Redeye - I call Dogwood the Little Red Rocket ... April 12 2006

I’d like to suggest a new municipal tagline. “Piedmont Park: It’s not just for counting used condoms.” Indeed, those searching for sweet, sweet rendezviews the weekend of April 7-9 were treated to options much more stimulating than even a bump in the bushes at the annual Dogwood Festival. There was art, music and munchies. Oh, and this weekend the most popular woofs sporting handkerchiefs were actual dogs, too.

While I’m busy suggesting new marketing for the park, I’m gonna throw out the idea we rename it “tha ‘Mont.” It sounds prestigious but homey, somewhere between a country estate and a dive bar. You could see all your friends descending on tha ‘Mont for an afternoon of fox hunting, PBR and BBQ.

And, indeed, on Sunday a lot of friends — well, two of mine, at least — descended on tha ‘Mont looking for foxes. Bunker and Henley McHenles came with me to “peep the honeys.” That’s what us classy peoples call looking at the springtime boobies bloom and catching the occasional panty flash on a crisp afternoon. While rightly acclaimed local groups including R&B duo Slick & Rose and the mutant funk party jams of Whild Peach played to an enthusiastic crowd, we circulated and enjoyed our other favorite Piedmont Park pastime: consuming phallic snack foods in public (see picture ... please).

So who else did I randomly run in to at tha ‘Mont? Well, abfab Amanda Allendorf of the Reynolds Group, for one, taking a break from the latest high-concept restaurant opening (or this week’s Piebar patio rechristening) to check out the art walk. Photographer Fran Strine, as well, just back from touring with Disturbed. But most surprising was Preston Craig, who I thought was the only person more averse to the sun than I am. And he was with his ma, which totally goes against my belief that he was spontaneously generated from the depths of hell merely to torment me by making hipsters feel legitimized at the DSC. My reality crumbles. ...

In other warmish-weather news, Compound — the west side nightclub known for its “Zen” courtyard — just celebrated its two-year anniversary Sat., April 8. I briefly considered checking things out, but then on Friday caught myself watching 15 minutes or so of a Skinimax softcore flick and realized in that short period I’d already met my week’s quota of fake breasts seen, so who needed nightclubbing. Still, staying open in this (meat) market is a feat, so congratulations to Compound.

But for those people who still wanna keep things hawt, word is the “new” format of MJQ Saturday nights can be summed up as Voodoo HiFi and the Burning of Atlanta. Featuring DJs including Justin Chapman, Steve DeNiro, Kemit and Jamal Ahmed, these two alternating biweekly nights feature genres such as disco breaks, funk jazz, electro, post-punk, new wave, Afrobeat, Latin, reggae, soul and hip-hop. In place of the steady beat of jacking house is expected a real mad scientist in the lab mentality.

RedEye celebrates going out and going off. Send comments to redeye@creativeloafing.com, but hand-scrawled hate mail is preferred.