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Ailing Keys rocks the Tabernacle
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Clayton County Sheriff Victor Hill, WSB’s JaQuitta Williams, legal eagle Vincent Dimmock, top hip-hop producer Swizz Beatz’s mother (who introduced herself to us as “Mama Swizz”), music mogul Jermaine Dupri’s exec father Michael Mauldin, and yes, tucked neatly under that black tam, even Dupri’s girlfriend and pop icon Janet Jackson, were spotted among the diverse crowd assembled at the Tabernacle Tuesday night.
Those notables and more packed the downtown Atlanta venue for V-103’s top-rated “Frank and Wanda Morning Show’s” ninth anniversary concert, headlined by nine-time Grammy winner Alicia Keys.
Though Keys was clearly ailing (even asking the audience at one point if it was OK for her to blow her nose), she and her eight-member accompaniment powered through her hourlong set, much of which previewed her new CD “As I Am,” in stores next Tuesday.
“Before anybody else gets to hear it, you do,” Keys told the crowd, most of which had won the free, general admission tickets by listening to V-103. “So I must be really feeling Atlanta.”
A sneak of ‘Sex’ in our city
New Yorkers currently are getting an around-the-clock fix of “Sex and the City” as the former HBO signature show’s feature-film debut shoots there. Tonight, an advance peek comes to Atlanta, courtesy of Festivity boutique client Kayrita Anderson, who just happens to be pals with legendary “Sex” costumer Patricia Field. The style icon (who also clothed Meryl Streep for “The Devil Wears Prada”) has given her friend a Timmy Woods Eiffel Tower handbag used by Sarah Jessica Parker in the new flick. The bag, autographed by Field, natch, will be on display tonight at the grand-opening soiree for the new Festivity shop at 5145 Peachtree Parkway in Norcross.
The stylish movie prop will then be auctioned off at the Nov. 29 “No Sex in this City” event at Festivity at Peachtree Battle in Buckhead, an evening benefitting the Atlanta Women’s Foundation No Tolerance Campaign, the local crusade to eliminate child prostitution.
We hear that an opening bid hasn’t yet been established for the one-of-a-kind item, due to all the “Sex”-crazed Atlanta fans of the show who already are gearing up to throw Cosmos at each other as they ready their black Am Ex cards …
From Eddie’s to ‘Elizabethtown’
You may have yet to hear of them, but Carmen Keigans feels like she and her Atlanta pop-rock group I Nine “have won like the band lottery or something.” A mere three years ago, the foursome packed up their belongings in Columbia and moved west to Atlanta. “We heard that John Mayer played this place called Eddie’s Attic, so we went looking for it, and started playing the acoustic challenges and just hanging out,” recalled Keigans, just waking up in a Charlotte hotel Wednesday. One night, they decided to take the Decatur venue up on the offer to record their live performance for $20. That demo wound up on a computer that just happened to be playing when director Cameron Crowe was around. Crowe called and asked I Nine to record “Same in Any Language,” a song for his movie “Elizabethtown,” which ended up being featured in the film and on the soundtrack. And now Billboard magazine is hailing them as “one of 2007’s brightest lights,” their debut album “Heavy Weighs The King” is due in stores in early 2008 and tonight they’re opening for Train vocalist Pat Monahan, whose solo show is booked at the Variety Playhouse.
“A lot of times, you only get one shot in this business,” Keigans says. “And to have a live demo … take us this far, I mean, wow!”
Transitions
Travis Ward, the inaugural editor of The Atlantan, is departing the Modern Luxury glossy on Nov. 15. Ward is being replaced by the former Atlanta editor of PaperCity. After the shopping and society mag folded here, Nancy Staab served as deputy editor of PaperCity magazine’s Houston and Dallas editions. Staab’s work at The Atlantan begins with the January 2008 issue. Fun fact: Staab also has a Ph.D. in Renaissance and 19th-century literature from the University of North Carolina.
“I’m elated about an Atlanta homecoming and look forward to renewing the many professional and personal friendships I made in this hospitable city,” Staab says.
Celebrity birthdays
Singer Patti Page is 80. Singer Bonnie Raitt is 58. “Entertainment Tonight” host Mary Hart is 57. Actress Alfre Woodard is 54. Singer-songwriter Rickie Lee Jones is 53. Singer-actor Leif Garrett is 46. Actress Parker Posey is 39. Singer Bucky Covington (“American Idol”) is 30. TV personality Jack Osbourne (“The Osbournes”) is 22.
Contributing: Sonia Murray and news services.
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