In my years as a journalist, there was a saying I was always fond of – ‘It’s the content, stupid.’ Well, I’d like to take poetic license and suggest that this applies to ballet as well. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution article (free registration required) reports this morning that the Atlanta Ballet orchestra has gone up in smoke – they have made the ‘hard decision’ to use only recorded music in all future productions. This move affects nearly 50 musicians, and will allegedly save the organization close to $400,000. What’s troubling in my mind is that the newspaper report indicates the Ballet was in the black with their 2005 fiscal year, yet suddenly needs to find a way to cut this much in costs (their total budget is reported at $7M). This issue is not unique, but for a city of Atlanta’s size, and a dance company of this stature, it’s a sad thing indeed.
Category Archives: atlanta
Raindrops
After a line of afternoon thunderstorms rolled through town, I was home
grilling a nice halibut steak and picked up the macro to shoot this image above of the rainwater on a hydrangea on our porch. Amazing that just yesterday that plant looked like it was going to croak from the 90+ degree weather we’ve been having. That rainstorm was just the ticket! I also like the colors and raindrops in this other image of the plant’s blooms.
Celebrity!
My good buddy Warren Hutmacher received a great write-up in the Atlanta Journal Constitution today, as he’s just been announced as the first-ever city manager of Norcross, a northern suburb of Atlanta. He’s had a great run in the nice little town of Avondale Estates, and we won’t hold this ‘OTP’ posting against him. Trouble is, Friday night dinner parties are going to require advance planning, a GPS or two, and probably food and water to make that trip. Ah, what we’ll do for our friends. Seriously – big congrats to Warren, Emily and Heather!
A day at the aquarium
So we joined the brand-spanking new Georgia Aquarium last Fall, and soon after the opening discovered that you need roughly 6.5 years of advance booking to attend on a weekend. 
Actually, it’s more like 3-4 weeks, but being new-ish parents we just didn’t have much luck planning that far ahead given our work schedules and the little guy. We did finally manage to visit last weekend, and managed to enjoy ourselves, taking photos along the way (gallery here). If you have an aversion to crowds, you may still want to hold off. The place does not handle the flow of visitors very well, with various eddies and tide pools of visitors bunching up and screwing up my photos enjoying the varying views of the marine habitats. I’m a huge fan of aqauriums, and when I heard the main tank here is one of the largest in the world, I expected to see something like the old New England Aquarium I fell in love with during college. There, a continuous ramp wrapped around their centerpiece, a huge tank. In the Georgia version, there are only a few smaller windows into the main tank plus a huge ‘theater-like’ main window some 61 feet wide and 23 feet tall. It’s very impressive – but with the huge crowds, the setup of several (five to be exact) ‘exhibit areas’ tends to have visitors clumping up and blocking the best views. Patience is a virtue here!
technorati tags: georgiaaquarium, photography, undersea