MORE MUSIC TONIGHT
* Roger Clyne & the Peacemakers at Variety Playhouse
* Greg Laswell at Eddie’s Attic
* The Julia Dream at Masquerade
* Carbon Leaf at Smith’s Olde Bar
* Catalyst and Ty-vicious CD Release Party at 529

FEATURED EVENT
* Beep Beep Gallery is hosting the opening of Sam Parker’s “Neotony” exhibit

MORE ART TONIGHT
* Alcove Gallery’s Big Tuna anniversary celebration 7PM-Midnight
* Whitespace’s Agents of Seduction opening
* “Buy Local” [Kristina Bailey, Holly Golson Bryan, Whitney Stansell, and Zuzka Vaclavik] opening at Emily Amy Gallery 7PM-10PM
* itodenwa (2 cans + 1 string) by Yukari Umekawa at 814 Edgewood Ave

OTHER EVENTS TONIGHT
* Language Harm: Quietness/Economic Downturn 8PM $5
* Film Screening: Georgia Animation on Our Mind: A Screening of Peachtree State Animation at the High Museum of Art 8PM FREE
True Religion Fashion Show at Opera
* It’s 80′s Prom Night at Sweetwater Brewing Company
* No Brakes’ 2 Year Anniversary Party at 586 Woodward Ave SE

Cirque du Soleil’s KOOZA is opening tonight in Atlanta at Atlantic Station. KOOZA tells the story of The Innocent, a melancholy loner in search of his place in the world.

KOOZA is a return to the origins of Cirque du Soleil: It combines two circus traditions – acrobatic performance and the art of clowning. The show highlights the physical demands of human performance in all its splendor and fragility, presented in a colorful mélange that emphasizes bold slapstick humor.

The Innocent’s journey brings him into contact with a panoply of comic characters such as the King, the Trickster, the Pickpocket, and the Obnoxious Tourist and his Bad Dog.

Between strength and fragility, laughter and smiles, turmoil and harmony, KOOZA explores themes of fear, identity, recognition and power. The show is set in an electrifying and exotic visual world full of surprises, thrills, chills, audacity and total involvement.

Learn more about KOOZA, the creative process, music and more all at the Official Cirque du Soleil site. KOOZA is in Atlanta through March 1st and tickets are still available!

I’m taking my mother to the opening tonight as a Christmas present and will be twittering a bit throughout the evening if you’d like some brief sneak commentary on the show.

Scene One
Atlanta’s Center for Puppetry Arts was named a laureate of the 2008 Microsoft Education Award on September 9.

Established in 2001, The Tech Awards recognize 25 laureates in five universal categories: education, equality, environment, economic development and health. These laureates have developed new technological solutions or innovative ways to use existing technologies to significantly improve the lives of people around the world.

The Center for Puppetry Arts were recognized with this award for their Distance Learning Program, based in Atlanta, which improves education quality for rural and low-income communities, as well as those with special needs, by delivering arts lessons through interactive video-conferencing.

Scene Two
The Henson family announced in 2007 that they had chosen the Center for Puppetry Arts as the home for their definitive collection of Jim Henson’s creations. The collection consists of somewhere between 500 and 700 puppets, props, scenic elements, posters, sketches, drawings, films and videos. It will be housed in a newly proposed Jim Henson Wing, to be included in the center’s new museum space, scheduled to open in 2011 in Atlanta.

Curtain Call
There are performances, exhibits and workshops throughout the month of December at the Center for Puppetry Arts that are fun for both adults and children. It’s definitely worth checking out as is the look into their collections on their Virtual Exhibit.

The Plaza Theatre is hosting an evening with Crispin Hellion Glover. First you’ll see the Big Slide Show, an hour-long dramatic presentation in which Crispin narrates images from eight of his illustrated story books. Next is the feature film and Crispin’s directorial debut, WHAT IS IT? followed by a Q&A period moderated by Crispin himself, who will then sign books (for sale in the lobby) afterwards.

Tickets are on sale now at the Plaza Theatre box office or online at Brown Paper Tickets.
NOTE: No one under 18 years old will be admitted.

Featuring Patrick Wood & Steven Westdahl

Directed by Dikran Tulaine
Produced by LoneWood Theatre Unit

Monday, August 25 – Thursday, August 28 & Monday, September 1 – Wednesday, September 3

Fights begin @ 8pm
Tickets $12, $10 for students with valid ID
Tickets sold at the door, cash only, first come first serve
Cash Bar pre- and post-show

@ EyeDrum Art Gallery
290 Martin Luther King Jr Drive, Suite 8
Atlanta, 30312

To Hell With Hitler is a collection of World War II era cartoon shorts that will be shown in all of their 16mm glory.  This one time event is brought to you by C. Martin Crocker (of Cartoon Network fame) and ASIFA Atlanta. 

So if you’re thinking about going, this takes place on Tuesday, Feb 19th.  General admission is $7 and only $4 if you’re a member of ASIFA.  The shorts start at 7:30 and the event will be hosted by C. Martin Crocker, who will discuss these cartoons that are a part of his own personal collection.  Now whether he discusses them in the voice of Zorak is not known at press time. 

The Hourly Radio and IAMX (featuring Chris Corner of Sneaker Pimps) are playing tonight at Vinyl in the CW Music Complex. I’m looking forward to seeing The Hourly Radio after all the online buzz I’ve been reading about them on ze blogs. IAMX, after totally getting into their record from 2004, “Kiss + Swallow”, and being a Sneaker Pimps fan previous to that. It should be a pretty good pairing and I expect overall good show.

Last month The Hourly Radio released a new EP titled GUN IN HAND. The release contains the brand-new song “Gun In Hand” along with club remixes of several songs off their debut record, History Will Never Hold Me (Kirtland Records.) The reworkings were done by artists including Shiny Toy Guns, Michael Jurin of Stellastarr* and more.

The EP is available for free download via www.thehourlyradio.com/download.html or for purchase on limited edition CD.

GUN IN HAND EP tracklisting:
1. Gun In Hand
2. Dear Ears (Remix by Shiny Toy Guns)
3. He Said She Said (Remix by Michael Jurin of stellastarr*)
4. Closer (Remix by The Pipes Bros)
5. Not A Victim (Remix by Joel Habbeshaw)
6. Crime Does Pay (Remix by Dance Robots, Dance!)
7. Crime Does Pay (Remix by DJ Will Eastman)
8. Crime Does Pay (Remix by Terrorist Chic)
9. Crime Does Pay (Remix by Joel Habbeshaw)

[mp3] IAMX – Simple Girl
[mp3] IAMX – Mercy
[mp3] The Hourly Radio – Gun In Hand

Athens Flava Down The Road
Alternative/acoustic/folk trio from Athens, Hope For A Golden Summer are playing at the Star Bar tonight.

[mp3] Hope For A Golden Summer – Love Like A Sailor

Art + Adult Beverage
Foundation One has a new show opening tonight from 7 to 11pm – Midnight Garden: The Daydreams and Nightmares of Dan May, Todd Lawson and Rik Catlow.

Kid-Friendly in Oakhurst You Ask?
Criminal Records presents Songwriters Series tonight at Kavarna!
Joining host Jim Combs this evening will be: Melinda Kingsley Band, John McNicholas & Lindsay Appel. The fun starts at 8pm.

Kavarna is located at 707 East Lake Drive, in the heart of Oakhurst (across from the U Joint). Wine, beer, great food, smoke-free and kid-friendly.

[mp3] John McNicholas – Alright

Underaged and American Apparel/Urban Outfitters Employees
Preston, La Castle Vania, Treasure Fingers, Black Sunshine, et crew are throwing another one of their Saturday Afterlife dance parties at the Masquerade. 21+ free.

I’m Already In Decatur and Need Entertainment
New Street Gallery presents: Etienne Jackson – Cast Iron Sculpture
Opening Reception tonight from 7 to 11pm.

New Street Gallery
2800 Washington Street
Avondale Estates, GA 30002

Nikes and A Posse Required
I’ve been to the last *TWO* Sloppy Seconds parties and had a blast. This is a highly recommended event to hit up if you’re looking for something new. Be prepared for variable prices on drinks by the bartenders though. We recommend bringing cash for drinks.

Great Local Music Lined-Up Festival Totally Underpromoted
Beanstalk at Lenny’s Bar featuring The Baby Shakes, The Hiss, Femme Fatality, Thee Crucials, The Lizardmen, The Khans, Sleep Therapy, Untied States, The Arks also featuring The Atlanta Rollergirls $10 Doors at 6pm

Just Looking For Something Free
Tonight at MINT Gallery, Night Visions: The Art of Scott Washington from 7 to 11pm
684 John Wesley Dobbs Ave. Unit B
FREE FOOD AND DRINK

Oh Yeah
And David Bazan is playing at The Earl.

Flyers for all of these Atlanta indie rock concerts, dance parties, independent art shows and more are available on the Drive A Faster Car Flickr per usual.

We collect flyers for anything lookin’ hip or fun around town in one place for you so you can stop digging them out of your back pocket.

I’ve been doing this for awhile now and promise I will continue to do better and attempt to cover all areas of town in the process. Thus, if you have a flyer, give it to me (Tessa) when you see me out and about or email it over to me at tessa at drive a faster car dot com.

Like this one…

The Historic Edgewood Day – Annual Sidewalk Sale featuring P. Valentine, Laced Up and more over in Edgewood this weekend.

The Landmark Theatres have announced their next Midnight Movie Madness series!  There’s some great selections, so take a nap and see you at midnight.

Monty Python & The Holy Grail
Aug 17 & 18

Spice World
Aug 24 & 25

Flash Gordon
Aug 31 & Sep 1

Back To The Future
Sep 7 & 8

Troll 2
Sep 14 & 15
(Special Cast appearance on the September 14th screening.)

The Big Lebowski
Sep 21 & 22

Tron
Sep 28 & 29

The Warriors
Oct 5 & 6

You can buy advance tickets online here.
So come out and plaaAAAaaayyyyyy…