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Room with a (tornado) view for UGA climatologists
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Some people would say that acquiring — and then losing — tickets to one of the great basketball games in the history of the University of Georgia would ruin the average weekend.
But John (right) and Pam Knox, both climatologists at UGA, got a great consolation prize: front-row seats for Friday’s tornado. At 9:30 on Friday the two weather freaks stood at the south-facing windows of their 14th-floor rooms at the Four Seasons in Midtown as the EF 2 tornado rolled through downtown, just a mile or so to the south. As a vantage point, it was “perfect” said John. And the show? “That was once in a lifetime. I have never seen a tornado path lit up by power line breaks before. I’ve seen it in videos, but I’ve never seen it in real life.” As successive power lines snapped downtown, sending bolts of greenish light upward into the storm, the Knoxes watched the twister’s progress from west to east. “People who go storm-chasing out in Oklahoma and Kansas don’t see as much in two weeks as we did in 10 minutes,” he said.
John and his brother, David Knox, had planned to attend a Saturday game, along with Pam and John’s 11-year-old son, Evan. Those plans were scuttled after the storm damaged the Georgia Dome. But Friday’s entertainment more than made up for the loss, he said.
RAPPING WITH GUV
Where’s the last place you’d expect to hear Atlanta rapper-actor T.I.’s “What You Know?” Try the basement of the governor’s mansion Wednesday night. As state senators and high-powered attorneys partook of muscadine spritzers and green curry mussels, T.I., the convicted felon currently under house arrest for allegedly purchasing machine guns, was rhyming out of the speakers at the home of Gov. Sonny Perdue.
Then again, he did invite Georgia’s numerous Grammy nominees and winners over for spritzers, shrimp cocktail, lobster bisque shooters and the like — and T.I. is a two-time Grammy winner.
“It’s a great evening to not only recognize the creativity but also the economic impetus that the music industry and the creative industry in Atlanta and throughout Georgia contribute to the state. And you know, music has the ability to bring us all together and that’s exactly what it’s done tonight.”
Among the governor’s guests were fellow lawmakers (state Sen. Jeff Mullins); power attorneys (Joel Katz); at least one Georgia Music Hall of Fame honoree (Dr. Bobbie Bailey); a lone former Falcon/recording studio owner (Bob Whitfield); and, of course, numerous Grammy winners (Earl Klugh, Freddy Cole, Q of 112, DJ Toomp), nominees (Karen Peck and New River) and fellow artists (Diana DeGarmo) who couldn’t pass up a tour of the people’s mansion. Or perhaps, pecan phyllo cups.
CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS
Singer Solomon Burke is 68. Actor Timothy Dalton is 62. Singer Eddie Money is 59. Actor Gary Oldman is 50. Actor Matthew Broderick is 46. Actress-comedian Rosie O’Donnell is 46. Guitarist Andrew Copeland of Sister Hazel is 40.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“Even though they were an audience that we know likes us, still, they have blogs, and if there were only two good songs and nine crap songs, the world would know, and it would have been over.”
R.E.M.’s Peter Buck
Contributing: Bo Emerson, Sonia Murray 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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