Hollywood of the South: Atlanta’s film industry

For decades, the city of Atlanta has been considered fertile ground for a wide variety of entertainment projects, ranging from music to film and television. However, lately the city has truly come into its own with the city being home to several major studio and production entities, as well as a steady number of productions that have chosen the city as the backdrop for their projects. Citing a unique mix of influences, most notably a number of generous incentives offered by the state, Atlanta is indeed becoming the Hollywood of the South.

On a recent visit to Lake Lanier Islands Resort I ran into Stephen Merchant.  Merchant starred in the HBO series “Hello Ladies,” a show he created, wrote and directed.  I must say, he is as nice in person as his character Stuart was in the series.  Merchant gave me a moment of his time and graced my lens with this photograph.

Scenes From the 2015 Edition of Award-winning French Quarter Festival

The award-winning French Quarter Festival, which began in 1984, has grown to become the largest free music festival in the United States. Twenty-three music stages throughout the area presented the best in New Orleans music, representing every genre from traditional and contemporary jazz to R&B and New Orleans funk, brass bands, folk, gospel, classical, cabaret, opera, Cajun, Zydeco, world music, international, as well as a musical stage for children. Over 115 food and beverage booths located in Jackson Square, Woldenberg Riverfront Park, Decatur Street and the Louisiana State Museum's Old U.S. Mint made up the 'World's Largest Jazz Brunch,' a signature event featuring authentic local cuisine from renowned area restaurants, many of whom have been with the Festival throughout its entire 32-year history. 

The 2015 French Quarter Festival featured iPhone and Android phone apps, which were available free of charge, courtesy of GE Capital.  Nearly 8,700 iOS users downloaded the festival update from last year's app, and 5,100 users installed the app for the first time.  On the Android side, over 3,000 users downloaded the app. This adds up to over 60,000 Festival App users.

In addition, Rouses sold over 20,000 pounds of boiled crawfish and Plum Street Snowballs went through 45,000 pounds of sugar to make the syrups used in their 'spirited' and regular snowballs.

 

French Quarter Festival relies on strong community support to present the 'kickoff to festival season in New Orleans' - with over 2,000 volunteers, over 400 musical acts, numerous generous sponsors - including the New Orleans Musicians Union AFM Local 174-496, corporations from all over the state who sponsor musical acts at festival, New Orleans Police, EMS, permitting assistance from the City of New Orleans and partnerships with Parks and Parkways, Audubon Institute, and the Louisiana State Museum, among others. This year French Quarter Festival welcomed new sponsors Omni Royal Orleans Hotel (the Official Hotel of French Quarter Festival and Satchmo SummerFest), Outlet Collection at Riverwalk, Brown-Forman which includes great brands such as Jack Daniels, Southern Comfort, Herradura, Finlandia and Sonoma Cutrer, KREWE du optic, Cupcake Vineyards, Renaissance Publishing, Sazerac, JS108Atlanta.com Jazz Radio, WYLD 98.5, Power 102.9, Old School 106.7, NASH fm 92.3, The Ticket 106.1 and Zatarain's.

Special thanks to Tableau for hosting the media hospitality suite.

Modern Choreographic Voices Shatters Perceptions of Dance in the Modern World

Atlanta Ballet’s eclectic mixed-rep program Modern Choreographic Voices shatters perceptions of dance in  the modern world by presenting the freshest and most innovative works from all corners of the globe. Billed this season as The Best of Modern Choreographic Voices - Atlanta Ballet brought back three favorites from past seasons -  the program ran for one weekend only, April 17-19, at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre.  

Cokie Roberts Discussed Political Influence Of Civil War Women at Atlanta History Center on Apr. 22

NPR Morning Edition contributor and ABC News commentator Cokie Roberts’ latest book "Capital Dames: The Civil War and The Women of Washington" focuses on the colorful, yet tumultuous lives of women in Washington during this turbulent period between 1848 and 1868.

 

Roberts was in Atlanta for a lecture on "Capital Dames" at the Atlanta History Center on Wednesday night and talked about women in early American politics and how they are faring in the modern era, too.

 

For her book, Roberts used government records, newspaper articles, and personal letters and journals to tell the history of women of the era – including Mary Todd Lincoln, Dorothea Dix, Jessie Benton Fremont, Martha Washington, Abigail Adams and so many more.

 

"I get to read their diaries. I get to read their mail," Roberts said.

 

The difference between the men of the era versus the women was that the

"[The men’s] letters are studied and edited and often pompous. The women, of course, just wrote letters."

 

Roberts described those women’s letters as “fun and frank and feisty and full of information.”

 

A broadcast news veteran who was named a "Living Legend" by the Library of Congress this year, Roberts has several New York Times best sellers under her belt, including "We Are Our Mothers’ Daughters" and "From This Day Forward."

Celebrating 75 Years, Portraits of John Lewis: Keeper of Faith, Protestor for Justice, Defender of Freedom

Movers, shakers, thinkers and doers converged on Atlanta to salute U.S. Congressman John Lewis at his star-studded 75th Birthday Celebration.  

“We are going to have a beautiful evening together, with great food, dancing and fun,” Congressman Lewis said in a press statement. “I am so humbled by the love and support of my friends and especially, my constituents in Georgia’s Fifth Congressional District. I wake up every day honored and blessed to serve them and our nation after 75 years.” 

The Celebration was held on Saturday, March 28, 2015, at the Tabernacle ... two weeks following the 50th Anniversary of “Bloody Sunday” where he walked across the Edmund Pettus Bridge.

An Evening with Damien Rice: My Favourite Faded Fantasy

Eight years is a long time, but My Favourite Faded Fantasy is unlike anything Damien Rice has done.  His vocals are still sensitive and passionate. The title song, featuring both a bass guitar and an upright bass, as well as more tried-and-true strings, electric keyboard, and those signature acoustic strums, the song starts as a slow tale. Then it grows into its loud, sweeping finish, with the lead guitar blending perfectly into the background, as Rice cries, “I’ve never loved.” 

Rice performed to a full house at the Tabernacle on March 31.  His performance echoed a realization that being loved isn’t everything, and that giving love to someone who’s no longer there means nothing. “You could have my favorite face and favorite name/ I know someone who could play the part but it wouldn’t be the same,” Rice sings. “You could be my poison, my cross, my razor blade/ I could love you more than life if I wasn’t so afraid.”

 

Damien Rice played My Favourite Faded Fantasy, 9 Crimes, Elephant, The Professor & La Fille Danse, Delicate, I Don’t Want to Change You, Woman Like a Man, Cold Water, The Greatest Bastard, Amie/Sex Change, Older Chests, Grey Room, Volcano, Coconut Skins and The Blower’s Daughter.  Rice ended the evening with Trusty and True and I Remember.

Al Stewart's Uncorked

With the release of Uncorked, Al Stewart and musical partner Dave Nachmanoff take a trip through Stewart’s musical back pages, both in terms of the musical catalogue (they did have nearly 20 albums’ worth of songs to pick from), and in terms of performance style. After all, Al made his bones in the massively fertile folk scene that was London in the late ’60s, and he numbers among his contemporaries the likes of guitar wizards Bert Jansch and John Renbourn, singer-songwriters Roy (“Hats Off To”) Harper and Richard Thompson, and a former flatmate named Paul Simon, who went on to some celebrity upon returning to America. 

Recorded live during a springtime East Coast swing, Uncorked is the first live acoustic disc Al’s done since 1992’s Rhymes In Rooms, and both he and Nachmanoff made a conscious decision not to replicate any of the tracks from that disc, even if it meant leaving off such standards as “On the Border, ” and his multi-million-selling “Year of the Cat” and “Time Passages.”  

“Because I’ve learned all of Al’s songs, we had an opportunity to revisit some of the tunes that hadn’t been featured in more recent years,” says Nachmanoff. “I think at this point, we can actually do three or four full shows and never play the same songs twice.  And while Al usually comes in to a gig with a set list in mind, often times, we’ll just throw it out and go with the flow.”

Atlanta History Center's Tomorrow is Another Day

Tomorrow is Another Day is a fictional exploration of the day before the Atlanta premiere of the movie Gone With the Wind.  Addae Moon wrote the one-act play, which made its debut on March 27th at Atlanta History Center.  Moon is the director of museum theater at Atlanta History Center, which launched the Meet the Past initiative about four years ago to use museum theater as an emotional way of connecting patrons to exhibits and educational experiences. 

Tomorrow Is Another Day, set in Mitchell’s home, imagines a conversation between Mitchell, her husband, John Marsh, and their maid, Jessie, who Moon said “has some issues” about the book. 

After several gulps of Georgia moonshine Jessie tells Margaret Mitchell what she really thinks about the novel.  In Jessie’s words, “It’s not the characters I have problems with. It’s the narrator. 

This thought-provoking play encourages audiences to think about Margaret Mitchell in new ways.