As concert venues remain closed, parking lot concerts keep live music going
Atlanta's live music venues can re-open on July 1, but most are staying shut for now. Enter: the Parking Lot Concert series.
Q&A: KP The Great on his path from artist to executive, protest music, and more
Kawan “KP The Great” Prather’s multi-hyphenated career in the music business all started with him simply asking questions. The Vine City native hopped on the phone to chat about his storied career in the music business, making protest music, and his next ventures.
How Living Walls continues to inspire during the pandemic
Monica Campana, who launched Living Walls in the wake of the Great Recession with only $4,000—kickstarting a mural movement in the city that eventually would attract international artists—has witnessed the power of public art in trying times.
News, memes, and activism: how Butter.ATL strives to tell authentic Atlanta stories
With over 60,000-plus followers on Instagram alone, Butter.ATL averages over 1.5 million monthly impressions online. More than half of their audience comes from the metro area. But in light of protests sparked by the deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor, there seemed to be less of a need for ATL-themed quarantine games and more of an opportunity to use the platform for community dialogue.
On The Daily Show, Trevor Noah addresses the death of Rayshard Brooks: “You don’t deserve to die for being drunk.”
On The Daily Social Distancing Show with Trevor Noah—the filmed-at-home version of Comedy Central's The Daily Show—Noah discussed the "messy" killing of Rayshard Brooks by an Atlanta Police officer.
If Atlanta’s most famous hip-hop stars want to participate in activism, they’ll have to reckon with their own elite statuses
While it’s certainly possible to both empathize with protesters and feel pained to see the city in chaos, Atlanta's mainstream hip-hop artists also benefit financially from encouraging peace. As entrepreneurs and longtime ambassadors of a city that is a hub for Black businesses, their economic success and the continued growth of Atlanta are indisputably linked. Even if they came from the Black working class and genuinely wish to advocate for them, refusing to acknowledge this reality dilutes their messages.
Making of a legend: A new John Lewis documentary explores his many heroic stands
Because the documentary explores John Lewis’s life, it is also, by necessity, a contemplation of heroism and sacrifice, by people like him who came from the humblest of origins.
Skooly’s pandemic album release party didn’t feel like a pandemic event
Georgia's live performance venues, nightclubs, and bars are closed through at least the end of the month, but Atlanta rapper Skooly still had a new album to promote.
After 25 years of leading Theatrical Outfit, director Tom Key takes a final bow
Tom Key planned to exit on a note of fanfare this spring, ending his 25-year run as artistic director of Theatrical Outfit, one of Atlanta’s oldest professional theater companies. COVID-19 intervened, but Key’s vision for producing theater that enlightens and uplifts eventually will prevail under the direction of his replacement, Matt Torney.
Remembering Little Richard, the Macon-born “architect of rock ‘n’ roll”
“He shaped musicians like Bob Dylan, the Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, and Prince, and influenced how people dress and how they define themselves today,” says David Kirby, author of Little Richard: The Birth of Rock ‘n’ Roll. “He dreamed up a world that nobody thought possible.”
