Narcissistic Graffiti

Learning Comedy Improv

I will be taking a comedy improv class at Whole World Theatre for the next six months!

Atlanta Coffee Shops

I've been obsessed with coffee shops lately, searching out ones in Atlanta with right combination of location, atmosphere and good coffee. Some of the best, so far:

Inman Perk Coffee: Peace and quiet amidst the bustle of the city. Sitting outside in an oversized wooden chair, sipping good coffee, and listening to pins drop. :) Seriously, it says a lot about location to be in the Highland Ave. area relatively close to the city and for the environment to be this peaceful. Parking is great, there is free wireless, and the inside is clean yet unique in its spatial arrangement.

Differentiators: Homemade ice cream, and a blog as their website!

Barrazu: A very cool place over on the corner of Ponce and Penn. Spent an afternoon there almost by myself (I guess they get most of their traffic at night, which is a shame - people are missing out on a cool afternoon hang out spot). Had GREAT coffee, a slice of Italian rum cake, and looked out at the Bank of America building as an occasional respite from my reading. Even invited a couple of good friends who lived nearby to stop on over! :)

Differentiators: Varied selection of cakes, and they bring your coffee to you.

Joe's Coffee: I am rarely in East Atlanta, but that may change as I possibly look for some alternative hang out spots (instead of always going to the Virginia Highlands or Little Five Points). Joe's Coffee is the best in terms of atmosphere. Sitting out in the back patio strangely feels like the back patios of some Savannah coffee shops. However, when a thunderstorm drove me inside, I sat in a comfy chair reminiscent of a college buddy's apartment and felt like I should be whipping out some philosophy to read. Coffee is good, but the inside atmosphere and staring out onto the intersection of Flat Shoals and Glenwood is what did it for me.

Differentiators: Free wireless, atmosphere, location.

Share your favorite Atlanta coffee shops with me.

Hell, share your favorite coffee shops, period. What are your favorites in other cities?? And why?

Let There Be Sketch Comedy in Athens, Georgia

You would have thought a sketch comedy troupe of some sort would be regularly roaming around the mega-college town of Athens, Georgia – pummeling its citizens with some type of off-color, Monty Python influenced sketch comedy of some sort. On Thursday night, I was lucky to personally see this void filled in front of my eyes.

It's called “Off Night Athens.” According to an article from Flagpole, Becky Brooks and Nate Mitchell posted flyers around Athens looking for people with whom to do a variety show. The many responses turned up a wide array of talented local comedians/actors, including stand-up comic Pete McBrayer, veteran Kirby Amick, actress and producer Leslie Herbert, guitarist Adam Newman, brothers Charlie and Conner Taylor, and writers Bunny Mcintosh and Everett Steele.

For a debut show, the writing was often crisp, hysterically funny, and packed some depth underneath. It is certainly more dark comedy than light, and relies on an audience accepting of off-color, un-PC humor in order to make its point (a la South Park, David Cross, Colbert Report, etc.). The very first sketch demonstrated this well as an eloquent, happy-go-lucky store manager lost his ability to repress his rage about his girlfriend sleeping with another employee – the pace and progression of the sketch was well crafted. Even a game show sketch – which is ripe for an easy cop out – was spun into an interesting direction reminding me more of Monty Python (rather than how Saturday Night Live will beat a gag to death - Off Night Athens often avoided the "SNL crutch").

Also to be noted were the animated sketches and videos in between. They often rivaled the live sketches with their montage of assorted images and alternate comedic worlds – again, fleshed out in minimal time for maximum comedy. These guys know what they're doing.

I am interested in how this group will evolve. I recently saw a veteran improv act in Atlanta that has been around for years. Off Night Athens was just as funny, and way more innovative. I'm looking forward to their continuing development.

Atlanta

A must-read from Grayson Daughters. Especially if you like Atlanta.

Grayson: "...be sure to drive down Peachtree Battle when the azaleas are in bloom. Then blog to the world that if that’s not the prettiest boulevard in springtime on the face of the planet then you’re Ashley Wilkes."

Fully Back in Atlanta

This morning, I'm finally sitting down to breakfast at my apartment in Atlanta, relaxing, in control again for the first time in two weeks. Two weeks ago, every group seemed to have their major event of the year in the evening, and this past week was my vacation to Upstate New York. I've still got a lot of catching up to do in my personal journal, recapping the last two weeks, but there is plenty of time to get out the headphones, listen to music, and write away.

Last night, I went to the Atlanta Folk Club at the Red Door Playhouse to see Lisa Bastoni (who made me tear up with a song called "I Can Hear You Michael" - about a guy singing in a loud bar heard by no one, but Lisa can hear him), Joel Underwood (absolutely hilarious - best song was "What Would Dale Do?", a song combining NASCAR and Jesus), Spencer Durham (a 17-year old phenomenon who sounded like Ronnie Lane channeling Jimmy Page), and surprise guest Durwood Fincher (a comedian who told one of the most hilarious stories I've ever heard, about him and a deaf guy getting stopped by a policeman for running a red light - Durwood messed with the policeman's head, to put it mildly).

Afterward, I had a late night breakfast with Sherry Heyl and her husband at IHOP. Sherry and I tossed around ideas and debated the purpose of blogs. Basically, we hovered around the question, "How do you make money with blogs?" combined with the indisputable fact that any blog needs to organically build a community to be successful. While I've said, "Just build a community and see what happens," Sherry brings up a necessary counterargument: There must be a creative way to make money while also building community. She's right - after all, that's how many good businesses tend to work. Serve customers, make them happy, make money. Sherry and I will continue to figure this out. :)

Also, IHOP serves you breakfasts that are really 3-4 servings. Jesus, how are you supposed to eat it all? I ordered the Big Bacon Omlette. Taking much of it home, this morning I fried it up in a pan. About a third of it made one serving. I've got two servings left AND I ate about a serving last night. And that's just the goddamn omlette. Three pancakes came with it. No wonder America is obese. Thank God my metabolism has a built in shut off point.

Advertising on Stairs?

I was walking up some stairs in Gwinnett Place Mall. On the vertical parts of the stairs, facing me, were Visa ads.

Sigh.

Atlanta Dogwood Festival

After a pleasant morning getting tuxedo-measured for my friend Dusty's wedding (on June 4), and doing some laundry at my now "old" apartment, my friend Jon and I drove down to the Atlanta Dogwood Festival.

Believe it or not, after two years of being in Atlanta, this was the first time I'd walked around in Piedmont Park. Much of my time was spent just walking around the entire perimeter of the park, up its hills, down its paths, taking a peek at some angry ducks clawing each other apart.

I also ran into my good friend Alison, her boyfriend Adam (the Neboweb guy), and a Golden (an heir of the original Golden from Arnall Golden Gregory). A band that I saw down at the Savannah Music Festival, BlueGround UnderGrass, was playing. They are that wonderful combinations of bands: jams without boredom, a mix of bluegrass and folk, and exceptional instrumentation (especially from David Blackmon and Matthew Williams).

A beautiful day overall, and a good day to be out in the sun with people, enjoying music.