Talk of the Town - Spring has sprung March 21 2001

Spring is here, and for many, that's reason enough to celebrate. Others used St. Paddy's Day as an excuse to cut up a little last weekend. Me? I'm simply happy because of all the blessings the creator keeps bestowing upon me.

Duran Duran was in town last week for five shows over at EarthLink Live. In addition to catching Simon LeBon's performance in clingy pink pants, I had the opportunity to interview the band for a Quick Time Video piece on my website, the hushbox.

Although their heyday was in the early '80s, the band is on the edge as far as technology is concerned. They are one of the first bands to use Charmed Technologies' "augmented reality" visual effects, which allow animated characters to appear live on stage.

In talking about music piracy and Napster, the guys are all in favor of finding a way to make music-sharing technologies work. The key is creating a system in which the artist still benefits from their publishing and royalty rights, since it's no secret that the technology for it is here to stay.

If the above excitement wasn't enough to have me giggling like a boy getting his first kiss, the April issue of Elle magazine features its ultimate city guide, and Atlanta is one of five cities profiled, along with Boston, Chicago, Dallas and Phoenix. It's good to see Atlanta contrasted with cities more similar to its size as opposed to being compared to New York & Los Angeles.

Having visited Scott Reilly's new home furnishings store, Retromodern, in Midtown last weekend, it is quite clear to see why Elle mentioned it. From the water pitchers shaped like penguins to the selection of Knoll Textiles, this place is a winner. Also mentioned was one of my favorite Westside hipster hangouts, Mondo Baking. If you're looking for a place to pick up those hard-to-find European magazines, this is your place. And do pick up some of the chocolate crinkles; they are out of this world.

In typical fashion, Elle mentioned the Elton John and TLC connections to Atlanta, but it also highlighted others such as Julia Carr Bayler, the owner of Belvedere, a hip-as-all-outdoors Howell Mill Road home furnishings store, and one of my favorite people whose name you've seen here before, Laura Nix of Division IV, a marketing and consulting firm.

Mid-week, I had a chance to join Madam President and CEO Gina Wright of The Leader Publishing Group, publishers of Business to Business and Catalyst, at the oh my god, how fabulous is this? Marcus Jewish Community Center for the launch of the new magazine Atlanta Jewish Life.

Catalyst creative director Joffre Moore says he will be doing double duty as art director for both mags, and Howard Lalli will be the basketball-playing editor and publisher. Be on the lookout for another publication from LP, code name DIVA, a magazine targeting what else? Divas.

Rounding out my week was the one-night only photography exhibition of Maurice Evans' new works held in Virginia-Highland at the L. Nichole Gallery. This was a departure for Maurice because he is known for his paintings, rather than the nude photographs that were shown. He and I chatted briefly about the work and how some people would be offended and others would see it for what it is — beautiful art.

The crowd, and I do mean crowd, was full of African-American aficionados of African-American artists. My thought as I stood amongst the crowd was this: Why don't I see many of these same faces at the other galleries in the city? I mean, I think it's beautiful and I'm not looking for an explanation from anyone as to why they do what they do, but damm folks, it sure would be nice to see some of yawl on a more regular basis.

Hug a Dread.??