Thursday, March 31, 2011
Pop Culture / Sports / wtf / Sheer Awesomeness / Oh Good God / Wrestling Micro Championship Wrestling turns wrestling's absurdity up a notch
Posted by Jonathan Williams on Thu, Mar 31, 2011 at 4:52 PM
- Dwight Philpott Jr./www.photographybydwight.com
- Micro Championship Wrestling stands tall!
As pro wrestling’s biggest event, WrestleMania, descends upon Atlanta this week, some of the industry’s tiniest grapplers were at Wild Bill’s last Tuesday, March 22 as Micro Championship Wrestling was there to film an episode of its upcoming TruTV series debuting this summer. Though competitors such as Blixx, Justice, Short Sleeve Sampson and the lucahdor-masked Demo (billed at 3 feet 5 inches and 75 pounds) are clearly outsized by the guys that will be doing battle this weekend, MCW also had one of the biggest wrestling stars of all time, Hulk Hogan, providing commentary during the matches. Joining Hogan were Nasty Boy Knobbs and MCW’s Johnny G (whose chainsaw-like voice was difficult to decipher), with wrestling legend Pat Tanaka (who looked a bit cumbersome as a regular-sized guy in a micro-sized ring) acting as referee.
Visual Arts A few questions with David Hale and Kris D
Posted by Wyatt Williams on Thu, Mar 31, 2011 at 4:20 PM
Athens-based artists David Hale and Kris D are exhibiting a massive show of collaborative work at Young Blood Gallery this weekend. The 300-plus works in Medicina are culled both from their frequent live painting performances as SoulHawk at the New Earth Music Hall and studio work. In between their busy schedule of installing the show, we caught up with them to get a peek at their work and ask them a few questions.
Their answers and more details about Medicina after the jump.
Politics Jason Carter: HB 87 rewrite still "bad for our state"
Posted by Gwynedd Stuart on Thu, Mar 31, 2011 at 3:11 PM
- Joeff Davis/CL File
- The fate of HB 87 will soon be decided.
Jason Carter (D-Decatur) was among the committee members who voted against the bill, along with fellow democrats Vincent Fort (Atlanta) and Ronald Ramsey (Lithonia), and republican John Crosby (Tifton). Carter told CL today that the revised legislation was introduced "about five minutes" before it was voted on. Among the changes he noticed were adjustments to what would have amounted to law enforcement on a "person-to-person basis." Penalties on businesses who don't check their employees status against the Federal E-Verify database were also apparently removed. "It makes some improvements," said Carter, "but it’s still an Arizona-style immigration bill. It’s still the kind of thing that’s bad for our state."
The vote would have been 4-4, so ex-officio member Jeff Mullis (R-Chickamauga) was brought in to ensure it passed.
Human rights groups are up in arms about the surreptitious manner in which the vote took place. Paulina Hernandez, director of the group Southerners on New Ground, released the following statement:
“Our legislators should be ashamed of themselves for allowing this kind of cowardly game playing to take place at our state capitol. Casting secret votes when the bill is listed on no calendar, and the public is given no notice or chance to testify is indefensible. What are the lawmakers scared of that they will go to such lengths to push this bill through in secret? Clearly our legislators were startled by last week’s showing of 9000 people at the Capitol loudly expressing their opposition to HB 87 and instead of facing up to the criticism, chose to essentially secretly push the bill through. They should know that their blatant disregard of their own rules and democratic processes will not go unnoticed or unchallenged.”
You can read the new version of the bill here.
Comedy Speakeasy with Sean Patton
Posted by Noah Gardenswartz on Thu, Mar 31, 2011 at 1:50 PM
You are in the midst of a big year, and things are really starting to happen for you. Is there anything you recently changed about your approach, or was it just a matter of time before people started paying attention and your opportunities got better?
I would say it’s been a little bit of both. You just keep working and going and then you get a little bit of attention, and things start happening. People think it gets easier, but in reality it gets harder because then you’re expected to produce so much more. You know, people don’t realize if I do a TV spot, that’s pretty much a solid part of my act that I’m not going to do anymore. Even with this album, it’ll be 45 minutes of material which I’m basically retiring, and saying, ‘if you guys want to hear this again, buy the album.’ I actually don’t want to say it’s harder, I’ll just say it never gets easier. It’s just a matter of doing more as you get better at what you do.
Congrats on the first album. Is there a particular reason why you chose to do it in Atlanta at the Laughing Skull?
Thanks, I’m pretty fucking excited about it. I’ve never spent a week actually in Atlanta, every time I’ve come out there I’ve been in the suburbs, but every show I’ve done in the area the people seemed really into the comedy. As for recording at the Skull, the size and acoustics of it are great, and you can really control your audience better; rarely do you see a show get away from the comedian in a room that size. If you try to do a taping in a club with 300 or 400 seats it’s harder to control than a room with 75 people.
I know you’re originally a southerner, because you were part of the "Atypical Southern Comedy Quartet" (with Rory Scovel, Jarrod Harris and Nate Bargatze). Where do you live now?
I’ve been living in New York for four years, but for the past two and a half months I’ve been in LA. I came out here for pilot season which is a ridiculous concept, because everybody comes to LA for pilot season. Like EVERY one. And all the industry people act like there’s gonna be pilots for all of us. It’s like we’re back in the depression and we’re the fucking poor in line for our bowl of soup that five of us are gonna share. But you know, you have to do it, everyone has to put in their time.
That’s true, but LA for pilot season has to be a better way to “put in your time” than however you started, right?
Oh man, for the first four and a half years I did stand-up in New Orleans, which is still a small scene today, but it was a rally small scene back then. There were like five of us that all wanted to be comics and make it happen down there. It was hard, and we didn’t really know what we were doing, but we also got to try so much out because when you’re booking yourself as the headliner, you have to headline. You know, you just do it.
You’re known for constantly working new material out. Has that always been your process, or did you ever used to stick with a consistent set?
My thing is, I never stop writing, and I never will stop writing. You see a lot of people get enough material where they just stop and coast off of what they have for as long as they can, which usually isn’t that long. But even if a joke works, I’ll keep writing it and making it better.
News Grady CEO steps down
Posted by Thomas Wheatley on Thu, Mar 31, 2011 at 9:15 AM
Michael Young, the executive largely credited with turning around the safety-net hospital, stepped down from his post today.
UPDATE, 1:10 p.m.: Via Grady's communications team:
Grady Health System announced today the resignation of President and CEO Michael A. Young. Young has served as Grady's CEO for 30 months and will be leaving the health system in June. Grady will begin a national search to fill his position immediately."Mike's decision to leave is disappointing but the community support, committed board and talented executive team that brought extraordinary change to Grady are still here," said Grady Board Chair A.D. "Pete" Correll. "I am confident our talented team can keep Grady on its remarkable trajectory while we search the country for a new leader."
Over the past several years, Grady has achieved an operational turnaround of more than $75 million, while providing an additional $42 million in indigent care. The Greater Grady Capital Campaign has helped raise more than $300 million for facility improvements and new equipment. The improvements have resulted in decreased wait times, increased patient satisfaction and dozens of new and/or enhanced services, including the new Marcus Stroke and Neuroscience Center.
According to the Atlanta Business Chronicle's Urvaksh Karkaria, Young is taking a job at a Pennsylvania health system to be closer to his family.
Events 5 things today: Kenrick Lamar, New Jack
Posted by Amber Robinson on Thu, Mar 31, 2011 at 7:53 AM
- Courtesy Kendrick Lamar
1) Kendrick Lamar performs at Masquerade.
2) Rob Bell discusses Love Wins at North Avenue Presbyterian Church.
3) Lauryn Hill performs at Center Stage.
4) The Punchline hosts New Jack and Roddy Piper.
5) Robert Earl Keen plays Buckhead Theatre.
Events 5 things today: Thursday
Posted by Amber Robinson on Thu, Mar 31, 2011 at 7:53 AM
- Courtesy Kendrick Lamar
1) Kendrick Lamar performs at Masquerade.
2) Rob Bell discusses Love Wins at North Avenue Presbyterian Church.
3) Lauryn Hill performs at Center Stage.
4) The Punchline hosts New Jack and Roddy Piper.
5) Robert Earl Keen plays Buckhead Theatre.
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Politics Newt and Callista's Historical Fun Times!
Posted by Emma Harger on Wed, Mar 30, 2011 at 8:05 PM
- Joeff Davis
- The Gingriches want to learn ya.
He points out that Callista hasn't been in the public eye terribly often, but she's omnipresent in these videos, which are about things like Ronald Reagan (of course), the Civil War, Samuel Adams, energy sources and sharia law.
The videos were produced by Citizens United, the group of Hillary: The Movie and Citizens United v. Federal Elections Commission fame, along with Gingrich Productions. They come off as kind of schlocky — the music accompanying the sharia law clip is particularly heavy-handed — but Weigel notes that they can at least provide insight into how the Gingriches interact with one another. With lots of staring.
Senate Judiciary Committee passes a version of "Arizona copycat law"
Posted by Gwynedd Stuart on Wed, Mar 30, 2011 at 5:16 PM
- Joeff Davis
- On March 24, thousands gathered outside the Gold Dome to protest HB 87.
By a vote of 5-4, the committee endorsed the legislation, effectively sending it to the Senate floor (the House already passed the bill in early March). Interestingly, the bill was conspicuously absent from their agenda (which you can take a peek at here).
Less than a week ago, thousands of protestors gathered at the Capitol to demonstrate opposition to the bill, which would require employers to verify job applicants' legal status against a Federal data base and would give the police the right to check status if they have "probable cause."
No word yet on what changes were made in the "new version," but check Fresh Loaf details as they develop.
