Atlanta gears up for Labor Day weekend events and festivities

Friday fun

Aug. 30 — It’s another epic Labor Day weekend in ATL with Dragon Con, Global Black Pride, two major college football games, a professional golf tournament, and the Atlanta Hip-Hop Day Festival all taking place in the city. Surely we forgot something, so keep us honest.

🌞 Another hot and sunny day with a high of 93°. More of the same for the long holiday weekend.

🗳 Georgia voters are likely to be able to choose from five candidates for president after Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger on Thursday put Cornel West and Claudia De la Cruz back on the ballot.

💰 The Georgia Department of Economic Development’s Global Commerce team Thursday reported more than $20.3 billion in investment in the state during the last fiscal year.

🗣️ The Gwinnett County Board of Commissioners deferred a public hearing on a new subdivision on a Tucker-area tract of land that currently serves as a nine-hole golf course.

❌ Macy’s recently announced a “Bold New Chapter” that doesn’t include its Northlake Mall location, which will likely cease operations by early 2025.

👟 The six-week Chastain Challenge begins Sunday, encouraging participants to walk or run 100 miles to support the upkeep of Chastain Park.

🎸 GPB’s Kristi York Wooten spoke with Crowded House ahead of tonight’s show at Chastain. Read about the band’s emotional connections to Atlanta, including when somebody said “Hey, Rod Stewart” to frontman Neil Finn.

🏠 Dorsey Alston Realtors’ Harvin Greene has shattered her previous record with the sale of a Druid Hills home for $9 million.

ELSEWHERE

💉 Israel and Hamas agreed to three-day pauses in fighting to allow polio vaccinations for 640,000 Gaza children. The WHO-led campaign starts Sunday.

☣️ A listeria outbreak linked to Boar’s Head deli products has caused nine deaths and 57 hospitalizations across 18 states. Public health officials say to check any Boar’s Head products for “EST. 12612” or “P-12612” on the USDA inspection labels.

🕖 Here’s what’s in today’s newsletter:

• The art of BlackCatTips
• Film Review: ‘Incoming’
• The Sports Section
AND
• Top Stories of the Week

Have a great holiday weekend,
Collin & Sammie

💡 Ideas Festival Emory — a weekend featuring some of the most impactful and imaginative scientists, musicians, writers, filmmakers, and creators of our time. Sept. 20-22, in beautiful Oxford, GA. Check out the schedule here. (SPONSOR MESSAGE)

1. Exploring the folk art of BlackCatTips

FROM SKETCHBOOK, A WEEKLY NEWSLETTER | SUBSCRIBE

🐈 Chances are, you’ve seen the work of local folk artist Kyle Brooks, who works under the pseudonym BlackCatTips. His witticisms and whimsical painted creatures often appear on discarded scraps of wood which are then affixed to telephone poles or propped up along roadways.

Brooks was recently involved with the Drawn Together exhibition at the Avondale Arts Center, during which wooden panels from his children’s book “Smile A While” were displayed alongside small woodcut characters that he is working on for his next book, “You Are A Friend.”

Though it’s certainly not the first time that his pieces have been in a gallery setting, Brooks doesn’t regularly showcase them in formal galleries; instead he prefers to paste his work on forgotten signposts and on the sides of local businesses.

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*Photo courtesy of Spyglass Media Group/Artists Road/Netflix*

2. ‘Incoming’ fails to deliver on the high school party movie formula

WEEKLY FILM REVIEW | BY SAMMIE PURCELL

🍺 The high school movie is an important genre of film, and one with a multitude of formulas. One of those formulas – and perhaps the one that reigns supreme – is that of the high school party.

“Can’t Hardly Wait.” “Superbad.” “Project X.” “Booksmart.” Plenty of teen movies have tackled the big party, following that tried-and-true formula all the way to classic, teen movie canonization.

In a lot of ways, “Incoming” – a new Netflix film from Dave and John Chernin in their feature-length debut – follows that same party movie structure to a T. Four incoming freshmen experience the first part of their high school careers. It has everything you’d expect – romance, drugs, alcohol, and plenty of hijinks. So, why does it fall so frightfully short?

🎉 Read Sammie’s full review here and subscribe to Scene, our weekly newsletter about film.

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🥁 Sammie was at Wednesday night’s Green Day concert at Truist Park and has this review of the still-rocking dads.

3. Scheffler leads at East Lake; 2031 Final Four in ATL

🏀 Atlanta will host the 2031 NCAA Men’s Final Four at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, its first since 2013 and sixth overall, although the 2020 tournament was canceled due to COVID-19.

🏈 It’s the first full weekend of college football action. Of local interest:

No. 1 Georgia plays No. 14 Clemson at Mercedes-Benz Stadium at Noon. (ABC, 95.5 FM)
Georgia Tech hosts Georgia State at 8 p.m. (ACC Network, 93.7 FM)
Georgia Southern hosts Boise State at 4 p.m.
Morehouse hosts Edward Waters University at 3 p.m.
Clark Atlanta plays at Fort Valley State University at 1 p.m.
West Georgia hosts Samford at 6 p.m.

🏈 In High School action, The Drive for the GHSA State Title kicks off tonight with the Westlake Lions (1-1) hosting the Gainesville Red Elephants (2-0) on the Peachtree Sports Network at 8 p.m. Stream it here!

🎾 Top seeds Jannik Sinner and Iga Swiatek cruised into the third round at the U.S. Open.

🏌️‍♂️ Scottie Scheffler (pictured) leads the field after the first day of the Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club. See our photos on IG.

⚾ After sweeping the Twins earlier this week, the Braves blew a four-run lead and lost 5-4 to the Phillies last night. The teams play all weekend in Philadelphia. Tonight’s first pitch is 6:40 p.m. (BSS)

🇫🇷 Italy sits atop the medal table at the Paralympic Games in Paris. U.S. swimmers picked up three silver medals yesterday.

📚 Georgia Power’s partnership with the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference has been a major win for engaging with historically Black colleges and universities across Georgia. This year’s focus is on students, training, and internship opportunities. The collaboration has underscored a commitment to developing future professionals. (SPONSOR MESSAGE)