Atlanta Sounds

Georgians of many generations gather each Memorial Day at Marietta National Cemetery.  For some, their most significant moments happen after the speeches, bands, and ceremonies.   This Atlanta Sounds is part of a story that was produced by WABE’s Denis O'Hayer for this Memorial Day audio postcard in 2012.

In this Atlanta Sounds audio slideshow we meet Al Warner.   

He says he’s been collecting pinball machines ever since there was a collecting community. 

When asked how he got so many pinball machines, his answer is simple:  "One at a time".

Susan Tamasi dresses as a gnome each year at the annual Inman Park Festival during the Gnome Parade.  

According to Tamasi it’s just the time that everybody can get together and be happy and enjoy Atlanta and the neighborhood and be a community having a lovely time together.  

She says there is no friendship like gnome friendship and you “don’t gnome friendship unless you gnome friendship”.

In this Atlanta Sounds audio slideshow we meet Fredrick Brown, a weaver at re:Loom's Weave House, a project of the Initiative for Affordable Housing.   He likes to add vibrant and contrasting colors to his work, and notes that working the loom can actually be a good workout.

In this Atlanta Sounds audio slideshow, we meet Myron Lo, a fire spinner with The Imperial Opa circus.

His  act involves spinning flames at the end of ropes around his body, called "poi".   Myron likes poi not just for the skill involved, but for the beautiful dance as well.

In this Atlanta Sounds audio slideshow we meet Clark Ashton, who began creating metal sculpture in his backyard in 1989 with no formal training in art.  

His home studio, the Commuter Gallery, exhibits the monumental works Boundary, Faith in Industry, and The Infrastructure of an Uncertain Future.

In this Atlanta Sounds audio slideshow we meet Dot Todd from Northeast Atlanta.   She says she was into recycling long before it was popular, as far back as World War II.  Dot walks her neighborhood most days, greeting neighbors and picking up recyclables as she goes.

  In this Atlanta Sounds audio slideshow we meet Brother Callistus of the Monastery of the Holy Spirit in Conyers. 

He says that life in the monastery is unique, and that his life there is in response to a deeper call.

In this Atlanta Sounds audio slideshow we meet player piano collector Timothy Baxter.   He says that in his hobby, there are people that like the engineering, and those who like the music.  In the case of Mr. Baxter, he likes both.

Just about every day for more about a decade, Dorothy Todd—who goes by "Dot"—has stepped out her front door to walk up three hills and down three more, through her northeast Atlanta neighborhood.

Along the way, she picks up trash, bottles and cans. Her local fire station recycles them and donates the proceeds to Grady Memorial Hospital's Burn Center. Todd jokes that she was recycling long before it was popular.

This Atlanta Sound portrait follows Dot Todd on one of her walks.

In this Atlanta Sounds slideshow, we meet David Laufer.  He says that our culture is like an organism, and books are its cells.  His Little Free Library allows passersby to take and leave books at their leisure.

In this Atlanta Sounds audio slideshow we meet oboe maker, Harry Vas Dias, who makes his home in North Decatur. His instruments are replicas of 18th century baroque oboes, and each is hand-crafted.   He says he's made nearly 500 oboes by hand.

In this Atlanta sounds audio slideshow we meet curler Dave Leach, who plays with the Atlanta Curling Club. Dave says curling is a very strategic game, and is even sometimes referred to as "chess on ice".

In this Atlanta Sounds audio slideshow, we meet Kerin Reed, a long-time elementary school orchestra director.  Reed says her favorite part of the job is watching her students mature on the instruments.   She seems especially proud when she finds out that some of them have gone on to play professionally.  

On 12/12/12, WABE's Atlanta Sounds declared an ambitious goal: We wanted to capture, in sound, a day in the life of Atlanta, with the help of submissions from you, our listeners.  You responded—with scores of recordings.   The two segments here represent two parts of December 12.   The first part begins at midnight. Part two begins with the sounds of a delivery room.   You can also hear some of the individual recordings on WABE's SoundCloud page.

In this Atlanta sounds audio slideshow we meet percussionist Tom Sherwood.  He began playing drums when he stumbled upon an old drum kit in his dads garage. Today he is the principal percussionist for the Atlanta Symphony orchestra.

In this Atlanta Sounds audio slideshow, we meet autocross driver Alison Hill.   “Autocross” is a style of motorsports in which drivers take on a course one at a time, racing against the clock.  Allison conveys the best strategy for winning in just one word: Faster!

In this Atlanta Sounds audio slideshow, we meet lab technician Elsa Mekonnen.  She finds the world of bacteria to be quite beautiful, and loves science for its curious nature.

In this Atlanta Sounds audio slideshow we meet ‘luxury recycler’, Daniel Troppy.  He says he never buys anything new and that the better quality thrifted items he finds tend to last longer.   Troppy says he started collecting things he liked and then eventually decided to open his own store.

In this Atlanta Sounds audio slideshow, we meet Travis Jones of Jones Sharpening. He sharpens for a variety of residential and commercial customers, and services pretty much anything that cuts.

In this Atlanta Sounds audio slideshow we meet the nature photographer, David Foster.  He says many people look at nature from eye level and rarely look upward.   He says he does his best to find the heart and the essence of an image.

In this Atlanta Sounds audio slideshow we meet the ham radio operator, Wayne Robertson. From his home in Decatur, Georgia, he talks to people from all over the world.   He says it’s a bit like fishing and you never know what you’re going to get.

In the three parts of this 5th anniversary broadcast we’ll hear the stories behind some of the Atlanta Sounds you know and some stories that debuted just this week.  But we’ll also introduce you to some of the people who have helped to pull Atlanta Sounds together.    We like to think of each Atlanta Sound as a pixel in the photograph of Atlanta, we hope you’ll see why in this special program.

In this Atlanta Sounds audio slideshow we meet concierge, Brent Steele.   He says he does his best to represent the hotel and the city in his job as a concierge at the Georgian Terrace Hotel on Peachtree Street.

In this Atlanta Sounds audio slideshow we meet flamenco dancer, Rina Menosky.   She says she chose flamenco because wanted a dance that she could practice well into her seventies and eighties.

In this Atlanta Sounds audio slideshow we meet the canoe guide, Alicia Evans.   She is a guide at the Chattahoochee Nature Center in Roswell.

In this Atlanta Sounds audio slideshow we meet the Aussie footballer, Jim Batten.   He and his teammates play Australian Rules Football in DeKalb Memorial Park in Decatur.  

In this Atlanta Sounds audio slideshow we meet the barber, Lamar Collier.   He says he’s been cutting hair since he graduated from barber college in 1958.  Today he cuts hair in Atlanta’s Old Fourth Ward.

When she's not working as a cardiac nurse, Sara Drum works to rescue the canine less-fortunate. She is the founder of Safe Harbor Animal Rescue, which she runs from her Jonesboro home. Drum says that she's really a city person, but living in the comparatively-rural suburb affords her adequate space to run her nonprofit, which shelters as many as 20 dogs at a time.

You can hear a longer version, which ran on City Cafe, here.