Southern Bookman

Daily Beast's Herschel Walker scoop indicates increasing importance of digital journalism

Roger Sollenberger of New York-based The Daily Beast broke the scoops roiling Herschel Walker's disjointed U.S. Senate campaign.

The Austin-based Sollenberger disclosed this week that the vehemently anti-abortion Walker paid for a former girlfriend's abortion. Walker in his bizarre style has denied the story. Earlier, Sollenberger reported that Walker is the father of two children whom he's ignored.

Founded by Tina Brown, the Daily Beast was a digital journalism pioneer. It's now owned by the IAC corporation, the NASDAQ-listed company that owns a number of online consumer and media sites.

Whiie traditional newspapers struggle in heading to a digital model, sites like the Daily Beast flourish. Former New York Times media columnist Ben Smith this week announced the launch of his Semaphor, which will emphasize international news and Washington politics. Semaphor joins an increasingly crowded field with older sites like the Daily Beast and the recently launched Puck and Axios, recently bought by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Along with national and international news, Axios is opening local sites, with daily newsletters mostly curated from other media.

National papers like The New York Times, Washington Post and Wall Street Journal have surged in digital subscriptions. Semaphor and other sites will give them vigorous competition.

Sollenberger's Herschel Walker story shows that old-fashioned investigative reporting will remain vital.

Another Atlanta nightmare: Lane closures on I-285

The massive construction project at the I-285-Ga. 400 intersection and the reduction of lanes on the Perimeter is one of those quintessential Atlanta stories.

Beginning Saturday and lasting for eight months or longer, I-285 will be reduced to three lanes between Roswell Road and Ashford-Dunwoody Road, with westbound closures to follow, according to the Ga. Department of Transportation.

The "road diet" touches upon the metro area's deepest obsessions: traffic and business. Road disruptions hit at Atlanta's s most cherished myths of wide-open capitalism.

A front-page column Thursday by the AJC's Bill Torpy sounded the alarm. Torpy fears an increase in accidents, although he also pointed out that the closures might make drivers pay more attention.

The intersection lies near the center of Sandy Springs, which could suffer the most serious economic damage from the shutdown of one lane in both directions. Sandy Springs Mayor Rusty Paul told Torpy that the intersection has sparked a development boom along the Roswell Road corridor, which Paul called the metro area's economic center.

That's a bit exaggerated; while luxury apartments and condos have risen along Roswell Road north of the Perimeter, strip shopping centers, sex shops, laundromats and fast food restaurants still dominate.The corridor is one of the Atlanta area's most diverse thoroughfares.

But just north of the Roswell Road I-285 connection, the spectacular city hall complex, theater and  fountain trumpet Sandy Springs' vision for the future. A mixed-use development of housing, offices and retail will rise nearby. The grubby small businesses are unlikely to survive.

With just one lane closed east and west, Sandy Springs' momentum won't be slowed, although streets like Hammond Drive, Hildebrand and Mount Vernon Road will be swollen with traffic.

While the construction project ignores mass transit, Paul envisions express buses rather than light rail running along the Perimeter.

The closures come when the Braves begin their quest to repeat as World Series champions. Fans who enter I-285 at Roswell Road will face delays getting to Truist Park.

But like our beloved Braves, Atlantans show resilience. As in the past when such crises arise, Atlanta workers will persevere and survive this one. 

 

 

 

 

 

Respected anchorman John Pruitt's "Tell It True" explores 1960s racial violence, Atlanta's emergence

Longtime Atlanta news anchor John Pruitt's debut novel "Tell It True" examines Atlanta's rise as a major American city in the early 1960s, prevailing against Georgia's ingrained racial violence.

Published by Mercer University Press, the book hinges upon the brutal Klan slaying of a black Army reserve officer and Baltimore businessman. Driving through rural Georgia on his way home from his annual tour of duty at Fort Benning, Jarvis Pendry is killed late at night by a father and son consumed by racial hatred.

The fictional murder is loosely based upon the 1964 killing of Washington educator and Army officer Lemuel Penn, slain by a shotgun blast from a passing car while driving through Madison County, Ga, just outside of Athens. Pruitt as a young TV newsmen covered the Penn murder case and trial, in which three Klansmen were acquitted by an all-white jury.

Pruitt's crime takes place in the fictional Pickett Country, named for the Confederate general who led the failed Pickett's Charge at Gettysburg, known as the high-water mark of the Confederacy. That historical echo of the South's "lost cause" effectively sets the stage for Pruitt's exploration of white resistance to the civil rights movement, black demands for equal rights and Atlanta's emergence as the leading Sun Belt city.

Drawing upon his career as a TV journalist, Pruitt views the novel's key events following the murder through the eyes of his alter-ego, the young TV cameraman Gil Matthews. Gil is joined in his dangerous pursuit of the truth by Mindy Williams, an AP reporter eventually hired by Mathews' WDX TV station, modeled after Atlanta's WSB. 

Gil and Mindy's partnership and perhaps budding romance provide an entertaining rom-com counterpoint to the book's dramatic moments. The young journalists encounter a rich cast of fully imagined characters.

An Atlanta executive resembling business leader Robert Woodruff works behind the scenes to influence a fictional 1964 gubernatorial election, seeking to engineer the victory of a moderate candidate over an avowed segregationist. In another insider reference, the wealthy Buckhead power broker bears the name Devereaux Inman, echoing the real-life names of two old Atlanta families.

The fictional gallery based on historical models includes a black minister and civil rights leader, a satirically flamboyant defense attorney, young black radicals at Morehouse College who reject the slow pace of change accepted by the older generation, a respected TV anchorman and Georgia politicians, prosecutors, journalists and law officers.

As in the Penn trial, the Klansmen accused of killing Pendry are acquitted by an all-white male jury. Showing an impressive talent for dramatic set-pieces, Pruitt brings alive the rural courthouse and the trial's testimony, judge's directions and closing arguments. In a historical parallel to the Penn case, the first in which those accused of racial murders could face federal charges of violating the victim's civil rights, the book foreshadows a federal probe of the Pickett County murder.

Pruitt ends the book with a poignant racial reconciliation between the white Pickett County sheriff and Pendry's widow, a memorable minor character. Sheriff Lucas McSwain overcomes his white supremacist heritage in an uplifting subplot.

"Tell It True" closes with the moderate candidate's election and a foreshadowing of Atlanta's vibrant future as "the City Too Busy to Hate." Tragically, the rest of Georgia and the South found plenty of time for racial hatred. Pruitt's message of racial healing appears fragile after the Ahmaud Arbery and George Floyd killings, and retreats on black voting rights.

Like the best historical novels, "Tell It True"  reveals hard truths of the  present and future through the lens of the past.

 

Elton John says farewell to Nashville with love, gratitude

Yes, it's been a long, long time.

Yet the 75-year-old Elton John still gives his all. In an outpouring of love and gratitude, Sir Elton thrilled 60,000 adoring fans in an incandescent concert at Nashville's Nissan Stadium Sunday night.

Spectacular video images beamed from giant screens above the stage shifted during the evening to photos from Sir Elton's 50-year career and closeups of him and his topflight band of old colleagues still rocking.

In homage to Sir Elton's grandiose concert costumes, many in the crowd wore flashy outfits and outrageous glasses, earning a word of appreciation from the consummate showman. Sir Elton wore a fairly restrained white coat with tails, switching to an elegant blue jacket and at the end a lounging outfit for a tender encore.

Sir Elton and mates propelled the crowd to stand and dance for most of the show, performing a generous selection of his greatest hits. "Rocket Man" took the evening to a higher stratosphere from which it never descended.

In his final performance in Nashville on his "Farewell to the Yellow Brick Road" tour, Sir Elton noted the city's musical heritage, and that of Memphis. He gave tribute to those cities with his piano playing, an encyclopedic offering of rhythm and blues, rock and country chords along with runs that echoed Mozart and Bach. With all of the high-tech effects and immense stadium, he could have been a guy singing and playing in an intimate club.

The crowd joined in on a raucous performance of "Crocodile Rock," thousands of voices spanning Baby Boomers to Generation Z harmonizing on the "ooo,ooooooo" as personal phone flashlights formed a continuous arc. All seemed transported to a time when rock, and the world, was young.

During his encore, Sir Elton performed his and Bernie Taupin's first hit, "This Is Your Song." Everyone there believed it.

All of those books in a lifetime of reading

Whenever I finish a book, I wish I knew how many I've completed in a lifetime of reading.

A few books stand out: Kerry the Firedog, another early picture book about a truck delivering coal, Alice and Jerry's adventures revealing the wonders of language in my first grade class taught by Miss Coates, whom I still remember. The Golden Books, with their distinctive gold-leaf binding, opened a world of enchantment.

My youth was filled with the Hardy Boys, Chip Hilton and the Western novels of Zane Gray. Our mother took us for summertime visits to the air-conditioned bookmobile, where I checked out stacks of baseball, football, golf and boxing histories.

I also loved a series of biographies about famous Americans in their youths, such as "Ernie Pyle, Young Reporter." My favorites were lives of Lou Gehrig, Abraham Lincoln and Benjamin Franklin.

Carlos Baker's early biography of Ernest Hemingway stands out as one of the first "serious" books I finished. From there, I discovered Hemingway's novels and short stories, F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby" and "Tender Is the Night," Joseph Heller's "Catch 22" and James Joyce's "The Dead." I also fell under the spell of J.D. Salinger's short stories and Glass Family saga and James Joyce's "The Dead."

William Faulkner's "The Sound and the Fury" and short stories were a major touchstone of my reading life.

From my college years, I treasure the Norton Anthology of English Literature, Volumes 1 and 2, to which I often return. For years, I consulted my college Webster's dictionary, although it lacked a few contemporary words. In recent years, I've gone to the Internet for definitions.

In college, I began a lifetime passion for the poems of Keats, Eliot and Donne and the poems and plays of Shakespeare.

Sometimes the titles on my bookshelves look like tombstones. I wonder why I'd ever acquired some of my more esoteric titles. Reading often seems futile these days. But it's as essential to me as breathing.

I'll keep reading until I finish my final book.

 

 

 

 

Returning to Mountain Way

I returned to Mountain Way Wednesday for the longest walk I've taken since undergoing knee surgery in early summer.

On a gorgeous autumn afternoon, my wife and I headed back to one of our favorite walking paths near our home.

Mountain Way, which runs off Wieuca Road, is a quiet street that has registered many changes in Buckhead through the years: housing construction booms and busts, politics, neighborhood preservation and improvements.

Bordered by Little Nancy Creek, Mountain Way passes through a valley between two ridges. When we first moved into the neighborhood, the road as its name suggested was a rustic preserve of trees and wildflowers in the middle of Atlanta. Then after years of neighborhood opposition, Ga. 400 tore through the area, desecrating Mountain Way's beauty with a towering overpass, massive supporting columns and a sloping concrete embankment.

In recent years, civic leaders have sought to heal the wound by developing Mountain Way Common. The not yet completed park offers sidewalks and decorative planters, a walking trail along Little Nancy Creek leading to a pedestrian bridge and a sculptured swing beneath the overpass.

Decorative picnic tables have been set up in a vacant lot across from the park, and Livable Buckhead installed beehives and flowers.

Mountain contains an interesting mix of futuristic homes, 1950s ranches and one remaining rustic cabin from the days when the area was a weekend getaway for wealthy Atlantans. At a huge LA-styled home where construction was halted for years, joyful workers completed a driveway. We wondered if the huge home would at last be finished for someone to live there.

Sitting on the bright red swing designed by artist Robert Proctor, we heard MARTA trains and cars pass by high above us. New beauty rises from the ruins of the past. After a few reflective moments, we headed for home.

 

Diane Arbus retrospective recalls viewing at New Orleans Museum of Art 50 years ago

A new Diane Arbus exhibit in New York City re-creates the Museum of Modern Art's posthumous showing of the photographer's work 50 yeas ago.

Reading about the Arbus retrospective at David Zwirner's West 20th Street Gallery in Chelsea, I recalled one of the most exhilarating art experiences I've had: seeing Arbus' photos at the New Orleans Museum of Art in the early 1970s. 

That was the same exhibit that shocked and thrilled crowds at MOMA in 1972. Arbus, who committed suicide in 1971, produced portraits of giants, dwarfs, sex workers, young couples, cross-dressers and twins.

Her brother, the poet Howard Nemerov, said her subjects were "freaks, professional travestites, strong men, tattooed men, the children of the very rich," according to a review of the Zwirner exhibit by the Washington Post's Sebastian Smee.

Arbus' photos of her "freaks" were shocking, yet revealed the humanity of those shunned by mainstream society. Shot in somber black and white, with dark gray tones, the photos captured her subjects' expressive eyes, illuminating their inner souls. 

On that sunny day 50 years ago, I staggered out of the New Orleans art museum, as if swept by a giant wave, a "Cataclysm," as the Zwirner exhibit is titled.                                                                                             

 

 

 

Celebrating 41 years of marriage

Beautiful fall weather, as on the day 41 years ago when my wife and I married at Atlanta's Christ the King Cathedral.

So many who were present at our wedding are no longer with us. Nieces who were children have grown up and had children of their own. Our children are successful adults.

Our wedding began our life in Atlanta, which has undergone tremendous change in our time here.

We have watched generations of Braves, Hawks and Falcons players come and go. Our children advanced through Atlanta public schools from kindergarten to high school, then graduated from college and started careers. Holidays and seasons flew by.

Over the years, I lost old friends, who shared my love for music and books. I often stop and think about them, as the old Beatles song said.

On our anniversary, I remember the good times.

 

 

 

Paul Krugman sees the credibility gap of Jerome Powell, Vladimir Putin

The New York Times' Paul Krugman in a strange column Friday compared Fed Chairman Jerome Powell with Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

Krugman averred that Powell and Putin both seek to maintain "credibility" with their recent actions. Powell's Fed is raising interest rates to stop inflation, even if that causes a recession. Putin called for a troop mobilization after recent losses in Ukraine.

While Krugman expressed opposition to the Fed's rate increases because they could bring needless economic pain, he justified the action because of the Fed's need for the C-word.

I don't possess much economics expertise outside of reading Krugman, but my gut reaction was to think who cares about the Fed's "credibility" when thousands lose their jobs? An extended recession won't help Powell's credibility.

According to Krugman, Putin seeks credibility as the overwhelmed Russian army's Ukraine invasion fails. Curiously ignoring Putin's recent threat to use nuclear weapons, Krugman predicted that the Russian leader's forced roundup of more troops will end up badly. Putin's seizing of civilians to serve as cannon fodder in Ukraine set off massive opposition, with many would-be conscripts fleeing Russia. I didn't realize it was so easy to leave.

If Krugman's analysis is correct, it's distressing that leaders like Powell and Putin mainly seek credibility when human lives are at stake.

 

 

Ben Fong-Torres set standard for American rock criticism, Netflix documentary shows

Ben Fong-Torres defined Rolling Stone magazine's pioneering rock-music coverage.

The Netflix documentary "Like a Rolling Stone: the Life and Times of Ben Fong-Torres" reveals the writer and editor's essential contributions to the magazine's early years.

While Hunter S. Thompson and Timothy Crouse pushed the boundaries of political coverage for the magazine, Fong-Torres set the standard for the new field of rock music criticism. Along with his innovative interviews, feature stories and reviews, Fong-Torres as the magazine's music editor shaped other writers' work. 

Lester Bangs gave Jann Wenner's counterculture magazine a druggy hip persona. Fong-Torres' incisive writing and revelations of rock stars' inner personalities exhibited the authority of serious journalism. Fong-Torres' pieces helped make Rolliing Stone a national bible for a new rebellious generation.

Fong-Torres frequently worked with photographer Annie Leibowitz. In an endearing reunion with Leibowitz, Fong-Torres recalls how they invented their innovative techniques on the fly.

Interviews with rock stars like Doors keyboardist Ray Manzarek, singer Country Joe McDonald and Grateful Dead vocalist Bob Weir indicate that Fong-Torres was trusted by the musicians, although he had a strong reputation for honest criticism. Wenner in an interview recalls that Fong-Torres resisted the rock world's destructive drug use.

Audio excerpts from Fong-Torres' taped interviews with stars like Marvin Gaye, Al Green and Stevie Wonder show how he got them to reveal their hopes and  vulnerabilities.

The son of Chinese immigrants, Fong-Torres gained his work ethic carrying out thankless tasks in his father's struggling restaurants in Oakland and San Francisco, with a brief sojourn to Amarillo, Texas. Pop radio offered visions of a different world.

Discovering his passion for journalism while covering the student protest movement as the editor of San Francisco State's newspaper, he left a job as the editor of a phone company magazine to take a chance on Wenner's venture, launched with legendary San Francisco writer Ralph Gleason.

An earnest Chinese American with long hair and glasses, Fong-Torres defined the magazine's music writing. While popular musicians gave the magazine credibility, Fong-Torres' work also established the careers of groups like Big Brother and the Holding Company, the Doors and the Jefferson Airplane. He recalls giving renewed attention to Ray Charles, whose music was underappreciated by the rock generation.

While working at Rolling Stone, Fong-Torres also got involved in covering discrimination against Chinese Americans and gang conflicts in San Francisco's Chinatown. Fong-Torres' brother, an anti-gang activist, was mysteriously murdered, a devastating tragedy.

Fong-Torres refused to leave the Bay Area when Wenner moved Rolling Stone to New York City. After a few years contributing to Rolling Stone from the West Coast, he built a career as a freelance writer for Parade magazine and other publications and as a public speaker and community activist.

While he's a respected community leader who now looks like a distinguished professor or successful businessman, Fong-Torres still loves the music. He's shown reuniting with Elton John before a concert on John's current tour.

Fong-Torres is known for his impersonation of Bob Dylan, alluded to in the film's title. He's the Dylan of rock critics.

\