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Access Atlanta > Blog > Archives > 2008 > June
June 2008
Jill Scott engaged to Atlanta drummer
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Eagle-eyed BET Awards viewers may have noticed a certain significant ring on R&B singer Jill Scott’s left hand when she performed her tribute to soul pioneer Al Green this week. Well, her drummer Lil John Roberts — a staple on the Atlanta music scene from the Yin Yang and FunkJazz Kafe days to the Tuesday Jam happening weekly at Sugar Hill — gave it to her.
As Buzz reported last month, they were walking hand-in-hand at the Fox Theatre when Scott made a surprise appearance during the Roots and Erykah Badu show. Her reps confirmed to us that he has popped the question, and the fairly recently divorced Scott is engaged again.
CELEBRITY DOCKET
Country singer Mindy McCready has been arrested in Tennessee and charged with violating her probation.
Authorities are accusing the 32-year-old of falsifying her community service records. Williamson County Sheriff’s Department officer Charlotte Spencer says McCready turned herself in this week, posted the $5,000 bond and was released two hours later.
She is on probation for a 2004 drug charge.
Her attorney, Lee Ofman, declined to comment on the new charge.
A corrections official says McCready will go before the judge who sentenced her, and he will decide what, if any, action to take. McCready’s court date wasn’t immediately available.
CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS
Saturday: Comedian-director Mel Brooks is 82. Actress Kathy Bates is 60. Actress Mary Stuart Masterson is 42. Actor John Cusack is 42. Actress Tichina Arnold (“Everybody Hates Chris”) is 37. Country singer Kellie Pickler is 22.
Sunday: Actor Gary Busey is 64. Comedian Richard Lewis is 61. Actor-turned-congressman-turned-radio host Fred Grandy is 60. Singer Colin Hay of Men At Work is 55. Actress Melora Hardin (“The Office”) is 41. Rapper DJ Shadow is 36. Singer Nicole Scherzinger of Pussycat Dolls is 30.
HIGH FIVE
Television
The Top OnDemand programs for the week of June 16-22, as determined by Comcast customers in metro Atlanta:
1. Take a Bow,” Rihanna, music video, Music Choice
2. “SpongeBob,” “Whale of a Birthday / Karate Island,” Nickelodeon
3. “Family Guy,” “Patriot Games,” TBS
4. “2 Pistols — She Got It,” T-Pain & Cuto, music video, Music Choice
5. “Bust It Baby Girl,” Plies, music video, Music Choice
— Courtesy: Rentrak’s OnDemand Essentials
UNCOUPLING
Actor Bill Murray and his wife of nearly 11 years are divorced. A judge in Charleston County in South Carolina has signed off on the divorce agreement barely a month after Jennifer Butler Murray asked for the separation. The couple were married in July 1997.
The couple’s four children will live with their mother, while the 57-year-old actor-comedian will have visitation rights and pay child support, according to court papers. Jennifer Murray also will get their home on Sullivans Island, S.C., and a second house in Hemet, Calif. Other documents detailing the divorce were sealed at the couple’s request. The court papers were first obtained by the Web site TMZ.com.
Contributing: Rodney Ho, 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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‘Millionaire’ in town for auditions
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Buzz has learned that producers for the television show, “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire,” will have auditions for contestants from 7 to 11 a.m. Friday at Medieval Times in Gwinnett County.
The game show’s seventh season will be taped in New York from July to November. Selected contestants pay their own expenses.
Candidates are being sought for the program’s regular trivia format and its specialty-themed episodes.
“Netflix Million Dollar Movie Week,” is based on movie trivia. “Wedding Week” features engaged couples.
“Famous Names Week” showcases contestants with famous names.
“Three Generations Week” consists of three-member family teams, such as a grandparent, parent and child.
And during “Halloween Week,” contestants will dress in costume. (If you’re interested, come to the audition in costume or bring a photograph.)
The audition process is painless, says Trisha Miller, who handles public relations for the show.
Potential contestants will take a general trivia test and a movie-oriented trivia test.
A movie question might be something like, “In ‘My Best Friend’s Wedding,’ Julia Roberts tried to derail Dermot Mulroney’s marriage to what actress?”
If you pass the test, producers will call you back for an afternoon interview.
“That’s to gauge your personality to see if you would be entertaining on TV,” Miller says. “Then they will send you a postcard in a week or two to let you know if you’ve been chosen.
Medieval Times is at Discover Mills, 5900 Sugarloaf Parkway, Lawrenceville. For more information, call 1-888-935-6878, or visit www.medievaltimes.com.
OVERSCENE
Jane Fonda enjoying a leisurely dinner with a friend at Trois in Midtown. We’re told the two-time Oscar winner enjoyed the halibut and the Trois signature cocktail made out of mint-infused Tanqueray gin, green tea and hints of rose water and fresh lemon.
Olympic gold medalist and Morehouse grad Edwin Moses at Vita in Buckhead having martinis and dinner in the bar area.
CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS
Singer Bruce Johnston of the Beach Boys is 66. Actress Julia Duffy (“Newhart”) is 57. Country singer Lorrie Morgan is 49. Writer-director J.J. Abrams (“Lost,” “Alias”) is 42. Actor Tobey Maguire (above) (“Spider-Man”) is 33. Actor Drake Bell (“Drake and Josh”) is 22. Actor Ed Westwick (“Gossip Girl”) is 21. Actress Madylin Sweeten (“Everybody Loves Raymond”) is 17.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“Well, the main difference, of course, is that he’s larger than life and better looking.”
Former Atlanta mayor and U.N. ambassador Andrew Young on the new downtown statue of himself during an interview with the AJC Thursday after Buzz informed him that we wave at his likeness daily on the trek to work
Contributing: Rodney Ho, Adrianne M. Murchison 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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‘Millionaire’ in town for auditions
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Buzz has learned that producers for the television show, “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire,” will have auditions for contestants from 7 to 11 a.m. Friday at Medieval Times in Gwinnett County.
The game show’s seventh season will be taped in New York from July to November. Selected contestants pay their own expenses.
Candidates are being sought for the program’s regular trivia format and its specialty-themed episodes.
“Netflix Million Dollar Movie Week,” is based on movie trivia. “Wedding Week” features engaged couples.
“Famous Names Week” showcases contestants with famous names.
“Three Generations Week” consists of three-member family teams, such as a grandparent, parent and child.
And during “Halloween Week,” contestants will dress in costume. (If you’re interested, come to the audition in costume or bring a photograph.)
The audition process is painless, says Trisha Miller, who handles public relations for the show.
Potential contestants will take a general trivia test and a movie-oriented trivia test.
A movie question might be something like, “In ‘My Best Friend’s Wedding,’ Julia Roberts tried to derail Dermot Mulroney’s marriage to what actress?”
If you pass the test, producers will call you back for an afternoon interview.
“That’s to gauge your personality to see if you would be entertaining on TV,” Miller says. “Then they will send you a postcard in a week or two to let you know if you’ve been chosen.
Medieval Times is at Discover Mills, 5900 Sugarloaf Parkway, Lawrenceville. For more information, call 1-888-935-6878, or visit www.medievaltimes.com.
OVERSCENE
Jane Fonda enjoying a leisurely dinner with a friend at Trois in Midtown. We’re told the two-time Oscar winner enjoyed the halibut and the Trois signature cocktail made out of mint-infused Tanqueray gin, green tea and hints of rose water and fresh lemon.
Olympic gold medalist and Morehouse grad Edwin Moses at Vita in Buckhead having martinis and dinner in the bar area.
CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS
Singer Bruce Johnston of the Beach Boys is 66. Actress Julia Duffy (“Newhart”) is 57. Country singer Lorrie Morgan is 49. Writer-director J.J. Abrams (“Lost,” “Alias”) is 42. Actor Tobey Maguire (above) (“Spider-Man”) is 33. Actor Drake Bell (“Drake and Josh”) is 22. Actor Ed Westwick (“Gossip Girl”) is 21. Actress Madylin Sweeten (“Everybody Loves Raymond”) is 17.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“Well, the main difference, of course, is that he’s larger than life and better looking.”
Former Atlanta mayor and U.N. ambassador Andrew Young on the new downtown statue of himself during an interview with the AJC Thursday after Buzz informed him that we wave at his likeness daily on the trek to work
Contributing: Rodney Ho, Adrianne M. Murchison 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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Author Jackie Collins parks in ATL
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Many big-name novelists tend to interact with the public only reluctantly or quietly.
And then there’s Jackie Collins, who’ll hit town Thursday in an enormous touring bus once used by Mariah Carey and currently sponsored by Harrah’s Entertainment. The woman who made the phrase “Hollywood Wives” a part of everyday language will appear at Outwrite Books at 7:30 p.m.
It’s all part of the promotional push for her new book, “Married Lovers,” about a megawatt movie star, a randy late-night talk show host, a gorgeous young fitness guru — and the mysterious figure who may end up killing them all. Not that that will stop any of them from having lots of colorful sex, of course.
“They are raunchy, but moral,” Collins laughed by phone last week from her latest tour stop at Caesar’s Indiana, referring to her books. “The good guy gets what he wants at the end.”
Atlanta’s getting what it wants with this Collins appearance, said Outwrite owner Philip Rafshoon.
“She hasn’t been here in years,” said Rafshoon, who had 350 books on hand late last week and was expecting a big crowd. “She’s one of the first big writers to write popular books about modern relationships, all kinds of relationships.”
Nor does the fun end after Collins finishes schmoozing and signing at Outwrite. There’s an afterparty, featuring a Jackie Collins lookalike contest, at neighboring bar Blake’s on the Park.
SIR SALMAN RUSHDIE
Queen Elizabeth II conferred a knighthood on “The Satanic Verses” author Salman Rushdie on Wednesday, a year after the announcement of the knighthood provoked protests from the Muslim world.
“I really have no regrets about any of my work,” Rushdie told reporters after being asked about “The Satanic Verses.”
“This is, as I say, an honor not for any specific book but for a very long career in writing and I’m happy to see that recognized,” he said. Rushdie, 61, published his first novel, “Grimus,” in 1975. He is currently a Distinguished Writer in Residence at Emory University.
ATLANTA COUPLE WED AT ‘TODAY’ LIVE TV ALTAR
When Atlanta couple LaDonna Bradford and Darnell Suggs got hitched at 8:40 a.m. Wednesday, they didn’t have to hire a videographer.
The nuclear reactor inspector and computer engineer just had to remember to set the TiVo.
The winners of the “Race to the Altar” contest on “Today” were married live on the venerable NBC morning show. The show’s outdoors Rockefeller Plaza studio in New York City was magically made into an “East meets West”-themed wedding chapel, complete with hanging white and pink paper lanterns. The decor, along with the bridal gown, bridesmaid dresses, groomsmen tuxedoes and a honeymoon to Bora Bora were all selected by “Today” viewers in recent weeks.
The bride walked down the aisle to Etta James’ “At Last.”
A 22-image online photo gallery of the wedding was exclusively shot by Atlanta-based celebrity wedding photographer Denis Reggie, who was flown up to capture the special occasion. The online photo album can be viewed at www.today.msnbc.com.
The one thing the couple did have control over? They wrote their own vows which they expertly remembered and recited on live television.
The pair made a big chunk of America reach for the tissue box as Suggs gazed into Bradford’s beaming face and told her: “I offer my heart and soul to you and I pledge my love to you for life. You’re my best friend and my confidante. I would go to the ends of the earth to see you smile.”
Bradford replied: “I love you dearly. I promise to be there through thick and thin. I will love you with every beat of my heart.”
Later during a toast with “Today” co-hosts Meredith Vieira and Matt Lauer, Bradford said the couple had no regrets about allowing America to decide the details of their special day.
“Not at all,” she said. “I can only imagine dealing with everything you all dealt with for us.”
“American Idol” contestant (and the bride’s cousin!) Melinda Doolittle surprised the couple at their 65th floor Rainbow Room wedding reception by singing “Never Felt This Way” for the couple’s first dance.
“Today” then temporarily transformed into “Dancing With the Stars” as Suggs and Bradford cut loose with a carefully choreographed dance routine featuring dips and lifts.
As Vieira observed: “You now have the best wedding video out of all of your friends!”
COUPLING
Season 2 “American Idol” winner Ruben Studdard has found love in the ATL and is set to marry an Atlanta flight attendant this Saturday in his hometown of Birmingham.
Studdard’s manager Cedric Evans told Buzz that Studdard, 29, met Surata Zuri McCants, 30, at a CD signing at the Howell Mill Road Wal-Mart in October 2006. “I think it was love at first sight,” Evans said. “He’s on cloud 12.”
Studdard’s next album will feature covers of R&B standards by the likes of Donny Hathaway and Marvin Gaye. He’ll be at the Fox Theatre in mid-November in a production of “Ain’t Misbehavin’ .”
CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS
Musician Mick Jones of The Clash is 53. Singer Chris Isaak is 52. Writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson (“Magnolia,” “Boogie Nights”) is 38. Actor Sean Hayes (“Will and Grace”) is 38. Actor Chris O’Donnell (right) is 38. Country singer Gretchen Wilson is 34.
Contributing: Rodney Ho, 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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Veteran soap star finally wins Emmy
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
So exactly how boisterous did things get at Buzz Central Tuesday when “The Young and the Restless” legend Jeanne Cooper called to dish about her first-ever lead actress Emmy win?
Well, one colleague had to politely ask us to pipe down and an eavesdropping CBS publicist had to mute the conversation at points.
But it’s difficult not to be entertained by Cooper, who’s both a gifted storyteller and an f-bomb lobbing grandmother.
For 35 years, the Hollywood veteran has portrayed Genoa City grand dame Katherine Chancellor on the CBS soap. While Cooper has been nominated nine times for an Emmy in the role, she had never won.
Her luck finally changed last Friday at Hollywood’s Kodak Theatre at the 35th annual Daytime Emmy Awards when her “Y&R” co-workers literally banged on a table and she received a standing ovation from her peers when her name was finally called.
“It was about damn time, wasn’t it?!” Cooper, 79, hooted. “My house looks like a flower shop. The phone hasn’t stopped ringing. It’s totally wild.”
Cooper only finally decided to attend the awards last week after she spotted a vacant parking space on Rodeo Drive in Hollywood.
“A friend found me a gorgeous gown,” she said. “I didn’t even want to go by the boutique to try it on. I was busy with other things. My grandson was graduating. I was literally double-parked in front of the store and people were bringing outfits out to me on the sidewalk! But then, miraculously, a parking space opened right nearby. So I put a couple of quarters in the meter and went in.”
So was Cooper as stunned as she appeared on television?
“Oh my God, yes!” she conceded. “You have to understand I’ve been through this many, many times. I’m perhaps the only person who truly knows how Susan Lucci felt all those years when she didn’t win. It’s 110-degrees outside. You’re melting. And you get all dressed up to go sit in a theatre in the middle of the afternoon only to smile and applaud while someone else’s name is called! And you end up asking yourself, ‘Do I [expletive] need this?!’ I’d rather go to a movie.”
But industry insiders were more optimistic about Cooper’s chances this year.
Over the past year, Cooper has consistently been front burner on the top-rated daytime drama.
After all, the writers literally dropped a shabbily constructed shopping center on Katherine and the town tart, Amber Moore (played by Adrienne Frantz).
Oh, and she had to emotionally admit to her sworn enemy/out-of-wedlock daughter Jill Foster Abbott (played by Jess Walton) that, during a bout of binge drinking in the 1970s, she accidentally gave away Jill’s child and secretly substituted another.
“Thank God the writers still supply this old broad with something to do!” Cooper cackles. “And that material was so much fun to play. Katherine’s relationship with Amber is especially a unique one. She’s young enough to be her granddaughter and they’re at opposite ends of the spectrum. But Katherine, I think, sees a little of herself in Amber. Katherine’s had her share of stable boys too! It’s one of those relationships that daytime explores so well.”
Ironically, Cooper’s first Emmy win as an actress comes 4 years after she received a lifetime achievement award Emmy.
“I introduced the two statuettes to each other,” she said. “I held up my lifetime achievement award and said, ‘Now you make sense.’ “
Cooper is keeping her latest piece of Emmy hardware in a sitting room next to the kitchen “so I can look at it from pretty much anywhere in my house.”
And Cooper can relate to her character’s contentious on-screen relationship with her daughter as well. She jokes that her real-life daughter Caren didn’t talk to her for two days after her Emmy win because she forgot to thank her in her acceptance speech.
“I had to tell her, ‘Mom didn’t even know what I was saying up there.’ Afterwards, people told me that I kissed [talk show Emmy winner] Tyra Banks! It’s all a blur.” The Emmy also ensures that “Y&R” writers keep coming up with juicy storylines for Cooper.
Without revealing too much, the actress says fans can expect a surprising new layer of the Katherine/Jill dynamic to reveal itself slowly over the next year.
“We’ve already talked,” Cooper spills. “The juice is already being written. This just gives the writers a little more motivation. And if that doesn’t work, I can always start bringing my Emmy to work with me!”
If you have a tip, call 404-526-2749. Or fax 404-526-5509. Or e-mail: buzz@ajc.com.
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It’s Jamia’s day
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Fans of CBS’ “The Young and the Restless” will get a good, long look this month at the daytime soap’s newest star — 11-year-old Jamia.
The Oscar show singer and “August Rush” co-star, who shortened her performance name from Jamia Simone Nash to Jamia, begins appearing on “Restless” today as Ana, the daughter of single mother Tyra Hamilton (played by “America’s Next Top Model” winner Eva Marcille).
Jamia, who lives in Buford, is in Los Angeles all this month taping 21 episodes. On today’s show she attends the 21st birthday party for the character Lily (Christel Khalil) and sings “It’s Your Day.”
“My whole family is out here with me,” Jamia said by phone Monday as the actress/singer and her father, James Nash, were en route to a meeting with record executives.
She says a soap is a lot different from some TV shows she watches, like “That’s So Raven.” “It’s fun because you can have a dramatic side.”
While in California,
she plans to visit Six Flags Magic Mountain (“I’m very excited about it”). And
when she returns to metro Atlanta in August, she’ll be getting ready for her 12th birthday.
“Turning 12 is going to be a big thing,” she says. “That’s the last number of being a preteen. Then after that, it’s all teenager.”
For viewers who can’t wait until the show airs at 12:30 p.m. on WGCL-TV, “Y&R” has posted a sneak peek of “It’s Your Day” on YouTube. Here’s the link: www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQQgxNw01lg.
ABOUT A BOY
For about 10 minutes Tuesday, we rummaged through our Reagan-era wardrobe, looking for our weathered Culture Club concert T-shirt. After all, Boy George had just announced an Aug. 19 Atlanta stop at Center Stage on his U.S. summer tour. Alas, not even an hour later, word arrived that the tour has been scrapped because the Culture Club frontperson has been denied a visa by U.S. authorities.
The tour was to include a free concert at the New York City Department of Sanitation’s Family Day in August. Faithful Buzz readers will recall that the singer worked for the department in 2006 while performing court-ordered community service in a drug case.
His managers say the singer has been denied a visa because he’s awaiting trial in London.
The singer, whose hits include “Do You Really Want to Hurt Me,” has pleaded not guilty to imprisoning an alleged male escort in the basement of his London home (sigh, haven’t we all had that problem at one time or another?). The U.S. Department of State, meanwhile, tastefully declined comment, citing confidentiality of visa records.
OVERSCENE
R&B singer Mario, taking a break from the recording studio to party on the rooftop of the Glenn hotel downtown. Other celebs taking in the nightspot and the new Maxim Prime eatery in the hotel included Chris Redman of the Atlanta Falcons and Zaza Pachulia of the Hawks , MTV’s “Real World: Paris” castmates C.T. Tamburello and Ace Amerson and Emmy winner and author Leslie Jordan.
CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS
Movie director Sidney Lumet is 84. Actress June Lockhart is 83. Actor-comedian Jimmie Walker is 61. Actor Ricky Gervais is 47. Singer George Michael is 45. Actress Angela Kinsey (“The Office”) is 37. Actress Linda Cardellini (“ER”) is 33.
Contributing: Bob Longino and news services
If you have a tip, call 404-526-2749. Or fax 404-526-5509. Or e-mail: buzz@ajc.com.
Fashion Cares fund-raiser bags Mizrahi
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
For weeks, Fashion Cares aficionados have been whispering about how the benefit’s founder, Jeffrey Kalinsky, is going to top himself this year after booking fashion legend Oscar de la Renta for the 2007 soiree.
On Monday, Buzz managed to pull this year’s bold-faced name out of 2008 Fashion Cares chairs Lila Hertz and Sacha Taylor. For this year’s fund-raiser for the Susan G. Komen for the Cure and the Atlanta AIDS Partnership Fund — set for Aug. 25 — Kalinsky and company will welcome clothing designer Isaac Mizrahi to Atlanta.
Says the “Unzipped” documentary star and designer of duds for Target of the New York and Atlanta retailer: “Jeffrey has always stood for style and good taste. I’m proud and excited to be a part of an event that gives back to the Susan G. Komen for the Cure and the Atlanta AIDS Partnership Fund.”
For the event’s 16th year, the 55 Allen Plaza building downtown has once again been secured as the venue for Fashion Cares. Says Taylor: “This beautiful post-modern high-rise, nestled among Barry Real Estate Co.’s downtown development is the perfect backdrop for what promises to be our best and perhaps most entertaining show ever.”
And according to what Buzz was able to confirm Monday, “best” may very well translate into a shorter show than the 2007 model, which saw more than a few attendees depart early, due to its, er, extravagant length.
Nibbles at this year’s affair shouldn’t be a problem either, given that Dennis Dean Catering already has stepped up and donated 100 percent of the evening’s snacks.
Hertz and Taylor, meanwhile, sound hell-bent on topping last year’s record-setting $700,000 in an ever-tightening economy as well. The pair already has $125,000 in donations for the 2008 event.
For info: www.jeffreyfashioncares.com/atlanta or phone 404-745-0293.
ENCOUNTER WITH A LEGEND — CARLIN
On Monday, Atlanta comic and Punchline regular Al Ernst was wistfully recalling his 20 minutes with a comic legend last year. Ernst was in the middle of his second set at the Loft in Columbus when a ball-capped patron slid in the back of the venue. “He looked vaguely familiar,” Ernst, 46, told us. “I couldn’t tell if it was someone from high school or the cops.”
After his set, Ernst was stunned to discover it was George Carlin at the back table. Carlin, who died Sunday at age 71, was gigging down the street at the Columbus Civic Center.
“Earlier in the evening, I remember cracking that the reason Carlin was a little light on attendance was because I was in town,” he recalled. “I got to spend 20 minutes talking about the business with him. He repeated four lines of my act back to me and told me, ‘That’s good stuff.’ That single moment completely validated my entire 20-year career. I remember thinking, ‘I can take a job as a janitor now!’ He told me he was on his way out of town after his show and saw the sign out front and told the driver to stop. It was an amazing night. So often in this business, you meet your heroes and you go away thinking ‘What a jerk.’ Carlin was the exact opposite. When I was just a kid, I memorized one of his first HBO specials and did the act for my friends on the bus. It killed and I thought, ‘This would be a nice way to make a living.’ I got to tell him that story. He smiled. Then I ran back through that night’s act in my head just to make sure I hadn’t stolen any of his stuff!”
OVERSCENE
Victoria’s Secret model Selita Ebanks took her latest role as Atlanta Peach magazine summer issue cover girl seriously Friday night during a private dinner for 30 at Maxim Prime restaurant downtown. Midway through the evening, Ebanks scheduled a wardrobe change from a tiny gray minidress and Pierre Hardy booties into a Louis Vuitton blazer with knee-high gladiator sandals. Oh, and thanks to attendee and “Project Runway” fan fave Mychael Knight, who arrived with an original frock wrapped up for her return trip to New York, she had an outfit for the road as well. Among the notables in attendance: Atlanta Peach publisher Elizabeth Schulte Roth; 790 the Zone sports radio president Andrew Saltzman and wife, Amy; NBA stars Kevin Willis and Shandon Anderson; Dave FM morning man Zakk Tyler and Atlanta City Councilman Kwanza Hall, who was busy thanking folks for helping to reinvigorate the downtown area as it continues to recover from the aftermath of last March’s tornado.
Oh, and the best Victoria’s Secret job perk, according to Ebanks? The complimentary, high-end panties, natch.
HIGH FIVE
Television
The Top Five On Demand programs for the week ending June 15, as determined by Comcast customers in metro Atlanta:
1. “Family Guy,” “Bill and Peter’s Bogus Journey” episode, TBS
2. “Take a Bow,” Rihanna, music video, Music Choice
3. “SpongeBob,” “Krabby Land/The Camping” episode, Nickelodeon, Kids
4. “Take You Down,” Chris Brown, music video, Music Choice
5. “Bust It Baby Girl,” Plies, music video, Music Choice
— Courtesy: Rentrak’s OnDemand Essentials
CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS
Actor Al Molinaro (“Happy Days”) is 89. Actress Michele Lee is 66. Actor-director Georg Stanford Brown is 65. Drummer Mick Fleetwood of Fleetwood Mac is 61. Actress Sherry Stringfield (“ER”) is 41. Actress Mindy Kaling (“The Office”) is 29. Singer Solange Knowles is 22.
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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Great night set stage for R.E.M. show
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Buzz revisited the glory years Saturday night, taking in a little R.E.M. at Lakewood Amphitheatre, where the group finished up its North American tour. Only in 1989, we didn’t have the privilege or the right to purchase $11 beers. Not that we’re complaining (that loudly).
A beautiful night for an outdoor show, highlighted visually by “Electrolite” in the middle of the set, where the mostly packed house lit up the cellphones for a portion of the song.
R.E.M. played a few songs from its latest, “Accelerate,” but opened with “These Days” and pulled out “Driver 8,” “Pretty Persuasion” and “The One I Love.” Michael Stipe was energetic, and his wispy (Buzz thinks he actually “did the robot” for a moment) moves were very reminiscent of the “Losing My Religion” video back in the day.
The show lasted about two hours, and R.E.M. played a 22-song set with a six-song encore. Modest Mouse and The National opened the show.
HELPING WITH RELOCATION
Atlanta really is blessed with some creative real estate types. First we heard about bus trips to view recent foreclosures. Now comes an outfit called Exit Realty 1st Class, which aims to help folks heading from Fort McPherson to Fort Bragg in scenic Fayetteville, N.C., (the town and base both lovingly rendered in Tom Wolfe’s “Ambush at Fort Bragg”) as a result of the Base Realignment and Closure process.
A relocation presentation begins with breakfast at 10 a.m. Friday at the Country Inn at 759 Pollard St. Info: 404-658-1961 or 910-864-3948.
NOT A GOOD THING
Martha Stewart has been banned from Britain — but she got a warm welcome Friday in Poland, her grandparents’ homeland, the Associated Press reports.
The lifestyle guru was planning to visit Britain in the coming days for business engagements, but the Daily Telegraph and other British newspapers reported Friday that she was denied permission to enter because of her 2004 conviction for obstructing justice.
Stewart’s assistants confirmed the visa denial, but they gave no other details beyond saying they hope the decision will be reversed.
“Martha loves England; the country and English culture are near and dear to her heart,” said Charles Koppelman, chairman of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia. “She has engagements with English companies and business leaders and hopes this can be resolved so that she will be able to visit soon.”
LOCAL TV EMMYS AWARDED
The Southeastern Emmys spread the wealth Saturday night among the Atlanta news stations. WSB-TV took home the “Station Excellence” award for best TV station. WGCL-TV, in a mild surprise, won best daily newscast for its 11 p.m. version.
Veteran anchor Russ Spencer of WAGA-TV took home his third Emmy for best anchor while Blair Meeks won best on-air reporter for the third year in a row. Unfortunately for his former employer, WXIA-TV, Meeks recently left to join the PR firm Jackson Spalding.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
“American Idol” judge Randy Jackson is 52. Actress Frances McDormand is 51. Actress Selma Blair is 36. Singer KT Tunstall is 33. Singer-songwriter Jason Mraz is 31. Singer Duffy is 24.
CELEBRITY DOCKET
Temperamental model Naomi Campbell was sentenced to 200 hours of community service Friday after pleading guilty to assaulting two police officers after an “air rage” incident at Heathrow Airport.
She was also ordered to pay 200 pounds ($400) to each of the police officers she attacked and 150 pounds ($300) to Miles Sutherland, the captain of the British Airways plane she disrupted, in addition to a 2,300 pound ($4,600) fine.
(NOT) ON MY iPOD?
Kenny G, who performs Wednesday at the Chastain Park Amphitheater, says he doesn’t have an iPod. What? No iPod? And somewhere Steve Jobs begins shaking at this disturbance in the Force. “I listen to music to study it, period; not for the enjoyment of it,” Mr. G says. On those occasions the contemporary sax player says he turns to jazz masters, such as, Sonny Rollins, Charlie Parker and John Coltrane. Presumably on monster headphones hooked into ye olde reel to reel.
Contributing: Jennifer Brett, Adrianne Murchison, Rodney Ho 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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New eater must step up to the hot dog plate
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Atlanta’s bigger-than-life, trash-talkin’ Dale Boone won’t be scarfing hot dogs this Saturday at Lenox Square mall for the Nathan’s Famous regional contest.
Why not? George Shea, a spokesman for Major League Eating, a world governing body for competitive eating, said Boone left the federation after being punished one too many times for participating in “nonsanctioned” food-eating contests. Boone couldn’t be reached for comment, but in the past, he has told Buzz he felt constrained by the league’s rules.
Boone made it to the national televised eating contest in Coney Island at least three times, including last year, but has never come close to winning. (The regional winner is guaranteed a trip to New York on July 4.)
Three ranked competitive eaters from metro Atlanta are hoping to take Boone’s spot at 1 p.m. in the Lenox food court: Loren “Bubba” Yarbrough of Newnan (No. 33), “SuperPaul” Barlow of Kennesaw (No. 34) and Larry McNeil of Atlanta (No. 38).
The favored local is Yarbrough, a city of Atlanta sewer plant manager who came in second behind Boone last year in the regionals with 21 hot dogs consumed. The battle has been cut from 12 to 10 minutes, but he thinks he can still break 20. “I fill up quickly,” Yarbrough said. “Hopefully I can get a jump on whoever I’m up against.”
Yarbrough’s biggest competitor may be Pete Davekos (No. 25), who’s flying in from Cambridge, Mass. His 2007 hot-dog total? 17. “I lost last year,” Davekos said. “I feel I need a little retribution.”
A likely wild-card participant? SuperPhat Mikey, the morning co-host on Star 94, who’s known for prodigious eating binges. (UPDATED: Davekos won Saturday afternoon with 19.25 dogs eaten and will be going to Coney Island, just beating out Yarbrough, who was penalized for leaving too much bun detritus on his plate and credited with 18.5. SuperPhat Mikey finished with seven in his first try in this competition.)
‘IDOL’ FINALIST TO SING ALONGSIDE GREATS
Paris Bennett, season five “American Idol” finalist and (briefly) a Fayetteville resident, comes back to Atlanta as a duet partner with her grandmother Ann Nesby tonight at Philips Arena for a diva-licious concert sponsored by AARP.
Bennett — who last spoke with Buzz at Noodle in Midtown 16 months ago wearing sunglasses indoors and acting blasé — was more engaged via phone this week.
She’s psyched to be on stage with the likes of Dionne Warwick, CeCe Winans and Shirley Caesar, many of whom are friends with Nesby.
And though her first album last year failed to generate much traction (about 20,000 sold), she’s planning a Christmas album and a jazz-flavored release. She’s also acting in two upcoming films: “Mama, I Want To Sing,” in which she plays Ciara’s younger sister, and “Baby O,” a musical.
“I like the movie thing,” Bennett said.
USHER’S CRIB PRICED TO SELL AT $2 MILLION
Psst … real estate bargain hunters, Usher’s got a deal for you!
According to the Wall Street Journal, the R&B star’s Alpharetta home at Country Club of the South (home to the likes of Jeff Foxworthy and John Smoltz) has been marked down to $2 million from $2.3 million last fall.
The five bedroom home, featured in an episode of MTV’s “Cribs,” includes a salon, guest house, pool and recording studio. Usher purchased it in 1998 for $1.2 million.”
“We’re trying to price it to sell,” listing agent Lisa Robinson of Robinson Realty Group told the Journal. “We’re competing with brand-new construction, and the market is relatively slow here.”
2ND DANIEL MAY ADDS IDENTIFIER
Daniel Thomas May — the actor playing Orlando in Georgia Shakespeare’s “As You Like It” — is the same guy who’s been performing around town for years as Daniel May.
“I was tossing and turning last night trying to think up a good story to try to make it more exciting than it actually is,” said the popular Atlanta actor, who recently decided to use his middle name in all references.
Why the change? Two years after May joined Actors’ Equity Association in 2003, the union informed him that there was another Daniel May on its roster and suggested he alter his name to avoid a mix-up. May began using his full name on contracts but only recently made the change publicly.
“I hadn’t expected it to be so controversial!” he joked in an e-mail.
HIGH FIVE
Hot 107.9
For the week of June 10
1. “Put On” Young Jeezy
2. “Lollipop” Lil Wayne
3. “A Milli” Lil Wayne
4. “Bust It Baby (Part 2)” Plies
5. “Donk” Soulja Boy
— Mediabase 24/7
CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS
Actress Jane Russell is 87. Actor Bernie Kopell (“The Love Boat”) is 75. Musician Ray Davies of The Kinks is 64. Actress Meredith Baxter (“Family Ties”) is 61. Actor Michael Gross (“Family Ties”) is 61. Guitarist Nils Lofgren is 57. Cartoonist Berke Breathed (“Opus,” “Bloom County,”) is 51. Actor Doug Savant (“Desperate Housewives,” “Melrose Place”) is 44. Actress Juliette Lewis is 35. Singer Brandon Flowers of The Killers is 27.
Contributing: Wendell Brock 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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‘Clarice’ not bitter about losing role on show
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Fayetteville native and actor Gary Anthony Williams has lost his gig as cross-dressing Clarence/Clarice on ABC’s “Boston Legal.”
But he’s not upset he won’t be on the fifth and final season next season of this quirky dramedy.
“It’s the single best experience I’ve ever had,” he told Buzz. “Without sounding too Hollywood, I have to say working with William Shatner and James Spader was absolutely amazing.”
Williams said he was only supposed to show up for one episode, but producer and writer David E. Kelley kept him for two years. “It was a gift that lasted far longer than I had anticipated,” he said.
He didn’t get an official scripted exit, and he doesn’t expect the show to even reference him again. That’s simply how Kelley handles character departures. They typically just disappear.
Williams also plays the cynical Uncle Ruckus on Aaron McGruder’s Adult Swim animated series “The Boondocks,” but he’s not sure if it will be back a third season. Otherwise, he’s working on a new Mike Judge (“Beavis and Butthead”) animated series where he plays a neighbor to a very granola family. And he has a role as a possible killer in an upcoming horror flick starring John Cusack called “The Factory.”
The former “Malcolm in the Middle” star returns to Atlanta at least once a year to visit family and stops by Agatha’s: A Taste of Mystery. He writes plays for the downtown theater once a year. His newest is a Western parody dubbed “Annie Gets Your Uzi” set to run later this summer.
A GOOD REASON TO MISS REUNION
Atlanta’s Richard Blais, who fell just short of winning Bravo’s “Top Chef,” missed the reunion show Wednesday night because he and his wife were having a child. But he showed up on satellite.
Blais admitted to the judges the night of the finale that he had “choked.”
“The fact he said it to us I was really shocked,” said judge Gail Simmons during the reunion show. “Richard is very honest. I don’t think he has much of a poker face,” added judge Ted Allen.
During the reunion show, Blais was dubbed “our little Willy Wonka.” His most memorable dish from the show? The banana scallops with guacamole.
As for his problems during the finale, Blais said, “I was my own worst enemy. I overthought it a little bit. I didn’t relax and do what I did throughout the competition.” But he did receive a baby-sized Top Chef shirt for his newborn daughter Riley.
JACKSON TRIES HAND AT REALITY SHOW
Part-time Atlantan Janet Jackson is getting into the reality-show business, but it’s not going to be cameras following her around á la Denise Richards or Keyshia Cole.
Rather, the singer is helming an MTV talent competition seeking singer/dancers along the lines of Justin Timberlake or Jackson herself.
According to Variety magazine, the show will take place in street locales, rather than a studio soundstage. She may play a mentor type. No name for the show just yet.
Jackson’s latest album “Discipline” has not done particularly well, and she has complained about a lack of support from Island Def Jam.
RANDOM BITS
Lil Wayne is the new king of hip-hop. His latest, “Tha Carter III,” sold more than
1 million copies last week, the first time an act has passed the six-figure threshold in a debut week since 50 Cent in 2005. And this is quadruple the opening week of his last release in 2005. Topping the singles chart with “Lollipop” certainly helped … ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night talk show continues to do well in the ratings, ahead of Craig Ferguson and not far behind Conan O’Brien. Now he’s getting an early contract extension guaranteeing he’ll be around at least through 2010. … WGCL’s “Better Mornings” show has a new weather forecaster. Jennifer Valdez comes from sister TV station WYFF in Greenville, S.C. She replaces Dagmar Midcap, now doing weather at 4, 6 and 11 p.m. … Gov. Sonny Perdue and first lady Mary Perdue proudly announce the arrival of their 10th grandchild, Rabun Ophie Perdue. Rabun is the daughter of Dan, the Perdues’ youngest son, and Jessica Perdue, daughter of Johnny and Georgia Woods of Perry. Rabun Ophie was born Wednesday evening weighing 6 pounds 11 ounces. She is the first child for Dan and Jessica Perdue. The governor now has five grandsons and five granddaughters.
CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS
Actress Olympia Dukakis is 77. Actor Martin Landau is 77. Actor Danny Aiello is 75. Actor John Mahoney (“Frasier”) is 68. Musician Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys is 66. Singer Anne Murray is 63. Home repair show host Bob Vila is 62. Singer Lionel Richie is 59. Actor John Goodman is 56. Actress Nicole Kidman (above) is 41.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“It’s a bitter pill to swallow. But I’ve got a lot of water.”
Atlanta’s T.I. to Rolling Stone magazine,
about his impending jail sentence in 2009
Contributing: Wendell Brock 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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Two charged with murder of T.I.’s friend
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Cincinnati police have arrested two men for the death of T.I.’s friend more than two years ago, according to The Cincinnati Enquirer.
The newspaper reported that Hosea Thomas, 34, and Padron Thomas, 40, were each charged with two counts of murder and seven counts felonious assault for the death of Atlanta resident Philant Johnson and the shooting of several others.
The 2006 altercation occurred after an after-hours party. When T.I. and his entourage left in two vans, two SUVs followed them, police said. Shots were exchanged near I-75, killing Johnson and wounding the others.
Hosea Thomas is being held without bond. Padron Thomas is in the custody of the U.S. Marshal’s Service.
If you have a tip, call 404-526-2749. Or fax 404-526-5509. Or e-mail: buzz@ajc.com.
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Wee-hours traffic stop reels in Young Jeezy
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Young Jeezy, dubbed “the South’s gnarliest MC” in Rolling Stone’s June 26 “Hot List” edition, has an upcoming engagement in town — in court.
The rapper also known as Jay S. Jenkins was arrested early Wednesday and charged with speeding, no proof of insurance, open container, reckless driving and driving while impaired by alcohol/drugs, the Atlanta Police Department said. Jeezy was nabbed near I-85 and Buford Highway, the department said.
New York attorney Scott E. Leemon released a statement about the matter Wednesday evening:
“Last night, at approximately 2:30 a.m., Young Jeezy was pulled over by the Atlanta Police Department shortly after leaving the studio to work on his new album, ‘The Recession.’ After being charged with various automobile related offenses, Jeezy was quickly processed and released. A court date has been scheduled, and Jeezy looks forward to getting the matter resolved.”
Stay tuned.
IN OTHER LEGAL MATTERS
Hey, Atlanta filmmaker Marlon Campbell, quit trying to bum a ride on your famous cousin’s coattails. That’s the message in a letter from Tyler Perry’s attorney. In the April 9 missive, L.A. barrister Matthew Johnson says, “Mr. Campbell does not have the right to use Mr. Perry’s name in the furtherance of Mr. Campbell’s endeavors. The use of Mr. Perry’s name in connection with the promotion of any projects of Mr. Campbell [by] you or your agency is intentionally misleading, constitutes a substantial misrepresentation of the facts and wrongfully infringes upon the economic value of Mr. Perry and his products and productions.” The letter is posted on TMZ.com, which goes out of its way to poke fun at Perry, noting the Atlanta filmmaker’s next movie is “The Family That Preys.”
AND IN STILL MORE LEGAL NEWS
Documents unsealed this week from the R. Kelly child pornography trial include claims from the prosecution’s star witness that an employee of the R&B star threatened her, The Associated Press reports. Lisa Van Allen of Alpharetta says the employee told her last year she should’ve been killed for coming forward with information that could damage Kelly. No one was charged with threatening Van Allen, who testified she had three-way sex several times with Kelly and the female who prosecutors say was the victim in the sex tape at the center of the trial. Van Allen says in the pretrial statement she stole a separate videotape of one of those encounters from Kelly’s duffel bag. Jurors acquitted Kelly last week of child pornography.
THE DIVA DINES
Who was that enjoying Southern cuisine at Watershed in Decatur? None other than The Boss herself, Diana Ross, sharing butter bean hummus, salmon croquettes and a hot veggie plate with two lunch companions. First V-103’s Ryan Cameron rang us about this, as he and Atlanta Grammy winner Ciara were there. “The Boss shut it down!” he reported. But Buzz confirmed it with sous chef Robbie Kornacki, who gave the Motown legend’s table a complimentary pimento cheese and celery appetizer. “We do have a lot of celebrities here,” Kornacki said. “but I think people were kind of shocked to see her. I was. But yes, she was here — hair and all.”
FREE AT SIX FLAGS
R&B artist Mario performs Thursday night at Six Flags Over Georgia. Other acts coming this summer include Aly & AJ on June 26 and Drake Bell on June 29. All concerts are free with park admission. Buy your tix online and get the kids’ price, $29.99. (We think the headline here is kids’ tickets to Six Flags cost 30 bucks). The concerts start at 6 p.m. in the 8,000-seat Southern Star Amphitheatre. Info: www.sixflags.com/overgeorgia.
CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS
Actress Phylicia Rashad is 60. Singer Ann Wilson of Heart is 58. Actress Kathleen Turner is 54. Country singer Doug Stone is 52. Singer Mark DeBarge of DeBarge is 49. “American Idol” judge Paula Abdul is 46. Actor Andy Lauer (“Caroline in the City”) is 45. Actress Robin Tunney is 36. Actress Poppy Montgomery (“Without a Trace”) is 33. Actor Paul Dano (“Little Miss Sunshine”) is 24.
ATLANTA’S OWN
Chris “Ludacris” Bridges and his new restaurant, Straits, will be featured on Adam Murphy’s “Restaurant Report Card” at 4 p.m. today on CBS, then again on Friday at 6 a.m. and noon. And if you’re still hungry for more, watch it again at www.cbs46.com.
“Chicken lollipops are Luda’s favorite dish, and I agree they’re one of the best items on the menu,” Murphy tells us.
Contributing: Sonia Murray, Bob Longino 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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Soledad O’Brien at special CNN preview at Alliance
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
CNN anchor and special correspondent Soledad O’Brien was on hand for Monday night’s preview of “Black in America,” a CNN special report. After the invitation-only screening in the Alliance Theatre, guests filed onto the piazza outside the High Museum of Art, where a drum line entertained. O’Brien mingled with guests, who were eager to discuss issues raised by the special report.
Jennifer Brett / AJC
CNN’s Soledad O’Brien (left) visits with Ashlee Feemster after the preview of “Black in America,” a CNN special report. A preview was held Monday at the Alliance Theatre.
“Education isn’t part of the game, it’s the whole ballgame,” O’Brien said during an audience Q&A, noting black students’ graduation rates trail white students’. The gulf is particularly stunning, she said, when examining the graduation of black boys vs. whites.
“I haven’t quite figured out why people aren’t screaming in the streets about it,” she said. “No one’s marching about that.”
The guest list for the event included the Rev. Joseph Lowery, King Center President Isaac Ferris, Atlanta Voice publisher Alexis Scott, Spelman College history professor Jelani Cobb, Dr. Louis Sullivan, former president of Morehouse School of Medicine and Fulton County Magistrate Keisha Lance Bottoms.
CNN was well-represented by a contingent including Jim Walton, president of CNN Worldwide, and Abbie Boudreau, Elizabeth Cohen, Naamua Delaney, Tony Harris, TJ Holmes, Don Lemon, Betty Nguyen, Rick Sanchez and Fredricka Whitfield.
After a cocktail reception featuring Southern cuisine, guests toured the High’s current exhibit, Road to Freedom.
The collection of 200 photographs by 45 photographers depicts the ugliness and bravery on display side by side in the South during the civil rights movement.
Although the exhibit, and the CNN report, were full of disturbing images, O’Brien did leave the audience with a positive message. Asked what most surprised her during the reporting of “Black in America,” she said, “The number of people interested in changing the status quo.”
BIG APPLE GETS TASTE OF 99X PROGRAMMER
After 18 years in Atlanta, Leslie Fram is taking a bite out of the Big Apple.
The former 99X morning host and program director will become the program director at a new rock station in New York, WRXP-FM (101.9).
“I’m very excited,” she told Buzz Tuesday. “This is another opportunity to build a brand from scratch, like 99X.” Fram, one of the most respected female rock radio programmers in the country, helped form 99X in 1992 and shape it into a new rock powerhouse throughout the 1990s. The station’s influence waned this decade and she was pushed off the FM airwaves in January, along with the station itself, which lives on at 99x.com.
WRXP launched in February and sounds like a blend of Dave FM and Rock 100.5, with plenty of deep cuts and new music mixed in with Led Zeppelin and AC/DC classics. (Ratings have been anemic so far, but Fram said the station hasn’t really started marketing.) Fram won’t be on air in New York but will work her magic behind the scenes.
Fram’s husband, Lanny, will continue to run her two Atlanta area boutiques and she’ll travel back to Atlanta for charity commitments. “I’m going to get myself a cubby hole of an apartment in Manhattan and live at the radio station,” she said.
Will any of her expats at 99X end up at RXP? She’s not sure yet but a few might be available, if not already, soon. Her former 99X colleague Steve Craig, for instance, is doing 99X.com but his contract is up in a few weeks. And former night-time jock Dekker is already there doing weekends.
SEMIFINALIST WANTS TO BE IN PICTURES
Antonio Gilbert, a native of Trinidad now living in Atlanta, is in the hunt for a million-dollar grant in the First Cut Film Series competition. The American InterContinental University grad is a semifinalist in the contest to finance, produce and theatrically release feature films. Gilbert started out as one of more than 4,000 applicants before making it to the top 250, then top 15 with his sci-fi action film “Area 52.” Track his progress at www.firstcutfilmseries.com.
CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS
Musician Paul McCartney is 66. Movie critic Roger Ebert is 66. Actress Constance McCashin (“Knots Landing”) is 61. Actress Linda Thorson (“The Avengers”) is 61. Actress Isabella Rossellini is 56. Actress Carol Kane is 56. Singer Alison Moyet is 47.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“I have always known [that marriage is] not something for me. Even when I was a little girl I never dreamed of the white dress and all of that.”
Charlize Theron, who presumably won’t be a June bride this year, in an interview in Glamour magazine
Contributing: Rodney Ho 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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‘2 radio boys’ talk shop till closing time
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
WABE’s John Lemley, who hosts “All Things Considered,” likes to wind down for the weekend at Gilbert’s in Midtown. He was there with friends Sunday, considering calling it a night, when guess who showed up? Bravo-Lifetime dandy Carson Kressley and Fred Schneider of the B-52s. (The singer and the star of “How to Look Good Naked” and “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy” were in town for the True Colors concert, held Monday night at Chastain.)
“They introduced themselves — I’m sure I was much more impressed at meeting them than they were meeting me — and we proceeded to spend the better part of the next two hours chatting,” said the always-gracious Lemley. Schneider hosts a radio show, “Party Out of Bounds,” on Sirius, so they had plenty of common ground.
“He was so generous when someone else came up to meet him,” Lemley said. “He introduced me and said that we were just two radio boys talkin’ shop. He’s a kind, funny man. In the spirit of full disclosure, I have to say that we closed the bar. Of course, on Sunday nights, that doesn’t take too long.”
(And in the spirit of full Buzz disclosure, we must credit alert reader Velma Davies for tipping us off to this celeb triumvirate.)
“Holy smokes!” Lemley said when we contacted him to confirm. “Word travels faster in Atlanta than little ol’ Oneonta, Ala., my hometown!”
AN ORIGINAL DJ GIVES HIS SPIN
Jermaine Dupri, Grandmaster Flash may ring your iPhone today. The musical pioneer has gotten wind of the whole “The DJ Is Dead” argument you and fellow hip-hop giant Lil Wayne have been making online lately, and told us he may very well give you a call when he is in town promoting “The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash: My Life, My Beats.”
“It threw me a little bit, just being the creator of this whole DJ hip-hop thing,” said Flash, the first DJ to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and a Bill Gates Vanguard Award winner. “I mean Jermaine Dupri is a very good friend of mine and I have so much respect for him. And he knows, personally, a lot of his stuff wouldn’t have jumped off if it wasn’t for the DJ. From [the 1992 single from rap duo Kris Kross] ‘Jump, Jump’ to [million-selling female rapper] Da Brat to [the Dupri-produced remix of R&B group Dru Hill’s] ‘In My Bed.’ One of his signatures is doing records for the dance floor. And who controls the dance floor? The DJ! Jermaine knows better.”
(Not to mention Dupri is one of the many celebs giving Flash and David Ritz’s “My Life, My Beats” praise, writing “Hip-hop wouldn’t be hip-hop without the great Grandmaster Flash”). Flash is scheduled to sign what he calls “a story about a young black man who went through some pretty turbulent times — and survived,” at 7:30 tonight at Borders, 3637 Peachtree Road N.E.
GREEN AND BLUES
This Saturday’s Midsummer Music Fest, with headliner Blues Traveler and other bands including Drivin’ n’ Cryin,’ also features a $5,000 donation from 790 the Zone to the Candler Park Neighborhood Organization. The contribution will be used to green up the place with enhancements to area sidewalks and parks. Gates open at 2 p.m. and the music starts at 2:30 p.m. D&C takes the stage at 7 p.m. and Blues Traveler follows at 9 p.m. It’s $15 in advance, $20 there, and organizers encourage you to take MARTA to Candler Park for the event. www.ticketalternative.com.
THE LATEST FROM THE VICK FAMILY
Marcus Vick, brother of suspended and incarcerated Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick, has had a court date rescheduled, The Associated Press reports.
The former Virginia Tech QB was to have appeared Monday to face a charge of driving under the influence. The appearance was rescheduled for Sept. 10. The younger Vick, 24, posted a $1,000 bond Friday. He has been charged with misdemeanor counts of eluding police, reckless driving and driving on a suspended license.
CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS
Singer Barry Manilow (below) is 62. Comedian Joe Piscopo is 57. Director Bobby Farrelly (“There’s Something About Mary”) is 50. Actor Thomas Haden Church (“Sideways,” “Wings,” “Ned and Stacy”) is 47. Actor Greg Kinnear is 45.
OVERSCENE
Celebs on hand for the Atlanta Dream’s Friday game against the Indiana Fever included rapper Plies (right), John Abraham of the Atlanta Falcons and Dwight Howard of the Orlando Magic.
Contributing: 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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Writer lays ‘Bare’ his past as a student
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Ever wonder about the odd jobs your co-workers had prior to occupying the cubicle near you? Well, in our case, after his new book arrived at Buzz Central this week, we no longer have to wonder about former AJC pop music critic Craig Seymour.
Next week, Seymour, now an English professor at the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth, will be in Atlanta to sign copies of his new memoir, “All I Could Bare: My Life in the Strip Clubs of Gay Washington, D.C.” (Atria Books, $23).
As a graduate student at the University of Maryland in the 1990s, Seymour started frequenting the strip clubs in the nation’s capital while writing his master’s thesis: “Desire and Dollar Bills: An Ethnography of a Gay Male Striptease Club.” Later, while studying for his doctorate, Seymour opted to try a first-person perspective.
Of the racy memoir, Seymour told us Friday: “I was looking for a topic for my second book, and I remember saying to my editor, ‘Well, you know, I used to be a stripper.’ That’s all I really had to say! I knew how important my experiences were to who I became, but I also knew it was a great story.”
Before the publication of “Bare,” Seymour had to send out a few advance manuscripts. His parents weren’t exactly clued in to how he put himself through school.
“They knew I studied stripping in grad school, but I had to explain it in more detail to them last Thanksgiving. Especially since the kind of stripping I did was so kind of, well, hands on. They’ve actually both been really supportive. My mom actually thanked me for lying to her back then!”
As for the former classmates and co-workers who will no doubt raise an eyebrow or two when they stumble across “Bare” when it hits stores Tuesday, Seymour says he isn’t concerned.
“People don’t come a la carte,” he said. “Like anyone, I’ve got good qualities and I’ve got annoying qualities. You’re either going to like me or you don’t. All I can do is be honest and tell my truth.”
Seymour will sign copies of “All I Could Bare” at 8 p.m. Tuesday at Outwrite Books in Midtown.
H&M HYSTERIA
Surely there were other things Kris Aper could have been doing at 2 p.m. Thursday, but she couldn’t think of anything other than standing in line for almost 24 hours to wait for Hennes & Mauritz to open in Atlantic Station.
“I thought the line would be longer,” said Aper, 16, of Newnan. “It’s the first H&M I’ve been to.” Aper mistakenly thought being first in line would entitle her to the $500 gift card, one of 300 cards of varying value that the popular cheap, trendy clothing retailer was giving away at Friday’s noon opening.
Aper ended up with $75, which was much better than some of her fellow shoppers, who by morning had spread like chickenpox into a line that wrapped the entire perimeter of the building and then doubled back.
Truett Dietz, 20, tried to keep things in order by circulating an unofficial sign-up sheet, but when it was time to hand out the gift cards it seemed a few of the 292 people on Dietz’s list had forgotten to count their friends who showed up late and cut in line.
It’s never a good thing to mix hunger, 90-degree heat and B.O., which may explain the outbreak of altercations in the line. It may also be why H&M officials ejected at least one person from the ranks.
Saima Zuberi, 22, finally snapped when the gift cards ran out just before she got one. “That sucks,” said Zuberi, who had traveled from Norcross with her sister. Luckily, she had already scored $100 when the first Atlanta area H&M opened at North Point Mall in May. “I’m not gonna be greedy,” she said.
When the doors finally opened, the cravers of cheap chic were greeted with a Soul Train of dancing, clapping H&M employees.
It was a lot to take in, as Dietz quickly learned. “I can’t even concentrate on anything right now,” he said, looking dazed in the men’s department. “I may leave and come back later. This is too much.”
OVERSCENE
Rozonda “Chilli” Thomas of TLC lunching with two friends at NEO at the Mansion on Peachtree in Buckhead. Chilli enjoyed executive chef Eric Chopin’s Atlantic salmon with lentils, gemolata and shallots, and the mushroom risotto with porcini oil.
CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS
Saturday: Actor Gene Barry is 89. Actress Marla Gibbs is 77. Businessman-TV personality Donald Trump is 62.
Sunday: Actress Helen Hunt is 45. Actress Courteney Cox (“Dirt”) is 44. Actress Leah Remini (“King of Queens”) is 38. Actor Neil Patrick Harris (“How I Met Your Mother”) is 35. Guitarist Billy Martin of Good Charlotte is 27.
HIGH FIVE
Music
Top-selling albums this week at Decatur CD:
1. My Morning Jacket, “Evil Urges”
2. Emmylou Harris, “All I Intended to Be”
3. Fleet Foxes, “Fleet Foxes”
4. The Homemade Jamz Blues Band, “Pay Me No Mind”
5. Lil Wayne, “Tha Carter III”
Courtesy: Decatur CD
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“A threesome.”
— Star 94 Morning Mess co-host Marco Orem on air Friday, discussing what he told his girlfriend, Melissa, what he’d like to receive Sunday for his first Father’s Day as a dad.
Contributing: Nedra Rhone 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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Ayo says ATL music scene a hit all across world
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
We’re pleased to report that the Buzz over in Germany about the Atlanta music scene is, well, mostly flattering.
At least according to Germany’s folk-soul singer-songwriter Ayo.
Days before her appearance Sunday at Sugar Hill (with local singer Heston) at Underground Atlanta downtown, Ayo rang us from just outside Cologne to talk about why our fair city was an important stop as she promotes her debut (“Joyful”) in the U.S.
“So many important artists come from Atlanta now, it may be good just to drink the water there,” she joked. “Seriously, OutKast is from Atlanta, yes? I love OutKast. When it comes to hip-hop, they’re the best. And T.I. is there as well, correct? He’s very good. But when I came there with Babyface [for a show at the Cobb Energy Centre in December] all of the talk was that he had to stay in his house for some reason.”
Buzz then informed Ayo that she was correct. At the time, you may recall that rapper/actor T.I. was under house arrest on felony gun charges.
Before she hung up, Ayo (pronounced I-yo) added that when she was last in Atlanta “we went to a bar/restaurant that I believe was supposed to be Puff Daddy’s” [Justin’s] … and what a great place to shop. Was it Saks [Fifth Avenue], I believe? Loved it! I really hope Atlanta embraces me as I enjoyed it.”
Buzz is hopeful that no one will fill her in on our current water woes while she’s in town …
HEALTH-CONSCIOUS COOKOUT PLANNED
It certainly ranks among the most unconventional cookout invitations ever posted on MySpace.com. But if all goes according to the plan, Wednesday night’s dinner and discussion thrown by AID Atlanta organizers could also be one of the healthiest. Between the hamburgers and hot dogs, the city’s nonprofit devoted to battling and preventing HIV/AIDS is inviting young people to engage in a frank discussion about unprotected sex.
“It’s a criticism that we’ve heard for a while now,” program trainer Justin Ziegler said. “That as HIV/AIDS has spread to other demographics over the years, we’ve gotten away from educating young gay men about the disease. With events like this, we’re hoping to do some needed outreach in the community outside our doors.”
As drug cocktails prolong lives, Ziegler says the safe-sex message has been lost among young people. “Over 50 percent of the new infections are in people under 25. We wouldn’t have been talking about this 10 years ago. But things have changed. I’m 27, and I’ve never personally had a close friend who’s died of HIV. I’m not alone. That’s why this program is so important. We’re not judging whether anything is right or wrong. We’re hoping to educate and discuss in hopefully a fun atmosphere.”
So do casual cookouts centering on such a sensitive subject really work?
“In the past, our turnouts have been great,” Ziegler said. “There’s one thing I can tell you about the gay community: We all love to talk to each other about our business!”
The June 18 cookout starts at 6 p.m. above the meadow in Piedmont Park facing Monroe Drive.
For info: 404-870-7763 or MySpace.com/poolatlanta.
COOTER AND ‘THE PROMISED LAND’
We’re never going to accuse former U.S. Congressman Ben Jones of having a fragile liver. The former Georgia politician figures he drank 43,000 beers, 2,000 jugs of whiskey, wine, gin and vodka, and smoked pounds of pot in the 20 years he was out of control.
“I’d wake up in jails just wondering how I got there. Vomit on my shoes and blood on my shirt,” the 66-year-old “Dukes of Hazzard” actor told AP Radio in a recent interview.
Jones had to hit rock bottom before things could get better. That happened on Sept. 26, 1977. “I really was literally dying and I knew it,” he said. “I was in this free-fall, five-week drunk and I felt indescribable terror.”
With the help of a friend, he quit drinking cold turkey.
“A year later,” he said, “I walked into an audition and was cast in what was to become one of the greatest television shows in the history of entertainment.” That was “The Dukes of Hazzard.” Jones would play the wisecracking mechanic Cooter on the popular TV series from 1979 to 1985.
In 1988, Jones was elected to Congress as a Democrat. Considering what he’d gone through, it was an emotional moment being sworn in.
“That all seemed dreamlike to me,” he said. “That’s when it hit me, what a blessing I had been given and I just started crying.”
Jones lost his bid for a third term in 1992 after Georgia’s districts were redrawn.
He’s written about his ups and downs in his autobiography, “Redneck Boy in the Promised Land” (Harmony).
“My life is not a story about falling down,” he said, “it’s a story about getting up. I think people could relate to that and they could relate to alcoholism and all that behavior that goes with it because it’s a common disease.”
CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS
Actor Bob McGrath (“Sesame Street”) is 76. Magician Siegfried of Siegfried and Roy is 69. Actor Malcolm McDowell is 65. Actor Richard Thomas is 57. Comedian Tim Allen (“Home Improvement”) is 55. Actress Ally Sheedy is 46. Singer-guitarist Rivers Cuomo of Weezer is 38. Actor Steve-O (“Jackass”) is 34. Actresses Ashley and Mary-Kate Olsen are 22.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“It’s great for the sex life. It just makes you a lot more creative. So you have fun, and as a woman you’re just so round and full.”
— Actress Angelina Jolie in the new Entertainment Weekly. Jolie is expecting twins with partner Brad Pitt in August.
Contributing: 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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Blais comes close to serving up an upset
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
It could be argued that Richard Blais has had his share of ups and downs. The iconoclastic chef has taken a beating on blog posts and from local restaurant goers for his infamous concoctions — foie gras milk shakes, liquid nitrogen margaritas, Dr. Pepper-braised short ribs, deep-fried Thousand Island dressing.
But now the chef, who spearheaded the molecular gastronomy movement in Atlanta, can wear his signature blue apron with pride.
Louie Favorite / AJC
After 16 weeks of cooking on Bravo’s Top Chef, he almost won top toque. He’s battled an over-sized monkfish and wowed with peach pizza. He’s raided complete strangers of their refrigerator contents. And now all of it — the kudos and the digging cuts about his spiky hair — must be worth it, even if he didn’t win. Stephanie Izard, the 31-year-old native of Stamford, Conn. beat him out in the final round to become the first female Top Chef.
Blais is now working for Tom Catherall and Here to Serve Restaurants group as executive chef of Home, putting his pizzazz into the traditionally fashioned food findings on the menu: Tiny, quarter-sized buttermilk pancakes with foie gras butter and blueberry syrup and a slow-roasted pork short rib over collard greens with roasted peaches and coffee barbecue sauce are highlights that may turn the former Posh crowd into molecular gastronomes, like it or not.
“We’re here to see Richard win,” said Laurie and Rob Burlington from East Point on Wednesday night inside Home’s bar. They brought along four-month-old Cecilia, her baby fine hair formed into a peak on top of her head to resemble Blais’ spiked look.
Neither Blais nor owner Tom Catherall were on hand to view the final competition, but the crowd didn’t mind.
“We just hope if he wins he doesn’t quit Atlanta,” said Laurie. As the show wore on, the mood became more somber and the noise level dropped dramatically while the judges passed judgment on Blais’ final efforts - a mixed bag - underseasoned scallops and foie gras with guinea hen. It had everyone, including the judges, worried for Blais, who admitted to judges that he had “choked” on his final meal.
Blais’ first venture in Atlanta, Blais, closed in record time back in May of 2004. He moved on to a short-but-successful stint at One Midtown Kitchen, then left for a consulting job in Florida. Last year he set up shop (aka chemistry lab) at Element in Midtown.
Reviews were favorable, but Element was obviously a shaky venue, even with the support of the small but rabid group of Blaisettes that worship this creative chef with passion. When the chef returned from filming Top Chef, he found the restaurant had closed.
Amid consulting jobs for Elevation in Kennesaw and a new high-falutin’ burger concept called Flip (scheduled to open later this year on the West Side), Blais has taken his share of heat for his gastro-guru reputation and for his inability to stay in one spot.
So now the question is, will he leave Home to cash in on Top Chef fame? Or will he stay put?
As the judges talked over the final dishes, the crowd at Home became almost defiant in Blais’ defense.
Judge Tom Coliccho in his final statement called Blais’ cooking “whimsical, playful and sometimes just plain outrageous.”
Winner or not, the crowd at Home couldn’t agree more.
Give us your thoughts | Photos
‘RACE’ RESULTS IN LIVE TV WEDDING
Atlanta couple Darnell Suggs and LaDonna Bradford won’t have to worry about footing the bill for their wedding. The pair won the “Race to the Altar” contest on “Today” Wednesday morning. The prize: A fully paid-for wedding at Rockefeller Center that will be broadcast live on the NBC morning show June 25.
The pair got engaged on Jan. 1 — Bradford’s birthday — while on vacation. With a tour guide manning the video camera, Suggs got down on one knee and proposed in front of the picturesque Egyptian Sphinx.
So how did the couple score enough votes to win? They were aggressive marketers, sending 1,000 e-mails each week to everybody they know to vote for them. “It’s been fun and crazy all at the same time,” said Suggs, a technology consultant.
So exactly how many e-mail reminders did they send out? Well, a representative from our News Technology department took one look at the e-mail-choked BuzzBerry Wednesday and kindly suggested that we delete some missives immediately.
DINNER WITH ‘SEX’ GREAT FOR BUSINESS
There’s more to “Sex and the City” than $101 million at the box office. Fans have turned a night out with the gal pals into a dinner-and-a-movie phenomenon.
Since the film’s May 30 debut, Twist at Phipps Plaza reports business is up 35 percent from last year, spurred by women dining before or after seeing the movie at the mall’s AMC theater. It’s been busy at Strip, too, near Regal Atlantic Station. “We’ve easily had 5,000 women coming through here,” general manager Tim Holland says. “And the ladies are dressed to the nines.”
Business is so strong that Marlow’s Tavern, with locations in Midtown, Vinings, Kennesaw and Alpharetta, and Aqua Blue in Roswell are creating additional special events.
Wednesday nights through June, Marlow’s will offer $5 “Sex and the City” cocktails, $5 appetizers and $5 wine flight. On June 20, Aqua Blue is forming a “Sex”-inspired girls night out to benefit the Susan G. Komen cancer foundation. Drinks and appetizers will pay homage to “Sex” characters.
Anyone for Mr. Big mussels?
CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS
Singer Vic Damone is 80. Jazz musician Chick Corea is 67. Sports announcer Marv Albert is 67. Actor Timothy Busfield is 51. Rapper Grandmaster Dee of Whodini is 46. Blues guitarist Kenny Wayne Shepherd is 31.
HIGH FIVE
Television
The top OnDemand programs for the week ending June 8 as determined by Comcast customers in metro Atlanta:
1. “Take You Down,” Chris Brown, music video, Music Choice
2. “Bust It Baby Girl,” Plies, music video, Music Choice
3. “Take a Bow,” Rihanna, music video, Music Choice
4. “Shrek the Third,” HBO
5. “Family Guy,” “Fish Out of Water” episode, TBS, Series
Courtesy: Rentrak’s OnDemand Essentials
SICK BAY
Actor and philanthropist Paul Newman is battling cancer, his neighbor and business partner said Wednesday.
Newman, 83, has appeared gaunt in photos, and dropped plans to direct a play in his Connecticut hometown. Writer A.E. Hotchner, who partnered with Newman to start Newman’s Own salad dressing company, said the actor told him about the disease about 18 months ago. He did not specify what kind of cancer, but said Newman is in active treatment.
“I know that it’s a form of cancer,” Hotchner told The Associated Press. Newman issued a statement Tuesday that he’s “doing nicely” but didn’t address questions about cancer.
“He’s battling,” Hotchner said. “He’s doing all the right stuff. Paul is a fighter. … “
Contributing: Bob Longino, Rodney Ho, Richard L. Eldredge 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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‘Boondocks’ on DVD takes swipe at BET
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
On Tuesday at Buzz Central, we spent considerable time watching cartoons. So how does that differ from a normal work day, you ask?
Well, these were the two banned episodes of “The Boondocks” that Atlanta-based Cartoon Network declined to air on its late-night Adult Swim block of programming.
As we reported earlier this year, the two expensive episodes from the series’ second season were scrapped by Cartoon Network, reportedly after executives at Black Entertainment Television —a frequent Aaron McGruder target in the “Boondocks” comic strip — threatened legal action if the shows, featuring thinly veiled characters based on BET Chairman Debra L. Lee and BET president of entertainment Reginald Hudlin, were allowed to air. BET Founder Robert Johnson is also lampooned.
Instead, the incendiary pieces of parody appear on the second season “Boondocks” DVD set released to stores Tuesday.
Apparently, the corporate suits were also hovering nearby when McGruder, executive producer and co-writer Rodney Barnes and producer Carl Jones sat down to cut comical commentary tracks for the unaired episodes, titled “The Hunger Strike” and “The Uncle Ruckus Reality Show.”
On the commentary track, McGruder tells viewers: “Sony [Pictures Television] requested that we not talk about certain things. … What is the logic of spending money to have us sit here and talk about this when we can’t say what it’s about?”
Still, the episodes speak for themselves.
Lee’s character, Debra Lee’vil, (dressed like Dr. Evil from the “Austin Powers” movies) sets the pointed tone when she informs a BET board meeting in the opening scene of “Hunger Strike”: “Our founder Bob Johnson had a dream, a dream of creating a network that would accomplish what hundreds of years of slavery, Jim Crow and malt liquor couldn’t —The destruction of black people!”
On the commentary, McGruder says Barnes urged him to produce the satirical swipes at the network.
Says Barnes: “You expect white television to portray black people in a particular way. I guess the anger comes from black television portraying us in a particular way. That brings out a different sense of frustration. At the heart of these episodes is that frustration.”
Atlantan Cee-Lo from Gnarls Barkley, incidentally, impressively voices the riotous Rollo Goodlove character in the “Hunger” episode.
While both networks have officially stayed mum about the controversy, McGruder says on the commentary that non-executive level BET staffers loved the episodes.
On the commentary tracks, McGruder also informs viewers that a third season of the critically acclaimed show “may not happen.” As for producing the banned episodes, McGruder reflects, “It was better that we did it. The people at home are enjoying it. The people on YouTube are enjoying it.”
OVERSCENE
Members of the Atlanta Dream team, the city’s new WNBA franchise, including Iziane Castro Marques, Erika DeSouza, Katie Feenstra, Kristin Haynie, Jennifer Lacy, Ivory Latta, Betty Lennox, Camille Little, Stacey Lovelace, Kristen Mann, Chioma Nmamaka, Ann Strother and Tamera Young, Dream head coach and general manager Marynell Meadors, assistant coaches Fred Williams and Katy Stedding and strength and conditioning coach Jackie Ansley and Atlanta City Council President Lisa Borders dining together at Chima Brazilian Steakhouse in Buckhead. We’re told the team’s fellow diners immediately recognized them, due to the combined impressive height of the players.
‘A COAT OF SCHNEIDER’
So exactly how did the producers of Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show” arrange that hilarious cameo by B-52’s frontman Fred Schneider reading excerpts from “What Happened,” former White House press secretary Scott McClellan’s new memoir on last week’s show? Well, lucky for us, Schneider rang Buzz Central to remind us of the band’s Georgia homecoming gig next Monday at Chastain when the “True Colors” tour with Cyndi Lauper rolls into town.
“Daily Show” host Jon Stewart asked the vocalist to “put a coat of Schneider” on the less than exciting prose.
“It happened really fast,” Schneider told us. “I didn’t even know what it was they wanted me to read until I got to the studio. Was it funny? I haven’t had a chance to see it yet.” We then informed Schneider that the bit of him reciting riveting revelations from McClellan’s book like “Being evasive is not the same as lying in Bush’s mind” to a “Love Shack” musical bed has currently made him the darling of the Internet. Said Schneider: “Oh, that’s great! It was fun. I hope they ask me back.”
CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS
Actor Gene Wilder is 75. Actor Hugh Laurie (“House”) is 49. Bassist Tai Anderson of Third Day is 32. Actor Joshua Jackson (“Dawson’s Creek”) is 30. Actor Shia LaBeouf (“Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull”) is 22.
STORK REPORT
It’s a girl!
“Beverly Hills, 90210” alum Tori Spelling and husband Dean McDermott are parents again. The couple welcomed their second child — 6-pound, 8-ounce Stella Doreen McDermott — at a Los Angeles hospital Monday, her publicist, Meghan Prophet, said in an e-mail to The Associated Press.
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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‘Little Miss Sunshine’ brightens North Point
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Oscar-nominated actress Abigail Breslin opted to do some serious shopping while in town promoting “Kit Kittredge: An American Girl” at North Point Mall last week. Breslin was spotted purchasing a bright blue summer scarf (she wore it out of the store), plus a toy cat that thinks it’s a Chihuahua and a Blake cream dress at W: The Store. We hear that Breslin “was humble yet excited” when she was recognized by other shoppers at the W.
Ben Rose/WireImage.com
Actress Abigail Breslin signs autographs at the American Girl Boutique and Bistro at North Point Mall on Friday.
Breslin also hit Bliss Spa, where she treated herself to a Bliss hot cream manicure and a double chocolate pedicure. She also picked out a chic orange polish for her nails and toes.
An added bonus for Atlantans? Since we’re a city that already touts an American Girl retail store, “Kit Kittredge: An American Girl” opens early on June 20. The movie opens nationwide on July 2.
ASIAN IMAGES EXPLORED ON SMALL SCREEN
For the third year in a row, Turner Classic Movies is offering an educational alternative to the brain cell-snuffing reality series on network television this month.
The Atlanta-based cable channel’s monthlong examination of “Asian Images in Film” continues Tuesday night at 8.
It’s the third annual film festival endeavor by TCM (previous incarnations have studied African-American and gay and lesbian depictions in film). University of Delaware professor Peter X. Feng is co-hosting the Tuesday and Thursday night series with TCM film historian Robert Osborne.
During an interview with us, Feng didn’t attempt to cloak his mixed feelings about Tiesdau night’s primetime offerings, 1936’s “Charlie Chan at the Circus” and 1938’s “Charlie Chan in Honolulu.” For starters, the wildly popular Chinese detective series featured Caucasian actors Warner Oland and Sidney Toler donning “yellow face” to play the sleuth.
“Here we have a Chinese-American character who’s a hero so that in itself was a huge step forward,” Feng explains. “But an Asian-American actor wasn’t given a chance to do the role. And the Charlie Chan fortune cookie wisdom dialogue is annoying. The main problem is the condescension he shows his American-born children in the films. Worse, the children are played by Asian actors!”
Still, as Feng points out, the series represented a light years progression from say, the D.W. Griffith-directed 1919 silent film “Broken Blossoms” (which aired last week), in which actress Lillian Gish at one point refers to the compassionate Asian hero who takes care of her as “Chinky.”
“To a modern audience, dialogue like that is hopefully jarring,” Feng says. “But I think that’s one of the positive things about this series on TCM. There’s a lot of education associated with showing these films.”
The series also will examine the pros and cons of Bruce Lee’s iconic martial arts-equipped characters, ending on June 26 with screenings of 1993’s “Joy Luck Club” and 2001’s “Rush Hour 2,” starring current box office superstar Jackie Chan.
” ‘Rush Hour 2’ stands in for a whole wave of films featuring Hong Kong action heroes,” Feng says. “You would have hoped that the success of these films would lead to more opportunities for Asian actors, but it has not.”
“Asian Images in Film” continues tonight at 8 on TCM.
OVERSCENE
HGTV host Vern Yip and friend dining at Tap in Midtown, where he enjoyed the new Chatham cod with cream corn and watercress and his guest ordered the skirt steak with heirloom panzanella salad.
Singer Frankie Beverly of Frankie Beverly and Maze fame dining with friends at Straits in Midtown. The vocalist ordered the lobster pad Thai, drunken chicken livers and fried oysters and sipped on a Louis XIII cocktail.
‘EVERYDAY’ EMERIL
Atlantans missing the cuisine at the recently shuttered Emeril’s Atlanta can get a quick fix from the chef later this month. That’s when the customary culinary eye candy on the cover of Martha Stewart’s Everyday Food magazine will be temporarily replaced by a photo of Lagasse and Stewart. The departure in the mag’s July/August issue marks the first time in five years that people, not food, have graced the cover.
The move marks a further development in the relationship between Lagasse and Stewart, whose company in February bought the rights to Lagasse’s franchise of cookbooks, television shows and kitchen products.
Lagasse also will be a regular columnist in Everyday Food. His “Kick It Up — Everyday with Emeril” column will focus on easy, innovative recipes. His first column includes recipes for ribs, macaroni salad and Caribbean chicken.
CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS
Singer Shirley Alston Reeves of The Shirelles is 67. Actress Gina Gershon is 46. Actress Kate Flannery (“The Office”) is 44. Singer Faith Evans is 35. Actor Shane West (“ER”) is 30. Actress Leelee Sobieski is 26.
SAVE THE DATE
Part-time Atlantan Janet Jackson’s “Rock Witchu” tour, her first in seven years, will hit Philips Arena Oct. 5. Tickets will go on sale Saturday at 10 a.m. Tickets will be available at www.livenation.com, the Philips Arena box office, or through Ticketmaster charge by phone at 404-249-6400.
Here’s hoping Jackson’s concert tickets get snapped up faster than copies of her new album, “Discipline,” which has had trouble finding footing on the Billboard charts since its February release, selling a scant 392,000 copies, according to SoundScan.
This fall, the nation’s arenas will be packed with high-priced divas on tour, including Jackson, Madonna and Tina Turner, who recently announced on “Oprah” that she was coming out of retirement.
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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Foxworthy, Farber mix-up makes rounds
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Thanks to his old friend Jeff Foxworthy, veteran Atlanta stand-up comic Jerry Farber’s cellphone was ringing nonstop Friday.
“It’s just been unbelievable,” Farber told Buzz as he was preparing for weekend shows at the Comedy Zone in Greensboro, N.C.
Foxworthy’s been making the rounds on the late-night talk show circuit this week, and Farber’s name has emerged as a punch line in the Alpharetta resident’s remembrances of his early days onstage.
On “The Tonight Show With Jay Leno,” Foxworthy discussed a gig 20 years ago opening for a musical act at Chastain Park Amphitheatre. As usual, the outdoor venue was filled with chardonnay-sipping Chatty Cathys, but Foxworthy managed to win the crowd over by the end of his 15 minutes.
Feeling confident as he stood offstage, Foxworthy did a double-take when the emcee told the clapping crowd, “Let’s hear it for Jerry Farber!”
“What makes it such a funny story is it’s true!” Farber, 70, told us, laughing. “I was originally booked to do the Chastain date, but the organizers then had second thoughts about my act being too inappropriate for the Chastain audience. Jeff was a green kid back then who used to come in to try out material at my club [Jerry Farber’s on Pharr Road]. I knew he would be great for the crowd since he worked clean. Either nobody told the emcee about the change or he couldn’t tell the difference!”
Since Leno and “The Tonight Show” audience responded favorably to the story, Foxworthy recycled the bit Thursday night on “The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson” on CBS.
“It’s taken me 50 years to achieve national recognition and now it hits twice in one week!” Farber said. “That’s crazy! I need to call Jeff to thank him and to ask when I can expect my check!”
KATZ FETED IN NYC
If you see Atlanta entertainment attorney Joel Katz around town this weekend, you can try greeting him with his new title: “Dr. Katz.”
Katz was on hand at Radio City Music Hall this week to receive an honorary doctorate of laws degree from Hunter College. Before becoming a national figure as James Brown’s and Willie Nelson’s legal representation, Katz was a 1966 grad of the New York City college.
Said Hunter College President Jennifer J. Raab of Katz’s honorary degree: “With an undergraduate degree from Hunter, Joel built on his academic success by forming the world’s largest and renowned team of entertainment attorneys who represent some of the most famous performers and recognized brands around the globe. Joel has made a significant contribution to Hunter’s students in establishing a scholarship program which has assisted many students to achieve their undergraduate goals.”
The Joel A. Katz Scholarship Fund, founded in 2006, is provided to students (“Katz Scholars”) “who face academic pressure due to financial constraints. The Katz Scholarship Fund eases the financial obligations of its recipients, allowing them to focus on their educational pursuits.”
From our perspective? Katz should have received such an honor solely for his miraculous efforts to retrieve his client, Atlanta producer Dallas Austin, from that unexpected extended vacation in Dubai back in 2006.
MASHBURN: ONE OF GQ’S BEST
The guys from GQ magazine made an appearance in Atlanta on Thursday to celebrate the addition of Sid Mashburn to the GQ 100: The 100 Best Men’s Stores in America.
Sid Mashburn, a former design director for Ralph Lauren and other brands, opened his eponymous men’s specialty clothing store last year in west Midtown. When Jim Moore, creative director of GQ, heard Mashburn had taken the retail plunge he was thrilled for his old friend.
The store made the online-only GQ 100 list, was featured in the pages of the magazine, and became the second location for the all-around-the-country cocktail parties GQ is sponsoring to celebrate stores that make the cut.
What scored Mashburn a place on the list? “It’s really about Sid’s personal style,” said Moore, which he described as masculine, classic, but not too conservative. “This store could be in New York, it could be anywhere.”
Except that it is in Atlanta, where 90-degree temperatures had guests racing to the bar to down cocktails.
For now, Sid Mashburn is the only independent Atlanta boutique on the GQ 100 list (Theory in Phipps Plaza is also on the list), but Moore said he’s always looking. “We like mavericks,” he said.
CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS
Today: Singer Tom Jones is 68. Record producer L.A. Reid is 52. Musician Prince (right) is 50. Guitarist Dave Navarro is 41. Actor Michael Cera (“Juno”) is 20
Sunday: Comedian Jerry Stiller is 81. Comedian Joan Rivers is 75. Singer Nancy Sinatra is 68. “Dilbert” cartoonist Scott Adams is 51. Rapper Kanye West is 31. Fiddler Sara Watkins of Nickel Creek is 27.
ATLANTA’S OWN
Recently, during his first sit-down interview since pleading guilty to felony gun charges, Atlanta rapper/actor T.I. told the AJC he figured he’d lost between $10 million and $12 million.
Now it looks like some income will be in the plus column again.
Variety is reporting that Screen Gems has signed a three-picture deal with the Grammy winner born Clifford Harris Jr., beginning with a crime drama (of all things) called “Bone Deep,” with Matt Dillon and Idris Elba. We previously reported on this project, which T.I., longtime friend and business partner Jason Geter and fellow Atlanta talent Will Packer will produce.
The second movie is a drama titled “Boulevard,” which is still in development, and the third is yet to be determined.
Contributing: Sonia Murray, Nedra Rhone 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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Fans can get a real look at Monica’s life
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Appropriately enough, Atlanta Grammy winner Monica took a moment before Peachtree TV’s Screen on the Green on Thursday night in Centennial Olympic Park downtown to announce that the local channel will debut a reality show on her this August.
“The Single: Monica” show will be about all it took for the R&B singer to come back with a hit for her upcoming CD, “Lessons Learned.” And it will be executive-produced by its creator James DuBose, who did fellow Atlantan Keyshia Cole’s reality series for BET.
“I really think this is going to be fun,” Monica told Buzz before her announcement. “My main thing I hope to accomplish with this is, well, you know, I didn’t do things in my life in the order people may have felt I should have. But ultimately, I’ve found my balance.
“We’ve found our balance,” she continues, referring to the father of her two sons, rapper/producer Rodney “Rocko” Hill. “As artists, as parents and just as human beings. I hope this shows that.
“It’s going to be a ride, I can tell you that. I’ll probably have a moment or two on there, but I’m more than comfortable with me. I’ve never really been secretive about my life and what I’ve gone through. … So you know, people will see that I live the same type of life of many women with children. I don’t hire a car service when the kids need to go somewhere. There’s no nanny, no chef over here. I take care of home, and then might have to spend 14 hours in the studio. And people will see that. People will see all of Monica, for real.”
A TASTE OF ‘CULINAIRE’
Chefs’ specialties were only the beginning of the tantalizing treats at “Culinaire,” the food event produced by “Taste of Atlanta” on Wednesday evening at the new World of Coke museum. Buzz stopped by the eclectic food-tasting experience that brought together 17 area restaurants and hundreds of guests who paid $75 admission for all-they-could-eat. A sleek black “passport” provided a map to help hundreds of guests navigate two floors of global cuisine paired with wines, exotic premium cocktails and sinful desserts.
After each delicious sampling Buzz was faced with the dilemma of what to choose next.
Buzz even played bartender. Well, sort of. The second floor’s “Taste It” room, provided all the ingredients to make your own cocktail. While classic Coke bottles circled the ceiling on a conveyor belt, roaming servers offered a choice of flavored rums, vodkas or tequilas. Soda fountains, which showcased 60 Coke brand fountain beverages, were perfect samplings for drink mixes. And a neat dry ice station helped turn the drink into a frozen cocktail.
For food (and drink) lovers, the event was a slice of heaven.
OVERSCENE
Between games at Turner Field, nine Florida Marlins players, including outfielder Luis Gonzalez, enjoying the music of flamenco guitarist Rouzebehthe on the patio at Nava in Buckhead. We’re told Gonzalez and his teammates noshed on Nava chef Jesse Perez’s Southwestern bites, including queso fundito cheese fritters.
BRAKING BAD
Thanks to Jim Shuler, the director of public affairs in the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety, we had an entertaining e-mail update waiting for us at Buzz Central on Thursday. While some motorists in Bartow and Paulding counties are no doubt grinding their teeth as the Georgia State Patrol launched Operation Rolling Thunder traffic stops this month, the initiative has been, well, immediately effective. For example, on Day 1 of the 90-day crime crackdown this week, a rolling meth lab idled right into a road block. Shuler tells us two men and two women were arrested at the scene by Bartow County narcotics officers after they discovered illegal lab components and ingredient for cooking up batches of the street drug. At presstime, it remained unclear why anyone would attempt (after all the media attention Rolling Thunder has enjoyed) to drive a meth-riddled RV through such a high-profile roadblock.
But as Bartow County Sheriff Clark Millsap explained it: “These are no NASA scientists getting caught.”
CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS
Singer Levi Stubbs of The Four Tops is 72. Singer-songwriter Gary “US” Bonds is 69. Actor Robert Englund (Freddie Krueger) is 59. Playwright-actor Harvey Fierstein is 54. Actress-comedian Sandra Bernhard is 53. Record producer Jimmy Jam is 49. Actor Paul Giamatti (“Sideways”) is 41.
SICK BAY UPDATE
“Frasier” actor Kelsey Grammer has returned home from the hospital, four days after suffering a mild heart attack.
Publicist Stan Rosenfield said Thursday that Grammer is resting comfortably at his home in Kona on Hawaii’s big island. He says Grammer thanks those who called and wrote expressing concern.
Grammer was paddle-boating with his wife, Camilla, on Saturday when he experienced symptoms and was taken to a Kona hospital. Doctors determined the 53-year-old actor had suffered a heart attack that Rosenfield described as “mild.”
Contributing: Adrianne M. Murchison, 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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Leavell found Scorsese ‘joy to work with’
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Sure, Rolling Stones keyboardist Chuck Leavell will turn up on screen Thursday night as the Fox Theatre kicks off its 2008 Coca-Cola Summer Film Festival with the Martin Scorsese-directed doc “Shine a Light.”
But when he called into Buzz Central this week, the Georgia tree farmer was atop his tractor clearing paths to the woods on his Charlane Plantation property near Macon.
“It’s a perfect balance for me,” Leavell told us with a laugh. The Georgia Music Hall of Fame inductee will help introduce the Stones film Thursday night during a Q&A with Dave FM’s Mara Davis and perform selections from his brand-new double-disc album, “Live in Germany: The Green Leaves and Blues Notes Tour,” culled from live performances in Europe last year after the two-year Stones “A Bigger Bang” tour ended.
Of the two-night shoot with Scorsese at New York’s Beacon Theatre, Leavell told us: “He brought in 17 cameras. You couldn’t look in any direction without seeing one. We ignored the cameras as best we could. But you couldn’t help thinking here’s the director who shot ‘The Last Waltz’ and Bob Dylan’s ‘No Direction Home,’ which are masterpieces. Martin Scorsese was just a joy to work with.”
Still, Leavell says the directorial distractions aside, Mick Jagger was still indecisive when it came to Leavell’s nightly responsibility of creating the band’s set list.
“Martin captured this very funny thing at the beginning of the film with Mick trying to decide what the opening song was. Finally, it was ‘It’s Jumpin’ Jack Flash, it’s Jumpin’ Jack Flash!’ “
But Leavell’s favorite scene in the doc? A piece of archival interview footage of Jagger from the early 1960s that Scorsese dug up.
“I had never seen it before,” Leavell says. “Mick looks to be about 23 and he’s asked by a BBC reporter if he sees himself doing this at age 60. Without the slightest hesitation, Mick answers, ‘Oh, yes. Absolutely.’ And here we are!”
Leavell’s interview and performance starts Thursday night at 7. “Shine a Light” screens at 8 p.m. followed by a CD signing with Leavell after the film. For info: www.foxtheatre.org.
DISORDER-LY MOM
Save a Smile Foundation founder Bruce Patterson was the hardest working man in the fund-raising business Tuesday night. He stayed super-busy greeting guests, figuring out seating assignments, introducing speakers and helping with the live auction at 103 West, site of the Save a Smile Foundation gala, which raised money for the Center for Craniofacial Disorders at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. His reward for all that hard work? The A-bomb dropped on him — by his own mother. When Sue Patterson addressed the packed ballroom, she began her remarks with a touching memory of bringing home a baby with a cleft palate. (Who knew?) “All I had was an eyedropper and a son with stitches in his mouth,” she said, bringing a hush to the room. But she loved her precious infant and “I never looked at him any different.” Awwwww. But wait, Mom wasn’t done. “I get kind of mad because he is an [expletive] sometimes.”
The room exploded into gales of laughter and thunderous applause — and the unexpected candor apparently opened a few wallets. Mrs. Patterson’s cameo came right before the drawing for a diamond bracelet, and suddenly those $75 raffle tickets started going like hotcakes.
“Brucie,” said event co-chair Wanda McGaha, “your mom is awesome.”
OVERSCENE
Thanks to the Republican Governors Association forum meeting in town, there was no shortage of politicians at Tuesday night’s Braves-Marlins game at Turner Field. Among the guvs spotted in the crowd: Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue, Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, Vermont Gov. Jim Douglas, North Dakota Gov. John Hoeven and South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford. Oh, and former Georgia Gov. Jimmy Carter, wife Rosalynn and daughter Amy also took in the game down front. But here at Buzz Central we prefer to use his other title: Mr. President.
CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS
Singer Laurie Anderson is 61. Singer Richard Butler of Psychedelic Furs is 52. Actor-singer Mark Wahlberg is 37. Actress Navi Rawat (“Numbers”) is 31. Bassist Pete Wentz (below) of Fall Out Boy is 29. Guitarist Seb Lefebvre of Simple Plan is 27.
BY THE NUMBERS
The official Nielsen SoundScan figures are in from Billboard magazine, and Atlanta superstar Usher’s latest CD, “Here I Stand,” sold 433,000 its first week in stores and will debut as the No. 1 album in the country next week.
Those numbers will also give “Here I Stand” the second-highest, first-week total this year - with Mariah Carey’s 463,000 still No. 1. But it’s still the highest debut by a male artist, of any genre, in 2008.
Contributing: Jennifer Brett, 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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Suwanee mom on TV show
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Of the contestants on the new “She’s Got the Look” reality show on TV Land debuting tonight, featuring wannabe models 35 and up, Kathy Jackson appears most out of her element.
The 39-year-old full-time suburban mom from Suwanee looks more comfortable cheering her two boys at a ballgame or shopping for clothes at Target than walking down a couture fashion runway or buying the latest Dolce and Gabana dresses at Neiman Marcus
“Being a mom is who I am,” she told Buzz. The show features her tearing up, missing her kids, whom she seldom talked to during the shoot because of the wacky schedules.
Yet the producers picked Jackson for the top 10 amid far more glamorous and ambitious women.
“I’m still in shock,” she told Buzz. “I didn’t even pack thinking I’d make the top 10. It was more like, ‘What am I doing here?’ “
Most of her rivals didn’t have children and were determined to make it in the business. “I remember sitting in a room and one of the contestants, Melissa, said, ‘This is going to help our careers.’ I said to myself: ‘What career?’ “
In fact, when the producers said they wanted her on the show, Jackson said no because she was worried leaving her two sons while her husband traveled a lot. But then hubby lost his job and had time to take care of the kids, which she saw to be a good sign for her to do this show. So she said yes.
Although she can’t say if she wins or not, she seems to have done this more for the experience (“it was a blast!”) than for any realistic shot at doing fashion full time. In fact, she said she’s still embarrassed seeing herself on a TV screen: “I’ll be watching the show with my hands over my eyes, peeking through.”
STEVENS BACK ON THE AIR
Kelly & Alpha’s loyal listeners are celebrating the return of Kelly Stevens this week on the B98.5 FM morning show. The early AM co-host has successfully returned from a rehab facility to battle alcoholism. Stevens spoke briefly about his rehab experiences on the air Monday morning, thanked his fans for their support, then went right back to playing cuts from Avril Lavigne, 3 Doors Down and Journey.
Stevens had been in treatment for about two months.
The well-respected duo will end their nearly decade stint doing mornings at B98.5 FM at the end of June. Longtime listeners, who wondered for weeks whether they would ever hear the pair together again, are gratified that they have a few more weeks to spend with Stevens and on-air partner Alpha Trivette.
OVERSCENE
Rapper/actor/ restaurateur Ludacris having dinner at his new Midtown eatery, Straits, with singer Ciara, “Tyler Perry’s Madea Goes To Jail” actress Keisha Knight Pulliam and friends. The group enjoyed Kung Pao chicken lollipops, roti prata, origami seabass and lemongrass beef and sipped on Kelly’s Cocktail and Red Head in Bed cocktails. We’re told that after he finished dinner, Luda went around to each table and greeted and mingled with diners.
CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS
Actor Bruce Dern is 72. Singer-actress Michelle Phillips (The Mamas and The Papas) is 64. Singer Gordon Waller of Peter and Gordon is 63. Singer El DeBarge is 47. Actor Scott Wolf (“Party of Five”) is 40. Comedian Horatio Sanz (“Saturday Night Live”) is 39. Actor Noah Wyle (“ER”) is 37. Actor Russell Brand (“Forgetting Sarah Marshall”) is 33. Actress Angelina Jolie is 33. Drummer Zac Farro of Paramore is 18.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“When you leave here no one will ever, ever want to hear you sing a capella. And those jackets you’re wearing, do not wear them to your job interview.”
— Comedy Central “Colbert Report” host Stephen Colbert (below) addressing the black-and-orange jacketed Class of 2008 this week at Princeton University.
Contributing: Rodney Ho 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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Boy bands take over Atlanta … but how much will it cost you?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
No matter your age, there’s a boy band winging its way to Atlanta in the coming months to make you feel like a 16-year-old fan once again.
Alas, the ticket prices will run you a bit more than those old allowance-busting copies of Tiger Beat from your childhood.
On Monday, Live Nation concert promoters informed Buzz that recently reunited New Kids on the Block have been booked to play Oct. 29 at the Gwinnett Arena. The $77.50, $57.50 and $37.50 reserved seats go on sale at 10 a.m. Monday.
So exactly how old is the targeted demographic for 1980s-era NKOB in 2008? Well, American Express card holders can score tickets early through Sunday by being a card member.
The Backstreet Boys, meanwhile, featuring Atlanta member Brian Littrell, is booked for Chastain Park Amphitheatre on Aug. 20. The $58.50 and $48.50 tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. Saturday.
But the oldest boy band coming back to town?
The Macon-birthed Allman Brothers Band has booked a two-night engagement at Chastain for Oct. 10-11. As you may recall, the band was rehearsing in Atlanta this spring, prepping for an ambitious tour when the dates had to be scrapped after Savannah resident Gregg Allman took ill with hepatitis C.
Alas, the boys may be getting a bit crabby in their middle age.
The two nights at Chastain, priced at $93 and $78, are “non-table set-up/no coolers or carry-ins” shows that will no doubt put a crimp in the plans of those chardonnay-sipping chatterboxes who love to regale each other with fascinating business merger transaction tales during “Ramblin’ Man.”
Singer Ne-Yo has the cure for speeditis
Grammy winner Ne-Yo has a word of advice for drivers: “Watch your speed when driving through Atlanta.”
He should know. He uttered those words as he left Cobb State Court on Monday after pleading guilty to failing to get a Georgia license and no contest to reckless driving. As part of a plea deal, Ne-Yo will perform a concert for the Boys & Girls Club in Cobb.
Cobb police clocked the singer-songwriter’s Range Rover as going 105 mph in a 55 mph zone when they pulled him over on Feb. 19 on South Cobb Drive and Cobb Parkway. He told police he’d lived in Georgia for a year.
“I was trying to get somewhere in a awful hurry, and I got pulled over,” Ne-Yo, who lives in Mableton, told Cobb State Judge Roland Castellanos.
Assistant Solictor Frances Anderson asked Castellanos to impose a $280 fine because Ne-Yo had agreed to the concert and would speak to the youths at the club about the dangers of speeding.
But Castellanos didn’t go for it, noting the singer’s high rate of speed. Anderson then asked for a $1,000 fine, the maximum, which satisfied Castellanos.
Ne-Yo, who appears in the court files by his given name, Shaffer Chimere Smith, will have to pay the fine, perform 24 hours of community service at a nonprofit and attend a defensive driving class.
Castellanos also sentenced him to six months of non-reporting probation. That means Ne-Yo doesn’t have to report to a probation officer, which will allow him to maintain his concert schedule.
He just has to stay out of trouble and do everything else the judge told him to do.
“We’ve got a good guy,” Darryl B. Cohen, his lawyer, told the judge.
Cohen assured Castellanos that Ne-Yo has had an operation to cure his “lead foot.” Ne-Yo didn’t drive away when he left court. He got into the back seat of a dark red Range Rover.
Quote of the day
“[Atlanta-based Home executive chef] Richard [Blais] from Bravo’s ‘Top Chef’: Let the other contestants bicker. Season 4’s most creative chef continues to whip up intriguing concoctions like white-chocolate wasabi sauce. Yum. We think.” — From the June 6 issue of Entertainment Weekly’s “The Must List: Ten Things We Love This Week.”
Celebrity birthdays
Actor Tony Curtis is 83. Game show host Chuck Barris (“The Gong Show”) is 79. Singer Ian Hunter is 69. Keyboardist Billy Powell of Lynyrd Skynyrd is 56. Singer Dan Hill is 54. Newsman Anderson Cooper is 41. Country singer Jamie O’Neal is 40. Singers Ariel and Gabriel Hernandez of No Mercy are 37. Actress Lalaine Dupree (“Lizzie McGuire”) is 21.
CELEBRITY DOCKET
“Rescue Me” actress Tatum O’Neal, who has publicly battled drug addiction, was released without bail Monday after her crack-cocaine-possession arrest in downtown Manhattan.
The Oscar-winning actress, 44, looked tired but said nothing as she was arraigned in Manhattan Criminal Court on a misdemeanor charge of possession of a controlled substance. She entered no plea.
Afterward, her lawyer whisked her into a waiting car. She is due back in court July 28.
Police found two bags of cocaine in her right front pants pocket when she was arrested around 7:30 p.m. Sunday on the Lower East Side, according to a court complaint. Officers saw O’Neal accept the drug from a man during a routine drug sweep, police said. Prosecutors are recommending drug treatment for O’Neal, who detailed her dependency on heroin and cocaine in her 2004 memoir, “A Paper Life.” She has since said she is sober.
SICK BAY
On Monday’s edition of “Extra,” the TV mag reported that “Frasier” actor Kelsey Grammer suffered “a mild heart attack” over the weekend. Said Grammer rep. Stan Rosenfield via a statement: “Kelsey is resting comfortably in a Hawaiian hospital and will be released early this week.” The actor, who this season starred in the Fox sitcom “Back to You,” began experiencing chest pain Saturday after paddle boarding with his wife, Camille.
Got a tip for Peach Buzz? 404-526-2749 or buzz@ajc.com
Contributing: Yolanda Rodriguez and news services
If you have a tip, call 404-526-2749. Or fax 404-526-5509. Or e-mail: buzz@ajc.com.
