on a new Sirius satellite radio channel devoted to all things “Blue Collar” starting in March.
Hargitay on maternity leave
“Gladiator” co-star Connie Nielsen will replace Mariska Hargitay for six episodes on NBC’s “Law & Order: SVU” while Hargitay goes on maternity leave.
The Dutch-born Nielsen will play a warrant detective who joins the unit while Hargitay’s character, Det. Olivia Benson, is off on a “specific assignment,” “Law & Order” honcho Dick Wolf told The New York Post.
Nielsen played Lucilla in the 2000 Russell Crowe movie “Gladiator.” Hargitay, who’s been on “SVU” since the show’s 1999 premiere, is expecting her first child this spring.
Big names on the Grammys
The Grammy Awards on CBS on Wednesday will feature performances by a list chock-full of legendary acts — and up-and-comer John Legend. Among the A-listers: Paul McCartney for the very first time, Bruce Springsteen, U2 (with Mary J. Blige) and Madonna (with the Gorillaz.)
The Gorillaz — a fictional, animated group conceived by Blur frontman Damon Albarn and “Tank Girl” cartoonist Jamie Hewlett — will appear in 3-D animated color during the performance via a technique that was unveiled at the MTV Europe Awards last year: Holograms of the “band members” were projected onto screens onstage during their performance of “Feel Good Inc,” according to mtv.com.
Among the fresher faces also performing: Coldplay, Faith Hill (with Keith Urban), Kelly Clarkson and Atlanta’s own Sugarland. Ciara, also from Atlanta, will take part in a Sly and the Family Stone salute.
Seacrest hoax
In the print edition of “Peach Buzz” Friday, we ran an item from the Philadelphia Daily News about “American Idol” host Ryan Seacrest storming out of a New Jersey studio after a radio host repeatedly asked him whether he was gay. The writer and many listeners were fooled by what was a prank on the part of the Jersey Guys on New Jersey 101.5. It even landed on the front page of one of the local newspapers, The Trentonian. Seacrest spokeswoman Meredith O’Sullivan said he did not take part in any interview with the radio station. Here is the link to the correction on www.philly.com
Calling all thugs!
Buzz drove by the urban nightclub 708 off Third and Spring streets and noticed possibly tongue-in-cheek nightly promotions on its board. Every Tuesday, for instance, is “Welfare Nite,” while Friday is “Thugs Nite Out.” The owners couldn’t be reached for comment. The number on the side of the building advertising the club inexplicably bounced to a Midtown shop called Incredibly Edible Delites, which creates fruit baskets that look like flower arrangements.
Random bits
A&E’s “Flight 93,” a fictional take on the fateful 9/11 crash, was the network’s highest-rated show in its 22-year history, pulling in 5.9 million viewers Monday….Il Divo, the Simon Cowell-concocted, Oprah Winfrey-endorsed classical crossover quartet, put an end to a battle between Jamie Foxx and Mary J. Blige, debuting at No. 1, with “Ancora” selling about 156,000 copies, according to SoundScan.
Celebrity birthdays
“Rat Pack” comedian Joey Bishop is 88. Actress Morgan Fairchild is 56. Actor Nathan Lane is 50. Actor Thomas Calabro (“Melrose Place”) is 47. Actress Maura Tierney (“ER”) is 41.
Contributing: news services. If you have a tip, call 404-526-5688 or e-mail: buzz@ajc.com.
If you have a tip, call 404-526-2749. Or fax 404-526-5509. Or e-mail: buzz@ajc.com.
Young musicians relish their night in spotlight
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
For their first full-length live DVD and CD concert releases, Stockbridge rockers Collective Soul called on a few talented kids to help out — more than 100 members of the Atlanta Symphony Youth Orchestra.
During a VIP red-carpeted party at the Woodruff Arts Center on Wednesday night, rock fans, parents and orchestra patrons got their first glimpse of the lavishly produced DVD “Collective Soul, Home: A Live Concert Recording With the Atlanta Symphony Youth Orchestra.” The DVD and CD were recorded over two sold-out nights last April.
The party turned Midtown’s Woodruff Arts Center into a rock venue, complete with blazing stage lighting displays and fog machines at full tilt. Providing symphonic arrangements to the band’s biggest songs, including “Listen,” “Heavy,” “The World I Know” and “Shine,” the ASYO teenagers look like they’re having the time of their lives onstage.
And yes, ASYO music director and conductor Jere Flint knows how to rock out, y’all.
“Is that what he was doing?” cracked Soul bassist Will Turpin on Wednesday. “No, Jere was a great guy, and we were able to communicate with him really quickly. He understood us from the start.”
Turpin, a former performance music major at Florida State and Georgia State, also helped to work as the liaison “between rock ‘n’ roll talk and orchestral performance talk.”
Fusing written symphonic arrangements with the looseness of a veteran live rock act wasn’t as easy as it looks on the DVD. The ASYO and the band had three full days of rehearsing the entire 20-song concert together. Plus, the rockers had to wear exactly the same clothes each night for continuity.
Joked Turpin: “I even had to remember when to take off my shades at exactly the same song each night!”
While the DVD and CD don’t officially go on sale until Tuesday, ASO patrons could buy discs Wednesday night.
A quartet from the ASYO will join Collective Soul on a plane to Los Angeles today. They’re due to tape an appearance on “The Tonight Show With Jay Leno” that will air Friday.
Marching Panthers on ‘Ellen’
Hot on the heels of the Honda Battle of the Bands last weekend, 30 members of the Clark Atlanta University Mighty Marching Panthers band also will be in Los Angeles today. They’ll serve as the house band on Friday’s episode of “Ellen,” talk show host Ellen DeGeneres’ syndicated talk show. The show will air locally at 5 p.m. on WGCL. A viewing party will be held on the first floor of the CAU Student Center. BYOM: Bring Your Own Munchies.
Dench dissed?
Harvey Weinstein says Judi Dench was snubbed by three network talk shows because of her age while promoting “Mrs. Henderson Presents,” according to New York magazine.
Dench, 71, was nominated Tuesday for an Oscar as best actress. The film was distributed by Weinstein’s new production company, the Weinstein Co.
Weinstein says Dench was turned down for interviews by NBC’s “Today” and ABC’s “Good Morning America” and “The View.”
“They said that she didn’t fit their demographics,” the movie mogul says. “I mean, what do they think, 25-year-old people can’t watch 70-year-old people? The insanity of youth. It also assumes none of us like our families.”
Bill Geddie, executive producer of “The View,” told the AP that Dench had appeared a number of times. “I was never pitched Dame Judi Dench to appear on ‘The View’ in support of ‘Mrs. Henderson Presents,’ and we would welcome her back to the show any time we have an opening,” Geddie said.
Bridgette Maney, a spokeswoman for “Good Morning America,” released the cryptically worded statement: ” ‘Good Morning America’ welcomes a wide array of guests to the program each and every day. Judi Dench is a screen legend.”
A spokesman for the “Today” show didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Buzz, meanwhile, would readily snap up any of Dame Dench’s free time for a chat. And we wouldn’t even ask about that dodgy “As Time Goes By” Britcom that GPB viewers can never seem to get their fill of …
Celebrity docket
Former Culture Club front, er, person Boy George appeared briefly in a New York court Wednesday to answer charges related to his October drug possession arrest.
Following a brief meeting at the bench between the pop singer’s lawyer, Louis Freeman, and prosecutor Craig Ortner, Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Anthony Ferrara postponed the case to March 8.
Boy George, whose real name is George O’Dowd, wore a long black wool coat, black slacks, a black shirt and gray sneakers with white stripes and sported a buzz-cut hairstyle and a large dark blue or black Star of David tattoo on the top of his head. He said nothing during the court appearance. As he was being hustled out of the courthouse by bodyguards, he answered “yes” when a reporter asked if he still maintained his innocence.
George, 44, was arrested after he called 911 to report a burglary at his apartment. Police said officers found a small amount of cocaine next to a computer. The singer and his lawyer say the drugs found in his apartment weren’t his.
Celebrity birthdays
Actress Elaine Stritch is 81. Actor Robert Mandan (“Soap,” “Three’s a Crowd”) is 74. Comedian Tom Smothers is 69. Singer Graham Nash is 64. Actress Farrah Fawcett is 59. Model Christie Brinkley is 52. Singer Shakira is 29.
Contributing: news services. If you have a tip, call 404-526-2749. Or fax 404-526-5509. Or e-mail: buzz@ajc.com.
If you have a tip, call 404-526-2749. Or fax 404-526-5509. Or e-mail: buzz@ajc.com.
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