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Grand lineup for Southern Exposure
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Bruce Wells, the architect behind this weekend’s two-day Southern Exposure concert series at Front Page News on Crescent Avenue in Midtown admits he was possibly a little too enthusiastic when booking the festival.
“Originally, it was going to be a three-day event,” conceded Wells, laughing Thursday. “And then I came to my senses. On paper, it was beginning to look like Live Aid!”
Still, the lineup of 22 gay and lesbian singer-songwriters and musical acts Wells has assembled for the 6 p.m. to 2 a.m. shows Friday night and Saturday during the city’s annual Pride festival is impressive.
Among those participating: Richard Solomon, Mike Rickard, the Sexual Side Effects, Angela Motter, Eric Himan, the Wayne Fishell Experiment, Sean Kagalis, Richard Bicknell and the Shameless Lovers, Guyton Maurice, Tracy Rice and Flat Cat.
Southern Exposure began a year ago as a weekly live music series at Blake’s on the Park.
Currently, it runs Thursday nights at F.R.O.G.S. Cantina in Midtown. Wells, a graphic designer and illustrator by day, says the eclectic musical mix of acts reflects his own tastes.
“Typically, whenever you go out to a gay club, the first thing you’re hit with is some dance remix of something. I was kinda raised by hippies. I grew up listening to Leonard Cohen, Dylan and punk. Now, I listen to everything from Miles Davis, Nina Simone, Pink Floyd and electronica. I remember thinking: ‘I can’t be all by myself here.’ “
Subsequently, over the course of a year of Thursday nights at Southern Exposure shows, Wells has made a lot of new friends. Atlanta’s gay and lesbian musical community, along with photographers and other artists have been introduced to one another and have become fans of each others’ work.
In fact, Wells’ MySpace page for the Southern Exposure series has evolved into its own networking universe.
“It’s so gratifying,” he says. “I’m not an activist in the traditional sense, but this has become really important to me to put this music and positive energy out there for everyone to enjoy.”
Details: www.myspace.com/southernexposureatlanta.
CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS
Advice columnist Abigail Van Buren is 90. Actress Eva Marie Saint is 84. TV talk show host Geraldo Rivera is 65. Percussionist Domingo Ortiz of Widespread Panic is 56. Guitarist Kirk Pengilly of INXS is 50. Bassist Matt Malley of Counting Crows is 45.
OVERSCENE
Ubiquitous Atlanta hip-hop sensation T-Pain was seen watching the Dethklok concert at the sold-out Tabernacle Wednesday night. This was a live-band version of Adult Swim’s cartoon heavy-metal band from its show “Metalocalpyse” and part of 28-city national tour.
Contributing: Rodney Ho, Richard Eldredge, Shane Harrison and news services
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After 40 years at Manuel’s, Curtis McBride gets a party
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Curtis McBride was scheduled to work the bar at Manuel’s Tavern on Tuesday night for a big Maloof family party. When the family that’s owned the bar for so long is there, they need a man with experience, and McBride’s got 40 years in at Manuel’s.
What McBride didn’t know is that the party was really for him, to celebrate his four decades at the Poncey-Highland bar.
Bill McCloskey, who has worked there for a paltry 35 years, said McBride had hardly mentioned the anniversary, but the staff planned to gather family, long-time customers and former employees in his honor.
“He’s always dependable, he’s always been here,” McCloskey said. “It’s just part of the place.”
And how has the bar changed in allllllll those years?
Hardly at all, McCloskey said. The fixtures, from the people to the look, are all the same.
“Just waiting on different generations,” he said.
IT’S TIME TO GIVE
You’ve got a few chances to be generous, with a reward other than the warm-and-fuzzy glow of giving: Atlanta Braves fans who donate a new, unwrapped toy worth at least $10 at games tonight and Thursday will receive a two-for-one ticket coupon and an autographed item, while supplies last, with a limit of two per person. Donations will be accepted at Turner Field’s Monument Grove from 4:30 p.m. through the end of the first inning. The Braves play the Philadelphia Phillies at 7 p.m. both nights. Toys will be delivered to Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta hospitals in July.
Warped Tour fans heading to Lakewood Amphitheatre on July 9 to see Say Anything, Angels and Airwaves, Relient K and all the other bands can donate used cellphones to Cell Phones for Soldiers to receive a “Warped Tour-themed gift.” (No word on what it will be.)
Cell Phones for Soldiers buys pre-paid phone cards for active-duty military members; phones from any carrier will be accepted at the AT&T Drop Inn area.
CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS
Actor Ron Silver (“West Wing,” “Veronica’s Closet”) is 62. Writer-director Larry David (“Curb Your Enthusiasm,” “Seinfeld”) is 61. Model-actress Jerry Hall (below) is 52. Actress Lindsay Lohan is 22.
OVERSCENE
7:30 p.m. Sunday. WSB sports director and anchor Chuck Dowdle pulled into the Varsity to grab a bite to eat, despite a huge crowd gathering around a big black SUV in the parking lot. The onlookers snapped cellphone photos and passed Varsity boxes to be signed. “Who’s in that car?” he asked the big guy guarding the vehicle. “T.I.,” the man said. And there was the rapper, signing everything people put in front of him, taking every photo requested. “He could not have been nicer,” Dowdle said. And for the record, two people asked for Dowdle’s autograph.
Contributing: Rodney Ho and news services
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Club legend out of hiding for birthday
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Fittingly, the invitation was delivered to Buzz Central with a Frank Sinatra commemorative stamp. After all, for Atlanta nightclub insiders, the announcement is something akin to the Chairman of the Board’s 1976 surprise visit to the Jerry Lewis Muscular Dystrophy Telethon — with Dean Martin in tow.
On July 10, venerable nightspot Johnny’s Hideaway is hosting “The Annual 39th” birthday bash for the club’s namesake and former owner Johnny Esposito. In 1999, Esposito’s business partners bought him out when he decided to retire. During the transition, some not-so-nice words were exchanged. Mothers may have been maligned. Some witnesses claim hexes were uttered.
As a result, Esposito didn’t set foot in the Sinatra sanctuary for nearly a decade. Until Esposito turned up unexpectedly a few months back for a former customer’s party at the Roswell Road club.
During the visit, some of the iciness between Esposito and current co-owner Mike Dana melted. In recent years, diabetes has taken its toll on Esposito’s circulation and he quit drinking.
“I’m a Catholic, and we were taught forgiveness,” Esposito told us. “Also, they probably know I might be running short on birthdays these days and that I’ll be out of their hair soon! Seriously, it was very nice of them to do this for me.”
“What the hell,” reasoned Dana when we called Monday. “Let bygones be bygones. With a lot of style, we’re going to pay tribute to a nightclub legend.”
Former Atlanta mayor Sam Massell is one of Esposito’s old pallies who’s been invited to speak at the soiree/ceasefire.
“I was surprised for several reasons,” Massell told us. “Yes, I was surprised that the Hideaway is hosting it. It’s a very nice gesture. I was also surprised to learn from the invitation that I’m one of the ‘special guests.’ And I’m surprised that Johnny Esposito is celebrating yet another birthday. You know that he’s older than all of us put together, don’t you?”
So which birthday is this for Esposito?
Says the lifelong nightclub huckster: “People will just have to show up to find that out!”
Complimentary drinks and a free birthday buffet are scheduled from 7 to
8 p.m.
Molotov cocktails are not on the menu.
YOUNG JEEZY TO MCCAIN: ‘IT’S ROUGH OUT HERE’
Who says presidential candidate John McCain isn’t attracting the young hipster vote? In the August issue of Vibe on stands this week, none other than Atlanta rapper Young Jeezy talked about chatting with McCain. It seems the pair shared a hug recently as the credits rolled on “Saturday Night Live.”
“No disrespect to my man Barack [Obama] …” says Jeezy in Vibe. “He greeted me like a G. … The fact that he acknowledged me was crazy. I said, ‘I’m Young Jeezy, and it’s rough out here.’ He blew me off at first. I was like, ‘Nah, for real. It’s rough out here, so what you gonna do to change it?’ … I like Barack, but at the same time I wanted to see what McCain was talking about.”
Jeezy continues: ” ‘You gotta fix it, you know that, right?’ And he gave me a look back, like, ‘I know.’ “
At the very least, the encounter gives McCain some much-needed street cred.
Atlantans will recall that just last month the rapper also known as Jay S. Jenkins was arrested here and charged with speeding, no proof of insurance, open container, reckless driving and driving while impaired by alcohol/drugs, according to Atlanta police.
‘FULL HOUSE’ DAD NOT SO SQUEAKY CLEAN
To most of Middle America, Bob Saget remains Danny Tanner, that goofy “Full House” dad, and host of “America’s Funniest Home Videos.”
But as many of his biggest fans know, he’s a dirty, dirty man. So filthy he’d make Andrew Dice Clay blush. Buzz checked out his show at the Tabernacle on Friday night, and it’s 50 percent potty humor, 45 percent sex jokes and 5 percent usable material for this news-gathering operation.
“I don’t know if you can tell,” he cracked, “but I’m divorced!”
Yet Saget is so good-natured, so amiable, even the nastiest bestiality reference comes across as oddly sweet. He acts as if the obscenities coming out of his mouth even shock him.
“You’re going to go home and watch reruns of ‘Full House’ tonight and say to Danny, ‘Don’t pick up the kids! Don’t pick up the kids!’ “
And a tidbit about submissions for “Funniest Home Videos:” “People sent us porn! Porn! And I have all of it!”
GEORGIA STATE STUDENT GETS CROWN
It was a good night for Georgia State University at the Miss Georgia contest Saturday.
Chasity Hardman, a 23-year-old GSU music education student, became the second African-American chosen to represent Georgia in January’s Miss America pageant. Hardman, a Columbus product who now lives in Atlanta, was second runner-up in the 2007 Georgia contest.
“It’s all a blur,” Hardman told the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer shortly after winning the title Saturday night at the RiverCenter in Columbus. “I’m just very, very excited.” Hardman said she looks forward to traveling as Miss Georgia, as well as to pushing her personal interest in using music in education.
University of Georgia student Lauren Edmunds of Americus was first runner-up. Second runner-up was Georgia State student Kristina Higgins of Dacula.
COUPLING
This is also now official: actress Uma Thurman is set to marry financier Arpad “Arki” Busson.
“I can confirm she is engaged,” Thurman’s representative, Stephen Huvane, told The Associated Press in an e-mail.
Huvane didn’t immediately respond Monday when asked for further details.
Thurman filed for divorce from Ethan Hawke in 2004. They have two children.
The 38-year-old actress was previously married to Gary Oldman.
Busson has two sons with Elle Macpherson.
CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS
Actress Olivia de Havilland is 92. Actor Jamie Farr is 74. Actress Karen Black is 69. Gospel singer-choir leader Andrae Crouch is 66. Singer Deborah Harry of Blondie is 63. Singer Fred Schneider of The B-52’s is 57. Rapper Missy Elliott is 37. Actress Liv Tyler is 31. Actress Hilarie Burton (“One Tree Hill”) is 26.
OVERSCENE
At the W hotel in Midtown: former “American Idol” contestant Diana DeGarmo, NBA legend and broadcaster Charles Barkley, producer/author Jermaine Dupri and singer Robin Thicke.
Contributing: Rodney Ho, news services.
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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.
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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
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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
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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
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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!”
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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
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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
