Go Atlanta

Throughout the summer, we are developing a brand new podcast with a new name and a new sound that will launch in late summer. In the meantime, we’ll be revisiting some of our favorite shows from our first four years while still keeping you up-to-date on things to do in and around Atlanta. In December 2021, we heard about a Woodstock man’s unusual hobby. Man caves often feature neon beer signs, autographed sports jerseys mounted on the wall, a big-screen TV and maybe a foosball table or a Ms. Pac-Man machine. But Anthony Sant’Anselmo of Woodstock decided to go a different route in his classic suburban home on a cul-de-sac. Over the past three years, his basement has been transformed into a 1980s-era video rental store he named Mondo Video stocked with 6,000 VHS tapes and side rooms focused on films for kids, sports lovers and food. Rodney Ho spoke with Sant’Anselmo about his basement makeover. Find the conversation at ajc.com/podcasts and at the Apple Podcast store.

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Throughout the summer, we are developing a brand new podcast with a new name and a new sound that will launch in late summer. In the meantime, we’ll be revisiting some of our favorite shows from our first four years while still keeping you up-to-date on things to do in and around Atlanta. Earlier this year, we heard from Acworth’s Jeremy Sides, a former Navy man and father of two, an entrepreneur and a metal-detecting hobbyist. He started out searching for Civil War relics in the woods and creeks. His fondness for finding gold nuggets earned him the nickname “Nug,” and he began documenting his exploits on his YouTube channel, Exploring with Nug. His career took a dramatic turn in November when he scanned the creeks around Sparta, Tennessee, and found a submerged Pontiac with two teenagers inside. They were Jeremy Bechtel and Erin Foster, missing since April 3, 2000. Since then, Sides has become part of a growing group of freelance sleuths seeking out mysteries and posting their exploits online. The AJC’s Bo Emerson spoke with Sides about his work for our podcast. Find the conversation at ajc.com/podcasts and at the Apple Podcast store.

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Throughout the summer, we are developing a brand new podcast with a new name and a new sound that will launch in late summer. In the meantime, we’ll be revisiting some of our favorite shows from our first four years while still keeping you up-to-date on things to do in and around Atlanta. In 2021, Melissa Ruggieri spoke with Jeff Richmond, one of the creators of the musical comedy “Girls5eva.” There is so much inherent joy in the Peacock series. From the pitch-perfect skewering of ‘90s-era pop groups to the goofy charms of the now-foursome who comprise the group, “Girls5eva” was one of the best new shows of 2021. The glossy sitcom’s second season debuted in May 2022 and “Mean Girls,” the musical based on the movie written by Richmond’s wife Tina Fey and featuring his music, makes its Fox Theatre debut next week on July 19. Find the conversation at ajc.com/podcasts and at the Apple Podcast store.

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Throughout the summer, we are developing a brand new podcast with a new name and a new sound that will launch in late summer. In the meantime, we’ll be revisiting some of our favorite shows from our first four years while still keeping you up-to-date on things to do in and around Atlanta. In 2019, AJC food, dining and living editor Ligaya Figueras opened up her kitchen to celebrity chefs Carla Hall and Chadwick Boyd to not only make biscuits, but also teach us ways we can all improve our biscuit game. Hall made buttermilk biscuits from her most recent cookbook, “Soul Food: Everyday and Celebration” and Boyd blended recipes to make a savory biscuit using sage, honey and carrots. Find it at ajc.com/podcasts and at the Apple Podcast store.

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Throughout the summer, we are developing a brand new podcast with a new name and a new sound that will launch in late summer. In the meantime, we’ll be revisiting some of our favorite shows from our first four years while still keeping you up-to-date on things to do in and around Atlanta. In 2019, we marked the 50th anniversary of the first Atlanta International Pop Festival. Some remember it as the first opportunity to witness Led Zeppelin live in the South. Others recall the steamy sun and hordes of, as one attendee called it, “hippies and wannabe hippies and people who were mentally hippies.” A month before Woodstock would garner the headlines and catchphrases as the music festival that defined a generation, the Atlanta International Pop Festival at Atlanta International Raceway in Hampton established the city — and the South — as a meaningful player in the music industry. We spoke to some of the folks who were there. Find it at ajc.com/podcasts and at the Apple Podcast store.

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Throughout the summer, we are developing a brand new podcast with a new name and a new sound that will launch in late summer. In the meantime, we’ll be revisiting some of our favorite shows from our first four years while still keeping you up-to-date on things to do in and around Atlanta. In 2019, we investigated Atlanta’s barbecue scene in our Spring Dining Guide. To go along with that, we talked to former AJC writer Jim Auchmutey, author of “Smokelore: A Short History of Barbecue in America,” about historic Atlanta barbecue landmarks and regional barbecue styles influencing local restaurants. Also, award-winning food writer and critic Wendell Brock joined food, dining and living editor Ligaya Figueras to discuss their barbecue road trip, as well as the various sauces, sides, pies, banana pudding — and yes, Brunswick stew — they came across. Find it at ajc.com/podcasts and at the Apple Podcast store.

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Throughout the summer, we are developing a brand new podcast with a new name and a new sound that will launch in late summer. In the meantime, we’ll be revisiting some of our favorite shows from our first four years while still keeping you up-to-date on things to do in and around Atlanta. In 2019, our food, dining and living editor Ligaya Figueras made her first trip to a Waffle House as part of a dining guide to Waffle House. It was a sweet, sticky and comforting revelation that so many of us take for granted. Find out what it was like for a first-timer to experience Waffle House on this week’s podcast along with our usual roundup of fun things to do in and around Atlanta.

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Throughout the summer, we’ll be developing a brand podcast that will have a new name and a new sound. In the meantime, we’ll be revisiting some of our favorite interviews from our first four years while still keeping you up-to-date on things to do in and around Atlanta. In 2018, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra conductor and music director Robert Spano announced that he’d be leaving the orchestra in 2021. The pandemic postponed that for a year, and he spent the 2021-22 season as co-artistic director with ASO principal guest conductor Donald Runnicles. This weekend, the ASO’s season finale will also serve as Spano’s farewell. Soon after the announcement of his departure, Bo Emerson spoke with Spano about his time in Atlanta leading the ASO and you can hear that on this week’s podcast along with our usual roundup of some things to do in and around Atlanta.

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Throughout the summer, we’ll be developing a brand podcast that will have a new name and a new sound. In the meantime, we’ll be revisiting some of our favorite interviews from our first four years while still keeping you up-to-date on things to do in and around Atlanta. In our very first podcast, then-AJC music writer Melissa Ruggieri had an in-depth conversation with John Driskell Hopkins, the multi-instrumentalist in the Zac Brown Band known for his distinctive beard and baritone voice. Sadly, Hopkins was recently diagnosed with ALS, a progressive, debilitating disease that attacks nerve cells that control muscles throughout the body. Despite this, he recently said he hopes to continue to perform with the band for “many years to come.” The Zac Brown Band will be playing at Truist Park on June 17, 2022, and Rodney Ho will bring us a new interview with Hopkins in the coming days in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and online at ajc.com.

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For a long time, Bobby Brown was a tabloid magnet. Often, his misdeeds overshadowed his successful music career with both New Edition and as a solo artist. His relationship with Whitney Houston kept him in the headlines, as spotlighted on Bravo’s “Being Bobby Brown” reality show in 2005 while they lived in Atlanta. It overshadowed the show itself, meant to be a comeback vehicle for him. Instead, their marriage ended. Now at age 53, Brown is now in a position to look back on his life with the help of A&E’s “Biography” series, airing May 30 and 31. Rodney Ho spoke with Brown about the show and we’ll hear that conversation on this week’s podcast.

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