The City Lights Collective

Today’s special show was recorded live from Dragon Con. Join City Lights Collective hosts Kim Drobes and Jon Goode as they talk to the diverse communities of Dragon Con. Learn about the art and music of the con and meet the people who help make Atlanta’s biggest fan-based pop culture convention a yearly spectacular. Guests include: Dragon Con’s Art Curator: Tracy Harvey-Bell Fine Art Show Guest of Honor: Donato Giancola Founder of the “Black Geeks of Dragon Con”: Channing Sherman Community Director of the Cosplay Medics: Russell Thorne Co-owners of Joystick Gamebar: Johnny Martinez Drunken Dragon Hotel shop owner and Dragon Con Cult expert: Sven Licht Members of The Loyal Order of the Ribbon Members of the Cult of Marriott Carpet Music Curator and Dragon Con Senior Director: Billy Messina See omnystudio.com/listener [https://omnystudio.com/listener] for privacy information.

✦ Brunching in Atlanta is practically a sport, and many of us don't know how to play. There are strategies involved—arrive early to beat the rush of a crowd, or maybe you're a diner that prefers to make reservations. BUT in this economy, who has the money to drop $80 to $100 on breakfast food and drinks every weekend? In our new mini-series, "Brunchin' on a Budget," we look at several delicious AND affordable brunch spots in Atlanta. On today's installment of "Brunchin' on a Budget," WABE Arts Reporter Summer Evans heads to Memorial Drive to highlight Homegrown. ✦ City Lights Collective member Shane Harrison spends his days at Arts ATL looking for cultural events to share with readers. He joins us weekly to share highlights, and today his mix includes House in the Park, The Atlanta Black Theater Festival, and a preview of Dragon Con. ✦ Dee Dee Bridgewater embodies jazz. She takes jazz standards and makes them her own while being true to the original composition. This is something she's done before and since releasing her debut album in 1974. No stranger to Atlanta, Ms. Bridgewater returns to the Rialto Center for the Arts on September 6 to the delight of all. Ahead of her concert, City Lights Collective Co-Host Jon Goode sat down with Ms. Bridgewater to discuss her new album, her return to Atlanta, and to share a laugh or three. ✦ Get ready for some cinematic chaos, VHS Deathmatch is coming to Monday Night Garage on September 26th. Part screening, part comedy showdown, the event takes the best (and worst) of B-movie VHS tapes and pits them head-to-head for ultimate bragging rights. City Lights Collective producer Josh Thane spoke with organizer Kristopher Bolz about the madness audiences can expect at the Deathmatch. ✦ Kosmo Vinyl is a visual artist and lifelong music lover. He bought his first LP when he was just nine years old and went on to spend decades immersed in the world of music. He got his start at London's groundbreaking indie label Stiff Records, and in 1979, he began working exclusively with The Clash—staying with the band until they disbanded in 1986. Today, Kosmo's legendary record collection fuels his social media series Kosmo's Vinyl of the Week, and he joins us every Wednesday to share the stories behind the records he treasures. Today, he tells us the story behind Creedence Clearwater Revival's 1969 hit, "Born on the Bayou." ✦ Ebony magazine debuted in 1945 and quickly became an inspiring celebration of Black life, culture, and achievement. The monthly magazine thrived for over seven decades, and within its pages lived the iconic column, "Fashion Fair," created by Eunice W. Johnson. "Mrs. Johnson," as all reverently called her, is the subject of the children's book, "Miles of Style," Eunice W. Johnson and the Ebony Fashion Fair." The book is the first by Atlanta author Lisa D. Brathwaite, and when City Lights Collective co-host Kim Drobes spoke with the author last year, Brathwaite explained how she first learned about Mrs. Johnson. See omnystudio.com/listener [https://omnystudio.com/listener] for privacy information.

✦ "Cinematheque," Emory's film screening series, leads us on a deep dive into the history, present, and possible futures of cinema every spring and fall. Beginning tomorrow, August 27, through December, "Cinematheque" looks back exactly 50 years to 1975, an explosive and groundbreaking year for film, with blockbusters like "Jaws," underdog hits like "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" and offbeat outsider works like "Grey Gardens." Emory film and media professors Matthew Bernstein and Dan Reynolds recently sat down with City Lights Collective Co-host Kim Drobes to detail this season's series. ✦ WABE's Sounds Like ATL documentary series explores the vibrant Atlanta music scene. Each week, it either introduces or reintroduces you to a local artist, sharing their creative process and a few live performances. You can watch, dance, and sing along on the YouTube channel, @WABEATL. Here's a preview featuring Thee Blk Pearl. ✦ City Lights Collective member and award-winning Atlanta comedian Joel Byars is one of the hardest-working people in the business. Aside from his podcast, "Hot Breath Pod," he's always hosting comedy events around town, and now, he joins us weekly to share his picks for this week's must-see comedy events. ✦ A strange realm both familiar and unsettling greets visitors in Victoria Dugger's solo exhibition, "Must Be Nice." She's been praised for the mesmerizing marriage of cuteness and grotesque in her work, which explores Blackness, femininity, disability, and domesticity. She was recently awarded the 2024 Hudgens Prize for her work. Dugger joined WABE arts reporter Summer Evans to talk about her collection currently on view at the Hudgens Center in Duluth. ✦ Over the past decade and a half, the Atlanta-based public art organization Living Walls has transformed Atlanta's streets into a vibrant gallery of murals and cultural storytelling. And now, Living Walls is all grown up and celebrating its 15th birthday with a full quinceañera at the Goat Farm on September 13. City Lights Collective producer Josh Thane spoke with creative director Tatiana Bell about why a quinceañera felt like the perfect way to honor the milestone, and how the organization continues to shape the city's creative landscape. See omnystudio.com/listener [https://omnystudio.com/listener] for privacy information.

✦ For decades, comedian and actor Jim Gaffigan has entertained audiences nationwide with his observational humor, personable stage presence, and a variety of film and television projects ranging from "Unfrosted" to his own self-titled comedy series. The eight-time Grammy nominee will be performing at the Atlanta Symphony Hall September 11-13 as part of his "Everything Is Wonderful Tour." He recently caught up with WABE reporter Kenny Murry to discuss the projects that shaped his career and how he really feels about his notable reputation as "America's Everyman." ✦ City Lights Collective members Jasmine Hentschel and EC Flamming, the creatives behind Atlanta's visual art print magazine, "GULCH", want you to get out and engage with the city's visual art scene. Each week, they spotlight several standout happenings, and today, they'll cover: Atlanta Downtown & Dashboard's exhibition celebrating civil rights icon Xernona Clayton, Ayana Ross's Working Artist Project exhibition at MOCA GA, and more. ✦ A new gallery has opened in the Star Metals District, which showcases international artists. Rodney Kazemi founded Luca Fine Art Gallery. He has 30 years of global experience, curating artists from New York to Art Basel in Miami. The gallery's exhibition, "Glimmer and Gaze," is currently on view through September 28. WABE arts reporter spoke with Kazemi about the new space. ✦ "It is a truth universally acknowledged" that one of the year's most anticipated birthday anniversaries belongs to Jane Austen. The literary icon behind classics such as "Pride and Prejudice" and "Emma" was born on December 16, 1775. Now, 250 years later, devoted fans, scholars, and critics are marking this milestone year with celebrations all over the world, including in the Atlanta area, including a series of events throughout the Gwinnett Public Library system, and a celebration at Emory University's Rose Library. Our "Bookmarked" contributor Alison Law has more. See omnystudio.com/listener [https://omnystudio.com/listener] for privacy information.

✦ Creative digital technologies have no doubt expanded the art of animation for filmmakers, yet there's still nothing like the wow-factor of a fully handmade film. Director, writer, and animator Sebastian Soler crafted, placed, and shot every frame of his new Action-Thriller "Spanish Moss," a traditional stop-motion work he emphatically calls a "labor of love." The edge-of-your-seat adventure is filled with danger, romance, humor, thrills, and, of course, Legos. "Spanish Moss" screens followed by a Q&A with the creatives at the Tara Theatre on August 29th, and the filmmaker recently joined City Lights Collective co-host Kim Drobes to explain how 29 thousand handcrafted frames became a feature-length film. ✦ Today on "In Their Own Words," we highlight blues guitarist Buddy Red. This is where they tell us who they are, what they do, what they love, and a few things you might not see coming. What things? Who knows, there's only one way to find out. ✦ The Center for Puppetry Arts is launching a new beta program this fall to bring puppets into Atlanta-area classrooms. WABE arts reporter Summer Evans shares more. ✦ When you think of movie censorship, you might picture blacked-out scenes, controversial ratings, or headlines from the 1980s. But what if I told you that the roots of film censorship in America go back over a century—and that Atlanta played a starring role? We're diving into the world of film censorship- starting in 1897, Maine, and winding to 1960s Atlanta. We'll meet the people who shaped what Atlantans could and couldn't see on screen and uncover the strange, often absurd criteria that determined what was safe for public eyes. City Lights Collective member Victoria Lemos has more on this bit of Atlanta history. ✦ You know as well as I do that there is always a plethora of things to do in Atlanta, and we have earned the title of "The Cultural Capital of the South." Mike Jordan, senior editor at the AJC, and Sammie Purcell, associate editor at Rough Draft Atlanta, know this well, too. They join us weekly to share a few of their picks for your weekend entertainment. Today, their mix includes a gem show, a reminder to see Ain't No Mo, and the Atlanta Alt rock fest. ✦ Hip Hop is a male-dominated genre and industry. For a woman to make a name for herself and carve out a slice of the rap pie is no small feat. From Sha-Rock, The Sequence, Roxanne Shante, MC Lyte, Salt N Pepa, and Queen Latifah up to Megan Thee Stallion and Doechii, it's been quite the climb. Vocalist, M.C., Producer, mother, wife, and Lawyer, Stacy Epps has a name that has echoed through the halls of hip hop for more than two decades. She's shared the stage and booth with legends and has become a legend herself. Ahead of her new album, “FlowHeart,” which will be released tomorrow, August 22nd, she sat down with City Lights Collective Co-Host Jon Goode to discuss music, life, and her winding journey through both. See omnystudio.com/listener [https://omnystudio.com/listener] for privacy information.