Atlanta has been awarded a WNBA team for 2008!

It will be privately owned by J. Ronald Terwilliger. I didn’t know who Terwilliger was, but I knew he had to be pretty important if he goes by J. Ronald. (All the important folks drop the first name and just hang with the initial.) Turns out he was former chair of the Urban Land Institute. More about him here.

Anyway, I know there are a lot of folks who don’t bother supporting women’s sports, but I will always be a fan at heart. Sports give young girls great confidence and life skills and it is wonderful to see some of those girls go on to play their sport as grown women.

No word yet on team name, coach, colors, logos, etc., but you can already buy season tix.

okay, a bit of a rant here, but this sunday i went to witness the hawks implosion against the washington wizards, and per my pledge i decided to ride marta to phillips arena.

ugh.

first thing, all of the sporting events are off-peak so if you miss the train by 30 seconds as we did you are totally screwed while you wait another twenty minutes to get the next one.

and then when the game lets out there are absolutely NO trains waiting at the station.

what sucks about this is i know how much better it could be done. in dc, when there is a major event, they run extra trains leading up to the game on the line that runs to the mci center.

and when a game is over? there are trains just waiting, WAITING, to take the crowds home.

seriously, i really want to not drive. i want to do the responsible thing and not drive, but c’mon, can’t marta give a little?

and i would think that atlanta spirit would get on board too. if it was easier to get to, don’t you think that more people would actually go to the games????

okay, i’m done ranting….tell me why i am a fool.

Art Relish is a new website covering the Arts in Atlanta. If you feel like checking out what’s going on in the Atlanta arts on a given evening, Art Relish has an Atlanta Arts calendar. They also have a neato Artspeak Glossary for those of us who aren’t up on all the fancy arts terminology. They accept suggestions for their arts calendar, too, which is a cool resource for Atlanta artists.

Support your local arts scene; check out Art Relish!

I’ve been to East Atlanta Village’s The Glenwood a few times now, but was waiting to have their brunch before writing a review. My first meal there was during the week it opened. I had a portobello mushroom burger. It was good, but not great. I was completely impressed with the service and the space itself, though. I spoke with the owner, Gabriel, who told me that he really wanted to meet the needs of East Atlanta, and that speaks volumes in a neighborhood where, at times, the servers are a little too cool to remember that they are supposed to be serving the customers of their establishments. The space is very pub-like, with dark booths, cellar-like stone walls, and a substantial wooden bar. Seating is very comfortable, even at the bar. I haven’t used it yet, but they also have a patio.

They have a great t.v., and seem open to patrons watching sports. I went there for the UGA/Bama game and dinner – a standard Philly cheese steak. I also tried my friend’s Carolina-style BBQ. Pretty good for a pub.

They had a large, warm crowd when I went there Friday night. I have heard locals complain about the loud music, but at 1 a.m. on a Friday night when they were playing Suicidal Tendencies, I had no problem with it. In fact, the music hasn’t been too loud for me any of the times I have been there, including yesterday, when we finally had their brunch.

Oh.My.God. The grits are fantastic! I had the Fried Oysters, served on a bed of baby lettuce, along with 2 eggs, grits, and a biscuit. For $7 – Nope, not kidding. Where else in Atlanta are you going to get something like that for $7? My husband had the shrimp and grits, which also included onions, mushrooms, and red eye gravy. Very yummy. We will be back for brunch.

The other complaint I have heard is that the Glenwood is too smoky, but rumor has it they are opening a non-smoking section after the new year.

One thing I am not too impressed with? Their incomplete website. I like to look at menus online.

Definitely check out their brunch, though. Note that on Sunday, they don’t open until 11:30 am, which is pretty late for old folks like me. That being said, there was no wait whatsoever, and it is a brunch worth waiting for.

The Glenwood
1263 Glenwood Avenue
Atlanta, GA 30316
404-622-6066

I can’t believe I’m saying this, but given the Hawks record (2-2 overall, 2-0 at home, 0-2 on the road, 2-0 versus the West, 0-2 versus the East) maybe we’d do better in the Western Conference where all our young guns could just run, run, run.

In any event, the Hawks try to get their first road win tonight in Boston against the new and improved Boston Celtics, another unbeaten Eastern Conference foe.

And really, the Hawks have been in all 4 of their contests, even leading in the 4th quarter at Detroit. Tonight should be a good test in this young season for a team that seems like they’re getting better all the time.

Besides, someone has to rain on the Boston sports parade, what with all the winning the Sox, Pats, Celts & BC have been doing.

Go Hawks!

back in february i wrote about tim westergren founder of pandora internet radio being in atlanta (metroblogging atlanta here. the evening ended up being one of the most interesting and entertaining events i have been to all year.

in my review of the talk on my own blog i wrote:

tim did not disappoint. he told a great story about how pandora and the music genome project was created. but more importantly he totally responded to the passion of the users/listeners. and they were passionate. one guy described pandora as ‘leveling the playing field’ for artists and genres that don’t attract big marketing attention.

so tim is coming back to atlanta on thursday night. he’ll be speaking, answering questions and of course, collecting music for inclusion on pandora’s recommendation service.

i highly recommend checking it out if you are a music or technology nut. pandora is fascinating for it’s impact on both the music industry and the technology that is required to run it’s service.

details:
thursday, 7pm
14th street playhouse – corner of 14th and juniper
rsvp: tour@pandora.com

i tried to tell you guys. i tried to get some of you on the bandwagon.

last night, the atlanta hawks beat last season’s holder of the best regular season record, the dallas mavericks, 101-94.

yes you heard me right. the hawks beat the mavericks.

they looked good too. they were playing hard, hustling for every ball and taking everything dallas had to throw at them. the rookies, acie law and al horford looked good – horford was dominating dirk nowitzki until he came out with foul trouble – and joe johnson and josh smith played lights out.

that picture, unfortunately taken from my iphone because the batteries on my camera died, is the scene in phillips arena right after joe johnson scored to put the hawks up by five and seal the game. it was amazing, the whole place was on their feet, waving the flags they gave out and screaming their lungs out for THE HAWKS.

do you believe yet?

it’s friday and that means i want to hear about what you have planned for the weekend. your intrepid blogger will be beginning his tenure as the new #1 hawks fan attending tonight’s season opener against dallas, and then tomorrow i’ll be attending the chomp and stomp.

with any luck, i will remember my camera for both of these events and post the resulting ones in the metroblogging atlanta flickr group.

how about you? what’s up this weekend? art galleries, college football, bands we should check out?

That time of year again – Atlanta’s most interestingly-named hood hosts it’s yearly Chomp and Stomp. For those not in the know, it consists of Bluegrass bands, artist’s markets, a 5K (The romp and stomp), a parade, and chili (hence the chomp). Cabbagetown is such a great little neighborhood, and this festival is a fun one. Insiders say you gotta get there early in the day to to get the chili.

Chomp and Stomp on Flickr.

Cabbagetown Chomp & Stomp
Saturday, November 3, 2007
11am to 8pm
Full deets here.

i need to rant for a second this morning about exit 10, old milton parkway. here is the thing. the off-ramp from 400 north to old milton has a brand new lane for folks making a right turn. of course, this means there should be absolutely NO traffic.

here, however, is the problem. it seems that everyone and their brother work in the medical complexes that straddle morris road and north point parkway. there is probably about a football field and three lanes to cross to get from the off ramp to morris road. so of course, everyone gets to the top of the ramp and STOPS. and waits. and waits. until it is clear to cross all those lanes of traffic.

so every morning, our exit that should flow smoothly backs up onto the shoulder of the otherwise screaming fast ga 400 almost causing accidents and creating mass chaos.

the worst part, all those people turning on morris road could just head on down to north point parkway and turn there saving them and me the headache.

alright, my rant is over; just curious, do you all have an intersection or an on-ramp that just consistently, day in-day out, causes you a minor brain hemorrhage?