MetaFilter posts tagged with atlanta

"Turn it into a k-k-kaSLAM!"

Maaik — Tue, 14 Jul 2020 11:20:54 -0800

Atlanta comedian Mark Kendall pitches an ad for Craig's Bronze Bron Barn, an opportunity to own statuary in the likeness of LeBron James AND to recontextualize Confederate monuments! A win-win! Kendall has spent his quarantine making comedy videos about race. A longtime ensemble member at Dad's Garage Theatre Company, he previously wrote and performed his one-man show "The Magic Negro and Other Blackity Blackness as told by an African American Man who also happens to be Black" at the Alliance Theatre.

The Ballad of Kathy Scruggs

girlmightlive — Wed, 11 Dec 2019 20:42:40 -0800

The Ballad of Kathy Scruggs The latest Clint Eastwood movie, "Richard Jewell," depicts the events surrounding the Centennial Olympic Park bombing in Atlanta in 1996, and the scrutiny of Jewell, who was initially hailed as a hero but then became the prime suspect. The movie is said to imply that Kathy Scruggs, the real-life journalist who broke the story of the FBI investigation into Jewell, slept with her source. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution denies this and has asked for a disclaimer to be added to the movie. Olivia Wilde, who portrays Scruggs, has defended the depiction.

Thank You God, for Black Thanksgiving

poffin boffin — Wed, 27 Nov 2019 12:00:53 -0800

On learning how to be black, one family Thanksgiving in Atlanta at a time. Blackness often invites hyperbole since we have to occasionally stretch the truth, loudly, simply to get acknowledged. The Big Black Southern American Thanksgiving, however—it's near-impossible to exaggerate what it's like to attend, to participate. That said, I've never described it well. I always post a photo of my annual first plate—The Meatloaf and The Turkey and The Ham and The Seven-Layer Salad and The Macaroni and Cheese Alpha (Mom) and The Macaroni and Cheese Beta (a person who has the audacity to compete with my mother's Velveeta Valhalla) and The Broccoli Casserole and The Yams and The Cranberry Sauce and The Dressing and The Collard Greens and The Roll, with The Giblet Gravy Jackson Pollocked over every contiguous morsel in the messy mound of deliciousness.

Democratic Socialists of America 2019 Convention

Noisy Pink Bubbles — Fri, 02 Aug 2019 08:25:42 -0800

DSA's 2019 convention starts in Atlanta today. DSA member Andrew Sernatinger has written a breakdown of the convention, as well as given an interview about his piece. The convention, among other things, will be voting on resolutions and National Political Committee candidates. Official convention livestream Other statements on the convention from the current NPC steering committee chair; Libertarian Socialist caucus; Left Voice; Bread and Roses Previously: 2017 Convention; DSA

Half of the books in this bookstore are not for sale

luaz — Sun, 10 Feb 2019 06:44:55 -0800

Where Books Meet Black Mecca "If they're well worn, that's all the better. I think it tells a story," she said. "Someone actually went through it and read every word and received something from it and you're next. It's like they are almost doing you a favor." "I wanted this space to represent blackness and its vastness but I wanted it to be as inviting as any other bookstore," said Rosa Duffy, a visual artist who opened the For Keeps bookstore last fall. I've always felt a well worn book told more layers of its story because of the imprints of previous readers. Bookstores that not only allow but encourage reading on the premises are cultural treasures. To specifically arrange and curate such a bookstore and to retain half the books as a library is a trend I would love to see develop.

Ending Bail On Paper But Not In Practice

The Whelk — Tue, 09 Oct 2018 08:57:33 -0800

"...Recent events in Atlanta show that while more and more progressive officials are embracing bail reform, the optics may be better than the actual results. After legislation passes, the problems presented both by implementation and backlash are where the rubber meets the road, and substantive changes either happen––or don't." What will it take to truly end wealth-based detention? (Scalawag)

A chilly response to a Hotlanta Super Bowl halftime show

DrAstroZoom — Thu, 20 Sep 2018 08:23:37 -0800

Adam Levine and the boys from Maroon 5 have reportedly been named as the headline act for the Super Bowl LIII halftime show. Music fans aren't thrilled, with many pointing out that a Super Bowl in Atlanta would be the perfect opportunity to highlight local talent. All of which provides a great reason to revisit Sports Illustrated's Mark Bechtel epic recasting of every Super Bowl halftime show, featuring an era-appropriate roster of superstars.

"Comedy is medicine. Not coloured sweeties to rot the teeth with."

Artw — Tue, 04 Sep 2018 09:08:31 -0800

How Funny Does Comedy Need to Be?

New Black Gothic

gusottertrout — Sun, 24 Jun 2018 13:41:24 -0800

the black Gothic revival not only works through what it means to be black in a nation still structured by violent white supremacy, but also dramatizes how black artists like Glover, Peele, Ward, and even Kanye must negotiate their celebrity while also remaining cognizant of the ways their race binds them to the vulnerabilities of a racialized second-class of citizenship.

Why'd you choose such a backward time in such a strange land?

filthy light thief — Thu, 29 Mar 2018 05:56:52 -0800

On April 1, Jesus Christ Superstar will be the latest (but not the last) musical to be performed live on broadcast TV in the U.S., but how the hell did the last week in the life of Jesus get to be an international mega-hit rock opera? It all started with Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, which launched a young Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice on the path of another biblical musical concept album set to more contemporary sounds and interwoven with modern themes. And then came the theater productions, the movie, and even more theater productions and tours.... But back to the beginning -- Andrew, 17, and Tim, 20, were introduced in 1965, and they hit it off well enough to make their first musical that year, though The Likes of Us wouldn't get produced until 2005. A family friend of the Lloyd Webbers, Alan Doggett (research article abstract, article paywalled), helped them with their demo tape for that musical, and then suggested a "pop cantata" along the lines of Herbert Chappell's The Daniel Jazz (1963) and Michael Hurd's Jonah-Man Jazz (1966, YT playlist), both of which were based on stories from the Old Testament. This lead to a piece that the boys wanted to call How to Succeed in Egypt Without Really Trying, or perhaps Pal Joseph, which was first written as a 20 minute piece, then expanded to 35 minutes in length. Lloyd Webber's composer father William arranged for a second performance at his church, Westminster Central Hall, with a revised and expanded format, in May 1968. One of the parents in that audience was the Sunday Times music critic, and he reviewed the piece favorably in the newspaper, helping Rice and Lloyd Webber along their way. This was probably how they got Decca to release a 30 minute studio version of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat in 1969, which was re-released in 1971 with a complete tracklisting (available now as a YouTube playlist), following the success of ... Jesus Christ Superstar, the hit rock opera. With those past accolades, the pair set off making a full musical, and turned again to the bible. In a 2012 interview on NPR,

"We were toying around with various subjects, and I think it was the dean of St. Paul's Cathedral who said, 'Why don't you think about the story of Jesus?' " Lloyd Webber recalls. "And we kind of toyed with it and then thought, 'Maybe yes, maybe no.' " Rice says what eventually made it a yes was a brainstorm: the idea of telling the story from Judas Iscariot's point of view. "It's logical that he might've been worried about the man that he admired, and had joined, [that he] was kind of getting out of control," Rice says. "In the Bible, there is absolutely no motivation for Judas, other than that he is sort of a 100 percent figure of evil. And it seemed to me that that was probably not the case."

Decca/MCA first gave Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice money to make the single, or the two convinced Decca to buy the single that they had already produced. Either way, the single charted well, and Decca were open to another concept album, following the hit of The Who's Tommy. The full album has quite the cast of characters; the part of Jesus was sung by Ian Gillan (1970 video), then the lead singer of Deep Purple, with Murray Head as Judas (1971 promo video) after performing in the West End production of Hair, Michael d'Abo as King Herod, Yvonne Elliman as Mary Magdalene, and Barry Dennen as Pilate. Many of the primary musicians — guitarists Neil Hubbard and Henry McCullough, bassist Alan Spenner, and drummer Bruce Rowland — came from Joe Cocker's backing group The Grease Band (live video). Saxophonist Chris Mercer had also played with Hubbard in Juicy Lucy (who were known for their cover of Bo Diddly's "Who Do You Love"). The double-record album, set in a moderate rock tempo (Google preview of the voice and piano songbook), was released in 1970, and it was a best-seller in the U.S. (a week after bombing in the initial U.K. release) and then charted around the world in 1970 and '71. In reflection, it has aged well -- the album is rated 4.21/5 on the Prog Archives website, from from 173 votes by site members. There have been a great number of theatrical productions, starting soon there-after with performances around the world. For instance, it was the first major musical production India, performed in Mumbai in 1974, as recounted in this oral history of the production. But before we get too far, we have to cover the 1973 film (previously), which included many of its Broadway cast reprising their roles. For example, Ted Neeley was initially an understudy for the part of Jesus on Broadway, took the role in Los Angeles, kept it in the film, and has reprised the role many times since then and continues in the role, despite the rest of the cast often being played by actors who are decades younger. The film was shot "on location" or close enough, in blistering heat where Neeley recalled that "the most important commodity the whole time we were there was water." The end result was impressive, as you can hear in the more dramatic soundtrack, but you must really see in the musical numbers (incomplete YT playlist; rent or buy digital movie). Roger Ebert celebrated Norman Jewison's direction of the movie, writing that he had "taken a piece of commercial shlock and turned it into a Biblical movie with dignity." Jewison's prior film was Fiddler on the Roof (Wikipedia; trailer), and he'd follow up JCS with Rollerball (Wiki; trailer). Following the concept album and the recording of the movie cast, there were not one but two Australian cast recordings, the first pre-dating the original film by a year (YouTube playlist), the second coming out 30 years later, in 1992 (YT album, apparently incomplete; bonus: unpublished DVD: Act 1 and Act 2). And then in 1995, Jesus Christ Supserstar: A Resurrection (all 25 tracks streaming via Daemon Records), a supergroup of Atlanta bands and musicians, concocted by Big fish Ensemble's Michael Lorant, who brought up the idea to the Indigo Girls while the two bands were touring together.

While listening to the original JCS soundtrack during a long road trip between tour dates, Michael was struck with "the completely outrageous idea of recording an Atlanta version and began casting the album right then and there. It was basically a joke and seemed completely out of reach considering our resources." Then a while later, the joke metamorphosed into reality when Indigo Girl Amy Ray (who sings the role of Jesus on the album) expressed interest in recording the project for release on her label. Amy comments," The politics and history of Jesus' story became even more profound when seen through the eyes of Judas. Michael Lorant did a brilliant job of directing the arrangements, organization, and production of this album.

The next year, there was a radio production for BBC Radio 2 starred Tony Hadley as Jesus ("Gethsemane"), Roger Daltrey as Judas ("Superstar" and "Heaven On Their Minds"), Frances Ruffelle as Mary Magdalene and Julian Clary as King Herod; this production was re-broadcast on BBC Radio 4 Extra on 6 August 2016. There was also a direct-to-video remake of the movie in 2000 (Rotten Tomatoes; IMDb; YT playlist), starring Glenn Carter as Jesus of Nazareth, Jérôme Pradon as Judas Iscariot, Renée Castle as Mary Magdalene, Fred Johanson as Pontius Pilate, and Rik Mayall as King Herod. Which brings us to the new NBC live production, titled Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert! Announced in December with Alice Cooper as King Herod, then joined by John Legend as Jesus. To promote the live production, NBC produced two lyric videos: "Gethsemane" with John Legend and "Everything's Alright" with Sara Bareilles. They also put up a taste of "The Last Supper" and a longer first look sneak peak/ behind the scenes video.

"Keep digging! We'll reach God soon!"

ilicet — Mon, 26 Feb 2018 15:17:58 -0800

Earn Marks, Childish Gambino, Troy Barnes... Donald Glover can't save you [New Yorker]. [ft. mild spoilers for Atlanta S2.]

"The thing I imagine myself being in the future doesn't exist yet. I wish it was just 'Oh, I'll be Oprah,' or 'I'll be Dave Chappelle.' But it's not that. It's something different and more, something involving fairness and restoring a sense of honor. Sometimes I dream of it, but how do you explain a dream where you never see your father, but you know that that's him over your shoulder?" It was very quiet. "It'd be nice to feel less lonely."

Robbin' Season airs March 1. Fanfare.

A Poster Child For Letting Go

Maaik — Thu, 01 Feb 2018 09:11:44 -0800

Atlanta musican K Michelle DuBois dives into her record collection (literally) in her new video for "Reckless Needs."

Organize The South

The Whelk — Sat, 04 Nov 2017 10:06:06 -0800

"There's no state too red for us to go into," Turner said. "We're not going to leave any state or anybody in any state behind because they're not 'electorally viable.'"

"From Texas to Florida, voters are supporting candidates across the broad spectrum of the left: progressive Democrats and committed socialists who want to reduce wealth inequality, return power to workers, and chip away at structures of oppression that have kept people of color, women, LGBTQ folks, and others from wielding economic and political control." In cities across the South, Socialism is on the ballot. Casey Williams, Scalawag Magazine. Delete Your Account Podcast: on organizing the south for radical justice HuffPost: How the South can save the country. Reclaiming Democracy, a discussion at Cooperation Jackson on what a new type of economy might look like

What's a Westworld?

Clustercuss — Fri, 15 Sep 2017 14:23:12 -0800

Almost nobody watches Emmy-nominated shows: A new survey of 500 people finds that of this year's Emmy-nominated shows that don't air on broadcast TV, Netflix's "Stranger Things" was the most-watched, viewed by 21% of respondents. Netflix's "Master of None," Hulu's "The Handmaid's Tale," and FX's "Atlanta" tied at 5% each for the least-watched of all nominees — although "Master of None" exceeded all nominees in "never heard of" responses, at 76%.

I Came From Nothing

so fucking future — Fri, 26 Aug 2016 10:26:19 -0800

Known as much for his flamboyant style as his prolific output, rapper, singer and weirdo Young Thug [prev] has released a new commercial mixtape (can we call commercial mixtapes albums already?). The project title No, My Name Is JEFFERY asserts a new identity, and the music continues to twist the Atlanta trap sound in new and strange directions. "I always had a Michael Jackson mentality...The message is to go back to who I really am. I really am Jeffery. That's really my swag." Oh, and the cover art is wild.

What. Are. The. Lyrics?!

zarq — Fri, 05 Aug 2016 10:15:09 -0800

Four years ago, the US Olympic swim team sang "Call Me Maybe." (Previously) For the 2016 Olympics, they hit the road again for carpool karaoke.

The origin story of Izzy from Atlanta

Greg Nog — Fri, 24 Jun 2016 07:43:13 -0800

"Mention was made that kids are wearing their hats backward, so maybe Izzy should have its shoes on backward." An oral history of "Izzy", the baffling blue mascot of the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games.

Let's go on with the show

Thomas Tallis is my Homeboy — Mon, 16 May 2016 10:52:09 -0800

Jane Little, assistant principal bass emeritus for the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and the world's longest-serving orchestra musician, collapsed and died Sunday during an encore of "There's No Business Like Show Business."

This massive bookcase is hinged and hides a secret closet...

jessamyn — Thu, 14 Apr 2016 11:31:37 -0800

Joe Patten was born in 1927, and he lived until his death last week inside Atlanta's Fox Theatre, which opened in 1929. Over 35 years ago Joe, who was instrumental in saving the theater in 1974, was granted rent-free, lifetime occupancy of a deluxe Moorish-style apartment in a space that used to belong to the Shriners. This is that apartment. [via]

How did Little Five Points get weird?

Kitteh — Mon, 28 Mar 2016 11:13:54 -0800

A brief history (and potential peep into the future) of one of Atlanta's funkiest neighborhoods (slCreativeLoafing)

How gentrification really changes a neighborhood

hydropsyche — Sat, 19 Mar 2016 07:34:46 -0800

I knew the price of my new home in Kirkwood, just not what it would cost the neighbors who'd lived there for generations An examination of the racial and economic cycles of change in one Atlanta neighborhood, with a nice touch of soul searching and empathy.

Young Thug is an ATLien.

gucci mane — Wed, 17 Feb 2016 14:45:13 -0800

There's nothing about Young Thug that's not a paradox. He wears women's Uggs but travels with AR-15's everywhere he goes. He calls his friends, the same ones carrying the AR-15's, "babe" and "lover" yet is from one of the toughest parts of Atlanta—the south side—where he is at once a hero and an outsider and a leader of the psychedelic fashion movement of rap hippies. Devin Friedman chases music's most colorful enigma around the streets of Atlanta to answer one question: Exactly what planet is Young Thug from?

Hammer In Her Hand

mandolin conspiracy — Mon, 15 Feb 2016 09:20:31 -0800

Beverly "Guitar" Watkins is seventy-six years old. She is wearing house slippers, a hair net, and an Atlanta Hawks t-shirt on backwards. She is probably the greatest living blues guitarist that no one has ever heard of. Watkins learned to play guitar as a child and began playing professionally while still in high school. In the 1960s, she played on recordings that inspired a generation of white rock & rollers, toured with bands across North America and Europe, opened for Ray Charles and James Brown and B.B. King. She caught the early wave of soul music, crashed on the sandbar of disco, brushed herself off, and kept on going. She reinvented herself as a solo artist at fifty, recorded her first album at sixty, survived multiple brushes with death, and did it all almost completely without celebration, peer, or precedent. And she's still doing it. Extended video interview with Watkins here Beverly Watkins page at the Music Maker Relief Foundation (the foundation previously on Metafilter). Live performances Back in Business Glory Be Live in Paris, 2007 Beverly "Guitar" Watkins' 76th Birthday Show "Shown here playing at Rufty-Holmes Senior Center": Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 Beverly "Guitar" Watkins - Rhythm Riot 2013 At the Northside Tavern, 2014

Rebel Without A Pause

ellieBOA — Wed, 13 Jan 2016 04:12:40 -0800

Killer Mike and the return of the politically engaged rapper.

The State of the HIV Epidemic

roomthreeseventeen — Wed, 06 Jan 2016 10:06:56 -0800

"This summer will mark 35 years since the first reports of AIDS. Additionally, two decades have now passed since combination antiretroviral treatment began to transform a health crisis into a more manageable public health concern. " Related: Atlanta's alarming HIV/AIDS epidemic reminiscent of New York in the '80s AIDS at 35