The future is Friday
June 23 — Reward yourself with some art this weekend. Atlanta Contemporary’s ART PARTY is tomorrow night, and here’s a rundown of other events from our sister newsletter, Sketchbook.
⛅ Rain no more? Partly cloudy with a high of 83° today. Cloudy and warmer through the weekend.
👮♂️ GBI Director Michael Register is leaving his role to run Cobb County’s public safety department.
🚃 MARTA has selected a firm to complete the final design for the planned streetcar extension from Downtown to the BeltLine’s Eastside Trail.
🔎 Dunwoody Police are investigating an envelope of fentanyl that was sent to a local hair salon and sickened a stylist who unwittingly opened it.
🌿 Sandy Springs Police and DEA Atlanta have shut down a marijuana grow operation at a home on Kitty Hawk Drive in Sandy Springs.
🗳 One Brookhaven community was accidentally left out of the 2020 U.S. Census, a mistake that has now been corrected.
Correction: If you were in tears looking for the city’s best places for onion rings in yesterday’s Side Dish newsletter, that’s our bad. Check out this link here, and let us know your favorite spot for a fried onion.
THE FATE OF THE TITAN
🎗️ The intense search for a submersible near the site of the Titanic wreckage in the North Atlantic came to a tragic conclusion yesterday when debris was found after what was described as a “catastrophic implosion” of the craft. All five people on board died.
🕖 Today’s newsletter is ④ stories.
• WABE MixTape Block Party
• Film review: ‘Asteroid City’
• The Sports Section
AND
• Top Stories of the Week
Have a good weekend,
Collin, Sammie, & Madison
🩰 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution unveils the compelling story of Gerard Alexander, a professional dancer whose promising life unraveled into drug addiction and homelessness. During his unlikely rise, Alexander was described as a “Black Baryshnikov.” Last spring, he was found shot dead beside one of Atlanta’s busiest roads. Read “The Dancer.”
SPONSOR MESSAGE
1. Hip-hop, R&B, pop, and Tiny Desk
🎸 The WABE MixTape Block Party returns on Sun., June 25 from 2-8 p.m.
WABE is presenting the free event in partnership with NPR’s Tiny Desk Contest. The music festival is set for 2–8 p.m. at Callaway Plaza at the Woodruff Arts Center.
The day’s musical lineup includes performances by the 2023 NPR’s Tiny Desk Contest Winner, Little Moon, plus independent Atlanta musicians such as Lowertown, MC J Nolan, Vahn Black, IVEEN, and Uncle Bubz.
🎤 Emmy-nominated author, poet, and playwright Jon Goode of The Moth StorySLAM is hosting the event.
🎶 Click here for a closer look at the event lineup.
Brownstone living on the BeltLine
SPONSORED BY THE JERALD GROUP 
🏠 Can you see it? 831 Inman Village Pkwy. is a picture-perfect brownstone on a charming tree-lined street just around the corner from shops, dining, and the bustling Eastside BeltLine.
🌟 This stunning 3 bed / 3.5 bath / 2-car garage property has plenty of room to work from home, welcome guests, and enjoy life in the heart of Atlanta’s coveted Inman Park.
Ten-foot ceilings and hardwood floors grace this light-filled, open floor plan. With fresh paint and new carpeting, updated HVAC system, water heater, and dishwasher, this home is move-in ready!
Live in one of the best intown neighborhoods – steps away from Inman Park Village, and right between Ponce City and Krog Street markets.
📧 Schedule a tour or come to our open house on Sat., June 24 from 1-3 p.m.
👉 Click here for more information and to watch a video tour.
2. The style is the substance in ‘Asteroid City’
WEEKLY FILM REVIEW | BY SAMMIE PURCELL
🚀 “Am I doing it right?” This is the question Jones Hall (Jason Schwartzman), the actor playing war photographer Augie Steenbeck (also Jason Schwartzman) asks his director Schubert Green (Adrien Brody)during a quick break backstage of a performance of “Asteroid City,” the play at the center of Wes Anderson’s new film of the same name.
Well, actually it’s a televised retelling of the making of the play, written by the fictional American playwright Conrad Earp (Edward Norton). Throughout the film, the host of the television show (Bryan Cranston) takes us through an imagined version of how the writing and performing process played out, interspersed with a cinematically rendered version of the play itself. The behind-the-scenes story takes place onstage in stark, shadowy black and white, while the play unfolds in brilliant color, a fanciful version of 1950s, pulpy science fiction.
“Asteroid City” has Anderson operating at the peak of his stylistic power – and with countless soulless imitations of his work making the rounds on the internet, we’d do well to be reminded that labeling Anderson as prioritizing style over substance misses the point. Rather, for an Anderson film, the style is the substance. And in “Asteroid City,” perhaps more so than usual, he uses that style to dig into ideas about creation, about the unknown, and about the undeniable fact that we’re all most likely doomed anyway – yet we continue to ask ourselves if we’re doing any of this right.
👽 Read Sammie’s full review here.
🍿 Stay in the picture with Scene by Rough Draft, our weekly newsletter about Georgia’s film industry. Movie reviews, profiles, what’s filming where, plus more. Directed by Sammie Purcell. Subscribe for free.
3. Hawks draft Bufkin; Women’s World Cup roster set
A FRIDAY FEATURE | BY MADISON AUCHINCLOSS
🏀The NBA Draft began last night. As predicted, 19-year-old Victor Wembanyama went to the San Antonio Spurs as the first overall pick. The Atlanta Hawks drafted Michigan’s Kobe Bufkin with their first-round pick. Scoot Henderson, who played at Kell High School in Marietta, was drafted by Portland with the No. 3 pick.
🏒The very confusing NHL Draft is next week. As a Michigan fan, I am extremely excited about the draft because Adam Fantilli is the projected #2 pick. Tune in on ESPN and the NHL Network.
⚽ The month-long Women’s World Cup is in Australia and New Zealand beginning on July 20.
🇺🇸 The two-time defending champion U.S. Women’s National Team announced its roster this week. Of local note, Fayetteville native Kelley O’Hara (pictured via Instagram) and Marietta’s Emily Sonnett are on the team.
Trinity Rodman, Dennis’s daughter, and Sophia Smith are the leading names of the next-generation players, who also include Alyssa Thompson.
🏗️ A sports complex capable of hosting professional matches is moving forward in Conyers with the aim of opening in time for the 2026 World Cup.
🏃♂️ The Atlanta Business Chronicle reported that the Atlanta Track Club is looking to build a $100 million track & field facility on Atlanta’s Westside.
🩰 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution unveils the compelling story of Gerard Alexander, a professional dancer whose promising life unraveled into drug addiction and homelessness. During his unlikely rise, Alexander was described as a “Black Baryshnikov.” Last spring, he was found shot dead beside one of Atlanta’s busiest roads. Read “The Dancer.”
SPONSOR MESSAGE
4. Top stories of the week
A look back at this week’s most-read stories from our website
① GPB cancels ‘Political Rewind,’ announces departure of host Bill Nigut as part of reorganization
② Customers confused by Camelot Jewelers’ conflicting signs, messages
③ Toco Hills neighborhoods petition for annexation into Brookhaven (pictured)