Thursday, August 10, 2006

LA's Got Nothing on ATL: Except for Hollywood...

This post has the added bonus of my sweet wife ghost-writing. In other words, I couldn't remember all the things we did so she added what I forgot...

Last week, some of my wife's friends from LA came to town and left impressed with Atlanta. Even though we don't have the movie glamor of Hollywood, think about it. That would just mean Lindsay Lohan snorting coke at the Earl and running people off the road on Ponce.

We started with the "Maltese Falcon" at the Fox, following a tasty-as-always dinner at Chinese Buddha. A double-feature with "Key Largo," we left after the first movie and headed to Cafe Intermezzo, fulfilling our guests' desire for an excellent hot chocolate. Unfortunately I had to work during their second day in the city, but my wife showed them around Midtown and Decatur, introducing Dawn to the wonders of the Radial Cafe and Victory Vintage, and ending the day with true Southern hospitality (and blue hair) at The Colonnade.

Their last day was spent cruising the city: breakfast at the Silver Skillet, followed by Atlantic Station, Castleberry Hill, Little Five Points, East Atlanta, and Piedmont Park (and even a brief detour through Buckhead, just to show them why it's so wrong). After a little break it was dinner at the always-unique Dante's Down The Hatch. Boiling in oil your own dinner in a pirate-ship. They don't have anything like that in Los Angeles. At least not that they knew of. They'd also never heard of feta-cheese-and-pine-nut ice cream, until a post-dinner dessert run to Muriel & Sebastian's Ice Cream (Dan and the wife swear it's much better than it sounds, but Dawn and I are chocolate purists and refuse to believe them).



While Dan wasn't able to get the absinthe I was itching for, he did get me a related gift. Yet to try it, will report if I go crazy.

Sunday, me and the missus hit the Tabernacle to see Muse. Fantastic show, with a great sound mix that had everything sounding pretty much like the album. Since the album is pretty well produced, it was nice to see a performance that sounded as good as it looked. I wish I had a better view, but seeing that it was a packed show I'm not complaining. City Savvy Girl posted a review on Confessions of a Music Addict, complete with horrible pun in title.

And prior to all this, I had an interview at the High Museum of Art for on-call art installation work. It would be working with pieces from the Louvre as part of an exclusive loan agreement. I'm hoping that my work with the Guggenheim and its similar arrangement with the Hermitage will work to my advantage.

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Somewhat related links:

The "Fabulous Fox Theatre" in Atlanta, Georgia, a tribute web site

Louvre Museum going American

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

My girlfriend who has lived in both LA and Atlanta considers Atlanta to be the LA of the south. Except you trade classism for racism here.

Anonymous said...

Wouldn't Miami be the LA of the South? Or does Florida not count as "Southern"?

Mr. Kimberly said...

I would say that Miami is closer to the vibe that LA has than Atlanta. Also LA is a city that is wide open sprawl, from the mountains to the sea. Atlanta's kind of hidden by trees and hills.

But it's not the Detroit of the South a former Atlanta resident claimed it was.