INsite Atlanta May 2014 Issue

MAY 2014

INSITEATLANTA.COM

VOL. 22, NO. 10 FREE

37th Annual Atlanta Jazz Festival

Christian Scott Performs Saturday, May 24 Piedmont Park

Jazz

in theCity

FUN&RIDESFOreveryone!

Seeyouat

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REGULARRide Tickets ATTHEGATE

1 ticket $1.25 21 tickets $20 55 tickets $50 120 tickets $100

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Monday-Thursday May 19-22 $18 per person

Walgreens Discount TicketPrices

does not include admission

Mega Pass : $21.95

*mega pass includes gate admission, circus admission and unlimited carnival rides any one day open to close *10 and under are free [no rides]

Admission Tickets : $3.50 21 Ride Tickets Strip : $11.00 *Rides require more than one ticket

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&

REGULAR ADMISSION ATTHEGATE

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, 2014 May 16 − 26 Jim R Miller Park Marietta, GA th

th

Admission $7.00 10 *includes & under FREE circus admission Parking $5.00

2014WORLD’SLARGEST

YAARABSHRINECIRCUS&FAIR The biggest and best Shrine Circus and Fair in North America is back for its 72nd year! Boasting more trills and outstanding performers than ever, this year’s Tarzan Zerbini circus features world-renowned Rick Wallenda of the most famous circus family in history, as well as stunt motorcyclist Shawn Ives, a Big Cat Extravaganza, and Patty Zerbini with her incredible Elephants.

Wade Shows will provide affordable entertainment with 35 rides for all ages.

Come be entertained and amazed, laugh at the Shriner Clowns, then fill up on all your favorite fair foods-corn dogs, funnel cakes, and cotton candy just to name a few.

Midwayopens

Weekdays 5pm Saturday 10am Sunday Noon Memorial Day 10am

Circustimes

Weekdays 7pm Saturday 11am, 1, 4, 7pm Sunday 1, 4, 7pm Memorial Day 11am, 1, 4pm

www.circus2014.com formoreinformationcall404.419.6755

Follow Us On Facebook

PG 2 • May 2014 • insiteatlanta.com

Jim R. Miller Park, 2245 Callaway Road, Marietta, GA 30008 Take I-75 to Windy Hill Road (exit #260). Go west approximately five miles on Windy Hill Road and turn left on Austell Road. Turn right on Callaway Road. Jim R. Miller Park will be on your right.

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CONTENTS • MAY 2014 • VOLUME 22, NO. 10

“hilarious! he has the acid snap of a white richard pryor, merged with all the monty pythons at once.”

-toronto star

LE

ON SA

NOW!

Atlanta’s

Entertainment Monthly

WESTBETH ENTERTAINMENT PRESENTS

INTERVIEWS 06 Billy Bob Thornton 10 Rio 2 15 John Turturro 23 Sharon Jones 25 Evita 25 Dermont Mulroney 27 Hassan Hakmoun 27 The Toadies 28 The Coathangers 28 Bayside

“sheer comic Genius”

15

-ny times

“funniest man, in, well, pretty much all of the known universe.”

FEATURES 08 11 12 16 18 22 26 29

- the la times

Festival Guide Tapas Best Atlanta Dishes Education Guide Movie Moms ATL Jazz Festival Travel to Jordan NBA Playoffs

“surreal awesomeness.”

23

- GQ

WORLD TOUR - AMERICA 2014

COLUMNS 04 05 05 07 13 19 19 20 21 23 24 29 30 30 30

Around Town On Tap On A Dime Events Under The Lights Movie Reviews We Got Next Road Warriors Album Reviews Station Control Track Suits Concert Calendar Fanatic Favorite Things Track Suits Home Releases

fox theatre | may 23 | foxatltix.com 25

27

www.insiteatlanta.com

Follow us on the web!

Contributing Writers / Interns: Jon Latham, Ryan Loftis, Rodney Hill, Alex S. Morrison, Steve Warren, Dave Cohen, Jennifer Williams, Matt Connor, Ed Morales, Sacha Dzuba, David Weinthal, Benjamin Carr, Kalena Smith, Justin Patterson, Lee Valentine Smith, Amanda Miles, Patrick Flanary, Ian Coverdale

PHOTO BY RICHARD TERMINE

Publisher Stephen Miller steve@insiteatlanta.com Managing Editor Bret Love bret@insiteatlanta.com Art Director / Web Design Nick Tipton nick@insiteatlanta.com Sports Editor DeMarco Williams demarco@insiteatlanta.com Local Events Editor Glenn Lafollette glenn@insiteatlanta.com Music Editor John Moore john@insiteatlanta.com

CONTACT US 130 West Wieuca Road, Ste. 111 Atlanta, GA 30342 phone (404) 256-4328 • website insiteatlanta.com ADVERTISING INFORMATION (404) 256-4328 • ads@insiteatlanta.com Editorial content of INsite is the opinion of each writer and is not necessarily the opinion of INsite, its staff, or its advertisers. INsite does not knowingly accept false or misleading advertising or editorial content, nor do the publisher or editors of INsite assume responsibility should such advertising or editorial appear. No content, i.e., articles, graphics, designs and information (any and all) in this publication may be reproduced in any manner without written permission from publisher.

Fe st

iva

MAY 2014

© Copyright 2014, Be Bop Publishing, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Check out our Jazz Fest preview on page 22!

INSITEATLAN TA.COM

VOL. 22, NO. 10 FREE

37th

Annual

Atlanta Jazz Festival

l

STAFF LISTING

Christian Scott Performs Saturday, May 24 Piedmont Park

Jazz

ON SALE NOW! JUNE 3-8

FOXTHEATRE.ORG/EVITA • 855-285-8499

in theCity insiteatlanta.com • May 2014 • PG 3

Around Town The Atlanta Office of Cultural Affairs will celebrates its 40th Anniversary with a party at Oakland Cemetery on May 4.

The festivities will be hosted by Mayor Kasim Reed. Bring your family and friends for the party from 4-6:30 pm.

MAY 04

The Southeast’s premier dining festival, Taste of Alpharetta, celebrates its 23rd year in its new location in downtown Alpharetta on May 8. Dine at more than 50 restaurants in one unforgettable night that’s become an annual tradition for 50,000 families, foodies and festival-goers. Play at the fun zone and party with metro radio stations. Participating restaurants will charge $1 to $3 per food sample. For more information visit www. alpharetta.ga.us.

MAY 08

The Atlanta Botanical Garden presents Gardens for Connoisseurs on May 10-11. Tour Atlanta’s finest private gardens from 10 am-5 pm. Celebrating 30 years of beauty, the 2014 Gardens for Connoisseurs Tour showcases 11 spectacular private gardens representing the finest in garden design. Delight in exploring exquisite design and enchanting planting ideas. Go to atlantabotanicalgarden.org for more details.

MAY 10

A Mother’s Day tradition in the City of Dunwoody, the Dunwoody Art Festival returns, rain or shine, for its fifth year on May 10-11. Chamblee Dunwoody Road,

MAY 10

Theatre/Film/Performance

Museums/Exhibits/Arts

Music/Comedy/Sports

across from Dunwoody Village, transforms Centennial Olympic Park’s into a whimsical artist market, and the “Park in the Park” will take place normally traffic-lined street becomes a May 17 at 3pm. The show will shoppers’ paradise at this event. Go to include Girl Talk, MGMT, The dunwoodyartfestival.splashfestivals.com.

Joy Formidable, Stokeswood and Minus the Bear. This event is rain or shine, all ages are Don’t miss Cirque du Soleil’s welcome. Visit partyintheparkatlanta.com.

Michael Jackson The Immortal World Tour on May 10-11 at Buckhead Restaurant Week Gwinnett Arena. Tickets are returns May 17-25 with the available by visiting cirquedusoleil.com/ finest eating options in Atlanta’s michaeljackson or by calling 1-888-9-AXSpremier neighborhood. Plates TIX. Prices range from $50 to $150 each. ranging form $15-$35 at some of Atlanta’s best restaurants. Got to brwatlanta.com for a The Atlanta Ballet presents complete listing of participating restaurants.

“Mayhem” on May 16-18 featuring “Three” by John McFall, Do you enjoy sampling beer and “The Exiled by Helen Pickett and wine, but you don’t so much enjoy the return of Jorma Elo’s “First Flash.” Visit doing it on a crowded concrete the show at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts parking lot? Follow your nature Centre. Go to atlantaballet.com for more.

– surrounded by the nature of Zoo Atlanta.

Don’t miss Brew at the Zoo on May 24 from The legendary Gladys Knight will 5:30-9:30pm. Visit zooatlanta.org for tickets. perform at the Fredrick Brown Amphitheater in Peachtree City Check out the Atlanta Food & on May 17. (Unfortunately, her Wine Festival from May 29-June delightful chicken and waffles will not be 1. The event will feature the city’s served.) Go to amphitheater.org for tickets. best tasting for our city’s food and wine. Go to atlfoodandwinefestival.com for a Join the Spring Fling with Wild complete listing of events and tickets.

Things Tour and take a magic carpet ride around the historical The 2014 Special Olympic Arabian-themed Fox Theatre with Summer Games return to a special guided tours with partner Zoo Atlanta Georgia from May 30-June 1. on May 17. The tour series combines the elegant More than 1,800 athletes come history of the Fox Theatre with Zoo Atlanta’s live to Emory University to compete in a variety animals, biofacts and kid-friendly activities. Go of sports. Go to specialolympicsga.org for to foxtheatre.org for tickets and details. details.

MAY 17

MAY 10

MAY 16

MAY 17

MAY 17

MAY 17

MAY 24

Atlanta nerds, unite. Our own Comic Con is back from May 30-June 1 at the Georgia World Congress Center. Don’t miss a chance to see Nathan Fillion of “Serenity,” Norman Reedus of “The Walking Dead” or WWE’s The Big Show. Visit wizardworld.com for tickets and times.

MAY 30

The Wing and Rock Festival features some of Atlanta’s best tasting chicken wings from metro Atlanta restaurants plus great live music on two stages featuring over a dozen bands. Come May 31 from noon to 10 pm, and June 1 from noon to 6pm in downtown Woodstock, Georgia. This event is the third largest wing festival in the country with over 25,000 people expected in attendance this year.

For more info go to wingandrockfest.com.

MAY 31

MAY 29

MAY 30

31 years of Art, Music and Fun

JUNE 7-8, 2014 Artist Market

230+ artists, fine art

Music | Kidsfest | 5K Road Race www.vahisummerfest.com

PG 4 • May 2014 • insiteatlanta.com

Other Stuff

LOCAL

LOCAL EVENTS

On Tap this Month EMAIL EVENTS TO ONTAP@INSITEATLANTA.COM All May: Various

ATLANTA JAZZ FESTIVAL

The 37th Annual Atlanta Jazz Festival is presented by the City of Atlanta Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs. This year’s festival will be one of the best ever. All month long, come see the talent that Atlanta has to offer and a diverse lineup of artists from around the world. Note: There will be no grilling at the festival this year so the festival has adjusted dates in Piedmont Park to run from Friday through Sunday of Memorial Day Weekend, May 23-25. Visit the official web site at atlantafestivals.com for performance schedules, news and information.

May 12: Philips Arena

CHER

It’s official. The one and only Cher herself revealed that she will bring her “D2K” 49 city North American Tour to Atlanta on May 12. And it’s certainly true that girls just want to have fun. Cyndi Lauper will be joining Cher on her Atlanta date. For all online tickets purchased (presale and general public), ticketholders will receive a free copy of Cher’s new album “Closer To The Truth”, out Sept. 24th on Warner Bros Records. Tickets are on sale now at Philips Arena Box Office, ticketmaster.com, ticketmaster outlets and by phone at 800-745-3000.

May 14-18: Gwinnett Arena

DISNEY ON ICE

A century of classic and new Disney stars are taking to the ice to share memories, laughs and excitement in Disney On Ice celebrates 100 Years of Magic. Disney On Ice celebrates 100 Years of Magic features the show’s largest ever cast of lovable Disney stars on ice – Buzz Lightyear, the Incredibles, Jiminy Cricket, Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Nemo, Pinocchio, Stitch and Woody – and exciting moments from Disney’s Mulan and The Lion King. Tickets are available at gwinnettcenter.com or axs.com.

May 21: High Museum

DREAM CARS

This major exhibition of innovative automotive design will showcase 17 groundbreaking concept cars from across Europe and the U.S., including some of the rarest and most imaginative cars designed by Ferrari, Bugatti, General Motors and Porsche, among others. These pioneering masterworks from the early 1930s to the present pushed the limits of imagination and foreshadowed the future of design. The exhibition will pair conceptual drawings, patents and scale models with the realized cars. For more details, visit high.org.

May 23: Fox Theatre

EDDIE IZZARD

Eddie Izzard is a fantastic English stand-up comedian, actor and writer. You may know him from his turn on “Ocean’s 12” or “The Riches.” His new tour, “Force Majeure,” is the most extensive comedy tour ever. Launched in March of 2013, the tour will visit 25 countries on five continents. From Cardiff to Kathmandu and Moscow to Mumbai, Force Majeure has already played throughout Europe, Africa, Russia, and the U.K., with India, Nepal, The Far East and Australia still to come. Don’t miss Izzard at the Fox Theatre. Go to foxtheatre.org for tickets.

May 27: Philips Arena

WWE SMACKDOWN

WWE is back in Atlanta for the first time in 2014 with Smackdown. Head downtown to get your fill of the very best in professional wrestling entertainment. (What we’re saying is its fake, but still fun and entertaining.) The event, televised for the world will feature everyone’s favorite WWE Superstars, including: WWE COO Triple H, Randy Orton, Daniel Bryan, Sheamus, The Shield and The Wyatt Family. Tickets for this event are on sale now and are available at ticketmaster.com. Call Philips Arena Box Office, by phone 800-745-3000.

EVENTS HAPPENING FOR SMALL CHANGE IN ATLANTA

Know of a low cost event of happening? Event@AtlantaOnADime.com SIPS IN THE CITY CALLAWAY GARDENS PHOENIX FLIES BLUE SKYFeb. CONCERTS THE for SQUARE August, Website Deals Through 28, Check FREE ON

“CITYWIDE LIVING LANDMARKS” May 7, 12,Downtown 21CELEBRATION & 28, and 29,OFNoon – 1:00pm, Free Various Restaurants Callaway Gardens March 5-20, Free Decatur Square, Downtown Decatur www.atlantadowntown.com 17800 Hwy 27 Around the City VariousUS Landmarks www.decaturdba.com Pine Mountain, phoenixflies.orgGeorgia This asummer promotion encourages callawaygardens.com Enjoy free mid-week lunchtime music

patrons to Wednesday experience The Phoenix Flies: A Celebration ofAtlanta Living break every inDowntown May on the square

on ice! Throughout the heated months of Admission Callaway Gardens is in downtown Decatur. your lunch or Landmarks wasto created inBring 2003 by The Atlanta July and August, featured restaurants in the complimentary through the end of this purchase a special a nearby Preservation Centerto-go as a lunch way tofrom celebrate the Downtown Dining District willrescue be offering month (Price isofnormally $15 for adults, restaurant and enjoy livedramatic performances from 25th anniversary the of thea refreshing signature cocktails, hipAtlanta’s happy $6.50 perartists. child) providing guests with variety of Fox Theatre, an event that changed hours and deals that you won’t want to miss. the opportunity to enjoy time with their preservation outlook forever. This year, the list SWEET AUBURN SPRINGFEST Participating restaurants Atlanta family reconnecting in Theatre, nature. includesand freefriends guided tours of include The Fox May 9 – 11, Friday 5pm-10pm, Saturday 11am – Max 9pm Grill, Azio Downtown, BLT Steak, Free admission includes the Virginia Piedmont Park, Historic Oakland Cemetery, Sunday 2pm – 8pm, Free Lager’s, No Mas! Cantina and The Sundial Hand Callaway Discovery Center, Day Civil War Atlanta Walking Tour, Tullie Smith Historic AuburnCenter, Avenuethe District, Downtown Restaurant.

Visit website for a Atlanta complete Butterfly Sibley Horticultural Farm House, Margaret Mitchell House, the www.sweetauburn.com Vegetable Garden, list ofBeltline deals.

Center, Mr.Park Cason’s new and much more.

Callaway Brothers Azalea Bowl, Overlook Celebrating the culture, heritage and the arts Garden, Discovery Bicycle Trail, Pioneer AMERICAN CRAFT COUNCIL SHOW IN ATLANTA on Atlanta’s Historic Auburn Avenue, the Log Cabin, Ida Cason Callaway Memorial Sweet AuburnRegular SpringFest has $13 become the March 10-13, admission: Chapel, nature trails andcultural daily programs. largest festival in ChildrenAfrican-American under 12: free the The festival features 7 Stages of CobbSoutheast.

Galleria Center THE UNIVERSOUL CIRCUS continuous entertainment, food, Kid’s Funtastic Two Galleria Parkway, Atlanta Fun Zone, Live Green Sports Feb. 10 27, Tickets range from $15 - $35Zone craftcouncil.org/Atlanta Pavilion, Challenge, & Bike Turner FieldCar Green Lot Show, Health & Fitness Fair & muchAvenue, more. Atlanta 521 ThisCapitol 3-day event is the largest juried fine craft universoulcircus.com Show in the southeast. The show has been

MARIETTA GREEK FESTIVAL

By Marci Miller 2011 SOUTHEASTERN HUNGER WALK/RUN 5KFLOWER SHOW ATLANTA STREETS ALIVE Feb. 25 27, Adults $18 in advance) March 13, Noon-4pm, $25($15 for runners 8th ANNUAL GERMAN BIERFEST Sunday, May 18, 2:00pm – 6:00pm, Free

Youth/Student $7,27, Kids2 under 5 are Free Free for walkers Saturday, August – to7pm Peachtree Street, Downtown Midtown Atlanta Cobb Galleria Centre Parking is free $30 Online, $35 At the Door atlantastreetsalive.com Two Galleria Parkway, Turner Field Green LotAtlanta Woodruff Park, Downtown Atlanta sehort.org 755 Hank Aaron Drive, Atlanta www.germanbierfest.com Inspired by open street projects that happen hungerwalkrun.org worldwide, “Atlanta Streets Alive” is a Presented by the Southeastern This summer celebrates the greatness celebration of allevent things active. Come down and Horticultural Society, this annual premier Join thousands of runners and walkers at of German beer in a Street family-friendly walk 3.1 miles of Peachtree as it closes gardening event promotes preservation this annual event that benefits the Atlanta to cars and opens to pedestrians, from Martin environment. Complete with authentic and awareness of plants Luther King Jr.Food Drive inflowers Downtown all the way Community Bank and fiveand other local German food, activities for the kids, music up tofun, 17theducation Street in Midtown.

Experience the through andBierfest artistic expression. nonprofits.

Participants can register as a team and the German is not only true meaning of aonline “living street” with activities, Show activities include speakers, juried or individually or register the day in of the only authentic German Bierfest performances and more!

The Bicycle Parade competition, kids’ activities, Landscape & the event.but There will befamily-friendly activities for all ages Atlanta, the only beer will meetasatgames, Peachtree Street andofMartin Discovery Gardens and more. including livethe entertainment &Luther more. festival well.

For price admittance,

King Drive 1:30 p.m. and GatesJr.open atdowntown noon, runbeer & walk begin attendees can drinktheallat5Kthe theypedal can north on the Peachtree route. at 2 p.m. safely consume.

Designated drivers are 10th ANNUAL OAKHURST WINE CRAWL encouraged and can attend for free.

No one Saturday, Feb.ATLANTA 26, 4 pm-7SCAVENGER pm DOWNTOWN HUNT under the age will be permitted to $25 in advance for of Tasting Glass A-TOWN DAY Saturday, May 24,12pm –21 4:30pm consume $30 day26, ofNoon-8pm, event March $20 per person inalcohol. advance$5A designated driver service will also be on site for Oakhurst Business District Lakewood Starts at Park Bar, Centennial Olympic Parkthose who find themselves in an unsafe oakhurstga.org 2002 Lakewood Ave SE, Atlanta condition to atlantadna.org/events/scavenger-hunt drive home. atownday.com This annual event features Participants in this year’steams eventcomprised will get of a maximum of two people.

The winner is to sample wines from around the world A-TOWN DAY is a health festival, concert, PIGS & PEACHES BBQcare FESTIVAL determined by the number of points earned while exploring all the businesses in the and a 26 major of 5pm Awareness August & 27,day Friday - 11pm celebrating over the 10am 4-hour period. are earned Oakhurst neighborhood.

There willbenefits be 20 all things Atlanta.

A-TOWN DAY Saturday – 10pm, FreePoints by solving clues that send you to Downtown participating establishments and the event the Diabetes of Atlanta and The Ben RobertsonAssociation Community Center, Kennesaw locations to of sell interest landmarks, expects out (businesses, quickly.

Thewill Fur Bus B-Aware Foundation.

This event feature www.facebook.com/PigsAndPeaches etc.).be Bring ahand digitaltocamera or camera phone to will on transport participants live music, carasshow lots of family take picturespoetry, to serve proof.and Everyone gets a from bar to bar.

Ticketsacannon-sanctioned be purchased friendly events.

The event features Complimentary Sweetwater Beer at the finish from Steinbeck’s Ale House, Backyard BBQ,prize Anything Butt andUjoint, Peach line. $500 cash for the winner. and Karvana Coffee Shop, locatedCity in Dessert PARK Contest, as well as all a WEEK Kansas INMAN RESTAURANT Oakhurst village.

Barbeque Society March 28-April 3, $15sanctioned Professional Contest, which isPARK recognized Georgia STONE MOUNTAIN SALUTE THEa TROOPS $25 & $35 for three-course meal as State Barbeque Cookoff.

May 24NATIONAL –Championship 26, $24.95PANCAKE child, $29.95 IHOP DAYadult CELEBRATION inmanparkrestaurantweek.com Special for 1, active and retired military personnel Over pricing $14,000 in7 am-10 cash and prizes will be Tuesday, March pm, Free Pancakes Stone Park awarded to House contest winners. food International of Pancakes SavorMountain historic Inman Park withBesides three-course stonemountainpark.com for sale, from and free music from of Locations throughout Metro Atlantaa number dinners 11 local restaurants.

Proceeds local and national acts, festival goershelps will IHOPPancakeday.com will benefit Project Open Hand, which Stone Mountain honors troops andmany their be treated to a Park large Kid Zone (with people prevent or better manage chronic families at Atlanta’ s largest three-day Memorial attractions FREE to families), vendor On thisthrough day, customers willunique receive one disease comprehensive care.

Weekend featuring thenutrition Lasershow booths andevent sponsor exhibits.

The Silver free short stack (three) ofand IHOP’s famous $1 raffle tickets will be sold will go towards Spectacular in Mountainvision, special fireworks Wings paratrooper aerial exhibition buttermilk pancakes.

All they is team that the charity.

Thepatriotic winner of the raffle will win finale, and other activities.

Allask active and returns to the event, and will jump into the patrons consider making a donation to aretired hosted hor d’ouerves, beer and wine party military personnel will receive one FREE festival on Saturday, August 27.

Crowds support local children’s hospitals through at Park’s Edge Restaurant for thirty of their Adventure Pass with valid ID and will save up to will treated to immediate aPark wonderful display of Children’s Miracle Network or other friends.

Inman restaurant will local bring $10 offbeperEach person for family members, aerobatics and performances in charities.

Since beginning itsthe National and willfrom receive 20%patriotic off food and merchandise. tastes their restaurants for winner. the There will be ainhuge, fireworks Pancake Day 2006, IHOP The sky. winner willcelebration be also announced at the end of grand finale.more has raised $5.35 millionfortoa the restaurant week.than Check the website support in the communities complete charities list of participating restaurants. in

the 16premiere marketplace fine May – 18, Friday 3pm – UniverSoul 11pm for regional The Circus craft lovers and collectors, and offers guests Saturday 10am – 11pm, Sunday 11am –its7pm, Free continues surge the chance to meet and purchase work from Holy Transfiguration Greek Orthodox Church, Marietta YELLOW JACKET to the top of the live esteemed artists from around the country.

To mariettagreekfestival.org entertainment ranks FAN reachDAY first-time collectors and established craft with interactive funky Saturday, August 6, 3pm –its6pm, Free collectors alike, the newest show category for The Annual Marietta Greek Festival is fast rendition of a traditional Bobby Dodd Stadium Grant Field approaching.

BringisatHandmade your friends, participating artists Underfamily, $100. has www.ramblinwreck.com neighbors and outUniverSoul for$100 threewill days of Artists who sellco-workers workcircus. for under have captivated audiences great shopping, music and more.

Sample their food, booths specially marked for patrons around authentic dishes, shop in the world Greek Festivities at from 3ap.m. on Callaway Plaza interested greek inbegin starting collection. with its unique brand Marketplace featuring over a dozen authentic with music, prizes, inflatables and games for vendors.

Come by tothat see blends items created inopen the circus arts, the kids.

From 4-6 p.m. the gates will ATLANTA MOTOR SPEEDWAY OPEN music.

HOUSE Greek tradition, suchtheater as stadium fineFREE imported Greek and and fans can enter the to meet the March 12, 11am-3pm, Free jewelry, handmade linens, decorative art pieces Founded in Atlanta over 2011 Yellow Jackets.

Football players will be Atlanta Motor Speedway and more.

There also ago, begroups performances by 17will years the at audience seated with their position various 1500 Tara Place, Hampton the Marietta Hellenic Dance Program. will watch in amazement as stilt points on the playing field. Head coach Paul atlantamotorspeedway.com walkerswill make way across a tight Johnson sign their autographs from 4-5 p.m. rope, horse riders perform death-defying and will be available for photographs from Visit the track’s Open House for free.

Activities stunts, and bend into 5-6 p.m.championship Pleasecontortionists limit legends autographs toonONE include racing the incredible and beautiful shapes. item per player or coach. be the quarter-mile “Thunder Ring.This ”, freewilldrawings first getown thecar 2011 football for bigopportunity prizes, drivetoyour on the track poster as well as schedule cards, ticket CHEERSPORT 2011 NATIONAL STONE MOUNTAIN PARK with the purchase of Labor Day NASCAR information andselect other items throughout the TROOPS CHEERLEADING &THE DANCE tickets, fansSALUTE can their seats for the Labor afternoon.

Most campus parking lots will Day Race Weekend, tour the Speedway’s race CHAMPIONSHIP be available. it operates.

FESTIVAL PEACHTREE LATINO control Feb. 18 –tower 20 and suites, take photos with which the Atlanta $30 for 2-dayMotor pass Speedway pace car and a SIMON GAMEPLAY NASCAR Sprint Series winner’s trophy, $20 for 1-day passCup TOUR Saturday, August 20gift @ shop 10am,and Free discounts much more.

Kids Under at5 AMS are Free Discover Mills Mall, Lawrenceville Georgia World Congress Center www.simon.com 285 Andrew Young International Blvd., Atlanta cheersport.net The Simon GamePlay tour will connect fans of all ages to the hottest video cheerleading games before Bring it on…this electrifying they are launched and available in stores. and dance competition features teams The recently launched Nintendo 3DS competing from across America. This gaming system will take center stage with year, it expects to grow larger than ever a “Nintendo Lounge, ” with couches, with over 9003DS teams participating, from snacks and games.

Nintendo also offer ages three through college. will Cheersport “Street Pass,”bytournament-style play loved using was founded all-star coaches who Nintendo 3DS devices.

GamePlay will competitive cheerleading and dance. feature 10 gaming pods, including 2 mature Check the website for the full competition zones, with products from instrusty leaders schedule. like SEGA, Capcom, 2K and Atari.

Sunday, August 28, 11am – 7:30pm, Free Piedmont Park www.festivalpeachtreelatino.com

Festival Peachtree Latino has been the largest family & multicultural event in the southeast since 2000. They have featured hundreds of exhibitions, family activities, sporting events, parades, arts & crafts, ethnic foods and outdoor musical performances featuring renowned international musicians on two stages. The best part about it is that the event is absolutely FREE!! This year, Festival Peachtree Latino has more to offer, with new attractions and a larger schedule of musical performances.

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FILM

KILLER CAREER MOVE

Billy Bob Thornton Thrives As A Cold, Quirky Killer in Fargo

BY BRET LOVE

F

How do you approach playing menace, OR MY MONEY FARGO, FX’S both physically and emotionally? original adaptation of the Coen That’s a good question, and a tough Brothers’ Academy Award-winning one.

When you weigh 135 pounds and crime thriller, is the best new show you’re telling people who are 6’4” and 250 on television. It also features what is pounds to get out of your way, how do arguably among the most memorable you do that?

A lot of that is in the eyes. characters of Billy Bob Thornton’s career, If someone tells you that you ought to do right up there with Sling Blade and Bad something, and you can tell they really Santa. mean it, those are the scary people. You Thornton stars as Lorne Malvo, a might think you could break this guy in ruthless assassin who turns the life of half, but he would hunt you down and small town insurance salesman Lester crawl until his fingers were bloody on the Nygaard (Martin Freeman) upside down asphalt to get you.

I look at Malvo as a with a series of brutal murders. Created type of snake charmer.

Once he looks at by executive producer/writer Noah you, you’re under some sort of spell.

Hawley (Bones), the show also features Bob Odenkirk, Colin Hanks, Allison Malvo is both really scary and oddly Tolman, Oliver Platt, Keith Carradine, likeable. Is that balance difficult to Kate Walsh, and Adam Goldberg among pull off? the supporting cast.

My wheelhouse is intense characters Thornton recently sat down with who have a certain journalists to discuss his sympathetic streak, and ANYTIME YOU GET eerily enigmatic character, also a sense of humor. I A CHANCE TO PLAY how his previous work have 10-year-olds who SOME EXTREME with the Coens became an come up to me and say, CHARACTER, IT’S advantage, and why so many ALWAYS A GREAT “Oh, Bad Santa, I just love great actors are moving BLESSING. I WAS you!” I don’t know what it from film to TV. HONORED THEY is. Malvo senses weakness ASKED ME TO BE A or stupidity in people. He’s What drew you to this PART OF IT. IT’S A got this animal instinct. character?

VERY DIFFERENT I think what really attracted KIND OF CHARACTER, In these times when the world is going crazy, we’re me to it was not so much that AND PROBABLY all frustrated and want to he didn’t have a conscience, THE ONLY ONE I’VE just shake people a little but he has this bizarre sense EVER PLAYED WHO bit. Maybe, through Malvo, of humor where he likes HAS NO CONSCIENCE you get a chance to slap to mess with people. Most WHATSOEVER. somebody around a little criminals, if they go in to bit. For Malvo to mess rob a clothing store, get the money and get with people the way he does, I look at his out of there. But Malvo would look at their sense of humor as his only recreation. sweater and say, “Why are you wearing that sweater? You work in a clothing store.

Look at all those nice sweaters over there.

You look like a bag person.” It’s very odd.

Noah Hawley managed to walk a tightrope: He captured the tone of the Coen brothers movie, and yet made it its own animal, which is a tough job. And I just thought it was so clearly drawn that I had to be there. I looked at “Malvo” as a guy who is a member of the animal kingdom. He just thinks of the moment and how to get the job done.

PG 6 • May 2014 • insiteatlanta.com

You’ve worked with the Coens before.

Did that give you an advantage in regard to the tone of this piece, helping to shape your performance?

Oh yes, there’s no question about it.

Having known the Coen brothers for so long, I can plug into that pretty easily.

I just love the vibe of their stuff, and having worked with them definitely helped me. I didn’t need a lot of explanation about what we were up to.

Did you talk to them before you took this role, or during filming?

I didn’t talk to them beforehand because I learned that they’d already given it their blessing. They read the pilot and had some input on it. That was enough for me. Since we’ve started, I’ve talked to Ethan a couple of times. When asked about the pilot, he said, “Yeah, it’s good.” Ethan saying, “Yeah, it’s good,” is like a normal person saying, “This is fucking amazing!” They’re not real forthcoming with their emotions, so to get an “It’s good” from Ethan is a 4-star review. I was pretty happy with that. But in reading the script, if someone had told me they wrote it, I would’ve believed it.

What opportunities does working on a TV series like this present to you?

When I was coming up, television was a bad word. Now, it has a cache, and actors are clamoring to go on TV because it’s a place that we can do the things we used to do in movies. There’s a hole in the film industry that television is filling, which is the $25-$30 million budget studio dramas and comedies, and the $10-$12 million independent films. You can still make great independent films, but you’re not guaranteed anybody will ever see it because nobody takes much interest in putting money into distributing it.

They want to put 10 movie stars in a $3 million movie, so they can cover their asses on the foreign sales.

With film they’re going for a certain demographic and trying to sell it everywhere. TV censorship has loosened up over the years, and now you have sex and violence and language. And so there’s no reason not to do it. I have to face it: That’s my audience now. All the guys my age, like Kevin Costner, Bill Paxton, Dennis Quaid and Kevin Bacon, started thinking this is the place to be.

You can do terrific work in television now, and have a lot of freedom.

We’re starting to see these more contained, single-season, limited run TV series, like True Detective. As an actor, does it feel more like you’re doing a long movie than a TV show?

That’s exactly what it felt like making it.

It felt like doing a 10-hour independent film. That’s very appealing. I’ve been accused many times as a writer/director of my pace being too leisurely. Well, here’s a chance to do that kind of thing, and you’ve got 10 hours to do it in. There’s great appeal in that for actors and writers, to be able to develop characters and stories. But that doesn’t mean I’m giving up on doing movies. I can do 10 episodes of this and still do two movies that year. I’m sure that came into play with [Matthew] McConaughey and Woody [Harrelson], when they did True Detective. You can do great work in television, and then, on the occasion that you get a movie you really love, you can still do it. I had no desire to get involved in a TV series that was going to last six or seven years. But when I was offered this, it seemed perfect to me. I think you’ll see more and more of it. Some of the movies I want to make, if I walked into a studio and pitched them, they’d laugh me out of the room. So now I’m thinking, “Well, maybe there’s a way to do this as a threepart thing, like Costner did with Hatfields & McCoys.”

How much fun was it to play Malvo?

It was a lot of fun. Anytime you get a chance to play some extreme character, it’s always a great blessing. I was honored they asked me to be a part of it. It’s a very different kind of character, and probably the only one I’ve ever played who has no conscience whatsoever. That’s an odd character to play. After you’ve done 60-something movies, you’re always looking for something different, so this was right up my alley.

Under The Lights ON THE STAGE THIS MONTH! AMERICAN IDIOT

May 1 - 4 The Fox Theatre (855) 285-8499 FoxTheatre.org Direct from Broadway, the smash-hit musical American Idiot tells the story of three lifelong friends forced to choose between their dreams and the safety of suburbia in a post 9/11 world. Winner of two Tony Awards®, the Atlanta production offers incredible spectacle and thrilling performances with the hope embodied by a new generation. Based on Green Day's Grammy Award-winning multi-platinum album, American Idiot features the music of the band with the lyrics of its lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong. The musical features the hits “Boulevard of Broken Dreams,” “21 Guns,” “Wake Me Up When September Ends,” “Holiday” and the blockbuster title track “American Idiot”.

file concerts.

Garland's razor sharp wit, mammoth talent and raw determination battle with her inner demons to create a tornado of drama as she tries to reclaim her crown as the greatest talent of a generation. Featuring many of Garland's signature anthems, including "The Man that Got Away," "Come Rain or Come Shine" and "Somewhere Over the Rainbow."

COWGIRLS

May 16 - June 29 Horizon Theatre (404) 584-7450 HorizonTheatre.com

END OF THE RAINBOW

May 14 - June 15 Actor’s Express Box Office (404) 607-7469 Actors-Express.com It's December 1968, and Judy Garland makes one last stab at a comeback. In a London hotel room with her young new fiancee, pills and cocktail at her side, Garland prepares for a series of high pro-

Beethoven meets Blue Grass in this hilarious musical. Cowgirls produced by Betsy Howie and Mary Murfitt gallopes onto the Horizon stage this month in a Classical versus Country showdown. It’s a romp for the whole family when a trio of classical musicians wind up accidentally booked as the featured act for the grand re-opening

of a once Opry-esque roadhouse. The Coghill Trio has been mistaken for the Cowgirl Trio! Can they abandon Handel for Hank Williams and become country music heroines in just 24 hours? Back in the saddle for Horizon’s 30th anniversary season, Cowgirls was a sold-out sensation during its original run in 1998 and 1999.

Lasso up your friends and family for what the New York Times calls “a joyous, slapstick hoedown!”

A SOUL-FILLED STORY WITH LAUGHS, TEARS AND A FUNKY BEAT

Right

On

EVITA

June 3 - 8 The Fox Theatre (855) 285-8499 FoxTheatre.org

A WORLD PREMIERE BY

Darren Canady

DIRECTED BY

Thomas W. Jones II

JUL 18-AUG 31 404.584.7450 fxl

HORIZONTHEATRE.COM

Experience the passion and seduction in this elegant masterpiece, the Tony Awardwinning musical Evita. Eva Perón used her beauty and charisma to rise meteorically from the slums of Argentina to the presidential mansion as First Lady. Adored by her people as a champion for the poor, she became one of the most powerful women in the world — while her greed, outsized ambition and fragile health made her one of the most tragic. Evita tells Eva's passionate and unforgettable true story, and features some of theater's most beautiful songs, including "Don't Cry for Me Argentina," "Another Suitcase in Another Hall" and "High Flying, Adored." This is the first new Broadway production of the seven-time Tony Award-winning musical since it debuted on Broadway over 30 years ago. It is directed by Michael Grandage witb choreography by Rob Ashford.

BRINGING THE BEST OF BROADWAY F RO M T H E B I G A P P L E TO P E AC H T R E E S T R E E T

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OCT 22 - NOV 2, 2014

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APR 7-12, 2015

©Disney

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insiteatlanta.com • May 2014 • PG 7

EVENTS

SPRING FESTIVAL GUIDE GEORGIA RENAISSANCE FESTIVAL Weekends through June 8 Exit 61 - Peachtree City / Fairburn Travel back to Elizabethan England, with themed buildings and rides, costumed actors, and creative entertainment and interactive activities.

Once inside the gates, you’ll find Knights in shining armor and Maidens Faire, King Henry VIII and his Court, jolly pubs and a 32-acre World Bazaar full of elaborate treasures created by nationally renowned artisans. Feast like royalty on delectable delights including the popular giant roasted turkey legs. Endless entertainment awaits with ten stages featuring juggling, music, comedic storytelling and feats of incredible physical skills.

The whole family will enjoy the Royal Petting Zoo and the thrilling rides in the medieval amusement park. For more information visit GeorgiaRenaissanceFestival.com.

SHAKY KNEES MUSIC FESTIVAL May 9–11

THE ONLY THING BETTER THAN JAZZ IS

JAZZ IN THE PARK. AHMAD JAMAL • ESTER RADA • RUSSELL GUNN’S KRUNK JAZZ ORKESTRA • FREDDY COLE QUARTET • BILL FRISELL’S GUITAR IN THE SPACE AGE FEATURING GREG LEISZ • TONY SCHERR AND RUDY ROYSTON • EDMAR CASTANEDA TRIO • SOMI • CYRILLE AIMÉE • AND MANY MORE… MAY 23-25, 2014 // MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND FRI-SUN AT PIEDMONT PARK FOR MORE INFO GO TO ATLANTAFESTIVALS.COM

PG 8 • May 2014 • insiteatlanta.com

Atlantic Station Shaky Knees Music Festival returns to Atlanta for its second year, May 9-11, 2014. This year’s festival will be held at Atlantic Station and features bands across four outdoor stages as well as local food trucks, artisans and vendors. The music lineup includes The National, Modest Mouse, Alabama Shakes, The Replacements, Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros, Spoon, Local Natives, The Gaslight Anthem, Violent Femmes, Cage The Elephant, Portugal The Man, Iron & Wine, and many more! Advanced three-day passes are on sale now for $169, with single day tickets also available at $84 per ticket. VIP three-day passes are only $575 and includes access to special lounges and viewing areas close to the stages, private restrooms, private bars, complimentary food and beer & more. Tickets are available now at Shakykneesfestival.com

BUCKHEAD ARTS FESTIVAL May 10–11 Chastain Park Buckhead Now in their 5th year, the Buckhead Arts Festival is a two-day outdoor event with an emphasis on the visual arts. The event is located on Park Drive at beautiful Chastain Park. It boasts 175 artists and artisans, live acoustic music, a professional children’s area, delicious local foods and beverages. Admission is free and children and pets are very welcome. Last year saw 25,000 visitors to the event. Festival Hours are: Saturday, May 10 10 am - 6 pm,

Sunday, May 11 11 am - 6 pm. Visit www. buckheadartsfestival.com.

YARAB SHRINE CIRCUS & FAIR May 16–26 Jim R. Miller Park, Marietta, GA The Yaarab Shrine Circus is sure to amaze and entertain kids of all ages. For the First time in Marietta, Rick Wallenda of the world-famous Wallenda Family will be walking the tight rope, Shawn Ives performing incredible motorcycle jumps and Robinson Cortes will be performing trapeze and aerial stunts high above the arena for crowds each day. Doug Terranova is back to bring you a magnificent tiger act that shows the natural behavior of these beautiful animals on command. Patty Zerbini, will show her skills working with both Asian and African elephants in the arena. Visit www.circus2014. com for more on performances, rides, food vendors, hours and ticket information.

KIRKWOOD SPRING FLING AND TOUR OF HOMES May 17

Bessie Branham Park Don’t miss being part of the 13th Annual Kirkwood Spring Fling & Tour of Homes on Saturday, May 17. Celebrating the historic and eclectic in-town neighborhood of Kirkwood, this family-friendly Festival offers a fun-filled opportunity to enjoy the warmth of spring beginning with a 5K at 8am. Beginning at 10am the juried Artist Market will feature creative works from local artists including painters, photographers, potters, jewelers, glassmakers and more. Live music featuring country, jazz, funk and rock n’ roll from Atlanta favorites will be presented on the Main stage and downtown Kirkwood stage. The Blue Ribbon BBQ Contest is back by popular demand and the Kids Area will include a variety of fun, creative activities and performances from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Plus plenty of food and drink and the ever-popular Tour of Homes. Visit KirkwoodFling.com.

EAST ATLANTA BEER FESTIVAL May 17 East Atlanta Village, Brownwood Park The 11th Annual East Atlanta Beer Festival will be held in East Atlanta’s Brownwood Park. From a great beer selection to early access VIP entry to 200 LOCAL AND REGIONAL ARTISTS rocking local music, the EABF is an event not to be missed. Sample over 175 craft beers from across the globe and visit shops and restaurants in East Atlanta Village. Enjoy live local music on 4469 Stella Drive, Atlanta, GA 30327 4469 Stella Drive, Atlanta, GA 30327 . main the festival’s stage and enjoy a wide array . of food. Proceeds benefit community projects.

4469 Stella Drive, Atlanta, GA 30327 Visit Eabfonline.com..

4469 Stella Drive, Atlanta, GA 30327 Chastain Park

.

On Park Dr near Amphitheatre

www.buckheadartsfestival.com .

Chastain Park

On Park Dr near Amphitheatre

Chastain Park On Park Dr near Amphitheatre www.buckheadartsfestival.com .

www.buckheadartsfestival.com .

Chastain Park

On Park Dr near Amphitheatre

www.buckheadartsfestival.com .

DECATUR ARTS FESTIVAL May 23 & 25 Decatur Square

Decatur’s biggest arts event takes place over Memorial Day Weekend. Get started Friday evening, May 23, with the ArtWalk all around Decatur. The fun continues with the new dance festival, literary arts performances, musicians all day long on Decatur’s community bandstand, a juried artists market, the fine arts exhibition, a special Kids and Teens Arts Festival and more.

For additional info visit DecaturArtsFestival.org.

ATLANTA JAZZ FESTIVAL May 23–25 Piedmont Park Celebrating 37 years of musical mastery, the Atlanta Jazz Festival is the perfect way to spend Memorial Day Weekend with family and friends.

Audiences will enjoy a wide spectrum of styles from traditional straight-ahead jazz, Latin jazz and swing to jazz flavored with neo-soul, hiphop and R&B. The festival takes place in the heart of midtown at Piedmont Park. A wide variety of food vendors will tempt your taste buds with BBQ, gyros, burgers, Caribbean foods and more! The family-friendly atmosphere will include two KidZone areas with games, inflatables and fun activities. National and international musicians will perform on two stages. Admission to the festival is free. Festival hours in Piedmont Park are Friday, May 23 from 4 -11 pm; Saturday, May 24 from 11 am-11 pm and Sunday, May 25 from 11 am -11 pm. Visit AtlantaFestivals.com.

PEACHTREE HILLS ARTS FESTIVAL May 31 & June 1 Peachtree Hills Park The Peachtree Hills Festival of the Arts will bring 125 artists to the shady, treelined neighborhood May 31st – June 1st. The two-day festival will be held in and around the Peachtree Hills Park & Recreation Center. Visitors will enjoy fine art and crafts, a children’s’ area and local food and beverage concessions including the “gourmet” food trucks. Local acoustic musicians will enliven the atmosphere. For more information please visit PeachtreehillsFestival.com.

ATLANTA FRINGE FESTIVAL June 5–8 Various locations The 2nd annual Atlanta Fringe Festival brings adventurous local and national artists together for a four-day celebration of live performances from across the theatrical spectrum. This year’s lineup features 22 eclectic productions, from 11 different states, plus Canada – making Atlanta Fringe international for the first time since its inception in 2012! Festival venues for 2014 are 7 Stages mainstage, two spaces in the Big House on Ponce, the Highland Inn Ballroom, MINT Gallery, and Wrecking Bar

Brewpub’s Marianna event space. Tickets will be $10 each, plus a one-time purchase of a $3 Fringe button that offers festival goers great discounts around town during the festival and year-round. Passes are on sale in May while single tickets will be available during the festival, at venue doors. For more information visit AtlantaFringe.org

SMOKE ON THE LAKE BBQ FESTIVAL May 9–10 Cauble Park in Acworth, GA The Barbecue season kicks off the year with one of the first competitions in north Georgia. More than 30 teams will fill Cauble Park in downtown Acworth. The barbecue cooking competition takes place along the banks of beautiful Lake Acworth Friday May 9, from 6:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m., and Saturday May 10, from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. You can visit the teams and taste all the BBQ you desire, as the Taster’s Choice award will also be decided by patrons of the event. Admission to the festival is free and free parking can be found downtown with free shuttles running Friday night for the concert and fireworks and all day Saturday. Enjoy the barbecue while pro and backyard teams compete for more than $10,000 in cash and prizes.

CANDLER PARK MUSIC & FOOD FESTIVAL May 30–31 McClendon Ave. Candler Park This popular neighborhood festival formerly known as the Midsummer Music and Food Festival is back this month May 30 – 31.

Atlanta ContactPoint 5k will be held Saturday, May 31 at 10am and will start/end at Candler Park. Friday features musical performances

by Sundogs, Moon Tower and Wesley Cook.

Saturday offers Trombone Shorty, Frank Turner and Lucero. The festival is free to attend but event wristbands are required for alcohol purchase and consumption. Food trucks will be on hand with plenty of options for all. Visit CandlerMusicFestival.com.

VIRGINIA-HIGHLAND SUMMERFEST June 7–8 Virginia Ave. between N. Highland & Park Dr. Virginia-Highland Summerfest is returning to the historic neighborhood on Saturday, June 7 and Sunday, June 8. The 31st annual festival will take place on the scenic Virginia Ave. between N. Highland Ave. & Park Drive. Visitors to Summerfest will enjoy shopping for original art, great food and exceptional live music. This year’s event will feature a 5K race on Saturday morning, along with activities for children in the KidsFest area. There will also be an Acoustic Street Party at Virginia/Highland Island on Friday, June 6th from 8 to 11 p.m. and on Saturday, June 7th from 9 to 11 p.m. Admission is free. For more information and times visit vahisummerfest.com. insiteatlanta.com • May 2014 • PG 9

FILM

IT’S A JUNGLE OUT THERE!

Director Carlos Saldanha Takes RIO 2 Out of the City and Into The Amazon

BY MARCI MILLER

S

INCE 1993, RIO 2 DIRECTOR Carolos Saldanha has been one of the principal creative forces at Blue Sky Studios, the film makers behind all the Ice Age films. Saldanha was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and left his hometown for New York City in 1991 to follow his passion for animation. It was there he met Chris Wedge, one of the co-founders of Blue Sky Studios, who invited him to join their growing team of artists.

Saldanha teamed with Chris Wedge to co-direct Blue Sky’s first animated features, “Ice Age” and “Robots”. Those were quickly followed by “Ice Age: The Meltdown” and the even more successful “Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs,” which became one of the biggest grossing animated films of all time, grossing over $887 million worldwide.

In 2011, Saldanha created and directed “Rio”, a love letter to his hometown, which became a worldwide success and is now back with the follow up, “Rio 2.” We recently got to sit down with Carlos Saldanha who was in town promoting the film at a special red carpet event with singer Janelle Monet, whose single, “What is Love?” is on the Rio 2 soundtrack.

Tell us about your relationship with Blue Sky Studios and what goes into the creation of one of their films?

I’ve been at Blue Sky for 21 years and for more than half of that time, we’ve been doing features. When we started the first project, which was Ice Age, it was a script that came to us. Fox had already approved the script and they took it to us and we developed it from there. In the case of RIO, I wanted to do something that was more personal, something that was in my head. And I remember pitching the story, but I was in the middle of doing ICE AGE 2 so it was crazy, there was no time in the schedule. So they loved the idea, bought the idea but shelved it until I was done with the project. And then I did ICE AGE 2 and then I started doing ICE AGE 3 right away and I told them I was ready for some tropics. And they said lets give it a shot..lets do RIO. So it was an idea that came from me. It was an idea that came from my head, a world that I was trying to create.

When the movie came out and it was a huge success and people loved it. And afterward the movie had legs with the DVD and all the stuff for kids. So as soon as the movie was released, they said we want to do RIO 2. And I started right away. So I had the excitement of finishing one and I started the next one right away. And here it’s been three years, but it feels like yesterday. I remember getting the news about RIO 2 and thinking I have 3 ½ year and now I’m here, the movie is done and out of my control.

Tell us about the casting for RIO2: One thing that attracts me for sequels is the fact that you get a chance to bring new people in. Kristen Chenoweth who plays Gabi the poisonous frog, was like this magical voice. We heard her sing the Lionel Richie song “Hello” from an episode of the show Pushing Daisies and I looked at the frog and said this it. Her voice had this vibe...kind of quirky but at the same time lovely, at the same time weird, but at the same time beautiful. Bruno Mars PG 10 • May 2014 • insiteatlanta.com

(Roberto), Andy Garcia (Eduardo)...it was such an honor to work with a guy like Andy. Rita Morena, I’ve always had the huge admiration for Rita and I was thinking about that character. I was like, “Where is she?” I know that she was doing a TV show and I kept thinking in my head will she ever want to do a movie? And she was so excited, so full of energy, she brought so much life to the role of Aunt Mimi. It was such a joy.

Were you ever able to get all the actors together?

We did once. We got Andy Garcia and Anne Hathaway together. The biggest difficulty in getting everyone together is their schedules. They are shooting all over the place. As I was making one movie, these actors were making 3-4 movies. Their schedules are impossible. So, to get two of them together, it’s almost impossible.

But there was one scene that I wanted to do together. It was the scene where Jewel meets Eduardo for the first time.

A father/daughter reunion. And it was a fun experience. But I have to say, the most efficient way to get what I need for the movie is usually getting the actors by themselves. It’s more relaxing for them. It allows them to ad lib more, it lets them be free to do what they want. Less pressure from the other actors or situations.

What do you hope to accomplish with the sequel?

I wanted to take people beyond RIO. I’ve done a lot with RIO, I exposed the city and the culture in a very interesting way because I explored the biggest thing that happened there which was carnival. And of course, RIO 2 starts with New Years which is the next big thing there, but I felt there was an

opportunity for me to expand it. The family expanded, the story expanded and I wanted to get out. I wanted to feel that I could show the dimension of the country, or the diversity of the country through the music and the sounds. And have the opportunity to put in new characters. And that’s how it all came together with the family and the Amazon. Because I knew from the get go, that if we got to do another movie, I would tell the journey of the kids. What would happen to the family? Because these two Macaws get together, but fine, what’s the future if there are no other Macaws. There would be no future. So we said let’s create the future. Let’s make more macaws, and let’s put it in a real spectacular place, let’s take them to the Amazon.

You took your own family to the

Amazon, how did it go?

At first they said, “Oh my god, there are going to be bugs. It’s going to be hot.”

But once we got there they thought it was incredible, they went into this gigantic river, they fished for piranhas and swam with the dolphins. So the young birds in the movie were like my kids. And I felt like Blu a little bit. I was a little bit paranoid about the bugs, should we take all the shots before going? But once you get there, you take it all in, and you appreciate the beauty. And I think the biggest message I got when I was there is that we are intruders in that world and you’ve got to respect it. You’ve got to keep it a platonic admiration for the place. Fall in love with it, but don’t destroy it. Don’t do things to it. I want people to get that f eeling. I hope when kids and parents walk out of the movie it will spark something in their head, make them want to find out more about the Amazon. What can we do to help?

Music and choreography are such an important part of RIO 2, what is the process for placing these elements into the film?

When I plot out the story, I try to think where are moments that will benefit by music, where can I insert music in a fluid way that allows me to tell the story but also enjoy the moment. It animation, you’ve go to go big, you’ve got to go fun. You’ve got to entertain. So, I go through the script and try to decide what emotion I want to get. An emotional song here, a festival celebration song here. A funky,funny song here. So I start to plot it out in my head. And of course, I have a dream team of musicians. I have Sergio Mendes, Jon Powell, an amazing composer, whose composed since Robots, has been composing my movies, and then I brought in from Brazil, Carlos Brown and I have will.i.am, and I have Bruno Mars, I have this amazing percussion group Barbatuques who does body percussion.

People just come in and they contribute and we listen to a lot of songs that they write, all original and we start to figure out where they fit. It’s a very collaborative process.

And RIO 2, we started on day one. I didn’t have a script yet, and I started working on the music because I knew we needed to be different, more energetic, we needed to explore different rhythms. We could not copy. We needed to be completely fresh.

Taste of the Month - TAPAS!

AtlAntA’s Best tApAs RestAuRAnt

Some great Atlanta restaurants offering small plates

Eclipse di Luna

764 Miami Circle 404.846.0449 4505 Ashford-Dunwoody 678.205.5862 eclipsediluna.com

Upon entering either of their two restaurants you feel like you’ve been transported into an exotic locale. Take in the festive, high-energy dining experience with an artsy setting as a backdrop. With over two dozen Tapas to choose from, there is something to please any taste. They offer several that are cheese based. These include the Quesos Espanoles, a tasting of Spanish cheeses with assorted accompaniments. Eclipse di Luna features a variety of meat dishes like the Pollo a la Parilla, a chicken breast grilled and marinated with red pepper salad and avocado. On the beef side, The Brocheta de Bistee is a red wine marinated skirt steak skewered with chimichurri. There are also several seafood dishes to choose from including the Gambas al Ajillo which is sautéed shrimp & garlic with calabes pepper. Eclipse di Luna has been voted Best Tapas by INsite readers several years running. Both locations offer patio dining. The Perimeter location is celebrating their 10 Year Anniversary with Brazilian Carnival Sunday, May 18 featuring top DJs, hookahs and belly dancers.

Bhojanic Indian Restaurant

smaller gatherings. Visit Bhojanic’s new location in Buckhead at Shops Around Lenox.

Mediterranean Grill

N. Decatur Plaza (404) 320.0101 Midtown (404) 917.1100 East Cobb / Marietta (678) 996.1100 mediterraneangrill.com

Mediterranean Grill has consistently been voted "Best Mediterranean" in Atlanta.

They serve authentic regional dishes like gyros, falafel, Greek salad, kabob and lamb shank. You will find great Mediterranean Tapas on the menu including Hummus, Baba Ganouj, Calamari, Dolmas and Greek Potatoes. Start with one of their artfully prepared appetizers like Hummus, Baba Ganouj, Tabouleh Salad Calamari or homemade Spanakopita. Try the Business Lunch Special offering Shish Kabob, Kufta Kabab & Gyro slices w/rice pilaf, salad, pita and drink for just $7.60. Mediterranean Grill has tasty sandwiches including: Gyro, Kufta Kabob, Chicken Kabob, Falafel and a Grilled Vegetable sandwich. Mediterranean Grill is also popular for catering. Their menu can be found online or by calling any of their three locations. Give them a call or come in for an authentic Mediterranean experience.

OPEN FOR LUNCH! 4505 AshfoRd dunwoody Rd. 678.205.5862 764 MiAMi CiRCle 404.846.0449 www.eclipsediluna.com

ER! W INN

Escorpion

800 Peachtree St. 678.666.5198 urestaurants.com

Decatur 404.633.9233 Buckhead 404.841.8472 Catering Hotline 404.702.8301 bhojanic.com

Bhojanic serves authentic Indian fare, fusion and tapas. Bhojanic is a family owned and has been serving Atlanta for over twenty years in food service and catering. The menu is predominantly North Indian with some fusion additions and an assortment of Tapas. Try the Samosa which is potato and peas with mint leaves and spices stuffed into a triangular pastry. The Roti Canai Chicken Tikka Masala is served with Malaysian layered paratha or flat bread. Seafood lovers should try their Bhojanic Shrimp. Jumbo shrimp are sautéed with garlic, curry leaves, mustard seeds, in a tangy tomato and onion masala. Bhojanic offers full service catering for weddings and corporate events as well as catering for

Escorpion is a regionally inspired Mexican tequila bar and cantina from chef-owner Riccardo Ullio. The restaurant captures the authentic tastes and ingredients indigenous of the country. Constructed in a completely redesigned 5,800 square-foot-space anchoring the corner of 5th and Peachtree Streets, Escorpion serves food and drink menus rooted in Mexican flavors and culture. Find familiar favorites like queso dip, guac, quasadillas, and burritos. But there are also plenty of surprises, starting with the storied ceviche menu (octopus, for example, in lime habanero, and pico de gallo). There are a variety of inspired taco dishes including: Fried Tilapia, Lengua (braised beef tongue), Grilled Shrimp and Barbacoa de Chivo (braised goat). Also find an assortment of salads, appetizers and sides to go with chef inspired Platos Fuertes (entrees).

AWARD WINNING CUISINE!

agave restaurant OVER 100

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Shops Around Lenox

J u s t N ort h of N . D e c at u r a n d Clairmont Rd Intersection

PHOTOS BY MARK PETKO

An eclectic southwestern eatery & tequila bar est. 2000 Reservations at

404.588.0006

ER! W INN

or online at: www.agaverestaurant.com

242 Boulevard S.E. Atlanta 30312

agave restaurant

insiteatlanta.com • May 2014 • PG 11

FOOD

ATLANTA’S BEST BITES

10 Dynamic Dishes Every Food-Lover Should Try

BY BRET LOVE

C

REATING A LIST OF THE “BEST” of anything is an act of sheer hubris that practically begs for criticism.

According to TripAdvisor, metro Atlanta currently has more than 3,000 restaurants, and any comprehensive guide to the city’s best bites would require tasting around 50,000 dishes. Since that would be impossible, let’s consider this a sampling of the best Atlanta’s remarkably diverse foodie scene has to offer:

ABATTOIR

Butcher’s Menu Top Chef alum Hector Santiago has been one of Atlanta’s most celebrated chefs for more than a decade. So fans breathed a sigh of relief when he became executive chef at Anne Quatrano and Clifford Harrison’s Westside restaurant after Pura Vida closed unexpectedly. His secret “Butcher’s Menu” is a perfect example of the adventurous culinary streak he brings to Abattoir: Promoted only via word-of-mouth and social media, the offal-based appetizers change nightly, featuring ingredients ranging from common (liver), to rare (sweetbreads), to challenging (brains). For bold palates, dishes like Summer Blood Sausage with Macerated Pears, or Grilled Hog Maws Confit with Chaufa Spice & Aji Amarillo Caper Sauce, offer unique flavors you won’t find anywhere else in town. But remember, they only bring the Butcher’s Menu if you ask for it.

ANTICO PIZZA NAPOLETANA

Margherita D.O.P. Although his restaurant has no valet parking, no fancy interior design, not even a proper seating area to speak of, Giovanni Di Palma has had Atlanta foodies raving for years. The New York native makes pizza in the Verace Artigianale (True Artisan) style, using techniques learned during a pilgrimage to his ancestral Italian village.

Antico is authentic to the extreme, adhering to strict guidelines: Di Palma imports flour, San Marzano tomatoes and fresh mozzarella di bufala from the Campania region of Italy every week, and cooks every pizza in 10,000 pound ovens hand-made in Naples.

The result is a perfect balance of crispy and chewy, bursting with robust, earthy flavors, with the Margherita D.O.P. a marvel of simplicity that tastes like the culmination of hundreds of years of culinary refinement.

C&S SEAFOOD & OYSTER BAR

RC’s Char-Grilled Oysters With a career that includes stints at the Ritz-Carlton, Brasserie Le Coze, and Atlanta Fish Market, C&S co-owner/chef Rich Clark is known for his love of classic New York and Parisian-style brasserie cuisine.

PG 12 • May 2014 • insiteatlanta.com

But for the seafood hotspot’s popular CharGrilled Oysters appetizer, the Alabama native returned to his Southern roots for inspiration. “I love grilled oysters,” he confesses, “and ate them on family vacations every year in St. George Island. After I took a trip to New Orleans, the motherland of char-grilled oysters, I decided to combine Apalachicola oysters with NOLA flavor.” The result– fresh-shucked oysters sprinkled with blackening spice, garlic butter and Parmesan cheese– is as delicious as it is simple, tasting a bit like escargot, but with a softer texture.

CACAO ATLANTA

Aztec Sipping Chocolate Designed with Old World allure by founder Kristen Hard, Cacao feels like Atlanta’s version of the quaint European shop from the film Chocolat.

Hard’s small batch approach to sweets has made her one of the most critically acclaimed chefs in America: In 2012, Cacao was named Best Chocolate Shop in the World by Travel and Leisure and Best Chocolate in America by Bon Appetit.

Her Aztec Sipping Chocolate– a zesty blend of Cacao’s bean-to-bar chocolate, locally sourced milk, sugar and a dash of secret Aztec spice– was named Best Hot Chocolate in the U.S. by Food and Wine. It’s an intense, thick and remarkably rich drink, with just enough chili heat to get your blood pumping even on the coldest winter day.

CARDAMOM HILL

Chicken Country Captain Nominated for a James Beard Award for Best New Restaurant and named one of Bon Appetit’s Top 50 Best New Restaurants in its first year, Cardamom Hill finds owner/chef Asha Gomez combining influences from her native South India with that of the American South. The fusion is revelatory, showcasing surprising similarities (see: focus on rice, stews and comfort food). Nowhere is the culinary connection more apparent than in Gomez’s Chicken Country Captain, a 100-year-old recipe likely introduced to the South via the port of Savannah and the British East India Company’s spice trade.

The dish consists of chicken cooked in a bold sauce made of onions, bell peppers, garlic and jaggery (an Indian cane syrup), and served with condiments including spicy lemon preserve, fresh grated coconut, cashews and raisins. “It’s a dish that shows the global influence on cuisine here in the South,” she says. “It’s symbolic in so many

ways because it highlights the fact that I am part of the evolution that has been happening here for centuries.”

LITTLE ALLEY STEAK

Progression of New York Strip Little Alley offers four flavored butters, four sauces, and an array of “enhancements” for their steaks.

But with beef exquisitely handselected, cut and aged by Meats

By Linz (one of Chicago’s oldest and most respected butchers), you honestly don’t need them. Their Progression of New York Strip includes 4 ounces of wet-aged USDA Angus beef, USDA Prime beef and dry-aged USDA Angus beef, all cooked using the sous vide method. “By cooking sous vide,” explains culinary director Bob McDonough, “we’re able to control the temperature to the exact degree, resulting in perfectly cooked steak every time. This method of cooking also eliminates the ‘graduation of doneness,’ resulting in a medium rare steak from end to end.” By sampling three kinds of beef in a “steak flight,” diners are afforded an appreciation for the complex flavor profiles found in the different grades in aging method, making this meal a carnivore’s dream come true.

MILLER UNION

Farm Egg Baked in Celery Cream With Rustic Bread A semifinalist for the James Beard Foundation’s Best New Restaurant Award, owner/ chef Steven Satterfield’s farmto-table restaurant prides itself on connections to local farmers, with a menu based around the week’s harvest. Satterfield’s Farm Egg Baked in Celery Cream is a homestyle favorite, emphasizing freshness and simplicity. “In a saucepan,” he explains of the cooking process, “we ‘sweat’ chopped celery with sweet onion, shallot, bay leaf, thyme and peppercorn. Once the vegetables have softened, fresh cream is added. After heating for 30 minutes, the cream is strained and the solids removed. The egg is baked in this flavored cream for 4 minutes in a convection oven, and then finished in the broiler.”

Served with crusty grilled sourdough bread, the result has been an ATL foodie fave for years.

SEED KITCHEN & BAR Sweet Potato Ravioli In recent years, as “fast casual” has become Atlanta’s hottest culinary buzzword, more and more of our best upscale chefs have moved out

to the ‘burbs. Owner/chef Doug Turbush’s Seed Kitchen is a perfect example, offering a refreshing mixture of happening hotspot and neighborhood bistro, with a menu that blends Southern cuisine with myriad international influences. Turbush’s Sweet Potato Ravioli was originally among his nightly specials, but it became so popular he had to add it to the seasonal menu.

The decadent dish features slow-roasted sweet potatoes spiced with raz el hanout (a Moroccan spice blend), honey, mascarpone and parmesan cheese, which is stuffed into handmade pasta and topped with candied salted pumpkin seeds, sautéed mushrooms, sage, and soy brown butter. “This is one of those dishes that the guests keep asking for,” Turbush says. “It hits the right balance of sweet, salty, earthy and herbaceous. It’s a labor-intensive dish, and I think you can just taste the time and love we put into it.”

UMI

Otoro Caviar It seems somehow fitting that the logo for this modern Japanese restaurant is a simple drawing of a man playing a fish like a musical instrument.

Owner/chef Fuyuhiko Ito, formerly of MF Sushibar, is a beloved master of his craft, crafting symphonies of flavor from an elegant sushi bar stage. UMI opened in May to rave reviews, with exquisite interior design by artist Todd Murphy and an expansive menu Ito crafted with his wife (and former MF pastry chef), Lisa. But his sushi is the star of the show, with the Otoro Caviar ngiri a one-bite masterpiece. Listing its ingredients– Otoro (the fattiest tuna), rice, truffle soy, serrano, cilantro and caviar– cannot possibly convey its robust combination of flavors, or the way the tuna seems to melt in your mouth like butter. But one taste will leave you begging for an encore.

VINGENZO’S

Torta Caprese Owner/chef Michael Bologna’s loving tribute to the old-world Neapolitan cuisine he grew up on earned him the James Beard Foundation Award For Excellence, and he was invited to prepare dinner at the James Beard House in his native NYC back in 2011. His madefrom-scratch Italian fare has foodies from around the city making the pilgrimage to his classy-but-casual restaurant, where an open kitchen design and Old School ambience make guests feel like part of the familia.

Entrees are uniformly excellent, but the Torta Caprese– a rich gluten-free chocolate cake– is out of this world. Instead of flour, the cake uses ground almonds and chocolate as a base, adding butter, sugar, eggs, whipped meringue and a little house-made lemoncello to create a sweet with plenty of flavor, but a lot less guilt. Trust us, it’s well worth the drive.

FILM FILM

TRUMP Movie Reviews CARD THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2

 Remember “with great power comes great responsibility”? At the beginning of this sequel from director Marc Webb, Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield) seems giddy with power– swinging through Manhattan like a modern-day Tarzan, wise-cracking with bad guys, and making smoochie-face with his hot girlfriend Gwen (Emma Stone). But by the end he’s a broken man, having lost nearly everything and everyone he holds dear. It’s deep stuff for a superhero movie, but that’s not the issue that’s given the film a 38% rating from Top Critics on Rotten By B. Love Tomatoes. The problem is that writers Alex s one of AmericA’s most Kurtzman and Roberto Orci (Star Trek, successful and high profile businessTransformers) pummel Spidey with so men, Donald trump was well known much “responsibility, ” it’s difficult for the long before survivor producer mark Burnett audience to keep track.

Gwen is moving tapped him to star in the Apprentice. But away. no Aunt May resents fixation on there’s denying that the Peter’s reality show finding out what happened to his father. turned trump from a cartoonish curiosity Best bud Harry Osborne is pressuring Peter into a bona fide phenomenon, with his signato introduce him“You’re to Spider-Man, thinking ture catchphrase– fired!”– inextricaSpidey’s willculture cure lexicon. the disease who bly enteringblood the pop inherited from his dad (a.k.a.

Green Although the Apprentice initiallythe flounGoblin).

A disgruntled Oscorp employee dered a bit in the ratings, Burnett and trump (Jamie Foxx) turnedformula into super-villain stumbled upon aiswinning by recruitElectro. a Russianactors, mobster Spidering second-And and third-tier athletes, Man puts in jail for latera celebrity comes edition back as models and musicians When Webb on two-person ofRhino. the show. now in itsfocuses third incarnation, scenes, the Apprentice film feels like angst-filled the celebrity tossesandisparate indiesuch drama.

But Bret of course thewrestler audience stars as rocker michaels, wants anbaseball action-filled blockbuster.

Goldberg, legend Darryl strawberry,In tryinggovernor to balance theBlagojevich two, Webband ultimately former ron sharon ends up together with a jumbled mess.

Guess the osbourne for a variety of teamresponsibility wasand toochallenges much… designed to building exercises –Bret Love test their business mettle.

CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER (PG-13)

 If you strike enough fear in them, they’ll give up their liberties without a fight. That premise lies at the center of this Marvel film from directing brothers Anthony and Joe Russo.

The Captain (Chris Evans), is perturbed with S.H.I.E.L.D.’s plan to unleash evil-sensing helicarriers that can predict and eliminate terrorist threats before they fester. Doesn’t that just reek of Hydra? Any hazards these devices can’t get to from above, the Winter Soldier– a Frankenstein-like assassin– can handle from thereading ground.about But them with the help of allies through for so many years, but a(Samuel lot of times somebody thatWidow you Nick Fury L. Jackson), Black don’t thinkJohansson) of so highly turns to be Falcon a star.

(Scarlett and newout recruit You just don’t know the what will happen with (Anthony Mackie), Captain is determined pressure thehomeland heat of battle. to ensureand these insecurity measures never happen. The movie’s climax takes place What does aofcelebrity to docarriers to reallyand in a cloud futuristichave aircraft set themselves and show that they’re explosions.

Butapart the most memorable action in it to winoccur it? at ground level, including an sequences i can tellbetween you from seasons 1 and assailants, 2 and ambush Fury and some from regular Apprentice, reallyour and the a dizzying street battlepeople between want to win. every in a while you’ll The superheroes and once the Winter Soldier. have a quitter,Evans but itserves doesn’thishappen often. charismatic country proud iinthink the reason they do it is the level of an every scene. But this one feels more like intensity they feel for their charity.

Unlike ensemble pic– a sort of Avengers Lite. Maybe the Apprentice, where somebody the regular studio was scared that Captain America works for me for a pretty good salary forown. a couldn’t hold the sequel together on his year, with this one the money goes to charAll we’re certain of is that fear can make you ity.

Last year raised millions of dollars. do some crazywethings. everybody has a charity that they love;Williams some –DeMarco

The Donald Waxes Rhapsodic On The Celebrity Apprentice, “You’re Fired!” & Fixing NBC

A

are foundations they’ve set up themselves years in advance of the show. so i think they THE DOUBLE (R) really fight more intense because it’s a char ity they’re fighting for.

For an hour or so, this is the movie I’ve been

“the Donald,” as the crazy-coiffed real waiting a sly, intriguing comedy arefor– your favorite challenges to offering watch estate magnate BEARS (G) if often known, recently held What relief from cookie-cutter Hollywood epics. the celebrities tackle? court with reporters to discuss the show’s  Every time it starts down a familiar path, Well, we do have a lot of different challengcurrent season. stray from the Disneynature it takes a surprising twist. Jesse Eisenberg Bears doesn’t es, whether we go back to the selling of the formula, but co-directors Keith Scholey lemonade plays Simon James, a wimpelsewhose boss or doing something very basic Can tell us a little bit about the selec- of (Wallace Shawn) doesn’t know his name after andyouAlastair Fothergill (producer without having to deal with Proctor & Gamtion process?

Planet Earth and Frozen Planet) make it ble seven years ofetc.faithful service.

Simon has a or Kodak, sometimes [sponsor-based it’s very so many feel freshinteresting, thanks tobecause dynamic landscapes, challenges] crush on co-worker/neighbor Hannah (Mia are sort of interesting, but they’re celebrities wantcharacters, to be on theand showan afteramiable the charismatic Wasikowska), but he’s too shy to act on expensive for us to do. the ratings suggest it success of thebyprevious twoReilly. seasons.The We story other than watching her through binoculars voiceover John C. that the fans’ favorite part of the show by wanted athletes, some bear actors, some followssome first-time mother Sky and her far at home (which makes creepy to be is the boardroom, andhim thetoo boardroom models andcubs, some Scout wrestlers, i wouldas saythey totally sympathetic). One day a doppelganger, adorable andsoAmber, has gotten longer over the years because of probably seven people per spot strugglesix to orsurvive the twins’ first we year in that.

Jamesthe Simon (also Eisenberg), appears at the challenges still have plenty of time were turning down. the hardest thing is that Alaska’s rugged Katmai National Park.

The and office.

Though identical in appearance, we’re focused on both aspects, but wehe’s we really have some grabs good people thatfrom want the Simon’s polar opposite in personality. He takes stunning scenery you right have been trying to lengthen the boardroom toget-go. go on very guess amaybe But badly.

BearsBut is ireally storywe’ll about because advantage simple Simon to become a rising of of strong viewer requests. save them for the next show, because it looks survival, since less than 50% of bear cubs superstar at work, while also attempting to like that’stheir goingfirst to happen. survive year. There’s a grey wolf You’re help Simon with Hannah. like a score prosecuting attorneyToward in the the named Tikaani, who hovers unnervingly boardroom. end, the story completely off the rails.

Do goes you meter your approach to How this be two different closeis to theseason cubs. going Theretoare male than bears different Eisenbergpersonalities? is unable to help us keep track of past seasons?

Yes, i character think youhe’s dealplaying with different people who battle for the rights to mate, with the which and who’s doing Well, when you have a success like we’ve i dealBlame with Goldberg differently assumption being that the winner will kill differently. what to whom. director and co-writer had, you don’t like to do too many changes. i deal with Governor Blagojevich.

Amber and Scout so Sky will go into heat. than Richard Ayoade (Submarine), who’s too iclever What we do have is a different tone. the cast dealt with Dennis rodman andThe Joan riversis a But the more prevalent threat is hunger: for his own good… or ours. setting has been very interesting: they’ve been very differently than some of theand other contesNursing a pair of cubs through six months wonderful blend of 19th 21st centuries, tough and very nasty, but there’s also a lot of have to have that ability. of winter requires tremendous of tants. like a You Terry Gilliam version of steampunk. It fun and humor with arespect to whatamount happens, fat stores, and much of the film finds Sky may strike you as Dickensian, but it’s actually which i don’t think we had in the last one.

How do you feel going back in the boardstruggling to find food to keep her family Dostoyevskian, the Russian writer having With Joan [rivers] and with Piers [morgan], room afterthe a little hiatus? going. supplied source material.

That probably it was really nasty people really hating each i just get a great kick out of it. i really like But these there’speople also hate plenty of humor other. each other, but it’s to explains why what begins as a dark comedy itultimately a lot. they want to renew it for another counterbalance the recurring threat of feels more like a tragedy with some also funny. i think that might be the biggest two or three seasons, and we’re thinking imminent demise: One cub gets his paw comic relief. differentiation in terms of the three casts. of a break stuck in a clam shell, while adult bears get about that. i like having a little bit–Steve Warren between shows, where it goes on once a year. whacked in the tell faceright (in glorious slo-mo) Can you usually off the bat who isby salmon leaping upstream.

In the end, Bears DRAFT DAY (PG-13) going to do well and who isn’t? you ever feel bad about firing someone,  isthat’s a gorgeous nature documentary full of Do always the most interesting quesor is it just part of the job? heart, humor, personality and drama, tion to me because i’d like to think of myselfset Like Moneyball, Draft Day is for sports fans i always feel bad… no, not some-the in what goesalways. on behind a stunning backdrop.

In short, Walt more interested asagainst being okay with people.

But often i’ll say, times i don’t like people. the hard ones scenes than on the field. Kevin Costner are plays would beisproud. “this one going to be a star,” and then he when really like respect somebody Jr., and general manager of the –Bret Love SonnyyouWeaver turns out to be a dud. You never really know. and they make a mistake. Like, as an exCleveland Browns, on the big day when he You feel like you’ve known these celebrities

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2 WHEN WEBB FOCUSES ON TWO-PERSON SCENES, THE FILM FEELS LIKE AN ANGST-FILLED INDIE DRAMA. BUT OF COURSE THE AUDIENCE WANTS AN ACTION-FILLED BLOCKBUSTER. IN TRYING TO BALANCE THE TWO, WEBB ULTIMATELY ENDS UP WITH A JUMBLED MESS. Our review:  has to populate his football field of dreams THE GALAPAGOS AFFAIR: SATAN CAME TO for next season. His dad, a legendary coach, EDEN (NR) died last week; his girlfriend (Jennifer Garner)  is pregnant; and Sonny is pressured by team In 1929 Dr. Friedrich Ritter and proto-feminist ownerIt Frank Langella toout “maketo a splash” turned Be abygood phrase, Butspouses It was a Dore Strauch shed their in Germany makingFLuke. a bad deal durIng for a QB theythe may not need. FIrst and sailed to the IGalapagos to leave very show was aIslands LIttLe Things get worse before they get better. But if civilization behind. They bypassed sparsely exasperated wIth one oF the contestants and I used Sonny can make everyone happy (including inhabited Santa Cruz in favor of uninhabited the “you’re FIred!” whenand[producer] the fans and LIne, head coach Denis Leary), he’ll Floreana, built a home in aMark valley they andsuperhero I agreed to donamed theFriedo. show wemade dIdn’t haveof beBurnett the screen’s biggest who doesn’t Ritter the mistake need CGthat. effects. Costner makes his character we thought we’d writing say, “get the about their newheLL life in out articles that believable and sympathetic,oFandhere” the scriptor went the 1930 equivalent of viral. Soon soMethIng. weaves enough real notes into the melodrama another, more traditional couple, Margret and to makescott it great for thosefrom of usthe who give Heinz fact that you raised such self-sufficient ample, Hamilton, lastdon’t season.

Wittmer, arrived.

Ritter found them a flying football. children? ia had toforward let scottpass go. about i’m a great fan of scott: cave to live in, a considerable distance from i’m The getting of credit the chilHe won olympic gold medals and–Steve he’s aWarren great hisWell, house. nexta lot to arrive wasonBaroness dren.Wagner everybody’s been ivanka champion. But he understood that he made von with her twoasking lovers,about an architect and an theengineer. answer isShe yes,staked she’ll abeclaim back near on the aFADING mistakeGIGOLO on the show (R) and i really had no and the show. But they’re very goodplans kids. they wenta choice.  i felt very badly about that, because Wittmers, and announced to build to very schools, and By they iWhen considered him toAllen be a great but i is a Woody movieperson, not a Woody hotel ongood Floreana in 1932. thewere end great of 1934, students. i couldn’t to getorthem on the have do what’s right. never fun, but it’s Allentomovie?

When it’sit’swritten/directed by most of these people wait had died disappeared. show. i had no idea the show would be into easier when i don’t like the somebody when John Turturro.

With family or bookstore The film suggests enough conspiracy theories itsninth and tenth season, which is pretty they’re really, really bad. going out of business, Murray (Allen) decides to keep a congressional committee busy for amazing It’s in the world of television. to pimp out his assistant/friend Fioravante months. a fascinating tale, and there’s a That line, “You’re fired,” became a pop cul(Turturro).

He becomes a superstar, with remarkable amount of preserved footage of There’s been Directors lots of news surrounding ture phenomenon.

Can you about the clients (Sharon Stone, Sofiatalk Vergara) who the settlers.

Dayna GoldfineNBC and lately, and your show does well fortoo them. origin of it? shouldn’t have to pay for sex, but can afford Dan Geller’s only misstep is devoting much Whattoyou NBC needs toofdopresent-day to get back turned out be ahired good as phrase, but it for time to.it Murray getstohim a masseur thethink hearsay memories in the ratings game? was a fluke.

During the verya first showwidow i was Avigal (Vanessa Paradis), Hasidic Santa Cruz residents whose ancestors settled Well, i know Jeff Gaspin (chairman of nBc acondemned little exasperated with to onea of the conby tradition lonely existence. there at the time of the Floreana Seven.

Universal television entertainment) and, as testants and i used the line, “You’re fired!”

Fioravante develops feelings for her and –Steve Warren you know, he’s new to the role. i think he’s When [producer] mark Burnett and i agreed brings her out of her shell, but her community going to do a spectacular job at nBc. they to the showbywe their didn’t own have that.

We is do patrolled neighborhood DOCTOR (PG-13) needGERMAN more shows like the Apprentice. not thought we’d say, Dovi “Get the hellSchreiber), out of here” or THE watch, including (Liev who  necessarily from a reality standpoint, but something.

And all of a sudden America went crushes on Avigal and appoints himself her film begins withcapture a middle-aged man they need shows that the imaginacrazy over the show. it happens to be a great This stalker/protector. Eventually Murray’s hauled watching a girl at play. Lilith (Florencia Bado) tion. catchphrase. tV Guide or one of the major before a Jewish Inquisition, where his lawyer 12, but looks because premature certainyounger shows that are on should entertainment magazines did a poll and, after is frankly, (Bob Balaban) delivers a less-funny version birth stunted her growth. Sound creepy? be changed because, while they get some “Here’s Johnny!” and one other great, it was of one of Allen’s oldest one-liners, “Sex is Soon tells thethey man shegetknows pretty Lilith good reviews, don’t people as #3 on the top 100 phrases in television hisdirty… if you’re doing it right. ” Just when Helmut Gregor (Alex Brendemühl) tory! so that was a pretty big honor. it’s been watching. it’s nice to get both. We’veshe’s had not you’re wondering if it’saneven supposed be supposed to talk to strangers, butgood will actalk to an amazing thing and amazing phrasetothat emmy nominations and a lot of a comedy, romance kickscaught in andon, theand film him because sheour doesn’t do what just seems the to work. it really colades passed way, always and that’s alwaysshe’s becomes more like Allen’s still not the 1960, it’s been an amazing thing toIngmar watch. Bergman told. nice.That’s But ultimately youcreepy have topart. haveInpeople period. Too bad Turturro didn’t emulate “Dr. Gregor” and Lilith’s family are traveling to watch. nBc is going to really do well. i know Woody’s stuff.is your biggest accomremote Patagonia.and Evai(Natalia Oreiro), Lilith’s What dobetter you think their leadership think they’re winners, –Steve Warren mother, willthey’ll reopenturn heritfamily’s plishment, your business success or the so i think around.hotel, assisted insiteatlanta.com • May 2014 • PG 13

by her husband Enzo (Diego Peretti), who makes and repairs dolls. The town of Bariloche proves to be a haven for Nazi war criminals like the doctor, who’s actually Auschwitz “Angel of Death” Josef Mengele.

When Lilith is bullied at school because of her height, the doctor offers to treat her with experimental growth hormones. Unlike typical one-dimensional Nazi movie villains, he seems to have Lilith’s welfare in mind, while also continuing to work toward a “master race.” This film makes you question how much science is good for humanity.

Argentinean writer-director Lucía Puenzo based the film on her novel. She comes down harder on her country’s sheltering of war criminals than the criminals themselves, so her relatively balanced portrayal of Mengele won’t be completely satisfying, either to justice-seekers or Holocaust-deniers. But young Florencia Bado is a real find!

–Steve Warren

HATESHIP LOVESHIP (R)

 People who crave seeing Kristen Wiig tackle a serious role are outnumbered by Republicans for Obamacare. So it’s easier to appreciate this movie if you think of her as a new dramatic actress discovered by director Liza Johnson. Wiig plays Johanna, a painfully shy, socially awkward woman serving as caregiver for a woman who dies in the opening scene. She gets a new job taking care of Sabitha (Hailee Steinfeld), Nick Nolte’s granddaughter, who neither needs nor welcomes a nanny. On her first day, Johanna meets Sabitha’s visiting father, Ken (Guy Pearce), a drug-abusing wastrel.

Sabitha and her best friend play a cruel joke on Johanna, sending emails that purport to be from Ken. Thinking a relationship is developing between them, Johanna steps out on her own for the first time. Everyone does foolish things, but Mark Poirier’s screenplay just might answer the question, “How many wrongs make a right?” Slow at the beginning, Hateship Loveship sneaks up on you and grabs you by the heart. It also provides nice supporting roles for Christine Lahti and Jennifer Jason Leigh.

–Steve Warren

NEIGHBORS (R)

 In the latest comedy from director Nicholas Stoller (Forgetting Sarah Marshall, The Muppets), Seth Rogen teams up with Zac Efron to fight an age-old battle of adults versus college kids. It aims for that Animal House/Old School feel, with a plethora of phallic-focused jokes and potty humor on top of busty babes and screaming babies.

And I’ll admit, it almost gets there. Overseen by a director who’s proven his knack for funny, there’s a sense of ease to the rising action of this story, making the plight as believable as it is absurd. Rose Byrne plays the wife with an unexpected mean streak, while Dave Franco plays the squeaky-voiced, smooth-line-delivering sidekick, making even the supporting roles worth seeing. Yes, it’s ridiculously dirty and downright silly, but are toga parties and Jell-O wrestling anything less? And deep down, don’t we all secretly wish we could party like frat boys?

The key to loving this flick is appreciating how much fun the cast had, sitting around laughing at/with each other… Well, that, and maybe doing a kegstand or two before Stoller shouted “Action!”

–Jennifer Colosimo

TRANSCENDENCE (PG-13)

 This Johnny Depp film is a sci-fi experiment gone boring. Yes, it’s thought provoking, in an eerily too-close-to-home way. But its far-fetched, futuristic plot gets in far over PG 14 • May 2014 • insiteatlanta.com

its head, with less than a fifth of the movie’s run-time dedicated to wrapping the story up. It looked like they simply ran out of ideas on how to end the story. Rebecca Hall does the best she can with a supporting role shadowed by Depp, and Morgan Freeman plays such a small role, you wonder what was in it for him. I do love Paul Bettany more and more (especially now that they let him show off a tan), but even his storyline seems stunted. I was hoping for a story that would creep into my thoughts over time, but I’m over it.

–Jennifer Colosimo

THE MISSING PICTURE (NR)

 Rithy Panh committed his horrible childhood memories to film so he could forget them, but he’s done it in a way than ensures the world will never forget. Panh was 13 when Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge invaded Phnom Penh, Cambodia’s capitol. They brutally evacuated Panh’s family and two million other people, separating them from their possessions (and identities), driving them into the countryside to be “re-educated,” and putting them to work in forced labor camps. The atrocities lasted four years for those who survived them, but Panh’s parents didn’t. The filmmaker gathered copious archival footage, but tells most of the story with hundreds of clay figurines with extraordinarily human expressions in incredibly detailed tableaux. The film was nominated for this year’s Best Foreign Language Film Oscar, but the narration has been dubbed into accented English that’s occasionally hard to understand. Still, you won’t miss the point in this skillful mix of art, poetry, history and autobiography.

–Steve Warren

PALO ALTO (R)

 James Franco is many things to many people: A serious film and stage actor, a silly dude who makes stoner movies with pals, a sensitive experimental filmmaker, a college student and teacher, and a published writer.

Based on Franco’s short stories about his teen years (but updated to the present), Palo Alto is more realistic and disturbing than Spring Breakers in portraying teens for whom sex and drugs are part of daily life.

Debuting writer-director Gia Coppola rivals her aunt Sofia’s skill at showing life from a female perspective, while giving equal consideration to the guys and their feelings.

High school kids April (Emma Roberts) and Teddy (Jack Kilmer, whose dad Val makes a brief appearance) probably belong together, but face many distractions and bad influences. Teddy’s BFF Fred (Nat Wolff ) is a borderline psycho. April has the inside track on a hot soccer coach (Franco) all the girls desire, because she babysits his son. Emily (Zoe Levin) offers what all teenage boys are looking for… the nearest orifice. Before it goes bananas in the climax, the film is incredibly relatable, helping us understand why the characters do the very bad things they do, but without condoning them. On the downside, Coppola romanticizes smoking as if this were the 1940s, and it’s shameful (given the wealth of those involved) that the movie was crowd-funded, diverting resources from unconnected filmmakers trying to get a leg up in the industry.

–Steve Warren

WALKING THE CAMINO: SIX WAYS TO SANTIAGO (NR)

 Walking the Camino sounds like it should be a faith-based film. Most of the pilgrims followed on their five-week, 500mile journey across Spain to Santiago de Compostela are Christians making the

THE MISSING PICTURE THE FILM WAS NOMINATED FOR THIS YEAR’S BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM OSCAR, BUT THE NARRATION HAS BEEN DUBBED INTO ACCENTED ENGLISH THAT’S OCCASIONALLY HARD TO UNDERSTAND. STILL, YOU WON’T MISS THE POINT IN THIS SKILLFUL MIX OF ART, POETRY, HISTORY AND AUTOBIOGRAPHY. Our review:  trek for spiritual reasons, and some of the locals who comment are priests. One points out the original aims in medieval times were devotion, purification and penance. But there’s amazingly little “God talk” here, and the walkers are driven by exercise, sightseeing, partying, soulsearching, education, and other motives.

The best thing about Lydia Smith’s film is that it lets the viewer experience all these things, and by the end you come away with a new definition of spirituality. The trip is a communal experience– a mobile Woodstock without music– and watching the beautifully shot film is like being there, but without the heat, cold, wind, rain, pain and exhaustion. If someone were to sell tickets to the Camino at the exit, I can’t imagine anyone who’s just experienced it vicariously not signing up for the real thing.

–Steve Warren

YOUNG & BEAUTIFUL (NR)

 The title perfectly describes leading lady Marine Vacth, although “immensely talented” should be added. This is another gem from one of France’s best current auteurs, François Ozon. Just shy of 17, Isabelle (Vacth) loses her virginity to a German tourist. It leaves her wondering if that’s all there is to sex, and she decides, if it is, she may as well get paid for it.

Soon she’s an after-school slut using her grandmother’s name, Léa, and earning 300 Euros per encounter. Things go well until a tragic incident leads her to retire, but then her mother (Géraldine Pailhas) learns of her activities and a family crisis ensues. Isabelle has come to enjoy her power over men, but she’s still only 17 and her best friend thinks she’s a virgin. She has a chance to start over, but will things

be different this time? A refreshing change from recent Eurofilms (Nymphomaniac, Blue Is the Warmest Color) that seem to be competing in the ErotOlympics, Young & Beautiful shows how boring sex can be, especially when it’s just a job. The family dynamics, including Isabelle’s relationships with her stepfather (Frédéric Pierrot) and brother (Fantin Rivat), are believable enough to scare the crap out of parents who think it can’t happen to their daughters.

The opening shot establishes the viewer as a voyeur, but by the end you’ll feel like a participant.

–Steve Warren

VERONICA MARS

 This reunion movie of the decade-old teen detective show, which was financed by fans through Kickstarter, is an odd-butsatisfying spectacle that works because primarily due to Kristen Bell’s appeal in the title role. Rob Thomas, who created the show and wrote/directed this mystery, tries to give fans a little of everything they loved about the show– snappy dialogue, willthey-or-won’t-they romance, the fatherdaughter dynamic that gave the show its heart, nostalgic cameos, and a decent story– and mostly succeeds. With a bright future as a lawyer ahead, Veronica returns to her noir-esque roots in her hometown of Neptune. When her ex, Logan, is accused of murder the same week as their class reunion, it brings the sleuth face-to-face with old friends and foes while trying to solve a new mystery. Fans (of which I am one) will love it. New viewers may be a little lost. But the movie works… even if you end up in an argument about our heroine’s choices for her future.

–Benjamin Carr

FILM

NOT FADE AWAY

John Turturro Helms a Cautionary Tale with Fading Gigolo

BY LEE VALENTINE SMITH

R

ENAISSANCE MAN JOHN Turturro describes his multitasking role as writer-director-star of the new film Fading Gigolo as a walk on a tightrope. His balancing act includes the daunting task of directing a cast that includes such luminaries as Woody Allen, Sharon Stone, Sofia Vergara, Vanessa Paradis, and Liev Schreiber. The cleverly nuanced screenplay details the adventures of an aging bookstore operator (Allen) who masterminds a plot of offering his acerbic co-worker (Turturro) as an escort for a number of lonely women. On the eve of the US premiere of the film, Turturro spoke at length with INsite from his home in New York City.

This is a low-key movie for adults. No explosions or possible Happy Meal tie-ins for this one.

Right. Well, yeah, it’s a movie for adults. But I think you can be an adult once you pass 21.

I’ve shown it to a lot of people in their 20s and they’ve liked it. I’ve been surprised about their enthusiastic embrace of it. It’s for adults, but it’s all about the basic human comedy.

whole idea of this movie. Life goes on and you’re still alive. Sometimes people are in a relationship and they lose that relationship and they have to start all over again. Same thing with the jobs, stores are clsing, so what do you do? That’s a theme in the film, that we’ve, hopefully, done subtly – and how an unlikely romance or love affair can occur at any age. People search for that connection and it’s something that never goes away.

Besides fame or money, that’s what people really want.

Yeah, because if you don’t have that, it’s not really real. Life isn’t just about you, it’s a connection and you can feel when you are disconnected.

People can instinctively sense it.

That’s right! And part of the story is the guy who gets pushed into the situation is more of a listener, a regular man who is at ease with himself, a person who can receive other people. Or listen to other people. And that’s an important part of life.

I LIKE HUMAN COMEDY AND THE HUMAN DRAMA. AND THAT’S HOW LIFE IS, IT’S BOTH.

It’s great how you tie the bookstore closing as the end of an era, to the new Staples store opening next door.

Yeah, the real bookstores are a place where you can get to know someone.

Order things, check the inventory, and get recommendations. It’s part of what makes a community. Then when we have these mass stores coming in, it does kind of flatten out the interchange and the culture.

And it’s the same with most new movies.

Yes! When I was growing up, what would be considered a “commercial” movie or even just a regular movie, is now pushed aside to what’s called an “art house” film.

I remember so many films that were challenging, mainstream movies, whether they did big box-office or not. But that’s the

Let’s talk about the original concept. You had this idea, then started riffing on it and it just grew from there.

Yeah, I had this idea that Woody and I could be a good team. You could say “comic duo” or such, if you think about it in terms of comedians or musicians or drama. I just thought the possibility that we could have a good chemistry is the main thing and he liked the initial idea.

What’s it like trading ideas with such an icon of the cinema?

He was very generous and very brutal with his criticisms at times. At first it was all ideas, and then I had to sync into the story and kinda find it. I continued to revise it while we were both doing other projects. We got to know each other and that really helped. He encouraged me to make it as nuanced as possible and I think that was helpful because it became a lot

more tender. He saw the possibility for that. He didn’t tell me how to go about it, but he encouraged me to look into it. So we’re dealing with sex, but also religion and spiritualty. Sometimes the most intimate thing between people isn’t sex, it’s before or after sex. It’s not just the act. I was pleased with how it developed and when he said things to me, I certainly thought about it because he’s a pretty bright man.

He pretty much cornered the market on this type of film. Was it daunting to direct him?

I really liked working with him a lot, but yes, you have to get over that. And thank God I’m naïve enough to try. Thank goodness that we’ve gotten to know each other and within an hour, I’d say, “You know Woody, maybe go a little slower here, or maybe be a little more delicate there.” I gave him room because he likes to massage the lines and when it was appropriate, I’d say to try something different especially when you have one or two line interchanges. I’ve maintained a little of my innocence because you don’t want to become a jaded know-it-all. And he’s not that way, either. If he’s uncomfortable, he won’t do it, so I wanted to create something that I felt good about and that he wanted to participate in.

Was there any room for improv in your scenes together?

Basically we stuck to the script, but he likes to throw a curve ball here and there.

And that helps it. I think what created that, is there’s an affection between us and I think you kinda see that in the movie.

It’s a real relationship.

Yeah, sometimes you see two people and you go, “Well, they have no chemistry.” And with men, it’s like, “Why are they friends?”

It’s because they can pitter-patter, they can riff and have certain things in common.

Or someone makes the other laugh a lot.

That’s why people are friends.

Overall, it’s a very sweet-natured film.

I like human comedy and the human drama. And that’s how life is– it’s both.

I think if you can have a comedy that’s human, you can say a lot of things that will resonate out of that. If people are laughing, they can also be moved.

Tell us about casting Sharon Stone as Woody Allen’s dermatologist.

I thought she was the perfect age and would be very unlikely to play a dermatologist, and to play someone who would actually think about paying someone to have sex with. I thought she’s the kind of woman who doesn’t want any strings attached. So she doesn’t want to have a onenight stand, and exchange numbers and then she realizes she gets a little possessive.

I was just thinking that I wanted strong women in the movie, to represent cultural diversity and socio-economic class and religious diversity.

And the women in the film are very real.

Yeah, that’s what I wanted. You know, people do these things because they feel empty, or lonely or they want an adventure or they’re grieving. I didn’t explore the dark side of the business, I was exploring the side where they have some sort of a healing and it’s not destructive. Sometimes you can take a world and make it a metaphor for other things.

This is definitely a movie you can talk about at dinner after the screening.

It is. You know, a lot of people wanted it to end a certain way, but now they are talking about why it couldn’t end this other way. So I’ve tried to make a movie that would resonate with people. And even though it’s really specific, even though it’s New York City, that’s still a city. And lots of cities in this country have a lot of diversity.

So it’s a tale, compacted, and open to discussion.

“Fading Gigolo” is in local theaters now.

Check local listings for locations and showtimes. insiteatlanta.com • May 2014 • PG 15

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FILM

MOTHER’S FINEST

Top 10 Memorable Movie Moms

BY CHRISTIAN PEREZ

I

T’S MAY, AND THEREFORE TIME to recognize and appreciate the women in our lives who have nurtured us and helped mold us into the people that we are today.

Mothers, whether biological or otherwise, play a vital role in how we develop, guiding us to become the best we can be. I got to thinking about some of the more impactful mothers that exist in the realm of cinema. These individuals aren’t often conventional, but they are memorable, for better or worse...

ANJELICA HUSTON

Anjelica Huston in 50/50

Joesph Gordon-Levitt’s overbearing, but deeply caring mother in 50/50 is not the easiest woman to deal with. But she loves her son so much that, when she learns of his cancer diagnosis, she does what she can to help him get well. He resents this, bickering with her until an extremely powerful scene in which he breaks down and admits he needs her. This one will make you tear up and call your mom to tell her you love her.

Meryl Streep in AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY

The dysfunctional family depicted in this film is the farthest thing from happy, and Streep’s portrayal of the pill-addicted matriarch is at the center of the chaos. She loves her children, but it comes out in harsh ways due to a life of hardships, abuse, and disapproval. Though she’s hardened by the cards that life has dealt her, she thrives when all of her children are reunited under her roof after their father goes missing.

Your Neighborhood Pizzeria!

Maya Rudolph in AWAY WE GO

Sam Mende’s funny, endearing film makes the list because the audience watches the unborn child’s parents as they travel around searching for a good life in which to raise their child. The love they have for each other overflows, and it’s clear that their child will be the pride and joy of their lives. Rudolph delivers a perfect portrayal of a burgeoning matriarch willing to do whatever it takes to be the best possible mom.

Piper Laurie in CARRIE

On the opposite end of the spectrum, there is Piper Laurie’s terrifying, bible-thumping mother.

She may have the best of intentions for her daughter, but her overzealous religious views are the farthest thing from healthy for the child. Her constant abuse and misguided attempts at religious brainwashing ultimately proves fatal for nearly all involved.

Melinda Dillon in A CHRISTMAS STORY

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Here is a mother who loves her family to the fullest, yet doesn’t get the recognition she truly deserves.

She loves being a mother to two boys, regardless of the constant headaches and adolescent mishaps, laughing through it all and focusing on the joy rather than the discomfort. This woman truly deserves a hot meal.

Bjork in DANCER IN THE DARK

If there ever was a mother who’d do anything for their child, it’s Bjork’s character in this moving Lars von Trier musical. Selma moved to

America to work and save enough money to give her son a life-changing operation that would stop the hereditary blindness she is slowly succumbing to. The film is incredibly tragic, with an ending that ensures there won’t be a dry eye in the house.

Lana Turner and Juanita Moore in IMITATION OF LIFE

In this classic melodrama, the audience is given two mothers who do what they can to ensure good lives for their daughters. Lana Turner’s Lora is a struggling actress who finally catches a big break. Though she provides an extravagant life, what her daughter really desires is to have more time with her mom. Juanita Moore’s Annie is essentially the housekeeper, but seems more like a friend/family member. She only wants her child to accept herself for who she is, but her daughter shuns her mother and refuses to come to terms with being black. Through it all, Annie loves her daughter and takes every opportunity tell her so.

Holly Hunter in THE INCREDIBLES

This is a great representation of how most children view their mothers¬. The Incredibles showcases a family of superheroes, and the mother fits the bill both literally and in how she cares for her family. Everything she does is for the betterment of the family. She’s willing to do whatever it takes, at times sacrificing herself to ensure the safety of the ones most dear to her.

Belén Rueda in THE ORPHANAGE

Another tragic tale about a mother’s desperate search for her son, who goes missing after they move into the renovated orphanage she grew up in. The film is creepy and sad, but shows a determined mother who will stop at nothing to find her son.

At the conclusion, the conflict is resolved and brief relief is offered just before sadness kicks it right out. This film will really get you emotionally if you let it.

Elizabeth Taylor in WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF?

This one may be a stretch, due the child not actually existing. Taylor’s Martha and her husband George have fabricated a story about having a son to their dinner guests as a way to keep things lively and interesting, creating tales that keep the audience and the guests on their toes. If she actually were a mother, she’d likely not be a very good one… but she sure would be memorable!

Road Warriors

This Month’s Hottest Shows

BY SACHA DZUBA

MAY 2 – WILLIE NELSON AND ALISON KRAUSS & UNION STATION

Chastain Park Amphitheatre Cowboy-hippie and outlaw country star, Willie Nelson is widely recognized as a legendary American singer-songwriter. Willie has won numerous music awards; as well as being a celebrated author, actor, and activist. He has a six-decade career under his belt, along with 200 plus albums to his name. Multi-instrumentalist and singer-songwriter Alison Krauss effortlessly bridges the gap between a variety of musical styles; from country, to pop, to rock, bluegrass, and others. She has sold over 12 million albums and won 27 Grammy Awards, the most for any female artist and the second most of any recording artist in Grammy history. This joint tour marks the first time that these country music legends have shared the stage together. Sure to be unforgettable night of hits and incredible performances, this evening will be something no country fan will want to miss.

MAY 3 – JESSICA LEA MAYFIELD

The Earl Jessica Lea Mayfield is an unconventional country musician hailing from Kent, Ohio. She was discovered and nurtured by Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach, who produced her previous album, Tell Me. Jessica has a gentle, delicate, and lamenting vocal quality that contrasts with her crunchy and raw guitar lines. In regard to her latest album, Make My Head Sing…, she said “The whole record is just me and Jesse (bass) and my drummer Matt Martin.” “I wanted to simplify things. ...I wanted to get in the stu-

dio and make a rock record and hear real guitar tones and something heavy.” The stripped down and paired back aspect of guitar, bass, and drums creates a sound that hearkens beyond the overproduced musical style that characterizes current popular music. I hear echoes of Kristen Hersh, Cat Power’s Chan Marshall, and Mazzy Star’s Hope Sandoval in her vocal style; which only endears her to me more. Rolling Stone magazine described her as “a disarming collision of stark country balladry, dynamic alternative rock and arty electronic pop.” Truly a burgeoning musical artist to keep your eyes and ears trained on.

MAY 7 – MARGOT & THE NUCLEAR SO AND SO’S

The Masquerade Margot & the Nuclear So and So’s are a distillation of melody heavy music, punctuated by diverse instrumentation. Orchestral pop elements and folk music mix with shades of Radiohead and Built to Spill, solidifying to form the unique blend of music that they create. You may hear shades of the Flaming Lips in their shambolic ditties, but this eight piece strong band is unique, versatile, and unafraid to stretch their sound in any direction. Their latest release, Sling Shot to Heaven, toys much more with mellow folk aspects, along with motown style organ, but also punctuates with deftly layered mid-west alt rock. Get out there and discover the musical gem that is Margot & the Nuclear So and So’s.

MAY 9 – MAN MAN

The Earl Quirky, experimental band Man Man, has been

described as Viking-vaudville, maniac gypsy jazz; certainly an apt description for them. They are visually known for dressing alike, usually in all white and wearing war paint specific to each member. All performers go by pseudonyms, frontman Honus Honus, along with Pow Pow, Shono Murphy, and Brown Sugar. Use your imagination to mix up some Tom Waits, Frank Zappa, Danny Elfman, and Modest Mouse to get an idea of the bizarre, arresting, and supremely catchy Man Man. Do yourself a favor and look up their videos for “Rabbit Habits” and “Head On (Hold On To Your Heart), and check out their latest offering, On Oni Pond. Wacky, quirky, and always frenetic live; these crazy cats will hypnotize you with their fantastic musical chaos.

MAY 10 – THE FAINT

The Masquerade Descending like gothic-techno vultures with an aim to get their prey out on the “danse” floor, The Faint are back! With roots in bands like Depeche Mode, New Order, and The Cure; The Faint’s melange is entirely their own creation of darkwave, digitally driven electro, dance-rock.

They’re touring with a long overdue new album, Doom Abuse, filled with paranoia, anti-establishment, apocalyptic lyrics set to glitchy, fuzzy, distorted dance electronica. They will, of course, also be performing other tracks from their discography and belting out their dance-floor hits.

Break out your stylish black clothes, some devilishly sweet clove “cigars”, those black boots and get to dancin’!

MAY 15 – TEGAN AND SARA

The Buckhead Theatre Canadian indie rock duo, Tegan and Sara, have beautiful voices and craft catchy melodies that remain captivating and sing-a-long-able, even when the layers of instrumentation and production are stripped away. These lovely twins are charming and funny, you can tell that they love what they’re doing. Their music has been used in numerous television shows and films. Their

WE GOT NEXT FRAMEWORKS

latest album, Heartthrob, is an incredibly wellproduced album which flirts with current popular dance music trends and is likely their most accessible and radio friendly album to date; yet is still undeniably Tegan and Sara. Seeing them live is an intimate experience, as they connect well with their audiences, making them laugh and smile with their stories and onstage banter.

Their music will touch you and entrance your heart, see them live and feel your heart throb!

MAY 16 – VNV NATION

The Masquerade Hailing from Ireland and the UK, Ronan Harris and Mark Jackson are VNV Nation. VNV stands for Victory, Not Vengeance in keeping with the group’s motto; “One should strive to achieve, not sit in bitter regret.” One of the most defining characteristics of the band’s music is that while considered synth-pop/industrial/dance music, their lyrics are uplifting, philosophical, and thought provoking. Ronan is a charismatic frontman, with a rocker-like stage presence and a clear passion and belief in the sentiments of the lyrics he sings. Their latest album, Transnational, continues to give listeners hope that after the darkness, light is never far behind. Throw on some black, grab your clubbing gear and go dance the night away with VNV Nation.

MAY 29 - UH HUH HER

The Loft Uh Huh Her is the vision of classically trained pianist Camilla Gray and Leisha Hailey. Camilla performed with Mellowdrone and has worked with numerous musicians from Adam Lambert to Dr. Dre; whereas Leisha was a member of both the Murmurs and Gush. For some, Leisha’s fame as Alice from The L Word may eclipse her musical spotlight a bit; but seriously don’t be fooled into thinking “Oh geez, popular actor makes a record”. The bubbly electro-pop sound of U H H is like a dancier, popper Ladytron. Their swirling voices weave in and out of each other, tricked out with electronic drums and keyboard-driven bursts and melodies.

Artists on the verge of making it big

Latest Project: Loom (Topshelf Records) For Fans of: Prawn, You Blew It! and Pianos Become The Teeth Why You Should Care: Because Gainesville, FL has been an unexpected punk-rock breeding ground for the past two decades, and Frameworks appears to be keeping the trend alive.

BY JOHN B. MOORE

I

T’S BEEN A BUSY TWO AND A HALF YEARS FOR the melodic hardcore band Frameworks. The Gainesville five-piece had already put out two EPs before catching the attention of the folks at Topshelf Records. The influential label managed to woo the band for their first LP, the soonto-be released Loom. Frameworks just got back from playing with Against Me! at SXSW and is about to hit the road with

Gates and Tiny Moving Parts. Guitarist Cory Fisher spoke with us recently about what’s next.

Can we talk about the new record? Did you approach the writing of this album any differently than the earlier EPs? I would say the writing process for me was kind of similar to what it’s always been. Even though time was scarce, we were all on the same page and I feel like everyone knew what everyone else wanted to do musically.

The songs seem a lot bigger and more complex than some of your earlier stuff. Was that a conscious decision?

Not really. Everything came out very naturally and we never really talked about a certain direction to go in regarding the songs. However, I really wanted everything to be full, loud, and very in your face.

Why did you decide to work with Jack Shirley?

Working with Jack was another thing that really fell into place. He was producing and recording a lot of our favorite albums at the time. We were more than excited to have the chance to have our songs recorded by him.

What was he like to work with? Any big disagreements?

He was super patient and put up with us. Honestly, the real reason so many bands record with Jack is because of his incredible vegan ice cream.

You guys are playing SXSW. Have you played there yet?

Last year we drove over to Austin and played Meatspin - the sickest house show with seriously like 20 of the best

screamo bands in the country - and the Topshelf Records showcase and a few house shows. But, besides Fest this is easily one of the most enjoyable times of the year. This year is a little different, we’re playing with Against Me! so I guess you could say I’m expecting to “folk-punk mosh” and cry my heart out to Laura Jane Grace singing songs about redemption and shit.

Have you set your spring and summer tour plans yet?

We are set and ready for our spring tour with Tiny Moving Parts and Gates from April 15 – to – May 9.

Nothing set in stone for summer, but we all for sure don’t want to be in fucking Florida.

How did you guys connect with your label, Topshelf?

Well, Tanner (Jones) from You Blew it! sent me a text of a text that he received from Kevin asking what he thought about us. I remember thinking don’t fuck this up, Tanner.

Then everything kind of blossomed from there. We started getting asked to tour with bands like Caravels, Slingshot Dakota, and Prawn. Met the dudes from the label and they were way nice and we instantly hit it off.

What’s next for you guys?

Our first LP is coming out the 29th of April and the tour with Tiny Moving Parts and Gates starts April 15. We’re going to be doing a bunch of rad shit with this album. Some music videos, real shit (laughs). Some alternative versions of songs. Besides that we’re all gonna be back in Gainesville soaking up the swampy sun, drinking light beers and listening to Lynyrd Skynyrd. insiteatlanta.com • May 2014 • PG 19

MUSIC

MUSIC

Album Reviews Reviews by Brett Love, John B. Moore & Lee Valentine Smith

The Dean’s List BLAKE RAINEY & HIS DEMONS – Love Don’t Cross Me (Two Sheds) Intense, enduring character studies LVS: As frontman for Atlanta’s Young Antiques, singersongwriter Blake Rainey ploughed the fertile fields of ‘80s and ‘90s alternative rock in clubs across the southeast. Fueled by Replacements-style guitar and rough-hewn lyrics, the spirit of his former self lives on in his newest release.

A perfect foil for last year’s quietly disturbing Ambulance Alley Sessions and a logical extension of his Demons-era mindset, the album contains a scrapbook of intriguing vignettes, often of cinematic proportions.

The disc opens with “The Angels Were Wrong About Her,” which wouldn’t be out of place on an Elvis Costello record or an overlooked Paul Westerberg solo outing.

“Please Erase (All Memory Of Me)” is both Costello-ish and Antiques-ish in its references, and could easily withstand the harder-rocking treatment of a live setting.

“Wounded Songbird” radiates a rougher, but sepia-toned introspection of his familiar track.

Concluding with a revisit to “The Dangerous Summer,” Rainey’s newest album never fails to provoke or inspire, often with gentle nudges and a deceptively somber delivery.

ELTON JOHN – Goodbye Yellow Brick Road [Deluxe] (Mercury/UME) Classic album gets the 40th anniversary treatment JM: Believe it or not, kids, there was a time when Elton John was considered cool. With lyricist Bernie Taupin, he co-wrote classic songs you didn’t have to listen to on the sly with the windows rolled up or through earbuds, pretending like you were listening to The National.

Sadly, that period ended sometime around 1975. But two years earlier, John and Turpin turned in what remains their best collaboration, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road.

Was it overtly commercial? Hell yes! Furs and rhinestone sunglasses ain’t cheap. But the 17-song album was an intelligent, expansive exercise in sing-along pop brilliance.

Along with the title track, which remains a classic rock staple, the album was chock full of hits such as “Candle in the Wind,” “Bennie and the Jets,” “Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting,” and a slew of other tracks that were just as good, if not better (including “This Song Has No Title” and “Sweet Painted Lady”). If we’re being honest, there are also a couple of dogs here (ahem, “Jamaica JerkOff”). But who can name any double-album that didn’t have a little fat that needed to be trimmed? This music has been played ad nauseum in the past few decades, but you’d be hard-pressed to find as many songs from one album that are still just as infectious as these are 40 years later.

The label is re-releasing two versions of PG 20 • May 2014 • insiteatlanta.com

the album in honor of the anniversary. This 2-CD version is crammed with nine mostlysolid covers by folks like Zac Brown Band and Fallout Boy, and nine even more impressive songs John recorded live in London in 1973.

There’s also a massive 5-disc collection, but that’s probably best saved for the Elton John stalkers out there.

DEENA SHOSHKES – Rock River (Life Force Records) An instantly likeable collection of pop tunes LVS: Deena Shoshkes’ newest release temporarily frees her from her usual spot as Center Square in the longrunning pop outfit, The Cucumbers. But her delivery, offered with palpable good humor and an endearing smile, remains the same. Here she breezes through 12 whimsical ditties, each blending amazingly childlike innocence with time-honed pop smarts.

Opening with the nervous “My Own Advice,” the record spirals along with the slightly country-tinged backing of a number of New Jersey’s pop elite, including her guitarist husband Jon Fried on a few tracks.

“Find The Love” casts a beguiling spell of shuffling rock, with the siren call of her sinewy vocals leading the call-and-response.

Possibly the best track on the record, “All She Wrote,” takes a sharp turn down south, with Shoshkes’ sweet attempt to go Nashville.

The good-time experiment works, with the final result being so effective, the song could easily be a hit in the hands of today’s modern country stars. But here it rests in the middle of a wonderfully low-key collection of songs, punctuated with a welcome return to one of her best solo efforts from the past, “Heart Full Of Now.” PT WALKLEY – Shoulders (Self-Released) Simply brilliant pop music JM: PT Walkley comes across like the missing link between thoughtful, sophisticated, jazzinspired troubadour Rufus Wainwright and The Kinks, god’s gift to lovers of pop hooks and sing-along melodies everywhere. The feat is all the more impressive due to the fact that he pulls it all off with an above-it-all indie vibe while still being able to shill for everyone from McDonalds to GE in TV ads.

His latest album, Shoulders, may be his finest collection of songs yet. The quieter, more thoughtful moments (like “Silverdollar Pancakes” and the mellow, but still infectious “Rose-Collard Glasses”) perfectly balance out raucous anthems like “Sirens” and more funk-infused or classic R&B-inspired tracks like “It’s Alright.”

In truth, there’s a song for just about every mood on Shoulders (except anger: Walkley seems too chill to waste time being pissed off for long). Some of the songs require a little more patience than others, like the slow burn

“Eat You Up,” but Shoulders is well worth spending time with. Ambitious and wildly original, it’s only a matter of time before the rest of the world catches up to Walkley’s talent.

Rest of the Class THE COATHANGERS- Suck My Shirt (Suicide Squeeze) Shockingly refined effort from indie-rock’s finest riot grrrls BL: The Coathangers’ mythology is the stuff of which legends are made: Four young ladies start a band for the sole purpose of playing parties, despite the fact that they can’t play their instruments worth a damn. The fact that they inhabited the same fertile garage-rock ground that produced the Black Lips and Deerhunter didn’t hurt. Neither did the piss-and-vinegar punk of songs like “Nestle in My Boobies” and “Stop Stomp Stompin.”

Seven years later, The Coathangers have slimmed down to a trio after the departure of keyboardist Candice Jones last year. But that’s hardly the biggest change you’ll notice on Suck My Shirt, the band’s fourth LP. Words like “accessible” and “refined” spring to mind, but that’s not to say that the band has lost any of the jagged No Wave edge inherent in their sound.

The whiskey-shredded vocals, distorted guitars, and pummeling drums of tracks such as the opening “Follow Me,” the infectious “Adderall,” and the rollicking “Derek’s Song” are as raucous as ever. But there’s also a newfound maturity to songs like “Zombie” and “Drive,” which suggests The Coathangers are intent on turning their joke of band into something more serious and permanent. If Suck My Shirt is an indication of the band’s future, I wouldn’t bet against them. (B) BROKEN GOLD – Residency at Hundo Beach EP (End Sounds) Punk rock supergroup finds its way back to the studio JM: The punk rock scene certainly has no shortage of supergroups and sideprojects. The big question after one of these projects surfaces is always whether it will be an ongoing occurrence (like Me First and the Gimme Gimmes) or just a one-off moment in time (like Rumbleseat, the fantastic acoustic folk side- project featuring members of Hot Water Music, which only put out one full-length).

With the release of Residency at Hundo Beach, it looks like Broken Gold decided to keep hope alive and go with the former.

Comprised of current and former members of the Riverboat Gamblers, the band put out a great record in 2011 and then called it a day… until now. Though the EP is only six songs, they are all impressive tracks. Perhaps a little less raucous than the normal fare associated with the Riverboat Gamblers, these songs cull inspiration from some of the better shoegaze and garage bands out there.

Though ultimately a little disappointing in its overall length, songs like the album opener “Teeth” and the sonically expansive “Life of the Machine” certainly help to make up for the wait. (B)

MUUY BIIEN – D.Y.I. (HHBTM) Athens, GA punks grow up a lot in just one year JM: Apparently a lot can happen in one year.

If This Is What Your Mind Imagines, the solid 2013 debut from Georgia-based punks Muuy Biien, was mostly influenced by Black Flag and Fugazi, the new D.Y.I. (Do Yourself In) sounds more like Joy Division and Pissed Jeans.

The Athens-based band has clearly discovered the joy of accessible hooks over the past 12 months, not to mention raising the vocals up a bit more in the final mix. That’s not to say that you’re going to hear anyone from American Idol crooning along to a song like “Virus Evolves” or “Dust” next season. But Muuy Biien has definitely morphed into stronger musicians and more focused songwriters.

The vitriolic anger that drew so many fans to their debut album is still there, it’s just a little more controlled this time around. As a result, the record is that much more impressive. Songs like “She Bursts (Reprise)” and the expansive “Cyclothymia II” and “Cyclothymia III” (neither of which sound anything like the songs off of their debut) perfectly capture the sound of a young band shedding some of its baby fat rather quickly. (B-) STANTON MOORE – Conversations (Royal Potato Family) The classic jazz trio, NOLA-style BL: Over the past 20 years, Stanton Moore has proven himself a masterful funk drummer in the tradition of Clyde Stubblefield (James Brown) and Ziggy Modeliste (The Meters). From his main gig in Galactic to side-projects such as Garage A Trois and The Midnite Disturbers, he’s also proven himself a leading light on the New Orleans music scene, fusing a respect for the Crescent City’s historic traditions with more contemporary experimental inclinations to create fresh sounds that appeal to both sides What he hasn’t done, until now, is make an album devoted to his deep-rooted love of jazz.

Conversations, with David Torkanowsky (The Meters, Dr. John) on piano and James Singleton (Professor Longhair, Aaron Neville, Harry Connick Jr.) on bass, is a classic jazz trio album with a heavy dose of New Orleans spice. To prepare, Moore studied with veteran drummer Kenny Washington and Jeff Hamilton, coleader of the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra.

The results are apparent in Moore’s playing, from the smooth brush-work on “Tchefunkta” to the dazzling improvisational skills shown throughout.

If this all sounds yawn-inducingly academic, one listen to the toe-tappin’ Conversations will convince you that jazz, in the right hands, can be funky, groove-oriented and remarkably accessible. The opening “Lauren Z” pairs Singleton’s standup bass grooves and Moore’s syncopated percussive drive with some of the sweetest piano melodies I’ve heard this side of Vince Guaraldi’s heyaday. “Carnival,” and “Magnolia Triangle” really give the drummer some, paying tribute to the trio’s NOLA roots in fine, funky fashion. But while Moore may be the star of the show, songs like “Driftin’” prove Torkanowsky and Singleton to be titanic talents in their own right. All in all, it’s best jazz album I’ve heard in years. (A)

COLUMN

STATION CONTROL: Friday Night Frights

BY BENJAMIN CARR

I

USED TO GO OUT ON FRIDAY nights, but these days I just stay in and scream.

NBC’s Hannibal makes me do that at least once per episode, and sometimes more. Since the pilot, there has yet to be an episode that hasn’t made me freak out on my couch. Even Game of Thrones doesn’t have that kind of track record for shock and suspense.

But Hannibal– a broadcast network show that has to put a disclaimer for violence at the beginning of every episode– is so daringly, creatively violent that it elevates its murder to art.

And that’s one of the reasons I consider it among the few things on NBC that genuinely qualifies as “must-see TV.” Like A&E’s Bates Motel and FX’s excellent Fargo, Hannibal takes a hit movie, puts a serialized spin on it, and strikes TV gold. Since it feels like 90% of the films we see in theaters lately are sequels and spinoffs, this seems like a quick way to get a product green-lighted.

But the show is way more ambitious than a mere murder-of-the-week mystery featuring the characters you know and loved in The Silence of the Lambs. There is no FBI trainee Clarice Starling in sight on Hannibal (at least, not yet).

Creator Bryan Fuller– the man behind criminally underrated TV shows like Pushing Daisies, Dead Like Me and Wonderfalls– has crafted a gripping prequel to author Thomas Harris’ first Hannibal the Cannibal story, Red Dragon. Fuller gives us a Dr. Lecter who is out and about in Baltimore society, walking free and hosting lavish dinner parties filled with exotic, questionable meats.

Played by handsome, quiet Danish star Mads Mikkelsen (the villain from Casino Royale), this Hannibal Lecter is miles away from Anthony Hopkins’ devil we know. He murders and eats people, naturally. But, like a good chess player, Mikkelsen’s Lecter plans his actions four steps ahead, to assure his friends at the FBI never figure out the psychiatrist the “Chesapeake Ripper” they seek. Via countless murders and deceptions, he even framed FBI instructor Will Graham (the excellent Hugh Dancy) of the Chesapeake Ripper murders.

Dancy’s Graham has been reimagined as a teacher on the autism scale, with an ability to reconstruct a murderer’s methods by reliving it at the crime scene as though he were the killer. Will can tell you why a person would turn a bunch of diabetics into a living mushroom garden, or why you’d put a totem pole made out of 40 bodies in a certain order. Because of this ability, he’s always on the psychological brink of madness, and dangerously close to becoming a killer himself.

Hannibal, whom no one suspects, cleverly makes a friend out of the man who has the best chance of catching him.

The supporting cast includes Laurence Fishburne as the opportunistic Agent Jack

HANNIBAL

Crawford, and Caroline Dhavernas (Wonderfalls) as Alana Bloom, a psychiatrist whose loyalties have become increasingly divided between Graham and Lecter.

The show features at least one gruesome, graphic killing each week. (One time, 40 minutes had passed and no one had died yet, so I expressed surprise about it. Within five minutes, there was a bloodbath.) The murder scenes are beautiful, bloody, artfully filmed things. The gore is more gorgeous than gross, with victims who have beehives in their face or disemboweled and turned into a flower-filled tree. The special effects are top-notch, and I tune in week after week hoping that I’ll see something stunning. It never disappoints.

The show takes full advantage of the fact that most people know Hannibal ends up getting caught. Just as Hannibal toys with Graham and the FBI, the show plays a cat-and-mouse game with the audience’s expectations. Hannibal has occasionally lifted scenes or dialogue out of The Silence of the Lambs, but it feels more like untold stories from that same Thomas Harris universe.

That being said, I’m not sure if you can just jump into Hannibal in the middle of its second season without knowledge of everything they’ve done before. The first season is available on DVD and BluRay, or streaming on Amazon Prime. The episodes from the second season are currently available on Hulu Plus.

But those who watch it will be rewarded: Hannibal is the best thriller novel I never read.

FARGO

YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE:

Billy Bob Thornton and Martin Freeman star in a new thriller that has nothing to do with the plot of the Coen Brothers movie, but everything to do with the feel of it.

TRUE DETECTIVE

The first season of this impressive HBO show starred Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson as troubled cops on the trail of a creepy serial killer in Louisiana.

presents

The TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY SUMMER CONCERT SERIES SPOTLIGHT CONCERT

Lisa Kelly

DEXTER

The entire series is on Netflix, but I’d suggest you stop watching after Season Four, with John Lithgow’s riveting turn as the Trinity Killer.

Gladys Knight

“The Voice of Ireland”

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And don’t Miss our otHEr JunE 2014 ConCErts!

SERIES CONCERT #2

Bruce Hornsby and the Noisemakers

spotlight concerts:

Beyond 5

Night Fever

June 6

BATES MOTEL

Freddie Highmore plays Norman Bates, who will eventually kill his mother (Vera Farmiga), stuff her body and put her in the basement of their creepy house.

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For tickets: www.amphitheater.org 770.631.0630 The Frederick brown jr. Amphitheater

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insiteatlanta.com • May 2014 • PG 21

MUSIC

MEMORABLE WEEKEND

37th Annual Jazz Fest Promises Diversity

BY LEE VALENTINE SMITH

F

OR ATLANTA MUSIC FANS, Memorial Day weekend means three full days of great jazz music in Piedmont Park. The 37th Annual Atlanta Jazz Festival, presented by the City of Atlanta Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs, educates and entertains thousands of happy listeners with established stars of the genre and the next generation of influential jazz musicians.

Camille Russell Love, Director of the City of Atlanta Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs promises an impressively diverse lineup of artists as usual, including the addition of a third stage in Piedmont Park for local artists.

“We have adjusted our dates in Piedmont Park to run from Friday through Sunday of Memorial Day Weekend, May 23-25,” she adds. “The park will reopen for normal public use on Monday, May 26 for Memorial Day.” In addition to the incredible array of music on The Festival’s Main Stage, the International Stage and Local Stage, plenty of art, crafts, food and drinks will be available for purchase. Kids can enjoy two speciallydesigned KidZone areas for games, jazz education sessions, and a unique Puppet Factory space, hosted by the Center for Puppetry Arts.

Two highly respected players that represent polar opposites of the music spectrum are featured in this year’s festivities. The internationally known and beloved Freddy Cole and the young innovator Jon Batiste spoke with Insite about jazz, the festival and their place in the genre.

Atlanta resident Freddy Cole has been recording since 1952 and his new album, This And That spans stylistic musical barriers as it melds standards, funk and R&B, all with his usual, soulful grace. Now in his eighth decade of life, the suave and witty entertainer is still an in-demand performer who trots the globe with the energy of a brash 20-year-old.

He never does the same show twice and his sincere and often improvisational take on the standards of the Great American Songbook have earned a legion of dedicated fans of all ages.

You play intimate clubs and huge festivals all over the world. How do you plan your set for each type of venue?

Well, I don’t have a setlist, you know. So for the first two or three tunes, I’ll be winging it, to see which direction I’ll go. It’ll be interesting. It’s a certain feeling, a certain vibe you get, rather than like, some people

have the same songs they do all the time, this is what they do. But as for me, I hate to be locked in that way. I’d rather have the freedom to move if I need to. Old timers say, I’m not gonna stay in there and die, I’m gonna move on.

And your band is poised to move with you, at a moment’s notice. How many songs do you have ready?

Oh, yeah they do. Man, that’s a good question. I’ve never tried to count ‘em. But we seem to be pushing the right buttons because last week, we were over in Tunisia.

You’ve heard about “Night In Tunisia,” well we did two nights in Tunisia! There were about 6,000 people in that stadium and before the evening was out, we had ‘em right where we wanted ‘em.

And your new album keeps moving too. It’s all over the place stylistically.

Yeah, it’s this and that! We were going all over the place to find the songs. I’m getting ready to do another album in June and I’m beginning to think about what’ll be on that one, too. That’s the greatest part of doing it, you get to witness so many good songs to pick from every time. People are writing great songs, always have and they still are.

All you gotta do is try to find them.

What is your take on today’s Jazz music?

Jazz isn’t going anywhere, it’s where it’ll always be. It just depends on what you like. They’ve expanded the base a little bit to include what I’d call fringe music, to embellish it all to be more acceptable to young people. But really, all they’ve got to do is let the musicians keep playing and you’ll have some decent jazz music.

Are you influenced by Pop music?

I listen to everything. You can learn more by listening than you can by talking! I listen to a lot of straight-ahead jazz music, too.

I’m not trying to fool anybody by trying to come up with rings in my nose or ears or whatever, trying to do what someone else does. I can’t do what they do. And they can’t do what I do. So I just worry about trying to be professional, giving a good presentation and taking care of business.

Musician and educator Jon Batiste uses modern technology and the social aspect of music and performance to refreshingly revitalize jazz into a new, multi-dimensional experience. The Louisiana-born artist’s recent album Social Music was voted by this writer as one of the top ten records of 2013.

FREDDY COLE

The creative artist has a new twist on his performance space at the festival. Helming “The Late Night Love Riot,” Batiste and Stay Human will play at 11 pm, May 24 at the W Hotel – Midtown.

Tell us about “social music.”

We call it social music because we interact with the people who share the experience with us.

You often play in unusual venues. Tell us why you choose unconventional stages.

If the music is to be shared, sometimes you have to take it around a bit to share those emotions, whether it’s on stage or on the street. That the beauty of music. It can be played and shared anywhere, anytime. It’s a beautiful gift to be able to share music. It’s a communal experience, so we’ve played in subways, street corners, even ski slopes.

We’ve played in different parts of the world and the response is always the same.

The universal language always gets the gut reaction, right?

Right! I feel that when you are talking about the arts, and getting people out to see and hear it, you’ll have a lot of people who are music fans and they don’t even know it yet. Not of just jazz, but any type of music.

It’s interesting to see the response, because you’re not asking for money and you’re really playing on a high level. They may have never seen that before. Their jaw drops.

What is a Love Riot?

It’s what happens when we do those spontaneous creations and share them. It’s kind of like a riot, when you have that kinetic energy in the room. But you see all these people coming together through the music experience, and it’s very positive. And that’s why it’s a love riot, because no one gets hurt! But it does have that electric energy.

The experience goes beyond the music.

We become a community. It can happen anywhere, and it’ll happen at the W. And that’s another unusual venue. For the event and for live performance in general.

Yes and we love to create a spontaneous show so it feels based on the moment. I came up with the late night idea at the W because it’s where the musicians will congregate and a lot of the people who visit the festival will be staying there at the hotel, too. And it’s on Saturday, on Memorial Day weekend, so there’s a certain kind of built-in energy that I think will lead to some magical moments. It’s gonna be amazing when we get to Atlanta. People there are soulful, and I’m excited. It’ll be something to remember.

PG 22 • May 2014 • insiteatlanta.com

The complete lineup of performances in Piedmont Park: FRIDAY, MAY 23 MAIN STAGE 5pm YJBC 1st Place Winner: North Atlanta Center for the Arts Jazz Band 7pm Roberta Gambarini Quartet 9pm Roy Hargrove Quintet SATURDAY, MAY 24 MAIN STAGE 1pm YJBC 2nd Place Winner: TriCities High School Jazz Band 3pm Rialto Youth Jazz Orchestra 5pm Ester Rada 7pm Russell Gunn’s Krunk Jazz Orkestra 9pm Christian Scott INTERNATIONAL STAGE 1:30pm Edmar Castañeda Trio 3:30pm Somi 5:30pm Eldar Trio LOCALS STAGE 12:30pm JC Young Middle School Jazz Ensemble 2:30pm Willie Ziavino and the C.O.T. Band 4:30PM Brian Hogans Quartet SUNDAY, MAY 25 MAIN STAGE 1pm YJBC 3rd Place Winner: Milton High School Jazz Ensemble 3pm Airmen of Note 5pm Freddy Cole Quartet 7pm Bill Frisell’s Guitar in the Space Age Featuring Greg Leisz, Tony Scherr and Rudy Royston 9pm Ahmad Jamal INTERNATIONAL STAGE 1:30pm Ali Amr 3:30pm Diego Figueiredo Trio 5:30pm Cyrille Aimée LOCALS STAGE 12:30pm Rialto Jazz for Kids 2:30pm Darren English Quintet 4:30pm Kemba Cofield Quartet All main stage events are free and open to the public. Festival hours in Piedmont Park: Friday, May 23: 4 -11 pm; Saturday, May 24: 11 am - 11 pm. Sunday, May 25: 11 am - 11 pm. The Late Night Love Riot with Jon Batiste and Stay Human will take place on Saturday, May 24 at W Atlanta – Midtown. Doors open at 10 pm and the concert starts at 11 pm. Tickets for that show are $35 in advance and $40 at the door, and are available at FreshTix: https://www.freshtix.com/events/lnlr.

MUSIC

SOUL POWER

Dap-Kings Singer Sharon Jones Returns After Kicking Cancer’s Ass

BY ALEX S. MORRISON

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ORN IN AUGUSTA IN 1956 and raised in New York, Sharon Jones has one of the those raised-in-thechurch voices that rips right down into your heart, alternately caressing and twisting it until you’re ready to do her bidding. It’s a timeless voice that recalls Georgia soul legends from Ray Charles and James Brown to Otis Redding, and her work with the Dap-Kings over the past 12 years is classic Southern soul that should’ve made her as rich and famous as Aretha.

Needless to say, it didn’t.

So there was serious concern among her friends and fans when Jones doubled over on stage during a concert last summer, especially after the diagnosis was Stage II pancreatic cancer. The band, riding high on the success of 2011’s Soul Time, was forced to cancel a tour and delay the release of their sixth album, Give The People What They Want. More importantly, Jones worried she might never sing again.

But Miss Sharon Jones is, as they used to say, a “tough broad.” Growing up at the tail end of segregation, she overcame years of racism and rejection, putting in years as a part-time wedding singer while working fulltime as a corrections officer at Rikers Island and an armored car guard for Well Fargo Bank. She was 46 by the time the first Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings record was released. And 11 years later, when she was at the height of her musical career, she was not about to give up on her

lifelong dream.

So she fought for her life. Jones’ doctors removed her gallbladder, an 18-inch piece of small intestine, and a section of pancreas.

She underwent chemotherapy, bravely sharing photos of her hair loss and treatment with fans. And now, less than a year after her diagnosis, Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings are back on the road, tearing up the stage night after night and getting the best reviews of their careers.

We were honored that Miss Sharon took time out of her exhausting tour schedule to speak with us about kicking cancer’s ass, and how it renewed her passion for deep Southern Soul.

You were born in Augusta and raised in New York, but you’ve still got that classic Southern soul sound. Was that a big influence on you when you were growing up?

I can’t get rid of that! (Laughs) Sometimes when I get to talking real fast my little Southern drawl will come out. I was born in 1956 when all that stuff was happening, before everything turned to pop and hiphop. When I was a little girl we listened to Stax and Motown R&B, soul singers like James Brown and Otis Redding, even rock stuff like the Beatles and Rolling Stones.

But it’s not just me: I may do the singing and bring the story to life, but the band writes the music that reminds you of Aretha Franklin or Mavis Staples.

Did you come up singing in the church?

Yeah, I always sang in church. We did this Christmas pageant one year where I played an angel and sang “Silent Night,” and I think I knew then and there that I had something going on. I wound up singing in neighborhood bands in high school.

But by the time I hit my early twenties, they told me I didn’t have the look: I was too dark, too fat, too short. But I kept thinking that God had given me a gift, and one day people would accept me for my voice rather than the way I look.

I’m not sure if this is true, but I read that you worked as a corrections officer and an armored car guard during the years before your music career took off?

Oh yeah! I was at Riker’s Island from 1988-1990, and I worked with Wells Fargo for two to three years after that. I was still working security, wearing a gun all the time, when I met the guys who became my band.

So when you’re doing all these crazy jobs and nearing your forties, did you still think in the back of your mind, “I’m gonna get my big break someday”?

Yeah, I was still singing in weddings bands on and off up until the time when I met the Dap-Kings. But once we started going over to Europe on tour, they had to get somebody to replace me. The Dap-Kings would be touring in Europe, making like $50 a night and coming home with no money, and I’d be turning down $500 a night gigs with the wedding band! But I had to make that move.

Then five years later, you guys were the most critically acclaimed funk/soul band in the country. Is that crazy to you?

Hearing you say it like that, yeah! But it hasn’t really hit me yet. Everywhere I go there are still so many people that haven’t heard of us. But every time I go out on stage I give it everything I got– like 110%– and it seems like each time we tour we have a few more fans.

Great Debaters.

It was great! While they were out there doing Amy, I was doing Denzel! (Laughs) Right before that I was playing with Lou Reed, and after that I played with Booker T & the MGs. I did a show with Phish on Halloween because they wanted some background singers, but it seemd like a got a lot of new fans out of it. Then Michael Bublé asked me to be on Saturday Night Live with him. What I love about Michael is that he reminds me of that swinging ‘60s vibe, so we’re influenced Talk to me about getting together with the by the same era of music. guys behind Daptone It was great exposure for Records.

WHEN I RETIRE, me; it was like when Frank When I first met them Sinatra teamed up with they weren’t even called I WANT TO MAKE Dinah Washington. I don’t Daptone yet: It was Desco SURE THAT I CAN know what the future Records, and they’d just FIND SOME YOUNG, holds, but I hope it will discovered Lee Fields, who bring more great stuff like played old soul music.

TALENTED SOUL that. I just want to share They wanted three female SINGERS. WE’VE GOT the gift that God gave me, background singers for show people that you Lee’s record, but since TO KEEP SOUL ALIVE! and shouldn’t give up after 40.

I was the only one who You’ve got to keep going! showed up I sang all the backing parts myself. After that we recorded You’ve worked with all these other great a [solo track] called “Switchblade,” and the next thing I knew we were heading to Europe artists. What is it about the chemistry to open for Maceo Parker. Gabe (bass), Binky between you and the Dap-Kings that makes it special? (guitar) and Leon (saxophone) used to play It’s the music! Those guys write the greatest together in Antibalas and the Soul Providers songs, and sometimes I just sit back and when they were like 16 years old. Now watch them. They amaze me. We recorded they’re all in their late twenties. our new album years ago, but when I got the final version I listened to it for the first time You guys obviously got a lot more from top to bottom while driving on my way mainstream recognition when the band to a photo shoot. I was like, “Wow!” I got so played backup on Amy Winehouse’s breakthrough album, Back To Black. Was it into it, I had to stop myself before I got a big head! (Laughs) exciting to see that sound getting played on the radio?

Now that your cancer is in remission and Actually, no, because it wasn’t OUR stuff. you’re touring behind the new album, do Even though the Dap-Kings played on it, you feel like you’re more determined than it was Amy and Mark Ronson’s music. It ever to give the best performance you can was good exposure for Daptone as a record every time you step onstage? label, but Amy never gave props to me or Yes, absolutely! I’ll be 58 years old soon. I the Dap-Kings. But I knew we had inspired know I’ve got years to go, but I look around her, because when we started going over to at Mavis Staples and some of the other England there wasn’t but one other label [classic soul singers] coming back. They trying to do what we were doing. The next come back to the old school music because thing you know, you’ve got people like Duffy of the bands around here keeping it alive. and Adele following in her footsteps, but we It disturbs me that the music industry were the first and we stayed true to what we does not recognize Soul music. That’s were doing. my determination right now, for them to recognize that Soul music is here and that we It’s kind of like the way Elvis had to get need our own category I would love to see popular before people went back and that happen before I decide to retire. When discovered the black artists who had I retire, I want to make sure that I can find influenced him. Fortunately it came back around to bless you with opportunities, like some young, talented Soul singers. We’ve got working with Denzel Washington in The to keep Soul alive!

insiteatlanta.com • May 2014 • PG 23

CONCERT CALENDAR FRIDAY MAY 2 529 Apache Dropout AARON’S Arcade Fire BLIND WILLIE’S Houserocker Johnson CENTER STAGE Mogwai EARL Davina & the Harlots EDDIE’S ATTIC Elephant Revival FAT MATT’S Jon Sosobee LOFT 500 Songs for Kids MASQUERADE Marc Rizzo NORTHSIDE Scott Glazer Modo Dojo SMITH’S Sarah Michaud STAR BAR Lazer Wulf TABERNACLE HAIM VINYL Jaguar Wright WILD BILL’S Chris Hamrick SATURDAY MAY 3 529 Cherry Royale BLIND WILLIE’S Big Bill Morganfield CENTER STAGE Educated Gangster EARL Jessica Lea Mayfield EDDIE’S ATTIC Howie Day FAT MATT’S The Hollidays LOFT 500 Songs for Kids MASQUERADE Hellyeah NORTHSIDE Col. Bruce Hampton SMITH’S Frisky Monkey STAR BAR Hometeam ATL Mixtape VINYL Savannah Jam WILD BILL’S Almost Kings SUNDAY MAY 4 EDDIE’S ATTIC The Barefoot Movement MASQUERADE Underground Hype SMITH’S Medicine for the Soul VINYL Say Hi & Big Scary MONDAY MAY 5 529 Suno Deko BLIND WILLIE’S Bill Sheffield EARL Dick Dale EDDIE’S ATTIC Open Mic FAT MATT’S Pork Bellys MASQUERADE Colossal Heads SMITH’S Hot Buttered Rum STAR BAR Comedy TUESDAY MAY 6 529 Steve Gunn BLIND WILLIE’S Boo Hoo Ramblers EDDIE’S ATTIC Zaib Khan FAT MATT’S Crosstown Allstars MASQUERADE Howler PHILIPS Lady Gaga SMITH’S Never Feast STAR BAR Romeo Cologne’s Funk Royale TABERNACLE Grouplove WEDNESDAY MAY 7 529 Blueprint BLIND WILLIE’S John Sosebee CENTER STAGE Iggy Azalea EARL Cult Leader EDDIE’S ATTIC Gabe Dixon FAT MATT’S Frankie’s Blues Mission MASQUERADE Dillinger Escape Plan SMITH’S Glo Stick Willy STAR BAR Cadaver TABERNACLE The Wanted WILD BILL’S Watch Pocket

FAT MATT’S Rumblefish MASQUERADE Deer Tick NORTHSIDE Zydefunk SMITH’S Aaron Edward VINYL Roadkill Ghost Choir WILD BILL’S Rehab SATURDAY MAY 10 529 Peasant BLIND WILLIE’S James Armstrong CENTER STAGE Spoon EARL The Whigs EDDIE’S ATTIC Kurt Thomas FAT MATT’S Dr. Dixon MASQUERADE Benjamin Booker NORTHSIDE Ike Stubblefield SMITH’S Mood Rings STAR BAR Dasher TABERNACLE Corey Smith VINYL The Lone Bellow WILD BILL’S Jordan Rager SUNDAY MAY 11 EDDIE’S ATTIC Holly Williams FAT MATT’S Tony Bryant MASQUERADE Combichrist SMITH’S Grant Farm MONDAY MAY 12 529 The Clap BLIND WILLIE’S Brandon Reeves EARL Negura Bunget EDDIE’S ATTIC Open Mic LOFT The Aquabats PHILIPS Cher SMITH’S B-Side Players STAR BAR Comedy TUESDAY MAY 13 BLIND WILLIE’S Atlanta Boogie EARL Obits EDDIE’S ATTIC Marshall Ruffin FAT MATT’S Crosstown Allstars MASQUERADE Trivium SMITH’S Never Feast STAR BAR Romeo Cologne’s Funk Royale WEDNESDAY MAY 14 529 Spray Tan BLIND WILLIE’S Little G EARL The Gaslamp Killer EDDIE’S ATTIC Go Down Moses FAT MATT’S Frankie’s Blues Mission MASQUERADE Toadies SMITH’S N.I.K.K.I. DA STAR BAR Lauris Vidal THURSDAY MAY 15 529 Mike Dillon Band AARON’S Jason Aldean BLIND WILLIE’S Sandra Hall EARL Mystic Braves EDDIE’S ATTIC One Way Out FAT MATT’S Chickenshack LOFT Kongos SMITH’S I Want Whisky STAR BAR Lux Noise VINYL Comrade Blue

THURSDAY MAY 8 529 The Winter Sounds BLIND WILLIE’S Steve James CENTER STAGE James Blunt EARL Tobacco EDDIE’S ATTIC Tyrone Wells FAT MATT’S Chickenshack LOFT Spring Debutease Ball MASQUERADE Antikythera SMITH’S Johnnyswin VINYL Dirtwire

FRIDAY MAY 16 529 Curtis Harding AARON’S Jason Aldean BLIND WILLIE’S Houserocker Johnson CENTER STAGE Will Downing EARL Eagulls EDDIE’S ATTIC Peter Bradley FAT MATT’S The Fred Pittman Revue LOFT The Electronic Songs MASQUERADE Boondox NORTHSIDE Stoney Brooks SMITH’S Morgan Shaughnessy STAR BAR Sourvein VINYL Neulore

FRIDAY MAY 9 529 Lorelle Meets the Obsolete BLIND WILLIE’S Sandra Hall CENTER STAGE Ghost EARL Man Man EDDIE’S ATTIC Amanda Shires

SATURDAY MAY 17 529 Ex-Cult BLIND WILLIE’S Bob Margolin EARL ATL Collective EDDIE’S ATTIC Strung Like A Horse FAT MATT’S The Unusual Suspects

PG 24 • May 2014 • insiteatlanta.com

MASQUERADE Elder Sun NORTHSIDE Eddie Tigner & Albert White SMITH’S The Mad Violinist STAR BAR Clashinista VINYL Off The Wax SUNDAY MAY 18 CENTER STAGE Something Big EARL We Are Scientists EDDIE’S ATTIC Daniel Ellsworth FAT MATT’S Tony Bryant MASQUERADE Battle of the Bands SMITH’S Owen Beverly VINYL Afton Showcase MONDAY MAY 19 BLIND WILLIE’S Barrelhouse Bog Page EARL Quiet Life EDDIE’S ATTIC Open Mic MASQUERADE OCD: Moosh & Twist STAR BAR Comedy VINYL Wolf Gang TUESDAY MAY 20 529 Moving Unit BLIND WILLIE’S The Hollidays CENTER STAGE Ingrid Michaelson EARL Little Hurricane EDDIE’S ATTIC Ben Trickey FAT MATT’S Crosstown Allstars MASQUERADE Voltaire SMITH’S Never Feast STAR BAR Romeo Cologne’s Funk Royale WEDNESDAY MAY 21 529 The Convergence BLIND WILLIE’S Scott Glazer’s Mojo Dojo EARL Deathhammer FAT MATT’S Frankie’s Blues Mission MASQUERADE Primal Fear WILD BILL’S The Band Benefield SMITH’S Voodoo Visionary THURSDAY MAY 22 BLIND WILLIE’S Sweet Betty CENTER STAGE Logic EARL Jacuzzi Boys EDDIE’S ATTIC Matthew Mayfield FAT MATT’S Chickenshack SMITH’S Nino Augustine STAR BAR Rod Hamdallah

FRIDAY MAY 23 529 Withered BLIND WILLIE’S Houserocker Johnson EARL Pillage & Plunder EDDIE’S ATTIC Garrison Starr FAT MATT’S Blue Roads NORTHSIDE Mudcat SMITH’S Trey Broussard TABERNACLE Neon Trees VINYL Khleo Thomas WILD BILL’S Buckcherry SATURDAY MAY 24 529 Shantih Shantih AARON’S Dave Matthews Band BLIND WILLIE’S Francine Reed CENTER STAGE Jazzy Jeff EARL Young Widows EDDIE’S ATTIC Patrick Davis FAT MATT’S Dry White Toast NORTHSIDE Sammy Blue Band SMITH’S John Jones VINYL Afton Showcase VERIZON Styx, Foreigner SUNDAY MAY 25 BLIND WILLIE’S Tanglewood Tonic CENTER STAGE Cause For Laughter EARL Fu Manchu EDDIE’S ATTIC Mike Farris FAT MATT’S Tony Bryant MASQUERADE Red Fang SMITH’S Judith Owen VINYL Afton Showcase MONDAY MAY 26 EARL Surfer Blood EDDIE’S ATTIC Open Mic LOFT Anti Nowhere League STAR BAR Comedy TUESDAY MAY 27 BLIND WILLIE’S Blues Station EDDIE’S ATTIC Ed Roland FAT MATT’S Crosstown Allstars SMITH’S Never Feast STAR BAR Romeo Cologne’s Funk Royale WEDNESDAY MAY 28 529 Twin Trances BLIND WILLIE’S Electromatics EARL Chickens & Pigs EDDIE’S ATTIC Bombadil FAT MATT’S Frankie’s Blues Mission MASQUERADE ViliFi SMITH’S Josh Dorr STAR BAR Miss Tess & the Talkbacks VINYL Matt Hires THURSDAY MAY 29 BLIND WILLIE’S The Shadows EDDIE’S ATTIC Grant-Lee Phillips FAT MATT’S Chickenshack GWINNET ARENA Romeo Santos LOFT Uh Huh Her MASQUERADE Hands Like Houses SMITH’S Feedbak Revival STAR BAR Alchemy VINYL Turbo Fruits FRIDAY MAY 30 529 Turf War AARON’S Journey, Steve Miller Band BLIND WILLIE’S Delta Moon EARL Explorer’s Club EDDIE’S ATTIC Davin McCoy FAT MATT’S The Radio Ramblers MASQUERADE EDM Atlanta NORTHSIDE Mudcat SMITH’S Faithless Town TABERNACLE Freedom Project VINYL Afton Showcase SATURDAY MAY 31 529 Rod Hamdallah BLIND WILLIE’S Sandra Hall EARL Smithsonian EDDIE’S ATTIC Michelle Malone FAT MATT’S Sly Dog GWINNET ARENA Third Day

THEATER

TV

DON’T CRY FOR HER

TWISTED TALES

Broadway Performer Caroline Dermot Mulroney’s New Hostage Drama, Bowman On Portraying Eva Peron Crisis, Offers a Bus-Load of Thrills

BY ALEX S. MORRISON

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T’S ONLY BEEN A FEW YEARS SINCE she graduated from Penn State, but Baltimore native Caroline Bowman has already assembled quite a resume as a performer. She appeared in an International touring production of Fame during her senior year, graduated, and then went to Turkey to play Rizzo in Grease. She spent another 10 months on the road after being cast as the Lady of the Lake in the National tour of Spamalot.

The sefl-described “theatre geek” moved to New York City in October of 2011, and booked a spot in the Broadway company of Wicked three weeks later. Then she landed a plum role in the original Broadway cast of Kinky Boots (co-created by Cyndi Lauper), which went on to win the Tony Award for Best Musical.

Now, she’s starring in the title role in the Tonynominated revival of the Andrew Lloyd Webber/ TimRice classic Evita, which chronicles the life of Argentina’s charismatic former first lady and her rise from poverty to power. Bowman recently spoke with us about her love of Broadway musicals, the challenge of playing an iconic role like Eva Peron, and more.

When did you first fall in love with musical theatre, and what was it about the form that initially sparked your interest?

I think I knew from a very young age that I would grow up to be a performer. When I was eleven years old I did a production of The Secret Garden in which I played Mary Lennox, and in retrospect I believe I was hooked then. That was the first time I worked really hard for a role and knew how theatre made me feel. It was magical!

Talk to me about the first Broadway show you ever saw. What was it, and how did it impact you emotionally?

I’m not sure what the first Broadway show I saw was, but I saw many shows at the Kennedy Center. I think one of my firsts was Beauty and the Beast. I just knew that I wanted to be up there, doing what they do. I also got to a point where I saw shows and said, “I can do what they do.” I really saw myself up there.

You graduated from Penn State. Can you tell me a little bit about your journey as a performer from there to Broadway?

Well, my journey started before I graduated.

During my senior year I performed in the International tour of Fame. Then I came back and graduated. I went to Turkey for a production of Grease. Then I jumped on the National tour of Spamalot and did that for 10 months. After that, I knew I was ready to move to New York City. I moved in October of 2011, and three weeks after

I moved there I got very lucky and booked a spot in the Broadway company of Wicked. Then after that came Kinky Boots, and now Evita. There you go: That’s my last 5 years in a nutshell.

You were an original cast member for Kinky Boots, which won the Tony Award for Best Musical. How did you get cast, and what was the overall experience of performing in that show like?

I auditioned, just like everyone else! But I was also in the right place at the right time. I did the workshop for Kinky Boots and, if it moved forward. we would all go with it. It did, and I did.

That experience was truly life-changing. Working with the people I did and learning the things I did are priceless, and I will carry them with me the rest of my life.

What are the challenges in tackling an iconic Broadway role such as Eva Péron?

Everything. I am constantly challenged!

When you’re playing a role like this that’s based on a real person, do you feel an obligation to do historical research in order to “get it right,” or do you generally stick with what’s in the script?

I did a lot of research and I just kind of picked what worked for me when I was creating the character in the musical. I think it’s important to pay homage to the real person you are portraying, but also have the freedom to explore how you want to play her.

From Eva to Rizzo in Grease, you’ve tackled some pretty big challenges in your career.

Is there one particular role you’ve always dreamed of playing, but just haven’t had the opportunity yet?

I want to play a ton of roles. I would love to play Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady, Jo March in Little Women, Kate in Kiss me Kate, Queenie or Kate in The Wild Party, just to name a few. But I’m not sure my dream role has been written yet.

Stay tuned!

With shows like Spring Awakening and Kinky Boots, the art of Broadway musicals seems to be changing rapidly. Why do you think that’s important? Where do you think we’ll see things headed in the next decade as theatre tries to court a younger, more pop culturesavvy audience?

Like all art, I think musical theatre changes and molds over time. I think theatre is always there to do the same thing– suspend reality and take you to a different place for 2 to 3 hours. I’m not sure where theatre is headed in the next decade, but I’m excited and thrilled to be a part of it!

BY LEE VALENTINE SMITH

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BC’S FAST-PACED EPISODIC thriller Crisis debuted in March. The series tells the story of an ambushed school bus full of the offspring of Washington D.C.’s elite. The frightened kids– including the President’s son and the daughter of a top CEO – are held hostage, along with two adults, including Francis Gibson, a parent/chaperone played by busy actor Dermot Mulroney (Young Guns, My Best Friend’s Wedding). The stellar cast also includes Gillian Anderson (The X Files), and the cleverly-crafted storyline focuses on the impact the kidnapping has on the influential family members. The always affable Mulroney recently spoke with the press about the show.

We usually think of you as a leading man. But when we first see you in “Crisis”, it looks as if you are among the taken. Then it turns out that you may not be quite who you first appear to be. Can you talk about the hidden elements of your character?

I can talk about them, sure. There are more hidden elements of the character of Gibson than the current view has any idea about. There’s an incredible plot twist, several of them in fact in the opening episode. But what you need to know is that this keeps happening week after week. It’s what makes this show so fun as it evolved in its story. I just kept being so pleased by the twists and turns of the plot. And there’s more to come.

Your character is a part of the scheme and the kidnapping, but a twist is that he also has his own daughter involved. Can you talk about how we’re going to see that affect your character?

Well, the story gets really crazy but what stays the same is how much he loves his daughter and how important it is for him to repair his relationship with her and put his family back together. Now his intentions are good, and you will see that his methods are questionable at times, but then you’ll learn how effective it is. And so the story makes you really question motives versus results. For a long time I thought it would be kind of a grind to play the same character over and over again, so that was one of the things that kept me doing films only. But I was wrong, all I had to do was find a character like this because I was thrilled to work as this character for such a long time.

You mentioned the complex turns in the story.

Did you know a lot of those twists ahead of time or are you kind of learning it as the story unfolds? And how does that knowledge affect your portrayal?

Yes, it is true that I had very little knowledge of what was coming moments later. We’d get the scripts about four or five days in advance. The thing is, we did the whole season as planned - 13 episodes - so now I know everything and it’s awesome. There’s some really good sideline twists in our story, too. It’s not alien mother ships or anything but some nice touches.

I’m wondering is there a clear-cut answer on whether your character is good or bad? And if there is an answer, do you have a preference as to whether he’s guilty or innocent?

No, I have no preference; I prefer that people wonder. But yes, I do know for myself and quite clearly is that he is good. The intrigue of the story was the reveal for me each week. So, to answer your question, I loved it.

Did you develop a backstory for this guy, or is it all what they tell you?

No, it’s all what they tell you. I think that television typically works like that. You’ve always heard it’s a writer’s medium and so forth, so I came in knowing that I would just be doing the job that I was asked to do. But that’s how it’s done really. There wasn’t anything I could add and that wasn’t my job, either. This was fun because I was reading the scripts like a spy novel and then just doing what they said.

If you could take a page out of the script and implement it in your life, what page would it be?

Francis Gibson’s really good on the phone. You know people like that? You’ll see what I mean later. If I had that same facility on, you know, to do business on the telephone who knows what I could have accomplished. He’s just one of those people that’s got that skill.

And then if you could change anything in your script, what would it be?

Oh I wouldn’t change it, but I will say that by the sixth month of sort of tying my character’s pinky down to my hand. You know, I was wishing that the self-amputation hadn’t happened [in the story]. And I’ll be honest with you, it made me a little cranky there at the end.

But I wouldn’t change it: It was well worth it. It’s slightly uncomfortable, as you’d imagine, but it also because it was very inconvenient everyday to have the make-up man strap your finger down, but I wouldn’t change it. And you’ll see that the amputated pinky comes into play as the show continues. I mean, you saw the kid put it in the cup of ice, right? So stay tuned for that, too.

Crisis airs Sundays at 10:00 pm on NBC. Check local listings for time and channel.

insiteatlanta.com • May 2014 • PG 25

TRAVEL

THE SECRET TRAIL IN THE CITY OF PETRA, JORDAN

BY BRET LOVE; PHOTOS BY BRET LOVE & MARY GABBETT

I

CRIED TEARS OF JOY WHEN we visited Jordan‘s ancient City of Petra.

I don’t care how many times you’ve read about this ”rose-red city half as old as time” (as poet John William Burgon once described it): NOTHING can prepare you for the intense emotion of seeing this immense archaeological wonder in person.

From the first moment I laid eyes on Al Khazneh (a.k.a. The Treasury)– stopping dead in my tracks to marvel at a tantalizing glimpse from between the sheer sandstone cliffs of the Siq– I was mesmerized by the majesty of this otherworldly desert dream. But that’s not why I cried…

Petra is easily the #1 tourist attraction in Jordan, attracting around 600,000 visitors a year. So we got there just after sunrise in an attempt to beat the crowds.

We failed, miserably. By the time we got to the Treasury, hundreds of people were already milling about and posing for photos. I was strangely disappointed by this, but had heard tales of a secret hidden hiking trail– rarely taken by tourists– that led to stunning views from above the Treasury.

The incredulous look on the face of our guide, Ali Abudayeh, when I told him we wanted to make the arduous trek (up more than 500 stairs, after walking 14 km the previous day and another 3 km+ to get to the Treasury) was absolutely priceless. “Are you sure?” he asked, clearly concerned. But if we were game, then so was he.

So we made our way down a street lined with facades (whose style was copied from the front of a Roman temple) carved into the richly colored rock while Ali told us more about Petra’s history.

Established sometime around 300 BC as the capital city of the Nabataeans, Petra was the center of the region’s caravan trade thanks to their ability to control the region’s water supply via dams, cisterns and water conduits.

With the wealth resulting from selling this water to travelers, they constructed elaborate monuments and tombs boasting a mixture of Greek and Egyptian influence.

After the Nabataeans were conquered by the Romans around 100 AD, Petra began to decline. Over centuries, countless treasures were stolen from the tombs and some structures collapsed due to flooding, erosion and weathering. Unknown in the Western world until it was introduced by Swiss explorer Johann Ludwig Burckhardt, the city of Petra became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1985, and is now consistently ranked among the world’s greatest wonders.

Today, Bedouins are the only ones allowed to live here, camping in caves all around Petra at night and hawking their various wares by day. They’ve been here for centuries, and the women of the region were famously enlisted

by T.E. Lawrence (a.k.a. Lawrence of Arabia) during the Arab Revolt to help repel an attack on the city, ultimately devastating the Turkish/German forces.

Many tourists rent Bedouin pack mules to carry them through the vast city, but the donkeys couldn’t go where the hidden trail would take us. The trail is unmarked and fairly rarely traveled, but its base is located directly across from the tombs (if you reach the amphitheater, you’ve gone too far). Look for a 6 x 6-foot, heart-shaped hole in the rocks, PG 26 • May 2014 • insiteatlanta.com

then clamber up, through and over it to find your way.

There are incredible sights you’ll see along the way that are not marked on any city of Petra maps we’ve found, such as the “Painted Room,” which boasted some of the most colorful rock striations we’ve encountered.

These koka (burial chambers carved into rock) were a common form of burial for wealthy people in ancient times, and line the hills all around Petra.

The hike provided an incredible vista of the Amphitheater, which was carved into the foot of the mountain called en-Nejr in order to give attendees the best possible view of the elaborate tombs surrounding it.

Here, thousands of people would crowd in to watch poetry recitations and theatrical performances. It was impossible not to feel the energy of the past resonating throughout the hillside.

As we climbed higher, gradually working our way around the entire base of the mountain, we passed monument after monument that looked strikingly similar to the Treasury. The Urn, Silk, Corinthian and Palace tombs were all in varying states of ruin– the erosion of the centuries was much more evident here– but impressive nonetheless. We looked up to see a lone Berber man sitting atop his donkey on the summit as the sun crept higher and hotter into the sky, and finally reached the beginning of the staircase that would lead us to the top.

I’ll spare you the gory details of our exertion, but you can do the math: Over 500 steep rock stairs, nearly 100-degree temperatures, after hiking 4 km that morning and 14 km the day before. We were exhausted, but the stunning scenery along the way (including this herd of goats resting in the shade of a sheer rock cliff several hundred feet above the valley floor)– and the reward we knew lie waiting for us at the summit– encouraged us to press on.

When we reached the top of the stairs, completely exhausted and somewhat dehydrated, even Ali did not seem quite sure of which way to go to see the Treasury.

He admitted that, despite guiding hundreds of visitors to the city of Petra, he’d only climbed this route a few times. If people don’t specifically ask to go there, guides as a rule do not offer.

As we worked our way around the summit, we saw only one other hardy hiker. What we did see was a donkey, a small Bedouin tent, and a handsome young man starting a fire to boil some delicious Berber tea. His name was Mahmoud, and he’d grown up within the walls of this ancient city, sleeping in the caves at night. His family led tourists up to the Monastery by donkey, but Mahmoud seemed content with his hospitality tent, catering to the rare adventurer who made their way to one of the most beautiful spots we’ve ever seen.

As I shrugged off the heavy backpack and settled into position at the edge of the cliff high above the Treasury, this is the aweinspiring view that greeted my weary eyes.

As Mahmoud handed us steaming hot glasses of black tea with sage and Ali proposed a toast to our health, those eyes welled up with tears. I’d dreamed of this moment for over 20 years– ever since seeing Petra in Indiana Jones & the Last Crusade– and I was simply overwhelmed with the beauty of this ancient archaeological relic.

It wasn’t so muuch the aesthetic appeal of

the monument that made me cry, but the significance of the moment. My wife and I have sacrificed so much in the pursuit of our crazy dream of traveling the world. We’ve invested so much of our time and energy into building our website (GreenGlobalTravel. com) to be something we could be truly proud of, and there are inevitable moments in the ongoing struggle when you start to wonder if it’s all worth it.

In that moment, when our little website took us halfway across the world, to the heart of the Middle East, to a sight very, very few people ever get to see (whether because they do not know it exists or are unwilling to make the climb), it was more than worth it. It was a symbolic moment, reminding us that it truly does pay to work hard and dream big.

I’ve been to dozens of hookah bars and

restaurants over the years, and have never before had the urge to try it. But suddenly it felt like the thing to do. Mahmoud loaded his bowl with fragrant, fruity “Hubby Bubbly” and passed it over to me. Mary and I sat there on top of the world, drinking hot tea, smoking a hookah, savoring the peace and tranquility of knowing we were exactly where we were supposed to be.

This vida loca doesn’t always offer moments of crystal-clear metaphysical clarity, but our arduous trek up a secret hidden trail in the ancient city of Petra gave us a rare gift: It not only rewarded us for our willingness to venture off the beaten path, both in Jordan and in life, but it confirmed that this insane path is precisely the one we are supposed to be on.

And that, dear readers, has made all the difference.

MUSIC

THE TOADIES

Singer/Guitasrist Vaden Todd Lewis Speaks to INsite

BY JOHN B. MOORE

T

HERE WAS NO OBVIOUS INDICATION THAT Rubberneck, the debut full-length from The Toadies, would be as successful as it was. Released in 1994, the record certainly boasted an album’s worth of great, dark rock songs (among them the hard-to-ignore “Possum Kingdom”).

But it didn’t have the obvious grunge hallmarks that typically equaled million-seller status at the time.

But someone obviously took notice, as the album spawned half a dozen hit singles and went on to sell more than a million copies. The band, which has been officially reunited since 2006, is now celebrating the record’s 20th anniversary with a new tour playing the album in its entirety, before headlining their signature Dia De Los Toadies festival this summer.

Singer/Guitarist Vaden Todd Lewis was cool enough to answer a few questions via e-mail recently.

It’s been 20 years since Rubberneck first came out. When you were working on that record, did you ever imagine that it would not only sell so many copies, but be big enough that you would still be talking about it 20 years later?

Oh, hell no! I was pretty convinced it’d be in the cut-out bin within a year. I mean, it didn’t sound like Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Stone Temple Pilots or any other big bands of the time. I was confident it was a good record, but I never imagined anybody outside the four of us and a few friends would like it.

What do you think it was about that record that clicked with the public?

I have no idea. Maybe because the lyrics are direct, yet vague. I’ve heard a lot of interpretations of my songs through the years, and it never gets old.

Did the success of Rubberneck make it that much harder to

create a follow-up? album In a way, I guess so. The success of that record resulted in a tour that seemed to never end, and went on way too long for anybody’s sanity.

I know there were some problems with the label not digging the follow-up. Did that eventually lead to the band calling it quits for a while?

That was one of the straws, yeah. It was definitely not the last straw, but it was a straw.

Of the new tracks that are on this re-release, were they all recorded in the same sessions? Why didn’t “Run in With Dad” and “Rockfish” make the cut the first time around?

Yeah, those were tracked during the Rubberneck session. “Rockfish” was supposed to have words, but I never found the right angle. I think I felt that “Run-In” was a bit too silly. In hindsight, it’s no more silly than anything else I had written up to that point. I didn’t want “Stop It” on the record because I wanted a full album of original material.

Do you ever get resentful when you’re playing shows that there is an expectation among the audience that you will have to play hits like “Possum Kingdom” and “Backslider”?

Nope. There was a point when I was tired of touring (see above), but I was sick of the whole she-bang at that point. I don’t recall ever feeling resentful about the fans’ expectations. My job is a fairly easy one: Play music, don’t preach, and let people leave their bags at the door. If I can get ‘em to nod their heads along to an odd time signature, that’s a bonus.

You’re going to be playing the album from start to finish on this latest tour. Did you have to re-learn any of the deeper cuts from Rubberneck?

We’ve hit all these songs from time to time, just to keep sharp and see the reaction. So I think we’ll be OK. Muscle memory is a crazy thing.

Have you started working on recording the next album yet?

We’re in post-production right now. Not sure how much I can say about it, but it’s “kind-of-new-but-not-really-but-sorta.” It’s going to be like a fully realized first night of our annual festival.

Do you have plans for another Dia De Los Toadies again this year? ...and speaking of our annual festival... Yes! It’ll be in Fort Worth again, and we’re all looking forward to it. We’re already in the process of confirming the supporting acts.

What else is next for the band?

We leave on tour in a couple weeks. That will take us into June or July. It’s gonna be a busy year!

Those are all the questions I have. Anything else you want to cover?

That’s about it. Well, there is one more thing... If someone comes to a Toadies show and, five songs after we play “Tyler,” yells “Play TYYYYYYLER!” ...that person is an asshole!

THE HEALING POWER OF MUSIC Hassan Hakmoun on Morocco’s Gnawa Music & Culture

BY BRET LOVE

K

NOWN AS “THE GODFATHER OF Gnawa music,” Hassan Hakmoun is arguably the most famous musician ever to emerge from Morocco.

Born in Marrakech in 1963, he grew up with a mother widely known as a mystic healer who conducted trance-inducing ceremonies (referred to as lila or derdeba)– typically all-night affairs in which hypnotic music, dance and chanting is used to heal illness and communicate with or exorcise spirits. Rooted in ancient African Islamic spiritual traditions, Gnawa music captured Hakmoun’s interest at an early age, and by the time he was 14 he was leading his own musical ensemble.

A master of the sintir– a 3-stringed bass lute with a body made of camel skin stretched over nutwood– Hakmoun moved to New York in the late ‘80s, becoming a star on the jazzrock-world music fusion scene. He recorded one album with jazz trumpeter Don Cherry, another for Peter Gabriel’s Real World label,

and turned icons like Miles Davis, David Sanborn and U2 producer Daniel Lanois into rabid fans. In recent years he’s worked with a diverse array of artists ranging from Latin hip-hop hybrids Ozomatli to his ex-wife, singersongwriter Paula Cole.

Now, nearly 20 years after his last solo album, Hassan Hakmoun is back with a new CD, Unity, on his own Healing Records label. It’s a rollicking record rooted in Gnawa musical traditions, combining spiritual call-andresponse vocals with hypnotic percussion, mesmerizing bass, and deep African blues grooves. I was truly honored to get a chance to speak with a legendary artist I’ve listened to for 20+ years now, covering everything from the healing power of Gnawa music to his favorite places to go in Morocco.

How would you describe your childhood in Morocco?

It wasn’t an easy life. It isn’t like America, where no matter how old you are you can get a free education. In Morocco, if you’re in the same class for three years, then you’re out. If you make it to the 5th grade and you passed Arabic, but you didn’t pass French, then they will graduate you to an all-Arabic school.

What can you tell me about the culture of Morocco?

Oh, the culture is fantastic! People are very friendly there and will greet you on the street.

If you’re a tourist, they’ll invite you into their house and cook for you. They take extremely good care of you, because they want contact with the outside world. I think Morocco is one of the most musically advanced countries in Africa, as far as classical and traditional music. Growing up, I had influences from

Spain, West Africa and East Africa.

What can you tell me about the healing powers of Gnawa music?

I was born into the Gnawa culture, but didn’t get involved with it until a spirit touched my 2-year-old sister. We traditionally don’t pour hot water or take a hot shower after midnight, so that we don’t burn any spirits, which are active at night. But my sister poured hot water into a drain in front of our door. She burned a spirit child, and they burned her back. She woke up in the morning with her body completely marked with cigarette burns. My mother did a lila (or “night”) ceremony for her, and the Gnawa came in and performed.

What was the ceremony like?

They sacrificed a goat so that its blood could go into the drain to make peace with the spirits.

Then they wrapped my sister in the skin of the goat and began playing drums and singing.

When they took her out, she was clean: It was like nothing had ever happened. When I saw that, I thought, “Wow, that’s what I want to do!”

But I never told my family what I was doing until the age of 14.

How did they found out that you had been studying Gnawa musical traditions?

My mother had hired musicians to play for a ceremony, but one didn’t show up. The people who were working for my mom said, “But your son is a master!” and she started laughing. They said, “No really, check him out!” They came in looking for me, and said, “You are going to do the ceremony today.” That was the first time my mother ever saw me perform. On that day, I started playing ceremonies for her and for other people.

Why do you think Gnawa music has such a mystical appeal?

I think it’s the hypnotic sound of the sintir and the words, which are mostly a prayer. Every song that is performed in the culture has different meanings. This music originated in the time of the prophet Muhammad, and the first call to prayer. The first freed slave in the Muslim society had a beautiful voice, and he became the first person to call prayer. He used to play wooden castanets and sing. That music also traveled to West African countries such as Niger and Mali.

You’re known as the Godfather of Gnawa music. What makes your take on the genre so unique?

By the time I learned Gnawa musical traditions at the age of 14, I was already being influenced by artists like Miles Davis and Michael Jackson. So I always try to do different things with Gnawa music from the rest of the groups I work with in Morocco. I incorporate a lot of different influences into my music. I also helped start the Gnaoua Music Festival 17 years ago, and now the festival attracts over 500,000 people.

It’s been nearly 20 years since your last album.

How has your sound evolved on Unity?

The Fire Within was just me, and I made it very quickly. With Unity, I’m performing for peace and love. Musically, that is the way I fit into the planet. Love, and helping others, is what this album is about. We are all here temporarily.

If you really want to help someone, you do it by communicating and helping the needy. The prophets were not killers: All they said was, “Love yourself and love your neighbors.” insiteatlanta.com • May 2014 • PG 27

MUSIC

OFF THE RACK

The Coathangers Slim Down to a Trio With Suck My Shirt

BY BRET LOVE

I

T’S AMAZING TO REALIZE THAT THE Coathangers are rapidly approaching their 10th anniversary.

The band was started as something of a joke by four females who didn’t even know how to play their instruments. Never known for their subtlety, the Atlanta-based garage-rockers were named after a back-alley abortion method, and their self-titled 2007 debut included in-your-face song titles such as “Don’t Touch My Shit!” and “Nestle in My Boobies.”

But mixed in with the punk-influenced antagonism was a healthy dose of spunky DIY charm, which remains stronger than ever on their latest album, Suck My Shirt. We recently spoke with Coathangers guitarist Julia Kugel (a.k.a. Crook Kid Coathanger) about ambition, evolution, and the challenges of life as a kick-ass all-female rock band.

None of you were musicians when you first met. What was the allure of being in a band back then?

I think everyone kinda secretly wants to be in a band! I mean, why not, right?? But for us it was because we all had played other instruments in the past and wanted to play the instruments we really wanted to play and create our own sound.

We all had family members, friends, or boyfriends in bands, and saw how much fun it was. So, yeah, that also played a part.

What were the advantages and disadvantages of NOT being a kick-ass musician when you first started the band?

Oh man... we got so much heckling and bad reviews and shit talk from every angle. But that haterade kinda pushed us to become better and prove to ourselves and others that we could, in fact, get it right. I mean, we’re still trying to push ourselves.

We wanna become as good as we can and continue to create good music that people can enjoy.

What were some of the key musical influences that you all had in common?

We all came from different music “scenes.” However we all shared a lot of interests, like Patsy Cline, Beastie Boys, Joan

Jett, White Stripes, The Ramones, etc.

When you started, did you ever suspect that you’d be doing this professionally 8 years later? Were there any specific ambitions in those early days?

Not really! (Laughs) But it’s been so much fun, and it’s kinda become who we are– or maybe who we already were– so it hasn’t seemed that long! But yeah, we never really put a time limit to anything. We just kept growing and setting goals until it kinda snowballed! We still don’t have an expiration date on the band. We just keep trying to conquer and rule as hard as possible.

Atlanta’s indie-rock scene seems to have evolved quite a bit over the past decade. What was it like when you first started, and how has it changed?

When we first started it was back in the Rob’s House Records/Die Slaughterhaus days. Bands like the Black Lips and Deerhunter were playing these house parties in their basements, and it was bananas! There was a lot of punk bands, like The Carbonas, Gentlemen Jesse, The Booze, Beat Beat Beat, Predator, etc. It was kinda like one big, messed-up family… and it ruled. But then life happens: People grew up, got married, moved, had kids, and it kinda died way the hell down. Today, there’s still a great music scene, but it’s just different. There are a lot of new young kids coming up, but there’s still a bunch of rad bands, like Zoners, Biters, Dino’s Boys, Mastodon....

The Coathangers seem to have avoided being marketed based on looks rather than the music. Have you consciously fought off the notion of “selling out”?

We have consciously tried not to brand ourselves on the fact that we’re women, but I don’t think that’s the same as selling out. It’s cool if we get recognition because we’re female, but we definitely don’t wanna be over-sexualized or only recognized because of that. It’s a fine line, but at the end of the day we wanna be respected for the music we make.

Suck My Shirt is your fourth album. How would you say your songwriting has evolved on this one?

It’s been a natural progression. I suppose we’re more aware about song structure and lyrics. Also, going from being a quartet to a trio has changed the process a bit: We try to fill in the songs with more backup vocals, and there’s more use of guitar pedals.

What started out a joke is now approaching its 10th year.

Where do you want to take The Coathangers in the future?

To the moon! (Laughs) But yeah, we are super excited about [our 10th anniversary], and we plan on doing everything under the sun and beyond!

Rock ‘n’ roll has historically been a male-dominated business.

What are the positives and negatives of being an all-female band trying to navigate the industry?

This is always a hard one to answer because, although there are some obvious negatives that are female- specific, most of the problems we had are the same ones dudes experience. It does suck when a venue doesn’t take us seriously at first, perhaps because we’re ladies, or some asshat in the audience yells, “Show me yer titties!” But, other than that, it’s probably not that different.

THE CULT OF BAYSIDE

New York-Based Rockers Return With a New Album & Label

BY JOHN B. MOORE

A

LOT HAS HAPPENED WITH Bayside since their last album of original music, 2011’s Killing Time.

The band has switched labels, ending up on Hopeless Records; frontman Anthony Raneri put out a solo record and became a father; and the quartet’s members have taken up residence in different cities across the country. But they still found time to reunite and record a new album, Cult, putting to rest any speculation that the 14-year-old group was calling it quits.

A recent transplant to Nashville, Raneri took some time recently to talk with us about the band’s move to Hopeless, his solo work, and what’s next for Bayside.

Congrats on fatherhood! I have kids myself, so I understand how it changes the way you look at everything. Has having a baby made you evaluate the band, being a touring musician, or anything like that?

PG 28 • May 2014 • insiteatlanta.com

Any plans for another solo album?

I’m sure that I will at some point. Bayside is always my priority. I had some songs that I knew wouldn’t fit on a solo record that I wanted to get out some day. When Bayside had a nice chunk of time off, I started working on it. Whenever we have another chunk of time away from Bayside then I’ll probably do something else. It may be a solo record and it may be a new band project.

I WAS TOLD A LONG You also moved recently to TIME AGO THAT IF YOU You had been on Victory Nashville. How is that going GET TO MAKE ANOTHER to change the way the band RECORD AND DO ANOTHER Records for years, and then put out an album on Windworks, living in different TOUR, THAT MEANS cities?

THAT THE LAST ONE WAS up. What made you decide to hook up with Hopeless for I’m spending about half of SUCCESSFUL. this record? my time in Nashville now, When we were talking to labels about and still spend a lot of time in New York. releasing this record, we felt right away that Jack is also in Nashville now, and Chris is in Hopeless was going to be a comfortable fit. It LA. But we are still New York-based though. felt like our roots. They felt more like partners When we rehearse or have any band things than a label. It has been like working with to do, we all fly into New York and meet up like-minded people with a common goal who there. are genuinely fans of the music that they are promoting.

You put out your first solo record not that long ago. Was that experience odd at all, just How would you describe your past having your name up front? experience with record labels?

I had a lot of fun creating music that way.

They have all been learning experiences.

I love making music with the band and Victory and Wind-up were good to us, but collaborating, and it was cool to try it in a with any relationship there is a give and take. total non-collaboration form. It was a little We owe a lot to those labels. In 2003, we scary to think that every decision would have mailed our demo around to every label in the to get made by me. I enjoyed it, though. The country and Victory were the only ones who weirdest thing about going by my name was called back. If it weren’t for everyone there, seeing it on a t-shirt you may have never heard of us.

It has mainly made me evaluate myself as a man. It has made me think a lot about who I am, what I stand for and what my legacy is and will be. That line of thinking is definitely carrying over into my writing but it hasn’t made me think of the band or touring any differently. Being away from home has always been hard and it’s even harder now, but I still love what I do. It’s a part of who I am.

How would you describe the sound of Cult?

Is there an overall theme to these songs?

We think that we figured out a long time ago what Bayside was supposed to sound like, and we really don’t stray too far from that sound. We just try to get better at being Bayside. Cult, I think, is a natural progression and the best version of Bayside. It is a band that is very comfortable in its own skin and very confident. Lyrically speaking, the themes of these songs compared to past ones is that they focus a lot more on life and death and the meaning of both. Making the most of your time and leaving behind a life that is worth eulogizing.

So what’s next for you and the band?

I really don’t know. We’ll keep on trucking along and doing what we do. We’ve always worn blinders and stay focused on the next task. Writing the next record better, performing on the next tour better. I was told a long time ago that if you get to make another record and do another tour, that means that the last one was successful. We have far surpassed any success or goals that we could have imagined, so now the only goal is to do this as long as we possibly can and the fans will let us.

Those are all the questions I had. Anything else you wanted to talk about?

Make sure to check out our tour and get your tickets at www.baysidebayside.com.

SPORTS

SPORTS

2014 NBA PLAYOFFS GUIDE FANATIC

A Monthly Sports Wrap-up

BY DEMARCO WILLIAMS

T

HANKS TO A CERTAIN BIGOTED L.A. Clippers owner who shall remain nameless on this page, librarians and boutique shop owners who could care less about basketball were paying attention to the NBA in late April.

Now that league commissioner Adam Silver has silenced the controversial figure with a firm, swift hand, the month of May can focus on basketball court happenings again. Now, if you turn your head away from TMZ and back onto TNT, you’ll find some interesting narratives that include upstart franchises, struggling upper seeds and more.

Look closer and you’ll also see the Miami Heat, the NBA’s best overall team for the greater part of the last 30 months and INsite’s pre-season pick to repeat as world champs. With the Heat’s breezy first-round sweep against the Charlotte Bobcats, it’s no headline that we’re still going with them now. The only thing left to discuss now is the team that has any shot of eliminating Miami…

BY DEMARCO WILLIAMS

5. L.A. CLIPPERS

We won’t be so ignorant as to say a Heat threepeat is an inevitability, but we will emphatically say that Kim Kardashian and Kayne West’s marriage has a better chance at lasting 20 years than Miami does of losing its title. There’s just too much going in the Heat’s favor — Dwyane Wade’s rested body, LeBron James’ awesomeness, the East’s terribleness — for them to cool off now.

The adversity this team went through over the last week of April dealing with its racist owner is unprecedented in American sports.

Commend Clippers head coach Doc Rivers, team leader Chris Paul and the rest of the team for keeping the team’s collective head in the game. When it comes to out-hustling the Warriors or whomever else they’ll face the rest of the way, it’ll be up to Paul, Blake Griffin and the unheralded DeAndre Jordan (12.2 points, 13.8 rebounds average vs.

Golden State) to keep the squad’s foot on the pedal.

2. SAN ANTONIO

6. BROOKLYN

1. MIAMI

Through the first four games of their opening-round series versus the nagging Dallas Mavericks, the Spurs’ big three (Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili) has averaged nearly 54 points a night. This consistent play from the ageless wonders should be just enough to get past Dallas, go deep in the postseason and forever silence the haters’ sideline chatter about Father Time catching up with these guys.

3. PORTLAND

One of the league’s brightest stories of 2014, these Nets have seemingly figured out how to get so many big-ticketed names to play along to a single script. (Nearly as amazing is how quiet those early-season Jason Kidd doubters are today.) We like Joe Johnson’s play of late (eight games of 15-plus points in April), and would love the opportunity to see him, Paul Pierce and Co. tangle with King James for the right to go to the Eastern Finals.

Of the 18 ESPN experts polled about the outcome of the Portland-Houston firstround match-up, 15 chose the Rockets.

Seems as if the so-called pros are just as guilty as everyday fans of undervaluing the Trail Blazers, a squad that went 54-28 this year. Quietly cruising in its series with Houston at press time, the Blazers have used a revved-up offense (118 points per game) to shut down anything the Rockets have tried. If this scoring display continues, they’ll stare the Spurs down in the next round and still get overlooked by the masses.

7. GOLDEN STATE

4. OKLAHOMA CITY

Much like the relentless Washington Wizards and Atlanta Hawks, these Grizzlies were originally considered a playoff afterthought. But after watching all three of these gutsy, we’re-getting-every-loose-ball teams in action, that can no longer be the case. Still, what separates Memphis from the other Cinderellas is playoff experience and a balanced scoring attack — In their riveting Game 5 victory over the Thunder, seven Grizz players had at least seven points — that OKC and others have the darnedest times figuring out.

Everyone in Memphis is having a WTF moment with this selection (especially considering how four of the five first-round games between the Grizzlies and Thunder went to OT, and how the Grizzlies were leading 3-2 in the series when we went to press). But it’s hard betting against a team led by likely NBA MVP Kevin Durant.

Should the Thunder survive this openinground scare, they’ll be a battle-tested group no one will want to tussle with in future rounds.

AARON HARANG

“At this stage in his career, [Michael] Vick is motivated by the opportunity to become a starter in the league again. He wants another shot. He isn’t ready to end his career or to ride it out as a backup to a younger player.

After he lost his starting job in Philadelphia to Nick Foles in the middle of last season, Vick proved that he could be a supportive, encouraging No. 2, but that’s not who he wants to be. He doesn’t necessarily want to be a mentor. He wants to be the guy.” –ESPN. com’s Ashley Fox on the VICK VS. GENO SMITH QB BATTLE WITH THE NEW YORK JETS

It’s hard to imagine how rumors ever started around the league about Warriors coach Mark Jackson’s job being at risk if his team lost in the first round. If Golden State should fold to the gifted Clippers in six or seven games, that’s nothing to be ashamed about. However, if Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and David Lee can somehow get past the now-inspired L.A. club and push OKC to six or seven in the next round, Coach Jackson should actually angle for a small raise.

8. MEMPHIS

We’re still a few weeks from Memorial Day yet the stadiums around MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL have already offered us plenty of surprises. Here are the five things that shocked us most in April: 5) San Francisco 1B Brandon Belt’s 6 HRs; 4) Boston’s 8-10 start; 3) NY Yankees 3B Yangervis Solarte’s .370 BA 2) Arizona’s 5-14 start 1) Atlanta Braves pitcher Aaron Harang’s 3-1, 0.70 ERA. “[NCAA President Mark Emmert] and I have had an ongoing dialogue, not only just about the one-and-done rule, but about officiating, how we can come together on the rules of the game to make it more of a smooth transition from college to the NBA, and we talked generally about things we can be doing to improve the collegiate experience.” –NBA COMMISSIONER ADAM SILVER, ON THE PROSPECT OF A 20-YEAR-OLD AGE MINIMUM FOR THE NBA While Silver, Emmert and the union work out age specifics, JABARI PARKER, ANDREW WIGGINS AND ALL OF THIS YEAR’S OTHER EARLY-DRAFT ENTRANTS won’t have their dreams of playing professional balls squandered. Of the young studs who’ve declared for the NBA, these are the three sleepers you better hope your favorite team has its eyes on: 3) Johnny O’Bryant III, LSU; 2) Jarnell Stokes, Tennessee; 1) Kyle Anderson, UCLA. “It shows a lot of character on our team, but at the same time, it doesn’t mean anything if we don’t win the whole thing. We have home court. We did a good job. But we know it

doesn’t guarantee anything. We just have to stay focused and we know we have a long way to go… It’s a fine line between losing and winning. We were close, but at the same time, you have to give credit to Miami. They won it. So we just have to focus on this year and not think about last year. Last year is last year, and we have a great opportunity to try to win this one.” –SAN ANTONIO SPURS’ TONY PARKER And finally…

The Braves’ Harang is just the third pitcher since 1900 with multiple starts where he finished with at least 6 innings of no-hit ball but didn’t finish the contest… According to PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem, we probably won’t see Tiger Woods in competitive play after his back injury until July, meaning he’ll likely miss The Players Championship (May 8-11) and U.S. Open (June 12-15)… Fanatic is wishing alwaysentertaining (and dapperly dressed) TNT sideline reporter Craig Sager a speedy recovery from leukemia treatment.

Coming next month!

Summer Guide

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OFF TRACKTHE SUITS RACK HOME RELEASES OUR FAVORITE THINGS Vol. 2:Coathangers Is This Indie? Slim Down to a Trio With Suck My Shirt The B I

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CoathangersFOR seemTHE to have trouble yourself– I have everything AMAZING TOinREALIZE THATofTHE DON’T ASK ME QUESTIONS It’s T’S the second chapter our exploration Graham Parker When & The you started, did you ever suspect These days,consciously many moms are on looks rather than the music. Have you fought you’d doing variety.that Here are abefew areofrapidly approaching anniversary. thisCoathangers bold new “Age the Single, ” and we’retheir 10thRumour aren’t pulling bringing home the bacon and off the notion of “selling out”? intriguing gift ideas for the this professionally 8 years later?

Were there any specific Theforband was started something of a joke byin four females going the rare criticismasdouble back-flip ISABELLE GRACE Springsteen-sized it upourselves in the pan.

We have consciously tried notfrying to brand on The the fact ambitions in those early days? important ladies in your life: who didn’t eventoknow to play their Never by attempting definehow something that’sinstruments. numbers, but there’s Casserole Crock Slow Cooker that we’re women, but I don’t think that’s the same as selling Not really!

(Laughs) But it’s been so much fun, and it’s kinda known for their subtlety, the Atlanta-based garage-rockers were basically indefinable: “indie.” a devoted fan base from CROCK-POT (Crock-Pot. FOR ACCESSORIZER… out. It’s cool if we get recognition because we’re female, but we weTHE already were– so it named a back-alley abortion method, and theiralways self-titled From after the ‘90s to early-2000s, “indie” waiting forbecome their who we are– or maybe whoJewelry com) can make one of those may not be the most definitely don’t wanna be over-sexualized or only recognized hasn’t seemed that long!

But yeah, we never really put a time 2007 debut included song titles “Don’t mostly meant messy, in-your-face cheaply-produced rock such asnext CD and tour. This jobsatathe lot end easier: the day 9” x13”, original Day gift, because of that. It’s a fine line, but of the we 3.5 limit to anything. We just kept growing andMother’s setting goals until Touch My Shit!” and “Nestle in My Boobies. music influenced

by The Sex Pistols, Clash, ” film tracks the British quart dish is perfectly sized for but it’s popular for a reason: wanna be respected for the music we make. it kinda snowballed!

We still don’t have an expiration date on But mixed in with the was a beginnings at Velvet Underground, or punk-influenced some derivation antagonism musician’s making lasagna or casseroles It rarelyand failsrule to impress. band. We just keep trying to conquer as hard My healthy spunky DIY which remains the stronger thereof,dose madeoffor crowds of charm, misfits for intersection ofthe punk, with minimal effort, and lady has been enamored with LIFECYCLE GARDENS Suck My Shirt is your fourth album.

How would you sayeven your as possible. than on their rock latestmeant album,“flannel-clad Suck My Shirt. We new recently whomever alternative wave and rock, comes with a recipe book. the ISABELLE GRACE songwriting has evolved on this one? spoke withfor Coathangers Julia Kugel (a.k.a.charting Crook Kid cock-rock frat boys &guitarist other assorted his uncompromising 35-year career My aunt turned us on to GO It’s been a natural progression.BAKEWARE I suppose we’re more aware at indie-rock scene seems to(IsabelleGraceJewelry.com) have evolved quite a bit Coathanger) of withAtlanta’s douchebags.”about ambition, evolution, and the challenges and reunion The Rumour.

Much like (Fit-Fresh.com) line since we discovered it about song structure and lyrics.aAlso, going from being a Their the past decade.

What was it like when you first started, lifeNowadays, as a kick-ass all-female rock band. “indie” means… what, exactly? last year’s Big Starover documentary, Don’t Ask recent family gathering. last year. The spear-shaped quartet to a trio has changed the process a bit: We try to fill and how has it changed?

Since the death of record labels, indie could Me Questions is both highly entertaining and 9x13 Baking Dish with UltraTurquoise or House Red Howlite in the songs with more backup vocals, and there’s more use of When we first started it was back in the Rob’s None you were whenlike youWill firstI met. What was the mean of anything thatmusicians doesn’t sound frustrating when you realize these indie icons Insulated Carrier keeps dishes beadslike of their SpearLips Me guitar pedals.

Records/Die the Black allure of being in a band back then?So, given Am, Train, Nickelback or Daughtry. still aren’t household names. Slaughterhaus days. Bands warm or cold for hours thanks Necklace are as bold as they DISCOVER VEDAS and Deerhunter were playing these house parties in their I think everyone kinda secretly here’s wantssome to be in a band! I that (highly specious) definition, to three layers of insulation. are beautiful. The Touch What started out a joke is now approaching its 10th basements, and it was bananas! There was a lot of punk bands, mean, why“indie” not, right?? all had OF BADASSDOM awesome for ya.But for us it was because weKNIGHTS Serious home chefs willyear. love the Time Digital Touchscreen Where do you want to take The Coathangers in the future? like The Carbonas, Gentlemen Jesse, The Booze, Beat Beat Beat, played other instruments in the past and wanted to play The the latest horror comedy from director Designer Series blender from Watch from PHOSPHOR To the moon! (Laughs) But yeah, we are super excited about etc. Itofwas kinda like one (PhosphorWatches.com) big, messed-up family… and instruments we really wanted sound.

Lynch has all Predator, the hallmarks a cult The Marches – “Big City”to play and create ourJoeown BLENDTEC (Blendtec.com). [our 10th anniversary], and we It plan on doing everything it ruled.

But then life happens: People grew up, got married, WeThis all is had members, friends, boyfriends in bands, and Metal, classic: Heavy live action role-playing, thefamily one track here that mostor closely serves as a whole juicer,under meat is equally eye-catching, the sun and beyond! moved, hadThe kids, and it kinda died available way the hell down.

Today, saw howtomuch was. So, yeah, that alsoaplayedand a part. plenty of stoner laughs. story grinder, latte machine, bread cleaves what fun mostit think of as “indie. ” It’s in 5 colors and there’s still a(Steve greatZahn, music scene, butboasting it’s just different. follows three LARP buddies mixer, ice cream maker, grain home-produced, electronic-based, auteur-ish the same There hi-res are a lotRyan of new young kids there’s a bunch of rad BLENDTEC Peter being Dinklage Kwanten) whocoming up, but mill and coffee grinder, all in one What the advantages and disadvantages of NOT a and take onwere delicate chamber pop.

Imagine the display andstill touchscreen bands, like Zoners, Biters, Dino’s Boys, Mastodon.... fashionable yet functional form. accidentally summon a succubus that starts to kick-ass musician when you first started the band?

Magnetic Fields covering the Postal Service technology in smartphones. devour Oh maximum man... we got so much heckling and bad reviews and their shit fellow LARPers. It’s not exactly with schizophrenic eccentricity, Active moms will dig the FOR THE FASHIONISTA… high-brow, is well‘n’written, boasts a been Alpha roll hasand historically a male-dominated business. talk everya fair angle. haterade kinda pushed us to but it Rock and from you have ideaBut of that the subtle wonders Watch from MIO With summer coming, many triowe of could, actors thatWhat could are not the havepositives been better and negatives of being an all-female become better and Add provea mid-point to ourselves and others that (MioGlobal.com), which contained therein. switch moms are gearing up for cast.

The Evil Dead now has an appropriate band trying to navigate the industry? in it right. trying offers continuous heart rate to fact, whatget sounds likeI amean, gospelwe’re choirstill doing a to push ourselves. vacations.

PURPURATTA companion piece.

This is always a hard one to answer because, although there monitoring, 3 customized We wanna become as good as we can and continue to create medley of The Wall, and you have an unsung (Purpuratta.com) offers a are some obvious negatives that areheart femalemost of the ratespecific, zones, water good that people can enjoy. gem…music one made even more extraordinary PURPURATTA colorful line of cover-ups NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC OFthe same onesresistance problems weBEST had are dudes experience. does up to 30m,It and since it’s the work of a single artist named equally suitable for the pool or NATURE COLLECTION withperhaps Bluetooth seriously at first, What were some of the key musical influences that you all had suck when a venue doesn’t take us compatibility Richard Conti. the lounge: My lady is looking Every dream I have of exploring the world’s apps and devices. because we’re ladies, or some asshat in the audience yells, in common? forward to rocking hers at Lake diverse ecosystems and cultures was inspired “Show me yer titties!”

But, other than that, it’s probably not that We allthe came from different “scenes.” However we all Until Ribbon Breaks –music “Spark” Allatoona when the weather by reading National Geographic as a boy.

This FOR THE GARDENER… different. shared a lot of interests, like Patsy Cline, This bit of joyful electro-pop heralds fromBeastie Boys, Joan warms up a bit. The MAI sandal collector’s box is full of inspiration for future My grandmother’s favorite LA-via-Wales and represents the catchiest from BORN (BornShoes.com) generations, featuring the best of the Great place was her garden, where synth-and-buzz driven music since Hey is comfortable, attractive and Migrations, Secret Life of Predators and she spent hours every RENDI Champ unleashed “Comet” on us last year. adaptable, perfect for the beach Untamed Americas miniseries in a 6-DVD day. She’d love the new Tipped as one of the Bands to Watch at this or a casual stroll along the set.

From vast herds of wildebeests in Africa Garden on Wheelz from year’s South by Southwest, Until The Ribbon boardwalk. Our favorite new to polar bears in the Arctic, the 9 hours of LIFECYCLE GARDENS Breaks is only a couple more ace tracks fashion discovery, from extraordinary cinematography assembled (LifecycleGardens.com), a 44” awayJOHN from breaking into Robyn/Icona PopTALIA HANCOCK here reveals the incredible power of nature in BY B. MOORE x 24”plans mobile garden Any forraised another solo album?

It has mainly made me evaluate myself as style stardom.

(TaliaHancock.com), of its purest form. bed.

Its adjustable height How would you describe the soundisofa line Cult?

I’m sure that I will at some point.

Bayside a man.

It has made me think a lot about who LOT HAS HAPPENED WITH eco-friendly basics made from and design make it perfect Is there an overall theme to these songs? is always my priority.

I had some songs that I am, what I stand for and what my legacy is since–their lastNow” album of LondonBayside Grammar “Hey sustainably harvested Peruvian THE TOHO GODZILLA COLLECTION patios, balconies We think that we figured out a long time Ifor knew wouldn’t fit onand a solo record that I and will be. That line of thinking is definitely original music, 2011’s Killing Time.

(Arty Remix) cotton known as Pima.

Their Released to coincide with the original sunrooms, and accessible for ago what Bayside was supposed to sound wanted to get out some day. When Bayside carrying over into my writing but it hasn’t The band has switched labels, ending up I wasn’t familiar with London Grammar classic and smooth sheen them a movie’s 60th anniversary, these BluRaysany the elderly or physically Myworking wife like, anddesign we really don’t stray toogives far from had a nice chunk of timechallenged. off, I started made me think of the band or 4touring on Hopeless Anthony until hearing Records; this. But, frontman based on the evidence, soft, sound. luxurious appeal. is excited about her Organic Ready-to-Grow offer double features of the Toho-era Gojira that We just try to get better at being on it.

Whenever we have another chunk of differently.

Being away from home has always Raneri out a solo and became she sits put somewhere at record the cross-section of a Kit from EARTHBOX (Earthbox.com), a 29” films.

The oldest, Godzilla vs.

King Ghidorah Bayside.

Cult, I think, is a natural progression time away from Bayside then I’ll probably do been hard and it’s even harder now, but I still father; and the decadent quartet’s vocal members have taken Lana Del Rey’s boredom FOR the THEbest ENTERTAINER… x 11” gardening designed for small (1991) and IGodzilla and version of Bayside. It is a band something else. Itsystem may be a solo record and it love what do. It’s aand partMothra: of who The I am.Battle up in different cities across Yet the andresidence Adele’s widescreen-diva fabulism.

Every important woman in my life has had spaces. The maintenance-free system selffor Earth (1992), won Japanese Academy that is very comfortable in itslove own and may be a new band project. country. they still found time to reunite two things in common: They toskin entertain, the most But important ingredient to what has Awards and revived the lagging franchise.

TheTOLD waters, I WAS A LONGcontrols soil conditions, and promises You also moved recently to very confident.

Lyrically speaking, the themes and record a new album, Cult, putting to rest and they love coffee and/or tea. The ICOFFEE already become the front-runner for my double the yieldYou of conventional TIME AGO THAT IF YOU others– pairing vs. Mechagodzilla had been ongardens.

Victory Nashville.

HowGodzilla is that going of songs compared to pastand onestheis that any speculation thatyear the is14-year-old group BYthese REMINGTON (iCoffee.cm) favorite track of the the alternately GET TO MAKE ANOTHER If my grandmother were alive, I’d give her IIto(1993) and Godzilla vs.

SpaceGodzilla Records for years, and then change the way the band they focus a lot more on life and death and was calling it quits.

Deluxe Electric Teakettle from CHEF’S RECORD ANOTHER tense and sensual backing provided by Arty’s FreshTECHput Automatic Home Canning (1994), Godzilla vs.

Destoroyah (1995) and AND DOthe out an album on Windworks, living in different the meaning of both.

Making the your A recent transplant to Nashville, Raneri took offersofstylish CHOICE (ChefsChoice.com) eachmost TOUR, THAT System MEANSfrom BALL (FreshPreserving.com). supernova remix. If these six minutes of pure Godzilla vs. Megaguirus (2000), and Godzilla: up.

What made you decide cities? time and leaving behind a life that is worth some timerush recently talk you, withthen us about the THAT THE LASTThis ONE2014 WAS design and unique features: The former uses dopamine can’ttoreach you may Edison Award Nominee is faster, Tokyo S.O.S (2003) andhalf Godzilla to hook up with Hopeless for I’m spending about of Final Wars SUCCESSFUL. band’s patented SteamBrew technology, with steam be dead.move to Hopeless, his solo work, and easier and more energy-efficient than Granny’s eulogizing.

(2004)– vary in quality, all but insisting you this record? my time in Nashville now, jets inside the brew basket to eliminate bitter, what’s next for Bayside. old school canner, with dozens of recipes add your own MST3K-style jokes.

Should When we were talking to labels about and still spend a lot of time in New York.

So what’s next for andhasthea 1500-watt band? acidic aftertaste; theyou latter preprogrammed into it.

If you would like to hear this month’s whet appetites for the new Gareth Edwardsreleasing this record, we felt right away that Jack is also in Nashville now, and Chris is in I really don’t know.

We’ll keep on stainless trucking heating element enclosed below the Congrats onafatherhood!

I have myself, tracks– and few more great oneskids we didn’t directed reboot.

Hopeless was going to be a comfortable fit.

It LA. But we are still New York-based though. along and doing what we do.

We’ve always floor so there’s no mineral deposit build-up. so I understand it changes theour way you FOR THE BEAUTY QUEEN… have room to writehow about– check out felt like our roots.

They felt more like partners When we rehearse or have any band things worn blinders and stay focused on the When paired with a 3-month tour of organic look at everything.

Has having a baby made I’ve never met a woman who didn’t like WRONG COPS “Track Suits Mix” at: www.mixcloud.com/ than a label.

It has been like working with to do, we all fly into New York and meet up next task.

Writing the next record better, single-origin or blended varietals from A&E you evaluate the band, being a touring feeling beautiful.

The Head to Toe Kit from Mixing surrealism and bizarre absurdity, tracksuits. Special thanks to TJDJ in DC and like-minded people with a common goal who there. performing on the next tour better.

I was COFFEE ROASTERY (AERoastery.com), or a JR WATKINS (JRWatkins.com) is a good musician, or anything like that? the work of director Quentin Dupieux my impeccably tasteful brother, Jody, for their are genuinely fans of the music that they are bamboo-boxed Flowering Tea Set from NUMI told a long time ago that if you get to make start: With body lotions, hand & foot creams, (Rubber, Wrong) is definitely an acquired help in curating this column.

(Shop.NumiTea.com), encourage mom to promoting.

You put your first solotorecord not that another record and doboth another tour, that body butter and lip balm in a range of scents taste.

Hisout latest film aims be a cult embrace her passions. long ago.

Was that experience odd at all, just means that the last one was successful.

We (aloe & green tea, lavender, etc.), it’ll pamper classic a la Eastbound & Down: There’s Of course, if there’s one thing EVERY mom How would you describe your past having your name up front? have far surpassed any success or goals that her skin from top to bottom.

For the hair, a cop selling weed packaged inside dead loves, it’s pictures of their family. favorite experience with record labels? of stylers I had a lot ofabusing fun creating music that way. we could have imagined, so nowSo theour only goal there’s the Spectrum Collection rats, another authority to satisfy this as month Board from TheyISO haveBEAUTY all been learning experiences.

I love making music thewho’s bandgay andand isgifttoidea do this long isasthe weStory possibly cankitand the from (ISOBeauty.com), his breast fetish, and with a third RENDI (RendiStyle.com).

It’s brilliant: Mom Victory and Wind-up were good to us, but collaborating, and it was cool to try it in a fans will let us. featuring a ceramic hair straightener, mini-hair won’t come out of the closet. The storyline snaps pics with her phone, uses the Tag It! straightener, and a 25-18mm curling with any relationship there is tapered a give and take. total non-collaboration form.toItdispose was a little involves the cops attempting of App toare upload them, and creates photo tags iron,owe all in perky printslabels. such as We a lot to those Inpeacock 2003, weand think that every decisionshot. would Those all the questions I had.

Anything ascary bodytoone of them accidentally Buthave she can hang on her personalized board.

It’s zebra.

Or give mom a taste of the luxurious mailed our demo around to every label in the get made I enjoyedsketches it, though.

The else you wanted to talk about? ittofeels more by likeme. disjointed strung WAY cooler than posting said pictures on her life with a bathrobe from DISCOVER country and Victory were the only ones who weirdest thing about going by my name was Make sure to check out our tour and get together, with supporting turns by Marilyn Facebook wall, and ensures she’ll remember VEDAS (DiscoverVedas.com).

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If it weren’t for everyone there, seeing it and on aEric t-shirt your tickets at www.baysidebayside.com.

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