Atlanta Sounds

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 the Weave House.   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.