Coffee, Ice Cream and Produce in Southwest Atlanta

My neighborhood coffee shop, Capitol Coffee, has been the best neighbor a caffeine-addicted, under-employed writer could hope for.

Located feet from the where the Beltline might be if it ever gets built, Capitol Coffee is a friendly, integrated meeting place with comfy chairs, a shaded patio, free Wi-Fi, and a staff so friendly that I've been late for several appointments because I end up sitting and talking with them.

Capitol Coffee recently took another step toward the summit of Mount Awesome when it added a Farmers Market to its menu.

Every other Sunday, from 10:00 A.M. to 4:00 P.M., Capitol Coffee will have fresh, organic produce for sale, including fruit, veggies, and eggs. The market also features cut flowers, honey, stone ground grits, handmade soap and organic coffee.

The Capitol Coffee Coffee Farmers Market is this Sunday, May 21, from 10:00 A.M. to 4:00 P.M.

Capitol Coffee is located at 1213 Allene Ave SW, Atlanta GA 30310.

Map of 1213 Allene Ave Sw
Atlanta, GA 30310-4200, US

Hey, Vern, please stop.

The following, very bizarre press release arrived this morning from the office of Dekalb County CEO Vernon Jones. It is a response to this excellent column by the AJC's Cynthia Tucker.

I repeat: this is a real press release.

STATEMENT

REGARDING AJC EDITORIAL

SIGNED BY CYNTHIA TUCKER

May 17, 2006


As the old saying goes:

"You don't get into a fight with someone who buys ink by the barrel and paper by the ton."

I want to apologize for aggravating the AJC by saying DeKalb County Government’s hiring practices are better than the AJC's and Cox Enterprise’s hiring practices.

I want to plead with the AJC, “I’se tired. Please don't whup me no mo!!" I don't know many ways I can say it: I have not, will not, shall not condone racism in DeKalb County’s hiring practices.

In the words of a great American, Forest Gump, “that's all I gotta say about that!"

• Vernon Jones

Boy Dancer

Other than my friend Omar, who plays in the horn section Washington High School band, my favorite performer at last Saturday's Atlanta high school marching band jamboree at Lakewood Stadium was this spectacular dancer. He wasn't the only boy dancing on the field that afternoon, but he was definitely the only boy dancing like that.



For those of you who can't see the video link above, try this one.

Move that bus

Former Atlantan, current star of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, just got a lot richer:

From today's New York Times:

Ty Pennington, a home improvement guru, seems to have made a connection with the public. More than a third of people who knew of him said his endorsement would help sell them a product, according to a new study by the NPD Group, a market research firm that examined the influence of 86 celebrity endorsements featured in ads last year.

In the study, no one had a higher positive "purchase influence" than Mr. Pennington.

Incidentally, the celebrity with the highest negative purchase influence is Anna Nicole Smith. Sorry, TrimSpa.

Spaghetti Rainbow

Afternoon rush hour, I-85, at Spaghetti Junction, May 4, 2006.

I was driving. Ms. Christi took the picture.

Report: The Sunday Paper is Ralph Reed campaign literature

I love The Sunday Paper.

Really, I do.

Week-after-week, no other newspaper in town is as good at jamming advertorial, fascism, and Jesse Jackson into such an appealing package.

I've just found one more reason to love it.

According to a report in the conservative Washington Times newspaper, The Sunday Paper is an organ of Ralph Reed's campaign to become Georgia's next lieutenant governor.

The report, in Wednesday's edition, describes Lisa Baron's sometimes smutty (always insipid) weekly column as part of Reed's "strategy" to broaden his appeal beyond his devout Christian base. Lisa Baron is Reed's campaign spokesperson.

A snippet from the Wash Times article:

Some Republican eyebrows were raised when Mr. Reed's campaign for lieutenant governor hired Atlanta publicist Lisa Baron, whose column in an Atlanta weekly has ventured into risque subject matter in language not often publicly employed by Bible Belt social conservatives.

It's apparently part of a strategy by Mr. Reed to downplay his Christian Coalition past and play up his "mainstream" Republican credentials.

Will The Sunday Paper fire Ms. Baron? Will The Sunday Paper, at the very least, investigate the Washington Times allegation and respect its readers enough to share its findings?

A real newspaper would do both of those things.

Of course, a real newpaper wouldn't have hired Lisa Baron in the first place.

(For more on Ralph Reed, I highly recommend The Book Of Ralph by Doug Monroe and Josh Latta.)

New York Times Art Critic Ponders the Georgia Aquarium

The New York Times art critic Edward Rothstein wrote a story about the Georgia Aquarium for today's paper.

A snippet:

And this aquarium's risks are not of tanks fracturing or sea water growing stale, but of isolated spectacles and too little information.

And another snippet:

It is almost completely the creation of a single man, Bernard Marcus, co-founder of the Home Depot, as a "gift" to the people of the city in which his company began

.

Tax advice for My' Lantans

I was working on my taxes in Turbo Tax today and ran across a few tax credits you won't want to miss:
- Passive activity credit
- Credit for alcohol used as fuel
- Orphan drug credit

Plan ahead for next year!

Lunch?

"Do we serve lunch? How much does it cost? I'm sorry, but I just don't know."

(Location: University Avenue and Metropolitan Parkway, in beautiful Southwest Atlanta.)

James Risen In Atlanta

James Risen, one of the two New York Times reporters who kindly informed us that the Bush Administration is illegally wiretapping our phone calls, will be in Atlanta tomorrow.

The following is from the Atlanta Press Club's web site:

JIM RISEN NEWSMAKER LUNCHEON

WHAT - James Risen helped break the story and wrote the book on what has become known as “domestic spying” authorized by President Bush, allowing the National Security Agency to conduct covert surveillance of suspect international communications originating or terminating in the U.S. After holding the story for perhaps a year, The New York Times published an article by James Risen and Erich Lichtblau detailing the NSA program on December 16, 2005. The story has sparked a national security leak investigation by the Department of Justice. The Atlanta Press Club hosts Risen on Fri., March 17 for a Newsmaker Luncheon and book signing.

WHO - Risen is national security correspondent for The New York Times and author of STATE OF WAR: The Secret History of the CIA and the Bush Administration. He writes on the intelligence community and how it is used in U.S. foreign policy. He has covered the use of U.S. intelligence capabilities in the Afghanistan and Iraq wars. Risen was a member of the reporting team that won the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for explanatory reporting of Sept. 11 and terrorism. He is co-author of two other books, The Main Enemy and Wrath of Angels.

WHERE - The Commerce Club 34 Broad Street, 16th Floor Dining Room, Atlanta, GA 30303 For directions, please visit http://www.thecommerceclub.org/location.html. Because of limited parking at TCC, please consider using MARTA, whose Five Points station is across the street, or nearby parking decks on Marietta St.

R.S.V.P. - This luncheon is open to the public. APC members may purchase individual tickets for $28 each or tables of 10 with signage for $280. Nonmembers may purchase individual tickets for $35 each or tables of 10 with signage for $350. Parking is not included in the ticket price. Tickets and tables may be purchased below or by calling 404-57-PRESS. Payment must accompany reservations, and there is a 24-hour cancellation policy.

When:
Friday, March 17, 2006
Event Starts - 11:30
Event Ends - 1:00

Where:
34 Broad Street
16th Floor
Atlanta, GA 30303

RSVP:
Members - $28
Non-Members - $35
404-577-7377

Marc "Soolaiman" Fournier Tribute This Weekend

From Michael Fournier:

MEDIA ADVISORY

For Immediate Release until March 19, 2006

www.hotaugustknights.com

WHAT: Soolaiman Memorial Show

WHERE:The EARL, East Atlanta

WHEN: Saturday, March 18, 2006

COST:$10.00

On March 18th, The EARL in East Atlanta will host a memorial show for Marc Fournier, better known to many Atlantans as Soolaiman, lead singer for the Hot August Knights, a popular Neil Diamond cover band. Proceeds from the show will benefit YouthPride, an organization serving gay and lesbian teenagers in the greater Atlanta area.

Cadillac Jones will open the show. A house band assembled and led by Hot August Knights bassist Stiff Penalty will headline, playing Neil Diamond songs behind a variety of guest vocalists, including Mike Geier of Kingsized. Other events are planned for the evening.

Fournier, who sang with the Hot August Knights from 2001 to 2004, passed away unexpectedly in November after a brief illness. As Soolaiman, he interpreted Neil Diamond’s songs for audiences in the Boston and Atlanta areas, very often donating his time for a variety of charitable causes.

Additional information will be posted at www.hotaugustknights.com

Recent photo of new, more vigilant My'Lanta StoryCorpse at work in Atlanta (and their van)

Atlanta is Gentrificationizing!

I know this because I read it in today's New York Times!

Gentrification Changing Face of New Atlanta

By SHAILA DEWAN
Published: March 11, 2006

ATLANTA, March 8 — In-town living. Live-work-play. Mixed income. The buzzwords of soft-core urbanism are everywhere these days in this eternally optimistic city, used in real estate advertisements and mayoral boasts to lure money from the suburbs and to keep young people from leaving.

Loft apartments roll onto the market every week, the public housing authority is a nationally recognized pioneer in redevelopment and the newest shopping plaza has one Target and three Starbucks outlets.

But although gentrification has expanded the city's tax base and weeded out blight, it has had an unintended effect on Atlanta, long a lure to African-Americans and a symbol of black success. For the first time since the 1920's, the black share of the city's population is declining and the white percentage is on the rise.

Read the rest of the story.

My 'Lanta My 'Story

The other day, My 'Lantan Reid asked an interesting question. StoryCorps is in Atlanta capturing life stories for posterity, but who is capturing the StoryCorps story? Who, Reid wonders, is gonna StoryCorps StoryCorps?

Inspired by his question, I took my voice recorder down to the StoryCorps van to record a StoryCorps story.

On this recording, the first in probably not ongoing feature we call My' Lanta My 'Story, we hear from Shawn and Paula Patch about their experience in the StoryCorps recording booth.

Download My 'Lanta My 'Story - The Patch Saga

My 'Gusta

Here's the first part of a cool BBC Radio documentary about James Brown. It's streaming Real Audio.



I'll leave for another time the rant about why I have to turn to the BBC to hear a radio documentary about one of Georgia and the U.S.'s greatest musical artists.

Golden Blizzard at Young Blood Gallery - Saturday, March 4

Love Hurts, a new show by Atlanta's Golden Blizzard art collective, opens at Young Blood Gallery & Boutique on Saturday, March 4.



If you've never been to Young Blood, shame on you. The exhibitions that Young Blood hosts are always interesting and fun.

You can check out some of Golden Blizzard's work on their Flickr page.

Not that it matters, but I'll be there.

Ariel Pink tonight at the Drunken Unicorn

Here's the blurb from Tight Bros. Network:

TUESDAY 2.28 AT DRUNKEN UNICORN
Ariel Pink - all ages - 9PM - $8

After years of recording in relative seclusion in the hills of Los Angeles , Ariel Pink (the first non-Animal Collective member on the Paw Tracks roster) makes his official Paw Tracks debut with “The Doldrums”.

Recording at home with only a guitar, keyboard, and 8-track (the drum sounds are all unbelievably created with his vocals), Ariel Pink blends Lite FM and warped lo-fi pop into something beautiful and confusing, yet highly addictive.

Vowell in Leathers

As possibly the only person who attended both the Sarah Vowell book reading at the Carter Center and the AMA Supercross at the GA Dome last weekend, I've been asked to compare the two events.

The parking lot: Sarah Vowell - plenty of Kerry/Edwards stickers. Supercross - "Osama, these (sticker) colors don't run".

The pre-event setting: I noticed a few thousand more "Fox Racing" jerseys at the Supercross than at the Sarah Vowell reading. Also, the Supercross sold huge beers. Advantage, Supercross.

The show intro: Sarah Vowell - a brief, understated introduction by the Carter Center's Public Affairs director. Supercross - the lights dip to black, the music (U2's "A Beautiful Day") builds, a series of firepot explosions ignite, lazers dance around the dome, some loud Emo song kicks in, racers (lit by multiple spotlights) ride out of a smoke filled stage, announced one at a time by that gravely voiced "Sunday, Sunday, Sunday" announcer as they rev their motorcycles and do long wheelies into the infield. If Sarah Vowell could do a wheelie she would have had a chance. Strong advantage, Supercross.

The event: Topics discussed by Sarah Vowell - presidential assasinations, the State of the Union Address, the actual threat of and reaction to terrorism versus its depiction in mass entertainment media, the writing process. Topics discussed at the Supercross event - sponsors. Heavy advantage - Sarah Vowell.

General comparison: The racing was much better at the Supercross. Sarah Vowell couldn't compete with Chad Reed's ability to land a set of jumps with one foot out and immediately throw his bike into a tight turn while boxing another rider out of the inside position, or his comeback from a bad qualifier race and his battle with Ricky Carmichael in the main event. Ricky Charmichael took the checkered flag.
In summary - More brains and wit at the Carter Center. More adrenaline and tinnitus at the Supercross. It was a draw.

Huddled masses? Anyone?

I was driving to Joe's coffee shop in East Atlanta when I passed this guy. He was standing next to Moreland Ave with flyers in his hand for a company that does tax preparation.

I pulled my car up next to him, rolled down my window and asked him, "Why are you wearing a Statue of Liberty costume?"

He answered, "I'm supposed to wear a sailor's uniform, but someone took it."

Of course.

Larry Turner, a.k.a. Reverend Larry, has died

Larry Turner has died.



Known around town as Rev. Larry, a local blog reports that Turner died of a heart attack two weeks ago. I was not able to find an obituary to confirm what day he died or the cause of his death.

Turner used to sing in group called Moonshine Killers. I did not know him personally, but did once see him perform at a fundraiser to raise money for efforts to lobby the state legislature into legalizing/decriminalization marijuana. Here's what I wrote about him in July 2003.

Performing at the event was a ragged-looking gentleman named Reverend Larry. His first song was about all drugs, his second about cocaine. I thought his third song -- with an early line about loving "big ol' titties and cheese grits" -- might be about love, but it turned out to be about an ice cream man selling dope from his truck. It was called "Dope Truck."

I've read two notices indicating that Lenny's will host a memorial service for Rev. Larry this Saturday, February 18, but bar also has a fundraiser for Youngblood Gallery that night, so I suggest calling the bar before going.