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Athens melts away stress for the B-52s
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
While the B-52s’ first new studio album in 16 years doesn’t officially drop until March 25, “Funplex,” the title track and first single, already is garnering glowing reviews from fans who have downloaded it off iTunes.
On the guitar-laden dance track, vocalists Atlantan Cindy Wilson, Kate Pierson and Fred Schneider adopt the personas of shopping mall rats and the people who wait on them. Or as the band’s official MySpace.com page more accurately describes it: “Running amok on diet pills and slinging tacos in a sprawling shopping center.”
On iTunes, fans have posted rave reviews, including: “A little slice of pop heaven,” “Welcome back!” “I can’t stop playing it on my car stereo with the windows down and the sub woofer cranked,” “Love the guitar, love the vocals, love the wacky lyrics” and “The combined sound of Cindy Wilson and Kate Pierson together is simply one of the most amazing sounds ever.”
Oh, and by the way, the Athens-birthed band is online reading those reviews.
Explained Schneider to Buzz: “I personally loved the one that read: ‘It’s nice that they stopped off at the mall on their way to the home!’” The B’s frontman laughed and added: “Yeah, hopefully, they’ll take that one down!”
Schneider says the band also is looking forward to its star billing on Cyndi Lauper’s gay-friendly “True Colors” tour this summer (the tour lands at Chastain Park Amphitheatre June 16).
The band recorded portions of “Funplex” last year at John Keane Studio in Athens. On the band’s MySpace page, Pierson explains that returning to Athens (the studio was literally a few blocks from the site of the house where the band played its very first party on Valentine’s Day 1977) helped in the creation of the disc: “It felt like coming full circle. We were tapping back into that wellspring of creativity. It was like the spirit of when we started. My voice teacher used to say tension is the enemy of all art, and being in Athens melted away any tension. It’s so easygoing there.”
CELEBRITY DOCKET
Kid Rock waived his right to appear in a DeKalb County State Court on Monday and pleaded not guilty to multiple counts of battery for his part in a fight at a Buford Highway Waffle House in October.
Rock, a chart-topping “Hick-Hopper” from Detroit, is looking at a future court date and a trial before either a judge or jury. But the dates have not been set.
Rock, whose real name is Robert James Ritchie, and five others who were involved face charges in the incident. The 37-year-old is charged with five counts of battery and one count of simple battery, both misdemeanors.
Ritchie was arrested last October and locked up in the DeKalb County Jail before being released on a $1,000 bond. Police said he was finishing an early morning Waffle House meal following a performance at the Tabernacle in Atlanta when a customer recognized a woman in his entourage.
The customer, Harlem DeJon Akins, 39, exchanged words with the woman and an altercation ensued with Ritchie joining in the fight.
When the scuffle ended, Ritchie and his group boarded their tour bus and left the restaurant. Police pulled the bus over and arrested Ritchie and the others.
OVERSCENE
Peru’s former president Alejandro Toledo, and Chile’s former leader Ricardo Lagos dining at Veni Vidi Vici in Midtown. We’re told that their party of eight walked into the restaurant sans reservations (natch, the eatery was only too happy to accommodate the distinguished diners …). They sipped “a nice bottle of Amarone” and Toledo enjoyed chef Jamie Adams’ spaghetti and veal meatballs while Lagos made a meal out of risotto fruitte di mare (risotto with mussels, shrimp, clams and calamari).
Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin attending the opening night performance of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater at the Fox Theatre. We’re told she was the special guest of artistic director Judith Jamison (the two studied dance together back in Philadelphia as young girls at the Judimar School of Dance).
A BIT OF ‘BETRAYED’
Today’s excerpt from “Betrayed: The True Life Story of Lisa Lynette Clark” provides a fascinating glimpse into how complicated the holiday season can become when your boyfriend isn’t old enough to drive. Clark, you’ll recall, is the Douglasville 37-year-old who married her teenage lover and later gave birth to their child. The extremely explicit tell-all (written by Jennifer Grant, Clark’s former prison pal), was pulled from store shelves last week. A re-edited version is due out this week. From pages 46-49: “All week I offered to take him to the mall but he kept putting it off. I was mad that one day before Christmas he hadn’t bought me a present. It turned out that this was the beginning of him ruining every holiday we had together. … The next night I went to pick him up and he handed me a beautiful white Christmas Pooh bear. Although it was late I was impressed.”
CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS
Folk singer Miriam Makeba is 76. Singer Bobby Womack is 64. Actress Catherine O’Hara (right) is 54. Actress Patricia Heaton (“Everybody Loves Raymond”) is 50. Singer Evan Dando of the Lemonheads is 41. Country singer Jason Sellers is 37. Actress Andrea Bowen (“Desperate Housewives”) is 18.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“I love your outfit. I do want the earrings back.”
Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton clowning around with “Saturday Night Live” cast member Amy Poehler, who was dressed in an identical outfit while portraying Clinton in a sketch over the weekend.
Contributing: David Markiewicz 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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