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CNN Hummer gets tricked out
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
On the eve of the Iraq war, CNN in 2003 bought two Hummers in Kuwait to follow U.S. troops into Baghdad. Tricked out with satellite equipment, the vehicles faced sand, rough terrain and artillery fire and were soon retired.
Three years later, one Hummer sits in CNN Center. The second has been “overhauled” by TLC’s Chip Foose in an episode of “Overhaulin’ ” set to air at 9 p.m. Tuesday. They redid the Hummer’s engine and body and installed an extensive entertainment system. Airbrush artists Dru Blaier, Mickey Harris and Mike Lavallee painted images of journalists and military men and women onto the vehicle as a tribute to those who served during the war.
The vehicle is touring military bases and will be auctioned off for charity.
Scott McWhinnie, a CNN photojournalist who spent days cramped inside the Hummer in 2003, viewed the overhaul outside CNN Center during a photo shoot: “Wow! That’s unbelievable! I didn’t expect it to look as good as it does.”
“It was toast by the time it was in Baghdad,” said Michael Holmes, a CNN International reporter who regularly goes to Iraq. CNN reporters no longer drive anything flashy because journalists are now targets.
Hip-hop’s hit pics
Former Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young was among the buyers at Saturday night’s opening party for “All Eyez on ME: Hip-hop’s Legendary Performers and Photographers” at Vaknin Gallery in Midtown. Atlanta photographer Jim Fiscus’ imaginative concepts for Ludacris and OutKast originally published in The Source magazine were among the pieces that caught Young’s eye at the reception.
Of the elaborate pieces that re-imagine OutKast in a 1930s-era shoeshine parlor and Ludacris in a circus setting, Fiscus told Buzz: “They’re stories, that’s the point of them. I actually shot Andrew Young once, too. I thought he was kidding when he said he was going to buy my photographs!”
Photographer Jonathan Mannion’s studies of Busta Rhymes and the late Notorious B.I.G. along with a vintage 1986 portrait of Run DMC by George DuBose vied for the crowd’s attention. Queen Latifah, Eve and Lauryn Hill were the few female performers represented in the heavily male show.
Sales of hefty $100 “Hip-Hop Immortals” coffeetable books benefited the Tupac Shakur Foundation.
Bad news turns good
You won’t find Daryn Kagan’s own story on the “Inside Out” section of her new Web site when it goes live today. But it sure seems to fit.
Appearing at a networking event, “Ladies Who Launch Live” at Maestro’s at Castleberry last week, Kagan talked about turning the negative of losing her high-profile anchor slot at CNN into a positive.
“I did my sad thing for about three months,” said Kagan, 43, describing the shock of learning that CNN wouldn’t be renewing her contract after 12 years. “I was at a point where I was like, ‘OK, I need to decide, does the world stink or is the world a good place?’ I wanted to collect stories that support the idea that the world is a good place.”
The result is www .darynkagan.com, a lively gathering spot for proof of Kagan’s “radical” notion that there’s a whole lot of inspiring stuff going on. There’ll be a daily Web cast, plus stories organized into categories whimsically dubbed “buckets.” One is called “Inside Out”:
“[Those] are stories of people who have bad things happen to them,” said Kagan. “Yet they turn those experiences inside out and transform their lives and the world around them.”
Hymn history help The latest project of Atlanta rockers Mac Powell and Tai Anderson of Christian rock band Third Day doesn’t feature their Grammy-winning music. Front man Powell and bassist Anderson helped bankroll “Awake, My Soul,” a documentary about a form of a cappella hymn singing that has survived for 200 years in the rural South. They heard about the project, which took Atlantans Matt and Erica Hinton seven years to make, through a friend of a friend.
“We kind of were exposed to it and wanted to bring attention to it,” said Anderson, whose band finishes its “Wherever You Are” tour Sunday at Gwinnett Arena. “It’s this incredible thing.” The doc airs at 10 tonight on GPB.
Stork report Tobey Maguire and his fiancé, Jennifer Meyer, are parents of a baby girl, according to People magazine’s Web site.
Celebrity birthdays Producer-director Garry Marshall is 72. Actress Frances Conroy (“Six Feet Under”) is 53. Actress Whoopi Goldberg is 51. Actor Chris Noth (“Sex and the City”) is 50. Contributing: Richard L. Eldredge, Ken Sugiura, Jill Vejnoska and news services.
If you have a tip, call 404-526-2749. Or fax 404-526-5509. Or e-mail: buzz@ajc.com.
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