‘Auction Kings’ continues

By John Crook © Zap2it

It’s not even 9 a.m. on an otherwise sleepy Atlanta Sunday in early summer, but already a healthy line is forming outside the yellow warehouse that houses Gallery 63 in the city’s Buckhead neighborhood. As parking attendants wrangle the growing swell of cars in the adjacent parking lot, the crowd is buzzing with happy anticipation, suggesting a sporting event, not an auction, is in the offing.

Welcome to the world of “Auction Kings,” the hit Discovery Channel reality series that starts its sophomore season on Tuesday, Aug. 9.Tapping into America’s growing fascination with bidding and selling, especially with the kind of quirky and distinctive items gallery owner Paul Brown specializes in, the show was an instant success when it premiered last October, moving Discovery to order 26 additional episodes for the new season.

Inside the building, just minutes before the doors open, Brown and his staff make last-minute adjustments to the auction room, which looks like someone’s improbable fantasy hoard. A hot-air balloon hangs from the rafters, and hot rods sit on a loading dock just outside.Vintage movie posters are prominently displayed, and on this particular Sunday, several items from the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Ala. — including Russian cosmonaut suits and an autographed poster featuring some NASA legends — await their moment under the hammer.

“A gallery tends to take on the personality of whoever is running it, and I, for whatever reason, am drawn to quirky, oddball things,” Brown explains.“When you begin selling something like African tribal art or antique ivory — really cool stuff — word starts to get out and then builds on itself. Soon you’re the go-to guy for weird stuff, and there really aren’t a lot of outlets, or even book value, for a lot of the stuff I sell.”

That’s certainly true of three items spotlighted in the season premiere: a Ty Cobb tobacco tin dating from the early 1900s, one of only 10 or so in the world; a vintage 1943 Harley-Davidson motorcycle; and a 19th-century lady gambler’s watch with a concealed pistol.

The doors have opened now in advance of the 11 a.m. start time, and the crowd, definitely dressed for comfort over style in most cases, surges inside to claim preferred seats, either on the floor or in a bank of bleachers toward the back.There’s food on hand ranging from shrimp and grits to barbecue and hot dogs and Gallery 63 T-shirts for sale, but many visitors are focused on getting their pictures taken with an accommodating but mildly stunned Cindy Shook, the tough but friendly office manager.

“It’s been a shocker when people recognize me, and it has taken some getting used to, because I am just a normal person, just like anybody else,” she says later.“They like to see that you are just the same as you are on TV, because I’m not an actress. I end up giggling and tell them they’re crazy. It’s hard to get used to, because I’ve always been in the back, doing the work."

Web Links

On Sunday, ABC Family premieres “Teen Spirit,” a movie about a high-school queen bee given a tough choice in order to save her soul. Click on abcfamily.go.com/movies/teen-spirit

\Monday on HBO, the documentary “Superheroes”looks at real-life caped crusaders. Learn more at conchordswiki.hbo. com/documentaries/superheroes/index.html

R!!!!!!!!!!!e is just like you – assuming you are a British-born world-class chef with shows on Food Network, biceps the size of New Jersey and the ability to turn the impossible into a delicious feast capable of feeding 1,000. And if that does sound like you, congratulations, because you are also engaged to beautiful female professional WWE wrestler Gail Kim.

All things considered, Irvine is having a pretty nice run. After more than 25 years cooking everywhere from the royal yacht Britannia to the White House kitchens, he has found his stride as host of Food Network’s “Dinner: Impossible,” “Worst Cooks in America” and “Restaurant: Impossible.” He also has a few new restaurants joining his very successful Robert Irvine’s Eat! in Hilton Head, S.C.

But as he continues to open new restaurants and expand his brand, he recognizes that shows like his tell viewers just what they should expect when patronizing an establishment.

“Listen, when you go out to dinner and you spend your hard-earned money, you need to feel like you actually want to spend,” Irvine says. “Right now, the general public has so much knowledge about what it should look like and taste like. It really makes things more competitive, and I think competition is always good.” That coming from a man whose fiancee can do a combination moonsault powerslam to end any argument.

Speaking of which, Irvine credits Kim with improving his health by adjusting his diet.

“She’s gotten me off of my blood pressure medication through diet,” adds Irvine. “I used to eat blue cheese dressing like you wouldn’t believe.”

It must be love for a man like Irvine to give up his blue cheese.