Propeller Skies

Saturday afternoon, I attended the East Atlanta Beer Festival. Conveniently, the festival was in East Atlanta Village, which also happens to be my favorite part of town.

I arrived early, since my friend Rodney had inconveniently scheduled his wedding reception for that same afternoon and I wanted to make sure I had time to photograph and taste plenty of beer. Fortunately, there was already a good crowd early in the day.

After snapping several photos, I got down to the serious business of tasting beer. Several beer distributors were at the event, including a personal favorite of mine, Sierra Nevada. I stopped at their table first and tried the wheat beer. It was okay, but not nearly as good as their pale ale. Terrapin, an Athens based brewer, had an outstanding Rye Pale Ale on hand. Other distributors included the usual import and microbrew suspects and do not warrant a mention here.

This event is very similar to the Great Decatur Beer Festival in concept. However, the East Atlanta Beer Festival is not nearly as crowded and getting in is not a major project. Additionally, it is fairly easy to get a taste of beer. I highly recommend this event.

notes:

PHOTO: Unidentified volunteers attending the East Atlanta Beer Festival in East Atlanta Village, Atlanta, GA. May 15 2004. Courtesy of d.2263 Photographics. East Atlanta Beer Festival photos.

I attended the Southern Center for International Studies Young Professionals’ Fourth Annual Wine Tasting last night. The wine tasting was held at the Southern Center, which is housed in an antebellum southern mansion on West Paces Ferry Road. The venue was stunning and a great setting for the classiest event I have been to in Atlanta.

Soon after arriving, I ran into Heather and chatted briefly. I then moseyed outside into the courtyard and began tasting some wines to pass the time while I waited for the crowd to show up. All the wines were of good quality, with most retailing for fairly modest prices. There was a Malbec that stood out, however I misplaced my notes after tasting a bit too much and I have no idea what the name of the producer is. While tasting, I met George, a freelance photographer who works for the Southern Center on a regular basis. We talked for a bit and then I got on the job taking photographs.

After shooting, I chilled with Francis, who I met at a previous YP function, and her friend Misty. We tasted a few more wines and then I headed off to Cafe Tu Tu Tango to meet up with Katherine and some other friends from work. While pulling out of the parking lot, I decided to just head home.

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PHOTO: Kristen, Heather, and an unidentified wine taster attending the SCIS Young Professionals Fourth Annual Wine Tasting at the Southern Center in Buckhead, Atlanta, GA. May 14, 2004. Courtesy of d.2263 Photographics. View more SCIS Young Professionals Wine Tasting photos.

I went underground (literally) to the Drunken Unicorn to catch the Black Kites. This was my first time at the Drunken Unicorn. It is a fairly small venue, with surprisingly good sound for what is essentially a concrete box. A bit more guitar in the mix would have been nice, as Mike Barnes, the drummer, is inherently quite loud.

I arrived a bit late and missed the first couple of songs. About ten seconds after entering the venue, I ran into recurring Propeller Skies character and Envie guitarist Chris. After chatting with him a bit between songs, I busted out my camera and started taking some pictures. In contrast to the sound, the lighting at the Drunken Unicorn is fucking terrible. There was decent lighting on Joie Hoke, the lead singer. However Michelle Cox was almost completely invisible, since there was no light on her corner of the stage. Michael was also invisible due to lack of lighting and the massive drum kit he was hiding behind. I most likely will not shoot there again.

Enough about lighting. The show was excellent and it was great to see them live after missing their last show at The Earl. To keep things interesting, they played a couple of new songs that are not available on their cd, one of which was really awesome. I thoroughly enjoyed their set and can’t wait to see them again.

There was a good crowd for a Tuesday night, I was expecting maybe five people to show up. In the aforementioned crowd there were no post-ironic hipsters sporting trucker hats.

notes:

PHOTO: Susannah Barnes of the Black Kites at Drunken Unicorn in Atlanta, GA. May 11, 2004. Courtesy of d.2263 Photographics.

I attended the Atlanta Outdoor Club Social at 5 Seasons Brewing last evening. 5 Seasons is a huge improvement over the old location, which was Summit’s Wayside Tavern. There was plenty of room to mingle and the patio had a nice outdoor feel.

At the event, there was a good mix of AOC regulars and new members. After chatting with some recurring Propeller Skies characters and quaffing a few beers, I met several new people. I highly recommend the AOC, as they put on several quality outdoor events every month.

Usually I try not to mock people on this site. Well, at least not severely. However, I am unable to resist poking a bit of fun at Mr. Romantic.

The one or two drinks a month would be a dealbreaker for me. And he is a Leo, so it would totally not work out. However, I would be interested in hearing what Propeller Skies readers think of him, via the comments.

Last night, my friend Nate and I stopped by an opening at the Young Blood Gallery. The gallery is located in Grant Park and has a very underground feel to it.

The featured artist was Jacob Escobedo. The works displayed were mixed media and consisted of collages and illustrations. I was somewhat into the illustration pieces, which were very cartoonish in nature. In contrast, Nate preferred the collages.

Surprisingly, and in contrast to events I have attended at Eyedrum, there were plenty of beautiful babies in attendance at Young Blood. I enjoyed the opening and recommend checking out the gallery. However, since the gallery specializes in up and coming artists, quality can vary immensely between shows.

Three post-ironic hipsters wearing trucker hats were spotted at the opening.

Despite being ridiculously dehydrated and still somewhat hungover from the Martini March, I dragged my ass over to Virginia Highlands for A Taste of the Highlands yesterday afternoon. The event was held outdoors in John Howell park and featured tables serving samples from several restaurants located in the Highlands. There was beer available as well, from Sweetwater and Terrapin. Proceeds from the event went to Childrens Healthcare of Atlanta.

I was in no mood to be at an event, even if it was outdoors in a park on a beautiful day and involved good free food and beer. The highlight of the event was meeting Becky, some dude whose name I can’t remember, and Hillary. They were cool people, however I did not spend much time chatting with them and moved on rather quickly to finish up photographing. This was an interesting event and I look forward to feeling decent and enjoying it next year.

notes:

PHOTO: Becky, some dude whose name I can’t remember, and Hillary attending A Taste of the Highlands at John Howell Park in Virginia Highlands, Atlanta, GA. May 8, 2004. View more Taste of the Highlands photos.

Last evening, I stopped by the Midtown Martini March to photograph the event for AtlantaBuzz. The event started at Cosmopolitan, where the special was $2.00 Martinis. I expected the special to be something totally weak, like Apple Martinis or Cosmopolitans. Much to my surprise, a dry gin Martini could be had as part of the special. Amazingly, they were even pouring Plymouth Gin, one of my favorite brands. Five Martinis later…

I wandered over to Leopard Lounge with a group of people whose names I can’t remember. After drinking yet another Martini and taking a few pictures there, I wandered down to Twisted Taco. I took a few more pictures and chilled for a bit with three really cool women I met there. Unfortunately, by this time I consumed so many Martinis that I totally spaced and did not ask them for phone numbers.

After Twisted Taco, I made my way back to Cosmopolitan for the grand finale party. Out of the three venues I made it to on the march, Cosmopolitan made the best Martinis by far. The only issue was the one bartender kept putting olives in, instead of a twist as requested. However, Cosmopolitan still earns a rating of Smoove as Hell. Which puts them in rarified company with The Mark, Halo, and Commune. I had a great time on the Martini March and recommend this event.

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PHOTO: Random revelers attending the Midtown Martini March at Leopard Lounge in Midtown, Atlanta, GA. May 7, 2004. Courtesy of d.2263 Photographics. View more Midtown Martini March photos.

I went to Twisted Taco last night for their Cinco de Mayo party. After I wandered in, I grabbed a beer from the bartender that moved here from Vermont*. As I was standing around drinking the aforementioned beer, I was joined by recurring Propeller Skies character Lisa and her friend FBI agent Susan. We moseyed upstairs and got an excellent spot on the top deck, which had an awesome view of the mechanical bull.

After chilling on the deck for a while, what appeared to be a random reveler walked up to the bull and hopped on. I ran down the approximately forty-seven flights of stairs to take a picture of a hottie on the bull. However, the random reveler was lacking in stamina, so by the time I got there she had already fallen off. I climbed back up the forty-seven flights of stairs and continued chilling.

A few minutes later, the random reveler that fell off the bull showed up and started talking to Lisa. It turns out that she was Lisa’s hot friend Erin. Unfortunately, her boyfriend would show up later in the night.

As I was out of beer by this time, I walked back out front to get another one from the bartender who moved here from Vermont. Since she was really sweet. And wearing a low-cut top. On the way back in, I ran into my friend Sally and her hot friend whose name I can’t remember. We chatted for a bit and then I got to work taking photos.

Almost every time I go to an event at Twisted Taco, they do such a good job promoting it that the cops show up and prevent more people from entering due to capacity issues. Since they do not have anything better to do, like stop people from shooting each other in Buckhead. Tonight was no exception.

I had a good time at the event and there were plenty of beautiful babies. Unfortunately, there were no beer specials, so I did not get drunk enough to hit on any of them. I recommend checking out events at Twisted Taco, as they have consistently brought a fun and friendly crowd.

notes:

* Everyone in Atlanta has moved here from somewhere else. People who claim to be from Atlanta are exaggerating; they really grew up in places like Carrolton, Gainesville, or Newnan and are just trying to disguise their countryness.
PHOTO: Random revelers attending Cinco de Mayo festivities at Twisted Taco in Midtown, Atlanta, GA. May 5, 2004. Courtesy of d.2263 Photographics. View more Twisted Taco Cinco de Mayo Party photos.

I have lived in Atlanta for almost four years now and never once attended Music Midtown. For any of my five readers who are curious about the festival, KC over at ::groove:: has posted an excellent review.

Personally, I am more of an indie rock kind of guy, in case that was not obvious from my sidebar. I try to make Corndogorama at The Earl every year. However, I usually find myself going down a river with the Atlanta Outdoor Club.