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Access Atlanta > Blog > Archives > 2006 > July > 03 > Entry
Atlanta hitmaker pays debt to ‘Rock Star’ band
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
When offered a major role on the CBS reality show “Rock Star: Supernova,” which debuts Wednesday, Atlantan Butch Walker squirmed. He agreed to produce the band but declined to sit as a judge. Instead, he’ll appear as a “special guest.”
“I’m not going to be an artist everyone knows as a [expletive] TV celebrity,” the always candid Walker told Buzz on Friday from Los Angeles. “I like attention, but when it’s the attention based on my music.”
Walker pays the bills with his producing work (the All-American Rejects, Avril Lavigne, Pink), but he prefers creating his own songs and performing. His latest solo effort, “The Rise and Fall of Butch Walker and the Let’s-Go-Out-Tonites,” comes out July 11 and leads into a tour that starts July 18 and 19 at Atlanta’s Variety Playhouse.
“This record reflected I had a blast last year,” Walker said. “I had a great time on the road and doubled my fan base just touring. It’s a fun record, and the tour is going to be all about getting our party out of our system.”
He said he decided to help out “Rock Star” because it’s good money — and he feels he owes something to Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee, part of the show band, which also includes Jason Newsted of Metallica, Gilby Clarke of Guns N’ Roses and a future lead singer to be crowned on the TV show.
“I camped out for Mötley Crüe’s ‘Shout at the Devil’ tour” in 1983, Walker recalled. “I hung out with half the band members I’d be with for 15 years. It’s serendipitous. He wanted me to be involved. I said, ‘Let’s do it. I’ll pay you back.’ “
Two Georgians are among the “Supernova” contestants: Chris Pierson, 25, an Atlantan who works at the Hard Rock Cafe and is in a group called Streetlight Syndrome, and Dana Andrews, 22, who lives in the Augusta area and works in a wedding band.
You’ll be able to watch the debut of the show online today, two days before it airs on CBS, at www.rockstar.msn.com.
Plain to see
Paris Hilton, pop star? If her reggae-lite tune “Stars Go Blind” is any indication, it’s possible. Q100 spun the song 40 times last week; Star 94, 30 times. And nationally, it’s ranked No. 24 in airplay, according to Allaccess.com, after just a month.
Q100 Program Director Dylan Sprague said response has been very positive, even when people find out it’s Hilton, not someone like Gwen Stefani.
“I got to hear the album in December,” Sprague said. “It’s all very good. She got the right producers, the right songs.”
Random bits
Atlanta-based TNT’s hit show “The Closer,” starring Kyra Sedgwick, has been greenlighted for a third season of 15 episodes. It’s doing better than in Season 1, averaging about 6.6 million viewers so far. So what if Sedgwick’s Scarlett O’Hara-style accent really doesn’t sound like someone from Atlanta? …
The WB, which will merge with the UPN to become the CW on Sept. 18, announced plans to run the initial episodes of classics such as “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” “Dawson’s Creek” and “Felicity” the night before. It will also blend in original promos and a highlight reel of its 11-year history before it bows out… .
Consumer advocate and syndicated talker Dave Ramsey joined the 640/WGST-AM evening lineup last week, replacing the retiring Phil Hendrie. Also, an experiment in having former 99Xer Jimmy Baron fill in for GST afternoon talk host Kim “the Kimmer” Peterson this week got nixed Friday after Peterson and the GST sales staff balked when Baron made some jokes about the Kimmer’s listeners on his blog… .
Meanwhile, with Ramsey gone from 920/WGKA-AM, conservative talker Mike Gallagher moves to the noon-to-3 p.m. slot there. The station also recently tripled its signal power.
Bottoms up at Uptown
You can now get your drink on at Uptown Comedy Corner, which struggled for months to get a liquor license and opened in May without one. Last month, Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin reversed the liquor license board’s decision to deny the club a license. The city last year had revoked the alcohol license of the Library, the bar that preceded Uptown on the Marietta Street property.
A landlord who loses a liquor license is typically punished by not being able to get a new one for a year. But co-owner Gary Abdo argued that the Library never renewed its license in 2005, so there was no license to revoke.
Started by Abdo, the original Uptown Comedy Corner in Buckhead helped build the careers of dozens of African-American comics in the 1990s, but it shut down earlier this decade under different management.
Celebrity birthdays
Country singer Johnny Lee is 60. Writer Dave Barry is 59. Talk show host Montel Williams is 50. Actor Tom Cruise is 44.
Actor Thomas Gibson (“Dharma and Greg”) is 44.
Contributing: news services. If you have a tip, call 404-526-5688 or e-mail: buzz@ajc.com.
If you have a tip, call 404-526-2749. Or fax 404-526-5509. Or e-mail: buzz@ajc.com.
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