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Access Atlanta > Blog > Archives > 2007 > June > 04 > Entry
The trouble with bubbles: A bored band
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
In a ploy stolen from the David Blaine playbook, Atlanta pop-punk band Cartel has passed the halfway point in a 20-day self-imposed exile to record the band’s latest CD in a specially built 1,600-square-foot fiberglass “bubble” on Pier 54 in New York City.
They haven’t gone totally stir crazy. Yet.
RODNEY HO / AJC
“There aren’t a ton of distractions, but we’re literally 30 feet from the control room at all times,” said lead singer Will Pugh, taking a break from recording to talk to Buzz. “There’s an air of focus of having to get things done.” Pugh said that, after selling about 200,000 copies of their first CD “Chroma,” given the current state of the music business, the band members were willing to torture themselves for the sake of publicity.
Trailed by MTV cameras, Buzz got to hang out in the bubble Friday and learned that the creative process isn’t always pretty — or interesting. For more than 30 minutes, guitarist Joseph Pepper played the same riff dozens of times, which echoed loudly throughout the main room, while the other guitarist, Nic Hudson, aimlessly shot a blue Nerf ball into a tiny plastic basket.
Drummer Kevin Sanders became so restless that he piled mattresses and cushions on the floor and jumped onto them from the bedroom upstairs. “I got my heartbeat going, then immediately got bored again,” he said.
Though this stunt is sponsored by Dr Pepper, Cartel did sneak in a liter of hometown Coca-Cola — with the label off, of course.
In the end, with 23 Web cams, they can’t even hide in the shower (though you see them only from the chest up).
To encourage the band, fans have dropped off gifts, from an inflatable doll to golf clubs to sweet tea. “They all love sweet tea,” said Ashley Rehnblom, a St. Louis gal with Cartel lyrics tattooed on her right side.
She and her bud Alex Keeton rushed to the window (yes, fans can see in) when they spied Hudson reading, impressed that it was Anderson Cooper’s memoir, not a comic book. Soon, he was napping.
“He sleeps in the fetal position at night,” Rehnblom noted from watching a Web cam the night before.
“Wow,” Keeton said with a chuckle. “That really sounds creepy, doesn’t it?”
HEATING IT UP
Gordon Ramsay’s hilarious summer series “Hell’s Kitchen,” which starts Season 3 tonight, has finally recruited two Atlantans. And both are memorable.
Julia Williams, a sassy, emotional College Park resident, spent five years as a short-order cook at a local Waffle House, smothering and covering mountains of potatoes. Her pro cooking résumé is otherwise slim.
As a result, her other team members in tonight’s episode ignore her. “A lot of people tended to underestimate me,” Williams told Buzz.
Eddie Langley’s background is more impressive. A graduate of Le Cordon Bleu School of Culinary Arts, the grill cook has worked at the Ritz-Carlton in Buckhead, the Hotel Marriott and the Crowne Plaza. He’s now at the Grand Hyatt in Buckhead. He also runs his own personal chef business at www.pizzazzatlanta.com. His favorite restaurants in town are Bacchanalia and Jöel, and he’d love to open up a high-end restaurant someday. (“Atlanta needs more great chefs,” he said.)
Because Langley has had two kidney transplants, the youthful-looking 28-year-old Alpharetta resident emphasizes healthy, yet classy, food.
CASTING CALL
Do you have a rising fifth-grader itching to get on TV who also happens to excel in academics? Fox’s hit reality show “Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?” (hosted by Alpharetta’s Jeff Foxworthy, right) is seeking candidates at AmericasMart starting at 8 a.m. Tuesday. Get more info at www.fox.com/areyousmarter.
DEPP WINS
Captain Jack Sparrow was the big winner at the MTV Movie Awards on Sunday as “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest” was named best movie and its star, Johnny Depp, won for best performance.
Other winners during the broadcast from the Gibson Amphitheater in Los Angeles included Mike Myers, who won the MTV Generation Award, and Sacha Baron Cohen, who collected two trophies for comedy and best kiss, which he shared with Will Ferrell in “Talladega Nights: The Battle of Ricky Bobby.”
The movie prizes were almost upstaged by a star who wasn’t nominated for any: Paris Hilton.
The heiress, who must report to Los Angeles County Jail by midnight Tuesday, caused a commotion when she arrived on the ruby carpet outside the amphitheater.
“I’m really scared but I’m ready to face my sentence,” she said.
MTV’s irreverent mix of honors includes prizes for best fight and best villain, plus awards for aspiring filmmakers.
Jack Nicholson was the winning villain, capturing the Golden Popcorn trophy for his mobster role in “The Departed.” The fight prize went to Gerard Butler in the epic “300.”
The breakthrough performance prize went to 9-year-old Jaden Smith, who starred opposite his father, Will Smith, in “The Pursuit of Happyness.”
HIGH FIVE
Top VH1 ‘Softsational’ songs
1. Christopher Cross, “Sailing”
2. Styx, “Babe”
3. Rupert Holmes, “Escape (The Piña Colada Song)”
4. Barry Manilow, “Mandy”
5. Chicago, “If You Leave Me Now”
— VH1
CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS
Actor Parker Stevenson is 55. Singer El DeBarge is 46. Actor Scott Wolf is 39. Actor Noah Wyle is 36. Comedian Horatio Sanz is 38. Actress Angelina Jolie 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.
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