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Criminal Records, located in Little Five Points, is celebrating a milestone this weekend. They’ve been supplying music lovers with CDs, vinyl, comics and more for 30 years. Atlanta is a town that’s rich in record stores, and many of them have been around for a very long time. Criminal’s anniversary puts them in the esteemed company. Find out what keeps them going as Rodney Ho talks with owner Eric Levin about the venerable record shop and what they have planned to mark three decades in business.

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Dogwood blossoms came and went last year, and there was no Atlanta Dogwood Festival to celebrate their arrival. Typically, thousands fill Piedmont Park to shop for sculpture, paintings and jewelry but also to eat and enjoy live entertainment during the three-day showcase each April. But the annual arts and music event was yet another of the city’s signature festivals that was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. And again, this April, there were no such festivities. This summer, it’s back. The AJC’s Rosalind Bentley recently spoke with executive director Brian Hill and she’s here to bring us that conversation.

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Hidden all over the South are structures that once powered a renaissance in Black America. Some are modest, two-room clapboard structures. Others are three-story brick buildings. All were built through a unique partnership between white mail-order magnate Julius Rosenwald and Black educator and leader Booker T. Washington. Atlanta photographer Andrew Feiler discovered the story of these structures while working on another project, and was shocked that he hadn’t heard the name Rosenwald before. In 2014 Feiler set out to find and photograph the Rosenwald schools that still stand, and to bring the Rosenwald story into the light. The AJC’s Bo Emerson recently spoke with Feiler about his work and he’ll bring us that conversation.

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Entering the digitally-animated “Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience” is less like walking into a painting and more like stepping into an IMAX fever dream. In a room the size of a railroad barn, painterly trains come and go, filling the interior with images of soft gray smoke. Flowering almond trees shed their petals on the breeze, and reach to the sky, 40 feet above our heads. Painted sailboats float on a bubbling Rhone River, as yellow stars whirl in the blue night sky. Walls melt. Water pools on the ground. This section of the traveling exhibit is the climax of a multi-media experience, with its super-boosted subwoofer sound effects and eye-popping writhing visuals. The show opened in May and will run through Jan. 4, 2022. Bo Emerson visited the immersive exhibit and spoke with some of the folks there.

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As the nation reeled from video of the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis and the subsequent protests, Time magazine ran a searing cover image capturing the moment. A painting of a young black girl in silhouette led the double issue, titled “America Must Change.” Atlanta artist Charly Palmer was commissioned by Time’s artistic director to render an image that would capture the seminal episode in the nation’s history. You can see that painting and more of Palmer’s work in a retrospective titled “Departure” at the newly reopened Hammonds House Museum. Rosalind Bentley spoke with Palmer about his work and she’s her to bring us that conversation.

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There is so much inherent joy in “Girls5eva.” From the pitch-perfect skewering of ’90s-era pop groups to the goofy charms of the now-foursome who comprise the group, “Girls5eva” is one of the best new shows of 2021. And the glossy sitcom was just renewed for a second season. Check out Melissa Ruggieri's interview with one of the show’s producers and songwriters, Jeff Richmond.

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Looking for something sweet to do? Imagine a cross between Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory and a traveling circus. Well, that’s Candytopia. After two years away, the candy-themed, interactive art exhibition is back in Atlanta, bigger and better than ever before. Terry Baddoo visited the exhibition and spoke with CEO John Goodman.

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Sometimes artists are so popular that radio plays their singles and fans buy them because of unyielding devotion, not artistic genius. The diehard fans might love them all, but the rest of us see things a little differently. Melissa Ruggieri and Radio and TV Talk blogger Rodney Ho recently compiled a list of their least favorite songs from some major artists and they’ll join us on this week’s podcast to talk about this very contentious list.

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The AJC’s dining team is taking a look at the changes to Atlanta’s dining landscape with a package they’re calling Restaurant Reset. It includes some of their top picks for patios, to-go cocktails, pop-ups, grocery store-restaurant hybrids and new brunch spots. Dining editor Ligaya Figueras is joined by AJC food and dining contributor and fellow restaurant critic Wendell Brock to talk about the new dining developments.

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This week, we’ll hear from musical theater and film phenomenon Lin-Manuel Miranda.

Miranda’s “In the Heights” finally makes its way to movie theaters this week, and it will also be available to stream for a limited time on HBO Max. Miranda spoke with the AJC’s Melissa Ruggieri recently about the movie and its long journey from the stage to the screen, and she’ll bring us that conversation.

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