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My newish band, Bad Magic Number, are playing not one, but two, shows this weekend. Tonight at the Drunken Unicorn with Dropsonic and Tetonic, and tomorrow at the Five Spot in L5P with State Radio. Yo, come check it!

Christopher Hitchens couldn’t even make it through 5 minutes of the Daily Show without diverting a discussion about the meritlessness of religion into real life religion n’ drinkin’ stories. Although it seems like everyone has a God Bashing book out right now, and I think that is fabulous, as it’s rare that someone dares to challenge all-the-worlds-gods, while so drunk. Don’t forget Hitch will be taking on the Bible Belt right here in the ATL in a couple of weeks. Bring your lil’ nippers of moonshine to make the night real fun…

Yo, check it. Atlanta Film Festival starts today.

Why you should check your email frequently.

“A gunman is loose on campus. Stay in buildings until further notice. Stay away from all windows.”

I don’t know if the university was to blame, but the first email came out 2 hrs after the first shooting. Of course, I don’t think they knew they had a rampage at that point.

I have been notified of many things via email: births, deaths, all sorts of variants of good and bad news, but never that I was being pursued by a gunman. How many students do you think thought it was spam? Can you image some of the SMS messages that were sent back and forth between them?

Perhaps registering students cell phone numbers to send out SMS messages in case of emergencies would be slightly more direct in the event of emergencies.

Update: boing boing talks about the SMS notification possibility here, obviously following my lead. Although it may not accomplish much I do think it’s a step in the right direction, and not at all difficult to implement. The world needs more real time!

The lingering question I have is how could Cho, a lousy playwright and stalker, who had done time in a mental institution, have bought a gun so easily? You would think ‘mental institution’ might flag a background check?!?

Dave Eggers, author of A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, and Valentino Achak Deng, Sudanese refugee and subject of Egger’s new quasi-fictional biography What is the What?, spoke tonight at the Margaret Mitchell house. It was one of those typical writerly events, free cheese with $10 admission, annoying introductions (what for?), no drum solos, minor technical difficulties. Dave didn’t speak much about his writing as most of the time was spent interviewing the affable Valentino who spoke about the tragedy and fortune that led him to the US. Interestingly enough, the aspect that moved me the most wasn’t so much the genocide tragedy (which, like all of them, are so awful they are difficult to even process) but Valentino’s emphasis on the fact that he did not suffer, that he escaped the suffering, and that those who didn’t escape are the ones who suffered. Now that, is fucking human. Survivor guilt was palpable, paralleled with the first-world status guilt of the audience, most of whom were not refugees, and whose lives nowhere approached this level of tragedy. Whose most taxing dilemmas stem from having too many choices to contemplate. How we labor over freedom, if we have the luxury.

There is a lot of talk in Atlanta, about what can be done to save Underground, the perpetually soulless downtown tourist complex containing, “unique shopping, dining, history and entertainment.” They’ve tried lots of government sponsored and taxpayer funded measures to no avail. Not even an extended 4am last call could help. Now the Zoo is considering relocating from it’s current Grant Park home. Need I state the obvious solution here?

Had a party this past weekend, first one I’ve hosted in a long time, and the first one at this house I bought a couple of years ago in Peoplestown. It ran smooth and very late night, with only one car break-in, a few burns from handling a bonfire whilst inebriated, random bruises from “dancing,” and one wallet accidentally ending up in the wrong pocket. I had forgot how interesting it is to have a party, to see who shows up and how it evolves. I also learned why you have DJs, because inevitable people want to dance, and unless you want to be bothered to change the music every five minutes a DJ would be nice. Playlists are cool and all but they can’t judge a party’s mood and select music accordingly. Bartenders probably would come in handy too, although people get pretty smart when it comes to getting liquor into their systems. The keg went pretty quickly but the booze, and thank you to those who brought some, lasted all night long. Unfortunately the only thing left the next day were three High Life’s, Sambuca and a nasty half-bottle of rum (shudder.) Click on your drunken, surly, two-fisting host for a few pictures.

Lilac Breasted Roller has posted some pics from the party on flickr as well.

Atlanta’s geekiest convention has come and gone once again. Here’s a few shots, more on Flickr.

This weekend, Aug 26-27. Food, Art Markets, Croquet, and best of all, FREE. How can you go wrong with that? Magnapop will be playing at 7:30pm, Saturday.

Saturday, August 26 – Acoustic Stage

12:00 Stil True
1:00 Juliana Finch and Five Day Drive
2:00 Number 99
3:00 Michael Levine
4:00 Whoa Nelly
5:00 Trey Boyer
6:00 Blake Rainey
7:00 Wesley Cook

Saturday, August 26 – Rock Stage

11:30 Chickens and Pigs
12:30 Blake Rainey and His Demons
1:30 The Sudden Rays
2:30 Moresight
3:30 The Preakness
4:30 Silent Kids
5:30 The Jupiter Watts
6:30 The Slack Republic
7:30 Magnapop

Sunday, August 27 – Acoustic Stage

noon Deacon Brandon Reeves
1:00 Hubcap City
2:00 Jeff Johansson
3:00 michaelcsmith
4:00 Spencer Durham
5:00 Arlington Priest

Sunday, August 27 – Rock Stage

11:30 The Blue Hour
12:30 Brodie Stove
1:30 Bouldercrest Singing Group
2:30 No River City
3:30 David Railey
4:30 Petrillo Relents
5:30 hope for agoldensummer
6:30 Tenement Halls

That very special event know as Corndogorama is upon us. If you haven’t been, it may be time to tattoo that “L” on your forehead. It’s about the coolest, raunchiest, drunkenest, smelliest, rockinest event this side of the Chattahoochee with all the best in ATL underground sounds. It’s like Burning Man, only the robots are drunk, hippies aren’t allowed, and instead of creating civilization, you get to destroy it. Over and over, for three straight days.

Friday:

12:45: The Artist Formerly Known as League of Evil (performing Prince’s “Purple Rain”)
12:20-12:40 (side stage): Shock Cinema
11:45-12:15am: Snowden
11:00-11:30: I am the World Trade Center
10:15-10:45: The Close
9:50-10:10 (side stage): Morishi Dolls
9:15-9:45: Luigi
8:30-9:00: Psychic Hearts
7:45-8:15: The Orphins
7:20-7:40 (side stage): The Blue Hour
6:45-7:15 Cassavetes
6:00pm-6:30 Elevado

Additional Info:
Friday night DJs:
12am-2: DJ Gnosis
11pm-12am: Chris Case
10-11: DJ Magiq
9-10: Osere
8pm-9: Rob D from dragonradio.net
Plus: blindfolded laptop battle
fashion vs. passion by pop vultures
w/ Andy Blackfire and Corny Huskaderro

Saturday:

1:30- The Dickens
12:30-1:15: Anna Kramer
12:05-12:25 (side stage): Thee Crucials
11:20-12:00am: Man Man
10:30-11:00: Deerhunter
10:05-10:25 (side stage): The Sweet Loves
9:30-10:00: Dropsonic
8:45-9:15: The Hiss
8:00-8:30: Day Mars Ray
7:35-7:55 (side stage): The Lovely Feathers
7:00-7:30: Tiger! Tiger!
6:15-6:45: Human Television
5:30-6:00: Casionova

Additional Info:
5:00-5:30: Corndog eating contest
4:35-4:55 (side stage): Hubcap City
4:00-4:30: Hot Young Priest
3:15-3:45: The Preakness
2:30-3: The Silent Kids
2:05-2:25 (side stage): Ghost Tour
1:30-2:00: Brain Box
12:45-1:15: Moresight
12:00pm-12:30: Jetty
And, on the outdoor stage:
8:30-9:30pm: Johnny Knox & Hi-Test
6:30-8: The Avett Brothers
5:00-6:00: Corndog Eating Contests
4:00-4:45: Tim Easton
3:00-3:30: National Grain
2:00pm-2:30: Blake Rainey & his Demons
+ the usual corndog madness:
drunk tank dunk booth w/ surprise guests
MC Rotknee
corndog eating contest
Beer Factor Olympics
Mystery Touching Booth
Heavy Metal Petting Zoo
stunt show by Swinks Bros.
bluegrass
ass kissing booth
meet college djs
beer butt chix
sharkdogs
Sassparilla the Singing Guerilla
film projections by Visual Candy
the corndog movie with Cypress P. Buford
the 3Rd
corndog decor by Tulip
Roller Boogie Baby
Saturday DJ schedule:
2pm-3: Corvette Summer
3-4: Scooter
4-5: Cherry & MN8
5-6: Suzy Moran & Vicki V.
6-7: Jazz Space & Bass w/ Jeff
7pm-2am: Myers & Mystery Chris

Sunday

Corndog Super Dunch

6pm-6:45pm: Dave Cross & Oscar Rhea
5-5:45: Bouldercrest Singing Group
4-4:45: The Slackey Family
3-3:45: Day Mars Ray
2-2:45:Brodie Stove
1-1:45: Anctic Clay:
12pm-12:45: Deering & Down

10:45: All Night Drug Prowling Wolves
10:20-10:40 (side stage): Lay Down Mains
9:45-10:15: The Carbonas
9:00-9:30: Gentleman Jesse & His Men
8:35-8:55 (side stage): Brass Castle
8-8:30: Rizzudo
7:15-7:45: The Liverhearts
6:30-7: Heir Apparent
6:05-6:25 (side stage): Untied States
5:30-6:00: Lust
4:45-5:15: The Jupiter Watts
4-4:30: Hell Mach 4