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Essence magazine has scored the first official pictures of Atlanta R&B superstar Usher's first child, Usher Raymond V.

In the article — set to hit newsstands this week — the five-time Grammy winner talks to actor/author Hill Harper about getting married, having a son and not having a good relationship with his father, who passed at the start of this year.

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Harper asks: "If you could take your finger and touch your 9-month-old son, Usher V, on the head and impart some certain knowledge, what would you want him to know?"

"First of all," Usher replies, "I'd actually look inside myself and evaluate what I felt like I missed from my own father."

"What did you miss," Harper continues.

"Knowing that I was accepted. That I mattered. And hearing that he cared enough to put me before himself."

As AJC readers may recall, Usher showed us some early pictures of "Cinco" — as he calls him (notice the license tag on the cover of his CD "Here I Stand") — when he was just a month old. Pictures, he readily admitted, he shot himself. "I'm becoming a photographer," he beamed. "Developing the pictures and everything."

In Essence he also talks at length about his new responsibilities, including:

What he's learning as a new father: "I think I'm learning how selfish I really can be as an individual. Man, before you just get up and go everyday and you work people to oblivion — and I do. But when you have a child, it's like, Wow! All of this time now goes towards making sure that one, he has the milk that he needs. He's being burped properly. Diapers are being changed — and Lord knows he has let me have it! I am changing diapers!"

"The funniest thing ever was [Atlanta music mogul Jermaine Dupri] watching me change a diaper. He was like, 'You're officially a daddy dog.' "

What he's learning as a new husband: "Just to be a little more patient. Marriage is not a sprint, it's a marathon. You have to take your time and be very patient. Sometimes you've got to breathe. Step away. Walk away from each other. You'll drive each other crazy if you're not considerate of that."

Working overtime this summer

Westminster grad Brian Baumgartner, best known as doofus accountant Kevin on NBC's hit show "The Office," can be seen starting today on a new set of "Webisodes" to tide over fans this summer.

"Steve Carell may be the star of 'The Office,' but I am huge on the Internet," Baumgartner cracked during a press conference this week. "I am like a complete and total star of two-minute clips online."

This time, Baumgartner tries to get a bank loan for a dubious ice cream business plan that could help him get out of his gambling debts. (Check out the first Webisode at www.nbc.com/the_office.)

Baumgartner – who was in Atlanta recently to see his sister's new child and hang at the Dark Horse Tavern — attended Westminster at the same time as fellow "Office" denizen Ed Helms. But he said he had no involvement getting Helms on the show as goofball Andy. (Credit creator Greg Daniels.)

When Baumgartner saw Helms arrive on the set two years ago, he said "it was like completely mind-warping."

At Westminster in the early 1990s, they were in plays together, including Shakespeare's "As You Like It." "I was an evil duke, and he was one of my assistants," he said. "Someone recently sent me a picture of me [on stage] strangling him, which I don't remember. I think I liked him well enough!"

Did Baumgartner win any of those "senior superlatives" in the yearbook such as "Most Likely to Succeed?" "You know," he said, "I think at Westminster we're all expected to succeed so I don't know if they have that category."

Quote of the Day

"Our tutors observed that those who prefer not to drink find others to stand in for them — a sort of designated drinker system."

Georgia Trend magazine editor Susan Percy in her July "Business Casual" column, describing what she learned during an etiquette session prior to a Georgia business delegation trip to China this spring. It seems that Chinese business folk are given to multiple toasts with 50-proof wine.

High Five

Television

The top On Demand programs for the week of June 30-July 6, 2008, as determined by Comcast customers in metro Atlanta:

1. "Rush Hour 3," HBO

2. "Take a Bow," Rihanna, music video, Music Choice

3. "Family Guy," "The Thin White Line" episode, TBS

4. "Louie Bag," Bloodraw, music video, Music Choice

5. "Forever," Chris Brown, music video, Music Choice

— Courtesy: Rentrak's OnDemand Essentials

Overscene

Hollywood actress and freshly minted mom Jessica Alba shopping in Los Angeles, sporting Atlanta-based jewelry designer Lisa Stein's signature 18-karat gold and diamond hoop earrings. We hear that Stein was more than a little psyched Wednesday when photos of the "Fantastic Four" star turned up on news wire services, complete with her bling. So how did Alba end up with the trinkets? It seems the savvy gals at Spanx here in Atlanta sent the new mom (and footless pantyhose fan) a baby gift and included a present for mom — Stein's signature hoops.

Celebrity birthdays

Composer Jerry Herman is 77. Singer Mavis Staples is 69. Folk singer Arlo Guthrie is 61. Singer Neil Tennant of the Pet Shop Boys is 54. Country singer Gary LeVox of Rascal Flatts is 38. Actor Adrian Grenier ("Entourage") is 32. Singer Jessica Simpson is 28.

Contributing: Sonia Murray, Rodney Ho and news services

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