An Embarassment of Riches: The National, Modest Mouse and REM at lovely Lakewood

My mind is still reeling from the awesomeness of last night's show at Lakewood Amphitheater. The beginning of the awesomeness was in the decision to take the bus, rather than drive, even though it meant about an extra hour of travel on the way home and a somewhat sketchy 3 mile walk for the final stretch to my door at 1 a.m.


Somewhat of a side note: I got on the bus outside of the Five Points station, headed for Lakewood and sat next to none other than Jess B. I guess I can avoid the Whitefield reunions all I like- they find me anyway. But it was a surprise and treat and rather than make it awkward by asking her if I could take a picture, I just snuck one while she was on the phone, for the official record. (Is that weird?)



Anyway, Jess confirmed that I was headed in the right direction and while I have a feeling I could have found a bus that would have dropped me a little closer, the walk was pleasant enough.

The National was starting their set just as I came through the gate. I found a spot on the lawn and decided the trip was already worth it. The following mini-vids are from my cell phone and are irritatingly short. Also, from where I was sitting on the lawn I could see the band, but my phone could not, so instead of actually seeing the band, you get to see four brilliant shots of people walking around with the National Playing "Apartment Story" in some invisible background.

The National Played for about 45 minutes. I would have been happy to have heard them go on for much longer. For an opening band, their sound filled the amphitheater as well as any.

They got some mixed reactions for their announcement of their "Mr. November" t-shirts, featuring a portrait of Barack Obama on the front. They explained that these were for sale at the merchandising stand ($30) and 100% of the proceeds would go to Obama's campaign.

The base player followed this statement up with the comment, "So, for all you Republicans out there, buy one of our other t-shirts. We won't give any of that money to Barack."

Once the first set was over, I walked around and saw a sign offering upgrades from lawn to reserved seating for $5, so I paid my $5 and traded in my ticket for an actual seat from where I could actually see the stage. huzzah.

Modest Mouse was great, although I wondered if the venue was somehow a little too big for them. The sound came out a little muddled somehow, but I was reminded of how much of their music I really like, including a few songs I hadn't heard since the end of high school.


At pretty much 9pm on the second, R.E.M. took the stage. I have to admit I wasn't expecting anything approaching the spectacle that followed. R.E.M. for me is one of those bands that I feel like I have heard all my life and have always known were "great" and even gotten into a number of songs here and there, but started to think were maybe overrated somehow.

That thought was very wrong. Much like the recent Rolling Stones concert video, this show proved that phenomenal performances have absolutely no age criteria. Apart from their legendary status, this was simply an excellent show.

These final two videos prove that I am no Scorcese and that my cell phone was not intended to record concerts. I apologize for the horrible horrible sound quality, but hope that it at least gives some rough idea of the feel of this performance.

Robert Hartle Wrote a Book

Huzzah! Robert Hartle wrote a book! You can buy it here.

From The History Press Website:

Atlanta's Druid Hills: A Brief History
Robert Hartle Jr.

Founded in 1908, Druid Hills — Atlanta’s second residential neighborhood — is one of the loveliest and most historic areas in metro Atlanta. Designed by Frederick Law Olmstead, the neighborhood was home to the city’s movers and shakers, such as Asa Candler, founder of Coca-Cola. Now the residents coexist with what has become an international university community. Historian Robert Hartle Jr. has written an honest, impeccably researched tribute to Druid Hills, truly one of the jewels in Atlanta’s crown.

978-1-59629-375-5
128 pp.
$19.99
Over 40 Black and White Photographs
Publication Date:
June 2008

I learned two things I'd never known before from this write-up:

1. Robert's a "Jr." (seriously? how'd that one slip by?)
2. Robert's an Historian (again, news to me)

So, of our sad little class of 18 we've now got a bona fide director (see: Nikyatu Jusu) and a published author. Plus, I think Marshall did the dust jacket design?

Google Gets on the Bus

Google Maps, arguably the coolest free mapping program known to mankind, just got a little cooler.

Earlier this month, google unveiled a new option when searching for directions to map your route on local public transportation.


This little tool is incredibly easy to use and allows you to program either your desired start time or desired arrival time to get an exactly schedule for your trip.

With gas prices up and unlikely to go down this seems like a good time to get on the bus.

Huzzah! for public transportation.

The Happening: A not-so-critical critique

By the time most of you read this, you will have heard the news that "The Happening", M. Night Shyamalan's most recent bit of self-indulgence, was in fact, awful.


As the final scene darkened to a close, a guy in the back yelled "who else here wants their ten bucks back?". The crowd response would lead me to believe that AMC's no-refunds-after-you've-already-watched-the-whole-film policy is probably a keeper. As we were walking out, this same insightful gentleman said, "We all saw 'Signs', we saw 'The Village', we are a bunch of not-smart people." But here's the thing- I LOVED this movie.

Don't get me wrong, I make no apology for this film. M. Night Shyamalan consistently makes really exciting trailers for films that don't exist, instead choosing to put his overacted, oddly shot, super-expensive B movies into the theaters. So yes, if you go to see pretty much any movie this guy makes because the previews looked really scary, then I agree with the foppish dandy in the back row that you are a not-smart person.

But if you go to this movie to see what kind of bizzaro, Ingmar Bergman meets Bollywood concoction Shyamalan will pack people into theaters to hate, then you will definitely not be disappointed.

Basically, all the people who tell you this movie sucks aren't wrong so much as not-smart. The smarties, like me, knew exactly what they were going to see and loved every inexplicably weird minute of it.

Also, heads-up Jenn Ginn- the unexplained killer wind/virus/plants are apparently headed for the Jardin du Luxembourg. Don't say I didn't warn you.

What's the Purpose of a Stupid Robot?

So, I'm all for the human-computer interaction business and I fully support the development of robots to take over all the call centers that we've already outsourced to India. I'm no robot hater.

Here's the problem- I think we're getting a little ahead of ourselves. An artificially intelligent robot that can talk to me and fix my computer issues is a great idea, but an artificially intelligent robot that can only repeat the line, "Can you please explain your last statement" ad nauseum does not give me any help on fixing a catastrophic office-wide email meltdown (if such a thing were to occur).


This is what I encountered when I attempted to use the "live chat" feature on the Earthlink support site today. Maybe its just me, but doesn't "live" imply "human", at least in the context of technical support? No, maybe it doesn't, but my recent experiments with Sweeney the wonder robot have helped me recognize obtuse robot-logic when I see it and PeggyJ, on the other end of my LiveChat was definitely of the A.I. variety. I tried to "explain my last statement" a few times, but finally gave up and just called the help-center (located in India- I asked the guy, just to make sure he was real).

It's Not Vegan if it has Milk in it- Sorry Whole Foods, Try Again

Whole Foods, the longtime haven of yuppies, hipsters and foodies of all creeds has taken the term "Vegan" and made it their own. Which is to say, they have started applying this word to a number of things that blatantly contain animal products. Why do I care? Well, honestly I don't care that much. I am not a vegan (if you don't count some "experimenting" in college, which you shouldn't because I was a barely passable vegetarian for all of 9 months).



What I am is hyper allergic to dairy. So when Whole Foods puts a sign in its bakery stand that says "Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookie", I get kind of excited, thinking that Vegan means no animal products, including milk.

My camera phone picture is tragically blurry, so you the reader are unable to see the bottom of this card where the words, Contains: Nuts, Milk and Wheat are clearly printed.

This kind of made me wonder exactly who Whole Foods is trying to target. I mean, they sell perfectly good "normal" cookies, so are there really that many people who are NOT vegan but still want to buy a "vegan" cookie?

So, points for sinister marketing savvy, Whole Foods, but a major deduction for being a big fat liar.

People Who Get It: David Fanning

I'll start by saying that The Atlanta Press Club has dramatically exceeded my expectations in the last ten months. Tonight continued that excess.



Tonight I had the incredible opportunity to watch a taping of WSB's John Pruitt interviewing David Fanning, executive producer of the Public Broadcasting documentary series, FRONTLINE since its first season in 1983.

Frequently repeating the phrase, "Its pretty good, but we can make it better", Fanning described FRONTLINE's ongoing effort to make documentary films that are both fair and surprising. In his words, "When you have pictures, sounds and music- that can be the most manipulative form possible". Manipulation is what Fanning tries hardest to avoid. FRONTLINE conveys powerful stories with a minimum of dramatic scoring or outright emotion. He discussed the general acceptance of outright point-of-view in documentary film making and said that honesty of perspective combined with frequently asking, "Are you being fair to the other side?" allows FRONTLINE to secure the trust of its audience and its subjects.

In addition to the weekly PBS program, FRONTLINE has remained far ahead of the curve with its web presence. The FRONTLINE website was first launched in October of 1995 with a small number of video clips. The world's first deep-content website, the FRONTLINE website continues to lead the way in finding creative and effective ways to communicate its stories to an increasingly on-line audience. Fanning discussed the long-term commitment necessary to effectively use digital media online as well as the transparency it imposes on the journalistic process. On the website, viewers can not only watch the films, but can also read the supporting documents and essentially review the same materials used by the journalists producing the films.

When asked if he felt his upbringing outside of this country has helped his perspective on American media, Fanning replied that more than anything, he credits growing up without a television as having the greatest impact on his current career. "We had lots of books in our house, and my dad built little boats out of wood. When I finally made my first little film, I just had to make it up."

Below are two reccomended clips from FRONTLINE. The first is about the Ghana national baseball team. The second is a segment from the documentary "The Merchants of Cool",a piece focusing on the process of marketing to teenagers. Watch and enjoy.