the first two weeks of 2007 have taught us anything, it's that, to turn a famous saying on its ear, the more things stay the same, the more they change. Some things remain consistent—the changing of seasons; large steel plates in the road; the travails of Britney, Lindsay and Paris—while others remain in an ongoing state of flux. With that in mind, we here at The Sunday Paper once again present our annual “In and Out” list: partly a summary of the year just passed, partly a laundry list of our opinionated views and predictions for the year ahead.
Dallas Austin and Jermaine Dupri, the city’s most powerful, hip music producers, suffered setbacks in ’06, but music and movie mogul Austin seems to have made it through with less scrapes than Dupri. Sure, he cocaine. But following his release (gained with some help from U.
S. out so smoothly for Dupri, who resigned his high-profile post as Virgin executive-produced) failed to live up to expectations. Hey, this is the entertainment industry, after all: Poor sales are far worse than drug busts any day of the week.
We’re not worried about Jermaine, though: “Out” is a long way from “over,” and we know he’s already hard at work on his next hit. Hey, the man helped bring Mariah Carey back from the dead—are you gonna bet against him? Depot founder and benefactor of the Georgia Aquarium, Bernie Marcus does a whole lot more than fish.
He also founded the Marcus Institute, which provides education, pursues research and develops therapies for children with neurological and other disorders, including autism. As Arthur, Arthur, Arthur. At Home Depot, this half of the founding duo was known as the less-cuddly one (his background is in accounting, after all).
But still, most folks felt he had a lot to do with Big Orange’s winning ways. So naturally, we thought he’d whip the Atlanta Falcons into shape, too. And for a while it really looked that way.
And then it didn’t. And then it did. And then it didn’t again.
Could it be that the man just needs his apron back? interaction? That’s right, although it was scintillating to log onto blond hair and Angelina Jolie-like lips, Internet dating left us empty.
The fix? Speed dating allows you to seamlessly transition from awkward responses from a bevy of would-be suitors. And trolling through bios can provide hours of fun.
But as you muse over questions like “Could ‘branwybrains1’ be the one for me? We both adore snorkeling,” keep in thing. (Of course, we’re not giving up our ‘sexy666atlgal’ user name quite yet.
) you start besieging us with angry e-mails and phone calls, let us explain. We’re not suggesting that Karr—who briefly relocated to the any kind of celebrity or role model. Rather, we’re simply acknowledging that in 2006, the admittedly creepy Conyers native became the primary target of hatred for us Atlantans, a (quasi-)local figure that we collectively shun, ridicule and just generally use as an excuse to get our schadenfreude on.
did he replace? The Runaway Bride, of course. Which brings us to our has faded into oblivion, might we make a suggestion?
Let’s resolve to pick on each other a little less. Seriously. From Kevin Federline to Michael Richards, last year didn’t lack for sacrificial lambs, and we to hate—at least until the next victim appears?
know, we know; Vick's a unique talent, we don’t want another team to snap him up and use him against us, blah blah blah. We get it—and because of that, we don’t have much choice but to place him in our “In” category this year. But we add this caveat: While new Falcons Coach Bobby Petrino may have great experience with quarterbacks, if he fails numbers, who’s Arthur Blank going to sacrifice next—the guy in charge, or the dude wearing No.
7? surprising following a 7-9 season, but, again, it does hold a lesson incoming head coach Petrino. Yes, someone had to go, but weigh Mora’s transgressions—his temper flare-ups, his ill-considered comments to a Seattle radio show—against Vick’s: Flipping off fans, publicly admitting to not giving his all on the field, making peevish comments about the coaching staff—is one set of sins worse than the other?
In other words: Did Blank cut the right guy loose? Uh-huh! Watcha!
Watcha! Watcha! Almost a banshee in life, the Godfather of Soul will haunt us all year and then some.
"Saturday Night Live" used to spoof the man from Augusta, with his band members and back-up singers looking at each other in befuddlement, whispering, “What’s James sayin,’ ya’ll?” Since his death on Christmas Day 2006, the powerful—although we still don’t know exactly what it was. never see a talent like him again—and that, more to the point, today’s crop of entertainers are a far cry from Brown’s genius.
Case in point: Atlanta’s very own king of crunk, Lil Jon. A few years ago, Jon had Jon, though”). Then the grill got old—as did Jon’s over-the-top, in-your-face presence.
The coup de grace? Crunk Juice energy drink, Jon’s excuse for a foray into business. James, where have you gone?
campaign to regain its status as the Hollywood of the South. radio, however, was another story. The ongoing woes of the Clear holidays: WGST-AM fired its on-air talent days before Thanksgiving, and before Christmas, angering fans who depended on the station's annual foray into holiday favorites.
Oh, yeah, and 96rock bit the dust, but prank played on DJs for fellow CC station Viva 105.7, sparking an ugly bit of racial tension. Good times.
Realtor will tell you that it’s a great time to be a homebuyer. But (99 percent over last year, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution article) and continuing to rise. Bottom line, we’re now third in the nation, and first in bankruptcy filings.
Judging by the new construction going up everywhere you look, however, this of high-end homes in middle-class neighborhoods, which consistently prices those areas outside of the range of hopeful homebuyers. of course, those homebuyers overextend themselves with credit-card debt those?).
Can you say “vicious cycle”? How about “the end of Georgia’s middle class as we know it”? and Big Boi had a pretty good year—as actors (and in Benjamin’s case, film, “Idlewild,” extended the OutKast brand and proved that Patton’s decent turn in “ATL” wasn’t a fluke.
Benjamin’s new animated series “Class of 3000” kicked off with a gala premiere at the Fox Theatre, and his voice work (alongside such luminaries as Oprah Winfrey, Julia his position as a sought-after commodity in Hollywood. anyone’s iPods on fire. The duo’s first musical offering since 2003’s organization, but also the first African-American to do so, Dr.
Helene Gayle came to the organization after serving as director of HIV, TB and Reproductive Health for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. And Toronto, she said, “In a nation as rich as ours we ought to be able to Are you gonna argue with that? Palestinians—in fact, those rights are long overdue—but it is disappointing, perhaps even tragic, to see a man once credited with Israelis.
And unfortunately for the former peanut farmer, the timing couldn’t have been worse. While Jimmy was signing books, the Iranians were hosting a conference to discuss the validity of the Holocaust. you’re University of Georgia quarterback Stafford, you’ve got to be feeling pretty good right now.
You just helped the Bulldogs score a 31-24 victory over Virginia Tech in the Chick-fil-A Bowl, capping a record. And as a freshman, you’ve got another three years to look forward to. Tech senior Reggie Ball, however, you’ve got to be bummed that you were declared academically ineligible to participate in the Gator Bowl, missing out on your last shot at college football glory.
True, there wasn’t much glory to be had, as the Yellow Jackets lost 38-35. But that’s not much consolation, especially considering the gutsy performance of your replacement, sophomore Taylor Bennett, who threw covering the devastation of the tsunami of December 2004, and then Hurricane Katrina’s fetid Petri dish of infections and illnesses, CNN’s medical correspondent didn’t take a break. Instead, "the Goop" (as one bird flu.
He’s serious, respectful and seemingly immune to the smarminess has worn thin, as has his preoccupation with all things superficial and sordid. Toss him an assignment about religion, and prison cell. And yet, when assigned a story on Iraq, his creativity fails him and he lapses yet again into the usual anti-Bush liturgy.
At least put some imagination into it, Anderson—or stick to ringing in the successfully turned around a beleaguered school in New Jersey, Clark has now taken his show on the road, starting up his own private school, The Ron Clark Academy, in Atlanta. The school, which offers country, no less), is slated to open in Fall 2007. to vote in favor of the lottery.
Originally, the scholarship’s no more than $60,000. But that only lasted for a year. Once the lottery revenue began flowing thick and fast, the limit was removed, anyway would now do so for free.
Some are so affluent that their decade ago, Muhtar Kent, then with Australian bottler Coca-Cola Amatil, lower-than-expected returns. Such a transaction might be called insider trading by any other name, but he maintained he had committed no wrongdoing and simply settled the matter. Only a month ago, Kent, 54, was promoted to president and chief operating officer of Coca-Cola, and Kent is best known for his flair for foreign relations, a critical important to the world’s largest soft-drink maker.
follow, sure, but as Home Depot’s stock sunk by about 9 percent and Lowe’s stock value nearly doubled in early 2006, Depot shareholders million. Finally, after six stormy years at the helm of Big Orange, the Civil War until the mid-1990s, the state of Georgia was in the hands of one party and one party only: the Democrats. Since then, it Republicans.
The point is, we will entertain any ideology as long as it is conservative. We like to get along, and so we go along. We like peace, which we interpret to be agreement.
We like the status quo, so once someone has a firm hand on the power structure, we keep ’em around. Hey, look on the bright side: It avoids an awful lot of messy can thank Georgia’s hateful campaign history for her one-party system, same. Cathy Cox and Mark Taylor decimated each other, leaving the way clear for Gov.
Sonny Perdue to mop the marble floor of the Capitol with his opponent. OK, so some of the ads were funny—we just don’t want to space? Just check out your average seat space on airlines.
Downsizing? It’s happening in real estate, corporations—everywhere. And then there’s the iPod shuffle—can it get any smaller?
Perhaps this shrinkage is a shift in our world view: the more crowded we become, the more of a commodity space is. Have you tried Spaghetti Junction during rush hour recently? What’s a commuter to do?
How about sell the 5,000-square-foot manse and move into a condo situated closer to the office? us—“in.” So let’s break this down: By now, you’re painfully aware that your Hummer, though still fetching to the Peachtree Street cruising set, is guzzling more gas than the nation of Liechtenstein (we’re using rough math here, but you get the point).
And even if you don’t buy Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth,” it’s still not a great idea to consume our way through history as though these were the last days of Pompeii. development still plowing its way through Atlanta, the Midtown renaissance is bleeding into all four corners of the city. And yet, throughout the boom, L5P remains the freakiest hood in the mix (a scent of patchouli still wafts through the air), with premium music venues, bars like the Yacht Club and the best Halloween soiree in the city.
And side, the neighborhood now boasts the Edgewood Retail District, where intersection of Flat Shoals and Glenwood Avenues is all grown up—or, at least, it should be. Alas, after a few years of rallying, East Atlanta seems to have lost its momentum. In its place: flagging development and rotating retail spaces.
A perfect symbol of the neighborhood? The Madison Theatre. Although there are plenty of people in the community who are trying to obtain funding for its renovation, the project still languishes and the building sits on the block, sad and boarded, instead of blossoming into the lovely flower it’s intended to be.
Last we heard, the old theater seats were still collecting dust. What can we do to help? and steadily, the much-celebrated boy-chef of Atlanta (who once worked proved his mettle with restaurants like Mumbo Jumbo, MidCity Cuisine and Table 1280.
Now Doty has opened his eponymous Inman Park brasserie, cuisine that doesn’t bust the bank. The experience seems to mimic more boy who cried wolf has finally shuttered Seeger’s, and while Atlanta has a plethora of rising culinary stars, the city still feels the sting of losing a talent like his. Many are left wondering if the city’s fine dining establishments are suffering under a faltering economy.
Or was it that Seeger’s was becoming a relic, unable to adapt its menu to changing tastes? The (final) closing of the restaurant certainly wasn’t a result of diminished interest: Heck, even Mayor Shirley Franklin pleaded for Seeger to stay in the ATL. Good luck, Guenter.
Bling Bling, as we’ve suggested). And as it turns out, pandas are the year and when they do, particularly in the wild, the environment is so hostile that the wee ones rarely make it. One of the methods zoologists use: Panda porn—because, well, panda see, panda do.
Of course, Zoo Atlanta did not resort to back-store video shelves. They artificially the all-star attraction at Zoo Atlanta, particularly under the reign of Willie B., the gorillas have been kicked to the curb in favor of their black-and-white mammalian neighbors.
Sure, there’s the twins Kali and Kazi, swiping at each other and frolicking in their habitat, but for now, the gorillas can take a break—renovate their digs, maybe take some yoga classes, etc. That said, should a new baby gorilla be born anytime soon, the masses will yet again be redirected on their zoo maps for a glimpse of the tiny ape, whose barely haired chest can’t help but make it’s the current economic climate, but we’re beginning to see some Atlantans stepping up their game. Case in point: With a major investment in Bank of Atlanta, Usher’s adding a new layer of complexity to his entertainment persona: Captain of Industry.
And what do COIs with a little class to spare do? Open a wine bar to help bring the art of oeno to the masses. In this case, Usher has partnered with the folks at the Grape to open a franchise in Inman Park.
Shall we call you Usher Poor Lil Jon. First we pick him as the symbol of what’s wrong with performers today, then we go after him for his excess bling. Don’t get us wrong—we love a good grill as much as the next guy.
And we understand the flash, the diamonds, the excess and the Cristal. But enough is enough. The baubles have lost their luster.
Let’s make ’07 a year of style, grace and smoothness, shall we?
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