Mazda MX-5 Crowned 2016 World Car of the Year



Tamara Mlynarczyk, Manager, Public Affairs, Mazda North American Operations

with Mazda Motorsports racer Andrew Carbonell, who helped develop Mazda’s 2016 Global MX-5 Cup Car.

Photography by Bonnie M. Morét

The new generation Mazda MX-5 was crowned 2016 World Car of the Year at the New York International Auto Show.  The Mazda MX-5 beat the Mercedes-Benz GLC and Audi A4.  Mazda's roadster was the vehicle of choice in the World Car Design of the Year category, too.

The Doll's Head Trail at Constitution Lakes Park



Art by Joel Slaton on Doll's Head Trail.
Photography by Bonnie M. Morét.

In 2003, DeKalb County bought the property once occupied by the South River Brick Company, which had been shut down more than 50 years ago.  Construction began, designing paved trails and boardwalks around the ponds, creating a 125-acre preserve known as Constitution Lakes Park.  Located only a few miles from downtown Atlanta, the preserve has attracted fauna not typically seen in such an urban environment.

The lakes feature countless turtles, crappie and catfish, along with large mouth, small mouth, spotted and striped bass. Bird watchers will see belted kingfishers, woodpeckers, ducks, blue herons, geese and hawks.  It’s a biological smorgasbord with towering sentinel trees surrounded by trucking outfits, pallet sellers, rough neighborhoods and even a transitional center.

The Doll’s Head Trail is the work of local carpenter and artist, Joel Slaton, who envisioned an art project created from discarded doll parts and other trash that was scattered around the site. He channeled his inner Thornton Dial and Rev. Howard Finster and created a neo-folk art haven.  The pieces are dominated by doll heads, but also include bottle creations, collages, decorated chinks of old bricks and beheaded doll parts.

The key to the collection is the idea that everything must be “found” — and that means found inside the Park itself. It’s repurposing at its finest — it cleans up the nature preserve while creating art. The trailhead sign says, “litter makes the angels cry,” so bringing things in with you to leave on the trail is discouraged.

Below are highlights:

Surfing To Shockwave: Joe Satriani Grooved Atlanta Symphony Hall on March 23

Joe Satrianim, Marco Minnemann, Mike Keneally and Bryan Bellar

at Atlanta Symphony Hall - Photography by Bonnie M. Morét.

Joe Satriani roamed his 30-year catalog for the 20-plus song show, drawing heavily from his latest, the groove-driven “Shockwave Supernova.”  He played in front of a screen of captivating videos customized for each tune with  Mike Keneally (keyboards, guitar), Marco Minnemann (drums) and Bryan Beller (bass).  

Mesmerizing the audience, Satriani confirmed his stellar talent on guitar Wednesday night at Atlanta Symphony Hall.

Spend a Weekend with Basquiat, Vik Muniz and Iris van Herpen at the High Museum of Art

Jean-Michel Basquiat exhibit at the High Museum of Art.

The High Museum of Art presents its first exhibition focused solely on the life and work of the influential artist Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960–1988) with “Basquiat: The Unknown Notebooks,” on view through May 29.  

The exhibition features rarely seen notebooks created by Basquiat, who died tragically young at the age of 27.  Filled with the artist’s handwritten texts and sketches, the 160 unbound notebook pages are presented along with 30 related paintings, drawings and mixed-media works drawn from private collections and the artist’s estate. Also on view is the 1984 Basquiat painting “Untitled (Cadmium)” from the High’s permanent collection. 

 

Jean-Michel Basquiat is one of the best known artists of his generation and is widely considered one of the most important artists of the 20th century. His career in art spanned the late 1970s through the 1980s until his death in 1988, at the age of 27.

Basquiat works are edgy and raw - and through a bold sense of color and composition - he maintains a fine balance between seemingly contradictory forces such as control and spontaneity, menace and wit, urban imagery and primitivism. Basquiat often incorporated words into his paintings. Before his career as a painter began, he produced punk-inspired postcards for sale on the street and become known for the political-poetical graffiti under the name of SAMO.

The conjunction of various media is an integral element of Basquiat’s art. His paintings are typically covered with text and codes of all kinds: words, letters, numerals, pictograms, logos, map symbols, diagrams and more, and featured multi-panel paintings and individual canvases with exposed stretcher bars, the surface dense with writing, collage and imagery.

X Ambassadors Rocked with Seinabo Sey and POWERS at Sold-out Tabernacle on Mar. 11.

Alternative rockers, X Ambassadors, are on the road with their VHS 2.0 tour! The tour features support from Seinabo Sey, POWERS, Savoir Adore and Robert Delong.  X Ambassadors’ debut album, VHS was released in June of 2015.

Tour dates:

3.11 - in Atlanta, GA @ @ Tabernacle #
3.12 - Charlotte, NC @ @ Fillmore #
3.13 - Carrboro, NC @@ Cat’s Cradle #
3.15 - St. Louis, MO@ The Pageant #
3.17 - Kansas City, MO @ St. Patrick’s Day @ KC Light&Power #
3.18 - Austin, TX @ StubHub at Bangers Sausage House & Beer Garden (SXSW)
3.22 - Tucson, AZ @ Rialto Theatre #
3.23 - Tempe, AZ @ The Marquee #
3.25 - Los Angeles, CA @ The Wiltern #
3.26 - Las Vegas, NV @ The Foundry Hall ^
3.27 - San Francisco, CA @ The Masonic ^
3.29 - Portland, OR @ Crystal Ballroom ^
3.30 - Boise, ID @ Knitting Factory Concert House ^
April 1 - Laramie, WY @ University of Wyoming ^
April 2 - Denver, CO @ Ogden Theatre ^
April 4 - St. Paul, MN @ Myth ^
April 5 - Madison, WI @ Orpheum Theater ^
April 6 - Chicago, IL @ HOB ^
April 8 - Columbia, MO @ University of Missouri ^
April 9 - Columbus, OH @ Newport Music Hall ^
April 10 - Indianapolis, IN @ Egyptian Room at Old National Center ^
April 15 - Biloxi, MS @Mississippi Coast Coliseum Crawfish Fest
April 30 - Frisco, TX @ KDGE Edgefest
May 3 - Buffalo, NY @ Town Ballroom
May 4 - Detroit, MI @ Fillmore *
May 8 - Boston, MA @ HOB *
May 10 - Portland, ME @ State Theater *
May 12 - Washington, DC @ Echostage *
May 13 - New York, NY @ Terminal 5 *
May 14 - Ithaca, NY @ State Theater *

# w/ Seinabo Sey & POWERS
^ w/ Seinabo Sey & Savoir Adore
* w/Robert Delong as main support

Below are highlights from the Tabernacle in Atlanta, Georgia:

The 2016 Ferrari California T

The 2016 Ferrari California T.
Photography by Bonnie M. Morét

 

Earlier this week at the 2016 Geneva Auto Show, Ferrari announced a new performance handling upgrade for the California T called the Handling Speciale package. It combines several key updates that gives the California T better track handling and a throatier sound.

 

I had the pleasure of a joyride in the 2016 Ferrari California T earlier today.  I was excited to see what lurked under this bad boy's hood:  a turbocharged 3.9-liter V-8 featuring a host of power-adding, fuel-sipping technologies like direct injection and Ferrari’s Variable Boost Management. Producing a potent 560 horsepower and 557 pound-feet of torque, the California T hits 62 mph from a standstill in just 3.6 seconds.

 

While all Ferrari California Ts boast the same slick seven-speed dual clutch gearbox; however, the Handling Speciale package offers quicker up- and downshifts, both in automatic and manual modes.  Because the “HS” treatment also includes a new quad-exhaust system, it is tuned to produce a fuller, more pronounced note at high revs. 

 

At a base price of  $205,000, the 2016 California T is quite a deal.