Posted by Liz and John Attaway, 9/24/17, Updated 1/28/18

PONCE CITY MARKET’S ATLANTA GALLERY COLLECTIVE POP-UP

EXTENDED THROUGH MARCH 31

The Gallery Showcases Exciting Works from Atlanta’s Contemporary Art Scene & Portraits of James Beard Award-Winning & Nominated Southeastern Chefs & Mixologists, Photographed by Erik Tanner

ATLANTA GALLERY COLLECTIVE, a pop-up gallery and cultural destination at Ponce City Market that showcases the best of Atlanta’s contemporary art scene, has been extended through March 31. Originally set to close after the holidays, the space features works from ten of the city’s top art galleries (below) on Ponce City Market’s second floor in the Central Food Hall. Atlanta Gallery Collective is open during Ponce City Market’s regular business hours.

Atlanta Gallery Collective’s flagship exhibit is a photography show featuring portraits of James Beard Award-winning and nominated chefs and mixologists from around the Southeast. Each was photographed by Erik Tanner, a Brooklyn-based, world-renowned photographer who has captured everything from the cover of TIME Magazine to Japanese VOGUE. Talent featured in the exhibit at Ponce City Market includes Hugh Acheson, Greg Best, Sean Brock, Ford Fry, Kevin Gillespie, Asha Gomez, Linton Hopkins, Meherwan Irani, Miles MacQuarrie, Anne Quatrano, Hector Santiago and Steven Satterfield.

The gallery is set to host several upcoming events:

Thursday, Jan. 25: Chef Hugh Acheson Book Signing celebrating the James Beard Award-winning chef’s latest cookbook, The Chef and the Slow Cooker. Tickets can be purchased here.

Wednesday, Feb. 28: Jerry Siegel Artist Talk and Book Signing showcasing Black Belt Color, a monograph featuring images from the photographer’s hometown of Selma, Alabama and the unique cultural landscape of the area, known as the “Black Belt.”

Through Mar. 31: The public is invited to discuss life’s big questions at the Question Booth from internationally renowned podcast company HowStuffWorks. Each week, a new question is posted, and producers from HowStuffWorks are on-site to drive conversation with thought-provoking prompts. The booth is free and open to the public for recording on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from noon to 5pm; no reservations required. To record outside those hours, please make an appointment by emailing questions@howstuffworks.com.

Date to be determined: Artist Talk and Book Signing with famed international photographer Landon Nordeman featuring Out of Fashion (named one of the best Photo Books of 2016 by TIME).

As curated by local art expert and Atlanta native Spalding Nix of Spalding Nix Fine Art, ATLANTA GALLERY COLLECTIVE highlights rotating works from ten local galleries below. The gallery presents a variety of mediums like sculpture, paintings, photography and more, and featured artists include Richard Thomas Scott, Tori Tinsley and Joe Peragine, among others. Thomas Deans Fine Art is a new featured gallery that joined the pop-up after the new year. They are showcasing paintings and photography work from artists such as Paul Tamanian, whose paintings include auto paint on aluminum, and Atlanta photographer Kathryn Kolb, who presents chromogenic prints. All works in the gallery are available for purchase.

• Arnika Dawkins Gallery
• Kai Lin Art
• Hathaway
• Marcia Wood Gallery
• Mason Fine Art
• Matre Gallery
• Spalding Nix Fine Art
• Tew Galleries
• Thomas Deans Fine Art
• Whitespace

ORIGINAL POST:

Flagship Exhibit Will Be Portraits of James Beard Award-Winning & Nominated Southeastern Chefs & Mixologists, Photographed by Erik Tanner

Opening Weekend Will Be October 28^th-29^th, Coinciding with Sunday Supper South, The Annual James Beard Foundation Benefit at Ponce City Market

Kicking off this fall, Ponce City Market is hosting ATLANTA GALLERY COLLECTIVE, a pop-up gallery and cultural destination that will showcase the best of Atlanta’s contemporary art scene. The space will feature works from ten of the city’s top art galleries (below) and will take up residence on Ponce City Market’s second floor in the Central Food Hall. Opening weekend will be October 28^th-29^th, coinciding with Sunday Supper South—the annual James Beard Foundation benefit hosted by Chef Anne Quatrano at Ponce City Market.

The flagship exhibit will be a photography show of portraits of James Beard Award-winning and nominated chefs and mixologists from around the Southeast. Each was photographed by Erik Tanner, a Brooklyn-based, world-renowned photographer who has captured everything from the cover of TIME Magazine to Japanese VOGUE and subjects as far-ranging as Aziz Ansari to Radiohead. Talent featured in the exhibit at Ponce City Market include Hugh Acheson, Greg Best, Sean Brock, Ford Fry, Kevin Gillespie, Asha Gomez, Linton Hopkins, Meherwan Irani, Miles MacQuarrie, Hector Santiago, and Steven Satterfield.

As selected by local art expert and Atlanta native Spalding Nix of Spalding Nix Fine Art, ATLANTA GALLERY COLLECTIVE will highlight works from ten local galleries:

–        Arnika Dawkins Gallery

–        Jackson Fine Art

–        Kai Lin Art

–        Lumiere

–        Marcia Wood Gallery

–        Mason Fine Art
–        Matre Gallery

–        Spalding Nix Fine Art

–        Tew Galleries

–        Whitespace

Expect a variety of mediums like sculpture, paintings, photography, and more. The pop-up gallery will be open to the public, with all works available for purchase through the holidays.

Posted by Liz and John Attaway, 8/21/17

If we hopped in a time machine and went back 10 years to tell ourselves that our 2007 colorless flip phones would one day give us an app that offers tickets to live events like concerts, sports games, brewery tours, festivals and more for only $29 a month, we wouldn’t have believed it! But, that’s where we’re at with technology. It’s called INWEGO, a monthly subscription to get unlimited tickets to Atlanta sports and live events for just $29 a month. But it’s just for sports lovers, right? Wrong. Most people we’ve talked to that had any hesitation about INWEGO said they weren’t into sports enough to become a member of the subscription. Well, we’ve got news for you. Are you a BaseballlovingHeadbangingRockerDarkBeerDrinker? INWEGO’s got you covered. What about a FootballWatchingZombiebyDayImprovHecklerbyNight? Check. Or even a CowboybootdancingBasketballHoopsterIPAOfficianato? You’re good. The amount of events available each week have you covered!

Now let’s talk about the app itself. INWEGO adds events 5 days prior to each event. One of the biggest tips we can give is that if there an event you really want to go to, pay attention to when it goes live to ensure you get to attend (since there are limited quantities and some events sell out fast). Your ticket will become available two hours prior to the event and to get your tickets; you’ll need to be close to the event. You can’t sit at home and get your tickets, but they’ll be waiting for you on your phone when you get there. Finally, find a group! If you and a few of your friends all have INWEGO you can group together when signing up for all live events, that way you can sit together! It’s really easy to connect and link to friends! You can also purchase guest passes for most events for non-INWEGO subscribers. If they love it, send them your referral link and you each get $10 off when they join.

Beyond the tips above, we got to try the INWEGO app for a month first-hand and wanted to share some of our experiences with you. We went to a Braves game, a concert, and a pub crawl all in one month. Here are some snippets of our adventures:

Are you IN the next horde? Imagine the streets of the Virginia Highlands filled with gaggles of zombies, while some brave souls have come armed with bats to defend the street. But, it’s up to you to decide, are you a zombie or are you a survivor? INWEGO lets you decide! Not just sports, INWEGO has festivals and even pub crawls throughout the year for everyone to enjoy! This month, they had, the annual Atlanta Zombie Pub Crawl. We go to this event every year so we had to jump at the chance to experience it through INWEGO. It was easy! We signed up, got there and checked-in, all good. Of course, we had a blast with zombies from prison, on a bus, and even a few umpa lumpas that must not have made it out of Charlie’s Chocolate Factory.  On top of that, we even ran into other INWEGO people we’d met before. Stay tuned for more on that!

Get IN a Sing-a-long with Mr. Roboto. When REO Speedwagon and Styx concert came up on INWEGO we were sad, it had already had no slots left by the time we saw it. REO Speedwagon and Styx are both bands we’ve never seen and are on our list to see one day. What’s great about this app is that if you check it daily there are a ton of surprises. The next day they released more spots and we got IN! On the day of the concert, we tested to see if we could check in from home, but that didn’t work. You do have to be relatively close to the venue to check into any event. Our tickets were actually very good in the 100s section and they didn’t have assigned parking, so there were no issues getting in the concert or getting parked. We actually looked our tickets up online and they would have been $70 each plus fees, so we felt the app really would be worth it if you went to even one concert a month like this. We met a couple who sat next to us who had used the app for months and loved it. Low and behold we also saw them at the Zombie Pub Crawl a week later (remember, I said stay tuned). To them, the app has become a community for them.  They actually know people most the time they go places from INWEGO! Very interesting.

Take IN a Braves Game. The second you walk into Suntrust Park, you feel the excitement and marvel at the sheer awesomeness of the new ballpark for the Atlanta Braves. It really is the new place to be in Atlanta with everything The Battery has to offer from PBR Atlanta to Terrapin Taproom to Todd English Tavern to Wahlburgers. It is an all-day food, fun, and sports haven. As far as the game, the seats were good enough for the casual baseball fan in the outfield near the mega, ginormous, big screen. We wish we could have been a little closer and not in the sun because it was a scorcher that day, but we were close to The Battery entrance and easy in-and-out.  Our one suggestion would we’d like to see in this app is more about the venue, venue information, parking, and any additional fees like parking you’ll have to incur. Parking is expensive at SunTrust Park so we would’ve liked more information about this additional cost. INWEGO has a FAQ area in the app, but it doesn’t get specific on venues and their details. We ended up looking up the Suntrust Park on our own to find out they charge WAY too much for parking and ended up spending too much time searching for something affordable. If they could add something about this, it would have been helpful at that venue specifically. We didn’t have issues with this at anything else we went to, so to be fair it’s probably just Suntrust Park’s issue.

Do you want IN? Of course, you do. Download the app to browse for free, and use code ATLADVENTURE for 50% off your 1ST month of INWEGO. Yep, that’s $14.50 to try it out for one month and see if you like it. But hurry, you only have until the end of September to redeem our promo code. Who knows you may run into us at the next event!

Posted by Liz and John Attaway, 10/15/16

With a little dust in the eye, the days of Turner Field, or as Atlanta’s refer to it, the Ted, has come to an abrupt end. Gone with it are 20 years of Braves hits and misses, the beauty of the green field, the chop house, and that large Chick-fila cow looming over our heads. Au revoir, auf Wiedersehen, sayonara. But let’s not be sad, let’s celebrate that tradition with one last hurrah to pay homage to the memories. The Great Atlanta Beer Fest accomplished that this year by letting us lose in the dugout, on the field, and letting us run the bases from IPA to stout.

As far as the beer, mainstays and favorites like Cinnamon Cocoa Drafty Kilt and Burnt Hickory’s Big Shanty Graham Cracker Stout were in full force. Here’s a rundown of a few things we tried and enjoyed, which included Red Hare’s Chocolate Porter. It was definitely chocolate forward but finished smooth like a traditional porter. Side note: Red Hare just had their Sticky Stout release and had a specialty Sticky Stout brewed with Thin Mints. Dear Red Hare, pretty please make this a seasonal? Gate City also brought their Terminus Porter. It was a dark, a little smoky, but smooth at the end. Let’s not forget Burnt Hickory’s Die Kreuzen Pumpkin Porter. One of the best porters of the festival, it had pumpkin and all spice up front but then ended like a smooth porter.

After that, we went off script with my love of stouts and porters to try Wicked Weed’s Old Fashioned Ale with orange and cherry. The cherry was very prominent on the nose, but it was also a little sweet like a bourbon barrel aged beer would! There was also a cranberry pumpkin beer from Terrapin called Cranberry Pumpkinfest. It was very tart but finished with a lot of pumpkin like their original Pumpkinfest. Even though this isn’t a beer, the Red Hare Root Beer soda is so delicious! Sugary sweet. A good little treat between treats.

It never amazes us the number of new breweries that pop up at these festivals, like Gate City Brewery, Dry County, Scofflaw and so much more. Not to mention, we’re excited Abby of the Holy Goats will have a Stout in February. You know where we’ll be then! It’ll almost just be in time for the new SunTrust Stadium to welcome its first Braves fans of 2017.

Posted by Liz and John Attaway, 5/1/16

SWEETWATER 420 FEST 2016

Sweetwater 420 Fest from day one has always been a mix of music types, like rock, reggae, and rap. This year there were several big name performers of today and yesterday: Kid Rock, Cypress Hill, The Roots, Bastille, Ludacris, and so much more. Kid Rock began his set with “Don’t Stop Believin‘” as well as “Cowboy Baby” peppered in and then ending with the beginning of “Purple Rain” before the heavens opened and drove the audience to shelter. Did Prince NOT want Kid Rock to sing “Purple Rain” or was it a coincidence? Hm. Bastille flowed their way on the stage with smooth tunes. Rebelation was perfect for Earth Day and 420 belting out reggae tunes like it was going out of style. That being said, we originally intended to do what we called Sweetwater 420 Fest in pictures and write something about each band, but in writing this blog, we realized we wanted to dwell on the band that nailed it, wowed us, and killed it.

What happened to the good old days of anything from AC/DC to old Metallica to STP to Ozzy Osborne? Where are the threading guitars, mosh pits, reverb, guitar solos, building musical solos that culminate in a flurry of instruments and noise, some real, unadulterated rock?  There are a few bands that come to mind that is current and not-so-mainstream like The Joy Formidable and Silversun Pickups. We’re adding another band to that list that could be legendary: Awolnation. One of the staff for the production company that put on 420 was so wowed that he said they are the next headlining band. We argue, they already are!

With a mix of punk, rock, and harmony, Awolnation brought their A-game. When they entered the stage, dressed in mechanic’s jumpsuits, they kicked-off a great concert with hits like “Hollow Moon” and “Kill Your Heroes.” We wondered why do they wear jumpsuits on stage? We were hoping it was a shout-out to Lost’s Dharma Initiative. Pretty please? We couldn’t glean anything from the internet so there’s always hope. Crossing fingers. What we really enjoyed about Awolnation is they could have been just any other band that plays a bland melodic song with a mix of electronic and indie sound. We found they are NOT rock-lite or even good indie rock but much more. They know how to go all punk and rock-out and that was what really hit their performance home for us. The lead singer, Aaron Bruno, is also interactive and seemed to really enjoy his own music, which is refreshing. The Last song was, of course, the one that they broke on the rock scene with “SAIL!” A perfect mix of rock, electronic, and harmony. We, along with our friends in the general audience, were all too excited to hear it live. It didn’t disappoint. Rock on, AWOL. We promised our young niece a good show, so keep it up! We’re holding you to it…

Posted by Liz and John Attaway, 4/8/16

Around the corner, the church bell rings. Its noon in Atlanta on a dreary, fog-laden, barely spring day with all the hope that bacon will bring sunshine and happiness. Yes, bacon. That means BaconFest 2016 was upon us with all its bacon-y glory. That unmistakable sizzle, that smoky goodness, hilarious games, and pair it with beer, and that’s BaconFest.  This year, fresh off purchasing new digs, Dad’s Garage moved the festival from Masquerade Music Park to their new location in Old Fourth Ward. What’s ironic is this irreverent bunch of improvers now reside in a church. But you know, that’s how they like it… ironic. New place, same fun.

The best, and our favorite activity at BaconFest is always the Hobo Wine Tasting. We remember the first year that we attended and I was fascinated by the sheer nastiness of the wine. To think that this year’s best in show was Arbor Mist Blackberry is a travesty. In what world is Arbor Mist ever good? Whatever you do, DO NOT try the Thunderbird. It’s rubbing alcohol light. Stay away! Everything in between is pretty gross as well, Night Train, Cisco (Strawberry & Peach), Mad Dog 20/20, and Wild Irish Rose. Fun fact: Dayroom, a local Athens band from the late 90’s had a song called, Irish Rose. They talk about drinking cheap wine and waking up stinking like Wild Irish Rose. We assume they mean this drink. WHY, Dayroom, why? Drinking it is one thing, but smelling like it? Gross.

Another game we enjoyed this year was the Battle Shots. Based on the game, Battleship, opponents guessed the location of the shots on the board. If you hit their boat, they would drink the corresponding shot. If they hit your boat, you drink your corresponding shot. Yes, we can see where this would turn you sideways but it was just Miller Lite in there. It was looking like we would win but unfortunately a guy with a cat face-painted on his forehead beat us. This game wasn’t really about winning or losing, but about getting to drink all your beer in a fun, interesting way. It was fun!

We got Rick Rolled at BaconFest! In the church’s basement, adjacent from the photo booth was a Rock Band set up. While we were sitting there, we hear “Never gonna give you up…” Yep, we just got Rick Rolled. We all laughed about it. Some of the other games included human Foosball, which the ball kept coming out of the game and knocking over people’s beers or hitting them in the head. You could get a kiss from the Clairemont Lounge’s world-famous, Blondie. Yeah, no thanks. Plus, there were the caricatures, roasting, and face-painting.

All-in-all between the bacon, bacon chips, beer, games, and improv skits, BaconFest didn’t disappoint. The weather was a little misty, with light rain mixed in early, but gave way to a pretty nice day overall. It didn’t keep the bacon lovers away. The lines got long, so thank Caren West PR for Whole Hog VIP! Since there was no actual VIP, they made separate lines at all the stations for Whole Hogers to get up front. It was pretty nice! Go Whole Hog next year!