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Access Atlanta > Blog > Archives > 2006 > September
September 2006
Designer Knight dodges another ‘Runway’ bullet
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Call it one of the worst kept secrets on TV. Atlanta designer Michael Knight officially made the final four Wednesday night on Bravo’s reality show “Project Runway.”
The episode revealed what many already knew: That along with print-loving Uli Herzner, rocker Jeffrey Sebelia and classically chic Laura Bennett, Knight had earned a spot for his mini-collection Sept. 8-15 at New York Fashion Week in Bryant Park. They gained major exposure by showing their work in the same week that top designers, such as Oscar de la Renta and Carolina Herrera, showed their spring 2007 collections to retailers and the fashion press.
Pictures of the contestants’ collections have been widely circulated on the Internet. Buzz spies in Manhattan also clued us in about Knight’s inclusion in the high-profile position.
Wednesday night’s episode showed that to earn the spot at Fashion Week, each designer had to create an outfit that conveyed a point of view and offer three words to describe it.
After admitting to “a major brain freeze,” Knight created a plum-colored silk evening gown with a criss-cross neckline. He chose “sexiness,” “sensuality” and “sultry” to describe his “smokin’ hot” dress.
But the judges — show host Heidi Klum, designer Michael Kors, Elle fashion editor Nina Garcia and Wall Street Journal fashion writer Teri Agins — were less than enthused. Kors said the dress was “not very flattering” and added that Knight should have focused on his strength, sportswear.
However, no one was eliminated. The “Project Runway” winner will be crowned Oct. 18.
Hullinger back on air in ATL
Jeff Hullinger, the longtime sportscaster let go by Fox affiliate WAGA-TV in 2002 after 18 years, will be returning to Atlanta on WSB-AM radio in about two weeks.
He’ll be anchoring and doing news reporting in various capacities, said the station’s program director, Pete Spriggs.
Hullinger had been doing sports at a Tampa TV station for two years but said it wasn’t a good fit for him and he’s just glad to find a job back in Atlanta.
“WSB is like playing for the Braves or Yankees,” Hullinger told Buzz, unable to resist a sports analogy. (WSB-AM is part of Cox Enterprises, which also owns The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.)
Hullinger’s career has included anchoring at news/talk WGST-AM, being a fill-in host for CNN’s now defunct “TalkBack Live” show, calling games for ESPN and doing play-by-play for the Atlanta Falcons.
New ‘Morning X’ lineup set
Whimsically monikered 99X marketing rep Eric “Dutch” Van de Steeg slid us a note Thursday, informing us that the modern-rock radio station has made a decision regarding its new morning show. 99X plans to relaunch “The Morning X” on Monday. No names were given, but there’s ongoing speculation that former 99X music director Sean Demery has been lured back to Atlanta for the gig.
Longtime listeners may recall that as the station’s music director in the 1990s, Demery had an active hand in things back when the station was playing Nirvana ad nauseam the first time around.
We also are hearing that Leslie Fram will continue to be a presence on the show. Again, the station has confirmed nothing except to send out a press release stating that the new show will be “Making Atlanta history … again.” Well, technically, the station’s listeners will more likely be the judge of that. …
A blushing ‘best’
We honestly didn’t think our week could improve after scoring our very own personalized chair Wednesday in Woodruff Park. But before we even had an opportunity to get all Niles Crane on that award Thursday, we were floored when readers began e-mailing Buzz Central to congratulate us on winning the Best Ear to the Ground category in the just-out Best of Atlanta 2006 issue of Creative Loafing.
We blushed deeply as we read: “Best of all, Buzz is rendered in a readable style that’s snarky, amusing and authoritative, yet doesn’t take itself too seriously.” Well, Loafing got that right. (We have Star Jones Reynolds’ publicist on speed dial, after all.)
Congrats also to our colleagues Cynthia Tucker, Rodney Ho and Wendell Brock, who were also named as Loafing “best of” recipients. Ajc.com, meanwhile, was named best local Web site in the issue.
Sick bay?
All day Thursday, rumors swirled on the Internet as to whether “Boston Legal” actress Candice Bergen had suffered a stroke. Late in the news cycle, the Emmy-winning actress’ publicist, Heidi Schaeffer, attempted to clear things up by telling online gossip Website Tmz.com that her client, thankfully, did not have a stroke.
Schaeffer confirmed that Bergen suffered a bout with high blood pressure and was hospitalized “for a few days” for observation. She says the actress is on medication and is back to work on the set of the daffy David E. Kelley series.
Celebrity birthdays
Singer Jerry Lee Lewis is 71. Actor Ian McShane is 64. TV personality Bryant Gumbel is 58. Actor Drake Hogestyn (“Days of Our Lives”) is 53. Singer-bassist Les Claypool of Primus is 43. Actress Jill Whelan (“Love Boat”) is 40. Actress Emily Lloyd is 36. Actress Natasha Gregson Wagner is 36. Actress Rachel Cronin (“Ed”) is 35.
Contributing: Rodney Ho, 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.
Restaurant Week spreads to Midtown
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Midtown eateries are cribbing a page from the playbook of downtown’s popular Restaurant Week promotions. Through Saturday, Midtown dining destinations are banding together to offer special $25 three-course meals for patrons.
Participating restaurants include Chow Baby, Eno, the Globe, the Grape at Atlantic Station and Midtown, Lobby at Twelve, Mitra, MidCity Cuisine, Piebar, the Oceanaire, One Midtown Kitchen, Park 75, Rosa Mexicano, Shout, Spice, Taurus, Toast, Two Urban Licks and Vinocity.
Woodruff Park song has a shining premiere | Photos
In kitchen with Ted, Martha
FYI to Jane Fonda: The next time your ex is in town, get him to whip up an iceberg lettuce salad with homemade buttermilk blue cheese dressing. Yes, our fave bison baron Ted Turner got an on-air cooking lesson on “The Martha Stewart Show” this week when he appeared with the domestic diva to promote the NYC debut of Ted’s Montana Grill.
Turner flipped some bison burgers for Stewart, and she instructed Turner on how to glamorize the crisper drawer staple.
The ex-Time Warner board member boasted to Stewart that the Whole Foods in Manhattan’s Time Warner building now stocks Ted’s Montana brand chili. Said the CNN founder: “They can’t get rid of me completely!”
Celebrity docket
In retrospect, we’re now happy that we didn’t stand that close to David Gest after taking the record producer up on that invitation to join him in an Atlanta recording studio last year.
This week, New York Supreme Court Justice Jane Solomon dismissed Liza Minnelli’s ex’s $10 million lawsuit against the singer. Solomon tossed the case after Gest couldn’t prove that his ongoing headaches came as a result of alleged abuse by Minnelli. (Meanwhile, the couple’s divorce case continues to wind through court.)
The judge ruled that Gest’s “severe, unrelenting” headaches were actually caused by a case of herpes.
“I am totally shocked and stunned,” Gest said via a statement.
Him? At deadline Wednesday, we were filling a bathtub full of Purell Hand Sanitizer at Buzz Central …
Celebrity birthdays
Blues singer Koko Taylor is 78. Actress Brigitte Bardot is 72. Singer Ben E. King is 68. Writer-director-actor John Sayles is 56. Actress-comedian Janeane Garofalo is 42. Actress Naomi Watts is 38. Actress Hilary Duff is 19.
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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Knight’s ‘trash’ dress from ‘Runway’ up for auction
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Atlanta fashion designer Michael Knight, who is one of four remaining contestants on Bravo’s reality show “Project Runway,” is getting plenty of face time at home.
On Saturday night, he and his mother, Pamela, will be guests at the “Starry Night Gala” at the National Museum of Patriotism downtown. The black-tie event will benefit Possible Woman Foundation International, which awards scholarships to older women in need.
A special item for the live auction is Knight’s winning dress that he made from a recyclable peanut sack, Mylar tubing and plastic in the episode “Waste Not, Want Not.” Waste Management Inc. operates the recycling site in New Jersey where the designers found their materials. The firm bought all the dresses, including Knight’s, which has been featured in Macy’s Herald Square windows.
When Kim Annunziata, who works for Waste Management in Atlanta — and serves on the board of PWFI, found out the dress was still in New York, she asked to have it for the auction. Bravo and Macy’s agreed to turn over the dress, and it arrived in Atlanta Monday. Waste Management paid $405 for Knight’s creation; the opening bid online is $1,000. The winner will receive the dress in January.
To bid online or to buy tickets to the $100 per person gala, go to: www.possiblewomanfoundation.org.
Knight has also agreed to design a table for Macy’s Elle Decor’s Dining by Design events at Mason Murer Fine Art on Oct. 25 and 26.
Star, hubby demand tabloid retraction
Oh no, they didn’t.
The Star Jones Reynolds and Al Reynolds camp had a swift response to this week’s National Enquirer screaming front-page headline: “Star Jones’ Husband Walks Out!” and its accompanying article written by Alexander Hitchen, claiming that Al Reynolds is a, well, er, a, um . . . homosexual.
And that response, thoughtfully forwarded by the gossip Web site TMZ.com, threatened to melt the Buzz Central e-mail in box Tuesday. Handling a copy of the ex-“View”-er’s Los Angeles attorney’s letter to the tabloid (utilizing a pair of Kevlar-enhanced ‘Ove Gloves), we recognized lots of ugly words like “false” and “defamatory.”
The letter from Greenberg Glusker attorney Robert Chapman goes on to say: “Your publication has accused my clients of perpetrating a fraud on the public and being dishonest concerning their personal lives and marriage. As you well know, the charges in your article are completely false. The true facts are that Mr. and Mrs. Reynolds are happily married. Mr. Reynolds has not moved out of the home he shares with his wife. Contrary to the statements in your article, he does not live with, share an apartment with, nor is he visiting a man. … You have also chosen to state that Mr. Reynolds is gay. … Nothing could be farther from the truth.”
The couple are demanding that the National Enquirer “print a full and complete front-page retraction, the substance of which has to be approved by them.” If the tabloid doesn’t comply, it would “increase the amount of punitive damages to which you will be subjected.”
When we rang Chapman’s office Tuesday afternoon, we were politely told that “he was out handling depositions.”
A call to Jones Reynolds’ New York publicist Brad Zeifman netted us the following e-mailed statement from Zeifman: “Mr. and Mrs. Reynolds have tried to handle these vicious lies and attempts at character assassination with quiet dignity for far too long. … Now they will pursue immediate legal action against anyone who makes false statements about their family.”
The tabloid had no immediate response to the letter, but the story was not posted on its Web site when we checked Tuesday.
Sigh. If only the National Enquirer had asked to borrow our copy of Jones Reynolds’ tome “Shine: A Physical, Emotional & Spiritual Journey to Finding Love.” As Buzz readers will fondly recall, in “Shine,” the author writes: “The first time ever he held me in his arms sexually, it was so urgent and almost frightening for both of us because we knew our erotic interest in each other could take over every other single thing.”
Oops. We probably should have alerted you to finish chewing first.
Sick bay
Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler says he was diagnosed with hepatitis C three years ago after having the illness for a long time without any symptoms.
In an interview with “Access Hollywood,” the 58-year-old singer said the infection was now “nonexistent” in his bloodstream after 11 months of treatment, including the drug interferon.
“I’ve been pretty quiet about this,” Tyler was quoted as saying. “I’ve had hepatitis C for a long time, asymptomatic.”
OK, we’ll say it: That’s all Tyler had floating around his bloodstream?? We’re severely disappointed.
Celebrity birthdays
Actress Jayne Meadows is 86. Actor Wilford Brimley is 72. Producer Don Cornelius (“Soul Train”) is 70. “Gilmore Girls” actress Liz Torres is 59. Singer Meat Loaf is 55. Singer-actor-director Shaun Cassidy is 48. Actress Gwyneth Paltrow is 34. Singer Avril Lavigne is 22.
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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Letterman, Brokaw dine at new Ted’s in New York
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
George McKerrow Jr., the bison burger restaurant partner of Ted Turner, spilled to us that former “NBC Nightly News” anchor Tom Brokaw and David Letterman were among the guests at a private dinner last week held at the new Ted’s Montana Grill at 110 W. 51st St. And how did they snare the notorious homebody host of “Late Show With David Letterman”?
Explained McKerrow: “David just bought a ranch next to Ted in Montana. He and Ted are close personal friends. It was a pretty cool night. David is really laid-back, and I grew up with Tom Brokaw, so it was a real treat to sit next to him.”
The Ted’s Manhattan branch opens to the public Wednesday.
ATL notables hang out at Diddy’s in Hamptons
Buzz Central logged some impressive overtime this weekend as we attempted to keep up with all things Diddy. As the hip-hop impresario/ restaurateur /clothing line entrepreneur/ reality TV taskmaster blew around town, hawking his upcoming disc, “Press Play,” he had some notable guests at his home in the Hamptons in New York.
On Friday, Q100 “Bert Show” producer/head imp Jeff Dauler was on his way out of the studio to catch a flight to New York just as Diddy turned up for an in-studio interview.
Several shots of tequila later, Diddy was offering up his helicopter and his summer home to Dauler, who was meeting his wife, Jessica, in Manhattan on Friday afternoon.
Turns out, it wasn’t a radio stunt.
On Saturday and Sunday, our cellphone was busy blowing up with photos of the Diddy estate and text message updates from the Daulers and friends George McKerrow Jr. and his wife, Ginair, who along with McKerrow’s business partner, Ted Turner, were in town to open New York City’s first Ted’s Montana Grill.
As for the obvious, McKerrow told us Monday via cellphone from NYC, “We got your message over the weekend and the answer is, no, we didn’t steal you anything from Diddy’s house. We were tempted, but we decided we’d rather have an invitation to return.”
The McKerrows and the Daulers spent the weekend relaxing in the rapper’s pool and hot tub and watching foxes and deer prance through his backyard.
So how did the houseguests let themselves into the estate? Like many of us, Diddy hides his key outside. Unfortunately, we were unable to wrest precisely where out of McKerrow on Monday.
Rain can’t dampen ‘Fashionada’
On Sunday night, for the second time this season, a torrential downpour threatened the safety of malnourished models on an Atlanta fashion runway. At points, “Fashionada ‘06,” held Sunday night at Atlantic Station, became eerily like last month’s tented Fashion Cares benefit outside Phipps Plaza, where early arrivals were required to don scuba gear.
“Fashionada ‘06” was a benefit for You Can Make a Difference, a nonprofit that battles melanoma and skin cancer. An impressive runway had been constructed in the courtyard outside Strip for the occasion. At one point, the deluge forced so many fashionably attired attendees to pack back inside Strip, the eatery’s managers temporarily contemplated allowing the $25 general admission ticket-holders into the upstairs, where the posh $200 VIPs were downing free hooch.
But after the runway was properly squeegeed, the fashion show’s hosts, Dave-FM’s Holly Firfer and CNN Headline News anchor Thomas Roberts, yielded the catwalk to models sporting fall fashion from Betsey Johnson, Y3 and others.
Alas, since we arrived with a rain bonnet and an umbrella that decidedly clashed with the rest of our outfit, Buzz humbly observed the festivities from the air-conditioned comfort inside Strip, where a large video screen had been set up for less hearty fashionistas.
Another piece of ‘Peace’
As promised, here’s another snippet from “A Patch of Peace,” the Buzz reader-driven Woodruff Park theme song singer Melanie Massell will publicly debut Wednesday during a free noontime concert in the recently rehabbed downtown park: “Lie in the grass and stare at the sky / Stay in touch with the world with free Wi-Fi / You can kick off your shoes, take a break, read the news / Find a vendor bargain / Have a chat with a friend.”
Celebrity birthdays
Fitness expert Jack LaLanne is 92. Singer Bryan Ferry is 61. Country singer Lynn Anderson is 59. Actress Mary Beth Hurt is 58. Singer Olivia Newton-John is 58. Country singer Carlene Carter is 51. Actress Linda Hamilton is 50. Actress Melissa Sue Anderson (“Little House on the Prairie”) is 44. Singer Tracey Thorn of Everything But the Girl is 44. Actor Jim Caviezel (“The Passion of the Christ”) is 38. Singer Shawn Stockman of Boyz II Men is 34. Singer Christina Milian is 25.
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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Indigos for free
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Indigo Girls, like many other artists, have a soft spot for independent record stores, an endangered species in this day and age of downloading and cheap CDs at Wal-Mart.
So, as a thank you to the hardy Little Five Points store Criminal Records, the veteran Atlanta singer-songwriting duo did a free seven-song acoustic set and CD signing there Friday.
“We’ve never played this parking lot before,” cracked Emily Saliers before about 250 mostly female fans, who stood in the lot while they played under an Aurora Coffee sign. (The crowd was a bit smaller than what Criminal owner Eric Levin had hoped for.)
“It feels good to be in Little Five Points,” added the other Indigo, Amy Ray. “We love Criminal Records, and we want to thank Eric for carrying on and being a trouper and having the muscle to get through these corporate-record-store times.”
The earnest pair played songs from their new release, “Despite Our Differences.” At the end of the set, Ray and Saliers skipped their biggest hit, “Closer to Fine,” in favor of “Galileo,” a classic from their 1992 album “Rites of Passage,” which the crowd lustily sang along to.
Quiz champ picks up pen
Ken Jennings became the most famous game show winner in decades with an incredible 74 “Jeopardy!” victories in a row in 2004, pocketing $2.5 million. He quit his computer programming job and wrote a book, dubbed “Brainiac.”
Jennings, a straight-laced Mormon who’ll sign copies of those books at the Buckhead Borders starting at 7 p.m. Tuesday, writes with self-deprecating flair, interspersing stories about his journey through “Jeopardy!” with tidbits of trivia lore, including a man who wrote questions for “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” and overly serious pub trivia players in Boston.
Jennings said he’s enjoyed his fame, as grandmothers pinch his cheeks and teenage girls excitedly whisper behind his back. But he feels bad for another Ken Jennings, a Broadway actor whose name has been eclipsed by that of “Mr. Jeopardy.” “The guy is probably pretty ticked,” Jennings said. ” ‘Suddenly, this nerd from Utah has my name!’ “
Jennings already has been a clue in a New York Times crossword puzzle and may end up in “Trivial Pursuit” one day. “It’s become an apotheosis to be a trivia question,” he told Buzz.
And speaking of trivial, he said he ran into “American Idol” loser William Hung in the airport last week. “I wonder if anybody saw us together, they’d be thinking, ‘Look! Two 2004 has-beens hanging out together!’ “
Diddy never stops in whirlwind Atlanta visit to push his new CD
Your usual recording act promotes an upcoming album by visiting a few radio stations, maybe having a listening party for retailers and the press, and going on to the next locale by day’s end.
Then there’s Diddy.
At 4 a.m. Friday, entertainment mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs hit town in support of his Nov. 17 CD “Press Play,” and he was scheduled to party with V-103’s Greg Street as late as Sunday evening. On Friday alone, he visited three morning shows — breakfast at his Buckhead restaurant, Justin’s, with V-103’s “Frank and Wanda Morning Show,” tequila shots with Q100’s “Bert Show” and a liquor-free visit with Hot-107.9’s A Team. Then Diddy did TV, a video show and print interviews at the InterContinental Hotel, followed by a quick stop at Frederick Douglass High School and a talk with V-103’s Ryan Cameron, where he was joined by his pregnant longtime Atlanta girlfriend, Kim Porter. Diddy then partied at Compound and hit the studio for a late night/early morning stop. All of which happened in front of an MTV cameraman, trailing him for an upcoming “Diary.”
On Saturday, the entertainer hosted an afternoon listening session at Lotus. NBA superstar Dwyane Wade, Diddy’s recording group B5, Disturbing the Peace exec Chaka Zulu, songwriter Bryan-Michael Cox and choreographer and label president Devyne Stephens were in the crowd, but apparently that wasn’t enough to please the guest of honor. “I’m going to need y’all to have a little more energy!” Diddy declared as he arrived about 5:55 p.m. for what was scheduled to be a 4-to-6 p.m. event. “I know it’s early. But the drinks are free. Drinks on Diddy! Drinks on ‘Press Play’!”
Double-dutch education
Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin doesn’t brag about her management abilities, but she did tout her double-dutch jump-roping skills last week at the groundbreaking ceremony for the Ron Clark Academy in south Atlanta, an independent school that the educator hopes to turn into a laboratory for his teaching philosophy. (To learn more, see www.ronclarkacademy.com.)
Clark, who was portrayed by Matthew Perry in the TNT film “The Ron Clark Story,” said that he too can double-dutch, a skill he learned from his students in Harlem, a moment featured in the film. During the groundbreaking ceremony, Franklin jokingly challenged Clark to a double-dutch duel down the road, noting her days growing up in Philadelphia working the ropes on the sidewalks. “I haven’t done it in 45 years,” the mayor told Buzz afterward, chuckling, “but I can still do it in my head!”
Random radio bits
Popular ponytailed good ol’ boy “Southside Steve” Rickman, known for his catchphrase “Yeah c’mon!” is considering a return to the 96rock “Regular Guys” morning show. Rickman left the show in 2004 and had his own afternoon gig with Tim Rhodes until management canned them earlier this year. But those bosses are no longer around. Larry Wachs of the Regular Guys posted a poll on his blog last week seeking input. With 72 percent in favor of his return, Rickman will be on the air this morning to talk about it … .
99X’s Axel Lowe is back in the afternoons today after temporarily filling in mornings after Fred Toucher and Jimmy Baron left in late winter. A new 99X morning show is supposed to launch Oct. 2, but Cumulus VP John Dickey won’t reveal the morning show team except to say that Leslie Fram will remain in the picture. Rumors include the possible return of former 99X night jock Will Pendarvis or ex-afternoon host Sean Demery.
Peace in the park
And now, as promised, here’s another snippet of lyrics from the Buzz reader-driven theme song for Woodruff Park. Songwriter Melanie Massell will debut the song in the downtown park during a noontime concert Wednesday:
“The focus now is making it user-friendly, like a patch of peace in the city. / Woodruff Park, a patch of peace in the city, an urban oasis in the heart of downtown. / There’s something for everyone; the place is so pretty, it’s guaranteed to turn a frown upside down. / Woodruff Park, a patch of peace in the city, where downtown businesses are coming alive. / There are walls of water and fountains are plenty; / It’s a gathering place to relax and unwind.”
Celebrity birthdays
Actor Michael Douglas is 62. Model Cheryl Tiegs is 59. Actor Mark Hamill is 55. Actress Heather Locklear is 45. Actor-singer Will Smith is 38. Actress Catherine Zeta-Jones is 37. Atlanta rapper T.I. is 26.
Contributing: Sonia Murray, Richard Eldredge 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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Woodruff Park ditty ready — but are we?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Dearest readers, the moment we waited for all summer is finally upon us: On Wednesday, Buzz’s reader-driven theme song for Woodruff Park will have its world premiere at last.
Folks at Central Atlanta Progress inform us that the season’s final Wednesdays in Woodruff concert, in the recently rehabbed downtown landmark, will feature singer-songwriter Melanie Massell. Unless you were on vacation, you’ll recall that we rang up the “It’s Buckhead!” songstress this summer to create a theme song for the green space that recently has undergone cosmetic improvements and now boasts free Wi-Fi. Earlier this year, we noted the new tables and chairs and dedicated checkers area but wondered aloud in print if the park didn’t also require a song dedicated to its natural (and occasionally, some unnatural) wonders.
A few years back, Massell performed a similar task when her father, former Atlanta Mayor and Buckhead Coalition President Sam Massell, asked her to pen a testimonial song for the formerly bullet-riddled Buckhead Village nightclub district.
After weeks of Buzz readers sending in their lyrical contributions, Massell is ready to publicly debut the ditty. Readers who contributed ideas will no doubt want to join the toilers from Buzz Central on Wednesday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the gazebo in the park for the free concert.
Melanie Massell has been kind enough to send us an advance look-see at the lyrics.
The sing’s title? “A Patch of Peace.”
Here’s a brief sample: “There was a space in downtown Atlanta, G-A that was designed as a place for all to play / Mr. Anonymous — we owe you from the start, when you originally gave us Central City Park / Now there’s a Phoenix rising in the corner there / It’s representing resurgence to people everywhere.”
Want more? We’ll be doling out more lyrical lines in Buzz each day as a preview to next week’s premiere.
Wells to get Legacy Award
In 1982, a couple of former journalists decided the time was right to start a professional theater in Atlanta’s suburbs. Thus, Marietta’s acclaimed Theatre in the Square was born. The surviving co-founder, Palmer Wells, will be celebrated this year as the second annual Georgia Arts & Entertainment Legacy Award winner. The award was announced Thursday by the service organization Atlanta Coalition of Performing Arts. Wells will be feted at the Fox Theatre on Oct. 29.
Wells, a native of the Appalachian town of Cumberland, Ky., worked at a variety of Kentucky newspapers while also continuing his interest in acting and directing. He and the theater’s co-founder, the late Michael Horne, both were working for IBM when they decided to start Theatre in the Square. He currently is producing director of the theater and has overseen a renovation of the alternative Alley Stage, adding seats, regular children’s shows and experimental work.
Uncoupling
After a little more than three years of marriage, former “Friends” star Matt LeBlanc has finalized his divorce.
The 39-year-old actor has been granted joint custody of his 2-year-old daughter, Marina, with wife Melissa LeBlanc, according to court papers filed this week. Melissa LeBlanc has two children from a previous marriage.
The LeBlancs filed for divorce April 6, citing irreconcilable differences. They will be officially single again Oct. 6.
Under the terms of the divorce, LeBlanc will be financially responsible for his daughter’s education, nanny and other needs. He will also pay $15,000 a month in child support.
Calls to LeBlanc’s attorney and his publicist after business hours were not immediately returned.
The pair married in a celebrity-studded wedding in Hawaii in 2003 with several of LeBlanc’s “Friends” co-stars in attendance.
Celebrity docket
Los Angeles prosecutors are charging actor Lou Diamond Phillips with domestic battery in connection with an incident last month involving his live-in girlfriend.
The 44-year-old actor, best known for his roles in “La Bamba” and “Stand and Deliver,” could face a maximum of one year in jail and a $2,000 fine if convicted of the misdemeanor charge. His arraignment is scheduled for Oct. 18.
According to police reports, Phillips got into an argument with his girlfriend, and it escalated into a physical fight in the early hours of Aug. 11. His girlfriend, who was not identified in court documents, “was pushed and dragged across the house, resulting in scrapes to both knees,” City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo said in a statement.
The woman grabbed a phone, locked herself in a bathroom and dialed 911, Delgadillo said. Phillips was arrested and held for about 10 hours before being released.
A message left for Phillips’ publicist, Eddie Michaels, was not returned.
Celebrity birthdays
Today: Actor Mickey Rooney is 86. Singer Julio Iglesias is 63. Singer Bruce Springsteen is 57. Actor Jason Alexander (“Seinfeld”) is 47. Atlanta rapper-producer-record head Jermaine Dupri is 34. Singer Erik-Michael Estrada of O-Town is 27.
Sunday: Sportscaster Jim McKay is 85. Actor Kevin Sorbo (“Hercules: Legendary Journeys”) is 48. Actress-writer Nia Vardalos (“My Big Fat Greek Wedding”) is 44. Actor Kyle Sullivan (“Malcolm in the Middle”) is 18.
Contributing: Kirsten Tagami 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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Star 94 hosts put heat on Horatio Sanz
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Over at Star 94 Thursday morning, Steve McCoy, Vikki Locke and Tom Sullivan were busy grilling ex-“Saturday Night Live” cast member Horatio Sanz. The comic was originally booked to discuss his role in the upcoming flick “School for Scoundrels” with Billy Bob Thornton and Jon Heder.
Sanz started out describing his sacking (along with fired “SNL” members Chris Parnell and Atlanta native Finesse Mitchell) as “amicable.” As the show applied its new-found talent for sauteing celebrities (remember this is the morning show that was hung up on by ex-“View”-er Star Jones Reynolds this year and got pop singer Jesse McCartney to spill that J. Lo was preggers), Sanz eventually became surlier.
“He told us that he tried out for [ex-“SNL”-er Tina Fey’s “Weekend Update” gig] but he didn’t get it,” Locke told Buzz. “He told us that [surviving cast member] Seth Meyers got the job. And then we talked for a minute about his movie!”
Rathbun empire
Atlanta chef Kevin Rathbun’s Inman Park restaurant empire continues to expand. In addition to Rathbun’s and Krog Bar at 112 Krog St. inside the Stove Works complex, in spring 2007 Rathbun and his business partners will add Kevin Rathbun Steak, located a block away at 154 Krog St. We’re told the 180-seat space will be designed by the Johnson Studio and will have an open kitchen, a full bar and two private dining rooms.
Charitable Usher
While he was a guest on “The View” Thursday to promote his extended run in “Chicago” through Oct. 14, Alpharetta pop star Usher managed to break some news as well. He disclosed that 20 percent of his Broadway paycheck for the additional performances will be earmarked for his New Look hurricane relief charity.
“The run is being extended to my birthday,” Usher said. He also gave one of the most candid answers of any celebrity this year when he was quizzed about why a guy who can sell out sports arenas chose the more grueling schedule of a Broadway actor. Replied Usher: “I wanted to expand my demographics.”
‘Grey’s Anatomy’ radio talk slips into gray area
Radio listeners were treated to liberal doses of watercooler chat about the season premiere of “Grey’s Anatomy” on Q100 and V-103 Thursday morning. What most listeners didn’t know, however, was that the chat was being paid for by ABC, the drama’s TV network.
Yes, when Q100’s Melissa Carter and Jenn Hobby enthusiastically dished about their advance peek at the show’s season premiere, it was an ad. Further muddying the waters, “Bert Show” members Bert Weiss, Jeff Dauler, Carter and Hobby also interviewed “Grey’s” actress Kate Walsh on-air.
Weiss told Walsh he considered her show to be the best on television. He added: “And I’m not being paid to say that.” (We’re assuming he was cracking an inside joke.) Hobby serves as the show’s “Entertainment Buzz” reporter while Carter is Q100’s news director.
Over at V-103, entertainment empress Miss Sophia, the Frank Ski and Wanda Smith morning show entertainment reporter, handled the on-air plugs for the show.
“Since Miss Sophia brings that kind of lively conversation to our show, anyway, it was a good fit,” Ski told us. Would Ski have personally done the ads? “I probably wouldn’t have,” he conceded.
While it’s normal to hear morning show personalities shill for cellphones, diamonds, laser hair removal and weight loss products on- air, most listeners assume the talk is an advertisement.
There was a bigger gray area with the “Grey’s” chatter, however.
“I’ll take the heat on this,” Q100 general manager Mike Fowler told us. “It was a last-minute ad buy and normally it would have had a disclaimer attached and this didn’t. We’re very protective of what our audience thinks of ‘The Bert Show.’ This has made us a little smarter.” Fowler said he didn’t know if the station’s Q&A with Walsh was part of the ad buy.
To that end, Fowler says next week’s planned spots for “Desperate Housewives” will be aired complete with disclaimers alerting listeners to the forthcoming ad copy.
Stork report
Country singer Brad Paisley, 33, and actress wife Kimberly Williams-Paisley, 35, are expecting their first child in February, their spokeswoman confirmed.
Celebrity birthdays
Singer David Coverdale (Whitesnake) is 55. Actress Shari Belafonte is 52. Singer Nick Cave is 49. Singer Joan Jett is 48. Opera singer Andrea Bocelli is 48. Actor Scott Baio is 45.
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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Shaping Whitney’s comeback
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The carefully crafted reintroduction of Whitney Houston to mainstream America after her extended visit to Craaazytown continues. Clive Davis, the man credited with discovering the singer and charting her early career in the 1980s, tells the New York Post that he and Houston continue to work on her comeback in Los Angeles, with an eye on releasing a new studio project next year. “We are reviewing material right now,” Davis told the Post’s Page Six column.
Davis conceded that the singer is not, as initially rumored, ready to go solo at next month’s Carousel Ball of Hope in Beverly Hills, but she “would accompany me.” Davis is hoping to relaunch the singer’s comeback at his prestigious Grammy party next year. “It is too early to say if Whitney is going to perform, but I would hope she would be in the running,” says Davis. “She looks radiant and is clearly together.”
And of those pesky rumors that Houston has suffered the loss of some of her magnificent vocal range, Davis said, “She is talking enthusiastically and is articulate. We are going to make a great album.”
This month, Houston filed for separation in Orange County, Calif., from Atlanta hubby Bobby Brown.
Marsalis at Morton’s
On Oct. 6 and 7, Morton’s Steakhouse in Buckhead will be adding an intriguing side dish to its menu. A live private concert by nine-time Grammy winner Wynton Marsalis will be beamed into selected Morton’s locations across the country. For jazz fans, the evening includes a private table, cocktails, a four-course signature dinner and a limited edition DVD signed by the trumpeter. Diners will also score a gift bag at the end of the evening. Price tag: $250 per person.
The steak emporium has partnered with Velocity Box Office, whose high-definition visuals and Dolby sound technology should ensure an intimate evening with Marsalis. Well, as intimate as it can get when the musician is physically in another city. The concert and dinner begins at 8 p.m. each night. Call for reservations: 1-800-891-2440.
Usher extends ‘Chicago’ run
Alpharetta’s very own Broadway star, Usher, is now set to continue his Great White Way debut for an additional two weeks.
The R&B singer, who made his Broadway bow in the revival of “Chicago,” will now stay in the show through Oct. 14. He originally was set to leave the musical Oct. 1.
The show has done boffo business since Usher joined the cast Aug. 22, playing conniving lawyer Billy Flynn.
Celebrity birthdays
Actor Larry Hagman is 75. Poet-songwriter Leonard Cohen is 72. Author-comedian Fannie Flagg is 62. Author Stephen King is 59. Actor Bill Murray is 56. Actor Rob Morrow (“Numbers” ) is 44. Country singer Faith Hill is 39. Actor Luke Wilson is 35. TV personality Nicole Richie (“The Simple Life”) is 25. Actress Maggie Grace (“Lost”) is 23.
Contributing: Elizabeth Cobb 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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Norville, back at UGA, gets an education in dorm life
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
When “Inside Edition” anchor Deborah Norville visited her alma mater, the University of Georgia, last week, she was the one who ended up being surprised when she and a camera crew went knocking on the door of her old all-girls dorm.
“Two boys answered the door!” Norville told us Tuesday. “That’s when I discovered that things had changed a little bit at the Creswell dormitory.”
The reporter was in town to tape some segments for the show and to celebrate the venerable news mag’s more viewer-friendly local time slot of 7:30 weeknights on WGCL.
“We’re thrilled that we’re not just for insomniacs anymore in Atlanta,” she cracked. “People who have gainfully employed lives can now watch, too.”
The anchor also had a chance to pop into Delta Delta Delta, her former sorority house at UGA. Flipping through house photos, Norville allowed, “We were extremely blond back then. There was a lot of bleach in those photos.”
The Dalton gal didn’t score any downhome cooking during her whirlwind promotional tour through Atlanta. She loves the Varsity, the Silver Skillet and Mary Mac’s Tea Room, but WGCL suits took her to a swanky white tablecloth restaurant on Peachtree Street instead. “There was no fried okra or creamed corn, but I did ask about the green beans on the menu,” she said. “I asked how they came, and I was told ‘al dente!’ “
Norville had a good laugh when we informed her that one of our more notable errors in this space occurred years ago when we accidentally misidentified her Georgia hometown. Dozens of Dalton residents called to correct the error.
“Good for them,” Norville said. “Growing up in Dalton was a lot like that. Everybody knew everybody. If you acted up, you knew Daddy was going to hear about it before we ever got home. I grew up with that kind of pressure!”
Norville’s piece on UGA airs tonight on “Inside Edition.”
Independent ‘Differences’
If you want to keep up with what’s happening in the music world, Amy Ray has a suggestion. “You can’t just go to the big chains, you have to go to the [independent] stores, because those are the ones that are still catering to what’s happening locally,” she told us recently. Maybe that’s why she and her fellow Indigo Girl, Emily Saliers, will be celebrating the release of their new CD, “Despite Our Differences,” with an in-store appearance at Criminal Records, emporium of indie cool, in Little Five Points at 6 p.m. Friday.
The new album marks a new beginning for the duo, too. After spending their entire career with Epic Records, the new disc is Saliers and Ray’s first for Hollywood Records.
Remembering Richards
Monday’s coverage of Ann Richards’ memorial service jogged a memory loose here at Buzz Central about our 1997 encounter with the former Texas governor here. The liberal Democrat was booked as the keynote speaker at the 10th annual Human Rights Campaign’s Atlanta dinner.
We’ll never forget her news conference at the Georgia Dome. We scribbler types arrived promptly for her scheduled 6 p.m. conference. Post-conference, tardy news crews from WXIA and WSB tried to engage her for quick on-camera one-on-ones. “I’ll tell ya how these people do ya,” Richards announced loudly to dinner co-chairs. “See, they arrive late so they can get an exclusive. They don’t want what everybody else got.” Richards then promptly showed them her hindquarters, turned on her heel and exited the room.
Buzz distinctly recalls smirking for about 22 minutes, especially when the telegenic reporters tried to talk the rest of us into sharing our notes.
The evening also served as our first-ever introduction to then-“Party of Five” actor Mitchell Anderson, who was a speaker. Little did we suspect that a decade later, we’d be visiting the future Atlanta restaurateur almost hourly at his Midtown eatery to feed our increasingly embarrassing addiction to his Mitchili.
Celebrity docket
In what barely qualifies as news, Willie Nelson allegedly has been caught with some weed on his tour bus! Yes, the singer and four others were issued misdemeanor citations for possession of illegal mushrooms and marijuana after a traffic stop this week on a Louisiana highway, state police said.
“When the door was opened and the trooper began to speak to the driver, he smelled the strong odor of marijuana,” the news release said. A search of the bus produced 1 1/2 pounds of marijuana and slightly more than 3 ounces of illegal mushrooms.
There were enough drugs to merit a felony charge of distribution if they had been found in one person’s possession, state police spokesman Willie Williams said. However, in a brilliantly executed series of half-baked confessions, all five claimed the drugs as their own. The drugs were not packaged for resale, so each was charged with misdemeanors, he said. All were released after the citations were issued.
Nelson’s publicist, Elaine Schock, had no immediate comment.
Celebrity birthdays
Actress-comedian Anne Meara is 77. Actress Sophia Loren is 72. Actor Gary Cole is 50. Actress Kristen Johnston (“3rd Rock From the Sun”) is 39. Singers Gunnar and Matthew Nelson of Nelson are 39. Drummer Rick Woolstenhulme of Lifehouse is 27.
Contributing: Shane Harrison 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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Celestine Sibley’s Sweet Apple still filled with sweet memories
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
It’s a reader question that ranks right up there with “Is that your real hair?” AJC aficionados always want to know if our late colleague Celestine Sibley’s beloved Roswell log cabin Sweet Apple still exists, seven years after the legendary columnist’s passing.
To be honest, we couldn’t answer the question until last week, when we were delighted to accept a dinner invitation at Sweet Apple, courtesy of Celestine’s daughter, Susan Bazemore, and her husband, Edward.
We’re pleased to report that the restored log cabin, long the apple of many a real estate developer’s eye, is thriving. The writer’s retreat serves as the summer home for the Bazemores, who also maintain a home in Alford, Fla. Longtime readers will fondly recall Celestine’s constant battle against the encroaching McMansion developments that continue to spring up all around her fixer-upper cabin she first discovered in 1961.
“Oh, the developers still swarm around like vultures,” Susan jokes. “They’ll probably come and get us in our sleep one night!”
Since her mother’s 1999 death, the Bazemores have installed a new roof on the cabin, added a new heating and air system, and closed in some of the gaps between the logs, resulting in less drafty winters there.
This summer, the cabin played host to the Theatre in the Square cast of “Turned Funny,” the world premiere play based on Celestine Sibley’s 1988 memoir. The mammoth stone fireplace remains the living room’s focal point. Books line the shelves. And on the landing of the stairs leading to Celestine’s former bedroom, her much-cherished crepe paper and cardboard angel wings — bestowed by Big Bethel AME Church downtown — are framed on the wall.
The screened-in porch provided the backdrop for an evening of swapping Celestine stories. Among our favorites? Susan told us that shortly after the stretch of Ga. 140 was renamed Celestine Sibley Highway, the writer was pulled over on it — for speeding.
“And the officer ticketed Mother, too!” Susan added, laughing.
Alas, we noted that one of the two street signs marking Celestine’s stretch of road — the sign on Arnold Mill Road — is badly bent. We’re practically certain the repair work order will be placed today. After all, Celestine did pay that speeding ticket.
Changes for Runnicles
There’s trouble in Valhalla. The San Francisco Opera has announced that Donald Runnicles, its music director since 1992 — and current Atlanta Symphony Orchestra principal guest conductor — will end his opera job after the 2008-09 season, when his contract expires.
Runnicles, 51, couldn’t be reached for comment. A statement described the departure as a “mutual decision” between the Scottish-born maestro and the opera’s general director, David Gockley, who took over in January. The news is no surprise: It was widely rumored that Gockley would install his own in-house conductor.
But it is too bad for Runnicles. Although he has several part-time gigs — in Atlanta, as principal conductor of New York’s Orchestra of St. Luke’s, and as music director of the Grand Teton Music Festival in Jackson Hole, Wyo. — San Francisco was a high-profile international base. His conducting of Wagner’s “Ring” cycles and premieres of John Adams’ “Doctor Atomic” and Olivier Messiaen’s “St. Francis of Assisi” are seen as high points for the company.
Runnicles, his wife and two young daughters live just north of the bay. This season, he’ll conduct five of the opera’s 10 productions, and Gockley has indicated that Runnicles will continue to work in San Francisco, including a “Ring” in 2011. Runnicles’ ASO contract calls for six weeks a year and also runs through the 2008-09 season.
Friends aid chef’s family
On Monday, Buzz Central received the final tallies from the recent benefit for Andrea and Daniel Porubiansky and their family. Andrea, the wife of Seeger’s chef Daniel Porubiansky, has been undergoing treatment for cancer. The “Little Help From Friends” benefit this month at the Ritz-Carlton Buckhead attracted 185 guests and raised more than $150,000 to help offset medical expenses.
Bacchanalia, Floataway Café, Star Provisions and Quinones owners/chefs Clifford Harrison and Anne Quatrano organized the event. Some of the city’s most acclaimed chefs clustered in the kitchen included Joël chef Joël Antunes; the Ritz-Carlton, Buckhead Dining Room chef Arnaud Berthelier; Shaun’s chef Shaun Doty; Aria pastry chef Kathryn King; Aria owner/chef Gerry Klaskala; Taurus owner/chef Gary Mennie; Sam & Dave’s BBQ chef Dave Roberts; Table 1280 chef Todd Immel; ChikaLicious owner/chef Chika Tillman; and the Ritz-Carlton, Marina del Rey chef Dakota Weiss.
Folks interested in making donations to the Porubiansky family can contact Frances Quatrano at 404-365-0410, Ext. 22.
Celebrity birthdays
Actor Adam West (“Batman”) is 76. Actor David McCallum (“The Man From U.N.C.L.E.”) is 73. Country singer Trisha Yearwood is 42.
Contributing: Pierre Ruhe 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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President Bush interrupts Boortz vacation
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Atlanta-based syndicated radio gabber Neal Boortz was on vacation last Wednesday in Tuscon, Ariz., with his wife when he got a call on his cellphone from his White House contact. President Bush wanted to meet with Boortz on Friday. Could he make it?
“I value my vacation time,” Boortz told Buzz on Saturday, “but how could you say no to that?”
Since he had no business attire with him, he bought a gray suit that afternoon and drove 120 miles to Phoenix on Thursday to catch a flight to D.C. On Friday afternoon, Boortz arrived at the White House to meet Bush. He joined four other radio talkers — Sean Hannity, heard (like Boortz) on 750/WSB-AM, and Michael Medved, Laura Ingraham and Mike Gallagher, all heard on 920/WGKA-AM. (Where was Al Franken?)
The off-the-record talk, set for 30 minutes, ended up lasting 90. Among the subjects reportedly discussed were interrogation rules for suspected terrorists, immigration and Bush’s thoughts on various foreign leaders. Boortz said that Bush gave them a short tour of his private dining room and showed them the pistol Saddam Hussein had when he was captured.
Boortz then flew back to Tucson. Having lost two days of vacation, he delayed his return to the airwaves until Wednesday, instead of this morning, but he plans to call WSB-AM morning host Scott Slade at 8:45 this morning to offer details of his trip. And he’ll post comments on his Web site, www.boortz.com.
Could anybody else have persuaded Boortz to interrupt his vacation? “Amanda Peet!” he cracked.
Wedding bells
Holly Firfer, morning host for Dave FM radio and co-host of WXIA-TV’s “Atlanta & Company,” got married Saturday night, at Barnsley Gardens in Adairsville, to Shawn Arnold. Her guests included her former co-host Steve Barnes, former “Apprentice” contestant Wes Moss and former CNN colleagues Sanjay Gupta and Thomas Roberts.
Some new designs
Atlanta interior designer Vern Yip for years has been recognized for his stint with TLC’s “Trading Spaces,” a show he left two years ago. Now people are stopping him to talk about HGTV’s “Design Star,” which became the network’s biggest hit in its 12-year history when the show drew 3 million viewers for its Sept. 10 finale, triple the number for its debut in July.
Yip, as a judge, has been a major contributor to “Star’s” success, providing some of the more colorful commentary — basically an interior designer version of “Project Runway.”
“Design is my life,” Yip told Buzz last week. “When you ask me my opinion, I’m going to give it honestly.”
Yip, who’s also working on his own show for HGTV, said the winner, David Bromstad of Miami Beach, was a worthy one: “He’s able to visualize the end product before it’s completed.”
Old dog, new tricks
Many folks start in stand-up comedy, then move to TV or movies. “Saturday Night Live” vet Jon Lovitz has gone in reverse, launching his stand-up career just two years ago at age 47. His first appearance at the Funny Farm in Roswell showed that he’s comfortable onstage, his quirky mannerisms and self-deprecating comments transferring well in a more intimate setting.
Lovitz’s material, though, occasionally veered on the stale side. He actually did a “Clinton didn’t inhale” joke, sifted through the dusty “Bush says dopey things” file cabinet and attempted to mine yet another laugh out of the Dick Cheney hunting accident in February. Lovitz ended his late set with a seemingly endless array of “Bob Saget is gay” jokes and song parodies.
Celeb birthdays
Actor Robert Blake is 73. Singer-actor Frankie Avalon is 66. Actor James Gandolfini is 45. Actress Jada Pinkett Smith is 35.
Contributing: Sonia Murray and news services. 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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Info flows faster than drinks at charity event
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Occasionally, we’ll pop into just the right nightspot, and an entire column’s worth of boldfaced names are waiting, cocktails in hand, with juicy scoop.
Our visit to MidCity Cuisine on Thursday night yielded such nuggets.
The occasion: Hair salon owner Richie Arpino and Retromodern.com retailer Scott Reilly teamed up as celebrity bartenders to raise tip money for the nonprofit organization Breast Friends. Arpino, a budding photographer, also offered his third charitable calendar, “Dance,” for sale. The year’s worth of tastefully shot male nudes were signed for delighted female attendees by the models themselves as Arpino struggled to ascertain the ingredients in a vodka on the rocks.
“I was stumped about the brand of vodka, not what went in it!” Arpino clarified to Buzz during a short break from his cocktail-slinging stint. He says he was inspired to stage a benefit for Breast Friends after a family member was recently diagnosed with breast cancer. Atlanta actor Daniel May, meanwhile, helped to provide inspiration for the 2007 calendar’s theme (a graceful, winged May even turns up midyear).
Arpino’s partner, actor-turned-restaurateur Mitchell Anderson, took the evening off from MetroFresh — his popular Midtown eatery — to help out at the event. E! recently sent a “TV Star Confidential” camera crew to the restaurant to interview Anderson about his roles on “Doogie Howser, M.D.” and “Party of Five.”
“They wanted me to talk about going from the heartthrob role on ‘Doogie’ to the ‘out’ character that I played on ‘Party of Five’ and how that intersected with me coming out in my personal life,” Anderson told us. “It was fun to do, but it also made me realize that my life is so different now.” The segment will air on E! on Sept. 23.
The dish on Doty
Outside on the MidCity patio, Reilly was pouring champagne for pals as we bumped into Atlanta chef Shaun Doty, whose eponymous Inman Park eatery will bow this fall. Local restaurant and nightclub owners can attest that Doty is currently waist-deep in permits and license-related red tape, courtesy of the ever-efficient city of Atlanta (at least he’s not battling one of those computer-generated parking tickets…). His neighborhood bistro now has a dining room focal point, thanks to a large communal farmhouse table that Doty recently found at his Inman Park neighbor Mark Sage’s Love Train Antiques shop.
“I was looking for a large table that neighbors could use as a casual thing, if they just wanted to drop in without a reservation,” Doty explained. “It’s really perfect.” Shaun’s will hopefully debut in November.
P.R. and Pecan pieces
Former Campbell-era mayoral mouthpiece and ex-Atlanta Gas Light Co. spokesman Nick Gold and friends also were on hand at MidCity, after taking in the Tipper Gore photo exhibition at Mitchell-Gold in Buckhead. Gold whispered that he’s finally ready to take the plunge and open his own public relations “shop” in the city. He promises details soon. Our take? If he could brilliantly guide Bill Campbell through the tragedy of that 1999 Buckhead daytrader massacre during wall-to-wall live coverage on CNN, starting his own PR company ought to be a cinch.
A few feet from Gold and company sat Clint Zeagler, the creative braintrust behind the city’s budding Pecan Pie Couture fashion line. Zeagler told us that his signature Southern-inspired T-shirts will be included at the upcoming “To a T” exhibition at the Museum of Design Atlanta, which opens Oct. 19. Also, Pecan Pie fashions will be on the runway at “Fashionada ‘06,” the charity skin cancer benefit for You Can Make a Difference, which will be held Sept. 24 at Atlantic Station’s Strip (tickets range from $25 to $200, info: www.youcanmakeadifference.info).
A Lotus blooms in Buckhead
As Thursday night threatened to become Friday morning, we arrived at the grand opening of the ultra-swanky Lotus Lounge — the first nightspot located at the new Lindbergh City Center on the cusp of Buckhead. The Asian-vibed 7,800-square-foot, two-tiered space was conceived by Amy Miller, who kept busy greeting her high-profile guests. Upstairs will normally be reserved for private club members, willing to part with up to $2,500 for use of personalized lockers for vino and cigars. Late Thursday, one of the ornate upstairs couches was occupied by a petite blond woman holding an icy glass to her face as concerned friends clustered around her. Details weren’t immediately forthcoming (of course, we asked). Downstairs, a DJ curiously spun INXS’ “Need You Tonight” and Gwen Stefani’s “Hollaback Girl” as we peered around the dim club. We’re fairly certain that we saw Dallas Austin chatting with a female companion in one of the private areas. But extremely large men in nicely tailored black suits, and sporting earpieces, prevented us from nosing too close. Oddly, we didn’t see Jimmy or Rosalynn Carter anywhere on the premises…
Celebrity birthdays
Today: Actress Lauren Bacall is 82. Blues singer B.B. King is 81. Atlanta jazz guitarist Earl Klugh is 53. Illusionist David Copperfield is 50. Actress Jennifer Tilly is 48. Singer Marc Anthony is 37. Actress Alexis Bledel (“Gilmore Girls”) is 25. Singer Teddy Geiger is 18.
Sunday: Singer BeBe Winans is 44. Actor Kyle Chandler (“Friday Night Lights”) is 41. Rapper Doug E. Fresh is 40. Singer Anastacia is 33. Singer-actress Nona Gaye is 32.
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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In Macon: The Gospel According to Buffy the Vampire Killer
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
So what if the show’s been off the air a couple of years?
St. Francis Church in Macon is offering “The Gospel According to Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” an adult class designed to explore the Christian virtues portrayed in the show.
“It’s the most artistic and literate program that’s been on TV in 10 years, maybe ever,” series co-teacher and self-proclaimed “Buffy junkie” Buzz Tanner told the Macon Telegraph. “Spiritually, Buffy’s virtues are Christian, though it would be hard to say Buffy is a Christian. The show deals with good and evil, right and wrong.”
The group will watch an episode each week and then discuss the episode’s spiritual lessons over soft drinks, popcorn and beer. Garlic necklaces and wooden stakes are apparently optional.
For just such religious educational experiences, Jossey-Bass in 2004 published “What Would Buffy Do? The Vampire Slayer as Spiritual Guide” by Jana Riess, one of several books in recent years linking gospel and the lessons of popular culture.
Banjo group sets record without a breakdown
Q: How do you get a professional banjo player off your porch?
A: You pay him for the pizza.
Sorry. We needed a little banjo humor to lighten the mood. Buzz is still recovering from the pain and anguish inflicted Wednesday night on an unsuspecting Braves crowd, when an unprecedented 250 banjo players attempted to earn a place in the Guinness World Records by playing “Foggy Mountain Breakdown” en masse.
Adding insult to injury, Earl Scruggs, the 82-year-old writer of “Foggy Mountain Breakdown” and the creator of the dominant modern banjo sound (a driving, three-finger technique called simply “Scruggs-style”), was in the stands, his smiling face appearing on the JumboTron. Whether Scruggs was appalled or impressed was not recorded.
Fred MacIsaac, bass player with the Atlanta bluegrass band Cedar Hill, who performed on an oversized four-string contra-bass banjo, claims, “It didn’t sound all that bad.”
Players were recruited through www.banjo.com and were instructed to adhere to the requirements set down by Guinness: They had to be “proficient” at their instrument, had to keep together, follow a conductor, stick to the written music and play for five minutes. Apparently all the criteria were met to establish a world record as the largest number of banjo players performing the same song at the same time.
What was the previous record? “I hate to admit this, but it was zero,” said MacIsaac.
Jay-Z to come back
Call him the Michael Jordan of rap. Hip-hop mogul Jay-Z, who declared that 2003’s “The Black Album” would be his last, is coming out of retirement and releasing a new CD.
“Kingdom Come” will hit stores this fall, Entertainment Weekly reports in its new issue, due on newsstands Monday.
“It was the worst retirement in history,” Jay told the magazine.
Anna Nicole grief-stricken
Anna Nicole Smith frantically tried to revive her stricken son and had to be sedated after he died, her attorney said this week. Authorities termed the death “suspicious” and said criminal charges could be filed.
Daniel Smith died Sunday while visiting his mother, a reality TV star and former Playboy playmate, in her hospital room three days after she gave birth to a baby girl.
“The devastation and grief over Daniel’s sudden death coupled with the sedation has been so extreme that Anna Nicole experienced memory loss of the event,” attorney Michael Scott said.
When Supernovas collide
Members of the band Supernova, including Motley Crue’s Tommy Lee, picked glam dude Lukas Rossi as the band’s lead singer on Wednesday night’s season finale of “Rock Star” on CBS.
But it’s unclear whether the band, whose first CD will be produced by Atlanta’s own Butch Walker, will be able to call itself Supernova.
On Tuesday, a judge in California ordered the band to come up with a different name and granted an injunction to a California punk bank already named Supernova. That band sued CBS and producer Mark Burnett in June, citing copyright infringement.
Overscene
Al Gore’s wife Tipper noshing on a cheeseburger at Nava Thursday.
Random bits
Starting today, digital Comcast Cable customers will be able to pick up eight CBS shows as a free “On Demand” feature: the three “CSI” shows, “Numbers,” “Survivor,” “NCIS,” “Jericho” and “Big Brother.” (“Big Brother” won’t be available until next summer.) These shows will be available for four weeks starting the morning after the original telecast. …
Who woulda thunk it that goofy “American Idol” contestant Kellie Pickler would be so quick out the gate with a single? “Red High Heels” debuted Tuesday on Kicks 101.5. Pickler told the sold-out “Idols Live!” crowd Tuesday night at Gwinnett Arena how excited she was hearing it on the radio. Her album “Small Town Girl” is due out on Halloween.
Celebrity birthdays
Actor Tommy Lee Jones is 60. Movie director Oliver Stone is 60.
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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New Monopoly has Centennial Olympic Park
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
While on the subject of America voting on things that don’t necessarily improve our culture, the latest edition of venerable board game Monopoly thudded into Buzz Central on Wednesday. The “Here and Now” edition jettisons the old metal Scottie dog, top hat and race car playing pieces in favor of a Labradoodle, a cellphone and a laptop.
As Ryan Seacrest would no doubt intone, Atlanta, America voted and Centennial Olympic Park beat out Stone Mountain and Peachtree Street to be included as a property in the new edition. According to the deed card in the game, rent at the downtown park will run you $100,000. Additionally, you now score $2 million for passing “Go” and you can go to jail for identity theft.
There was no word whether that guy in the top hat and bushy mustache planned to file charges against Parker Brothers. The revamped board game arrives in stores today.
‘Brother’ bucks for ATL?
Mercifully, “Big Brother All Stars” finally concluded Tuesday night, and Atlanta may just reap part of the $500,000 cash prize. The reality show’s winner, restaurateur Mike “Boogie” Malin, is an investor with “That ’70s Show” actors/business partners Ashton Kutcher, Wilmer Valderrama, Danny Masterson and Laura Prepon, who are bringing their Geisha House Japanese restaurant, Dolce classic Italian eatery, and Kingpin (a high-end bowling club and cocktail lounge) concepts to Atlantic Station. Malin told “The View”: “We have three restaurants in Atlanta, Georgia, so we’re going to re-invest the money in that.”
Fonda: Lohan needs a little love, discipline
Oh, fine. Just when we were beginning to believe that Jane Fonda had taken us off her Poncey-Highland dartboard, she forsakes our little column in favor of the nationally syndicated “Access Hollywood” to dish about life on the set with Lindsay Lohan.
The two-time Oscar winner sat down with malnourished “AH” correspondent Maria Menounos to discuss her tardy, partying “Georgia Rule” co-star in a segment that aired Tuesday night.
“I just want to take her in my arms and hold her until she becomes grown-up,” Fonda said. “She’s so young and she’s so alone out there in the world in terms of structure and, you know, people to nurture her. And she’s so talented. She can access emotion like nothing. She just made me cry a lot. When she was on the set, she was really good.”
Lohan plays Fonda’s troubled granddaughter and Felicity Huffman’s offspring in the upcoming Garry Marshall-directed dramedy currently in production on the Left Coast. This summer, after repeated problems with Lohan, Morgan Creek Productions sent Lohan a scathing letter warning her about future tardiness and then promptly leaked the missive to the press.
“It’s hard after a while to party very hard and work very hard,” Fonda said. “She’ll learn that. I think every once in a while, a very, very young person who is burning both ends of the candle needs to have somebody say, ‘You know, you’re going to pay the piper, you better slow down.’ A whistle was blown. So I think it was good.”
When Menounos asked Fonda what advice she might offer Lohan, she replied: “This is not a dress rehearsal. This is it. If you blow it, you don’t get another chance.”
And we’ll admit that the cocktail shaker fell clean out of our hands when Menounos asked Fonda, “What were you doing at her age?” and Fonda cracked, “Not that!”
Hicks back for the Olde gang
A year ago, an unknown Taylor Hicks played Midtown’s Smith’s Olde Bar before a handful of his old college buddies.
On Tuesday night, “American Idol” winner Hicks returned to Smith’s, playing more than 90 minutes of blues and soul before 150-plus fans, mostly ga-ga middle-aged women snapping pictures galore.
About three hours after finishing the “Idols Live!” concert at the sold-out Arena at Gwinnett, Hicks hit the stage with his old band, the Little Memphis Blues Orchestra, which has been shadowing the tour the past two months.
The gray-haired crooner, dressed in a tan jacket, blue button-down shirt, jeans and alligator shoes, gave fans who paid $15 a full-fledged concert of mostly bluesy originals. He brought on stage three of his college musician friends to jam with him and even whipped out his trademark harmonica.
At one point, he name-checked, of all cities, Doraville, and riffed a bit of Louis Armstrong’s “What a Wonderful World.” He finished the gig at 2:30 a.m. sitting in a chair caressing one of his favorite songs of all time: “Georgia on My Mind.”
Coupling
The end of the Braves’ run of division titles isn’t the only thing that has young female fans disappointed.
Jeff Francoeur is no longer available.
The Braves’ 22-year-old outfielder is engaged to Catie McCoy, his girlfriend since their days at Parkview High School in Lilburn. Francoeur popped the question Sunday night and made sure it caught her off-guard.
The couple arrived early for “Beauty and the Beast” at the Fox Theatre and went to the balcony as part of a staged ticket mixup. Once there, Francoeur dropped to a knee and proposed. “Who says I can’t be romantic?” Francoeur said Wednesday.
The wedding won’t take place until after next season. McCoy graduated from the University of Georgia in May and teaches English and coaches cheerleaders at Mill Creek High School in Gwinnett County.
Uncoupling
Dave FM and Steve Barnes have agreed to split up after two years. Dave is dropping its “radio without rules” moniker and opting for “where the music matters.” Ratings have flagged the past year at Dave. “No hard feelings,” program director Michelle Engel said.
“I don’t agree with their philosophy,” said Barnes, who will continue his movie career and won’t rule out another radio job. His co-host, Holly Firfer, will stay.
Celebrity birthdays
Country singer John Berry is 47. Actress Faith Ford (“Hope and Faith”) is 42. Rapper Nas is 33.
Contributing: Guy Curtright, 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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Chicks reschedule Atlanta for December
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Dixie Chicks’ concert originally scheduled for Oct. 17 at Philips Arena has been moved to Dec. 2. According to Trey Feazell, the arena’s vice president of booking/events, tickets for the original show date will be honored in December. Feazell said the show was moved due to tour routing issues. The routing certainly has changed — if you check out the tour itinerary at www.dixiechicks.com, you’ll notice that the controversial country trio is now scheduled to perform Oct. 17 in Melbourne, Australia.
From now on, just call him Mr. Sunshine
Aaron Landau Schwarz, “eccentric” Internet millionaire and owner of T-Shirt Hell (sample T-shirt: “Bin Laden is a Big Fat Doodiehead”), has made his pick of the names offered as entries in the “Give Me a Name” contest. Drumroll, please. Henceforth Mr. Schwarz will be known as: Sunshine Megatron.
Schwarz sponsored the contest at www.givemeaname.com because he didn’t like his original moniker.
The winning name-suggesters are two guys, William Findlay from Scotland and Casimir Rodriguez from Illinois (whom Megatron’s people haven’t contacted yet). They will split the $25,000 prize money.
Personally, Buzz thinks Megatron should have gone with “Casimir Rodriguez.”
Don’t snicker at this contest
So it’s too late to make any money off Megatron’s contest. But you can still pull down 25, large, by singing about candy. Fans of the chocolaty, peanutty, caramel treat Snickers can give voice to their emotion by entering the Satisfaction Sing-Off and writing and performing an original paean to the love bar.
One-time celebrity husband Nick Lachey, who is described as a “lifetime Snickers fan,” and whose upcoming tour is being supported by a certain candy maker, will judge the finals event in Los Angeles, during which songsters will rhapsodize about how they are “satisfied” by that brick of goodness — taking care, by the way, to include the words “peanuts,” “chocolate,” “caramel” and “nougat” in their songs. (It’s required.) For details, go to www.snickerssatisfies.com. It’s funnier than we feel right now.
Cruiseball
When you pay for Tom Cruise, you get the whole family. The Cruises, including girlfriend Katie Holmes, daughter Isabella, 13, and son Connor, 11, took in a Redskins game Monday, sitting in owner Dan Snyder’s box, after arriving wrapped in a thick layer of security and schmoozing with the other invited dignitaries.
On Sunday, Cruise put in some face-time at the Six Flags park in suburban Washington that Snyder also owns. And The Washington Post reported Tuesday that the Cruises — including Vanity Fair cover baby Suri — are staying at Snyder’s Potomac, Md., home. New best friend Snyder stepped in to underwrite Cruise’s productions after the actor was dropped by Paramount Pictures last month.
Striking at childhood cancer
The second annual Quiet Heroes auction Saturday at the Westin Buckhead raised about $160,000 for childhood cancer research, about $60,000 more than in its inaugural year, due at least partly to the drawing power of glamorous speaker Chris Glavine and to the autographed jerseys, bats and balls contributed by her husband, former Brave Tom Glavine, and by his buddies — Braves pitcher John Smoltz and Dodgers pitcher Greg Maddux.
The blond Mrs. Glavine clutched a rosary, terrified of speaking in front of the crowd of 500, but made it through in style. Also speaking was Liz Scott, whose daughter started Alex’s Lemonade Stand and who has raised $7 million for cancer research since Alex died two years ago. Scott received a check from Macy’s for $45,000 from the proceeds of lemonade sales in Alex’s memory at several stores this summer.
Celebrity birthdays
Pop singer Fiona Apple (“Extraordinary Machine”) is 29; Ringo Starr’s drummer son Zak Starkey (he occupies Keith Moon’s drum throne with the Who) is 41; talk host and NPR commentator Tavis Smiley is 42; thrash metal guitarist Dave Mustaine (Megadeth, Metallica) is 45; animator Don Bluth (“Land Before Time”) is 68; and, oddly enough, two singers from two rival so-called jazz-rock bands of the 1970s celebrate birthdays today, David Clayton Thomas (Blood, Sweat & Tears) is 65 and Peter Cetera (Chicago) is 62.
Contributing: Lynne Anderson 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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Magician Blaine materializes at Buckhead birthday party
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Michele Slepian pulled off quite a trick over the weekend for her husband Eric’s surprise 40th-birthday party at Pricci. When the Peachtree City attorney turned up at the Buckhead restaurant, 35 of his closest friends — and New York magician David Blaine — were waiting. “He told me a long time ago that he wanted David Blaine at his 40th-birthday party,” Michele Slepian told us Monday. “He’s a big fan.” And since Blaine doesn’t normally do private parties, getting him to materialize in Atlanta was a challenge for Slepian. “Let’s just say I was persuasive!” she said. Eventually, a contract with Blaine was brokered.
Guests report that Blaine stayed all evening at the bash, performed card tricks and signed autographs. “Eric was completely shocked,” said Michele. Here’s hoping that an even bigger shock isn’t awaiting the birthday boy when the credit card statement arrives this month.
Thai-lovers take note: Tamarind will return
For the past week, hungry Thai food enthusiasts have arrived at Tamarind in Midtown for lunch or dinner only to find it dark.
In an effort to quell a citywide panic, we rang co-owner Charlie Niyomkul on Monday to find out what’s going on. It turns out that the much beloved 9-year-old eatery at 80 14th St. finally has become a victim of that long-dreaded expansion of the 14th Street bridge.
“There was really nothing left to do,” Niyomkul explained Monday. This fall, Tamarind, long considered by local foodies as arguably the finest Thai restaurant in town, will relocate a few blocks away at Colony Square at 14th and Peachtree streets. Tamarind will reside in the former Corner Bakery space that more recently has been the locale of three snake-bitten Tom Catherall restaurant concepts.
The space will be renamed Tamarind Spice Market, but Niyomkul reassures Buzz that the original concept and attention to quality will remain.
And the upside? None of us will ever again have to park in that sketchy gas station lot across 14th Street from the old parking-impaired location and pray that our car isn’t being towed — or worse.
“I honestly don’t know how we were able to keep our customers with all that,” Niyomkul conceded, laughing. “We appreciate our customers’ loyalty so much through all that.”
When the new Tamarind debuts in November, with a flashy interior by Bill Johnson Studios, valet parking and an adjacent garage will be available for its customers. In the interim, if you’re going through Thai withdrawal, Niyomkul humbly suggests you pop into Nan at 130 Spring St. — his family’s other popular dining destination.
Falcons fashionably fitted
It’s probably a given to assume that the two dozen Atlanta Falcons players who’ll strut the catwalk at the fourth annual “Wash ‘N Wear Fashion Show” to benefit the Warrick Dunn Foundation will get to keep their duds. Last week, the Falcons and coach Jim Mora turned up to be measured for their custom-made attire for the Oct. 9 gala at King Plow Arts Center downtown. The athletes will be sporting the latest from designers such as 7 for All Mankind jeans and shirts by LUI-B or RyanKenny. The evening will benefit Dunn’s charity that assists first-time single mother homeowners.
A spy at the measuring session (albeit one with a tape measure) reports that some of the brawnier players have 29-inch thighs.
Tickets to the event range from $125 for individual seats to $1,000 for VIP access and a pre-show cocktail party with Falcons Keith Brooking, Rod Coleman, Alge Crumpler, Brian Finneran, DeAngelo Hall, Patrick Kerney, Kevin Mathis, Allen Rossum, Matt Schaub, D.J. Shockley, Michael Vick, Roddy White, Warrick Dunn and coach Mora. For more info: www.warrickdunn
foundation.org.
Celebrity docket
Diddy’s been dissed in the U.K. Atlanta restaurateur Sean “Diddy” Combs is Diddy no more — at least across the pond.
The musician and entertainment mogul has agreed to drop the “Diddy” name as part of an out-of-court legal settlement with London-based music producer Richard “Diddy” Dearlove, the law firm representing Dearlove said Monday.
Solicitors Jens Hills & Co. said Combs had agreed to “rebrand his commercial activities” in Britain and would “no longer be able to trade in the U.K. as ‘Diddy.’ ” Combs’ lawyer, Nigel Calvert, could not immediately be reached for comment.
Dearlove launched a lawsuit for unfair competition, claiming that the name change had caused confusion. The case had been due to go to the High Court next month.
“I started getting e-mails from Puerto Rican girls asking if they could be in my video, and people were asking me to look at their clothing line,” Dearlove was quoted as saying by The Guardian newspaper.
Combs agreed to pay Dearlove’s costs, as well as “significant” damages, Dearlove’s lawyer said.
“It doesn’t matter how big people become,” he said. “This is my name. I’ve been successful too. I’m not a global megastar, but what I do is valid.”
Celebrity birthdays
Country singer George Jones is 75. Actress Linda Gray is 66. Singer Ben Folds is 40. Singer Liam Gallagher of Oasis is 34. Actor Paul Walker (“The Fast and the Furious”) is 33. Country singer Jennifer Nettles of Sugarland is 32. Actor Benjamin McKenzie (“The O.C.”) is 28. Singer Ruben Studdard is 28.
Contributing: news services. If you have a tip, call 404-526-2749. 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.
A boxing Bulldog on ‘Survivor’
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
CBS’ flagging “Survivor” series is attempting to inject some new life into the show by dividing its 20 contestants by race. Atlanta has one representative: 23-year-old Parvati Shallow (yes, that’s her real name ).
A boxer and waitress, the gorgeous Shallow graduated from Sprayberry High School and UGA before moving to Los Angeles.
Friends and family describe her as competitive and fiercely independent, yet perpetually chipper.
“She’s always smiling,” said Patti Ann Harootian, a friend who has boxed with Shallow. “I’ve never seen her in a bad mood. She can lose a boxing match and still smile.”
Kelly Basinger, an Atlanta real estate developer and former boyfriend, said Shallow has a knack for talking her way into anything, be it a concert or a nightclub. She even persuaded him to go sky diving.
“Her personality sparks people’s attention,” Basinger told Buzz. He doesn’t think she’ll have an issue with the racial divide: “She’s got a lot of diverse friends.”
Physically, she’ll hold up just fine, predicted her father, Michael Shallow. Her family grew up doing a lot of camping, and before she left for the show earlier this year, she spent a week in Atlanta with him doing wilderness prep work.
“Survivor” PR wouldn’t give Buzz access to Shallow, but she did talk to Entertainment Weekly. There, she noted that she’s ready to hit where it hurts. “Once it gets like, nitty-gritty, I’m gonna play a little dirty,” she said. “It’s human nature. I’m not going to make everyone in America like me. I wanna win, and I have all the mad skills that it takes.”
Get reacquainted with Deborah Norville
Deborah Norville is touting the arrival of “Inside Edition” on WGCL-TV tonight at 7:30 as a “launch in a new city.” But the syndicated magazine news show has been on in Atlanta for years.
The problem: It’s aired overnights on WSB-TV. “Unless you have a Tivo or a sleeping disorder, you probably haven’t seen the show lately,” Norville told Buzz last week.
Norville, a Dalton native and University of Georgia grad who started her broadcast career at WAGA-TV from 1978 to 1982, may still be remembered for her brief, tumultuous foray as co-host of “The Today Show” in the early 1990s. But she has settled comfortably into the role of “Inside Edition” host for nearly 12 years.
The show isn’t nearly as “tabloid” as it was when Bill O’Reilly hosted and doesn’t “fawn” over celebrities, said Norville, who will host the show from Atlanta this Thursday.
“Inside Edition, she notes, gets little notice — much less respect — despite a solid 4 million-plus viewers a night, which is more than “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” or the CBS “Early Show.”
Her take on the media coverage of Katie Couric’s arrival at CBS News: “It’s somewhat jawdropping. Yet it’s an easy layup for the media to cover. And CBS has cleverly taken advantage of that.”
On whether Rosie O’Donnell will last on “The View”: “The show is designed to be a community of equals. Rosie is a very strong personality. I’m not sure, based on the historical makeup of the show, if this will be a success.”
And any advice for Meredith Vieira, taking over for Couric on “Today”?
Norville laughs. “I’m not sure she’d want advice from Deborah Norville! Seriously, she’ll be herself and be fine.”
Stoli finds a home
Steve Barnes, the Dave FM morning show co-host who recently sued his former colleagues at 99X for copyright infringement and defamation, has put his dog Stoli up for adoption, causing a stir among animal rights activists.
Barnes, in an e-mail, said that since he and his wife have had two children, Stoli has “not adapted well and has caused over $10,000 in damage to the house. Experts suggested that she would be better off living with more dogs. We are in no place to add dogs, so we made a family decision to find her a new home. It was a hard decision but had to be made as we could not correct the destructive problems.”
Some critics on the AJC Radio Talk blog blasted him for giving up on Stoli, who is 9 1/2 years old, but others defended his actions.
Atlantan Karen Brinker fostered Stoli as part of a foster dog rescue group called Aiding and A-Petting for two weeks. Brinker, who has two dogs, five cats and no children, said Barnes’ dog was an angel in her home.
She said that at first, she wasn’t getting any responses, because of Stoli’s age and all the talk of her destructiveness. But there’s a happy ending: Shannon Williamson, a former traffic manager at Z93 (the previous name for Dave FM), saw the Radio Talk blog about Stoli and agreed to adopt her. On Sunday, Brinker’s friend Philip Grossman flew Stoli up to Memphis, where Williamson lives. Williamson said her 14-year-old dog recently died and her current 8-year-old dog Iko needed the company. Brinker said she got so attached to Stoli that she cried as Stoli flew off.
Celebrity birthdays
Movie director Brian De Palma is 66. Guitarist Tommy Shaw of Styx is 53. Actress Kristy McNichol is 44. Actress Virginia Madsen (“Sideways”) is 43. Musician Moby is 41. Singer Harry Connick Jr. is 39. Atlanta rapper Ludacris is 29.
Contributing: news services. If you have a tip, e-mail rho@ajc.com.
If you have a tip, call 404-526-2749. Or fax 404-526-5509. Or e-mail: buzz@ajc.com.
Earthlings, surrender to sheer silliness of ‘Plan 9’
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Fans of mind-bendingly bad cinema were no doubt be lined up at 11 Saturday night in front of the recently renovated and reopened Plaza Theatre on Ponce de Leon Avenue.
The venerable venue’s new owners, Jonathan and Gayle Rej, are screening “Plan 9 From Outer Space,” the 1959 Ed Wood mangled masterpiece starring Vampira and (for a few frames at least) horror legend Bela Lugosi, who had sense enough to expire before filming was completed. The evening will be hosted by Elvira “illusionist” Patterson Lundquist, the gentleman who first approached the Rejs with the idea for the big-screen tribute to Wood.
“Patterson is a big Ed Wood buff, and when he came to us about it, we thought, ‘This is exactly the kind of thing we want to do here,’ ” Jonathan Rej told Buzz on Friday.
In addition to wooden acting, cardboard tombstones that flutter on set, flaming hubcap spaceships, an aircraft cockpit outfitted with a shower curtain and an almost complete absence of continuity, “Plan 9” also boasts some of the most priceless dialogue in film history.
You require a sample, you say?
When the aliens and pistol-packing humans finally meet face to face near the finish of the film’s 1-hour-and-18-minute mess, the chief “grave robber from outer space” snarls: “I a fiend? I am only a soldier of my planet! All you of Earth are idiots. You’re stupid, stupid! “
In addition to an appearance by Nightmare Haunted House resident spook Circus Envy, the midnight movie will be supplemented with a Vampira costume contest and running commentary à la “Mystery Science Theater” by Lundquist during the film.
Explains Rej: “About 45 minutes in, ‘Plan 9’ gets kinda tough to get through. This was a way to liven it up for the audience.”
As for the obvious question regarding Lundquist’s “illusionist” skills, Rej laughed and conceded: “Yeah, I have no idea how he’s going to pull that off.”
Drama queen special delivery
Opening the mail here at Buzz Central occasionally calls for detonation robots, specially trained canines and, every once in a while, a pair of tongs. However, on Friday we nearly bruised a rib at the hilarious parcel from Lynne and Howard Halpern. Readers will recall last week we ran into the Buckhead Beef founders at a Project Open Hand benefit dinner at Spice in Midtown and shared a laugh about the T-shirts floating around town. The garments tout the couple’s generous funding of the Jewish Theatre of the South’s Lynne and Howard Halpern Drama Camp. The shirt’s front reads: “A Little Drama Never Hurt Anyone.” On Friday, one of the priceless T’s landed at Buzz with a handwritten note from the ever-inimitable Lynne Halpern. While we’ll decline to reveal the note’s entire contents, Halpern closed with “Wear this with pride!” We may never take it off …
Pitt: Marriage for all
If the October issue of Esquire is any indication, we can cease our feverish search for a Brad Pitt-Angelina Jolie wedding gift. Pitt tells the men’s mag that he won’t be marrying Jolie until the restrictions on who can marry whom are dropped.
“Angie and I will consider tying the knot when everyone else in the country who wants to be married is legally able,” the 42-year-old actor reveals in the Esquire on newsstands Sept. 19.
In the article, he reflects on “fifteen things I think everyone should know.”
Though Shiloh, the world-famous daughter of Pitt and girlfriend/Earth mother Jolie, hogged much attention upon her birth in May, Pitt says he “cannot imagine life” without his adopted children, Maddox, 5, and Zahara, 1.
The actor, who plays a world traveler in the upcoming drama “Babel,” subscribes to a laid-back parenting style. “I try not to stifle them in any way,” he says. “If it’s not hurting anyone, I want them to be able to explore. Sometimes that means they’re quite rambunctious.”
In the piece, Pitt did not immediately disclose what a Sam’s Club warehouse of Advil will run you.
Lost and found
Two nations can once again enjoy a fitful night’s sleep: Lindsay Lohan’s Hermes handbag has been found.
British police said Friday they had recovered a handbag that went missing from the star’s luggage cart at Heathrow Airport. “A member of the public contacted us to say they had found it and brought it in,” a Metropolitan Police spokeswoman said, on customary condition of anonymity. “We have not yet established what, if anything, is missing.”
Lohan’s representative, Leslie Sloane Zelnick, says the orange Hermes bag contained jewelry and the actress’s asthma medicine. London’s Evening Standard newspaper on Friday ran a picture of a tearful Lohan, 20, which it said was taken just after she realized the bag was missing Thursday.
Celebrity birthdays
Today: Actor Cliff Robertson is 81. Actor Tom Wopat is 55. Actor Hugh Grant is 46. Actor-comedian Adam Sandler is 40. Actor Goran Visnjic (“ER”) is 34. Actress Michelle Williams (“Dawson’s Creek”) is 26.
Sunday: Jazz vibraphonist Roy Ayers is 66. Guitarist Joe Perry of Aerosmith is 56. Actor Colin Firth is 46. Rapper Big Daddy Kane is 38. Director Guy Ritchie is 38. Actor Ryan Phillippe is 32.
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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ATL designer still on the ‘Runway’
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Fashion fans around Atlanta can breathe a sigh of relief. Creating a couture evening dress presented quite a challenge for Atlanta fashion designer Michael Knight on Bravo’s Wednesday night episode of “Project Runway.” But somehow he made it work, and show host Heidi Klum declared him “in” for next week’s competition. The assignment — started in Paris and completed in New York — involved making a dress using couture methods of sewing, beading and embroidering items by hand.
“I’ve never done this before,” said Knight, referring to ruching (pleating) touches along the bodice of his periwinkle blue dress. After viewing the designs of his fellow contestants on the runway, Knight, 28, acknowledged that “my dress is not the best dress up there.” Tim Gunn, the show’s resident design mentor, agreed.
“Michael was almost toppled by the challenge, his first misstep ever,” Gunn wrote on his blog at www.bravotv.com/Project_Runway/. “I don’t know what happened except to say that the hand-sewing eluded him.”
For the second week in a row, Jeffrey Sebelia, 36, won the challenge — this time using a mad mix of yellow madras and plaid. Designer Catherine Malandrino helped judge the challenge from Paris, while designers Richard Tyler and Michael Kors voted in New York, along with Klum and Nina Garcia, Elle magazine’s fashion editor.
Only five designers remain. Carry on Knight.
Stork report
“Desperate Housewives” actress Marcia Cross is an expectant mother, her publicist is confirming. The redheaded actress, who plays Bree Van De Kamp on the ABC show, expects to give birth to her first child in April, publicist Heidi Slan said. Cross, 44, and her stockbroker husband, Tom Mahoney, married in June.
Celebrity docket
Need another graphic reminder how celebrities are a little different than us average folk? PR gurus spent much of the news cycle Thursday touting the merits of Paris Hilton’s overnight DUI arrest.
“Paris Hilton being arrested just makes her more famous,” gushed publicist Michael Levine. “She has devoted her entire adult life to appearing to be the princess of parties.”
Hilton’s publicist, Elliot Mintz, who apparently lost some sleep overnight, allowed: “She’s been known to have a drink or two.” Hours after her release, Hilton defended herself to radio host Ryan Seacrest.
“It was nothing,” said Hilton, 25.
The reality star, heiress and alleged singer said she was “starving because I had not ate all day” and possibly was “speeding a little bit” in her Mercedes-Benz SLR on her way to grab a bite. Hilton’s blood-alcohol level was .08 percent — the minimum to warrant an arrest, Mintz said. Hilton is expected to be arraigned Sept. 28.
Alas, Los Angeles Police Department officials swear they will not release Hilton’s arrest report or her mug shot.
Dang it.
Quote of the day
“I am so thrilled. I swear to God, if I were Tom Cruise and you were a couch, I’d be jumping all over you.” — “The West Wing” actor Alan Alda about learning of his surprise Emmy win via his laptop in Paris, on Thursday’s “Live With Regis & Kelly.”
Celebrity birthdays
Comedian Sid Caesar is 84. Singer Aimee Mann is 46. Actor Henry Thomas (“E.T.”) is 35. Actor Martin Freeman (“The Office”) is 35. Singer Pink is 27. Actor Jonathan Taylor Thomas (“Home Improvement”) is 25.
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.
All-star chefs’ dinner to help friends in need
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Daniel Porubiansky hasn’t exactly had an easy time of it lately. His professional life has been a nonstop cliffhanger (he serves as the chef de cuisine at the Buckhead soap opera known as Seeger’s). And privately, Porubiansky has been dealing with his wife Andrea’s battle with cancer.
The family of six was in the midst of changing medical policies at the time of Andrea’s diagnosis. Consequently, the Porubianskys are facing a stack of medical expenses.
This Sunday, however, help arrives in the tasty form of “A Little Help From Friends,” an all-star seven-course benefit dinner at the Ritz-Carlton Buckhead.
In addition to the efforts of Bacchanalia chefs Anne Quatrano and Clifford Harrison in the kitchen, the couple is calling on other foodie friends: Joël chef Joël Antunes, Ritz-Carlton Buckhead Dining Room chef Arnaud Berthelier, Shaun’s chef Shaun Doty, Aria pastry chef Kathryn King, Aria owner/chef Gerry Klaskala, Taurus owner/chef Gary Mennie, Sam & Dave’s BBQ chef Dave Roberts, Table 1280 chef Todd Immel, Chikalicious owner/chef Chika Tillman and Ritz-Carlton Marina del Rey (Calif.) chef Dakota Weiss to whip up a one-of-a-kind meal.
“Daniel just has the best attitude about everything, and Andrea is amazing,” Quatrano told Buzz on Wednesday. “I would just be crazy with everything they’ve had to face.”
Quatrano says assembling the A-list kitchen talent was as simple as picking up the phone.
The Ritz-Carlton Buckhead, meanwhile, handed over a ballroom for the dinner while local organic-vegetable, wine, meat and seafood distributors are all buying tables. Sam & Dave’s Roberts was so jazzed about helping out, he personally delivered a stack of short ribs for Quatrano to nibble.
Even one of Quatrano and Harrison’s regular customers, an ovarian oncologist, offered to examine Andrea Porubiansky’s charts for her.
“The response from everyone has been terrific,” Quatrano says. “I was a little nervous at first, but we’re going to try and have some fun together in that kitchen while we help some friends.”
Tickets are available for $250 and tables for 10 for $2,500. To reserve a seat, call 404-365-0410, Ext. 22.
Suri in the spotlight … finally
We refrained from flipping through the entire exhaustive 22-page Vanity Fair photo spread of TomKat’s baby, Suri, Wednesday. Still, we felt compelled to at least pass along some of the more notable thoughts by the adorable tyke’s parents, Hollywood couple/couch-punishing Scientologists Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes. On the subject of why images of their 41/2-month-old daughter are just being made available, Cruise says in VF: “We were just living our lives, being a family. Actually, we were taking our own photos and always planned to release those at the right time.”
Adds the former Joey Potter: “Then all the craziness began. This ‘Where is Suri?’ controversy. Tom and I looked at each other and said, ‘What’s going on?’ We weren’t trying to hide anything.”
Alas, the pair does not address why they neglected to spring for a more convincing toupee at Baby Gap…
‘Elliot’ Broadway-bound?
If you believe the New York Post (and goodness knows, we’d like to), Peachtree Road resident Elton John’s critically acclaimed musical “Billy Elliot” may indeed have a Broadway debut in its future. The stage production, an adaptation of the 2000 film about a working-class English boy who wants to be a ballet dancer, has been a hit in London’s West End. However, John, director Stephen Daldry and writer Lee Hall are going back to work to make the show a bit more accessible to an American audience, prior to its scheduled 2008 debut here.
Says producer Eric Fellner in the Post: “Stephen decided that if we’re going to take the show to Broadway and other places, we really want it to be as strong as possible. He felt he could do better. Lee and Elton felt they could do better.”
Carters’ talk to be webcast
After covering book signings that drew lines that wrapped around entire stores, the news from the Carter Center didn’t come as a shock Wednesday. The facility’s “Conversations at the Carter Center” event Tuesday featuring former President Jimmy Carter and wife Rosalynn is sold out. The couple will discuss the center’s global efforts regarding “disease eradication, conflict resolution, democracy building and mental health promotion.” To accommodate more viewers, however, the 7 p.m. event will be webcast live at www.cartercenter.org. The public can also send along prospective questions to carterweb@emory.edu.
Quote of the day
“So, last night marked a huge turning point in the struggle for American equality: Someone with ovaries read from a TelePrompTer all by herself.” — Inimitable celeb gossip Web site Gawker.com, on Tuesday night’s debut of “The CBS Evening News With Katie Couric.”
Celebrity birthdays
Jazz saxophonist Sonny Rollins is 76. Singer Gloria Gaynor is 57. Singer Chrissie Hynde of the Pretenders is 55. Actor Tom Everett Scott (“Saved”) is 36. Drummer Chad Sexton of 311 is 36. Actress Shannon Elizabeth (“American Pie”) is 33.
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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Rosie minds her manners (mostly) on ‘View’
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
If you’re like us, you spent an unnaturally lengthy portion of your Labor Day cookout Googling to locate that thus-far elusive footage from the last-ever appearance of ” Crocodile Hunter” Steve Irwin while theorizing about Rosie O’Donnell’s first day on “The View.”
Alas, when the Emmy-winning talk-show queen finally put her posterior in Meredith Vieira’s former seat on the ABC Daytime hen party Tuesday, O’Donnell somehow managed to refrain from unhinging her lower jaw and greedily gobbling the heads of her new co-workers.
The always outspoken O’Donnell had grown out her hair, was dressed in a conservative dark outfit and even wore high heels.
Referencing her more glam, feminine look, O’Donnell told Barbara Walters, Joy Behar and Elisabeth Hasselbeck: “I’m growing my hair. Before, I had that crazy, crazy hair that scared America. I’m taking my medicine so everything will be fine now.”
O’Donnell also addressed recent press speculation that Walters wasn’t pleased with O’Donnell’s musings on her Web site that the new job was a loss of power for the former solo host.
“I kept reading that Barbara Walters was furious after reading Rosie’s blog,” she recounted. ” I was like, ‘Please. Barbara Walters doesn’t even know how to get on Internet Explorer! What are you talking about?!’ “
Otherwise, the opening “Hot Topics” segments were decidedly uneventful, with the ladies tackling talk about raising children, Andre Agassi’s tearful farewell to tennis and naturally, Irwin’s untimely workplace demise.
The only real glimpse of an overbearing O’Donnell came during an interview with pop star Jessica Simpson, in which her co-workers had to work overtime to get a question in edgewise. When O’Donnell grilled Simpson about tabloid speculation that the pop singer was dating former Buckhead singer-songwriter John Mayer, Simpson replied: “We’re not dating. I’ve known him for a couple of years.”
When Walters finally tried to squeeze a question in, O’Donnell wisely yielded the floor and apologized, saying, “You’re Barbara Walters, go!”
At the close of the segment, just as the telecast went into commercials, “The View” executive producer Bill Geddie uncharacteristically bounded onto the stage and was seen having a quick chat with O’Donnell.
A measure of success
On the off chance that you’re not quite as skilled at focusing on Playboy’s articles rather than the pictures, please allow us to slide you a preview from the revealing interview with Atlanta’s Ludacris in the October issue. Discussing his musical themes, Luda tells the bunny: “How can you say I’m degrading women when I call myself a ho? Rappers may degrade women, but we degrade men, too.”
During the Q&A, the man born Chris Bridges goes on to discuss why he owns a gun (“To protect myself”), why being called a “rapper” is an insult (“I’m a businessman. We hate the term rapper. I like to say I’m an entreprenegro”) and concedes to measuring himself with a ruler down there.
“All I can say is I’m extremely proud of myself,” Luda allows. “It’s something I’ve been told by many women. And it took me awhile to realize because it’s not like I go around peeping at other men.”
Um, we got nothin’ … especially now.
Mystery woman identified!
Sigh, we really were the only ones watching “Arrested Development.” Over the long holiday weekend, the skeleton-staffed working media staved off boredom-induced comas by reporting on Ellen DeGeneres’ fender bender in Los Angeles. The talk-show host walked away from a three-vehicle accident caused by a suspected drunken driver, police said.
“She had a little neck and back pain, but it doesn’t look like it was anything serious,” Sgt. Ken Buscarino of the Los Angeles police said after Friday’s accident.
The crash occurred just before 4 p.m. on Sunset Boulevard, Buscarino said. The talk-show host stopped her 2006 Porsche Carrera at a light, followed by a 2002 Buick Le Sabre with two men in their 20s.
A 2002 Porsche Carrera driven by a 52-year-old woman slammed into the back of the Buick and caused a chain reaction, police said. The woman was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving.
Ah, but here’s the heartbreaking bit. DeGeneres’ gal pal, “Arrested Development” actress Portia de Rossi, was identified in the reports as “DeGeneres’ passenger, a woman in her mid-30s,” who “complained of minor back pain.”
For the love of God, people. The woman also was on “Ally McBeal” — a show that, according to the Nielsen ratings, people actually watched.
Celebrity birthdays
Comedian JoAnne Worley is 69. Country singer David Allan Coe is 67. Singer-bassist Roger Waters (Pink Floyd) is 63. Actor-comedian Jeff Foxworthy is 48. Country singer Mark Chesnutt is 43. Actress Rosie Perez is 42. Singer CeCe Peniston is 37. Singer Macy Gray is 36. Singer Dolores O’Riordan of the Cranberries is 35. Rapper Foxy Brown is 27.
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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Singer-songwriter shows heart on, off his record
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The inside cover of “The Musical Theatre Album,” Atlanta singer-songwriter Barry Brandon’s debut recording, contains the line, “There is no future, there is no past, I live this moment as my last,” a lyric from “Rent.”
There’s a good reason for the quote.
“I’m not supposed to be here,” explains the 25-year-old Dunwoody resident. Because of a congenital heart ailment, the Florida native has endured seven open-heart surgeries, the first when he was just 48 hours old.
“And they were all experimental surgeries,” Brandon says, laughing. “The surgeons never knew exactly what they were going to do when they went in. Everyone is amazed that I’m still here.”
So when Brandon stood on a candlelit stage late last month, welcoming more than 100 family and friends to his album release performance at Actor’s Express, it was a remarkable achievement for someone who has spent much of his life in hospitals.
For “Musical Theatre” with accompanist Luke Myers, Brandon selected a wide range of pieces from Broadway shows and films. “Every one of the songs has a special meaning to my life,” he says.
Down to the opening track, “Times Like This,” which is dedicated to Brandon’s dog.
Proceeds from sales of the disc will go to HART, a charitable nonprofit organization started by Brandon to raise funds to help uninsured families with cardiac-related medical bills.
“It’s for families like mine — who have loved ones in the hospital for extended periods of time — so they can be together,” he explains.
At his Aug. 24 show, when Brandon dedicated the evening’s final selection, “Never Never Land,” to his mother sitting in the front row, tears flowed in the audience. The song, a childhood wish to fly away with Peter Pan, reflected Brandon’s desire as a kid to lead a normal life outside of an ICU unit.
“The Musical Theatre Album” is available at Outwrite Books in Midtown or at www.myspace.com/barrybrandonsmusic.
Brandon is set to perform at 8 p.m. Saturday at the 14th Street Starbucks.
Pottery goes glam
Pottery-making can be an unglamorous craft, but at Saturday’s grand opening of the Folk Pottery Museum of Northeast Georgia the potters were treated like celebrities. Many in the enthusiastic crowd of several hundred attending the dedication at the Sautee Nacoochee Center, four miles east of Helen, were seeking autographs of anyone connected to the museum. That included its architect, Robert Cain, and museum exhibit designer, Dale Brubaker, both of Atlanta.
“I was overwhelmed. I stood there for 45 minutes signing,” said potter Lynn Craven Tolbert, 59, of Cleveland. “It didn’t make me feel like a rock star, but it was such an honor to be asked.”
The potters and museum organizers were signing hand fans and masks printed with a scary image of a rock-toothed face jug by the late Lanier Meaders, Georgia’s best known folk potter, as well as copies of museum curator John Burrison’s book “Brothers in Clay: The Story of Georgia Folk Pottery.”
Ribbon-cutting duties were shared by a couple that symbolizes the past and future of the tradition: Meaders’ widow, Betty Jean Meaders, and Eli Hewell, 8, the youngest potter represented in the collection.
Brad keeping tabs on Big Easy
As if New Orleans needed anything else to deal with, paparazzi magnets Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are threatening to be frequent visitors to observe the city’s progress.
They were in New Orleans last week, though only Pitt appeared at a news conference to announce the winner of the design competition he started in April to rebuild hurricane-ravaged neighborhoods using environmentally friendly designs and construction.
Preproduction for his next movie is to begin in November, and Pitt said he would be in New Orleans for much of January and February for filming. Around that time, he said he also hoped to break ground on the first phase of the neighborhood redevelopment project slated for the devastated Ninth Ward.
The winning plan was submitted by Matthew Berman and Andrew Kotchen of Workshop APD in New York. It includes designs for six single-family housing units, 12 multifamily units, a community center and play area.
Pitt headed the jury of architects, city residents and others who decided on the top designs that use energy-saving materials such as metal roofing and recycled textiles.
Pitt initially contributed $100,000 to help underwrite the contest. It was announced Thursday that he contributed another $100,000 to help cover prize money.
Celebrity birthdays
Comedian-actor Bob Newhart is 77. Actor William Devane is 67. Actress Raquel Welch is 66. Drummer Buddy Miles is 60. Singer Loudon Wainwright III is 60. Cartoonist Cathy Guisewite (“Cathy”) is 56. Actor Michael Keaton is 55. Actress Rose McGowan is 32.
Contributing: Howard Pousner and news services. If you have a tip, call 404-526-2749, 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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A different perspective on ‘Diff’rent Strokes’
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The infamous “child star” curse often goes back to the trio of cute kids on the 1980s sitcom “Diff’rent Strokes.”
After the show ended, Dana Plato, Gary Coleman and Todd Bridges all suffered problems ranging from drugs and alcohol to violence to medical maladies. Plato died in 1999 of a drug overdose.
Though the media and a past TV movie has already mined this material, Coleman and Bridges provide their take on their lives via a film NBC is airing tonight, “The Unauthorized Story of Diff’rent Strokes.”
“It’s about time to hear the story through our eyes and not through ‘E! True Hollywood Story,’ ” Bridges told Buzz.
Bridges and Coleman were script consultants and appear in interviews peppered through the film. (Two actors played Bridges, and three handled Coleman.)
Bridges, victim of an abusive, alcoholic dad, later battled the law and cocaine. Coleman, whose parents overworked him, has been on kidney dialysis for years. Plato ended up holding up a video store and performing in soft-core porn before her sad death.
“It wasn’t show business that drove us crazy; we had crazy lives at home,” said Bridges, now married with two kids and a steady flow of modest acting gigs. Today, “It’s not a big deal to me anymore. It was a phase I went through, and it helped me grow to where I am today.”
Sci-fi redefined
DragonCon has been known for years as a sci-fi/fantasy/horror gathering. But the organizers have tried to broaden those horizons. In the media room, a sign calls the downtown fest a “multi-genre pop culture convention and trade show.”
This vaguer description allowed them to invite the likes of Mickey Rooney, who was the grand marshal of the Saturday morning parade, and several members of the cast of “Happy Days.” The ’70s sitcom was listed under the category of “American Sci-Fi/Fantasy Classics.” (If that qualifies, why not the cast members of “Charlie’s Angels” next year?)
The parade featured the usual array of goblins, ghouls and “Star Wars” storm troopers, along with two impeccable imitators of Capt. Jack Sparrow. But the scariest participant? A man dressed as Mr. Six, the old dude from the Six Flags commercials.
Later, Buzz peeked inside the session with actress Traci Lords, another stretch in the sci-fi category. For many men, the former porn star fits the “fantasy” category fine, and she does have a horror flick set for release later this year called “Crazy Eights.”
Lords gabbed about her writing, acting and singing. She has long buried her porn past and gone mainstream.
In fact, the interviewer, Brad Linaweaver, treated her as if he were face to face with Nicole Kidman. “One of the best autobiographies I’ve ever read!” he burbled at one point. “It’s overwhelming, everything you’re doing!”
Lords said conventioneers tend to be very respectful of her. “The geekier, the nerdier the convention, the safer you are,” Linaweaver told her.
“It’s band camp!” Lords cracked.
Legal eagle
Atlanta pugilist Evander Holyfield is a model citizen, too. Just three days after knocking out Jeremy Bates in the second round of his comeback bid in Dallas, he arrived at the Fulton County courthouse for jury duty Aug. 28. He even made the jury. In the one-day DUI case, the jury unanimously deemed the defendant “not guilty.” Our Buzz eyewitness, who was on the jury with him, said Holyfield was low-key and politely signed autographs after the case was over.
Random bits
Brooke Shields told Jay Leno that Tom Cruise apologized last week for publicly criticizing her use of antidepressants after the birth of her first daughter. The two had a public beef last year after Cruise said in an appearance on NBC’s “Today” show that depression can be treated with exercise and vitamins rather than drugs. Cruise’s spokesman confirmed the news …
The new My Atlanta network, formerly the WB in Atlanta, is launching a 10 p.m. news program Tuesday that may look familiar. WXIA-TV anchors Brenda Wood and Ted Hall will host the one-hour news program before doing their regular 11 p.m. gig on WXIA. (Both stations are owned by the same company.) This will be the second effort in two years to make a dent on the popular WAGA-TV Fox 10 p.m. news telecast.
UPN (now the CW) tried a similar show with WXIA personnel in 2004-05, but it failed to deliver viewers.
Celebrity birthdays
Actress Mitzi Gaynor is 75. Actor-comedian Damon Wayans is 46. Singer Richard Wingo of Jagged Edge is 31. Singer/actress Beyoncé Knowles is 25.
Contributing: News services. If you have a tip, call 404-526-5688 or e-mail: rho@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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Indigo Girls help pal get closer to fine
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Note to self: If ever in trouble, call the Indigo Girls.
Thursday night, a sold-out crowd packed the listening room at Eddie’s Attic to see Amy Ray and Emily Saliers and the show they’d organized to help pay the medical expenses of a friend, Janet McLaughlin.
The roster was winning: Matthew Kahler, with his James Taylor-esque folksy crooning; Sandra McCracken, a petite blond Nashville resident with a big, whiskey-raspy voice; and the funkalicious groove of Trina Meade and Tomi Martin from Atlanta’s Three5Human.
McLaughlin, a Nashville singer-songwriter who suffered a subarachnoid hemorrhage in December, also performed for the first time since her illness.
The Indigo Girls’ performance of favorites like “Galileo,” “Closer to Fine” and “Ghost” turned into a giant singalong, and “Kid Fears” featured Meade blowing the roof off Michael Stipe’s part.
The night also was a homecoming of sorts.
Eddie Owen first booked the Decatur natives more than 20 years ago at Trackside Tavern. He sold Eddie’s Attic in 2002 but returned as director of
operations just over a year ago.
“There wouldn’t be an Eddie’s Attic without Emily Saliers and Amy Ray,” said Owen, who spent the night wandering through the crowd with a giant grin on his face, occasionally popping onstage to sing harmonies.
And Martin seconded that notion.
“They’re the representatives of what Atlanta is really about — people like Amy and Emily. Now if they’d only let them write the Atlanta song …”
Dallas Austin, you listening?
CNN anchor laughs it off
CNN anchor Kyra Phillips, whose ladies room chatter found its way onto her newscast, bounced back two days later with a “Top 10 List” of excuses on the “Late Show with David Letterman.”
The mishap had happened Tuesday when Phillips, still wearing her wireless microphone, visited the loo while CNN aired President Bush’s speech from New Orleans. For a minute or so her voice commingled with his, as she was heard telling an unidentified woman how great her husband is, then mentioned that her sister-in-law is “a control freak.” Only then was she alerted that her mike was live.
Top Ten Kyra Phillips Excuses Presented by CNN Anchor Kyra Phillips:
10. “Still haven’t mastered complicated on/off switch.”
9. “Larry King told me he does this all the time.”
8. “How was I supposed to know we had a reporter embedded in the bathroom?”
7. “I honestly never knew this sort of thing was frowned upon.”
6. “Couldn’t resist chance to win $10,000 on ‘America’s Funniest Home Videos.’ “
5. “I was set up by those [expletive] at Fox News.”
4. “Oh, like you’ve never gone to the bathroom and had it broadcast on national television!”
3. “I just wanted that hunky Lou Dobbs to notice me.”
2. “OK, so I was drunk and couldn’t think straight.”
1. “You have to admit; it made the speech a lot more interesting.”
Sick bay update
Jessica Simpson limped her way through an appearance Friday on “Today.” It was the first time the singer has performed since injuring a vocal cord a week ago, but she only made it through one song before her voice cracked.
Simpson croaked her way through “I Belong to Me,” but when it came time to hit a high note on “With You,” her voice cracked. She paused for a moment and said, “All right, I tried that one,” before finishing the tune. “That had to be the most nerve-racking thing you’ve ever done in your life,” said “Today” co-host Matt Lauer.
The 26-year-old singer tried to soothe her voice with a concoction that Lauer described as “gnarly looking.” Simpson said her vocal coach had made the “nasty” mixture. “I busted a blood vessel in my vocal cord,” she told Lauer. “Next time I sing, I’ll be singin’ my booty off.”
Simpson, who has a new album, “A Public Affair,” canceled a planned appearance on CBS’ “Late Show With David Letterman” earlier this week. She appeared on MTV’s Video Music Awards on Thursday night, presumably to make nominee and ex-hubby Nick Lachey uncomfortable, but did not sing.
Celebrity birthdays
Today: Jazz pianist Horace Silver is 78. Sportscaster Terry Bradshaw is 58. Actor Mark Harmon is 55. Drummer Jerry Augustyniak of 10,000 Maniacs is 48. Country drummer Paul Deakin of the Mavericks is 47. Actor Keanu Reeves is 42. Actress Salma Hayek is 40. Actress Cynthia Watros (“Lost”) is 38. Singer K-Ci of K-Ci and JoJo is 37. Bassist Sam Rivers of Limp Bizkit is 29.
Sunday: Actress/game show panelist Kitty Carlisle Hart is 96. “Beetle Bailey” creator Mort Walker is 83. Country singer Hank Thompson is 81. Actress Anne Jackson is 80. Singer-guitarist Al Jardine of the Beach Boys is 64. Guitarist Steve Jones of the Sex Pistols is 51. Actor Charlie Sheen is 41.
Contributing: Lizzie Breyer 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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‘Project Runway’ fans make a viewing choice
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Fashionably attired attendees at the launch party for Atlanta magazine’s scoop-stuffed “Style Guide” September issue faced a difficult decision Wednesday night in the Phipps Plaza Court of the South. Brave the ever-lengthening line to talk to the cocktail party’s star attraction — budding Atlanta fashion designer Michael Knight — or race home to see Knight on Wednesday night’s episode of “Project Runway” on Bravo?
As obsessed fans of the reality show clustered around the “Runway” contestant to tell him about their viewing parties, where local fans gather to cheer him on, the designer told us: “It’s all incredibly flattering. Everywhere I go, people stop me to say positive things. Everyone’s been so nice.”
We were likewise flattered to learn that Knight is a Buzz reader.
The assembled fashionistas continued to dish on Monday night’s ultra-hot, successful “Fashion Cares” benefit held a few feet away in a tent. We eavesdropped on one attendee telling a friend, “People complained about the lack of air-conditioning. Not me. It was so hot in there, I can actually fit into my fall wardrobe now!”
The party also served as an introduction for Atlanta mag’s new design director, Hector Sanchez, whose skyline-accented “Style” cover features the Gucci-clad model Nicole Lindeblad. Sanchez and his wife, Alijandra, recently relocated to Atlanta from Chicago.
They conceded that life in Atlanta requires some adjustment. We reassured them that phoning frozen friends up north on New Year’s Day, while enjoying a patio brunch here, is incredibly therapeutic… .
Restaurant welcome
New Spice chef Marvin Woods, his pastry chef Cynthia Long, Aria’s Gerry Klaskala, Rathbun’s Kevin Rathbun, Mitra’s Gerardo Ramos and Shaun’s Shaun Doty presided over a sold-out restaurant as they combined whisks Tuesday night. The star wattage in the kitchen created a one-of-a-kind, five-course meal to benefit Project Open Hand and to welcome Woods to Atlanta. And while we wish we could report some ego-ignited dish from the kitchen, the culinary all-stars were disgustingly pleasant with each other (they even donned bandannas in an affectionate salute to Turner South personality Woods’ trademark headgear).
Downstairs, we ran into Buckhead Beef Co. co-founders and veteran charitable fund-raisers Howard and Lynne Halpern, who graced us with a business card touting their new venture, Halperns’, the couple’s new steak and seafood company. We also joked with Lynne Halpern about the T-shirt we most covet. The garments, spotted around town this summer, announced the formation of the couple’s Jewish Theatre of the South Lynne and Howard Halpern Drama Camp. The front simply reads: “A Little Drama Never Hurt Anyone.” Unless you’re one of the two people who have yet to work on a fund-raiser with Lynne Halpern, chances are excellent that you just took a header into your bowl of Post Toasties… .
The way we were … had
Personally, the $750 price tag attached to Barbra Streisand’s Nov. 2 show at Philips Arena was enough to dissuade us. But some of the diva’s fans are finding themselves having to front even more money to experience misty, watercolored memories this fall. Hundreds of stolen credit card numbers have been used to purchase more than 1,000 Streisand concert tickets that were then offered for resale on the Internet, Ticketmaster officials are reporting.
Sean Moriarty, Ticketmaster’s president and chief operating officer, says the company discovered the fraud through its monitoring of Internet transactions but declined to elaborate.
The news compelled Ticketmaster this week to invalidate tickets purchased with the stolen credit card numbers.
Cities hosting shows with canceled tickets include Atlanta; Philadelphia; New York; Washington; Sunrise, Fla.; Auburn Hills, Mich.; Chicago; Las Vegas; and Atlantic City, N.J.
At press time Thursday, Streisand was contemplating making it up to fans by using an animatronic Donna Summer onstage to re-create the original 11-minute, 40-second splendor of the duo’s 1979 disco duet “No More Tears (Enough Is Enough).”
Celebrity birthdays
Actress Yvonne DeCarlo (“The Munsters”) is 84. Comedian-actress Lily Tomlin is 67. Singer Barry Gibb of the Bee Gees is 60. Talk show host Dr. Phil McGraw is 56. Singer Gloria Estefan is 49. Actor Ricardo Antonio Chavira (“Desperate Housewives”) is 35.
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.
