For The Velvet Underground, 1969 arrived like a dimmer switch turned slowly to the left. The noise recedes, the edges soften, and the band begins to reveal a different kind of intensity. The downtown New York outfit that once rattled cages under the gallery glow of Andy Warhol’s patronage now seems less interested in confrontation […]
Category: Columns
Posted inGabi Hart
Healing in community: Atlanta gathering centers art, connection during difficult times
A group of artists, organizers and community members gathered in Old 4th Ward on March 19 not just to talk, but to process. Hosted by Mark Kendall, founder of CoolCoolCool Productions, in partnership with the Radical Optimist Collective, the event, titled ATL Arts & Wellbeing Series: Radical Optimist Collective + CoolCoolCool, invited participants into a […]
Posted inAdrianne Murchison, Columns
Roswell Canton Street businesses continue push for free parking at new deck
For Metro Atlantans, deciding to dine outside of their community is about more than a menu. In North Fulton, cities like Alpharetta have leaned into that reality, pairing downtown districts with free and accessible parking. Roswell will soon open a new parking deck in its Canton Street district. And while a parking deck isn’t glamorous, […]
Posted inColumns
The Carters live on through Habitat International’s Carter Work Project in Atlanta
Habitat for Humanity International is 50 years old this year, the same year of the 40th Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter Work Project. “How appropriate for our 50th year to come back to Atlanta, as we were born in Georgia,” said Jonathan Reckford, president and CEO of Habitat for Humanity International. “Obviously there’s no replacing President and Mrs. […]
Posted inColumns
A cautious session trips over its own election
f there were no other way to tell this was an election-year session, you could have guessed from a Senate amendment which made its way on to a House bill as the General Assembly neared Sine Die last week.
Posted inAdrianne Murchison, Columns
Black Effect Podcast Festival returns to Pullman Yards with live tapings and panels
A national podcast festival centered on Black voices and culture is returning to Atlanta later this month, bringing a mix of live shows, panel discussions and audience engagement to Pullman Yards. The Black Effect Podcast Festival will be co-hosted by Charlamagne Tha God and DJ Envy of the nationally syndicated radio show, “The Breakfast Club,” […]
Posted inColumns
Performativity and perception are our ruination in ‘The Drama’
Early on in “The Drama,” Charlie (Robert Pattinson) and Emma (Zendaya) are practicing for the first dance at their wedding. They’re doing one of those old-timey, heavily choreographed routines. You know the type – the kind where you’re too busy thinking about the next step to worry about the fact that everyone is watching you […]
Posted inDelaney Tarr, Latest News
Atlanta Women’s Comedy Film Festival brings ’boutique’ experience in seventh year
Caroline King likes to keep the Atlanta Women’s Comedy Film Festival intimate. It’s not like major festivals where attendees shell out hundreds of dollars to stand in endless lines or cram into premieres. “I really like to think of us as more of a grassroots boutique festival,” King said. “It’s intimate.” King founded the festival […]
Posted inGuest Column
Beyond NIMBY: What the Westside homeless shelter debate is really about
Atlanta is once again facing a familiar tension. Growth and equity are pulling in different directions, and the westside is caught in between. The debate over a proposed homeless shelter along the Atlanta BeltLine has sparked organized opposition, much of it framed as a fight for economic justice. As detailed in this Urbanize Atlanta report, […]
Posted inCommon Chords
Wilco’s A Ghost is Born and the beautiful static between stations
Success can be a strange kind of thunder. When Chicago’s Wilco emerged from the critical storm surrounding Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, the logical move would have been consolidation, maybe even celebration. Instead, Jeff Tweedy and company turned inward and built something more fragile and more revealing. Their 2004 release A Ghost Is Born feels like a […]
Posted inColumns
Holocaust historian, interfaith dialogue expert to lead JCC talk on antisemitism
The Marcus Jewish Community Center of Atlanta will host a conversation on antisemitism featuring Holocaust historian Deborah Lipstadt and Brendan Murphy, founder of the Bearing Witness Institute for Interreligious and Ecumenical Dialogue. The speakers will examine the origins of antisemitism, why it persists, and what individuals and communities can do in response, according to a […]
Posted inDelaney Tarr
Beltline on track to exceed goal of 5,600 affordable homes by 2030
Atlanta Beltline, Inc. announced today it has built or preserved 4,425 units of affordable housing to date, 79 perent of its goal, well before the self-imposed 2030 deadline. In 2025, the Beltline and its partners “delivered” 299 affordable housing units, with more lined up for 2026. The Beltline has more than doubled the number of […]
Posted inColumns
Metro Atlanta wants to crack down on teen takeovers. Where will teens go?
Everybody has a take on the teen takeovers. They are the latest phenomenon to hit Metro Atlanta — unauthorized gatherings of hundreds of teenagers in spots like the Battery, the Beltline and the Mall of Georgia. The meetups sometimes end in chaos. On Feb. 28, a Beltline takeover turned into 14 arrests and 11 confiscated […]
Posted inColumns
Odds are, money’s being made from classified information
People who care about sports worry about the ways micro-betting and live betting are creating new ways for corruption to seep in to games. But there is more to worry about than sports.
Posted inColumns
Roswell museum spotlights 50 years of Apple innovation with new exhibit
One of metro Atlanta’s lesser-known cultural gems is the Mimms Museum of Technology and Art in Roswell. Commercial real estate developer Lonnie Mimms has spent more than 50 years collecting computers and electronic devices, now showcased at the North Fulton museum. On Wednesday, the Mimms Museum, formerly known as the Computer Museum of America, will […]
Posted inColumns
Let people design public spaces
Some truths are self-evident. Spaces work best when they are designed for the people, by the people. I was reminded of this simple (but not often followed) truth when I attended the March 23 Parks & Greenspace Conference, organized by Park Pride each year. Please read the article my colleague – Delaney Tarr – wrote […]
Posted inLatest News
Madison-Morgan Conservancy receives prestigious national accreditation, enabling conservancy to work with more landowners
The Madison-Morgan Conservancy achieved national accreditation from the Land Trust Accreditation Commission, an independent program of the Land Trust Alliance, in late February. The accreditation comes on the 25th anniversary of the founding of the conservancy, which was originally founded as Georgia’s first countywide conservancy to protect Morgan County’s natural resources. The prestigious accreditation is […]
Posted inGabi Hart
More than shelter: Why solving Atlanta’s housing crisis is so complex
On March 4 , housing leaders, developers, researchers and community advocates gathered at the Atlanta Regional Housing Forum to take stock of where the Atlanta region stands on affordability and,more importantly, what it will take to move forward. The conversation made one thing clear early on: Atlanta’s housing crisis is not driven by a single […]
Posted inColumns
Atlanta leaders: Social capital is key to improving economic mobility
It’s been two years since Atlanta was reminded of its economic mobility challenges. That’s when new data showed Charlotte improved its ranking among U.S. cities, moving from No. 50 to No. 38, with greater opportunities for its residents to move up the economic ladder. Atlanta, meanwhile, remained at the bottom of the rankings from 2014 […]
Posted inColumns
‘Forbidden Fruits’ has trouble melding the old with the new
If there’s one thing you should know about the Fruits, it’s that they worship Marilyn Monroe like she was God herself. This is one of the running gags in Meredith Alloway’s new film, “Forbidden Fruits,” written by Alloway and Lily Houghton and based on Houghton’s 2019 play. The Fruits – a witchy sisterhood of mall […]
