Atlantafi.com is bringing you the latest on the coronavirus pandemic, which has the state of Georgia and the city of Atlanta under a state of emergency.
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Several Atlanta-area chefs and restaurants have been nominated as 2018 James Beard Award semifinalists, the group announced Thursday.
The nominees have a chance to take home the top prize and cement Atlanta’s place on the map as a bona fide cultural mecca with top-notch restaurants with diverse cuisine.
Atlanta’s Miller Union eatery on Brady Avenue in Midtown Atlanta is up for Outstanding Wine Program.
For Best Chef: Southeast, perennial nominee Ryan Smith of Staplehouse, Ri Liu of Masterpiece in Duluth made the cut, and so did Atsushi Hayakawa of Sushi Hayakawa along with Meherwan Irani of Botiwalla in Ponce City Market.
Also in Georgia, Brunswick’s Matthew Raiford of The Farmer & The Larder along with Savannah’s Mashama Bailey of The Grey are in the running.
For Rising Star Chef, Brian So of Spring in Cobb County and Parnass Savang of Talat Market both made the list.
The firm Meyer Davis is a finalist for best Restaurant Design for transforming the architecture of the old Bluepointe space in Lenox (with designers Will Meyer, Gray Davis, Katie McPherson) into the European-inspired St. Cecilia.
The finalists will be announced in Philadelphia on March 14. The grand prize will be announced May 7 at the James Beard Foundation Awards Gala in Chicago.
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Are you ready to kickoff the preparations for Super Bowl 53, which will be held in Atlanta in January 2019? If so, the event is looking for some help.
Volunteers are being encouraged to apply right now so that they can have some staff in place for logistics and other things. Don’t expect to make it onto the field to mingle with the players and snap selfies. They’re looking for people who (clap) want (clap) to (clap) help!
The event has launched a website and is ready to go.
Here’s how the call for help reads: “As Atlanta gears up to welcome the NFL in 2019, we will be looking for a group of high energy, passionate volunteers. These super-friendly and dedicated ambassadors for our city will be responsible for making the kind of lasting impressions that are forever memorable. Our goal with the volunteer program is to take the words ‘southern hospitality’ to new heights and provide the kind of warm, hearty welcome to all visitors that is synonymous with Atlanta. Interested? Sign up today to be the first to receive exclusive volunteer news and updates.”
As we all know, the Atlanta Falcons are going to be playing in the big game, marking the first time a home team has hosted a Super Bowl. With that being the case, it’s going to be a blast!
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The East Atlanta Santa is promising to gift the city with another one of his contributions. Local Rapper Gucci Mane says that he is bringing a feature-length film on his life to the big screen.
“#TheAutoBiographyOfGuccimane is coming to a theatre near you #DirectorGuccimane #1017Films,” he tweeted recently. The movie will be based on the book of the same name.
The Autobiography of Gucci Mane chronicles the rapper’s rise from local artist to mainstream phenom. The book goes into detail about the rapper’s struggle with drug abuse, especially lean (codeine). Here’s an excerpt:
“My own habits with the stuff had gotten bad. Over the years, there had been times when I’d gone too hard with the X pills, but that had always felt recreational. With the lean, I’d developed a dependence. It became something I needed. My life was moving fast, and this drink helped me slow everything down. I was now on the road nearly every weekend, which meant long bus rides of smoking weed and sipping lean to pass the time. I just wasn’t as outward with my usage as a lot of other rappers were with the Styrofoam cups because I was still on probation.
In the beginning, lean had been something special, a vice I enjoyed. An indulgence. Now it was something I required to operate. My fame was at an all-time high, and these pints helped me calm down and relax in situations where I would otherwise feel anxious, like a big performance or a radio interview where I knew I’d get asked about some shit I didn’t want to talk about.
Is that not the stuff of movie or what? Gucci will no doubt have to confront his demons in the film, such as his time in prison and checkered relationship with fellow rapper Waka Flaka Flame. But all of that should make the flick a bestseller, just like the book.
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Udpate: The “Atlanta Black Panther Movie Festival” will take place on Thursday, February 15, 2018, at Regal Cinemas located at Atlantic Station 261 19th Street NW Atlanta, GA at 7:00 pm. Doors open at 6 pm with activities for photos and award ceremony.
“Black Panther” is the biggest cultural in entertainment event of 2018, and Atlanta, which is where the majority of the film was produced, is front and center.
Celebrities have already held an exclusive screening of the Marvel film in Midtown but what about the people? How can the regular Joes and Janes and Jamals see the movie? Well, it’s selling out everywhere fast. But there are still some tickets to grab.
Rapper T.I. is giving away tickets on Monday evening at a local Walmart. The free screening will be at an undisclosed location.
According to the AJC: T.I. will join associates at the Walmart at 1105 Research Center Dr SW, Atlanta, GA 30331 (off Cascade Road )at 5 p.m. Monday to give away tickets, in the toy aisle. While you’re there, check out Walmart’s selection of exclusive “Black Panther” action figures, toys, merchandise, and apparel and take a selfie with the “Black Panther” signage.
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Actor Chadwick Boseman is living high off the hog these days thanks to his recent movie credits, including a star turn as James Brown, Thurgood Marshall and now “Black Panther.”
The actor said that when he stayed down South to film (largely in the Atlanta area) he was reminded of the progress the nation has made — and the lack thereof. He told culture website Mr. Porter that he witnessed firsthand a gathering of the Ku Klux Klan as he drove home to visit family in South Carolina.
“When I was shooting Black Panther in Atlanta, I used to drive back on off-days to go see my family in Anderson. It’s about two hours,” he told the website.
“And I would see the Klan holding rallies in a Walmart car park,” he added. “So it’s like we’re going forwards and backwards at the same time. People don’t want to experience change, they just want to wake up and it’s different. But this — shooting Black Panther and then driving past the Klan —that’s what change feels like.”
“Black Panther” has gotten super reviews since it screened for celebrities last week on the big screen. The film debuts Feb. 13 in select markets and opens up nationwide two days later.
During a special screening on Tuesday, Feb. 6 in Atlanta, MPAA Chairman and CEO Charles Rivkin said that the film’s production has generated $83.9 Million to Georgia’s economy, according to Deadline.
At the 2018 Chicago Auto Show, a Lexus exec crushed over the fact that the automaker’s new LC 500 model is featured prominently in the movie.
“There is one scene I’m not happy about. There’s a scene when [King T’Challa] slid across the hood and left a huge scratch on the car,” said Koji Sato, the executive general manager of the Lexus LC 500, according to Thedrive.com. “What is wrong with you, that’s my baby! Why would you do that? You are crazy!”
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Lao restaurant Snackboxe Bistro has opened its doors in DeKalb County, AtlantaFi has learned. Snackoboxe opened Saturday, Feb. 3, 2018 to such success that the establishment ran out of food and had to close.
The restaurant has been operating on a limited menu featuring several Asian hits such as khao poon, spicy thum and Lao sausage.
“Come one, come all!! Just in time for super bowl weekend, place your party platter orders with us 😁” the eatery posted on Facebook this weekend. #snackboxebistro #grandopening #laofood#laorestaurant
The restaurant is located at 6035 Peachtree St. Suite C-114, Doraville, GA. 30360.
There are so many Atlanta events popping off every week it’s hard to keep up with it all. That’s why I suggest you subscribe to AtlantaFi.com to get all the freshest gatherings, Atlanta happenings, parties and more delivered to your inbox.
Things to do in Atlanta on a weekly basis can range from going golfing mid-week to checking out the latest restaurant openings. At AtlantaFi.com, we curate the city for you!
Read more: The best soul food restaurants in Atlanta -
People around Atlanta are preparing for an arctic blast Friday evening. That means it’s going to be frigid temps for most of the weekend.
Forecasters said a wintry mix would be possible for metro Atlanta at some point. The center will open Friday February 2, 2018 at 6:00 p.m. and remain open until 12:00 p.m. Saturday, February 3, 2018.
The City of Atlanta has opened a warming center for those in need of a warm place to stay. It is located at the Old Adamsville Recreation Center, 3404 Delmar Lane NW, Atlanta, GA 30331.Central Park Recreation Center Grant Park Recreation Center Old Adamsville Recreation Center.
For more info, please call 404-330-6023.
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Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms preached unity as she addressed a room of influential Wednesday, Jan. 31 at the Buckhead Coalition’s annual meeting.
“We now that when Buckhead is strong, we know that the South Side is strong. We know that when the South Side is strong, we know that the North Side is strong.”
“I am committed to making sure that we continue to work together to make sure that our entire city is as strong as it can possibly be,” she said to a room packed with Atlanta’s elite. “It’s so incredibly important that we remember we really are one Atlanta,”
The theme of the invitation-only event was “Atlanta Together.”
Bottoms’ speech was a salve for business leaders looking for guidance from the new mayor as the city courts Amazon for arguably its biggest power move since the Olympics. Bottoms said that she was all on-board to lure Amazon, but cautioned that there were smaller players she had to cater to as well.
After the event, she tweeted: “t was my pleasure to deliver the keynote address at the 2018 #BuckheadCoalition Annual Luncheon. A reminder that we need all of our diverse communities to come together and move forward as #oneAtlanta to ensure our collective success. Thank you for having me.”
Led by former Mayor Sam Massell, the Buckhead Coalition is a powerful business group made up of the region’s movers and shakers.
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A new townhome development is coming to the Reynoldstown section of Atlanta, turning the landscape near the city’s downtown area on its head. The project will be anchored between Moreland Avenue and the Beltline’s Eastside Trail, according to Curbed Atlanta.The development will be called Mattie Branch and consist of rentals as well. Five of the 11 townhomes have already been purchased, but more are on the way.
The remaining townhomes will be priced around $550,000 for about 2,000 square feet, Curbed reports.
The townhomes will be designed in three styles — “Full Modern,” “Midcentury,” or “Farmhouse Modern”— “with siding made from trees felled on the site and steel porches forged by Reynoldstown’s own Stein Steel,” according to Curbed.
The new project joins a development of 20 condominiums at 45 Moda Reynoldstown townhomes, which will be ready somewhere in the second quarter of 2018.
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Trap Du Soleil will be held Tuesday, February 13, 2018 at an undisclosed location. But it needs exotic dancers to make the event a success. Do you have smooth moves? If so, get in touch.
Here are the deets:
Date: Thursday, Feb 2, 2018
Casting Time: 4PM-8PM
Location: @vlive.atlanta
1271 Marietta Boulevard NW
Atlanta, GA 30318