INsite Atlanta August 2019 Issue

AUGUST 2019

8 YEARS! 2 G N I T RA CELEB

INSITEATLANTA.COM

VOL. 28, NO. 1 FREE

Chris Botti The Mavericks Preseason Poll

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

Celebrates a Milestone Birthday Must See Guests Coming to this Year's

PG 2 • August 2019 • insiteatlanta.com

CONTENTS • AUGUST 2019 • VOLUME 28, NO. 1

EARS! ING 28 Y T A R B E CEL

Atlanta’s

Entertainment Monthly

INTERVIEWS

10 10 Erin Gray 11 Zach Galligan 12 Dana Gould 13 Liz Wright 14 Chris Botti 15 Marc Cohn 16 GSU Shawn Elloitt 18 The Mavericks 12

FEATURES 10 Dragon Con 13 Continuing Ed 16 College Football 17 NCAA Top 25

COLUMNS 04 05 06 07 07 08 15

13

Around Town On Tap Atlanta on a Dime Under The Lights Station Control Movie Reviews 14 New Releases

insiteatlanta.com STAFF LISTING Publisher Steve Miller steve@insiteatlanta.com Art Director / Web Design Nick Tipton nick@insiteatlanta.com Managing Editor Lee Valentine Smith lee@insiteatlanta.com Local Events Editor Marci Miller marci@insiteatlanta.com Movie Editor Steve Warren s.warren@insiteatlanta.com Music Editor John Moore john@insiteatlanta.com

Follow us on the web!

Contributing Writers / Interns: Alex. S. Morrison, Dave Cohen, Benjamin Carr, Demarco Williams Advertising Sales Steve Miller (404) 308-5119 • ads@insiteatlanta.com MAILING ADDRESS P.O. Box 76483 Atlanta, GA 30358

A taste this good, only comes once a year

August 17th, 2019

WEBSITE • insiteatlanta.com Editorial content of INsite is the opinion of each writer and is not necessarily the opinion of INsite, its staff, or its advertisers. INsite does not knowingly accept false or misleading advertising or editorial content, nor do the publisher or editors of INsite assume responsibility should such advertising or editorial Chris Botti The Mavericks appear. No content, i.e., articles, graphics, Preseason Poll designs and information (any and all) in this publication may be reproduced in any manner without written permission from publisher.

AUGUST 2019

INSITEATLANTA.COM

VOL. 28, NO. 1 FREE

S! TING 28 YEAR CELEBRA

© Copyright 2019, Be Bop Publishing, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Cover photo credit Georgia Tech athletics – Karl Moore.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

Celebrates a Milestone Birthda y

Must See Guests Coming to this Year's

Great Arts & Crafts

Enjoy Live Music Interactive Kids Zone

Taste Local Bites

From 4-9 PM Enjoy Local Food, family fun at Chattahoochee High School!

For More information Visit Jrmmanagement.com or call 770/423/1330 insiteatlanta.com • August 2019 • PG 3

Around Town

Events and Performances taking place around Atlanta

ATURDAY JULY& 13 ASUGUST 9,, 23 SEPT. 6

SUNDAY , JLewis ULY 14 soulful Sam on Sunday, August 11.

Visit chattnaturecenter.org for tickets.

SUNDAYS ON THE RIVER CONCERT

The Green at City Springs

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 14 TASTE OF HELEN

ATLANTABYFIELD DAY MOVIES MOONLIGHT Historic Fourth Ward Park

Atlanta by Field Day is a throwback Movies Moonlight returns to to thegrade big school, built with adults in mind.

They've screen on The Green at City Springs on Augot 9allwith theHow classic events like tug of2 and war, gust to Train Your Dragon relay races, obstacle courses, etc. plus some is followed by Spiderman: Into the Spidersurprises theMarvel day. Teams verse (Augthroughout 23); Captain (Sept will 6). earn points in each event to add up to your Movies by Moonlight combines the nostaltotal the day. movie Grab some friends, gia of for a drive-in with the fun start of a your team (8 or more people) and gear up block party rolled into one! Visit Leaderfor the competition of the summer! Visit shipSandySprings.org. atlfieldday.com.

SSATURDAY UGUST ATURDAY,,A JULY 13 10 DECATUR BBQ BLUES & REPTILE DAY BLUEGRASS FESTIVAL Fernbank Museum

Legacy Park in Decatur Square

Come face-toBBQ faceDecatur with table Blues & Bluegrass after table of live Festival has reptiles 2019 and ammoved to their phibians, includnew home andat ing pythons Legacy Deother Park largein snakes, geckos, tortoises, catur.

Six bands will many perform on This the main lizards, iguanas, and more! popstage throughout day.a Great from ular annual eventthe offers uniqueBBQ opportulocal staples Sweet nity to interact with Auburn, and learnWilliamson more about Bros., Grand Champion and Jimcreatures.

N Nicks these ecologically-important will a fantastic day of music, cold Visithighlight fernbankmuseum.org. beer, and great food. For all event information visit Decaturbbqfestival.com.

THURSDAY -SATURDAY, JULY 11-13

SHORTFEST SATLANTA UNDAY, AUGUST 11 Synchronicity Theatre SUNDAYS ON THEheld RIVER Atlanta Shortsfest at theCONCERT Synchronic-

Chattahoochee Nature Center ity Theatre, showcases a diverse mix of

The films Chattahoochee Nature filmmakers Center in short by ultra-talented Roswell is offering greatFeaturing nighttimea variety enterfrom across the globe. tainment summer.

Their Sundays of genresthis with a running time under on 45 the River Concerts series is held the second minutes.

Visit atlantashortfest.com.

Sunday of each month. Come out and see

Chattahoochee Nature Center

Festhalle, Helen, GA

knowledge aboutmerged social injustice to future ing & production with cutting-edge generations.

This special event will be magic. Reza has garnered a world-wide moderated by fan Chris Escobar, dibuzz and loyal base with hisexecutive passion for rector for the Atlanta Film Society.

For creating signature grand-scale illusions ticketasinformation visit FoxTheatre.org or such making motorcycles and helicopcall 855-285-8499. ters materialize out of thin air. Tickets CobbEnergyCentre.com.

Take a short drive up to Helen, GA, nes- SUNDAY, JULY 21 tled in the Blue Ridge Mountains on the A THE EARL19 20TH- 25 ANNIVERSARY PARTY UGUST Chattahoochee River, for Taste of Helen. The EARL in East Atlanta Enjoy culinary tastes from top area restau- PGA TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP Come onGolf out to Thelive Chattahoochee NatureEvent Center in East Lake Club rants, music and libations! takes The EARL in Roswell is offering great nighttime enterplace Wednesday, August 14 from 5:00 For the 17th condowntown East tainment thistosummer.

Their Sundays on secutive 8:00 pm. Go helenchamber.com or call The Atlanta time, to celethe River Concerts series is held the second (770) 878-1908 for ticket information.

Tour Champibrate their 20th Sunday of each month. Come out and see onship A n n i v comes e r s a r yto ! jazz pianist Joe Alterman on Sunday, July East Lake Golf T14.HURSDAY , A UGUST 15 At only 29 years old, Alterman has al- The EARL is an Club showcasing ALIVE IN ROSWELL ready released four critically-acclaimed al- Atlanta instituthe top 30 players Roswell Town Square bums and played some of the best venues tion for great music, drinks and bar food. the FedExCup in Roswell is achattnaturecenter.org free family-friendly in National acts and the best emerging artists inAlive the country.

Visit standings.

Atlanta hosts the Tours season monthly festival held the third Thursday from Atlanta’s music scene perform nightly for tickets. finale, where both the winner the Dang Tour evening (5-9 PM) of the month. The festival to packed crowds. Tag Teamofand Championship and the season-long FedExisSUNDAY held concurrently Dang Dang will be performing. Free ad, JULY 14on Historic Canton Cup will no be cover. crowned. season schedStreet, East Alley, at Historic Roswell Town mission, VisitThis badearl.com.

TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD ule was moved up to conclude in August to Square, and at the Interactive Zone on the Fox Theatre accommodate the lull in the sports calengrounds of City Hall. Free regular trolley JULY 30 - SEPTEMBER 1 VisitTourChampionship.com.

Actress Mary Badham, who portrayed service connects the venues.

The festival dar.

OLD MACDONALD’S FARM Scout Finch in thefood trucks, vendors Center for Puppetry Arts features live bands, original kids' “To games Kill a and entertainment. SUNDAY, AUGUST 25 boothes, Playing as partWING of Mockingbird” film, SOUTHERN SHOWDOWN Vist them at AliveinRoswell.com. the Center’s Thewill visit the Fox TheThe Fairmont, Midtown ater for the Very atre for ,a Aquestion Sand UNDAY UGUST 18 Come on out for Young Initiative, answer session aOldfinger lickin' REZA: EDGE OF ILLUSION MacDonald’s on Sunday, July 14 at good throw Farm is an interCobb Energy Performing Arts Centre the Marquee Club. down active with showsome that will allow junior farmers Prior thetaken screening REZAtohas the art of illusion to a new of chefs to the sing,best dance and wiggle along with more of thedelivering film – which level, his is in the Southeast at Springer Mountain than a dozen animal puppets and part of the Coca-Cola Summer Film Festirock concert style Farms' Southern Wing Showdown.

This farmhands. The Suzi Bass award-winning val series – guests magic show to au-will have the opportunity amazing will be heldfor at ages The Fairmont show is event recommended two and to ask the actress diences across thequestions about the film, on Sunday, August 25.

Advance ticket purolder.

Visit puppet.org. its impactWitness and how she continues to spread globe. chase highly recommended as they will sell concert level light-

SATURDAY AUGUST out.

For one ,day only, this3event will provide wings, beer, Southern spirits and local COBB COUNTY INT’L FESTIVAL music.

The event Jim R. Miller Parkbenefits Angel Flight and Second Helpings Atlanta. Tickets at SouthThe 2019 Cobb County International FesernWingShowdown.com. tival will feature a wide variety of local and i nUGUST t e r n a t i29 o n a–l SEPTEMBER 8 A music and art, 29 ROOMS eclectic dancing, The Works - culi1235 Chattahoochee Ave delicious nary options, This immersive art installation is touring i m country, a g i n a tallowing ive the visitors to experience crafts, beautiful corner and and interact withjewelry, art in akids’ groundbreaking manyUpon other entry, vendors.

It will also give local way. your assignment is to businesses the chance foster economic ditch self-limiting beliefstoand open yourself growth. the world will up to newCountries ideas andaround transformational exbe represented at this family-friendly event. periences. In this one-of-a-kind world, surThe 30,000-square-foot for prises hide around everyfacility corner allows and open 3,600 lead people inside possibilities. and room forHead 2,500 doors to endless to more people onfor themore plaza,information. midway and kids’ 29Rooms.com corner. Visit cobbcounty.org.

AUGUST 31 – SEPTEMBER 1 WEDNESDAYMUSIC , AUGUST 14 FLASHBACK FESTIVAL TASTEHouse OF HELEN Mable Barnes Amphitheatre Festhalle, Helen, GA

The Flashback Music Festival takes place Take Day a short drive up to Helen, nesLabor weekend starting with GA, a tailgate tled inbeginning the Blue atRidge Mountains on31st the party 3:00 pm on August Chattahoochee River, for Taste of Helen. and September 1st, then ending each day Enjoyperformances culinary tastes from topofarea restauwith from some R&B's legrants, live music 31st see The Whispers, ends.

On August and libations!

Evelyn ChamEvent takes pagne Kingplace and Wednesday, AuRuben Studgust 14 from dard. On Sep5:00 - 8:00 pm. tember 1st Go to helenwitness Cameo, chamber.com or Midnight Star call (770) 878and Glenn 1908 for ticket Jones.

Get tickinformation. ets at Ticketmaster.com.

ON THE

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Free movies

Experience Food, Music & Art from Around the World Dancing • Festival Food Located on Peachtree Road adjacent Kids’ to Oglethorpe University Corner and more!

Jim R. Miller Park Event Center Learn More

For General info contact (770) 528-8885

BACK TO SCHOOL

LITTLE 5 POINTS • 428 Moreland Ave • Atlanta, GA 30307 (404) 523-0100 • OPEN 10am to 9 or 10pm 7 Days a Week August 2019 • insiteatlanta.com PG 4 • July 2019 • insiteatlanta.com

/Psychosistersatlanta • EST 1991

On Tap this Month MAJOR EVENTS COMING TO ATLANTA August 17: The Fred Amphitheater

presents

CHRIS BOTTI

Spend an evening with Chris Botti at e Frederick Brown Jr. Amphitheater on August 17th. For over two decades, the Grammy Award-winning master trumpeter and composer has amassed multiple Gold and Platinum albums, to become the nation’s largest selling instrumental artist. Reserved seats are $40-$55 while lawn seats are $30. Visit Amphitheater.org for tickets and complete show information.

Saturday, August 24: Woodruff Park

GERMAN BIERFEST

e 16th Annual Atlanta German Bierfest is back for an incredible day filled with authentic German beers, music and food. Festival fans will receive a commemorative glass to use to enjoy unlimited samples of more than 35 authentic German Beers. Atlanta area German restaurants and food vendors will serve up authentic cuisine. ere will be live music and plenty of family activities. Visit GermanBierfest.com.

Sunday, August 25 2:00pm: The Fox Theatre

WIZARD OF OZ

don’t miss the final 4 shows of THE 2019 concert season!

The Lost 80’s live saturday, august 3 A Flock of Seagulls, The Motels, The Vapors, Naked Eyes, Bow Wow Wow, Real Life, Boys Don’t Cry, Farrington & Mann

MJ Live saturday, august 10

with special guest Electric Avenue, the 80's MTV experience

an evening with chris botti SATURDAY, august 17 George Thorogood and the Destroyers SATURDAY, october 5 The Good To Be Bad Tour - 45 Years of Rock

For more details, visit www.amphitheater.org

order tickets by phone at 877.725.8849

e Fox eatre continues its Coca-Cola Summer Film Festival on Sunday, August 25 with "Wizard of Oz" at 2:00 p.m. Single-event access to the Marquee Club is available for purchase for $40 per person. Marquee Club access offers meet-and-greet opportunities with movie characters, adult and kid-friendly moviethemed beverages, rooftop access, private bars and restrooms and much more. Visit Foxeatre.org.

August 29 - Sept. 2: Downtown Atlanta

DRAGON CON

Celebrating their 33rd year, Dragon Con returns this Labor Day weekend. Dragon Con is the largest multimedia, popular culture convention focusing on science fiction and fantasy, gaming, comics, literature, art, music and film in the world. Dragon Con boasts close to 40 fan-based tracks, a film festival, parade, art show, comics, pop art exhibits and displays, nightly concerts and parties. Visit DragonCon.org for more details.

August 30 - Sept. 1: Venues around Decatur

DECATUR BOOK FESTIVAL

e AJC Decatur Book Festival brings world-class authors and book lovers together in the city of Decatur to celebrate and enjoy book signings, author readings, poetry slams, writing workshops, and more. e festival, free and open to the public, is held over Labor Day weekend each year, with festival events in more than a dozen venues throughout downtown Decatur and Emory University. Visit DecaturBookFestival.com.

August 31: Mercedes-Benz Stadium

CHICK-FIL-A KICKOFF

is season opens with #2 ranked Alabama Crimson Tide vs. the Duke Blue Devils. e 15th edition of the nation’s longest-running kickoff game will feature the first meeting between Duke and Alabama since 2010. e teams will battle for e Old Leather Helmet Trophy, one of college football’s newest rivalry-style icons.

Kickoff for the nationally televised game is slated for 3:30 p.m. Visit Chick-Fil-AKickoffGame.com.

NEW SUMMER COCKTAIL SERIES! Stay Cool all Summer long with these tasty new Tequila Cocktails!

Sponsored by

Lunazul Tequila!

Voted Best y tl n te is s n o C Margaritas & n r te s e w South in Atlanta!

insiteatlanta.com • August 2019 • PG 5

Saturday & Sunday, August 17 & 18

PIEDMONT PARK ARTS FESTIVAL

EVENTS HAPPENING FOR SMALL CHANGE IN ATLANTA

Know of a low cost event happening? Event@AtlantaOnADime.com

By Marci Miller

Thursdays, August 8, 15, 22

Friday, August 16

TOWN Brookhaven Facebook.com/TownBrookhaven

The Green at City Springs Free; CitySprings.com/events

MOVIES ON THE TOWN

CITY GREEN LIVE

Come on out for the Movies on the Town series at Town Brookhaven. Arrive early, grab dinner from one of the area restaurants and eat on the green space. ursday evening specials are also being offered by several retailers. Areas have been designated for blankets and chairs. No pets, outside food/drinks or coolers. Movies begin at dusk. See Mamma Mia! (8/8); Mama Mia! Here We Go Again (8/15) and Mary Poppins Returns (8/22).

City Green Live is a series of free concerts on the Green at City Springs. Friday, August 16 features Sam Burchfield & e Scoundrels/e Trongone Band, a little Southern Soul meets a little Southern Rock 'n Roll. Pack an blanket and picnic under the stars. Only alcoholic beverages sold on site are allowed. Tables available for purchase. Festivities begin at 6:30 p.m., bands begin playing at 7:30 p.m

Sunday, August 11

TASTE OF JOHNS CREEK

CONCERTS BY THE SPRINGS Heritage Sandy Springs Free; HeritageSandySprings.org

See Atlanta Brass Cats for a free outdoor concert 7:00 - 8:30 pm Sunday, August 11. e outdoor concert series is offered one Sunday each month at the Heritage Green through September. A limited number of tables available for purchase. Coolers welcome and beverages are sold. Suggested donation of $5 per person, benefits the Heritage Sandy Springs Museum & Park.

Free Attendance; Piedmont Park PiedmontParkaArtsFestival.com

e Piedmont Park Arts Festival is a two day outdoor event focusing on the visual arts. Featuring up to 250 painters, photographers, sculptors, leather and metalwork, glass blowers, jewelers and crafters. e Festival will also offer artist demonstrations, live acoustic music, a Street Market, children's play area plus festival foods.

Saturday & Sunday August 24 & 25

SUMMER SHADE FESTIVAL Grant Park Free; SummerShadeFestival.org

Produced by and benefiting the Grant Park Conservancy, the two-day, fun-filled festival features an impressive lineup of live music throughout the weekend in addition to an expansive artist market, Kids

Zone, 5K run, and much more. Held in Atlanta’s oldest park, the festival is free to attend and offers a diverse selection of local food trucks and vendors with cocktails, a beer garden featuring acoustic music, family-friendly games and more.

Saturday, Aug 31 - Monday, Sept 2

MARIETTA ART IN THE PARK Marietta Square Free; ArtparkMarietta.com

Marietta Art in the Park gives individuals and families the chance to have all kinds of outdoor fun during Labor Day weekend.

Featuring works from 175 fine artists, a children’s area, entertainment, food trucks and more. Offered with free admission, 45,000 visitors attend Art in the Park in historic Marietta Square each year. Take a self-guided Marietta Square Art Gallery Tour. e Chalk Spot street art display for children benefits the Marietta High School Visual Arts.

Saturday, August 17

Free Admission; Chattahoochee High TasteofJohnsCreek.fun Taste of Johns Creek returns for all you foodies out there. Sample more than 25 local restaurants on the campus of Chattahoochee High School. ere will be an Art Walk with shopping abound, live music, local entertainment, kid’s activities and taste some of the best food the Johns Creek-area has to offer at this exciting event for the whole family. Admission is free; food tastings range between $1- $4.

SUMMER SHADE FESTIVAL Grant Park • FREE Sat. Aug. 24 & Sun. Aug. 25 SummerShadeFestival.com

RECEIVE UPDATED EVENTS WEEKLY. SIGN UP BY EMAILING SUBSCRIPTIONS@ATLANTAONADIME.COM ENTER ON THE SUBJECT LINE: SIGN ME UP INSITE!

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PG 6 • August 2019 • insiteatlanta.com

SION A DM ISY DAY! EVER

6

TV

Station Control

MAKING OLD SHOWS NEW AGAIN

The Boys

BY BENJAMIN CARR

W

HEN WE REVISIT A PLACE after being away from it for a while, the nostalgia we feel is often tinged with surprise or regret. Our college towns are filled with memories but sometimes your favorite place on Earth has been bulldozed and replaced with a pita restaurant. With the latest crop of television and streaming shows, old ideas have taken on a different perspective.

THE BOYS (Amazon Prime)

Based upon the comic by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson, this subversive, dark and racy as hell series reimagines the Justice League or the Avengers as corrupt, murderous, corporate-shill, perverted asshole villains, and its title characters are a group intent on spanking the heroes when they get out of line. From the center of its dark, dark heart, with its well-earned TV-MA rating, this show is a damn blast.

Ennis, who previously created the twisted comic Preacher for AMC is also at the helm for this one. And as weird as Preacher gets, The Boys is decidedly more wicked and in some ways funnier.

It stars the great Karl Urban - lately a fullfledged movie star from Star Trek and Dredd as Billy Butcher, a vigilante with a thick accent and a perpetual scowl. His character is all bravado and testosterone, and it’s so great to have Urban in any way that we can get him.

The Boys also stars Oscar nominee Elisabeth Shue, Gossip Girl star Chace Crawford, Jack Quaid and Erin Moriarty. The cast - with its heroes as villains and villains as heroes - is fantastic. And, as the premise builds, the show only gets more intense.

VERONICA MARS (Hulu)

This show, which ran for three seasons on UPN and The CW, was originally about a teen detective intent on solving her own rape and her best friend’s murder. It was dark, compelling and centered by a terrific lead performance from

Kristen Bell as the title character. After three seasons and a movie funded through a Kickstarter campaign, creator Rob Thomas and Bell have returned for an eight-episode fourth season of the show.

Veronica, now in her 30s and aDead professional To Me detective working with her father Keith (Enrico Colatoni) in the seedy seaside town of Neptune, Calif., where everyone has a secret, is on the trail of a mad bomber targeting the hottest Spring Break tourist spots. The list of suspects is long and includes a number of stars from the show’s past, including Jason Dohring, Ryan Hansen and Max Greenfield. Also joining the show for this season are Oscar winner J.K. Simmons as an ex-con gone good and Patton Oswalt as a conspiracy theory-spouting pizza delivery man.

Along the way, the mystery grows more compelling and shocking. It’s filled with nostalgia for the old series, but it carries a new, adult darkness that’s very unsettling.

Bell has said time and again that she would continue playing Veronica until it’s Murder, She Wrote and everyone in Neptune is dead. Here’s hoping that Hulu fulfills such a prophecy.

Under The Lights ON STAGE THIS SUMMER

CATS

Fox Theatre August 6 - 11 (855) 285-8499 FoxTheatre.org/Cats

Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cats, based on T.S. Eliot’s Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats, is now on tour across North America.

The original Broadway production opened in 1982 at Broadway’s Winter Garden Theatre, where it ran for 7,485 performances and 18 years. Cats returned to Broadway in 2016 in a stunning revival at the Neil Simon Theatre. The current show features new sound design, direction and choreography allowing theatre goers to experience Cats again for the first time as it begins a new life. The first-ever, live-action film adaptation of Cats opens nationwide this holiday season.

CHILDREN OF EDEN

Aurora Theatre Now thru Sept 1 (678) 226-6222 AuroraTheatre.com Children of Eden is a musical about love, family and the power of forgiveness.

Boasting music from the great American composer Stephen Schwartz (Wicked, Godspell and Pippin) this epic masterpiece sets the Book of Genesis soaring. Narrated by the Storytellers, the uplifting piece takes the audience through the first nine and a

half chapters of The Bible. Well-known stories of Adam, Eve and Noah have been adapted to shine a light on the themes of family dynamics, the conflict between authority and self-expression, personal responsibility, love, hope, restoration and so much more.

SWEET WATER TASTE

Horizon Theatre Through August 18 (404) 584-7450 HorizonTheatre.com

All hell (and a little bit of heaven) breaks loose when Elijah Beckford, a prominent southern black undertaker, approaches his wealthy white cousins, Charlie and Elizabeth Beckford, and demands to be buried in “the family cemetery.”

“You won’t want to miss this story of two families, one black, one white - two branches of one family tree in North Carolina,” says Co-Artistic Director Lisa Adler.

“Funny, irreverent and topical, if you’ve loved previous summer productions from director Thomas W. Jones II (Blackberry Daze, Da’ Kink In My Hair, How Black Mothers Say I Love You), you’ll be thrilled with this Southern ensemble comedy.”

SCREAM: RESURRECTION (VH1)

Abandoning the plot that fueled the first two seasons of MTV’s Scream series, a shorter third season with an entirely new plot and characters, was recently dropped rather unceremoniously on VH1 after two years on the shelf. The new plot, centered around a football star named Deion (RJ Cyler), takes place in Atlanta and deals with Ghostface, complete with his original mask, tracking down and killing teens for keeping weird secrets.

Though the infusion of a new cast and characters is an interesting way of approaching Scream, at this point the show has become more tired than compelling. This is likely the last we will ever see of it.

It’s a bit of a shame. It had potential, even in its new form, but at this point it’s much more of a whisper than a Scream.

Veronica Mars

insiteatlanta.com • August 2019 • PG 7

MOVIES

Movie Reviews

BY STEVE WARREN

ONCE UPON A TIME...IN HOLLYWOOD (R)

1/2 When I forget my birthday I remember it’s the anniversary of two historical events: Nixon’s resignation (the best present I ever got) in 1973 and the first half of the TateLaBianca murders by Charles Manson’s “Family” in 1969. Quentin Tarantino’s new film leads up to the latter but most of it takes place six months earlier, establishing real and fictional characters who will figure in the climax. Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio) is an actor on the verge of obsolescence who bought a home in the Hollywood Hills in better days. Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt) is his longtime stunt double and now his driver, since DUIs cost Rick his license. Rick happens to live next door to actress Sharon Tate (Margot Robbie) and her husband, director Roman Polanski. Cliff picks up hitchhiking hippie Pussycat (Margaret Qualley) and gives her a ride to the Spahn Movie Ranch, where he’d worked years ago, which is now home to Manson and company. I’ve been a Tarantino fan since Day One (Reservoir Dogs) but I don’t think he’s ever sucked me in and held me spellbound from first frame to last as he does here, whether he’s being lighthearted or heavy-handed, and even in scenes which would be boring under the guidance of other writer-directors. Actors from well-known to unknown make cameo appearances as (mostly real) figures of the day, my favorites being Damien Lewis as Steve McQueen, Bruce Dern as George Spahn and Julia Bitters as a precocious eight-year-old who works with Rick. There’s plenty of nostalgia from the currently overworked 1969, including songs, movies, commercials and scenery, looking authentic even when we know CGI work was necessary. I wasn’t in Hollywood in 1969 but now I feel like I have been. I’ll have to watch this and Pulp Fiction again before I declare one to be Tarantino’s best; but Quentin, please don’t stop making movies!

AFTER THE WEDDING (PG-13)

 Wow! Two of my favorite actresses in one movie? Sign me up! When will I ever learn?

This has to be my biggest disappointment of the year, if not the decade. The problem is the plot, which requires more suspension of disbelief than a Star Wars movie. It’s a soap opera built around a series of revelations. I won’t reveal them, but the first big one seems to involve the Biggest. Coincidence. Ever. Or maybe it was orchestrated, in which case someone had information that was nearly impossible to obtain and that they had no reason to think

THE LION KING PG 8 • August 2019 • insiteatlanta.com

existed. Isabel (Michelle Williams) is a dogooder who runs a struggling orphanage in India. She’s offered a $2 million donation by a media placement company founded and run by Theresa (Julianne Moore), but she has to go to New York to make a pitch for it.

The company pays her expenses, including a penthouse suite that must cost one of those millions as Isabel’s stay is extended. Theresa is distracted by the wedding that weekend of her daughter Grace (Abby Quinn, whose role requires the widest range of the three lead actresses; plus she sings her own song behind the credits), and by selling her company. Hey, New Yorkers keep busy. Moore’s husband, Bart Freundlich adapted the script from an Oscar-nominated Danish film and directed it, giving his wife a Big Scene near the end to attract award attention. The actresses are all fine but they couldn’t sell this story to me.

THE LION KING (PG)

1/2 Even in this polarized age, it’s rare for film critics to be as sharply divided about a major release as we are about Jon Favreau’s reanimated remake of The Lion King. As the rating suggests, I’m on the Pro side. I’m so impressed with the visual technique that I can ignore some minor flaws, including the extra time taken to show off the photorealistic, computer-generated landscapes and creatures that inhabit them. It’s half an hour longer than the 1994 version, even though it tells the same beloved story with many of the same words and songs. That stretching is one reason it’s not recommended for very young viewers. Many in the audience I saw it with failed the restlessness test, talking aloud or having to be taken to the bathroom. If they wouldn’t appreciate a visit to the High Museum, they’re probably too young for this movie. There’s also the beaston-beast violence, including Scar causing the death of his brother, King Mufasa, to usurp the throne from Mufasa’s son, Simba.

When King Scar forms an alliance with evil hyenas against his own subjects, I couldn’t help wondering if a political metaphor was intended. Simba hooks up with Timon the Meerkat and Pumbaa the Warthog, a carefree pair who raise him to lionhood.

Eventually he’s reunited with his inevitable queen, Nala, who he kept in the friend zone as a cub, and he assumes his natural place.

Though the animals talk and sing with allstar human voices and have expressive eyes, most of the visuals could come from a nature documentary. This animated film looks like an arc in the Circle of Live-Action.

ONCE UPON A TIME...IN HOLLYWOOD MIKE WALLACE IS HERE (PG-13)

 Back in the day there was a different kind of “fake news.” Interviews on radio and then television were almost always friendly, even condescending, to the interviewee. That’s still the case on talk shows, where guests come to sell themselves and their latest products; but news can now have a harder edge. Avi Belkin’s documentary gives most of the credit to Mike Wallace; deserved or not, he makes a strong case. Wallace, who was nearly 94 when he died in 2012, tells much of his own story through interviews where he was on the other side of the table; but we also see him in his more comfortable position, asking “questions that had never been asked before” of newsmakers (Ayatollah Khomeini, Vladimir Putin, Malcolm X, Eleanor Roosevelt and a much younger Donald Trump) and celebrities (Oprah, Bette Davis, Kirk Douglas, Shirley MacLaine, Barbra Streisand) – 41 are identified during the credits, but there are more, and you’ll wish some had been ID’d earlier. “Everybody...sued us for libel,” Wallace says of his time at ABC in the late ‘50s.

They dropped him and he did commercials and frivolous stuff until he rebuilt his respect after CBS hired him as a correspondent in 1963, then had him contribute to 60 Minutes when it began in 1968. Watergate is said to have made the show the hit it remains to this day. A libel suit from Gen. William Westmoreland made Wallace depressed and CBS more cautious, even though it was eventually dropped. Bill O’Reilly calls Wallace a “dinosaur.” Streisand calls him a “sonofabitch.” Morley Safer calls him a “prick.” They may not all be (entirely) serious.

Since Wallace went everywhere and talked to everyone, this film does an amazing job of compressing 50 or so years of world history and American journalism into his personal story.

DAVID CROSBY: REMEMBER MY NAME (R)

 Singer-songwriter-musician David Crosby shows a lot more personality in his own biopic than he did as one of several witnesses in Echo in the Canyon. It may help that he’s being interviewed by filmmaker Cameron Crowe, who once almost famously wrote for Rolling Stone, as they’re chauffeured around Los Angeles and Laurel Canyon, where Crosby can comment on what happened in this club or that house (“Our House” in song). After several heart attacks, diabetes and heroin and cocaine addiction, Crosby suffers from survivor’s guilt and talks so much about his imminent death that I’m compelled to point out he’s still alive – as I write this – and turns 78 this month – if he lives that long. One feels the film was made to be his memorial.

But there are good times too, some echoing ...Canyon, as in the mutual admiration society between the Byrds and the Beatles; and a slightly different perspective on why he left the Byrds, still putting the blame – which he accepts – on Crosby. He also cops to alienating musical partners Stephen Stills, Graham Nash and Neil Young, most of

whom discuss him in interviews from better days. His love life is covered too, from the promiscuity of the high times of his early fame to getting serious about Joni Mitchell (his story of the song she wrote about their breakup left me dying to know which song it was); then Christine Hinton, who died at 21; and finally Jan, his wife since 1987, whom he hates to leave but he can’t resist touring to make music. The second half of the film includes clips from Crosby’s 2017 U.S. tour, which he followed with another album. It’s been a great summer at the movies for fans of the music of the ‘60s!

THE NIGHTINGALE THE NIGHTINGALE (R)

 If you’re a white male who’s had trouble feeling guilty about his privilege, here’s another chance. Of course you weren’t in the English army colonizing Australia in 1825, so you’re not personally responsible for what they did to women and indigenous black people. I don’t know all the historical context but writer-producer-director Jennifer Kent, following her impressive work on The Babadook, shows us all we need to know about the people involved in this story.

She begins with horrific crimes and makes us wait for most of the punishment, immersing us in the Australian wilderness of the day.

Clare (Aisling Franciosi), a 21-year-old Irish lass, was imprisoned by the English for seven years for a teenage indiscretion, probably stealing to survive. She was allowed to marry and have a daughter while under sentence but Lt. Hawkins (Sam Claflin) won’t release her now that she’s served her time because he wants to keep her as his personal (unwilling) whore. He’s also bitter about not being promoted to captain. Eventually he goes too far and Clare winds up tracking him for revenge on a northward journey. Both have native guides. Clare’s is Billy (Baykali Ganambarr) who she hires for two shillings and treats like a slave – at first. As they start to realize how much oppression they have in common this almost becomes a buddy movie, but certainly not a comedy. Like a well-tuned orchestra, Kent’s film strikes all the right notes.

See the rest of our movie reviews at insiteatlanta.com/movies.asp

Make it One for the Books!

The Decatur Book Festival is Labor Day weekend with family friendly events, shopping, dining and more!

STREET MARKET

CHILDREN’S FESTIVAL

AUTHOR TALKS and PANEL DISCUSSIONS

re

ua q S e h T OnD y e B r u CaT e D e r O expl W. PONCE DE LEON AVENUE

NEW MURAL in OLD DEPOT DISTRICT

HARMONY PARK OAKHURST

Make it a weekend literary adventure to remember. Visit decaturbookfestival.com to plan your festival time. Then treat yourself with storefront shopping and top tier dining. Relax with local brews and crafty cocktails. Venture beyond the square to see strollworthy murals and sculptures.

Decatur Visitors Center 113 Clairemont Ave. 30030 visitdecaturga.com

Decatur-Insite-DBF2019-10x14.indd 1

STay

are. u q S e h near T

hinG!

iSS a T DOn’T M

COURTYARD by MARRIOTT

HAMPTON INN and SUITES

Warm welcomes. Good times.

That’s a day in Decatur. insiteatlanta.com • August7/30/19 2019 5:17 • PG 9 PM

EVENTS

FILM

DRAGON CON 2019

ERIN’S HEROES

G

BY LEE VALENTINE SMITH

Topped with Talent

EORGE TAKEI, LANA PARRILLA, and David Tennant lead a long list of celebrity guests headed to Dragon Con, Atlanta’s internationally known pop culture, fantasy, science fiction, and gaming convention, for Labor Day weekend.

Scottish actor David Tennant, the Tenth Doctor of Doctor Who fame, makes a career of bringing fans’ favorite characters to life. Other noted roles of his include Jessica Jones’s Kilgrave, the voice of DuckTales’ Scrooge McDuck, and most recently the demonically charming Crowley of Good Omens.

Known for playing Hikaru Sulu in the original Star Trek television series and its first six feature films, George Takei has had a varied career as an actor, writer, and community activist. Fans of ABC’s Once Upon a Time will recognize Lana Parrilla for her award-winning role as the Evil Queen and Mayor of Storybrooke from the show’s nine-year run.

Other top guests from television and movies including Zachary Levi from this summer’s superhero hit Shazam!, Joonas Suotamo (Chewbacca from the last four Star Wars movies), Doctor Who’s Catherine Tate and Freema Agyeman, and David Ramsey from CW’s Legends of Tomorrow and other Arrowverse programs will be among the fan favorites on hand to lead discussions, talk with fans, and sign autographs during the five-day convention.

An estimated 85,000 fans will travel to Atlanta from all 50 states and several foreign countries to take part in Dragon Con 2019 – filling downtown Atlanta over Labor Day Weekend, August 29 to September 2 – with events and activities across AmericasMart Buildings #1 and #2 and five host hotels – Hyatt Regency Atlanta, Marriott Marquis, Hilton Atlanta, Westin Peachtree and Sheraton Atlanta.

“We are delighted to have so many guests from so many of today’s most popular or, in the case of classic science fiction, best-loved shows and movies to join us this year,” convention co-chair Rachel Reeves said. “Overall, we will have some 400 guests – not just celebrities, but also actors, authors, artists, and other creators and experts – from across science, science fiction and fantasy worlds, comic books, gaming, and digital media.”

Fans of Star Wars ’ plucky soccer-ball droid BB-8 will have a chance to meet his puppeteers, Dave Chapman and Brian Herring. They will be joined by other puppetry guests this year at Dragon Con, including guests from Netflix’s The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance.

Dragon Con is set to celebrate Batman’s 80th Anniversary with four actors from Fox’s hit series, Gotham, including Sean Pertwee (Alfred), Robin Lord Taylor (Penguin), Maggie Geha (Ivy) and

Erin Gray of Buck Rogers and Silver Spoons returns to Dragon Con

F

David Mazouz (Bruce Wayne).

Star Trek fans can debate the various merits of CBS’s Star Trek: Discovery versus Fox’s The Orville. Anson Mount, Discover’s Captain Pike, Shazad Latif, Emily Coutts, and Ethan Peck, as well as a crew of Orville cast members – Mark Jackson, Peter Macon, Chad Coleman, and J. Lee will be on hand to meet with fans, sign autographs, and lead panels about these space exploration fan favorites.

With no reason to wait for a reunion, Dragon Con will host seven cast members from CW’s Supernatural, which will end its incredible 15-year run in 2020.

Mark Sheppard, Samantha Smith, Mark Pellegrino, Osric Chau, Ruth Connell, DJ Qualls, and Ty Olsson will all join Dragon Con fans for this year’s convention.

Farscape will celebrate its 20th Anniversary at Dragon Con, with Lani John Tupo, Anthony Simcoe, Rebecca Riggs, and fan favorite Gigi Edgley.

For fans of the MTV generaon, Robert Englund, Freddy Kreuger from The Nightmare on Elm Street franchise will be joined by V castmates Jane Badler and Marc Singer, who also starred in 1982’s The Beastmaster.

This year’s convention will also feature main cast members from some of the most popular sci-fi, fantasy, and alternative historical fiction television shows including Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, iZombie, Legends of Tomorrow, Lucifer, The Man in the High Castle, the Stargate franchise, Warehouse 13, and Wynonna Earp, plus the pop duo Aly & AJ. For more information and schedule visit dragoncon.org.

ROM MODELING TO ICONIC television commercials to being one of last true contract players for Universal Studios to her role as Colonel Wilma Deering in Buck Rogers In The 25th Century, actress Erin Gray has mastered the fine arts.

A role model for young women in Buck Rogers in the late ‘70s and to the early ‘80s ensemble comedy of Silver Spoons, her enduring resume is harmoniously balanced.

She teaches Tai Chi at UCLA and serves as CEO of Heroes For Hire, a unique talent agency that specializes in booking conventions, public appearances and speaking engagements. Some of her stable of superheroes will be joining her at this year’s Dragon Con. INsite caught up with Gray as she sorted the logistics for clients headed to conventions across the country.

Are you excited to return to DragonCon? Absolutely. It’s always my favorite event of the year and I love that they let me teach my Tai Chi classes there. I’ve made a lot of friends over the years there and I love to see them back in my class.

I suppose the first time you were in Georgia was for [the 1982 film] “Six Pack” with Kenny Rogers.

That’s right, Marietta, Georgia. I was there for an entire month. It was a fascinating time for me and fun to work with Kenny who was huge at the time. I remember he had to have helicopters fly him in and out because he couldn’t even go pick up a pizza without getting mobbed by fans.

Let’s talk about the Dragon Con experience.

What is it like to sit at a table facing a line of people, mostly in costume, who want a minute of your time? Is that a surreal experience?

It’s interesting because you get to hear so many great stories like, ‘We got married as Buck and Wilma’ But my favorites are more along the lines of, ‘My mom and dad would let me stay up late to watch you and it was nice to share some family time together.’

I think we’ve lost that in our society with everybody off in their own world with an iPad or phone. And it’s nice to sit there and see all the costumes. It’s like no other show that I know of in the world, just in terms of how many costumes you see. There’s an entire parade of the people in costumes and the fans

line up and down the main street to watch it. It’s really the ultimate fan-based event. It’s like a sci-fi/fantasy Mardi Gras. I like the fact that a lot of the programming is run, not by corporate decision, but just by a fan getting excited about an idea and creating a panel and really making it happen.

The fans know your work - and every episode detail - inside and out.

Exactly. I think they know our work better than we do sometimes.

Can you tell us tell us a little bit about the Heroes For Hire agency?

I guess the turning point in my life was when I went through a divorce and suddenly realized I couldn’t necessarily rely on acting to pay the bills. Being the mother of a child, I was like, ‘Ok, I need to know I can do this and keep my son in private school or whatever.’ I’d gone to Chicago for a television and radio seminar around 1990. There were several ladies on the panel and one of them was Barbara Luna. They were all huddled in the corner talking about the conventions they went to. I was intrigued.

But I was like, ‘Oh no one cares about Buck Rogers, it’s been what, ten years ago?’ Then I got a call from Barbara and she said, ‘You’re going to be at such and such a place and bring 600 photos. You’ll thank me later.’

Totally out of the blue?

Yes and I really had no idea what to expect.

But I went and there was a line of people outside the building. I went in to introduce myself. I said, ‘I’m here - and by the way, what are those people out there waiting for?’

They said, ‘That’s for you!’ I had no idea of the popularity of Buck Rogers.

How do you get into that mindset at Dragon Con in the middle of the sensory-overload circus of people, costumes, sweaty fans and everything else going on all around you?

The number one lesson to just breathe into the belly of presence. We start with that. I’ll be teaching four classes while I’m there, one a day. They actually have a special room for us, where we can shut the door, close out all the noise of Dragon Con and just do Tai Chi. Erin Gray appears daily at the 2019 edition of DragonCon, August 29 through September 2. Check website for scheduled events. Visit the Heroes at heroesforhire.us for more information

PG 10 • August 2019 • insiteatlanta.com

EVENTS

IN A GOOD PLACE

Gremlins’ Zach Galligan is a New Atlanta Resident and Finally Ready to Relax

BY LEE VALENTINE SMITH

H

E’S BESTKNOWN FOR Gremlins, but Zach Galligan has nearly 40 years of impressive credits.

From his first film, co-starring with Bill Murray and Dan Ackroyd to episodic television to a recent string of horror and comedy, the versatile performer is morphing from the all-American leading man-type to seasoned character actor.

Born in New York and based in L.A. for most of his career, he relocated to Georgia a few years ago to get away from the pressure of the big city grind.

INsite spoke with the affable Galligan from his home in suburban Atlanta about his career and his upcoming appearance at Dragon Con.

Your career certainly didn’t stall after the ‘80s. Looking at your filmography, you’re as busy now as ever.

As an actor, I’ve found that the harder I work at it, the worse I do. I’ve let go of trying to succeed so hard, or pushing myself so hard. I needed to retreat a bit. When I got started as an actor, it came to me. I was just doing plays in Manhattan and casting directors approached me to ask if I wanted to try out for movies. So the whole business came to me. I didn’t really pursue it at first. Which is very unusual.

So now you’re relaxing and letting things come to you again?

Yeah when I came down here, I came to just relax and live. I’m not going to push and go for six auditions a week or anything like that. It still makes no sense to me how cyclical it all is.

Some actors have little bursts in their careers.

Hills and valleys. It usually makes no logistical sense how it all happens.

How long have you been living in Georgia?

Close to four years now. After living in New York first and then L.A., I’ve found that it’s substantially less expensive to live down here. I have literally been spending the last 3 years enjoying not living under crushing At the top of your IMDB filmography is a new financial pressure. And being out of city living, one called “Evil Little Things.” communing with nature and all of those cliché That’s a little Atlanta-based movie I did with things that people talk about. A a friend of mine. That was just a lot of people get caught up in city one-day thing. But “The Madness life and now I’m here and just YEAH, THESE DAYS In The Method,” the new Jason completely enjoying my life on a I’M KINDA HAPPY TO Mews movie, also comes out day-to-day as a human being.

SIT ON THE COUCH this month.

Did it a take a while to adjust to AND BE WITH MY There’s a strong and diverse the slower pace of the area?

CATS AND JUST cast in that one - Teri Hatcher, You know what, all the time I RECOVER. I’M GLAD Danny Trejo, even Stan Lee. lived in New York, I didn’t drive TO BE WHERE I AM. Yeah it was fun and it’s getting at all. When I moved here, just a major-market theatrical and driving a car became a beautiful streaming release. So I’m in a little new luxury. I hadn’t even seen burst. And of course they have the “Gremlins” a new car since 2003. I was amazed by all the animated series coming out. new computer stuff and the Bluetooth and all of that - it was like having a new toy. Here in Are you involved in it? the suburbs there’s not that much traffic, so Not at the moment but you never know. It’s a driving isn’t a chore like it was in Los Angeles. prequel, but they could put me in, just to kinda The traffic there makes Atlanta feel like a walk link it. in the park.

Los Angeles is historically such an important destination for so many people, especially in the arts.

It is but the problem with it is when you’re doing well, it’s the best place to be. But if you’re even doing middling to not-so-middling, being there is terrible. You’re constantly reminded of the fact that you’ve somehow fallen to the middle. It’s pretty tough on the ego.

This will be your first visit to Dragon Con. But you’re no stranger to the convention circuit.

Dragon Con is huge and it seems to get bigger every year. I’m sure it’ll be impressive.

But yeah, I’ve done conventions all over the place. From being at so many, I’ve found that there are two sort of main types of them. The retro ones are focused more on the past and the ComicCons and even Dragon Con seem to be more about the present. What’s hot right now, what’s on at the moment.

Right. Dragon Con is definitely of the moment. But the fans appreciate the past as well.

I think what might happen is 90 percent of the people may not know who I am. But that’s fine with me, too. When I go to the retro cons, it’s people who are just obsessed with the holy ‘80s trinity of “Ghostbusters,” “Back To The Future” and “Gremlins.”

You’ve seen so many changes in the industry over your career.

So many. I think everyone is still trying to figure everything out. Entertainment is so segmented that now everything is niche.

Right. When you first came along, you were all over the collective pop culture consciousness because media was a

shared experience.

Exactly. When I was on the cover of People in 1985, there were only a few major magazines.

If you were on one of them, the exposure was unbelievable. If you were on a show on one of the three television networks, you’d know that basically a third of the country probably saw it. Now it’s so diluted. It’s like everyone’s been put in their own separate room. There’s no real shared culture anymore. Maybe the only thing left of shared culture is football. Like the Super Bowl or something.

With the popularity of “Gremlins,” the ‘80s must have been an incredible time for you.

It was so crazy, so intense. Since I’ve been down here and out of the cities, I’ve finally had time to think about those years. I’d been too busy hustling and just trying to survive to really look back on it. It’s like I’m just beginning to fully process what happened to me when I was like 18 to 38. I could write three books about that twenty-year period. And back then there was that shared experience we were talking about. Movies like “Gremlins” were popular because it was part of a shared experience. So if you were in one of those kind of movies, what it did for you was incredible. I was like 20, I was still a college student.

Your classes must have been chaotic for a while.

Within a semester, I went from being just a kid on campus to going to a lecture and having 200 kids stare at me as I walked to my seat. You get put under the microscope all of a sudden.

A surreal experience for sure.

What it does to your sense of self is bizarre.

You think, ‘I’m just a normal person.’ But then you’re getting invited to parties, clubs and restaurants and everything’s free - for a while. I was like, ‘What’s real, what’s not? And is there an off switch for this? If there is, I can’t seem to find it.’

How did you cope with it?

The best I could. My guess is, probably not that well. But I think my saving grace is that I was from Manhattan, so I had a built-in sketchy person detector. It probably kept me from falling into some destructive patterns.

But make no mistake, from 1984 to 2000, I had a ball! Some people might say I had too much of a good time, but now that I’m 55 I’m not sure I’d really trade that.

Now you can take it easy.

Yeah, these days I’m kinda happy to sit on the couch and be with my cats and just recover.

I’m glad to be where I am. If I’d booked “Back To The Future” right after “Gremlins,” I don’t know if I’d even be here. I might have wrapped myself around a telephone pole in a Lamborghini when I was 26. Who knows?

So I’m grateful for the way things happened for me.

Your credits are certainly impressive. You’ve managed to avoid typecasting and bring something new to each job.

In 2021, it’ll be 40 years that I’ve been acting.

That’s a long time. Yet I still feel like I can still do it for another 20 or 30 years. I’m cogent; I think I’m in the best physical condition of my life. I diet, I don’t drink alcohol. So now that I’m being offered horror movies, I’m thinking maybe as I age, I’ll go from being like Rob Lowe to finally being Donald Pleasance, you know? I’d be so happy to morph from a typical leading guy into the character actor. I think that’s my ultimate goal for the next 20 years, to just disappear into characters.

Zach Galligan appears at the 2019 edition of Dragon Con on August 29 – September 2.

Check dragoncon.org for schedules, information and tickets. insiteatlanta.com • August 2019 • PG 11

COMEDY

DOUBLE HEADER

A Comedic Mind-Meld with Old Pals Dana Gould and Bobcat Goldthwait

BY LEE VALENTINE SMITH

F

or second leg of their “Show With Two Heads” tour, comedy veterans Dana Gould and Bobcat Goldthwait are heading south to shoot a new special. After a warm-up gig at the Hollywood Improv, the duo will take the show on the road as they film a new special at Relapse in Atlanta, The 40 Watt in Athens and The Mothlight in Asheville.

Both comics emerged from the tough Boston scene and eventually headed west to hone their crafts - performance artistwriter-director Goldthwait with his unhinged ‘persona’ character (long shelved in favor of his actual speaking voice) and Gould as a busy stand-up, writer and producer. For this tour, they’ll share the stage for an evening that highlights their sharp improvisational skills and enduring friendship.

INsite spoke with Gould from his home in Los Angeles.

The last time you and Bobcat were in town, you both played separate engagements at the Laughing Skull. This time you’ve chosen Relapse.

We wanted to differentiate this show from a show we’d do at Laughing Skull. We’re filming, so we needed a little more room.

Nothing against the Skull, I love those guys and I’ll be back there soon.

You and Bob have been friends since the ‘80s.

A long time. Longer than we’d care to mention in print, actually. We both started out in Boston, we’re both from very similar economic backgrounds, we like the same music and the same movies. We’ve just always seemed to run in the same circles.

We both even had comedy-horror shows on around the same time. Last year, I had a show on IFC called Stan Against Evil and Bob had a show on truTV called Misfits and Monsters [shot in Georgia]. So we’re kinda like the Alfred Hitchcock and William Castle of cable horror-comedy. Since we’re friends, we said, ‘We should do a tour.’ Because if you live in L.A. you never get to see each other.

Originally, we did some dates just as an excuse to hang out.

This isn’t the typical dual-headlinertype show.

Yeah, when it started out, we’d both come out for a few minutes then we’d flip a coin as to who would go first and second. But the part where we’re both onstage together got longer and longer. Finally we just decided to stay on the whole time. We both know our itineraries so well, it just starts off in a certain place and then leads through a conversation.

It’s really organic; there are certain bits that we know we’re probably going to do - but how we get there is different every night.

So you’re filming three separate nights to capture it all.

Yeah we’ll be filming in Atlanta,

Your Neighborhood Pizzeria!

Atlanta’s Favorite Pizza!

Multiple Atlanta Locations: JohnnysPizza.com PG 12 • August 2019 • insiteatlanta.com

Dana Gould Athens and Asheville. So there’ll be different backgrounds.

That could be a nightmare for continuity.

Are you going to wear the same clothes for three nights in a row?

That’s a good question. You know, I probably will just to make it easier. But if you look at a show like that Chris Rock special where he filmed it in different locations, anything that takes you out of the content of the material can be jarring. But in the end, no one really cares about your wardrobe, it’s really what you’re saying that matters.

As a performer with a busy stand-up schedule and a podcast, are you faced with more pressure to create and continually turn out new material?

Well there’s nothing like a deadline to help you finish a project. But normally for me, every 15 months or so, I like to have a new set. So there’s pressure to create but that’s actually kinda good. I think it really takes about two years to nail down a good, solid hour. Woody Allen once said the amount of mental energy it takes to write an hour of standup is equivalent to writing a novel. And I’d say that’s probably true. You want it to be good. It’s interesting being on stage with Bob because we know each other’s stuff so we’ll remind ourselves, ‘Hey, you left out a part of your story,’ or, ‘Do that one about whatever.’

So it’s actually a challenge for us both because there’s no set list involved in this at all. But I know when he starts a topic where he’s probably going. So if he’s going there, then I can go here.

Just like a couple of jazz musicians, going for it.

Yeah but without the black ties and skinny cigarettes.

Maybe you should try that outfit in Athens.

That would be hilarious.

(Laughs) Oh, good idea! I’ll run that by Bob. We’d be like the Blues Brothers. It would also solve the wardrobe problem.

In that tough Boston comedy scene of the ‘80s, you couldn’t just post a YouTube clip and expect an audience to come see the show. You had to work the clubs and then try to get on television.

Bobcat Goldthwait Yeah in those days, the way for comedians to break through was Carson, Letterman or an HBO special. Those were the three ways and that was pretty much it. Now the talk shows don’t really have any impact on your stand-up career. It’s just Netflix specials and podcasts.

I know you’re a fan of horror and fantasy and I’m glad to see that you’re in a new episode of Creepshow [scheduled for streaming via AMC’s Shudder in September].

Yeah, I’ve been good friends with Greg Nicotero forever. He produced the show and of course he produced The Walking Dead. He called me up one day and asked if I wanted to do something on the show. I was like, ‘Sure but how much do I have to pay you?’ I was super excited to do it and you know because of Stan Against Evil, I sort of straddle all those worlds.

Right, there’s a definite crossover appeal between comedy and horror.

Oh yeah and I am well-versed in horror. In fact, I’m writing a new horror film right now.

The genres are definitely very connected. It’s a good world to sort of ping-pong back and forth, to and from. There’s a lot of crossover fans for both and a lot of horror is black humor, so it all works out.

Since you’ll be in town to shoot a new special, I want to ask you about the current comedy special mindset. Do you think there are too many of them at this point? Has the market been over-saturated yet?

Well, I don’t know really. I think it’s pretty much not for me to say. I tend not to watch them because I don’t want to be influenced by them. Also at this point, it’s kinda like brining work home. I have three kids and two fulltime jobs so if I’m going to watch television, I’m probably not going to watch something that’s related to work. I’d rather see a good monster film or one of those great ‘nature gone amok’ movies from the early ‘70s.

Dana Gould and Bobcat Goldthwait bring “The Show With Two Heads” to Atlanta’s Relapse on Thursday, August 15, The 40 Watt in Athens on Friday, August 16 and The Mothlight in Asheville on Saturday, August 17. Showtime is 8 p.m.

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MUSIC

SLOW DOWN AND LISTEN

Lizz Wright’s Two-Night Stand at City Winery Will Be a Real Conversation

BY LEE VALENTINE SMITH

songs are coming from, living.

ROM HER HUMBLE BEGINNINGS in Hahira, Georgia to a stint at Georgia State to living and learning in New York and Chicago, Lizz Wright has established herself as one of the preeminent jazz musicians of her time. Her southern gospel training has also grounded her to seek out the true roots of the spiritual side of the arts.

In addition to a wonderfully diverse catalog of jazz-centric recordings and successful international tours, the erudite singer-songwriter also teaches - and cooks - at a fascinating and experimental artist’s enclave called Little Black Pearl in Chicago [www.blackpearl.org].

Wright spoke with INsite by phone after a recent European tour.

If you aren’t examining real life, you’ll run out of good ideas.

That’s true and sometimes I got carried away - but in a beautiful way - obsessing over people’s lives who were very involved in family and work and the community. I envied that. You can start writing fantasies about what it’s like to belong and to love, but you need to truly live it.

F

Where is home now? At your retreat on the mountain in Asheville or in the busy metropolis of Chicago?

Asheville is my secondary place now. It’s a place to go to sit very still. Chicago is my primary home. I was getting to be a little too much like a lonely profit out in the woods. I think nature’s at fault for me wanting to go back to the city.

Nature reminded me that I’m not so untethered.

The energy of a major city is undeniable.

That’s true and here people are like trees, they take in everything and they display it in their leaves and branches. I live here as a musician but also as a teacher and a cook [at Black Pearl’s Carver 47 Café]. It’s real life - and that’s where the

Your shows coming up at City Winery should be very different than your recent appearance at the Atlanta Jazz Festival.

Yes. I love Atlanta and I feel like if I’m going to have a two-night stand anywhere, why not have it in a place that’s been such a great nest for me? Atlanta has never stopped teaching me.

My family came to the Jazz Festival and I felt like I had half of my life out there staring back at me. It was exciting but now that I’m back in pre-production mode there’s not a better place to play, try out new things and have a real conversation with the audience.

The Winery is an exceptional place to work on new material. The audiences really listen.

I agree and this will also be the second time I’ve been able to have a sleeve in the menu. I’m excited about offering new ideas to taste while I’m singing to them. It’s one of the first times in my life I’ve been able to combine the cook and the composer. City Winery has been so open about helping me find ways to bring people closer together.

Was the ritual of food a big part of your formative years?

Always. We’d sing, eat and have devotional services at the table. So this is a real homecoming in many ways.

The Jazz Festival is great, but you’re competing with all the heat and noise of the city.

Right, that’s why this show is so different because it’s a real conversation at a table. It’s a place to bring new ideas and feel safe about sharing them. But I love the relationship I’ve had with Atlanta since the very beginning. When I first got there, I was walking around asking musicians what to listen to - and why. I learned so much.

You spent a lot of time at Georgia State and that’s a very vibrant, nurturing space.

It is and Atlanta just has a welcoming community in the arts, music and spirituality.

You come to do a show and you end up being inside of it. It’s so immersive for me.

Tell us about the sleeve in the menu. What sort of delicacies have you planned?

It’s all over the place. I got enthused about pimento cheese, concord grapes, pickled okra.

It was fun to talk to another cook and exchange ideas about what was possible and what wasn’t.

I appreciate the opportunity to collaborate and have something personal to offer. And there’ll be wine of course. That makes everything better.

Will you have a Lizz Wright label wine?

I need to check on that. I have some beautiful old shots of my uncle in his garden. They’re so rustic and anchored in the earth. I don’t know if I can convince them to put a picture of a man on a tractor on a wine bottle when it’s my show, but we’ll see.

What was your childhood like down in Hahira?

That’s almost Florida.

Yeah, it’s near the state line and I loved it. It has a beautiful sweetness in the air that reminds me a bit of New Orleans. Lots of Spanish moss on the trees and cane syrup. So many tastes and smells.

I loved how slow people talked down there. It taught me to really slow down and listen to the conversation.

Lizz Wright plays City Winery on Sunday, August 11 and Monday, August 12. Doors open at 6 and showtime is 8 p.m. insiteatlanta.com • August 2019 • PG 13

MUSIC

THAT’S ENTERTAINMENT!

Chris Botti Brings His Rollicking Jazz Review to Peachtree City

BY LEE VALENTINE SMITH

H

IS RECORDS TEND TO LEAN toward chilled-out jazz, but Chris Botti’s live show is more like an oldschool musical review. Running the gamut of styles from straight-ahead traditional jazz to neo-classical to edgy pop and soul, the much-lauded trumpet maestro presides over an evening of dynamic entertainment.

In addition to his catalog of solo releases, Botti has collaborated with a who’s-who of internationally known artists. His resume lists extensive stints with Paul Simon, Joni Mitchell, Sting, Frank Sinatra and even the temperamental Buddy Rich.

But no matter the collaborator, the gregarious musician delivers his own signature brand of sophisticated music, a smorgasbord of styles he’s developed since he began his musical journey in the third grade. By the age of 12, he’d already dedicated his life to the horn and after college he began releasing albums on Verve and Columbia. Currently signed to Blue Note with a record slated for the new year, Botti is taking his vintage trumpet on yet another leg of his neverending tour with a show this month at The Fred.

INsite recently spoke with Botti just before soundcheck at the Peace Center in South Carolina.

How’s the tour going?

Well it’s been 17 years, 250 days a year on.

(Laughs) So far, pretty good.

You’re on a Never-ending Tour like Dylan.

I’ve had the chance to do around 45 shows with Bob Dylan. I did twenty as a member of Joni Mitchell’s band and twenty or more with Paul Simon and Dylan. And still, to this day, I think Bob Dylan has everything he wants in life but there’s still something cool about going from place to place, being a troubadour and playing your stuff, then moving on. And I can relate. Not that I’m an icon but I just love that work ethic.

I saw you with Paul Simon and Dylan at Chastain and then with Joni and Dylan at Georgia Tech.

Oh cool. You know, that Joni show in Atlanta was her birthday and it was the only time we played “Both Sides Now.” The next day the band broke up because she went into a freak-out about something.

Let’s talk about jazz a little bit. A lot of people lump you into the jazz bin, but it’s really hard MY RECORDS ARE MADE TO BE MORE ROMANTIC OR TO TAKE THE LISTENER TO A MORE CHILLED-OUT PLACE. BUT WHEN WE DO A SHOW, I WANT TO BRING IT.

to categorize your music because stylistically it’s all over the place.

I consider myself first a trumpet player. My real connection is with the instrument. So along with that comes hours and hours a day, for the rest of your life, practicing and connecting with the horn. Then comes, ‘Well what do you want to do with it?’ I am primarily a jazz musician, but I’ve been able to dip into these other areas because I like the music. I like working with sophisticated pop music people, like Paul Simon or Sting or Streisand or whoever. But I do like doing faux-classical and I like that element of bel canto playing where it’s the languid, beautiful stuff. But I also like playing traditional jazz. So I mix all of that in because I like to put together an entertaining show.

Sometimes jazz purists think “entertaining” is a bad thing.

It gets a lot of blowback sometimes, yeah.

But if you look at the history of jazz, there’s been some super-entertaining musicians. Like Louis Armstrong, Cannonball Adderley, Dizzy Gillespie or Harry James. There’ve been some people over time that didn’t just grab onto the Miles Davis way of turning your back or being more sour to the audience. But everyone has something that makes them tick and over the years I’ve been able to craft a show that means a lot to me.

Your style is a true fusion of genres but not from the ‘70s mindset of artists like It’s part of a musician’s personality how they Mahavishnu Orchestra or Weather Report. collaborate with fellow artists.

Yeah at the core I’m an improvisor who loves Absolutely! Everything depends on it - how a certain type of singer. Sometimes I like pop you play, how you treat the singers more than jazz singers. audience, how you treat the It’s funny, I had an awkward band or just your own work moment with Joni Mitchell ethic. All of that comes from where I learned more in two Sat, Aug. 17 • 8pm your personality. minutes than from anyone.

The Fred Once at a rehearsal in L.A., she You’re lucky to change up the amphitheater.org just dressed me down. dynamic of your own band by alternating players.

She doesn’t mince words in any Exactly. I think my audience appreciates the situation. What happened? variety and how the show kinda roller-coasters.

She stopped the rehearsal and said - she’s a Canadian, of course - but she said, ‘Chris, to The live show is indeed very different from quote an American thing, I’m in the batter’s box. your recorded work.

You cannot come into the batter’s box and just My records are made to be more romantic kick me out. You need to move around me and or to take the listener to a more chilled-out interact, but you can’t come in and just throw place. But when we do a show, I want to bring me out of the game. That’s what you’re doing it. Bring the show business and flash when you right now.’ You know a lot of jazz musicians need it and then ratchet it down so we can play want the singer to scat and then they want it all the beautiful stuff and really tap into people’s to themselves; I learned from that how to lean emotions. It needs to roll around, to play good in but not encroach on the singer. music and let the audience know that we are really having a good time. But I don’t mean it like in a ‘Hey, everybody put your hands together’ kind of way. I mean we are actually interacting with each other.

CHRIS BOTTI

That’s very old school.

Yeah a lot of younger musicians are coming up and they’re all wearing in-ear monitors and attached to a click track. They don’t even really look at each other on stage. There’s no real conversation going on, everyone’s just looking straight ahead and in their own cubical. I don’t want to convey that at all. I want the audience to be in it with us and us with them. We try to do that every night.

A savvy audience can tell if the collaboration is genuine. If the players are looking at an iPad and waiting for cues, everyone could just as well stay home.

Yeah I go see a lot of shows and between songs

PG 14 • August 2019 • insiteatlanta.com

they wait for that click-track to fire up and it’s always the drums that kick it off and you know there’s computers going on. I don’t want to ever do that. We have an ebb and flow. There’s no real count-off, someone just starts and then we’re going.

You’ve played with some, shall we say, mercurial artists. Joni taught you a valuable lesson, but how what was it like to work with [notoriously difficult drummer] Buddy Rich?

I always say I left school, did two weeks with Sinatra and then went on the road with Buddy Rich. So it was like the Wide World of Sports: the thrill of victory and then the agony of defeat.

I was a naïve, idealistic college kid. To me, jazz was Woody Shaw and George Coleman and Miles and stuff like that. But Buddy wanted a soloist in the band that was like Bix Biederbecke and Harry James. I learned a lot from it though and all the drama he brought. He was an incredible musician but he was a jerk to the musicians he played with, famously. But I learned the value of having a real personality on drums in the band.

After that, working with Paul Simon must’ve been the direct opposite of enduring Buddy Rich.

Oh yeah. What I got from Paul was learning how to orchestrate a show, the respect he shows to musicians and how he showcases all the great players. Then I got that tenfold from Sting. So now I point out the strengths of the members of my band while letting the audience in on it. I’m deeply proud to share the stage with my band and I just want everyone to know how great they are.

So your show is more like a jazz and soul review.

Exactly. I want to take great jazz musicians, play lots of different styles of music and have fun. If you go to a U2 show, you pretty much know what you’re getting. But a lot of people come to my show and go, ‘What is it, just guy and a trumpet?’ My job is to show them that it’s so much more.

MUSIC

GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MARC

Marc Cohn Continues Heavenly Collaboration with The Blind Boys Of Alabama

That’s what makes a good song is the fact that that you can deliver it with authenticity.

Well that’s everything. As a singer, if I’m singing my own song or a song that’s not necessarily about me or my life, it has to resonate on a deeper level for me. That’s what I’m looking for because I’m looking for something very special.

BY LEE VALENTINE SMITH

F

OR THE PAST FEW YEARS, PROLIFIC SINGERsongwriter Marc Cohn (“Walking In Memphis”) has collaborated with the Georgia-based Blind Boys Of Alabama. They join him on tour and he contributed to their 2017 album Almost Home. Now the two acts share double-billing on Work to Do, a stellar new album of songs that blend the vocal and songwriting talents of Cohn with the heavenly gospel-soul of the Blind Boys.

Released this month by BMG and produced by Cohn’s longtime friend John Leventhal, the collection includes three new studio tracks by Cohn and the Blind Boys (two new songs and a fresh take of the standard “Walk In Jerusalem”) along with seven live performances.

The Blind Boys - including founding member Jimmy Carter, Eric “Ricky” McKinnie, Joey Williams, Ben Moore and Paul Beasley infuse Cohn’s sensitive compositions with an aura of authentic gospel soul.

Before his show earlier this summer at The Fred, INsite spoke with Cohn about his work with the Blind Boys and his enduring love of soulful gospel music.

Music with a definite message is in the DNA of anyone who became aware of it in the ‘60s and ‘70s.

I grew up with it. James Taylor, Joni Mitchell, Paul Simon. And that music was remarkably commercial at the time but it was also incredibly deep and poetic.

At this point a lot of those songs have become standards and sometimes people can just blow through them without really thinking about the emotional connection that comes along with the message. They’re not quite Mustang Sally, but oftentimes it’s not like it’s an artistic expression anymore.

It definitely changes but look at a guy like James Taylor.

He’s singing “Carolina In My Mind” and “Sweet Baby James” night after night for maybe 45 years now. But he still seems to find his way into some connection with the song. Else he wouldn’t be able to still move you with it. It still moves me when I hear him sing those songs. I think artists can still find a way to play those songs. Maybe it’s through the audience [reaction] and that’s certainly true for me, too. There’s very few nights where “Walking In Memphis” is a burden. It’s easy for me to find a connection to it because it’s a song about my love for music. It will always feel true to me.

Your collaborations with the Blind Boys are indeed a joyful noise.

We’ve done well over two dozen shows now over the last couple of years and it’s just thrilling for me. What they bring to my music is a dream come true. I’ve always had an affinity for gospel music. It’s been part of my vocabulary for a long time. It’s the beginning of rock and soul and it brings all of my earliest influences full circle.

Did [Atlanta-based manager-attorney] Charles Driebe bring you guys together?

He did. My first connection with Charles was cowriting about half of Atlantan William Bell’s last record, which ended up winning a Grammy for Americana Record of the Year. That was wonderful and just welldeserved. I’m proud I was associated with it. Charles had asked my friend John Leventhal to produce it. Then John asked me to come in and help write. Pretty soon I also started writing tunes for the Blind Boys for their record Almost Home [released in 2017]. Actually, the man who wrote the title track to that album, [legendary Athens instrumentalist] Randall Bramblett, is in our band sometimes. That’s been a wonderful collaboration too because I’ve been a fan of his for years.

Sounds like it’s a real family affair.

Oh, it is for sure. John Leventhal is my best friend and he’s also Rosanne Cash’s husband and Roseanne contributed to that album too, so it really was a family affair. That whole family vibe continues on Work To Do. Let’s talk about the track “Let My Mother Live” from Almost Home. It’s a Grammy-nominated song, with a very powerful message.

It is. I’m proud of writing that one. I wrote that one with John for Jimmy. That’s really Jimmy Carter’s story.

There’s a real back-story behind that one?

Oh yes. A smart move on Charles’ part was, when they were looking for songs, he sent all the writers they were considering videos he’d done with both Jimmy Carter and Clarence Fountain. Clarence has sense passed away but those two interviews were the basis for all three of the songs that I wrote with John for the Blind Boys. They were telling their own stories.

So they became true collaborators.

Absolutely. Whatever I culled from what they said in those interviews, they became co-writers. That story was in the interview. After his father died when he was 13 and living in Alabama, he was praying every night that he wouldn’t lose his mother and be left completely alone. So every night he would pray, ‘Let my mother live.’ To me, that was the beginning of the song. It resonates from me because one thing Jimmy and I have in common is we both lost parents at a very young age. I lost my dad just like he did when I was about 12. So I can sing the song and relate to it as well but it’s certainly written for and about Jimmy.

That’s the basis of gospel, folk and soul - or any music that’s truly authentic.

Exactly. To me, music is just one genre. Either you’re in it or you’re not.

But I know soul music was also a big influence on you.

Many singer-songwriters cite can James Taylor or Joni Mitchell as big influences and rightfully so - but in your case, your folk influences mix equally with gospel, soul and the whole Stax/Volt Memphis thing.

Well I’m glad to hear that. I can’t quite be that objective with it, but I do know that one of my first influences was definitely gospel and soul. My brother had a band and they used to rehearse in our family basement. In my house, he was the one who taught me how to play Ray Charles and Jimmy Smith music on the organ. That was the first kind of music I heard live. It wasn’t by the originals - but he was pretty good! Sam Cooke and Aretha, all the Stax/Volt stuff.

Some of it I didn’t even know who I was listening to at the time. When I’d hear it on the radio, I’d call the DJ’s and go, ‘Who was that? Who are you playing?’ So was immediately drawn to a wide range of stuff. The soul stuff but also the singer-songwriter stuff. And of course the Beatles and then The Stones and all sorts of everything in between. But I think it all came from gospel music.

HOME THEATER

NEW RELEASES

THE LATEST DVD, BLU RAY & VOD RELEASES

By John Moore

SWINGTOWN: THE FIRST SEASON

(CBS DVD/Paramount) If this 1970s set drama had been made by HBO or Showtime rather than a network station, it could have been great show. Sadly, saddled by the restraints of the more

family-friendly channel, this series about a neighborhood of hard partiers and swingers comes of, well, a bit flaccid. Originally airing on CBS in the summer of 2008, the show revolves around a pilot and his wife living in Suburban Chicago slowly trying to incorporate their new neighbors into their lifestyle. The show is perfectly cast, and the premise is interesting, but given the constraints it faced, Swingtown could have had a better shot on a cable channel.

THE BRINK (Magnolia)

It should hardly come as a revelation to anyone in 2019 that Steve Bannon is an ideological nutjob, but that doesn’t make The Brink any less compelling. The doc follows around Bannon for a year, leading up to the 2018 midterm elections. The filmmakers trail him across the globe as

he tries to do for European Xenophobic leaders what he managed to do for Donald Trump here in the U.S. Hardly anything revealed in The Brink comes as a real surprise given Bannon’s reputation, but the movie is still a riveting look at how the sausage is made.

ROOM 37: THE MYSTERIOUS DEATH OF JOHNNY THUNDERS

(Cleopatra Entertainment) Despite the booming popularity in rock

star bio pics, this dramatization of punk rock great Johnny Thunders is a not nearly as compelling as you’d think it would be.

Based on the mysterious 1991 death of the former New York Dolls guitarist in a New Orleans hotel room, directors Vicente and Fernando Cordero try and recreate what might have happened. Despite a decent turn

by Leo Ramsey as Thunders, the film’s bizarre drug sequences and plotting nature ultimately drag down the movie. insiteatlanta.com • August 2019 • PG 15

SPORTS

PANTHER COACH SHAWN ELLIOTT COLLEGE FOOTBALL Looks to Bounce Back in 2019 CELEBRATES 150 YEARS!

BY DAVE COHEN

E

BY DAVE COHEN

A

NTERING THE PROGRAM’S 10TH season of play, Georgia State Football is looking to bounce-back after going 2-10 in 2018. This came after a 2017 season that saw the Panthers win seven games, including their first bowl game win over Western Kentucky in the AutoNation Cure Bowl.

The Panthers are led by QB Dan Ellington, who passed for 2,119 yards and rushed for 625 yards in his first season at the helm. Georgia State will face a tough test again early on with three of their first four games on the road, including the season-opener in Knoxville vs. Tennessee on August 31. We spoke with head coach Shawn Elliott, who enters his third season leading the Panthers.

There’s a lot of excitement surrounding the program after a productive off-season.

After a year like 2018 we had to go in and really push our players. With so many young athletes on the field last year, we pushed them hard in the off-season for strength and conditioning.

I thought we had a solid spring practice and heading into fall it looks like we’re in good shape and ready to tackle this season.

The fact that so many young players were able to play significant minutes last season will hopefully pay dividends as they head into their sophomore season.

We’ll find out if that’s the case. Hopefully they took advantage of their playing time and utilized that game experience to become more intelligent about the game and their opponents. As they grow and gain more experience they’ll become better as a player.

We saw improvements in both Nick Arbuckle and Conner Manning from their junior to senior seasons. Dan Ellington had a pretty good season last year. What are your thoughts on Dan heading into his senior year?

I think anytime you see a young man come in, whether it be their first year starting, you always see an improvement. I think a tremendous improvement from year one to year two. Dan came in early, so he had an extra spring to kind of get it under his belt, but we anticipate Dan having a very strong year both throwing and running the football. We think his knowledge of the game has certainly improved. He’s become a stronger athlete, more explosive from the strength and conditioning aspect, and I think he’s really going to have a solid year for us.

The running game put up its best numbers in program history last season with Tra Barnett having a bit of a break-out season. You’ve also got some young guys like Seth Paige and Destin Coates who played quite a bit as freshman.

We’re not short on our running backs with

Head coach Shawn Elliott PG 16 • August 2019 • insiteatlanta.com

GSU Quarterback Dan Ellington

S SCHOOLS ACROSS THE STATE of Georgia get ready to open the 2019 college football season, collectively the sport will celebrate its 150th anniversary.

The roots of the game date back to November 6, 1869 when Princeton took the field against Rutgers in Brunswick, N.J., a game that the Scarlet Knights won 6-4. 150 years later the National Football Foundation and the College Football Hall of Fame will present numerous activities during the coming months that will pay homage to the sport and its legacy.

We spoke with Kevin Weiberg, the Executive Director of the CFB150 committee.

Barnett leading the way. He had a solid year but missed the last game because of an ankle injury. You have Paige and Coates. Coates had a fracture in his foot but he is doing well. Then you have Dawson Hill, who we were able to redshirt.

Tucker Gregg is back. He was a freshman walkon for us and then Darius Stubbs had a great spring for us. We feel like our running backs are very capable of taking care of that running load for us. Whether it’s a one back or two back set.

Heck, you might see three of them back there at times for a little different look. We feel like we’re in solid shape with those guys. We’ve got a power guy, a speed guy and all the characteristics of all great running backs back there.

150 years of college football.

Wow, that’s quite a legacy.

The one thing we wanted to do with this was to create a sort of template where everyone could celebrate, even those institutions that have played the game for a shorter period of time. We’re encouraging schools to tell their own stories, their own history. There are a lot of common things about the game, going back to the two that started it all with Rutgers and Princeton.

And they will be running in behind one of the more experienced offensive lines you’ve had.

Yes, I think so. Hunter Atkinson, Shamarious Gilmore to the left, Malik Sumter at center, going with Pat Bartlett at guard. We’ve got to solidify the right tackle position a little bit. We’ve got to find out who’s going to step up and have the opportunity to man that spot. We do have experience. Those are four returning starters right there along that front line and I think, at times, did a pretty good job a year ago but you really gain the most from the most experienced offensive line and we feel like we have that up front.

For the average fan that follows his/her team each week there’s the entertainment factor but college football, and athletics overall, can mean so much more to the participants.

Yes. I think first and foremost is the educational opportunities that the young people have as a result of participation. I think over the history of the game there something like five million-plus young men that have had the chance to play college football, many on a college scholarship and many of them first generation college students who may not have had the opportunity otherwise. That’s a significant piece to it. There’s great leadership qualities that one can gain from participation and all you have to do is talk to former players, many of them who talk about the experience as being most formative in many respects in their life. Also, it has such a community aspect to it. It brings people to campus. The following really goes beyond the viewers or folks listening on radio.

With regards to the schedule, Georgia State will be tested again early playing three of the first four games on the road, starting August 31 at Tennessee.

When you start on the road three of the first four, you better come and have been prepared during fall camp and be ready to go. Two years ago, we managed it very well and did some good things on the road and we’re looking to get off to a good start this season.

It’s interesting how different college football is and can be in different parts of the country. There really are many different cultural aspects to the sport, at all levels.

The history really captures the flavor of it.

The northeast was very prominent in the early days of college football and it really wasn’t until the modern era, into the 1940’s and 50’s before some of that flavor began to change.

The NFL developed into a more prominent game during that time. But it is some of that regional quality that I think still makes the sport very special. You also have a lot of Division III institutions and non-scholarship football programs that play in the northeast with very unique culture and traditions around their games.

With the College Football Hall of Fame

downtown, some would say that ground zero is for the sport is right here in Atlanta.

Well, it really has become a hub in many respects of college football and football in general through the great work that the Peach Bowl organization has done and the support of sponsors like Chick-Fil-A, Coca-Cola and others has been tremendous in helping to grow the presence of the SEC championship game and the hosting of national championship games as well.

There’s a difference in some fan’s passion for the game when it comes to the college game and the NFL. Nobody went to school at the Atlanta Falcons, Dallas Cowboys or Green Bay Packers. The passion within the college football culture, for many fans, involves having attended their institution where that connection is ingrained for life.

I agree and feel the local and regional aspect add to the flavor that I think in many ways surpasses it. You can even make the case that the fact that it didn’t have a true national championship until only recently with the playoff structure, has contributed to that. The unusual nature of the sport and the debate, discussion and the rivalry games has helped to fuel that over the years. It’s deep seeded. There are family traditions that surround the teams and schools they support. The culture helps to make college football so unique and so special.

It had a fifty-year jump on the NFL. What role is CFB150 playing during the 150th college football season?

What we’ve tried to do is coordinate a national effort to recognize and celebrate the anniversary. Our goals are to try and use our organization to get buy-in from as many stakeholders as we could, the universities, the networks, the general media and we continue in that effort and it will be exciting to see it as it rolls out at the beginning of the season.

SPORTS

2019 NCAA FOOTBALL PREVIEW

BY DEMARCO WILLIAMS

I

F YOU THOUGHT THE NBA’S FREE-wheeling summer of change was head-spinning, just wait until you see what college football has in store this fall. On the move are one-time starters (Georgia’s Jacob Eason to Washington; Alabama’s Jalen Hurts to Oklahoma) and former top recruits (Clemson’s Kelly Bryant to Missouri; Georgia’s Justin Fields to Ohio State), creating a sort of free-agency frenzy usually reserved for the professional ranks.

But the funny thing is that, even with all the movement across campuses, three things remain the same: Clemson, Alabama and UGA are still the cream of the collegiate crop. The defending champion Tigers still have QB Trevor Lawrence. The Crimson Tide still have more five-star athletes than your alma mater. The Bulldogs still have Jake Fromm and a stable of running backs. Yep, death, taxes and this talented trio being College Football Playoff contenders.

The transfers will make things fun, no doubt, but when it comes down to picking a team that will hoist the trophy after the national championship game has ended in New Orleans on January 13, 2020, we’re fairly confident that it’ll be a familiar ACC school.

1 CLEMSON How good were the Tigers a year ago? Their two biggest scoring explosions weren’t against low-level schools but, instead, it was Florida State (59 points) and Louisville (77).

With Lawrence, ACC Player of the Year RB Travis Etienne and four starters on the offensive line returning, the offensive onslaught continues.

5. OHIO STATE By the time the Buckeyes’ new QB (Fields) and first-year head coach (Ryan Day) go for OSU’s eighth-straight win against Michigan on November 30, any jitters they had at the beginning of the year will have long disappeared.

6. WASHINGTON Though the Pac-12 North Division will be tough to navigate — Oregon, Washington State and Stanford all won their bowl games a season ago — these Huskies have the pin-point Eason and coach Chris Petersen (and his 80.8 career winning percentage) guiding them.

7. FLORIDA We’ll know if the Gators’ bite is truly back pretty quickly — Florida battles in-state rival Miami in the Camping World Kickoff on August 24, the earliest date that the college football season has begun since 2003.

8. NOTRE DAME The theme of being good (11-1 regular season record) but not great (a 27-point thumping to Clemson in the Cotton Bowl) was true for the Irish again last year. Games at UGA, Michigan and Stanford will prove which category they’ll fall into in ‘19.

9. OREGON The Ducks have quietly improved every season over the past three. With NFL-ready QB Justin Herbert in the huddle and an exciting recruiting class (led by No. 2 player DE Kayvon Thibodeaux) on the horizon, things are about to get loud in Eugene.

2 ALABAMA The best way for Bama to forget about the 44-16 smackdown it received from Clemson in the national title game is to move on. That’s easy to do when you have allworld QB Tua Tagovailoa, RB Najee Harris and WR Jerry Jeudy lining up every Saturday.

10. TEXAS A culture-changing win over a top SEC program (Georgia) has folks talking about the Longhorns again. If they get a second victory over a team in the conference (LSU, September 7) in as many years, you won’t hear the last of it until January.

3 GEORGIA The Fromm- and D’Andre Swift-led offense may get the headlines right now, but with new co-coordinators (Dan Lanning and Glenn Schumann) and freshman stars (nation’s No. 1 overall recruit LB Nolan Smith) on defense, that may change soon.

11. LSU Speaking of the Tigers, if they come out on top of that just-mentioned showdown with Texas, Ed Orgeron’s pack could be 8-0 for its Alabama tussle on November 9.

4. OKLAHOMA If Hurts can bring anything close to the offensive pain that Heisman Trophy winner Kyler Murray brought last year — the Sooners had an eight-game streak of scoring at least 45 points last year — OU feels great about its chances.

Alabama’s Tua Tagovailoa

Clemson’s Travis Etienne

12. MICHIGAN We’re not saying Wolverines coach Jim Harbaugh is on the hot seat, but an embarrassing finish to the season (6239 loss to Ohio State, 41-15 spanking from Florida) has him wearing his finest khakis with cool-knit technology.

13. TEXAS A&M We have to hand it to the Aggies, they have some goodlooking receivers (Quartney Davis, Kendrick Rogers) and one of the SEC’s most-underrated arms (Kellen Mond) on their roster.

18. SYRACUSE Thanks to head coach Dino Baber’s more up-tempo style and the defense’s bend-but-don’t-break stubbornness (we see you, Andre Cisco), the Orange had their best season since 2001. We fully expect a repeat this year.

19. NEBRASKA We haven’t drank nearly the amount of Kool-Aid that some have with the new-look Huskers, but we do admit that the combination of an exciting coach (Scott Frost), an explosive offense (Adrian Martinez, JD Spielman) and a re-energized fanbase packs a punch.

20. MICHIGAN STATE The defense should be dynamic in East Lansing, but the other lethargic side — the Spartans scored 32 points over its last four games — didn’t improve nearly enough to threaten Michigan or Ohio State for the Big Ten crown.

Rounding out the Top 25: AUBURN, BOISE STATE, NORTHWESTERN, STANFORD AND UTAH Georgia’s Nolan Smith

14. PENN STATE Though key players left holes at nearly every position for the Nittany Lions, they still have one of the game’s smartest coaches (James Franklin) and a stingy defense (DE Yetur Gross-Matos) on their side.

15. WASHINGTON STATE Though the Cougars still aren’t quite sure who their man is under center — Gage Gubrud or Anthony Gordon? — they trust that the “Mad Scientist” (coach Mike Leach) will have things figured out before tough road games vs. Utah (September 28) and Oregon (October 26).

16. CENTRAL FLORIDA The mighty mid-major Knights have a monster backto-back set (Stanford, Pitt) in September, meaning we’ll know if this lofty placement is genius or a grave mistake by October 1.

17. ARMY If you think the Black Knights’ 21-5 record of the past two seasons and its 70-15 crushing of Houston in the Armed Forces Bowl last year is a farce, just wait until you see how well they play Michigan in the Big House on September 7. insiteatlanta.com • August 2019 • PG 17

MUSIC

TEARIN’ UP THE COUNTRY

The Mavericks Celebrate 30 Years with a Party Tour

BY LEE VALENTINE SMITH

L

ed by founders Raul Malo (vocals, guitars) and Paul Deakin (drums) with guitarist Eddie Perez and keyboardist Jerry Dale McFadden, The Mavericks have blurred the lines between country and rock for the past 30 years.

Founded by Malo and Deakin in Miami, the band rode a wave of instantly-recognizable hits in the ‘90s, then after an eight-year hiatus, came back for their second act with a stunning surge of creativity and focus.

Deakin spoke with INsite by phone from a recent tour stop in Ohio.

First, congrats on your milestone year.

Well, thanks. It’s been a blessing. It’s fun to be proud of our time. But then the other side of it is like, holy sh*t, what happened to the last thirty years?

There’s no new album to push right now, so you can easily look back on the whole catalog in celebration. I read a very teasing comment from Eddie hinting that you were working on new ways to present some of the songs.

Yeah, we’ll revisit some of the old songs and we may put a different sort of spin on them. The music always seems to evolve over the years anyway but we’ve gone back to find some of the stuff we haven’t played in a while. Some songs work their way in and out of the set but for this we’re kinda making it more of a retrospective show. There’s a lot to pick from.

As you travel the world, do you notice that audiences react differently to certain material?

Oh, absolutely. Across the country and across the world it’s different. In the UK, we had a massive hit with “Dance The Night Away.” Over there, most of Europe still knows that song. I think it was the most played song in the UK the year it came out [1998].

Your most recent release was the That was a big time. We went from playing Christmas album from last year. After this the Shepherd’s Bush Empire to selling out retrospective tour, do you have some new six nights at the Royal Albert Hall to playing music ready to go? arenas. But I think there’s a We’ve been recording. general feeling that people Every chance we get, we go know about a Mavericks into the studio and work. concert at this point. We’re We’ve recorded a bunch of Sunday, Aug. 25 • 7pm there to bring joy, have instrumentals because it’s Atlanta Botanical Garden fun and hopefully dance. like let’s just get in there (Gainesville Location) We enjoy the energy we and work on ideas and share between each other experiment. Raul may write and between band and lyrics for them or they may audience.

That’s how it works. We’re kind of stay as instrumentals. And we’ve done some a selfish band in a way. We want to play what country stuff and a covers record of music we want to play. We just figure the best way that inspired us to become a band and some for everyone to have a good time is if we’re stuff that’s inspired us while we’ve been a having a good time. Usually that works. band. We’ve also recorded a Spanish record which should be out in 2020 and after that, We’re both old enough to have seen plenty probably another studio record. We’ve been of bands we know absolutely can’t stand busy, we just haven’t released it all yet. each other.

(Laughs) Well there’s been a couple of times It’s not easy to do an all-original Christmas that I’m sure we couldn’t stand each other record and do it right. that night, that does happen with us. But it’s It is! It’s harder than you’d think to come up like we’re brothers. I’d say over 90 percent of with eight or ten original Christmas songs. the time we’re pretty happy and comfortable I was impressed with Raul’s ability to write with each other. As brothers, you don’t stay that many. mad for too long. And the music is rarely ever affected by that on the stage. That’s You have quite a cache of stuff because The because it’s one thing we know that we do Mavericks have two distinct periods. The well together. Music is always our sanctuary. early years and then the post-reunion era.

Yeah some people think our old stuff is from We’re not The Kinks or Oasis or something. the 2000’s. Some people don’t even know us After 30 years, it’s possibly a closer bond from the ‘90s at all. So they may think the than marriage. classic song is “Back In Your Arms Again” or I always say, as hard as it is for any couple something. But we were going 20 years before to stay together, it becomes exponentially that! So we can bring back stuff that wasn’t necessarily a hit. It’s whatever we’re inspired to harder the more people are involved. So with us it’s about 16 times harder than a couple! do on the night of the show. And sometimes But I say that jokingly because we actually where we are can change things. If we’re in revel in each other’s idiosyncrasies. We’re New Jersey, we’ll do a Springsteen song like pretty self-aware now.

“All That Heaven Will Allow.”

THE MAVERICKS

PG 18 • August 2019 • insiteatlanta.com

As opposed to The Mavericks of the ‘90s?

I would think we’re a little more settled, yes. When it first happened for us, it happened relatively quickly. At that age, you’re not necessarily prepared for it. Some of us definitely indulged in the rock and roll lifestyle. When you’re in that you’re not as self-aware as you probably should be, so hopefully we’ve grown a bit - both musically and in general. It makes it a lot easier now to do what we do. We’ve gotten better as musicians, I know that. We’ve gotten honed-in about what makes the band work.

You’re your own boss now, which is definitely key to even more artistic freedom.

Yeah, we are and we have our own label now, too. It does allow us to do things the way we want to. We keep getting Grammy nominations and we still get airplay so it’s OK. It’s actually been fun taking over the business side.

But with that, it’s gotten to the point where we don’t have anybody to blame but ourselves. When we make a choice to do something - if it works, then great. But then if it doesn’t work - well, we chose to do it.

So now it’s always our fault. Nobody was making us do it.

No annoying label guy to pin the blame on.

That’s gotta be a nice luxury.

Creatively in the ‘90s, MCA gave us pretty much free reign to do whatever we wanted and then so did Big Machine. But before the millennium, we had just gotten burnt out on everything.

The early ‘90s was a good time to be on a major label, because they would still spend money on an act to generate the hits.

Even if it was actually your own money.

Oh, absolutely. We sold millions of

records. Now we sell thousands!

When The Mavericks came along, you were part of an exciting wave of new, genre-defying music.

Yeah but I think that’s partly because we didn’t know what the hell we were doing.

We were a country band from Miami with a Cuban-American lead singer. We loved playing music. We were into the old stuff but we were also into the new stuff. We were playing in punk bars because that was the only place to play on South Beach.

We were doing shows with us and Marilyn Manson because they were there too. And we were managed by the same person.

Historically, the punk scene has always embraced country.

Oh yeah, as well it should really. It’s pure music and it tells a story.

So the real challenge at that time was finding a country bar to play.

Yeah because there weren’t any down there. You had to go to further north of Miami to find a country bar. Plus it’s funny, I think The Mavericks were way more of a country band than we are now. It’s evolved into a kinda genre-less thing. Non-gen, I call it. Because we just play whatever we want. We play country to old rock’n’roll to Latin to jazz. Whatever tickles our fancy, we’ll do.

That’s pretty much Americana these days.

I guess that’s where it comes in, yeah. It’s certainly a melting pot. With [2017’s] Brand New Day, we were up for a Grammy in the same category as the Rolling Stones. I was like, now wait a minute. First of all, they’re not even from America and second of all, they’re the quintessential rock’n’roll band.

Get out of our category, man. It’s like, ‘Hey Mick, get off of my iCloud!’

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