Go Atlanta

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Spring Dining Guide was published earlier this week. This time we’re focusing on something that just about everybody loves: pizza. Whether it’s vegan options or a pie piled high with pepperoni, you’re sure to find a favorite among the many options our team has compiled. You’ll also find short profiles of the folks who create these tasty treats. And on this week’s podcast, dining editor Ligaya Figueras and AJC contributor and award-winning food and culture writer Wendell Brock will talk about our deep dive into this no-hassle, all-occasions, affordable food that comes in a remarkable array of styles.

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For some Christian Siriano will always be known as the elfin 21-year-old with the punkish haircut, spouting his token “fierce” catchphrase as the winner of the 2008 reality TV phenomenon “Project Runway.” But Siriano, now 36, has far exceeded his pop culture 15 minutes of fame. Named one of Time magazine’s most influential people in 2018, Siriano has proven an incredibly resilient force and his work is the subject of a new exhibition at SCAD FASH Museum of Fashion + Film. Felicia Feaster spoke with Siriano recently and she’ll bring us that conversation on this week’s podcast.

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Sneakers are everywhere, but they’re usually on our feet. Gary Lockwood, aka Freehand Profit, turns them into incredible art. He deconstructs rare, expensive and classic sneakers into elaborate masks that comment on modern crises like civil unrest, war, and climate change, while paying tribute to the emcees, DJs, graffiti artists, and b-boys who laid the foundation for hip-hop and sneaker culture. Remarkably, the masks retain the markings and style of the original shoes. Featuring more than 30 works borrowed from collectors around the world, "Face Value" at SCAD Fash Museum of Fashion + Film is Lockwood’s first museum exhibition. Felicia Feaster spoke with Lockwood about his fascinating work for this week's podcast.

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In the new Amazon Studios psychological thriller “Master,” horror becomes a powerful vehicle to express how centuries of racism have infected an elite Northeastern college campus.

“Master” continues a tradition established with Jordan Peele’s groundbreaking 2017 psychological horror film “Get Out,” which also used the horror genre to intensify the sense of isolation and terror a Black photographer begins to feel while staying at his white girlfriend’s remote upstate New York family home. Rising star Zoe Renee, raised in Fayetteville, Georgia, brings a complex blend of vulnerability and defiance to her starring role as Jasmine Moore, a freshman who is one of just eight Black students on the predominately white Ancaster College campus that serves as “Master’s” eerie set piece. Felicia Feaster recently spoke with Renee about the film and she’ll bring us that conversation.

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The number of film festivals has exploded in the past 10 years. More than 2,000 are staged around the world, dedicated to women directors, Japanese film, hip-hop and countless other themes. As testament to that intense festival growth, this year the 46-year-old Atlanta Film Festival (ATLFF) received 10,000 entries. Following a hybrid model, this year’s Atlanta Film Festival will return to indoor screenings at the Plaza Theatre and Dad’s Garage, and also feature special outdoor screenings at the Carter Center and the Atlanta Botanical Garden. Viewers can choose to see films virtually or in-person, or a combination of both. On this week's podcast, Felicia Feaster will bring us her conversation with the directors of one of the fest’s films, “Refuge,” which is set in Clarkston.

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Plastic bottles, computer parts, buzzing flies circling decay and beaches streaked with acrid black oil register as a new kind of colonialism in the stunning Michael C. Carlos Museum of Emory University exhibition “And I Must Scream: The Monstrous Expression of Our Global Crises.” It’s a challenging, multifaceted show centered on topics like climate change, political corruption, consumption and the legacy of war and colonialism in Africa. Felicia Feaster recently spoke with the museum’s curator of African art, Amanda H. Hellman, who organized the show and she'll bring us that conversation.

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“Gathering Blossoms Under Fire,” a 500-page digest of novelist Alice Walker’s edited journals, is set to be published April 12. It was edited by author, college professor and former Atlanta Journal-Constitution editor Valerie Boyd, whose 2004 biography of Zora Neale Hurston, “Wrapped in Rainbows,” earned Walker’s admiration and trust. They worked together for years. Then two months before Walker’s journals were set to be published, Boyd died of pancreatic cancer, a disease she had been quietly fighting since 2018. For this week's podcast, Bo Emerson recently spoke with the Pulitzer Prize winning author about the journals and about working with Boyd.

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You won’t hear a single “you might be a redneck” joke on Jeff Foxworthy’s first solo stand-up special since 1998. And you’ll only see it on a ser ice that didn’t even exist at the time, Netflix. The long-time Atlanta resident’s “The Good Old Days” special covers a broad array of relatable material such as aging parents, erectile dysfunction ads, the difficulty remembering passwords and overpacking for vacations. For this week’s podcast, Rodney Ho spoke with Foxworthy about the special, his connection to the Fox Theatre and his recent move to Brookhaven.

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After two years of being run under less than ideal conditions due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, The Atlanta-Journal Constitution Peachtree Road Race will be back to standard procedures for 2022. Registration for the event is now open and continues through March 31. The AJC’s Ken Sugiura spoke with Atlanta Track Club executive director Rich Kenah about the challenges of the two previous events and what we can expect as it returns to business as usual on this week’s podcast.

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Located in the Briarcliff Plaza shopping center, now branded Plaza on Ponce, the Plaza Theatre is the only independently owned movie theater remaining inside the Perimeter and the longest continuously operating one of its kind in Atlanta. Christopher Escobar, 35, purchased the Plaza in 2017 and recently signed a 25-year lease with Asana Partners, who bought the shopping center five years ago. Despite the societal challenges working against him — the rise of streaming, the pandemic, fancy multiplexes — he sees a pathway to make the Plaza even more of a neighborhood magnet, a community hub, a gathering spot. And he has big plans. Rodney Ho spoke with Escobar about those plans and the future of the Plaza Theatre for this week’s podcast.

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