Kandi Burruss held a 35th birthday party that didn't involve NeNe fighting with anybody. CREDIT: AP

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Good ol’ Phaedra Parks helped instigate the Peter/Apollo fight last week.

Tonight, she again initiated another verbal altercation, this one between Kandi Burruss and Kandi’s opinionated mom Joyce.

Why? As Phaedra noted last season, she loves the strippers. As an attorney, she even represents one (named Ridickulous) who is so big, well, he has talents that most men are incapable of. And he demonstrated this said talent at Kandi’s 35th birthday party on the rooftop of the Renaissance Hotel in Midtown.

Kandi was cool with it. And Phaedra was in heaven.

“You won’t be able to find that in your local retailer,” Phaedra drawled.

Noting that Phaedra is his attorney, Kandi cracked, “Given how big that is, he probably gets sued for damages.” …

Continue reading ‘Real Housewives of Atlanta’ recap, season four, episode 4: ridiculous? »

The Christmas movies and specials keep on coming as November turns into December. There are concerts (”Christmas in Rockefeller” on ABC Wednesday and “CMA Country Christmas” on ABC Thursday), films (”A Princess for Christmas” on Hallmark Saturday) and great repeats (”The Grinch” on ABC Monday).

TNT’s “The Closer” and “Rizzoli & Isles” are returning for a few winter episodes Monday and TV Land’s “Hot in Cleveland” comes back  Wednesday for a third season just three months after season two ended. That show is more on a broadcast TV schedule than cable with 24 episodes scheduled for season three.

Guest stars are prevalent, as well, including Don Rickles on “Hot in Cleveland” and Michael J. Fox on “The Good Wife” on CBS Sunday.

And Lifetime Friday is introducing a reality program starring Tracey Gold (”Growing Pains”), who had eating disorders in the past. Now she’s trying to help others in the same boat. That is a perfectly fine concept, but the show title almost sounds like it’s …

Continue reading TV best bets with returns of ‘The Closer,’ ‘Hot in Cleveland,’ Christmas specials »

Michael Jai White and Tasha Smith star in "Tyler Perry's For Better or Worse." CREDIT: TNT

Over the past five years, Tyler Perry’s TV output, with TBS’s “Meet the Browns” and “House of Payne,” has been traditional three-camera sitcom slapstick with a laugh track, a set-up that goes back six decades to “I Love Lucy.”

With “House of Payne” nearing retirement, the Atlanta mogul is effectively replacing it with “For Better or Worse,” a relationships dramedy which uses one camera and nixes the laugh track. Topically and somewhat stylistically, it’s closer to shows such as “The Game” and “Let’s Stay Together” on BET than “House of Payne” or “Meet the Browns.”

Check out the trailer here.

But like his first two television shows, he mines characters made popular in his films. One of the three couples on “For Better or Worse” is from the “Why Did I Get Married?” movies: loud, opinionated Angela (Tasha Smith) and feisty but loving Michael (Michael Jai White). Angela is the owner of a …

Continue reading Tyler Perry’s ‘For Better or Worse’ debuts Friday, Nov. 25 on TBS »

Adele’s stay at the top of Atlanta radio with “Someone Like You” was relatively brief: two weeks.

This allowed Maroon 5’s “Moves Like Jagger” to swagger back on top for the past two weeks. It had a previous three-week stay at the top in late October/early November.

Maroon 5’s song remains in top rotation on Star 94 (65 spins), Q100 (90 spins) and Wild 105.7 (118 spins). B98.5 was also giving the song plenty of spins, too, but it switched to Christmas on Wednesday.

No other song appears to be in position to take over any time soon.

The top 10 songs this week in Atlanta:

1. Maroon 5 f/Christina Aguilera “Moves Like Jagger” 292 (-16)
2. Adele “Someone Like You” 245 (-8)
3. Gym Class Heroes “Stereo Hearts” 203 (-5)
4. Foster the People “Pumped Up Kicks” 198 (-15)
5. David Guetta “Without You” 158 (-4)
6. Rihanna “We Found Love” 151 (+26)
7. Drake “Headlines” 150 (+8)
8. LMFAO “Party Rock Anthem” 147 (+2)
9. Beyonce “Party” 147 (+15)
10. Cobra Starship “You Make Me Fee…” 146 …

Continue reading Maroon 5’s ‘Moves Like Jagger’ back at top on Atlanta radio »

Lauren Alaina sang the National Anthem at the Packers-Lions game Thursday night. CREDIT: AP

It was a tough day for the top two season 10 “Idol” contestants.

Lauren Alaina forgot the words for a moment to the National Anthem before the Lions-Packers game Thanksgiving. She was supposed to sing “at the twilight’s last gleaming” but started to sing “through the twi…” Her brain must have realized she sang the wrong word and she froze. After about three seconds, she skipped “at the” and started with “last gleaming.” She then finished the song without incident. “It’s all in how you finish,” announcer Joe Buck said.

She owned up to it on Twitter soon after:

Thank you everyone for the kind words. But the truth is I messed up. I’m gonna spend the rest of the day being thankful for all my blessings

And winner Scotty McCreery didn’t start his cue on time during his lip-synced portion of “A Trouble With Girls” at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City. Yes, everyone I saw …

Continue reading Lauren Alaina flubs National Anthem lyrics; Scotty McCreery caught lip-syncing »

Marcus Canty was almost off the show but saved himself on Wednesday. CREDIT: Rick Mickshaw/FOX

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Sorry. I was out at a party (as opposed to a tennis match last week). Missed “The X Factor” results show live and am catching up only now.

Paula Abdul’s final group Lakoda Rayne was cut first, placing them in 8th place. Again, no surprise. Groups simply have a hard time garnering the votes compared to individuals. I never even bothered to learn the ladies’ names, to be honest. They were put together by the producers, like a very pretty Frankenstein, and their voices never truly gelled.

As for the other bottom vote getters, Marcus Canty vs. LeRoy Bell, it was an easy call. Marcus is far younger, possesses more showmanship and star potential. …

Continue reading Who’s out next on ‘The X Factor’? »

In 1981, Atlanta jingle writers Jerry Buckner and Gary Garcia entered a Marietta Square restaurant and spied a Pac-Man video-game machine.

Intrigued, the childhood friends came up with their ode to the video-game phenomenon dubbed “Pac-Man Fever” in the same studio 38 Special was recording hits such as “Caught Up In You.”

That novelty song, first played on 790/AM Quixie from Dixie in Atlanta in December of 1981, quickly caught fire across the nation, a classic one-hit wonder that resonates to this day for anyone in the Gen X age range.

Sadly, the vocalist of the song Garcia passed away in Florida Nov. 17 of heart failure, his songwriting partner Buckner told me Tuesday. He was 63. (Buckner said he had heart problems for many years but died in his sleep.)

“This was a great shock,” Buckner said. “We thought he’d keep getting patched up. He was a great lyricist, a great singer.”

Buckner recalls that wacky period of 1982 fondly. He remembers “Entertainment Weekly” doing a piece …

Continue reading Remember ‘Pac-Man Fever’? Vocalist Gary Garcia has passed »

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Continue reading Video: Talking Scotty McCreery, Shaq, J.R. Martinez »

Last week, 640/WGST-AM returned to the FM dial for the first time in 11 years at 92.3. But the signal is one of those new “translator” signals and not terribly strong.

According to a contour map on the Federal Communications Commission website, it primarily covers inside the Perimeter north if I-20. The night signal for WGST barely extends beyond the Perimeter, which limits morning and afternoon drive, especially in the winter.

For now, night-time fans of WGST outside the Perimeter in places like Cobb County and Gwinnett County have to listen online – or not at all.

Melissa Forrest, the general manager, acknowledges 92.3’s limitations but it’s better than not having it at all.

640/WGST-AM back in the 1990s had an FM simulcast at 105.7 that extended its reach well outside the Perimeter northward at night. By 2000, its ratings on the FM side were comparable to those on the AM side.

But Clear Channel decided to flip the station to Mix 105.7, a rock format. It has since changed …

Continue reading News/talk 640/WGST-AM adds FM signal at 92.3 »

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

Christian pop station 104.7/The Fish brought in Montell Jordan to play a Christmas mix of his song “Shake Heaven” at 7:45 a.m. this morning to launch its annual all-Christmas music format. This is about the same time it made the switch the past two years.

In 2009, the first song was Matthew West’s “Give This Christmas Away” with Amy Grant.  Last year, it was Amy Grant’s “Jingle Bells.”

Over the next 32 days, the station will play more than 9,000 Christmas songs, a mix of secular and religious, from “Sleigh Ride” and “White Christmas” to “What Child is This?” and “O Come O Come Emmanuel.” And some of the same songs will be played by at least four different artists. Last year, the station spun versions of “O Come All Ye Faithful” by Steven Curtis Chapman, Jeremy Camp, Third Day, Martina McBride, Casting Crowns and Rush of Fools.

A year ago, the station kept the format rather tight, with 170 songs, some aired as many as five times a …

Continue reading 104.7/The Fish launches all Christmas as usual, with B98.5 joining at noon »