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CONTENTS • FEBRUARY 2016 • VOLUME 24, NO. 7 1992 ★
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“SPARKLING, FRESH AND LIVELY.” - Los Angeles Times
2016
Atlanta’s
Entertainment Monthly
INTERVIEWS 13 ATL Jewish Film Fest 15 Alliance Acting Classes 16 Cirque du Soleil 18 Johnathan Coody 18 Slingshot Dakota 18 Violent Femmes 19 Bill Maher 19 The Three Tenors 20 Rod Man 20 Booker T
FEATURES 06 09 14 17 21 22
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Valentine’s Day Affordable Dining Oscar Preview David Bowie Slow Food Revolution Sensual Valentines
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COLUMNS
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Around Town On Tap Under The Lights Atlanta on a Dime New Releases Movie Reviews Station Control Album Reviews Favorite Things
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Around Town THROUGH FEBRUARY 17
Events and Performances taking place this Month
guests include Elvira, Ric Flair, Tobin Bell, Billy Dee Williams, Chyna and more. Visit daysofthedead.net.
Atlanta Jewish Film Festival Various Theatres around Atlanta
The 2016 AJFF presents 77 films from 26 countries, including five World Premieres, nine North American Premieres and four U.S Premieres. This premier cinematic experience brings major new works, on Jewish and Israeli themes, to multiple theater venues across Atlanta. As a leading exhibitor of international and independent cinema, AJFF continues to play a vital role in Atlanta's development as a major film center. Visit ajff.org
THROUGH MARCH 10 Space!
Center for Puppetry Arts
Discover an intergalactic voyage of exploration in the rock ‘n’ rolling hit SPACE! at the Center for Puppetry Arts. An out-ofthis-world adventure for astronauts of all sizes, extraterrestrial guides take audiences on a trip through the Solar System and beyond. Returning after a four-year mission to parts unknown, the Center’s fun-filled look at the final frontier blasts off from the puppet stage with a balance of entertainment and education for all ages to enjoy. Visit puppet.org.
FEBRUARY 5 - 7
Days of the Dead Sheraton Atlanta
Days of the Dead returns for its 5th year bringing the most killer horror party in the country to the south. Three full days of horror movies, memorabilia vendors, special events, celebrity guests, and more. Special
FEBRUARY 6
Spanish Harlem Orchestra Rialto Center for the Arts
of Special Olympics Georgia. Prizes will be awarded for the best costume, highest fundraiser, highest fundraising team, and more. Visit specialolympicsga.org
FEBRUARY 12 - 28
MJCCA Morris & Rae Frank Theatre
The Full Monty
Atlanta Lyric Theatre
Few pianists can say they've performed with the likes of Tito Puente or served as Paul Simon’s musical director. Far fewer can boast they’ve written the theme song to the hit HBO show Sex in the City. The legendary Oscar Hernandez has done all that and much more. With Spanish Harlem Orchestra, Hernandez has assembled 13 of the world’s best salsa players, an exclusive “who’s who” of instrumentalists. They can make anywhere in the world feel like El Barrio. Come to downtown Atlanta for a night of salsa dancing. Visit Rialto.gsu.edu
OPENS FEBRUARY 12
National Parks Adventure
Based on the cult-hit film of the same name, The Full Monty is filled with honest affection, engaging melodies and the most highly anticipated closing number of any show. While spying on their wives at a ‘Girls’ Night Out,’ a group of unemployed steelworkers from Buffalo see how much they enjoy watching male strippers. Jealous, out of work, and feeling emasculated, the men come up with a bold and unclothed way to make some quick cash. In preparing, they find themselves extremely exposed; not merely physically but emotionally. As they conquer their fears, self-consciousness, and prejudices, the men come to discover they’re stronger as a group, and the strength they find in each other gives them the individual courage to “let it go.” Visit atlantalyrictheatre.com.
FEBRUARY 20
Fernbank Museum IMAX® Theatre.
Polar Plunge
MacGillivray Freeman Film’s National Parks Adventure takes audiences on the ultimate off-trail adventure into our nation's awe-inspiring great outdoors and untamed wilderness. Moviegoers will soar over red rock canyons, climb up steep mountain peaks, and explore other-worldly realms
Be “Freezin’ For A Reason!” The Polar Plunge is the Special Olympics largest fundraiser. Participants collect pledges in exchange for the opportunity to jump into icy waters of Lake Lanier. All proceeds collected by Plungers will benefit the athletes
Your Neighborhood Pizzeria!
Atlanta’s Favorite Pizza!
Multiple Atlanta Locations: JohnnysPizza.com PG 4 • February 2016 • insiteatlanta.com
found within America’s most legendary outdoor places. Along the way, the film becomes at once an action-packed celebration of the 100-year anniversary of the National Park Service and a soulful reflection on what wilderness means to us all. Visit fernbankmuseum.org.
Special Olympics of GA - Lake Lanier
FEBRUARY 25 - MARCH 6 Shrek the Musical, JR.
Jerry’s Habima Theatre, Georgia’s only theatrical company directed and produced by professionals, featuring actors with special needs, celebrates its 23rd season. Jerry’s cast will introduce the community to an ogre named Shrek, his noble steed Donkey, Lord Farquaad, Princess Fiona, and more in Shrek the Musical, JR. Hilarity ensues in the Kingdom of Far Far Away as this delightful musical takes twists and turns, challenging the perceptions of true beauty and romance. Visit atlantajcc.org
THROUGH FEBRUARY 28 Sweeney Todd Actor’s Express
In Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, a wronged barber escapes from prison, returning to his native London to exact revenge on the corrupt judge who unjustly imprisoned him and stole his wife and child. When he joins forces with the lonely piemaker Mrs. Lovett, he sets into motion a tale of lust, murder, revenge and some really twisted meat pie recipes. Sondheim’s electrifying masterpiece explodes off the AE stage with raw power and some of the best singing you’ll hear in Atlanta all year. Winner of eight Tony Awards including Best Musical and Best Score. Visit actors-express.com.
On Tap this Month MAJOR EVENTS COMING TO ATLANTA
Through February 17: Various Locations
ATLANTA JEWISH FILM FESTIVAL e Atlanta Jewish Film Festival (AJFF) is a cinematic exploration of Jewish life, culture and history. Seeking to both entertain and educate, AJFF challenges conventional perspectives on complex and challenging issues facing both the Jewish and global communities. e 2016 AJFF presents 77 films from 26 countries, including five World Premieres, nine North American Premieres and four U.S Premieres. Visit ajff.org
Philips Arena: February 10 - 15 Infinite Energy Center: February 18 - 28
RINGLING BROS. CIRCUS XTREME! Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey brings the unbelievable to children of all ages in an all-new show Circus Xtreme! Experience unimaginable family fun, as amazing performers from around the globe perform awe-inspiring feats of daring spectacles of strength and thrills of wonder. Be astonished by circus performances never seen before. Visit Ringling.com
February 13: Park Tavern
OYSTER FEST
e Oyster Festival is a daylong event that features live music from local bands, DJs, cold beer, other tasty beverages and tons of fresh raw, steamed, and fried oysters. Not an oyster lover? Indulge in their delicious fried shrimp and yummy french fries. Tickets include admission into the event and entertainment (bands and DJs). Food and beverage not included with ticket price. Visit SpiralEntertainment.com
Save $5!* Discount Code: PLAY
February 18: Philips Arena
BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN
Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band launch e River Tour, a nine-week US trek, including a stop at Atlanta's Philips Arena, February 18, 2016. e announcement of the tour coincides with today's release of "e Ties at Bind: e River Collection," a comprehensive look at the era of the 1980 "e River" album that "Rolling Stone" calls "Springsteen's best archival release yet." Visit PhilipsArena.com
Sat. Mar. 5 2pm & 7pm Infnite Energy Arena: Valid at the Arena Box Offce or online at InfniteEnergyCenter.com
February 27: Georgia Dome
MONSTER ENERGY SUPERCROSS Monster Energy Supercross comes back to the Georgia Dome on Saturday, February 27. Be amazed by their high-flying action and feel the excitement as the stars of Supercross show off their best moves, most breathtaking stunts, and battle it out for the top spot. e events feature the very best in motorcross entertainment and racing. Meet the riders and get autographs at the Pit Party beforehand. Visit supercrossonline.com
Opens March 3: Atlantic Station
CIRQUE DU SOLEIL: KURIOS Cirque du Soleil’s Kurios creates a mysterious and fascinating realm that disorients your senses and challenges your perceptions. Step into the curio cabinet of an ambitious inventor who defies the laws of time, space and dimension in order to reinvent everything around him. Suddenly, the visible becomes invisible, perspectives are transformed, and the world is literally turned upside down. Visit cirquedusoleil.com/kurios
Sat. Mar. 12 • 1pm Sun. Mar. 13 • 1pm Philips Arena: Valid at the Philips Arena Box Offce or online at ticketmaster.com *Not valid on CS or VIP, Valid thru game day, Subject to availability, Additional fees may apply
insiteatlanta.com • February 2016 • PG 5
mances Performances
Ailey Dance Company ley DanceAlvin Company
Valentine's has added to their award Hall - A Valentine’s Romance Valentine's Day weekend, AgaveDay hasweekend, added to Agave their award Atlanta SymphonyAtlanta Hall - ASymphony Valentine’s Romance winning southwestern menu some playful dishes meant to
February - 14 Woodruff Arts Center winning southwestern menu some playful dishes meant to February 12 - 14 Woodruff Arts12Center be shared. Call for details; reservations recommended. (404) 733-4200 atlantasymphony.org be shared. Call for details; reservations recommended. February 10 14 The Fox Theatre (404) 733-4200 atlantasymphony.org 10 - 14 The Fox Theatre (855) 285-8499 alvinailey.org foxatltix.com In A Valentine’s Romance, jazz guitarist and bandleader -8499 alvinailey.org foxatltix.com In A Valentine’s Romance, jazz guitarist and bandleader Sotto N. 523-6678 Highland Ave. (404) 523-6678 Sottoof Sotto 313 N. Sotto Highland Ave. 313 (404) John Pizzarelli joins the ASO forsongs three shows love songs This Valentine’s John Pizzarelli joins the ASO for three shows of love alentine’s urestaurants.com and duets. Special guest (andMolasky John’s wife)urestaurants.com Jessica Molasky Day, Atlantans can and duets. Special guest (and John’s wife) Jessica
ntans can With SottoRiccardo Sotto, chef-owner Riccardo to put in the mood this Valentine’s weekend. With Sotto Sotto, chef-owner Ullio envisioned a Ullio envisioned a joins him to put you joins in thehim mood thisyou Valentine’s weekend. magic of share the magic of restaurant serving all the delicaThis will be a romantic evening you won’t want to miss. restaurant serving all the delicaAiley This will be a romantic evening you won’t want to miss. Ailey Alvin ciesinfrom his childhood in Milan, cies from his childhood Milan, n Dance American Dance Exhibit Italy. Now this cozy authentic Exhibit Italy. Now this cozy authentic Theater with with ItalianInman spot in historic Inman Botanical Garden Italian spot in historic Atlanta BotanicalAtlanta Garden14, es by giv- loved ones by givParkpremier is one of Atlanta’s premier Park is one of Atlanta’s ing the gift of February 7 11:00 pm gift of February 14, 7 - 11:00 pm restaurants. offers a Sotto Sotto offers a (404) 876-5859 atlantabotanicalgarden.orgrestaurants. Sotto Sotto Led by Ailey. Led by (404) 876-5859 atlantabotanicalgarden.org romantically romantically lit intimate dining lit intimate dining BattleasinArtistic his fifthDirector, season as Artistic Director, The attle in his Robert fifth season The Enjoyofan elegant evening of evening. perfect for The the special EnjoyFebruary an elegant evening special evening. celebrated menuThe celebrated menu room perfect for theroom Company returns to the Fabulous Fox Theatre 10 y returns to the Fabulous Fox Theatre February 10 music, dancing, cocktails, is accompanied by an inspiring wine list. Make music, dancing, cocktails, is accompanied by an inspiring all-Italian wine list. all-Italian Make -14 for inspired performances featuring new productions nspired performances featuring new productions desserts and orchids at the reservations early. desserts and orchids at the reservations early. Ailey classics andofpremieres some of America’s most lassics and of premieres by some America’sbymost most inromantic spot in most romantic spot celebrated dance-makers. The five-day d dance-makers. The five-day engagement of cap- engagement of cap- Atlanta. Take a stroll Jewelry Atlanta. Taketo a stroll tivatingincludes live performances includes to a special invitation Jewelry ive performances a special invitation through the tropical conserthrough the tropical consera loved oneDay to the Valentine’sonDay performance on oved one tobring the Valentine’s performance Alexander’s of Atlanta vatories, sample heart-meltAlexander’s of Atlanta vatories, sample heart-meltFebruary 3 p.m. Tickets February 14Sunday, at 3 p.m. Tickets 14 areatavailable at The are available at The ing treats from the city's top 2891 N. 634-1397 Druid Hills Rd. (404) 634-1397 2891 N. Druid Hills Rd. (404) ing treats from the city's top Fox660 Theatre box office, tre box office, Peachtree Street660 NE,Peachtree 30308. Street NE, 30308. alexandersofatlanta.com caterers, sip specialty cocktails from cash bars, dance to caterers, sip specialty cocktails from cash bars, dance to alexandersofatlanta.com live receive music! Guests also stemmed receive a rose free long stemmedOf rose Atlanta Ballet’s The Sleeping Beautylive music! Guests also Alexander’s a free long Ballet’s The Sleeping Beauty Alexander’s Atlanta has been Of Atlanta has been (while supplies last). among the most respected jewFebruary 13, 14 Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre (while supplies last). among the most respected jew13, 14 Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre elers inyears. Atlanta for over 50 years. (404) 817- 8700 atlantaballet.com Dining elers in Atlanta for over 50 - 8700 atlantaballet.com Dining For Valentine’s Day they have a For Valentine’s Day they have a Enjoyofa this one-hour version ofthat this is fairytale that is per- Agave agaverestaurant.com ne-hour version fairytale classic per- classic sweetheart special: Freshwater Agave agaverestaurant.com sweetheart special: Freshwater fect for our patrons! family will fall 242 Boulevard 404.588.0006 our littlest patrons! You littlest and your familyYou willand fall your Cultured Pearl Set (necklace, 242 Boulevard 404.588.0006 Cultured Pearl Set (necklace, the charms of the e charms of under the beautiful Aurora andbeautiful cheer onAurora her and cheer on her This romantic eatery nestled in bracelet and earrings) for only bracelet and earrings) for only This romantic eatery nestled in princekiss when true Carabosse’s love’s kiss breaks wicked hen true love’s breaks wicked Carabosse’s $99.95. Let their friendly, experienced Cabbagetown is the perfect staff assist you in staff assist you in $99.95. Let their friendly, experienced Cabbagetownand is the perfect curse. for children ecommended for Recommended children 12-years-old and 12-years-old picking out the perfect piece for that place to celebrate with that picking out the perfect piece for that special someone andspecial someone and place to celebrate with that Show at 2:00 pm on13, Saturday February 13, Show timesyounger. at 2:00 pm on times Saturday February make this Valentine’s Day unforgettable! special someone. For make this Valentine’s Day unforgettable! special someone. For ay, Februaryand 14.Sunday, February 14.
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Under The Lights ON STAGE THIS MONTH
START DOWN
February 13 - March 6 Alliance Theatre (404) 733-5000 AllianceTheatre.org/startdown Start Down looks at work, love, and getrich-quick tech start-ups. This award-winning play questions the way we live, the way we educate our children, and our core values around technology. Inspired by his girlfriend’s high school teaching career and eager to create a cutting-edge product, software developer Will forms a company dedicated to making online tutorials tailored to individual student needs. It’s a brilliant idea until the program threatens some deeply held beliefs about the student/teacher relationship. “Start Down is as smart as it is contemporary and wears its wisdom cloaked in good humor,” said Alliance Theatre Director of New Projects Celise Kalke. “The play features engaging characters wrestling with the moral complexities of technology in the classroom.” Start Down is written by Eleanor Burgess and will be directed by Jeremy Cohen.
THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE
February 27 - March 20 Alliance Theatre (404) 733-5000 AllianceTheatre.org/wardrobe The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, C.S. Lewis’s classic of love, faith, courage, and giving, with its triumph of good over evil, is one of the most-enjoyed stories of our time. The play follows the adventures of four siblings through the wardrobe and into the land of Narnia. Here they are caught up in a struggle between the mysterious, magical lion Aslan and the White Witch, who wants this astonishing country, its talking animals and amazing creatures, frozen in perpetual winter. “The wardrobe transforms into a portal to a magical land. The world of Narnia transforms from winter to spring. In several cases, characters undergo huge personal transformations”, says Artistic Director Rosemary Newcott.
P r em World
THE SOUND OF MUSIC
March 1 - 6 The Fox Theatre Tickets (855) 285-8499 FoxTheatre.org/sound-music The hills are alive as a brand new production of The Sound of Music comes to the Fox Theatre. The story tells of Maria who had longed to be a nun since she was a young girl, yet when she became old enough discovered that it wasn't at all what she thought. Often in trouble and doing the wrong things, Maria is sent to the house of a retired naval captain, named Captain Von Trapp, to care for his children. The play is directed by three-time Tony Award winner Jack O’Brien. “We plan to look more closely at this remarkable work to tear off the varnish of the past and reveal one of the great, fresh glories of musical theater,” says the Tony Award winning director. The spirited, romantic and beloved musical story of Maria and the Von Trapp Family will once again thrill audiences with its Tony, Grammy and Academy Award-winning Best Score, including “My Favorite Things,” “Do-Re-Mi,” “Climb Ev’ry Mountain,” “Edelweiss” and the title song.
ier e
THE TOXIC AVENGER
Showing through March 13 Horizon Theatre (404) 584-7450 HorizonTheatre.com Now playing, The Toxic Avenger, winner of the Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Off-Broadway Musical, is a hot toxic love story and laughout-loud musical that features an unlikely hero, his beautiful girlfriend, a corrupt New Jersey mayor and two guys who play bullies, mobsters, old ladies, and stiletto-wearing backup singers. Melvin Ferd the Third turned Toxic Avenger is here to save New Jersey from toxic waste, clean up his neighborhood, and win the love of the blind librarian. It's a toxic love story with an environmental twist! The Toxic Avenger will leave audiences laughing in the aisles as it rocks the house.
By ElEanor BurGEss // DirecteD By JErEmy B. CohEn
a smart and funny look at work, love, and get-rich-quick tech start-ups.
TickeTs February 13–March 6 aS loW aS November 27–December 19$20
Tickets @ 404.733.5000 // alliancetheatre.org/startdown Groups of 10+ save @ 404.733.4690
NOW THRU MAR 13
Series on the Hertz Stage
EUCLID & AUSTIN AVES. IN LITTLE FIVE POINTS
404.584.7450 • HORIZONTHEATRE.COM
flx insiteatlanta.com • February 2016 • PG 7
EVENTS HAPPENING FOR SMALL CHANGE IN ATLANTA
Know of a low cost event happening? Event@AtlantaOnADime.com By Marci Miller
February 3 - 22
UNIVERSOUL CIRCUS
Tickets from $20; Discounts Available Green Lot Turner Field universoulcircus.com Now in its 23rd year, UniverSoul Circus celebrates the unique and familiar aspects of urban pop cultures and ethnicities from around the world into a stellar production that blends circus arts, theater and music. It’s fresh, cool and hip approach to live family entertainment has earned it a coveted spot as one of Ticketmaster’s top ten most requested family attractions.
February 13
EMORY JAZZ FEST 2016
Emory Big Band and the Gary Motley Trio; Emerson Concert Hall arts.emory.edu Free Event e Saturday night program of Emory Jazz Fest 2016 features the Gary Motley Trio along with the Emory Big Band and the Emory University Symphony Orchestra Strings in a free concert. e Friday night concert which is a ticketed event, features clarinetist-saxophonist Anat Cohen who has won hearts and minds the world over with her expressive virtuosity and delightful stage presence. Cohen will join the Gary Motley Trio in concert.
SAVE 20% on Tickets to All Performances! Use offer code: GASSOUTH Savings applies only to the face price of tickets. Restrictions and exclusions may apply. No double discounts. Subject to availability. Excludes premium seats.
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More info at www.cinemoms.com PG 8 • February 2016 • insiteatlanta.com
February 12 - 14
BE MINE - VALENTINE’S DAY A VALENTINE’S ROMANCE
Be Mine is Free; Romance prices vary Woodruff Center; atlantasymphony.org
lasky joins him to put you in the mood this Valentine’s weekend. is will be a romantic evening you won’t want to miss.
February 14
FREE FAMILY FESTIVAL
Free; 1– 4 P.M. Woodruff Arts Center woodruffcreateatl.org e free Family Festival will feature familyoriented programming led by the Alliance eatre, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, and High Museum of Art, including live theatre performances, a read aloud and book giveaway, a sweetheart photo station with props for all ages, an Indian dance class, Nigerian dance performances, an Atlanta Symphony Orchestra family concert live simulcast and more, all for free!
February 27
BLACK HISTORY PARADE
12 - 5 pm; Free; Sweet Auburn District blackhistorymonthparade.com e Black History Month Parade celebrates the culture, heritage, history and accomplishments of Black/ African American people in the United States and from across the world. e parade features marching bands, entertainers, dignitaries, civic groups, non-profits, celebrities, corporate groups, artistic expressionist, entertainment and fun for the whole family. Parade begins at the King Center National Park and ends at Woodruff Park.
February 27 & 28
RAG-O-RAMA DOLLAR SALE
Sandy Springs - 6500 Roswell Rd. Be Mine – A Free Valentine's Day Concert 404.497.0701; ragorama.com
celebrates some of the greatest young romances in classical music as told through whimsical and romantic selections from Mendelssohn's A Midsummer Night's Dream, Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet, Bizet's Carmen and Puccini's La bohème, among others. is event is sold out. In A Valentine’s Romance, jazz guitarist and bandleader John Pizzarelli joins the ASO for three shows of love songs and duets. Special guest (and John’s wife) Jessica Mo-
Get ready for Rag-O-Rama's biggest sale of the year, e Dollar Sale! Shoppers never know what they will find for $1.00 as there are tons of items available. Rag-O-Rama carries current, classic, and vintage styles, men's & women's clothing and accessories, one-of-a-kind items and much more. Shoppers can buy, sell or trade gently used items. Sale takes place during the final two weekends this month. Black History Parade
Free Admission February 17 • 12–5pm Sweet Auburn District blackhistorymonthparade.com
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Affordable Dining Guide Great places in town to get a good meal without breaking the bank
other popular Italian dishes including calzones, strombolis, and lasagna. Johnny’s restaurants offer dine-in, take-out and delivery and now online ordering. Go to JohnnysPizza.com nearest location.
Eats
600 Ponce de Leon 404.888.9149 eatsonponce.net
Baldinos Giant Jersey Subs
Eats keeps their menu simple and their prices low. First choose from a variety of pastas. You pay by the sauce which range from $6.00 and $7.00 and includes: marinara, olive and garlic, pesto, Alfredo, creamy marinara, turkey meat sauce and chicken chili. All pasta plates come with garlic bread and you can add on extras from meatballs to chicken breast for just $2 more. They offer meat and vegetable plate dinners too. Choose from their prized jerk chicken, lemon pepper chicken and turkey meatloaf. Some of the vegetables include: broccoli, green beans, and collards. Vegetable plates are priced at $5.25 for three or $6.25 for four. A meat and two sides run $7.75 and $8.00 for three sides. Eats is open seven days a week from 11am until 10pm.
The Flying Biscuit Café
1655 McLendon Ave 404.687.8888 1001 Piedmont Ave. 404.874.8887 flyingbiscuit.com The Flying Biscuit Café serves great breakfast, lunch and dinner 7 days a week. One of Atlanta's home grown gems, they are best known for their mouth-watering biscuits
and original affordable menu items. The Candler Park and Midtown locations offer a wide assortment of bakery items as well as new beer and wine selections. The Flying Biscuit’s menu is organic-friendly. Enjoy weekend Sweet Specials on a variety of pancakes including chocolate chip, blueberry and more. And don't forget, Kids Eat Free Monday through Thursday from 4 – 8 PM.
Johnny’s NY Style Pizza
Over 50 Atlanta area locations: Order online @ JohnnysPizza.com Johnny’s Pizza is synonymous with great pizza and subs in Atlanta. The secret to their success is in the preparation. They always use the finest ingredients. Johnny’s specializes in NY style pizza, They have several house specialties including the Johnny’s Deluxe, Italian Special, Veggie, Steak & Cheese, Pesto and Buffalo Chicken. Johnny’s also offers plenty of individual toppings to create your own masterpiece. In addition Johnny’s offers subs, salads, sandwiches and
80 Powers Ferry Rd. 770.321.1177 5697 Buford Hwy. 770.455.8570 12890 Highway 9 678.580.0434 baldinos.us
Baldinos has been recognized for serving the best sub sandwich in the South since 1975. Their true New Jersey style subs are as fresh as any sandwich anywhere. The rolls are baked in-store everyday - all day; each sub is sliced fresh as ordered; hot subs are grilled, not nuked or pressed, and only the freshest produce garnishes every sub as ordered. Salads, soups and delicious baked goodies compliment a true value menu. Check out Baldinos $3.79 Daily Special - a different sub every day that will keep you coming back. Stop by Baldinos newest store located at 12890 Hwy 9 in Milton.
The Downwind Restaurant
Dekalb Peachtree Airport #201 770.452.0973 downwindrestaurant.com The Downwind Restaurant & Lounge locat-
ed off Clairmont Rd. at the Dekalb Peachtree Airport offers amazing views of the runway. While watching the planes take off and land enjoy the great food here. Their menu has many outstanding offerings for lunch and dinner including their award winning burgers and sandwiches including the blackened chicken, roasted turkey or homemade tuna. Downwind Restaurant is known as having some of the freshest seafood in Atlanta. Pilots fly in from Florida bringing Flounder, Sea Bass and fresh Fish of the Day. You can get Alaskan Salmon, wild caught Gulf Shrimp and Atlantic Cod as an entree or on a specially made sandwich. Also find Greek specialties like the Spanakopita and Greek Spaghetti. They offer a full bar and live music every Friday night from 7pm - close. Downwind Restaurant is family friendly with an aviation themed playground for kids. Downwind Restaurant is open Monday through Saturday 11:00am - 10:00pm and closed on Sunday.
Savage Pizza
484 Moreland Ave. 404.523.0500 115 Laredo Dr. 404.299.5799 savagepizza.com This eclectic neighborhood restaurant is a favorite hangout among residents of Little 5 and Avondale Estates. They offer a wide variety of salads, subs, calzones and of course pizzas to choose from at affordable
Best Inexpensive Restaurant
BEST IN GREEK & ITALIAN CUISINE Since 1966
Thanks Atlanta for Voting us Best 15 Straight Years
• Zagat Rated • Dine In or Take Out • Lunch & Dinner Specials
eatsonponce.net
Live Music & Entertainment • Full Bar • Daily Specials • Takeout Available
Downwind Restaurant & Lounge at the Dekalb Peachtree Airport
Mon-Fri 11am-10pm • Saturday Noon-10pm • Sunday Closed
770.452.0973 • 2000 Airport Rd. #201, Atlanta www.downwindrestaurant.com
FOR THE MONTH OF FEBRUARY www.baldinos.us MONDAY – Baldinos Extra Special (#7) TUESDAY – Like it Hot? Grilled & Toasted The HOT Italian WEDNESDAY – Ham it Up – (#5) Boiled Ham & Cheese w/ soup or side THURSDAY – Check Out the Chicken – Your Choice (#20,21,23) FRIDAY – Meatless Combo – Tuna (#10) or Veg Stir Fry (#27) w/ side SATURDAY – Steak Out – Any Steak Sub Your Choice (#11,13,19) SUNDAY – American Special – (#14) w/ choice of soup or side Marietta 80 Powers Ferry Rd 770-321-1177 (closed Sundays)
$3.79 All Day!
Doraville 5697 Buford Hwy. MILTON 12890 Hwy. 9 770-455-8570 678-580-0434
BEST SUBS IN ATLANTA 10 STRAIGHT YEARS! insiteatlanta.com • February 2016 • PG 9
looking for a great meal at a great price.
prices. Savage Pizza uses only the freshest vegetables, top quality meats, cheeses, breads and pastas. On their menu you'll find innovative homemade sauces and thoughtfully prepared dishes made from scratch every day. Savage offers lunch and dinner with delivery to the area. Both locations offer ample seating.
to eat in metro Atlanta. Their menu offers a wide array of entrees, sandwiches and salads including many dishes offering vegan. Breakfast is served all day!
Mediterranean Grill
Athens Pizza House
Chin Chin
3887 Peachtree Rd. 404.816.2229 Multiple locations at chinchinga.com
1341 Clairmont Rd. Decatur 404.636.1100 athenspizzaatlanta.com
N. Decatur Plaza 404.320.0101; Midtown 404.917.1100; East Cobb 678.996.0045; Athens 706.543.5000 mediterraneangrill.com
Mediterranean Grill is the place to go for authentic Mediterranean food. Their loyal customers keep this family/chef-owned and operated restaurant busy. Here you will find regional dishes like gyros, falafel and kabob sandwiches. They have a great Business Lunch Special offering Shish kabob, Kufta kabab & Gyro slices w/rice pilaf, salad, pita and drink for $8.00. Mediterranean Grill has tasty sandwiches including: Gyro, Kufta Kabob, Chicken Kabob, Falafel and a Grilled Vegetable sandwich. Sandwiches are just $5.95 and entrees start at $9.00.
Desta Ethiopian Kitchen
3086 Briarcliff Rd. NE 404.929.0011 destaethiopiankitchen.com As you walk through their door into the world of Desta expect greetings and warm smiles. Their friendly wait staff will assist you in navigating the menu. Prompt, friendly service and quick delivery of traditional Ethiopian delicacies make for a wonderful and unique dining experience which is the hallmark of Desta Ethiopian Kitchen. They were ranked by Yelp among the top 50 places
Chicago’s Nancy’s Midtown
Since 1966, the Papadopoulos family has been serving up great Greek and Italian cuisine to the Emory / Decatur area. Athens Pizza is Zagat rated and winner of several awards including Best Greek Cuisine. So don’t let the name fool you, there is much more here than great pizza. Some of the favorite recipes on their Greek dishes go back over 50 years! Athens Pizza offers daily specials for lunch and dinner. They have an extensive catering menu while the restaurant can also accommodate parties large and small with their private room.
Gordon Biersch Brewery 848 Peachtree Street 404.870.0805 3242 Peachtree Road 404.264.0253 gordonbierschrestaurants.com
Gordon Biersch is an upscale brewery restaurant specializing in handcrafted German lagers. They offer an American menu with bold international flavors. Start off with the Legendary Garlic Fries or their
Atlanta’s
Best Sushi
Located in Old Fourth Ward
Happy Hour Sun – Wed Starts at 5pm!
620 Glen Iris Dr. NE, Suite #C 404-249-4300 gekkosushiatlanta.com
Best Ethiopian Cuisine
Catering and Party Reservations Available
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404.929.0011
3086 Briarcliff Rd. NE • Atlanta, GA 30329 (Inside Williamsburg Shopping Center)
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Blue Crab & Artichoke Dip. For lunch you can’t miss with one of Gordon Biersch’s award winning burgers. They also have a great selection of salads and sandwiches. For dinner the small plates offer terrific value like the Mini Bratwurst Sliders (3 for $10.00) and the grilled Prosciutto & Gorgonzola Chips just $4.00. You will find an assortment of reasonably priced entrees including steaks and seafood plus several pizza and flatbread dishes. Their large menu offers something for everyone. Don’t forget to wash it all down with a handcrafted brew!
Send an e-mail to subscriptions@ atlantaonadime.com
265 Ponce De Leon 404.254.5103 nancyspizza.com
Chin Chin is consistently voted Atlanta’s Best Chinese restaurant. Their menu offers standard favorites and many exotic dishes in Chinese cuisine at affordable prices. The Brookhaven location featured offers over 30 lunch specials from $6.95 - $7.95. Choose an entree along with Vegetable Roll, Soup and Fried Rice. For dinner choose from over 20 chicken dishes for just $11.25 and over a dozen beef and pork dishes for $12.75 or less. Soups start at $2.95.
Escorpion
800 Peachtree St. 678.666.5198 urestaurants.net
Chicago has some the best pizza in America and that great pizza can be found in Midtown Atlanta at Chicago’s Nancy’s. Nancy's serves up thin and deep dish as well as take and bake pizza, appetizers, sandwiches and their signature salads. Nancy’s in Midtown has multiple TV screens and seats 70 inside and 25 on their patio. See their ad on the Back Page for coupons offering $12.99 Large 14” Traditional Thin Crust Pizza with 1 topping and $14.99 Medium Deep Dish Pizza with 1 topping. They provide take-out and delivery to the area. Nancy's is the perfect place to call when
Escorpion is a regionally inspired Mexican tequila bar and cantina located on the corner of 5th and Peachtree. The atmosphere is fun and electric, making Escorpion one of the hottest additions to the Midtown scene with fine, authentic cuisine at affordable prices. Inspired tacos come in a wide variety that includes crispy fried shrimp, arrachera (marinated skirt steak with caramelized onions and peppers and sauce arbol) and braised beef tongue. Order by the taco, plate or fam-
ily style. Escorpion also has great salads, quesadillas and an assortment of antojitos (street-style appetizers), priced between $4 and $9. Full entrees are also available.
Landmark Diner
3652 Roswell Rd. 404.816.9090 landmarkdiner.com
Atlanta’s favorite diner offers great meals at affordable prices 24 hours a day. Start the day with an omelet, french toast or golden pancakes. For lunch try one of their many sandwiches like sliced turkey, egg salad or the BLT. You can also find several great burgers and chicken fingers for the kids. For dinner they have all the finest dishes like blackened grouper, jumbo shrimp scampi and rack of lamb at very affordable prices. The Buckhead location is now offering three-course dinners for just $15.99 including entree, soup & dessert. The Buckhead location is also the new home for The Punchline.
Fritti
309 N. Highland Ave. 404.880.9559 urestaurants.net Located in the heart of historic Inman Park, Fritti is nationally recognized for its pizza and state of the art wo o d-bur ning oven. For lunch, Fritti offers a variety of antipasti dishes for $10 or less including: funghi fritti (fried mushrooms), fried calamari, classic Sicilian arancini and bruschetta. For dinner, many of the lunch items are offered along with other dishes.
One antipasta to try is the bresaola di tonno (cured sashimi grade tuna, arugula). They also offer a great Caesar salad and a variety of Neopolitan-style pizzas including: salsiccia e peperoni (Italian sausage and roasted peppers) and speck e rucola (smoked prosciutto, smoked mozzarella, tomatoes and arugula).
Agave
242 Boulevard 404.588.0006 agaverestaurant.com Agave blends eclectic southwestern cuisine, extensive tequila bar and wine list coupled with exceptional service, to make this one of Atlanta’s top restaurants. Get free chips and salsa upon arrival and two for one appetizers at the bar nightly from 5 pm – 7 pm. Sign up for email alerts through their website for great dining deals & event info. Agave has two beautiful dining rooms as well as an enclosed heated patio.
Gekko Sushi
620 Glen Iris Dr. NE 404.249.4300 gekkosushiatlanta.com Gekko Sushi is a popular Japanese sushi restaurant located on Glen Iris Drive in between Ponce and North Avenue, adjacent to Ponce City Market. They offer between 5060 different varieties of sushi rolls. Other favorites include: chirashi bowls (assorted sushi over rice), bento boxes (combo meals), tempura, teriyaki dishes and noodle soups. Happy hour specials served nightly at 5pm. Sunday is Sake night, Monday offers $3 draft beer, Tuesdays get $5 house cocktails and receive 50% off bottles of wine on Wednesdays. Free customer parking is available.
HOME THEATER
NEW RELEASES THE LATEST DVD, BLU RAY & VOD RELEASES By Bret Love & John Moore
THE ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW: THE COMPLETE SERIES If you haven’t revisited this ‘60s comedy classic in a while, this 39-disc boxed set is a comprehensive collection that reminds us how effective truly timeless storytelling can be. Starting in 1960 as a spinoff of The Danny Thomas Show, the sitcom followed a widower sheriff (Griffith) raising his young son (Ron Howard) in a sleepy North Carolina town. It’s remarkable how well the laughs hold up today, with colorful characters like Deputy Barney Fife (the inimitable Don Knotts) that add quirk to the show’s rich, warm, loving heart. MEET THE PATELS This charming documentary follows Indian actor Ravi V. Patel (Grandfathered) as he travels the world in search of a bride with help from his doting/ meddling parents. They want him to marry another Patel (i.e. a woman from the same caste and same part of India), but he holds deep love for a non-Indian ex his parents didn’t approve of. His adventures in traditional matchmaking are hilariously awkward and lovingly documented by his sister, Geeta. With all the heartwarming dramedy of a great Hollywood rom-com, this is a perfect Valentine’s Day flick. RAY DONOVAN: SEASON 3 This Liv Schreiber-led Showtime drama
continues to ratchet up the darkness as it finds its stride. Ray is still Hollywood’s goto fix-it man, but finds himself conflicted while working with a rich football agent (Katie Holmes) and her crooked father (Ian McShane). Donovan’s dad (Jon Voight) is running a coke-and-hookers ring out of his apartment complex, endangering everyone around him. The show’s lost some of its watercooler buzz, but the stellar casting and wicked writing make it as relevant as ever.
1992 ★
S★ 24 YEAR
2016
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TRUE DETECTIVE: SEASON 2 This Nic Pizzolatto-helmed crime noir never came close to living up to Season 1’s expectations, but it’s unfair to compare the two. Sure, the first season was groundbreaking TV, but the follow-up is a decent effort as well. Season two focuses on a morally compromised cop (Colin Farrell) teamed up with equallydamaged partners (Rachael McAdams and Paul Woodrugh) to investigate who killed a corrupt city manager. Vince Vaughn is impressive as a crime boss trying to go legit. While not nearly as great as its predecessor, season two is worth dedicating a long weekend to bingeing.
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THE SAINT: SEASONS 3 & 4 Before Roger Moore took over as 007 from Sean Connery, he played Simon Templar, a wealthy, debonair modern-day Robin Hood who stole from criminals and kept the spoils. This 9-disc collection contains 32 episodes based on the influential novels written by Leslie Charteris, which include guest spots from Donald Sutherland and Carol Cleveland (Monty Python). Bonus features include a behind-the-scenes featurette and audio commentary by Moore.
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MOVIES
Movie Reviews HAIL, CAESAR! (PG-13)
Joel and Ethan Coen don’t make bad movies, but Hail, Caesar! is their biggest disappointment since The Ladykillers. It doesn’t know what it wants to be when it grows up. The trailers lead you to expect a laugh riot, but the movie contains long dramatic scenes that may be intended as tongue-incheek but don’t come off that way, even if they end on a comic note. Is it a satire about Hollywood in the early ‘50s? If so, why is the part about Communists as serious as Trumbo with an explanation of economic theory as complex as The Big Short? If the Coens are mocking the artificiality of the movies of the day, why does the submarine scene – which is supposed to be real – look as phony as the scenes on soundstages? There are terrific pastiches of period films and some throwaway lines that are better than most movies’ major punchlines, but a lot of what surrounds them is mediocre. While trying to stop smoking and considering a job offer from Lockheed, studio fixer Josh Brolin is dealing with a kidnapped star (George Clooney), a single, pregnant star (Scarlett Johansson), a singing cowboy (Alden Ehrenreich) transitioning to sophisticated comedy, twin gossip columnists (Tilda Swinton) digging up dirt, a location shoot delayed by weather, and keeping several films shooting at once – all in 28 hours. The year is said to be 1951 but it’s mentioned that an H-bomb was tested on Bikini Atoll “a few weeks ago,” which would make it at least 1954. That kind of error is sadly representative of this midcentury mishmash. They should have called it Fail! Caesar. –Steve Warren
DIRTY GRANDPA (R)
1/2 You say “formulaic trash” like it’s a bad thing. If you buy a ticket for something called Dirty Grandpa you shouldn’t expect to see The Mother Teresa Story. You get what you pay for: the requisite number of laughs, a few heart-tugging moments, and more obscenities than you’ll hear in the NFL locker room of the losing team. Robert De Niro may still have a good drama or two in him but for now he’s doing comedies (The Intern). You got a problem wit dat? He plays the eponymous character, the aptly-named Dick, who is eager to resume his sex life the day after burying his longtime wife. He enlists Jason (Zac Efron), his tight-assed, aboutto-marry-the-wrong-woman grandson, to drive him from Atlanta to Boca Raton. (The screenplay grossly underestimates the length of the trip. They plan to make it in one day but stop to play golf on the way.)
HAIL, CAESAR!
Jason wanted to be a photographer but was forced by his father (Dermot Mulroney) to follow him into the family law firm. If you think this road trip won’t change Jason’s life, you don’t know Dick. They meet a couple of college girls (Aubrey Plaza, Zoey Deutsch) on spring break and wind up spending most of the movie in Daytona Beach (played by Tybee Island) abusing various substances gleefully provided by an amusing Jason Mantzoukas. Go for smut, not surprises; and if you’re looking to be offended you’ll get your wish. –Steve Warren
THE 5TH WAVE (PG-13)
1/2 Although I had to channel my inner teenage girl, I had a pretty good time at The 5th Wave, the latest in a seemingly endless flood of YA (Young Adult) franchises based on a trilogy of books that yield a quadrilogy of films. Rick Yancey authored the source for this one, whose sci-fi premise might have earned the title Close Encounters of the Fifth Kind. An alien spaceship hovers over the Sullivan home in Ohio (played by Georgia), where Cassie (Chloë Grace Moretz) lives with her parents and little brother Sam. “The Others,” as the aliens are dubbed (Who has time to be clever when they’re fighting for survival?), plan to eliminate humanity before taking possession of the planet. Their first wave wipes out all electrical and gasoline power (selectively – the US military still has some); the second floods all coastlines with actual waves; the third kills off the majority of the population with bird flu; the fourth finds The Others “inhabiting human hosts” (Body Snatchers, anyone?); the fifth is designed to take out anyone who’s left. Liev Schreiber heads an Army unit that drafts and trains children (including Sam) to fight. Separated from everyone, Cassie struggles to survive in a more benign nature than Leo faced in The Revenant, and she runs pretty well a few days after being shot in the leg. She also attracts two hunky guys (Alex Roe, Nick Robinson) who will obviously be fighting over her in future episodes. It’s nice to see Atlantaborn Moretz, who’s been doing solid work for a long time, getting a role that could propel her to the A-list while she’s still in her teens. This is a good enough start to make us look forward to the next Wave. –Steve Warren
KUNG FU PANDA 3 (PG-13)
A less irritating than usual (perhaps because we can’t see him) Jack Black returns to make the animated Po sound like a cross between a panda and a teddy bear. His mentor, Shifu (Dustin Hoffman), appoints him to teach kung
KUNG FU PANDA 3
fu to others; but before he can teach, Po must learn to be himself. Fortunately, his long-lost father (Bryan Cranston) arrives to take him back to Pandaland (or whatever it’s called) to spend some time among his own kind. Unfortunately, Kai (J.K. Simmons), who has stolen the ch’i of most of the masters, picks this time to attack the Valley, then come after the pandas. All this buildup is sometimes fun, sometimes interesting, sometimes neither; but it leads to a ch’i-whiz double climax in the mortal and spirit worlds. Po’s usual posse have little to do this time and less to say; I’d be surprised if Angelina Jolie, Jackie Chan, Seth Rogen, Lucy Liu and David Cross spent more than an hour recording their lines. Technical work is super, including worth-thesurcharge 3D. –Steve Warren
FIFTY SHADES OF BLACK (R)
1/2 Having run out of ideas for Scary Movie and Haunted House sequels, writer/star/producer Marlon Wayans finds another easy target. I thought Fifty Shades of Grey would have worked better as a comedy, since it wasn’t at all erotic; but this witless spoof proves me wrong: it doesn’t work as a comedy either. Kali Hawk, who’s managed to avoid notice in dozens of movies and TV shows, may jumpstart her career playing Dakota to Wayans’ johnson. She’s Hannah Steale, a mousy, twentysomething virgin who meets mogul Christian Black when she’s subbing for her roommate (Rebel Wilson wannabe Jenny Zigrino). Black stalks Hannah until he breaks her in with vanilla – well, chocolate – sex before moving on to rougher stuff: whipping, spanking and waterboarding. The dialogue sounds like little kids experimenting with dirty words they don’t understand, plus dozens of popstar name-checks. It’s way over the top but rarely funny. Anyone old enough to buy a ticket unaccompanied should be too old to be amused by Fifty Shades of Black. Not even Spike Lee could find a potential Oscar nominee in this one. –Steve Warren
THE FINEST HOURS (PG-13)
1/2 Talk about a mission impossible! The Finest Hours will inevitably be confused in moviegoers’ minds with 13 Hours, which opened two weeks earlier. It’s another true story of brave, stubborn American heroes who defied orders that would have prevented their heroism. These guys are on American soil – well, water actually. As if aiming for an Oscar it begins with an early-‘50s romance (Brooklyn, Carol) involving a woman in a PG 12 • February 2016 • insiteatlanta.com
fur coat that makes her look like a bear (The Revenant). Miriam (Holliday Grainger) meets Coast Guardsman Bernie Webber (Chris Pine) in November 1951. They get engaged three months later, just as a huge storm breaks an oil tanker in half off the Massachusetts coast. Bernie leads a mission in a small boat to rescue the dozens of men in the tanker’s rapidly sinking stern. Ray Sybert (Casey Affleck) is their senior officer. It’s hard to tell which craft is in greater danger, as Bernie’s boat rides waves and shoots curls like a surfboard, losing its compass and radio contact in the process, while the water level rises in Ray’s half-ship and it loses its power. The technical jargon isn’t dumbed down enough for us landlubbers but we can still follow what’s going on. Things are really exciting for an hour or so, despite a few silly clichés. The ending is a bit too pat but the storm effects are thrilling, although 3D doesn’t add anything to them. –Steve Warren
WHERE TO INVADE NEXT (R)
Who’da thunk Michael Moore and Donald Trump would agree on anything? Well, they both want to “Make America great again.” They just don’t agree on how to do it (and maybe what “great” means). If enough people see Moore’s new documentary about what’s wrong with America (or at least what some countries do better than we do), it could make for some interesting changes in the campaign conversation. Of course conservatives will be too turned off by Moore’s smirking, snarky humor to pay attention to what’s being said; and I’m sure fact-checking would find him twisting and distorting some realities to make his points. But it would be a shame if the many valid issues he raises were ignored. The misleading title finds Moore “invading” nine countries, mostly European, to steal their ideas for America: more paid time off to reduce stress on workers, universal health care, shorter school days with no standardized testing and little or no homework, no capital punishment, voting rights for felons, decriminalization of drugs, free college education, equal rights for women, giving workers a voice in running corporations, jailing bankers responsible for economic collapse, etc. Yes, Europeans pay more taxes, Moore admits (citing probably the lowest example), but they get far more in return than we do (partly because they don’t spend as much on defense). Almost anyone should be able to find some good ideas here, and even the bad ideas are presented entertainingly. Find out what your candidate thinks about them before you vote. –Steve Warren
A WAR
FILM
ATL JEWISH FILM FESTIVAL Returns for Its 16th Year!
BY LEE VALENTINE SMITH
T A WAR (R)
A War is heaven for those who like to debate ethical issues. The Danish Foreign-Language Oscar nominee begins in Afghanistan, where troops led by Claus Pedersen (Pilou Asbæk) are tasked “to safeguard and help civilians,” and this humanitarian work involves them in occasional skirmishes with the Taliban. Writer-director Tobias Lindholm says he wanted to “put the audience in the boots of the soldiers,” and he has done that. We see Pedersen is a good person, concerned with the safety of his men as well as their civilian charges. He also makes daily calls to home, where his wife Maria (Tuva Novotny) has her hands full with their three children, one of whom is acting out at school. Things go bad, there are civilian casualties, and the second half of the film shifts from combat to courtroom. If you read the story in the news you’d likely have a knee-jerk reaction quite different from living it with the characters. Whatever your verdict, you’ll have to admit that wrong decisions can sometimes be made for the right reasons. (I wrote that before I heard it in Kung Fu Panda 3.) We hear a lot about Post Traumatic Stress, but A War reminds us there’s stress during trauma as well as after. –Steve Warren
SON OF SAUL (R)
Sometimes spoilers can be helpers. Probable Oscar winner Son of Saul is an amazing film that leaves you too many dots to connect. It obviously takes place in a WWII concentration camp but you have to read the promotional materials to learn that it’s specifically Auschwitz-Birkenau in October 1944. The plot is almost as obscure. Saul Ausländer (Géza Röhrig) is a Hungarian Jew who’s part of the Zonderkommando, a group of ablebodied prisoners spared from immediate extermination so they can work themselves to death instead. When a young boy survives the welcome “shower” but is killed anyway, Saul becomes obsessed with giving him a proper burial with a rabbi officiating, instead of letting him be part of a mass cremation. While he’s risking his own and several other lives to accomplish this, Saul’s cohorts are plotting something – probably escape. Director and co-writer László Nemes shoots the story in a style I’ve never seen before. Saul is centerscreen most of the time, usually in close-up. Whether we see his face or the back of his head, everything else is in the background. An incredible amount of chaotic camp activity – a virtual walking tour – is seen this way, when most directors would want to give their hard work a better showcase. For the viewer it’s frustrating but fascinating, making your mind fill in the details. I would hate for all movies to be made this way, but I’m glad Son of Saul was. –Steve Warren
SOUTHBOUND (NR)
Terror alert! With apologies to AC/DC and JeanPaul Sartre, several travelers find themselves on a highway to hell with no exit in Southbound, a horror anthology of five stories, each of which leads into the next. Though four different directors are involved, including Atlanta native David Bruckner, they give the film a consistent style instead of each trying to grab attention with their individuality. Two bloodied men drive all night in a pickup truck to find that all roads lead to Roy’s motel/café. A girl band has a flat and is offered assistance by a strange couple with stranger friends. A man hits a pedestrian on the highway, drives her to an abandoned hospital and is guided by 911 in performing surgery on her. A man with a shotgun searches for the sister he hasn’t seen in 13 years. A family returns from vacation to be attacked by home invaders who look like they escaped from Purge Night. Southbound isn’t recommended for anyone with an aversion to blood or who insists on movie plots being neatly tied up and totally making sense. If you’re not in either group and can use a good scare or five, it will have you holding your breath, screaming, gripping your companion’s (or a stranger’s?) hand painfully – and hopefully not doing anything that requires a cleanup crew. –Steve Warren
THE REVENANT (R)
Few if any actors have endured what Leonardo DiCaprio does in The Revenant, but is endurance the same as acting? Likewise, The Revenant is an endurance test for viewers, but is endurance the same as entertainment? I’m afraid this is one of those films I admired but can’t say I enjoyed. I’m not sorry I saw it but there’s no one on my speed dial I would call and say, “Dude, you’ve got to see this!” This American frontier survival/revenge drama begins with natives attacking explorers in a breathtaking scene of 360-degree action, wherever Emmanuel Lubezki swings his formidable camera. (An Oscar threepeat is predicted for the cinematographer of Gravity and Birdman.) Soon Hugh Glass (DiCaprio) is mauled by a bear in a scene that had me wondering how they got insurance when they shot it. Eventually John Fitzgerald (Tom Hardy) tries to put Glass out of his misery; he leaves him for dead and kills his son. But Glass isn’t dead. Though barely able to move initially, he drags himself through the snow on Fitzgerald’s trail, with more heavy breathing than in a porno. The Revenant is brilliantly done – another feather in the cap of director Alejandro González Iñárritu - but painful to watch. Still, I may buy the DVD if it includes an explanation of how they shot scenes like the bear attack and one in which a horse jumps off a cliff, tossing its rider into a tree. –Steve Warren See the rest of our movie reviews at insiteatlanta.com/movies.asp
HE ANNUAL ATLANTA JEWISH Film Festival started last month and runs through most of February. As usual, the sprawling 23-day event features a diverse line-up of programming to appeal to nearly every possible taste. From classics (“Marathon Man,” “The Front”) to cutting edge (“Mountain,” “Censored Voices”), the festival will present over 75 different titles. Among the cinematic treasures waiting to be discovered are candid documentaries about two very different comedic personas. “Jerry-Atric” - the only film in the series about an actual Atlantan - stars 77-year old comedian Jerry Farber and “That Daughter’s Crazy” presents a blunt and uplifting look at actress/singer/activist Rain Pryor.
LET IT RAIN
Rain Pryor
and I think she did maybe one movie in her entire lifetime, and now my grandmother thinks she’s a movie star! They love it. “That Daughter’s Crazy” screens twice at Regal Atlantic Station. Saturday February 6 at 7:10 p.m. and Sunday, February 7 at 1:55 p.m.
Rain Pryor’s new film documents positive wisdom Titled “That Daughter’s Crazy” in a sly FARBER’S NERVOUS DEBUT tribute to the controversial name of one of her Local favorite is back in the spotlight father’s best-known comedy albums, the new One of the most compelling films at this documentary from director Elzbieta Szoka details an emotional and often hilarious story of year’s Atlanta Jewish Film Festival is also the only one that features an Atlantan. “Jerry-Atric: survival and independence. Interspersed with One Comic’s 77-year Climb From footage from her live performance The Top To The Bottom” is an “Fried Chicken and Latkes,” Richard ATLANTA enthralling flaws-and-all look at Pryor’s creative daughter discusses her career, family and unique black/ JEWISH FILM local comedy legend, club-owner raconteur Jerry Farber. Jewish heritage. FESTIVAL and“I’dgeneral been a fan of his for a while, THROUGH FEB. 17 but he really inspired me one night As someone who directly Various Locations when I went to do stand up at experienced the pain of racism as his club,” says filmmaker/actress/ ajff.org a child of the ‘70s, do you feel it’s comic Leanna Adams. “He asked expressed in different ways now? me what my dream was and what It’s really still the same story. We was I doing every day to make it happen.” Noting hear it differently now because of the internet and technology, but really it’s a mirror and we’re that he’s one of the few elder statesmen of the craft in town and how freely he offered good just repeating. So how far have we come? Well, advice to a stranger, Adams began thinking of in many ways we’ve come far from the ‘70s, but shooting a documentary project as a tribute to not nearly far enough. the entertainer. A busy sketch comic in her own right and What inspires your daily #pryorwisdom motivational tweets and how do you maintain co-founder of the Decent Humans production company, Adams says, “Every time you meet such a positive outlook? Jerry, he tells you something interesting. He just I come from a family where we really speak our mind. About everything. For a while I found rolls out these incredible stories from a full, long life.” The more she thought about the concept, that I was just sharing all my depression online; the more she was determined to make it a reality. all the stuff I was struggling with. I just decided I didn’t want to do that anymore. I’d rather share “I said, ‘I don’t know what I’m doing but I’m going to try to do this, if he’ll let me.’” how I deal with my life in a positive way. Over lunch she popped the question and Farber quickly agreed. “He said right away, In many ways that’s what the movie is he didn’t want a fluff-piece. He wanted me to all about. present his whole story.” Two years later the It is. I found that basically the answers are result is a magnificent 18-minute collage of inside me anyway. Like I say in the movie, I wouldn’t have had a career if I hadn’t written my clips, interviews and candid insights on the man behind the self-described silly public persona. own show. You don’t have to wait for anyone to His humor is featured but the film unflinchingly make a decision, except yourself. touches on his more volatile traits, including his penchant for gambling. “I would bet on When I first heard about the documentary anything,” Farber admits. “And I’m hoping I thought was a film version of your stage people will learn from my mistakes.” show, but it’s so much more – and it’s centered Adams filmed three lengthy conversation around you, not your father. sessions with Farber and culled some of the From the very beginning, Elzibeta said it was best moments for the film, leaving a wealth of not going to be a movie about my dad. That’s been done before. And it was important that we additional material that isn’t included in the current version. A full-length feature is also in included my mom and grandmother, because the works. when you deal with biracial children, especially For now the premier cut features vintage clips being black and Jewish, you deal with the Jewish of Farber on-and off-stage, alternating with perspective of raising a black child. running commentary from friends and family. Jerry-Atric screens twice at the AJFF: Sunday, Were your family reluctant to be on-camera in February 7 at 4:10 p.m. at Lefont Sandy Springs the movie? and Friday, February 12 at 2:25 p.m. at UA Tara I grew up in a TV family, but everyone was sort of behind the scenes. It was a big deal for my Cinemas. For tickets and info, visit ajff.org and jerryfarberdocumentary.com. mom, even though she was a dancer on Shindig insiteatlanta.com • February 2016 • PG 13
FILM
OSCARS: WHO GETS THE WHITE GOLD? Our 2016 Prediction List BY STEVE WARREN
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HE 88TH AWARDS (OSCARS) of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences will be telecast Feb. 28 to a huge worldwide audience. This year’s Oscar competition (which used to be called the Oscar race, but if you use “Oscar” and “race” in the same sentence this year you’re asking for trouble) is more interesting for who wasn’t nominated than who was. Most of the likely winners are either foregone conclusions or Who cares? We’ll still get to our predictions in a minute, but first we’ll add our two cents to the current controversy. As Spike Lee and Viola Davis, among others, have pointed out, the problem is not so much about prejudice among Academy voters as with the people in power at the studios not making Oscar-caliber pictures with and about people of color. While some good performances were overlooked in the acting categories – Idris Elba and Benicio Del Toro were arguably as good as Tom Hardy, for instance, and Michael B. Jordan and Will Smith equal to Matt Damon – you can’t say these were glaring omissions. Jordan was more deserving two years ago for Fruitvale Station, as was his Creed director, Ryan Coogler. Women could make a stronger case against the industry, being a larger portion of the population than African Americans but being generally underrepresented in all but the acting and Costume Design categories. (The transgender stars of Tangerine may have been ignored because the old white Academy members didn’t know whether they were actors or actresses.) Actresses over 70 have even more grounds for complaint, with Jennifer Lawrence being nominated over Maggie Smith, Lily Tomlin and Blythe Danner. Helen Mirren and Jane Fonda might have had supporting nominations if Alicia Vikander and Rooney Mara hadn’t gotten them for what were actually leading roles. Thirty years ago Whoopi Goldberg was fighting for – and sometimes winning – parts that were written with white men in mind. Today, thanks largely to Shonda Rhimes, black women have better opportunities in television. Queen Latifah in Bessie and series stars Taraji P. Henson, Viola Davis, Kerry Washington and even Oscar boycott queen Jada Pinkett Smith had better roles on the small screen than any black women did on the big screen. Who would you nominate? Lupita Nyong’o for Star Wars – The Force Awakens? We talk about the Academy as if they voted with one brain, when actually, with some 6000 members, there are dozens, perhaps hundreds of brains involved. Let’s see if we can pick some of those brains. The Producers Guild award to The Big Short made Best Picture a three-horse race. The Academy has followed their lead 19 of the last 26 years, including all of the last eight. But as I see it, producers are money people so they’re drawn to a movie about money, as most critics’ groups favored Spotlight, which is about journalists. The Revenant has broader appeal, as demonstrated by the nomination love shown it by Academy branches in most of the categories for which it was eligible.
BEST PICTURE: The Revenant PG 14 • February 2016 • insiteatlanta.com
Alejandro González Iñárritu might win for directing it if he hadn’t won last year. Instead, especially since Ridley Scott wasn’t nominated, we’ll call it for someone else who’s had a long career (45 years) without an Oscar for directing.
BEST DIRECTOR: George Miller, Mad Max: Fury Road That doesn’t mean Iñárritu’s right hand man, Emmanuel Lubezki won’t pull a threepeat, after winning for Gravity and Birdman the last two years.
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY: Emmanuel Lubezki, The Revenant The acting awards have looked like shooins from the beginning, and the Screen Actors Guild confirmed three of them. The fourth wasn’t among their nominees.
BEST ACTOR: Leonardo DiCaprio, The Revenant BEST ACTRESS: Brie Larson, Room BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Sylvester Stallone, Creed BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Alicia Vikander, The Danish Girl If the protestors aren’t careful they’ll force the Academy to create separate categories for actors of color, virtually shutting them out of consideration in the overall acting categories, as none of the probable winners of these specialized awards were considered for Best Picture:
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE: Amy BEST ANIMATED FEATURE: Inside Out BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM: Son of Saul The Best Picture nominees I dismissed as too niche-appeal will win for valiant attempts to make their complex stories accessible to the masses:
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: The Big Short BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: Spotlight The American Cinema Editors gave their Eddies to Mad Max: Fury Road for drama and The Big Short for Comedy. This one’s a coin toss.
BEST FILM EDITING: The Big Short
If ever a Fast and Furious movie deserved a nomination it was Furious Seven for the song “See You Again,” a fitting farewell to the series’ late star Paul Walker. There’s an omission the Academy should be ashamed of. Instead the category will be a battle of the popstars between Sam Smith’s Bond theme and Lady Gaga’s (well, mostly Diane Warren’s) song for a campus rape documentary.
BEST ORIGINAL SONG: “Til It Happens to You,” The Hunting Ground BEST ORIGINAL SCORE: Ennio Morricone, The Hateful Eight BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN: Bridge of Spies BEST COSTUME DESIGN: The Danish Girl BEST MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING: Mad Max: Fury Road BEST SOUND EDITING: Mad Max: Fury Road BEST SOUND MIXING: The Revenant And the bear scene has to win something more than the MTV Movie Award for Best Fight:
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS: The Revenant The creators of this year’s short film nominees could make next year’s long film nominees, although it rarely works out that way. In the Documentary Short category it’s hard to beat the Holocaust (Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah); but since that’s covered by Son of Saul it might be done by oppressed (and murdered) Pakistani women (A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness) or a black veteran suffering from PTSD (Last Day of Freedom). I’ll go with the latter, as voters will be trying to give something to an African American.
BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT: Last Day of Freedom Most of the Animated Short nominees are among the best films of any length of any kind this year. Voters may be torn between Pixar (Sanjay’s Super Team) and Richard Williams (Prologue), or between their heads (World of Tomorrow) and their hearts (Bear Story). I’m not even sure what I’d vote for, so I’ll have to take a wild guess.
BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM: Bear Story The Live Action Shorts aren’t in the same league but it’s still a tough call. If the Academy had a higher percentage of female members I’d go with Day One. Instead I foresee a close vote between Ave Maria and Shok.
BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM: Shok Every year one of the most-nominated films seems to go away empty-handed. I sadly predict that this year that honor will fall on my personal favorite, The Martian, which came in third with seven nominations. The above is all speculative. If you’re looking for a sure thing, you can bet the black people who cross the Pinkett line will get plenty of closeups on the telecast, as the Academy tries to promote the illusion of diversity.
TV
Station Control
2016 SHOWS SEARCH FOR YOUTH BY BENJAMIN CARR
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EOPLE ALWAYS TRY TO MAKE A new year seem like a new start. With it comes the sense that it is possible to reset and start over. Already 2016 has brought us the return of two shows that capitalize on that, bringing us new lessons and new hopes. Both hit shows are about youth and their new season’s focus on how it’s possible to change directions and begin again.
YOUNGER (TVLand) is a sitcom about a Gen-X divorcee pretending to be a millennial. Now in its second season, the show focuses on Liza, played by Broadway dynamo Sutton Foster. Liza is 42 and a single mom. Reeling from financial near-ruin, Liza, who is mistaken in a bar for a 26-year-old (and is indeed genetically blessed enough to look that young), decides to take an entry-level job at a publishing house, where they think she is a hip, happening young woman. The cast of Younger is its greatest strength. In addition to the thoroughly charming Foster, the show also features a terrific Hilary Duff, playing a multi-layered and insecure woman who still seems as cool and popular as Duff probably is. Nico Tortorella plays Liza’s twentysomething love interest - and, Lord, is he pretty. Their coupling is probably the hottest one outside of premium cable channels.
gang have moved from PBS to HBO for its 46th season. But its rejuvenation has little to do with its premise, which still focuses on lessons about the alphabet, basic numbers and life skills intended to give the Pre-K set a jumpstart on learning. Sesame has been restructured for HBO so that it focuses now on a couple core characters that its audience can embrace every day, like monster Elmo and fairy Abby Cadabby. Though Big Bird, Oscar and the like are going to appear on the new episodes - and they will eventually show up on PBS come fall, its change of structure will hopefully allow Sesame to compete alongside Dora the Explorer and Bob the Builder. The change does feel a little jarring if you haven’t watched Sesame Street in the past decade (or the past several decades). But it’s better to have this Sesame Street than none at all. Sesame Street is necessary to help us guide the young in the right directions, the benefits of learning and good behavior. Before there was Sesame Street, how did we tell kids how to get there?
Learn from the pros! Stage & film acting classes for all experience levels.
Classes begin 3.7.16 Register today! 404.733.4700 alliancetheatre.org/classes
SESAME STREET (HBO) Thanks to a five-year deal to keep the show going, Cookie Monster and the
LEARN
HEAD OF THE CLASS
The Alliance Theatre’s Christopher Moses Helps Atlanta Actors Go Pro
BY BRET LOVE
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HRISTOPHER MOSES FELL IN love with theatre as a child, after seeing a stage production of Peter Pan at the age of four. Now, as the Alliance Theatre’s Director of Educational Programs, his job is a sort of personal Neverland, helping aspiring actors make their professional dreams come true. Moses started out as a performer himself, starring in an Alliance production of James & the Giant Peach. He joined the theatre’s education staff in 2000 and has served as the Education Director since 2011. Under his leadership, the department has doubled the number of annual students to around 11,000. launched new programs such as the Artistto-Artist master class series, and expanded nationally recognized programs like the Collision Project and the Institute for Educators and Teaching Artists. In 2014, Moses was named Associate Artistic Director at the Alliance, and Artistic Director Susan Booth called him “a phenomenal partner in the leadership of this theatre’s artistic vision.” We recently spoke with Moses about that vision, including expansion into adult education for film work, commercials, screenwriting and voiceover acting. How did you originally get involved at the Alliance Theatre? Many years ago, I played James in James & the Giant Peach at the Alliance. I fell in love with
into this industry by enrolling in acting classes. The visible presence of the film industry in Atlanta has reawakened dreams and passions for those who have always been curious about this business, but have been hesitant to take the first step.
Until recently, a lot of the city’s best talent left Atlanta to find work in NYC and L.A. How do the Alliance’s classes and workshops help actors who want to refine their craft and get work here at home? That motivates a lot of our thinking here. We want them to stay here and find work here, so we’re always equipping them with strategies ALLIANCE With companies such as the for navigating a difficult Alliance, Dad’s Garage, Actor’s THEATRE landscape. The majority of new Express, etc., Atlanta has had students come to us interested ACTING CLASSES a robust theatre scene for years in the film industry, but we now. What makes the city’s BEGIN MARCH 7 always stress the importance of theatre scene unique? 404.733.4700 theatre training. We introduce I think there’s this remarkable alliancetheatre.org/ them to all of the wonderful combination of talent and theatres in this city where they humility here, which results in classes can gain invaluable experience a truly supportive community working on stage. We’re of theater artists that ultimately always looking for opportunities to employ makes the work stronger. I find it incredibly actors, both on our stages as well as in our refreshing that Atlanta stands out as an artistic classrooms. There are many incredibly talented community that is both thriving and nurturing. actors who stay in Atlanta by teaching classes here between gigs. The Alliance’s education program has grown dramatically under your leadership. At the same time, the type of work available to actors You’ve expanded the Alliance education in Georgia has changed dramatically with the program to include film work, auditioning for commercials, screenwriting and voiceovers. massive influx of film and TV productions. Is Are there plans for further expansion? there a connection there? Yes, I’d like to continue to offer more classes Absolutely. The film industry has reminded designed for working actors. We just started people that there is real work here for actors. a series of Curious Conversations with people It also seems to have captivated the collective from the industry who have found success. imagination, inspiring people to dip their toes These are informal, intimate conversations—like the idea that this major regional theatre, which was producing August Wilson and Paula Vogel, was just as committed to programming for young ones. I gradually became more and more involved with the education programs, and felt a calling to provide more opportunities for people to engage in this art form.
THE GUIDING PRINCIPLE FOR US AS WE PLAN FOR THE FUTURE IS, HOW CAN WE MAKE SURE THAT ANYONE WHO WANTS TO PARTICIPATE IN OUR PROGRAMMING CAN.
Inside the Actor’s Studio without the pretense-where those curious about the industry get a chance to hear personal stories and advice from pros. Susan Booth described you as the person who is strategizing “the theater’s growth and sustainability in the years ahead.” What do you see as the keys to long-term sustainability for theatres in an era when many arts organizations are struggling? We really need to focus on how to make our work accessible and essential to our community. The guiding principle for us as we plan for the future is, how can we make sure that anyone who wants to participate in our programming can. It’s a bold vision that not only motivates our staff but helps us remain relevant.
insiteatlanta.com • February 2016 • PG 15
THEATER
QU’EST-CE QUE C’EST KURIOS?
Director Michel Laprise on Cirque du Soleil’s Latest “Cabinet of Curiosities” Yes. I was doing auditions [as a Cirque talent scout] for 3 or 4 years. It was a 4-hour process when I started, and when I was finished with my revolution it was a 2-day intensive workshop. I wanted everyone to learn something and to succeed. I thought that, if artists had the courage to show up, then I should be willing to work hard to get some quality out of each one’s performance until they get a laugh. It was quite ambitious!
BY BRET LOVE
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VER SINCE CIRQUE DU SOLEIL made its Atlanta debut with Nouvelle Experience back in the early ‘90s, the Montreal-based company’s semi-annual touring productions have been greeted with rabid anticipation here. Their latest production, Kurios: Cabinet of Curiosities– hailed by the San Francisco Chronicle as “the best Cirque du Soleil show in a long time” and by the Chicago Tribune as “a dazzling, hyper-detailed, How did that change affect the process? potent, quixotic and generally fantastic The benefit was that I learned how to show that reveals this extraordinary artistic direct them regardless of their culture or company’s singular capacity for exploration background. By helping them, I helped and metamorphosis”– is no exception. myself become a better director. At the Created and directed by Québec City end, we would hire them for creations native Michel Laprise, the sci-fi fantasy here and the artists would say, “I learned centers on a late-19th century genius who more in those two days than I learned invents a machine that defies the laws of in the last two months here. You should time, space and dimension in direct a show!” After a few order to reinvent everything people said this, I became around him. Eschewing the courageous and went to see hyper-vivid colors of recent the co-founder of Cirque du Cirque productions, the Soleil, Gilles Ste-Croix. He show’s unique steampunk had me start in the Special elements and otherworldly Event department, which was OPENS MARCH 3 characters are an imaginative the same place he started. We Atlantic Station tribute to the power of the started to do custom made human imagination. cirquedusoleil.com/ shows for corporations and As a longtime Cirque kurios very wealthy clients. It was du Soleil devotee, I was my creative laboratory, so I delighted to interview tried a lot of things. Then I Laprise about his history with the company did a big show in Quebec City for 14,000 and the genesis of the idea for Kurios. people, which we performed six times, which means we touched as many people A lot of people dream about running away as a touring show. to join the circus. You actually joined the coolest circus in the world. Tell me How did you put what you learned during about how you got involved with Cirque that time into action with Kurios? du Soleil? With Kurios, I really wanted to put the When I was a teenager, my dad took me artist back in the center of the creative to the local arena to see what was either process. I received feedback that the the first or second tour of Cirque du Soleil. audience was starting to feel that the show This was the origin of Kurios: I wanted to was becoming less unpredictable. I felt reproduce the emotion I felt when I first that maybe our shows had become too saw Cirque du Soleil. But my first contact choreographed. I wanted to see how with Cirque du Soleil was through music. the artists felt and hear their ideas. I had not been exposed to world music To me, Kurios is a union where we before. I followed the music like the Pied are all working together to create Piper and it led me to the tent, which was a show. pretty small at the time, with no fans or security. I was able to reach the canvas and What can you tell our readers lifted it up. There was lights and smoke, about the style and story behind and it was completely unexpected. I started this show? to cry, as if it was a miracle. The feeling of Kurios is the second half of the 19th What was it about it that affected you century, and I started so deeply? with electricity and Back then I was living in a small town the fascination that where everyone was white, middle–class, people had when and Catholic. Everyone wore the same electricity was shoes and listened to the same music. invented. Then Cirque du Soleil was an acknowledgement I found out that that diversity in society was possible, and this era was that beauty could come in many forms also when the and shapes. I loved the Grand Chapiteau gramophone was (“big tent”): It is like an antenna with masts invented, which and canvas. It captures the energy of the was a big thing: invisible, and then it manifests through the It was the first bodies of the acrobats and the characters, time in human musicians, and singers. My heart is with history that music the Grand Chapiteau. I pay for my own could travel! You ticket once in every city and I go see could immortalize Kurios [incongito], because it recharges my the voice of a singer. battery. I think the Chapiteau is a paradise! The telegraph was also invented so that people This is the first Cirque du Soleil show that could communicate. Then is all yours, right? there was the development
CIRQUE DU SOLIEL KURIOS
PG 16 • February 2016 • insiteatlanta.com
of the railway system within a couple of decades. People were able to visit each other and meet new people. There’s a reason why the show starts with a train arriving, because there was so much excitement around all those new faces. It was bubbly and intense! What was it about this era that made it such good source material for inspiration? It was an era of optimism. All of these inventions were about connecting people and bringing them closer together. With Kurios, I’m using that era to talk about our current time. It’s important that when people get out of the chapiteau, they have a feeling that everything is possible. We have a lot of bad vibes in the world today, but the real story is that a lot of amazing things are happening. We just don’t hear about them! Such as? For the first time in human history, the number of people who are starving is decreasing. We have the possibility of ending starvation on earth within our lifetime. There’s an old saying: “you just need one candle to erase the darkness.” It’s a tough world. The reason why I’m so proud of Kurios is because it brings so much joy. We start with light is to say the darkness is over. If we are working together, we really can be together. It takes a lot of hard work to do something joyful with soul. What are the most rewarding and frustrating aspects of trying to corral a huge production like this and make everything work? I find that working with creative artists can be a bit like herding cats. By the time we start
rehearsing, it means all the planning is done. When I get to the directing part, I’m like a fish in water. By then you’ve worked for almost a year on preparing everything, so it’s like finally we can play together. The most rewarding thing is having an idea in your head and watching them nourish it with their own creativity and ideas. I get to work with fantastic artists and musicians. There are some moments in the show that I imagined almost two years before we started rehearsals. I was working with an illustrator who would draw my ideas, and people would say, “How are we going to do that?” Now you see it, and the audience gets it. What’s hard is all the budget meetings, and getting people out of their comfort zone. But I love our audience, and think they are very clever. When we do our job with soul, they tell us. And when we don’t, they tell us. I listen to people. A lot of people don’t read the program or see my face in the media, so they talk to me. Sometimes when I start a project, I’ll intentionally put two or three things on the table that are impossible to do right at the beginning. I tell the team that I know it is not possible, which is why I’m asking them to do it. Because I know that, by doing that, they will ultimately create a whole new vision that’s even better. In terms of directing, I love cats!
MUSIC
MUSIC
Album Reviews
REVIEWS BY BRET LOVE, LEE VALENTINE SMITH AND JOHN B. MOORE
SIA
This Is Acting (RCA)
As a fan since her early days with Zero 7 (in 2001), it’s been fascinating to watch Sia Furler’s long and winding road to success. She should’ve been a star after the release of 2004’s Colour the Small One, her third studio album, which brought her first semi-hit, “Breathe Me.” But poor marketing from her record label and contractual issues (which found her potential hit booted from the Spider-Man 2 soundtrack) left her on the outside of the Top 40 looking in for a decade. The best thing Christina Aguilera’s ever done was hiring Sia to write 3 songs for her sixth album, Bionic. After co-writing a Best Original Song Oscar nominee (“Bound to You” from Burlesque) and appearing as Aguilera’s advisor on The Voice’s first season, Sia became an in-demand songsmith to the stars. The success David Guetta’s “Titanium,” featuring Sia on vocals, led to gigs writing for Beyoncé, Rihanna and more. Always stricken with stage fright, she retired from performing and focused on cranking out the hits. Which brings us to This Is Acting, Sia’s first album since FINALLY becoming a star with 2014’s 1000 Forms of Fear, which was spurred by the smash success of “Chandelier.” The new album is appropriately named: Most of these songs were originally written for, and rejected by, other singers. The dancehallinflected “Cheap Thrills” was for Rihanna; the moody “Space Between” was for Lana del Ray; and the dramatic anthem of “Alive” was co-written by and for Adele. As a result, This Is Acting reveals the best and worst of Sia’s talents. On the downside, it shows that Sia has developed a formulaic approach to cranking out smash songs for others, just as hit-makers Diane Warren and Linda Perry did. On the positive side, in reclaiming these rejected songs for herself and turning them into hits, she shows that she doesn’t need to hide behind wigs or stand in the background anymore. With her dynamic songwriting and raspy-butpowerful voice, Sia Furler was born to be a star.
Kinky Friedman
The Loneliest Man I Ever Met
(Avenue A Records) It’s been a long time since Kinky Friedman issued a new studio album. As a true “alternative” artist, from long before it became a marketing term, the musician/ author/general connoisseur of all things politically incorrect has always cut a larger and more sarcastic swath in the music industry than any of his peers from the Lone Star state. From calling his band “The Texas Jewboys” to his catalog of cleverly profane books and essays, the man has made a career of snarky commentary. His new album continues his erratic curve
with a collection of originals and covers that form a song-cycle of social conditions. His keen sense of observation ranges from the opener, a weathered take on “Bloody Mary Morning” featuring Willie Nelson along for a shambling ride. An accurate soundscape for the aging and cynical, the record continues its spiral with an inspired reading of Tom Waits’ “A Christmas Card From A Hooker In Minneapolis.” The agitation of Warren Zevon’s “My Shit’s Fucked Up,” originally written about declining health, becomes a metaphor of how Friedman sees the world. Sure, it’s an uneven record at times (“Mama’s Hungry Eyes” is an odd choice), but the reworked versions of older Kinky songs and the whimsy of “Wanderin’ Star” deftly illustrate the power of song sequencing and delivery, with a sly version of “A Nightingale Sang in Berkley Square” as a final tip of the hat.
Jeff Crosby
Waking Days (Self-released)
Jeff Crosby may be a native of Idaho, but his music is pure Laurel Canyon. Though he’s been playing and touring for the past decade, “Waking Days” is technically only his second full length. His career got a boost in 2013 when two of his songs were used in the show Sons of Anarchy. This new offering, pleasant enough, is laidback Americana and folk that never quite hits the point of raucous. Unfortunately, it’s also not terribly original either. There are very obvious nods to The Eagles and Jackson Browne throughout the record and little else in terms of musical influences. There are a couple of really solid songs here, particularly “The Homeless and the Dreamers,” but not nearly enough to make up for the more unexceptional tracks that tend to dominate “Waking Days”.
Ben Millburn
Strange Love & Consequence
(Self-Released) With just four songs, Austin musician - by way of Louisiana – Bill Millburn makes an pretty meaningful first impression. On his debut, Strange Love & Consequences, Millburn blends classic rock with soul and pop for a sound that is instantly familiar. Of the four, the opening/ title track is probably the strongest of the batch, but there really are no weak ones here. The production is minimal adding to a realness that is missing from a lot of modern rock and pop records. Millburn produced this EP, sang and played guitar and bass. Strange Love & Consequences is the first of a two-part EP series he’s naming the Balance EPs. While this one is crammed with big guitars and drums, the second apparently boasts a more stripped down sound.
For a full list of our album reviews, please visit insiteatlanta.com
THE CREATIVE LIFE
10 Lessons Today’s Artists Can Learn From David Bowie
BY BRET LOVE
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AVID BOWIE INSPIRED NOT only musicians but artists, filmmakers, fashionistas and thousands more around the world seeking to live a creative life. Bowie was the rare artist who proved just as fascinating off-stage as he was on. A trailblazer who influenced everything from music and fashion to film and sexual fluidity, he changed our collective notion of what an icon could be. Here are 10 valuable life lessons today’s artists can learn from him about living the creative life:
1. BE UNABASHEDLY WEIRD With his androgynous looks, avant-garde fashion choices and unapologetically artful aspirations, Bowie was never shy about dancing to the beat of his own drum. Whether dressing like a space clown or playing an alien in The Man Who Fell to Earth, his success underlines the importance of embracing your unique individuality in your craft. 2. BE PERSISTENT Bowie (born David Jones) formed his first band in 1962, at the age of 15. He got his first taste of success seven years later, when “Space Oddity” became a Top 5 hit in the UK. But it wasn’t until 1972, when he combined two formative influences (Iggy Pop and Lou Reed) to create the Ziggy Stardust character, that Bowie became a budding international star. Success as a creative artist takes time, and building a legacy takes decades. 3. DON’T BE AFRAID TO EXPERIMENT (AND FAIL) To quote a famous Bowie quip, “I reinvented my image so many times that I’m in denial that I was originally an overweight Korean woman.” From Ziggy Stardust and The Thin White Duke to the debonair pop star of the Let’s Dance years and the hip elder statesmen of his electro-industrial era, Bowie never stopped experimenting. 4. CHOOSE YOUR COLLABORATORS WISELY Lou Reed, John Lennon, Brian Eno, Robert Fripp, Bing Crosby, Iggy Pop, Queen, Nile Rodgers, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Tina Turner, Mick Jagger, Jim Henson… the list of legends Bowie worked with between 1972 and 1986 is astounding. Even when he wasn’t proud of his own artistic efforts, his choice of people/projects cemented his status as one of the all-time greats. 5. LEAD, DON’T FOLLOW “All my big mistakes are when I try to secondguess or please an audience,” Bowie said in one interview. “My work is always stronger when I get very selfish about it.” Whether it was turning to drugs while maintaining the Ziggy Stardust character drove him to the brink of insanity or courting music’s mainstream after the success of Let’s Dance, his creative nadirs came when he lost touch with his own muse. 6. EMBRACE CH-CH-CHANGES “Rather than having a hit song,” Bowie said, “I like the idea that I’m in there changing the plan of what society and culture look [and] sound like.” Before Madonna or Lady Gaga, Bowie was the master of chameleon-like change. He tackled musical styles ranging from glam rock and the plastic soul of Young Americans to the electronic influence of the “Berlin trilogy” and the soulful pop of Let’s Dance, all within a decade.
Constantly growing and evolving rather than trying to duplicate old successes is key to staying ahead of the pack.
7. BE YOUR OWN BIGGEST FAN (& YOUR WORST CRITIC) Of his post-Let’s Dance pop era, Bowie famously quipped, “When I performed I was thinking, ‘You all look like you should be seeing Phil Collins.’ Then I thought, ‘Hang on, I sound like Phil Collins!’”. He knew that his 40-year career was littered with hits and misses in equal measure. But he also understood that failure is an essential element in the artist’s path to success, and acknowledged that his work had changed the world. “I did change things,” he said. “I knew I would. It feels great, and very rewarding.” 8. CHOOSE HOW YOU USE YOUR PLATFORM Bowie was one of the first popular artists ever to out himself as bisexual. But he later came to regret how it boxed him into a corner artistically, particularly in America. “I had no problem with people knowing I was bisexual,” he said. “But I had no inclination to hold any banners or be a representative of any group of people.” Over time he learned to use his fame as a platform more selectively, confronting issues such as MTV’s reluctance to play black artists and performing at LiveAid and the Freddy Mercury Tribute (a fundraiser for AIDS Awareness). 9. TAKE YOUR WORK SERIOUSLY, BUT NOT YOURSELF Bowie’s charm, charisma and self-deprecating sense of humor are the stuff of legend. Quotable quips abound: “Talking about art is like dancing about architecture.” “The only thing I ever got out of fame was a better table in a restaurant.” “I’m looking for backing for an unauthorized autobiography that I am writing. Hopefully, this will sell in such huge numbers that I will be able to sue myself for an extraordinary amount of money and finance the film version in which I will play everybody.” It was humor that made Bowie seem less alien, more human. 10. NEVER STOP CREATING Over the course of four decades, Bowie released 27 studio albums, 9 live albums, 5 EPs, 111 singles, 3 soundtracks, 51 music videos and more than two dozen films. According to some news reports, there will be more posthumous albums to come. Longtime friend/collaborator Tony Visconti, who produced Bowie’s new album Blackstar (released on his 69th birthday, just a few days before his death), the new video for his single “Lazarus” was intended as a parting gift to show fans how the artist approached his death after an 18-month battle with cancer. “Look up here, I’m in heaven,” Bowie sings. Those of us who study the iconic artist’s 40-year career have an awful lot to gain. insiteatlanta.com • February 2016 • PG 17
MUSIC
JOHNATHAN COODY
THE VIOLENT FEMMES
Punk-Inspired Troubadour Maps Future Return for New Record, New Tour BY JOHN B. MOORE
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S FRONTMAN FOR THE Valdosta, GA-based punk/indie rockers Ninja Gun, Johnathan Coody has always felt a bit conflicted. The son of a pig farmer in a town not exactly known for embracing free spirits, to life in a beat up van touring the country and sleeping on strangers’ floors. But much like the title of their last full length, Restless Rubes, Coody found staying in one place didn’t real suite him well, so he decided to start a solo project. Divine Feed is a full length record and a solid reminder that the music world is definitely missing out on Coody.
Yeah, Ninja Gun quit touring and when that ended we all went back home. I had graduated college years ago, so thought I needed to do my thing, finally starting to figure things out at 37. I went through a divorce and going from touring a lot to being dropped into a South Georgia cotton field, working 12 hour days. A little different life.
Yeah, it was culture shock and I thought “I can do this.” So I did it for a while and lied to myself to rationalize doing it and put music and creativity on the backburner and it ended up just crippling me. Writing music can be a compulsion and if you don’t do it, it can fucking shut you down.
Devine Feed is your So the Divine Feed new project, right? album is done and up WRITING MUSIC CAN BE A Yeah. It started out first for sale on Bandcamp COMPULSION AND IF YOU as a sort of solo thing, and there’s a label DON’T DO IT, IT CAN FUCKING songs just started coming putting out on cassette in SHUT YOU DOWN. several months ago. Ninja the spring, right? Gun always did such Yup, Weiner (Records) succinct records with variant songs and that’s is putting it out in the spring. the way I always wrote – maybe I just got bored with different styles. Are you thinking about putting it out on vinyl or CD as well? How else did this differ than the writing you Yeah, probably. I’ll find someone to put it did in Ninja Gun? out on vinyl. I was just going to do a short I’ve never been a great collaborator. I run of tapes and put it online, but if there’s tried to be a regular working guy and be enough demand and people want it on vinyl respectable and it ended up with me being I’ll do it. paralyzed and depressed a year ago with me on the couch and I couldn’t move. I’ve never I think I saw recently that you were also been like that and it was horrible. I gradually getting together with the guys from Ninja dug myself off the couch and songs started Gun. Did I read that right? coming again. All those feelings mixed with Yeah, we just recorded a song and a video living in Valdosta, Georgia where maybe that I uploaded to Bandcamp. We’re doing somebody like me isn’t a valued commodity. something, just at our own pace. We talked If you don’t know how to fix air conditioners about it and with my solo stuff and some of around here you ain’t good. them still in school or working… I’m kind of the only one that is super flexible with my I know you also had some other changes in schedule, so we still want to record and we your life personally. Is that what brought play local shows, but it would be nice to go about this decision to move to California? on tour again.
SLINGSHOT DAKOTA Go All in with New Album BY JOHN B. MOORE
A
LOT HAS HAPPENED TO THE DUO SLINGSHOT Dakota since their last record three years ago: keyboardist/ singer Carly Comando and drummer Tom Patterson got hitched (eloping mid-tour), they decided to focus on the band fulltime quitting their day jobs and they circled the globe several times on tours with folks like fellow Pennsylvania punks Title Fight. They also found time to work on their latest full length, Break, which is coming out on Topshelf Records in March. Comando took some time recently to talk about that break, focusing on the band full time and their new record. It’s been about three years since the last album. What have the two of you been up to since then? We toured a ton on Dark Hearts, eloped while on tour with Title Fight in 2013 and then had our family wedding party in 2014, and we just enjoyed being at home. We wrote Break during that time. When did you start working on the songs that make up the PG 18 • February 2016 • insiteatlanta.com
BY JOHN B. MOORE
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IVEN THEIR NOT-SO-AMICABLE split in 2009, stemming in part from a lawsuit filed between members, many pegged the chance of the Violent Femmes ever getting back together as slim to none. However the Femmes finally agreed to mend fences in recent years with singer/guitarist Gordon Gano and bassist Brian Ritchie, moving from the occasional festival show in 2013 and 2014 to a full summer tour last year. And they spent some of that same summer recording tracks for We Can Do Anything, their first full length in 15 years. So why now? Gano spoke recently about the reunion, the new record and learning how to get along. After 15 years between records, why did now seem like the right time to put out a new album? Well, it was the right time because it was the time we were able to do it. The difference that Brian Ritchie and I have and have had, we’re at a point where we were able to come together and do the music which is what we do well. Everything else we don’t do well. We’ve gotten to the point where we said we’re both willing to do it. We had had different views, even before the lawsuit. He didn’t want to record any new material of mine and that pre-dates the lawsuit… Even when we started playing together we had completely different ideas about how we would record, how we would like to approach things and finally it got to a place where we could accommodate each other and record in a manner we are both able to be ok with. This is obviously different than the way you recorded in the ‘80s and ‘90s. Was this preferable? Essentially it wasn’t any different at all. It was remarkably the same (laughs). It was very similar. Depending on the records in the past, we might
new record? We started working on the songs for Break in 2013, but the songs that made it to the album we wrote mostly in 2014. For the first time ever in our career, we sat down and just kept writing a ton of songs. We demoed all of them and cherry picked which ones would make the record. There were actually 2 songs written right before we went into recording and they fit the album perfectly. Is there a general theme to the music on this one? We wanted to create solid, catchy songs with a punch, whether they were upbeat or more laid back. I write music in a very “pop” way, even though we aren’t necessarily mainstream pop rock. I grew up listening to that style and I love creating hooks. Every song has a different theme but each once fits into the album’s title and has to do with some sort of breaking point. You guys live in Bethlehem. From what I’ve seen in the city it seems like the music scene there has grown so much over the last 10 years with more venues and bands. Is that pretty accurate? Many towns have cyclical scenes. There is a natural ebb and flow, up and down cycle to it. One year, there are a ton of bands and people supporting the scene. Then a few years later, no one. Bethlehem and the LV always find a way to keep the art and music scene alive, even when the venues and styles are constantly changing. Right now there is a great all ages space in Allentown
have done less live recording in the studio, but primarily that’s always been our basic approach: get things sounding well and then try and get that live playing with each other feel in the studio…. This new album is a little bit of a mix but still leaning heavily towards a live recording in the studio. How far back do these songs go? I would think there’s one that goes back at least 25 years and others sprinkled through the years. And then there are three songs that were the co-write songs, which I saw as an interesting challenge; to go meet with the songwriters with the purpose of writing a song. I’ve written songs with other people, but they have always been people who I already play in a band with or know each other as friends. Despite the fact that this record contains older and newer songs, it still feels pretty seamless. That’s very gratifying to hear, because that’s the way it should be. The songs were all Brian Ritchie and I, the Violent Femmes, with some others coming in and helping with instruments, but over 95 percent of the songs are my lyrics and I helped with the shaping of the music, melody and chords and structure, but I was a smaller contributed on that part… And how was it working with the other songwriters? We got along great. The whole experience was just tremendous…. It was a fun, challenging experience and I’m very happy with the results. The album is coming out in March and I’m assuming there’s going to be a pretty big tour around it as well. I’m waiting to get the details on it. I know we’re up for it, so that’s the plan. That’s what everyone is talking about.
called Alternative Gallery and it’s a great place for everyone to come listen to new music, eat some snacks and look at art. The Lehigh Valley, in all of its ups and downs, has continued to have a great community. I’m not sure it’s necessarily grown per se, but there is something incredibly special about our music scene. So is Tom really in a doom metal band? Tom is in the dopest metal band called Fog Cult. They wrote and recorded two records in 2015! Their bass player/singer moved to Austin, so they aren’t playing at the moment but I’m sure when the time is right they’ll make it happen. The record comes out in March. Do you have a tour planned this spring or summer? We have tour booked for the spring and ideally we hope to tour until next spring or until we decide to stay home and write our next record. We also want return to Europe in the summer or early fall of this year. Honestly, we just want to tour as much as we can on these new songs.
COMEDY
“NONE OF THE OLD RULES APPLY ANYMORE“ Bill Maher Jams Solo – and Loves It
BY LEE VALENTINE SMITH
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N NEARLY A QUARTER-CENTURY on television, Bill Maher has tackled popular culture and added his own unique perspective to it. First with ABC’s Politically Incorrect and currently during a 14-season run as the star of HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher. Originally a stand-up comic, he returns to the road this month for a series of free-form, sure to be politicallycharged performances, including a stop at the Cobb Energy Center.
Compared to him, today everyone else seems so instantly recognizable today. I couldn’t agree more. I’m not a big fan of most of what is put out today. There’s still good stuff but it’s few and far between. It’s funny, at my age when I do think there’s something out there is good I always think, “Yeah but it’s good because it could’ve been a hit in the ‘60s” or “That could’ve been from the ‘70s.” You know that song “Ex’s and Oh’s” by Elle King? When I hear that, I think, “Oh, that could’ve totally been hit in the ‘60s.”
BILL MAHER
FEBRUARY 19 • 8PM Cobb Energy Center billmaher.com
In an episode of “Comedians In Cars” last year, you said the death of your favorite rock stars often affects you psychologically. What is your take on the recent loss of David Bowie? Like everyone else, surprise. He did not seem anywhere close to the end; he really kept that quite a secret from the world. I was a fan. You know, I couldn’t hang with everything he did because he was a true artist. And as a music fan, I think true artists often go to places that I don’t go. Maybe people think I do, in my field. I just say things that upset people because they’re true. But Bowie’s commercial stuff was among my favorite music. “Space Oddity” and “Let’s Dance” and “Fame,” just lots of great stuff there.
Your Real Time show is starting its 14th season? That’s pretty incredible. Yeah, (laughs) 14 years on the show, and then nine on Politically Incorrect. In a couple of years, it will be my 25th anniversary of being on TV, which is really crazy. You’ve seen and commented on a number of political movements over the years. What’s your opinion of the Donald Trump experience? I always thought Trump was sincere about his desire to run for president. I think pretty much everybody else said, “Oh he’s just doing it to drum up ratings for his TV show.” I said, “No, I think this guy really wants to be president.” I think he’s got a big ego and thinks this is the only job that’s worthy of him or that he could do. But I certainly did not predict him doing
as well as he’s done so far. On your birthday edition of Real Time, you requested that your audience petition President Obama to appear on your show. That seems to be a rare if not completely unique moment in the history of the series. I’ve never really asked anything of my audience, ever. There are TV hosts who bring to the audience all their personal problems, deaths in the family, breakups, health crises. But I’ve never done it. I believe the performer is there for the audience not the other way around. I don’t like it when I’m at a concert and the singer holds the microphone out to the audience. I always think “no you sing the song. I paid, you sing.” Do you think there’s a definite similarity between politicians, musicians and comedians? Some people say it’s a fine line. Maybe it’s a fine line but I definitely know which one gets the most pussy! So it’s not that fine of a line. But you know, they always say comedians want to sing and singers want to tell jokes so I guess it’s similar. But I think the main difference to me is that comedy is a real lone-wolf thing, for good and bad. Musicians are always jealous of me when I tell them about how I tour. I don’t have to go in for sound check, I don’t have to bring a band with me and I don’t have to split the money with anybody. Very often I play the same theaters that musicians play, not that arenas but the three- to five-thousand-seat
venues. But they have 20 people to take with ‘em and it takes all day to set it up. On the other hand, it’s got to be such a fun thing to be playing in a band and feeding off of each other. A comic jams with the audience not the band. Right. There’s nothing quite as satisfying as that moment when it’s just you and the audience and that sort of symbiotic relationship between the two of you. That’s why I still go out on the road. Bill Maher performs 8 p.m. February 19 at Cobb Energy Center. See billmaher.com for more information. “Real Time with Bill Maher” airs Fridays at 10 p.m. on HBO.
THE LOOK ...OF LAUGHS
The Three Tenors (Who Can’t Sing) are True Wiseguys
BY LEE VALENTINE SMITH
introduces us, and they play classical music for us because we’re The Three Tenors! I can’t wait.
Tell us about your associates for this auspicious occasion. We’ve got the perfect chemistry together. Freddy’s a good friend of mine and he’s gonna be headlining soon, he’s hilarious. And Richie, he’s a Long Island legend! He owned and operated the Eastside comedy club in Long Island. He’s like the elder statesman of the three of us. I’m the miserable lunatic and Freddy’s the Joe Pesci-type wiseguy. It’s definitely a unique concept. Oh, this idea is gonna be great. We’re even thinkin’ about putting it on Showtime. So if we get it on television, forget about it! We’ll be set.
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TALIAN HUMOR IS A RICH TRADITION IN THE modern comedy lexicon. Much rarer is an Italian-themed package tour, but that’s exactly what The Three Tenors are all about. No, they don’t sing, they tell hilarious stories and the overall theme is an intimate meeting with the main men of the Mob. Produced by the successful Blue Collar Comedy tour folks, the show features internet sensation Vic “Bread and Milk” DiBitetto as the headliner with able support from a coupla guys from the neighborhood, Richie Minervini and Fred Rubino. Insite spoke with DiBitetto from his home in (where else?) New Jersey about the tour and how he developed “the look.” This is your 30th year as a stand-up. Yeah, I started at a little place called Pips in New York. To tell ya how long ago it was, Andrew Dice Clay was the MC! But now I’m enjoying this [tour]. It’s going to be a little different than a regular comedy show. We’re going to do our sets and then we’re gonna come back out and do a sitdown, kinda “Rat Pack” thing. We’ve got an English guy who
You have some very unique items in your online gift shop. You may be the only comic who sells Christmas ornaments with his face on it. Yeah, and with my signature “look” right there on the ball. You see that look? I got people who come to see the show, and afterwards we take pictures, right? You gotta see them tryin’ to do “the look.” It’s insane. People send me pictures of their kids or even their pets and they’re tryin’ to do that look. It cracks me up when people try to do it in pictures. Hey, you just smile and I’ll do the look, ok? Leave it to the professional. Yeah, exactly. It seems like just a simple look. It’s a little head tilt. But ya gotta do the head tilt properly and it’s all in the eyes, with the chin down. The chin’s gotta be down but not too far down, you know? It’s gotta be just right because there’s a whole technique to properly achieving “the look.” When you perfect it, you can use it throughout the course of the day whenever you’re dealin’ with imbeciles.
Your short “Bread and Milk” clip made you a viral sensation on You Tube recently. How about that, huh? 27 seconds of stupidity got me more recognition FEB. 26 • 8PM than 30 years of stand up! I use the How did you develop it? social media and I enjoy it. People Variety Playhouse You know, I don’t know when or need to laugh, probably now more thethreetenorswhocantsing.com where but I remember somebody said than ever and so far there’s been over somethin’ dumb and instead of saying 40 million views of all my videos. Viral videos they come and go, but my “Bread and Milk” was somethin’ back to ‘em, I just gave ‘em that look. It’s like a sarcastic reply and it just comes in handy for pretty much on the Weather Channel, it was on The View, it’s got legs. any occasion whenever somebody annoys the crap outta ya. It’s like, “Really? Are you kiddin’ me?” That’s what it’s How do you deal with all the crazy negative comments on really saying. You Tube? Oh, I used to take it personally. I’m that kinda guy, I think, The Three Tenors (who can’t sing) will testify at “Why do people have that much time to be haters on the 8 p.m., February 26 at Variety Playhouse. Go to internet?” But then I realized you just gotta block ‘em and move on. Every time I get more views. It’s so insane, they will thethreetenorswhocantsing.com if you know what’s good for ya. Be sure to visit vicdibitetto.com for all your “look”watch your video over and over. Why? Because they hate it! related goods.
THE THREE TENORS
insiteatlanta.com • February 2016 • PG 19
COMEDY
ROD MAN ON THE RISE
Villa Ricca-born Comic is Still Standing
BY LEE VALENTINE SMITH
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ORN IN VILLA RICCA AS ROD Thompson, Rod Man first gained national prominence as the season eight winner on NBC’s Last Comic Standing series. From his humble beginnings at Tuesday night open-mic shows at Atlanta’s Uptown Comedy Club, the fast-talking, quick-witted entertainer deftly established himself as a regional favorite who can “find the funny” in virtually every situation. After a move to California more than a decade ago, the busy comic/actor is now on his first big venue tour which includes a homecoming performance in Duluth. This is your first big theater tour; how does it feel to play to bigger crowds who may only know you from Last Comic Standing? Well, last time in Atlanta I did eight sold-out shows at The Punchline but this time I want to bring everybody under one roof at one time. That show is a launching pad, definitely. It’s like now I’m everybody’s son or cousin or best friend or something because they know you from TV. I went from night to day, just like that. Does television change the way people perceive your comic persona? What it does is, it gives you a boost. But see, the boost don’t last. So then you have to be good. I think people came to see me at a curiosity at first. You have to prove yourself all over again sometimes. It separates ‘em real
quick, from who the real Rod Man fans are, to the ones that just come because of the show. So I still have to find that good funny.
Tell us about your new sitcom from Wanda Sykes’ production company. When I won Last Comic one of the things that came with it was a development deal with NBC. So Wanda is producing and we’re working on it. It’s loosely based on my life and right now we’re just waiting on the network to greenlight it and we’ll be shooting! Is it based on your life in California or is it based on your life growing up in Georgia? Well, it’s like a “fish outta water” kind of thing. It’s about going back home to Georgia when you’ve had a little success and then you move back home. You’ve changed but some people are still kind of stuck so it’s crossing those worlds together.
food. Every time I go back home, everybody’s always going, “You hungry?!”
That’s a tough crowd. Yeah, but I did all right. So I knew I was on to something. But it wasn’t the toughest. I had to do weddings, hotel ballrooms at midnight, oh man you name it.
When did you decide to be a comic? I always knew I was going to do something in front of people because I always had a mouth. My momma said, “You got a smart mouth but you make a lotta sens, boy.” Then I found the Uptown Comedy Club in FEB. 12 • 8PM Atlanta. I went in on a Tuesday Infinite Energy Arena night and fell in love.
Was the move to L.A. a culture shock for you? When you move to L.A., it’s like you’re starting over. Nobody cares what you did rodmancomedy.com before and you are right back at zero. It’s a grind. It’s a For people who haven’t seen culture shock from the food it how do you describe to the living arrangements to your neighbors your material? looking right at you, because you don’t have a I’m a stream of consciousness lot of space until you make some progress. I kinda guy, that’s how I write it. I had a good place when I lived in Georgia, but feel most of it is really just stuff from everyday life. If it annoys me a when I moved to California, I was sleeping little bit, it’s probably going to annoy on a futon. I always say in L.A. you’re dealing you a little bit too. I love talking so it’s with everybody who were number one in their town. kind of like a drug to me.
ROD MAN
You’re known for Last Comic Standing but do you remember your very first television appearance? Oh Yeah! I did “Showtime at the Apollo.” I was nervous as hell. I’ve seen ‘em boo gospel singers on there. So I was worried if they gonna boo Jesus I know they gonna boo a comedian!
What was your childhood like in Villa Ricca? The south to me has always been faith, family, football and food. A lot of family reunions and always plenty of
Did you try to live in New York too? Oh yeah. I tried New York, but it was too cold! I’m from the south so I like to drive. I don’t want to ride a train all the time. L.A. made more sense. But you still have to get used to it and you know traffic’s bad. Then I’ll go home to Georgia and traffic’s bad, people are everywhere and Atlanta is becoming L.A. now! They’re shootin’ movies and pilots everywhere in Georgia. Now I’m like, “Damn I shoulda just stayed home!”
MUSIC
REINVENTING BOOKER T. – AGAIN Legendary Memphis Keyboardist Booker T. Jones Stays Vital
BY LEE VALENTINE SMITH
T
HE EMBODIMENT OF CLASSIC Memphis soul music, multiinstrumentalist Booker T. Jones, Jr. affectionately known as simply Booker T. began his career at Stax Records at the dawn of the ‘60s. Solo or with his original combo The MG’s, he added his own special touch to a number of definitive recordings. Fast forward to 2009, following a twenty-year break from releasing music under his own name, Booker T. embarked on a new era releasing three criticallylauded releases that began with Potato Hole, a collaboration with the Drive By Truckers and Neil Young. The Road From Memphis followed in 2011 with a slate of neo-soul guests and 2013’s Sound The Alarm brings him full circle back to the Stax Records label. Your last three albums may be the best ones you have ever made. Well, thank you. I’ve just been very fortunate to start as a guitar player in the early ‘60s, then I moved to on to the keyboards. Now here I am coming back in the 2000’s to play guitar with the Drive By Truckers and Neil Young and get my ideas out like that. How did the collaboration with the DBT happen? Around 2008, I went to Austin and I sat in with [former DBT singer-songwriter] Jason Isbell. He told me about the band and said I should really check these guys out. We just had a nice time PG 20 • February 2016 • insiteatlanta.com
jamming on the streets down there in Austin and we stayed in touch after that. Potato Hole was recorded here in Georgia a couple of years later. Yeah it was recorded in Athens at Chase Park Transduction.
took the basic monetary structure away from how the musicians used to pay their bills. There’s no real financing now for new musicians - and sometimes older musicians, too.
Luckily, great art can still come from the upheaval of the formats. That’s right, but art isn’t financed the way it was It turned into a real band unit - for a while. when I was coming up. You went to the record It did! And we still are spiritually. We’re kind company and they gave you a check and you of separated because everybody’s hired the best musicians. Now the so spread out now. But [DBT best musicians have to get their frontman/guitarist] Patterson own gear and show ‘we can do FEBRUARY 27 Hood and I have gotten together this, we can do that,’ and maybe once since then. We did a few gigs The Foundry (Athens) even just put it out themselves. but I think there’s more in the FEBRUARY 28 future for that definitely. And to Was the The Road From Eddies Attic have Neil Young on it, we were Memphis a response to bookert.com very fortunate. those changes? It was. I call it my 360° record What caused your long 20-year because I was meeting people in break between new releases? the neo-soul world that were basically doing the Well, it was the business. The music business same thing that we were doing back at Stax, just had kind of fallen on its face during that time. playing great music and dedicated to keeping It’s still hard to manage the music business it alive. People like Sharon Jones and Anthony these days. Hamilton and Myer Hawthorne. So I started running into these people and it just made sense What’s the biggest change you seen - for to collaborate with them. better and worse - in the music industry over the years? Questlove [from The Roots and Jimmy Fallon’s It’s the technology. We don’t know if that’s 50% Tonight Show band] played a big part on good or bad. I think it’s probably both. People that record. can communicate and work together and record He did. And that was actually encouraged by together over the Internet in different rooms or Jimmy Fallon. He invited me to the show and got from country to country. But the same time it us together. We did some original music for the
DURING MY LIFETIME I HAVE ALLOWED MYSELF TO BE A PERSON WHO REINVENTS HIMSELF. AND I THINK THAT’S WHAT IS HAPPENING NOW.
BOOKER T
walk-ons and that led to me writing songs for that band to play. A Booker T. and The Roots collaboration just makes sense. Yeah, it does. They’re a hip-hop band but they play real instruments. So it was perfect for me and they knew The Meters and all of The MGs stuff, so it was just natural. And no matter the musicians one constant in your set is your hit “Green Onions.” Do you ever get tired of playing it a half-century later? You know, I don’t. I never get tired of that Hammond M-3 sound. I first heard it in Memphis one day on a Ray Charles record called “One Mint Julip.” I just love the sound, it’s an arresting sound and you know it instantly.
FOOD
THE SLOW FOOD REVOLUTION
How Buzzwords Like “Local” and “Sustainable” Are Changing the Way We Eat
BY BRET LOVE
T
HE DEBATE OVER FOOD– WHERE we get it, how it’s grown, what chemicals are used during the process, and how it’s labeled on our grocery store shelves– has become an increasingly hot topic in recent years. Documentary films such as Super Size Me (2004), Food, Inc. (2008), Forks Over Knives (2011) and GMO OMG (2013) have gradually helped heighten consumer awareness of serious issues with the fast food business and the industrialization of agriculture; the connection between degenerative diseases and di-ets centered on animal-based and processed foods; and the myriad problems associated with the rapid rise of GMOs (genetically modified organisms), which now include over 80% of all corn, cotton and soy grown in the United States. Perhaps in reaction to an increasingly globalized agricultural industry, in which three massive biotech corporations (Dupont, Monsanto and Syngenta) control over 50% of the world’s total seed supply, more and more chefs and consumers are turning towards the somewhat old-fashioned simplicity of the “Slow Food” approach. Built around traditional regional cuisines, with a focus on sustainable organic agriculture and fresh in-gredients, the Slow Food ideal has been steadily gaining steam over the last decade. But this locally-focused movement actually has roots that date back nearly 30 years.
WHAT IS “SLOW FOOD”?
The Slow Food movement was launched back in 1986 by Italian activist Carlo Petrini, who rose to prom-inence during a protest campaign against McDonald’s opening a restaurant near the Spanish Steps in Rome. Promoted as an alternative to modern society’s increasing reliance on fast food, Petrini’s emphasis on “farm-to-table” fare was rooted in his desire to preserve the historic connection between agriculture and gastronomy. The Slow Food movement has since attracted a legion of devotees, with over 100,000 members in 150 countries all around the world. According to Caleb Smith, the chef at Sea Island’s Broadfield Sporting Club & Lodge, this growth can be directly attributed to a general shift in cultural consciousness about the food we consume. “I think the reason that the Slow Food movement has really taken off in the last few years is because peo-ple are finally interested in what they are eating and where their food is coming from,” Smith suggests. “With agriculture becoming more commercialized, we’re seeing less and less care for the grown product. Slow Food represents a turn away from the agricultural giants in the industry and a focus on the mom-and-pop-style farms. A small farmer takes pride in his product and puts a lot of care into what he grows or raises, because that is his livelihood.” The funny thing is that, while hip buzzwords such as farm-to-table, sustainability and locavore are rela-tively new, it was less than a century ago that using fresh, locally-sourced ingredients was essentially the only choice chefs had. And, in many rural parts of the world,
where technological and agricultural “advancement” seems to be several decades behind the zeitgeist, it remains so today.
WHAT IS LOCAL, AND WHY IS IT BETTER?
The definition of what qualifies as “locally grown” or “locally sourced” varies from person to person. While Chef Smith defines local as located within an hour’s drive, most of the farms he uses to source ingredients for the Broadfield menu are less than 30 miles away. Broadfield gardener Evan James defines local as located within 100 miles, citing a small family farm in Jacksonville that is their closest source for quality, hydroponicallygrown lettuce and kale. But both Smith and James agree that it is the consumer who ultimately defines what local means to them, whether that be ingredients produced in the same city or state or within a certain geographical distance. Every expert we spoke to seems to agree that locally grown fruits and vegetables are better overall. Steven Satterfield of Atlanta’s critically acclaimed Miller Union restaurant– a 2014 James Beard Award Finalist for Best Chef in the Southeast and an outspoken proponent of the Slow Food movement– suggests that buying locally grown ingredients has myriad benefits for both the consumer and their community. “First off,” he explains, “the food did not have to travel miles and miles to get to us. This means it’s fresher, tastes better and has more living nutrients. You can taste the difference. Secondly, when we support growers in our region, we boost the local economy. We also raise awareness of our region’s bounty, and celebrate ingredients with our food heritage. The consumer and the producer both benefit from this connection.” Chef Smith concurs, noting that the produce found at a typical neighborhood grocery store was likely harvested two to three weeks before it hit the shelf, and often comes from another country or many states away. Meanwhile, locally grown produce is harvested and on your table in a mere matter of days. Evan James brings up an issue that has made industrial agriculture an increasingly contentious topic in the past few years: The fact that organically grown Slow Food is healthier for us. Critics suggest that chemically-enhanced farming may have contributed to the global rise in degenerative diseases, and more than 60 countries (including Australia, Japan, and all EU countries) have either banned or restricted the production and sale of GMOs. “Slow food is healthy food,” James insists. “One is not consuming foods grown for their long shelf life or high production at a cost of flavor and vitamins. Foods like beef, corn, soy and potatoes are often massproduced in vast factory farms that employ hormones, GMO’s, poisonous insecticides, and chemical fer-tilizer.”
GEORGIA-GROWN GOODNESS
The notion of treating the soil properly, growing food sustainably, and then preparing this food in a sim-ple way that highlights the natural flavors of the ingredients seems to be the core ideal of the Slow Food movement. And as more foodies
Steven Satterfield of Atlanta’s critically acclaimed Miller Union restaurant
WHEN WE SUPPORT GROWERS IN OUR REGION, WE BOOST THE LOCAL ECONOMY. WE ALSO RAISE AWARENESS OF OUR REGION’S BOUNTY, AND CELEBRATE INGREDIENTS WITH OUR FOOD HERITAGE.
and chefs have adopted the farm-to-table ethos, more farmers around Georgia have been stepping up to provide fresh seasonal ingredients. “With our environment in South Georgia, I can only grow plants that are heat tolerant, or tropical plants that are dormant when its cold,” says James. “Bananas taste good, but have traveled at least 1000 miles to reach us. You are what you eat, so I eat with the seasons.” At Broadfield, early spring planting begins with potatoes and onions, which do well in the sandy soils of coastal Georgia. By summertime James progresses into a variety of traditional Southern food crops, such as corn, squash, okra, eggplant, beans, cucumbers, melons, peppers and tomatoes. He also grows small plots of herbs, strawberries, blueberries, asparagus, flowers and Crowder peas. Asked about their respective favorite dishes during the summer, James immediately sings the praises of pickled okra: “I like it because the okra pod is tender and salty. Chef Caleb cans the okra and makes hot sauce with the peppers that he serves year-round with his meals.” Smith– who favors a simple, old-fashioned approach to food preparation– waxed nostalgically about squash: “One of my all-time favorites is my Grandmother Gillis’ Squash Casserole, a classic favorite that really takes me back home. I try to cook all of my vegetables in the traditional Southern manner, just like my Grandmother used to.”
THE FUTURE OF THE SLOW FOOD MOVEMENT
Anyone who ardently follows the foodie world knows that it tends to be cyclical: It wasn’t all that long ago that haute cuisinestyle fine dining was being supplanted by the experimental approach of molecu-lar gastronomy. So the question becomes whether Slow Food is merely the latest in a long line of fash-ionable culinary trends, or
Caleb Smith, the chef at Sea Island’s Broadfield Sporting Club & Lodge
does it truly represent a shift in the way we think about what we eat in the 21st century? “I think the trend of eating local will continue to grow in popularity and scope,” James says. “I envision communities across America that source their foods from farms 30-50 miles away. Eating local means that you can talk to the farmer or go visit their operation and see for yourself where your food comes from. The consciousness is growing in sync with the health food movement as people become aware of the detriments the western diet can have on the body in terms of heart disease, diabetes and cancers.” In the end, Slow Food is all about farmers, chefs, and foodies making better choices. It’s about a return to the way food was historically produced, prepared and consumed, in the centuries before the industrial revolution made mass production and international distribution possible. It’s about the simple pleas-ures of a great meal prepared using great ingredients. insiteatlanta.com • February 2016 • PG 21
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S A MAN WHO’S BEEN IN committed long-term relationships over 85% of his adult life, I’d like to think I know a few things about wooing “the fairer sex.” Creating a fantastic date night (on Valentine’s Day or otherwise) isn’t about grand gestures, but doing the little things that make a lady feel special.
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