“…maybe your soul you’d sell to have mass appeal”
~ Guru

Today is the deadline for six well-known ministers to hand over records of their spending to Senator Chuck Grassley, ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee. Two of the so-called ‘Grassley Six’ are Atlanta-area preachers: Bishop Eddie Long of Lithonia, and Rev. Creflo Dollar of World Changers Church International in College Park. Of those two, only Dollar has agreed to participate with the Committee’s investigation.

So just who is this Senator Grassley and why is he after these ministers specifically?
Good question.
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Oh snap! I realized I forgot to tell you about Me’shell Ndegeocello’s show last month at Apache Cafe….

The 2-second summary? The show was cool, but not as cool as I had hoped.

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Yes. It’s officially spring, but the weather in Atlanta apparently only got the first part of the memo. The sun is shining and the mulberry trees are beginning to bloom, but the temperature is toying with me. One minute it’s almost 70 degrees, the next it’s dipping into the 30s.

While waiting for the rest of spring to show up for good, I decided to whip up one last hearty stew of the season - a gumbo. It’s the perfect dish for beating the brrrs and more importantly it gave me a headstart on spring cleaning my fridge.

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Some people call you Dinho, some people call you Frank Ma’s. Most Atlantans in the know call you the best Chinese food this side of the Great Wall. Every foodie in Atlanta from Buckhead to Bankhead has written about you, so why should I? What more could I possibly say? But that one Friday night we spent together just before closing has been lingering like a phantom in my mind and haunting my taste buds ever since. So consider this not a review but a futile attempt at exorcism.

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I had every intention of getting up and going to 9 a.m. yoga on Saturday. But when my yoga partner sent me a text message around 8 a.m. to confirm if we were still on, the kamikazes from the night before said otherwise.

Downward facing dog? I think I’ll just keep practicing corpse pose in my nice, comfy bed thank you very much. I raised myself from the dead just long enough to send a reply text letting my friend know I wouldn’t be making it.

Her reply: Ok then. Are we still on for breakfast?

Now, that I can do.

Earlier in the week, I’d received a rather clandestine invitation to a new breakfast spot, launched by the same people who operate two of Atlanta’s most popular, upscale urban eateries: Rare and The Harlem Bar. The invite informed me that they had recently opened a third restaurant called The Social House, and mysteriously implored me to “be selective in who you tell” since they wanted “to keep this place for those that appreciate Great food, Great ambiance, and friendly service!”.

However strange and hokey I thought the invite was, it was intriguing enough to make me drag my slightly hungover self out of bed and head to the corner of Howell Mill and Chattahoochee to get a peek and a taste of this secretive new establishment.

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Ok. Once I got over the initial shock of discovering that I might actually be white, I realized that there was no way in hell I could let my mother know… I mean, it’d break her heart!

So I figured I’d better try and redeem myself and set the record straight by giving you the skinny on what black people like, as only a black person could tell ya!

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…well, kinda.

I’m volunteering with my job to answer phones and take pledges for Georgia Public Broadcasting - the local PBS station - from 8p to 11p tonight. So tune in, and look for me.

 Better yet, call in and make a pledge!

Now, usually there’s some pretty good programming on GPB, but as luck would have it, I think they’re showing the 2 crappiest pieces of edutainment they could find this evening. Namely:

The Osmond’s (as in Donny and Marie) 50th Anniversary

and

Celtic Thunder

(insert slack-jawed, incredulous stare here).

If you would like more information about GPB, tonight’s program or pledge information, please go to http://www.gpb.org/.

Me’shell Ndegeocello is slated to perform 2 live shows at Apache Cafe: Friday and Saturday, March 7 - 8 @ 10p (doors @9p).  This is a rare chance to see the genre-defying musician in an intimate venue. DJ Mafioso spins funk, latin, house, and rare grooves after the Friday show.

Tickets are $30 (open-floor) in advance and can be purchased here.

First one to comment gets to buy mine!!

cheers,

k