Tag: Athens

Onassis ONX Celebrates Five Years of Bridging Art and Technology With a New Space

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After five years in the Olympic Tower, this hub for artists merging X.R., A.I. and performance is set to move to Tribeca. Photo by Ed Lefkowicz.

Launched in 2020 by the Onassis Foundation and NEW INC, the incubator of the New Museum, Onassis ONX Studio has evolved into one of New York’s leading hubs for artists working at the intersection of extended reality (X.R.), A.I. and performance. Closely connected to Onassis Stegi in Athens, the two organizations form a dynamic international channel for creative exchange within the broader Onassis Foundation ecosystem. In New York, Onassis ONX provides an accessible acceleration space for ambitious productions, while at Onassis Stegi—founded in 2010—the focus is on education and professional development, nurturing a rapidly expanding arts-and-technology scene. Rooted in Greece’s long tradition of theater and dramaturgy, this has inspired compelling intersections of theater, dance and technology.

To mark its fifth anniversary, Onassis ONX has announced its relocation from its original venue in the Olympic Tower on Fifth Avenue, just above the Onassis Foundation’s U.S. headquarters, to an expanded 6,000-square-foot space in the heart of Tribeca at 390 Broadway, which also houses PPOW and Matthew Brown Gallery. Set to open in January, the new facility will continue to operate as a hybrid residency, research lab and production studio, offering additional space for exhibitions and public programming that extend the reach of the work developed within the organization.

The new studio includes a motion-capture stage twice the size of the previous one, a three-wall seamless projection room designed for museum-scale installations and an expanded sound studio—four times larger than the original—equipped with a high-fidelity system for immersive sonic environments. It also features enhanced computational infrastructure, including a new server array designed to support A.I. and generative media.

Onassis ONX is the Onassis Foundation’s global platform for digital culture, championing artists who push the boundaries of new media through the creation, exhibition and circulation of immersive, technology-driven works. Photo: Mikhail Mishin

“It’s been amazing to see how much interest, focus and support for art and technology has expanded in New York City and around the world,” Jazia Hammoudi, program director of Onassis ONX, told Observer ahead of the announcement. “It’s been a long journey for many of us, but witnessing this evolution now feels incredibly rewarding.”

Created as an arm of Onassis Culture—the cultural branch of Greece’s leading philanthropic organization, which has championed “aid, progress and development” since 1975—ONX quickly became central to the foundation’s mission as a cultural innovator and supporter of contemporary art. From the outset, the foundation has operated from a deeply humanist perspective, Hammoudi explained. “It’s an organization that takes its lead from artists rather than dictating from the top down, continually looking to understand what’s actually happening across the cultural and intellectual landscape. It’s about paying close attention to what artists and audiences are thinking about, interested in and in need of. That same responsiveness to artistic and technological innovation is what inspired the foundation’s expansion in both New York and Athens.”

At its core, ONX is first and foremost an accelerator. Its foundation lies in the production space, tools and technical consultation it provides—but beyond that, it functions as an aesthetic and intellectual incubator. “We offer extensive creative consultation and curatorial support to artists, so they’re not only producing work here but also developing its conceptual and public trajectory,” Hammoudi added. “An artist can come to ONX, build their work and we’ll help them find the right platform for it—whether that’s a festival, an exhibition within our own programs in New York or Athens, or through one of our partner institutions.” Onassis ONX also helps artists secure additional funding, either through internal seed grants and commissions or through its global network of partners.

“Tribeca Immersive” is the Tribeca Festival section co-produced by Onassis ONX. AI Ego | Photographer: Mikhail Mishin

Since its founding, ONX has supported an impressive roster of artists and collectives redefining the intersection of performance and technology, including LaJuné McMillian, Peter Burr, Stephanie Dinkins, Sutu (Stuart Campbell) and Jayson Musson. Projects developed at ONX often blur the boundaries between theater, gaming environments, installation and live performance—echoing the Onassis Foundation’s broader mission to explore the future of culture and human experience through technology.

“Our goal is to provide holistic support for artists working in new media because we recognize that many traditional museums and cultural institutions weren’t designed to meet their needs,” Hammoudi said. “Our work is twofold: to provide artists with the resources and infrastructure they need and to help institutions evolve into what 21st-century creativity actually looks like.”

ONX currently supports about 85 member artists worldwide who have full access to production facilities, seed grants, funding opportunities, internal open calls and ongoing staff consultation. This membership model ensures long-term, sustained support for artists working in new media. “We know that this kind of work takes time—and often requires many different minds and kinds of intelligence to bring to completion,” Hammoudi explained. “As advocates and field builders, we see these ongoing relationships with artists as essential to the growth and vitality of the field itself.”

The new space will also enable the organization to deepen and expand its global partnerships. As part of its mission as a field builder, Onassis ONX collaborates with international partners to develop residencies, exchange programs, fellowships, exhibitions, funding initiatives and distribution channels.

Onassis ONX supports artists and creative teams through capacity-building programs, research and incubation initiatives, acceleration services, seed funding, exhibitions, fellowships and collaborative partnerships The Power Loom | Photographer: Mikhail Mishin

For example, Onassis ONX is a partner on Lincoln Center’s Collider Fellowship, runs a residency exchange with MIT’s Open Documentary Lab and maintains a core partnership with NEW INC, where artists track work within the ONX space. Looking ahead, Hammoudi said the goal is to continue expanding these partnerships to support a growing cohort of artists. “It’s important for us to maintain a deep, ongoing connection with our 85 member artists while also creating ways to offer short-term, project-based support to those who come to us with a specific challenge or need. This expansion allows us to do both.”

Notions of hybrid identity beyond biological, mythological and digital limits

Inaugurating Onassis ONX’s new space will be “TECHNE: Homecoming,” an exhibition uniting six visionary artists whose multimedia installations explore hybrid identity shaped through biological, mythological and digital kinships. “The show reflects our belief that technology can deepen the ways we connect—with one another, with our histories and with the stories we choose to tell about the future,” Hammoudi said.

The artist lineup embodies the kind of interdisciplinary, cross-knowledge collaboration the foundation has long supported, featuring works that range from Andrew Thomas Huang’s two-channel video installation and sculptural environment—rooted in a Buddhist folktale and informed by his collaborations with Björk and FKA Twigs—to Tamiko Thiel’s Atmos Sphaerae, a video installation tracing Earth’s atmospheric evolution from primordial void to Anthropocene through a poetic translation of molecular data into visual form that collapses conventional timescales. Meanwhile, Damara Inglês’s “phygital” installation reimagines the afterlife of Queen Nzinga of Angola through the lens of Cyber-Kimbandism, merging Bantu cosmology, A.I. and 3D design to position technology as both a spiritual conduit for ancestral connection and a tool of anti-colonial resistance.

Miriam Simun, Contact Zone (Level 2), 2024. Courtesy of the artist and Onassis ONX

In a similar spirit, Natalia Manta’s looping animations, digital tombs and hybrid sculptures oscillate between the archaeological and the alien, provoking transhistorical reflections on human time across geographies and collective memory. Sister Sylvester presents Drinking Brecht, an experimental work of automated theater and performance-as-installation that functions as a Marxist-feminist laboratory. Finally, Miriam Simun’s generative three-channel projection Contact Zone Level 2 brings the Swiss Alps into collision with the artist’s own intestines beneath an A.I.’s gaze, continuously reconfiguring to explore the symbiosis between organic and artificial life—a visionary intersection of nature, technology and consciousness beyond human perception. “Technology becomes the mediator for this imagining, allowing a hybrid being—a new chimera—to emerge between nature and self. It’s a wild and deeply thought-provoking work,” Hammoudi said.

In each case, technology enables artists to construct more expansive worlds around their practice, extending the reach of their bodies and presence while dissolving the traditional genre boundaries that once defined art-making. “Those old taxonomies—this artist does that, that one does this—are becoming almost irrelevant,” Hammoudi noted, emphasizing that many of these works use digital tools not as spectacle but as instruments for expanding how we sense, perceive and experience reality—or move beyond its human limits.

An installation view of Sister Sylvester‘s Drinking Brecht (2024). Courtesy of the artist and Onassis ONX.

The exhibition will be part of the annual Under the Radar Festival, which this year includes two Onassis ONX performances—We Have No Need of Other Worlds (We Need Mirrors) by Graham Sack and ¡Harken! by Modesto Flako Jimenez—as well as MAMI, a mainstage production conceived and directed by Mario Banushi and commissioned by Onassis Stegi. Together, these works underscore the foundation’s multifaceted support for artists working at the intersection of performance and new technology—an ever-expanding field as creators increasingly experiment with digital embodiment, exploring performance, the shifting boundaries between analog and digital and what it means for the body to exist in real time and space within contemporary digital culture.

Balancing studio production and public programming

Looking ahead, Onassis ONX will continue to balance its mission of providing a dedicated workspace for artists with a growing commitment to public engagement. Beginning in 2026, ONX will host two in-studio exhibitions each year—one in January and another in the fall—along with quarterly public programs developed in collaboration with organizations such as NEW INC, Pioneer Works, Rhizome and Lincoln Center. The foundation also plans to continue its major annual off-site exhibition each June, following last year’s presentation at Tribeca Immersive. “This model allows us to keep the studio primarily a development space while maintaining a consistent public presence through exhibitions and thought-leadership events announced on our website and newsletter,” Hammoudi said.

The move from Midtown to Tribeca doubles the studio’s square footage and puts Onassis ONX at the center of downtown New York’s dynamic contemporary scene. There Goes Nikki | Photographer: Mikhail Mishin

In Athens, the focus remains educational, with ongoing incubation programs such as ONX Futures and the annual A.I. Summer School each July. The Athens space will also present an ONX showcase in May and contribute to the foundation’s broader cultural calendar, which includes the Borderline Festival in April. The foundation also produces Plásmata, its large-scale digital art biennial in Pedion tou Areos Park. Held every two years, it is one of the few outdoor digital art biennials in the world, combining large-scale installations, performances and music with works by both Greek and international artists, including recent participants such as John Fitzgerald, Jiabao Li, William Kentridge and Johan Bourgeois.

Ultimately, ONX’s mission—across both New York and Athens—is to expand the understanding of art and technology not only as mediums but as frameworks for examining how we live today. As traditional genres continue to dissolve, the foundation remains committed to supporting artists working at these frontiers, where art and life increasingly intersect.

“TECHNE: Homecoming” is presented as part of Under the Radar Festival, which this year includes two Onassis ONX performances and one mainstage production commissioned and produced by Onassis Stegi. Photo by Ed Lefkowicz

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Elisa Carollo

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November 11, 2025
Photos of the unobstructed ancient Parthenon in Athens

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Photos of the unobstructed ancient Parthenon in Athens

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November 7, 2025
Greek singer-songwriter Dionysis Savvopoulos buried in a state funeral

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ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Popular Greek singer-songwriter Dionysis Savvopoulos was buried Saturday at Athens’ First Cemetery in a state-sponsored funeral, four days after his death at age 80.

Savvopoulos had died of a heart attack after battling cancer since 2020.

Thousands came to pay their respects to a well-beloved, if sometimes controversial, artist as he lay in state at a chapel of the Athens Metropolitan Cathedral Saturday morning. Hundreds made the nearly 2-kilometer (1.2-mile) walk behind the hearse to the cemetery.

The presence of a Greek navy band playing mournful music was indicative of the change in Savvopoulos’s status, from someone lionized by anarchist-leaning leftists in the 1960s and 1970s and dismissed by the establishment as a long-haired freak, to a figure embraced by the same establishment and cultural mainstream.

Savvopoulos never changed his musical style — a blend of rock, folk-rock, jazz and Greek popular music — to conform to mainstream tastes. Always a political animal, he didn’t shy away from criticizing the left and its illusions, especially on his 1989 album “The Haircut,” whose sleeve showed him beardless with long locks. A few of his songs drew the enmity of some of his longtime admirers. The beard grew back but his politics remained moderate.

Conservative Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the first of many who eulogized Savvopoulos during the funeral service, used the lyrics of the 1972 song “Messenger Angel” to portray the artist as a speaker of uncomfortable truths that many did not want to hear. “If he had no pleasant news to tell/better tell us none,” he quoted the song’s ending.

Others who joined in eulogizing Savvopoulos were former President Katerina Sakellaropoulou, fellow musicians, artists and literary figures, some from his hometown of Thessaloniki, and one of his two grandsons.

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October 26, 2025
Paris residents fight overtourism and the ‘Disneyfication’ of their beloved Montmartre neighborhood

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PARIS (AP) — When Olivier Baroin moved into an apartment in Montmartre about 15 years ago, it felt like he was living in a village in the heart of Paris. Not anymore.

Stores for residents are disappearing, along with the friendly atmosphere, he says. In their place are hordes of people taking selfies, shops selling tourist trinkets, and cafés whose seating spills into the narrow, cobbled streets as overtourism takes its toll.

Baroin has had enough. He put his apartment up for sale after local streets were designated pedestrian-only while accommodating the growing number of visitors.

“I told myself that I had no other choice but to leave since, as I have a disability, it’s even more complicated when you can no longer take your car, when you have to call a taxi from morning to night,” he told The Associated Press.

AP AUDIO: Paris residents fight overtourism and ‘Disneyfication’ of beloved Montmartre neighborhood

AP correspondent Mimmi Montgomery reports on mass tourism affecting the Montmartre district in Paris.

Overtourism in European cities

From Venice to Barcelona to Amsterdam, European cities are struggling to absorb surging numbers of tourists.

Some residents in one of Paris’ most popular tourist neighborhoods are now pushing back. A black banner strung between two balconies in Montmartre reads, in English: “Behind the postcard: locals mistreated by the Mayor.” Another, in French, says: “Montmartre residents resisting.”

Atop the hill where the Basilica of Sacré-Cœur crowns the city’s skyline, residents lament what they call the “Disneyfication” of the once-bohemian slice of Paris. The basilica says it now attracts up to 11 million people a year — even more than the Eiffel Tower — while daily life in the neighborhood has been overtaken by tuk-tuks, tour groups, photo queues and short-term rentals.

A banner reading “Montmartre under threat. Are residents being forgotten?” hangs at windows in the Montmartre district in Paris, France, Monday, Aug. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)

“Now, there are no more shops at all, there are no more food shops, so everything must be delivered,” said 56-year-old Baroin, a member of a residents’ protest group called Vivre a Montmartre, or Living in Montmartre.

The unrest echoes tensions across town at the Louvre Museum, where staff in June staged a brief wildcat strike over chronic overcrowding, understaffing and deteriorating conditions. The Louvre logged 8.7 million visitors in 2024, more than double what its infrastructure was designed to handle.

A postcard under pressure

Paris, a city of just over 2 million residents if you count its sprawling suburbs, welcomed 48.7 million tourists in 2024, a 2% increase from the previous year.

Sacré-Cœur, the most visited monument in France in 2024, and the surrounding Montmartre neighborhood have turned into what some locals call an open-air theme park.

Local staples like butchers, bakeries and grocers are vanishing, replaced by ice-cream stalls, bubble-tea vendors and souvenir T-shirt stands.

Paris authorities did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Visitors seemed largely to be enjoying the packed streets on a sunny Tuesday this week.

“For the most part, all of Paris has been pretty busy, but full of life, for sure,” said American tourist Adam Davidson. “Coming from Washington, D.C., which is a lively city as well, I would say this is definitely full of life to a different degree for sure.”

Europe’s breaking point

Tourists stroll in the Montmartre district in Paris, France, Monday, Aug. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)

In Barcelona, thousands have taken to the streets this year, some wielding water pistols, demanding limits on cruise ships and short-term tourist rentals. Venice now charges an entry fee for day-trippers and caps visitor numbers. And in Athens, authorities are imposing a daily limit on visitors to the Acropolis, to protect the ancient monument from record-breaking tourist crowds.

Urban planners warn that historic neighborhoods risk becoming what some critics call “zombie cities” — picturesque but lifeless, their residents displaced by short-term visitors.

Paris is trying to mitigate the problems by cracking down on short-term rentals and unlicensed properties.

But tourism pressures are growing. By 2050, the world’s population is projected to reach nearly 10 billion, according to United Nations estimates. With the global middle class expanding, low-cost flights booming and digital platforms guiding travelers to the same viral landmarks, many more visitors are expected in iconic cities like Paris.

The question now, residents say, is whether any space is left for those who call it home.

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October 14, 2025
9 years after Athens man vanished, someone is charged with his murder

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It has been almost a decade since James Mitchell vanished in Athens.

Athens-Clarke County says earlier this week they arrested Kevin Maurice Jones, 47, and charged him with Mitchell’s murder.

The 63-year-old man’s remains have never been found.

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Mitchell was last seen near the Clarke Gardens Apartments off Barnett Shoals Road on Aug. 15, 2016.

The ACCPD Gang Unit and the Drug Task Force arrested Jones and charged him with murder, robbery, aggravated assault and concealing the death of another.

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According to jail records, he is currently being held without bond in the Clarke County Jail.

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September 26, 2025
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution will stop printing newspapers on December 31

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(CNN) — The Atlanta Journal-Constitution announced on Thursday that it will print its final physical newspaper edition on December 31, making it the latest storied newspaper to discontinue offering its news in print.

The changeup means the AJC will be a digital-only publication starting January 1, 2026. The AJC said the transition is intended to transform the paper into a “modern media company,” as well as free up money to invest in its journalism.

The AJC’s digital readership has outpaced its print circulation, a shift that is “only accelerating,” Andrew Morse, president and publisher of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, said in a statement.

“Embracing our digital future means we can focus every resource and every ounce of energy on producing world-class journalism and delivering it to each of you in the most impactful way,” Morse said in a letter to readers.

“We knew this day would come and have been planning for it,” he added.

Andrew Morse, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s president and publisher, told readers on Thursday that the newspaper would print its final physical edition on December 31, 2025. Credit: Paras Griffin / Getty Images via CNN Newsource

Despite doing away with its physical media, the AJC will continue producing an ePaper and launch an app this fall.

The digital-only transition follows a two-year period during which the 157-year-old AJC has added muscle to its digital offerings. The publication has updated its newsroom, revamping its digital product services and introducing a suite of digital products to consumers, including newsletters, podcasts, and original video content. The AJC has also extended its ambitions beyond Atlanta, opening new offices in Athens, Macon and Savannah. It plans to reach additional markets.

As a result of its transformation, the AJC said in a statement that it has experienced “double-digit digital subscriber growth and has expanded its audience in key content areas.”

Alex Taylor, chair and chief executive of Cox Enterprises, AJC’s parent company, hailed the change as “an important decision in the evolution of the AJC.”

“Journalism is critical to our community and society — and so is the way we produce it,” Taylor said. “I’m proud of our team for making these decisions, as much as I will miss the nostalgia of seeing the paper in my driveway every morning.”

The AJC is only the latest periodical to discontinue its physical edition. Between diminishing physical circulation, dwindling physical ad revenue and high production and distribution costs, several publications have found it difficult over the last decade to rationalize maintaining a physical format.

Just in February, the New Jersey’s Star Ledger opted to do away with its print edition entirely. Others have reduced the frequency of their physical circulation. In January, Iowa’s Dubuque Telegraph Herald and The Cedar Rapids Gazette announced they would print only three days a week.

Still, there are some exceptions to this trend, especially where niche audiences are concerned. The Onion, the satirical newspaper that revived its physical newspaper in August 2024, has seen its print edition thrive.

Some magazines, which readers often view as more premium experiences, are also partially enjoying a renaissance after years of struggle. In mid-August, The Spectator announced it plans to double the print output of its US edition to 24 issues this fall, as part of its relaunch.

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Liam Reilly and CNN

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August 28, 2025
Weird Facts

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Ancient Greeks voted to kick politicians out of Athens if enough people didn’t like them. (source)

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September 12, 2024
AP PHOTOS: A ferocious blaze scars the land outside Greece’s capital

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MARATHON, Greece (AP) — In the blackened remains of his workshop, sculptor Vangelis Ilias stacks what little is left of years of his efforts.

In August, a ferocious wildfire swept through the mountains north of Athens, Greece’s capital, pushing into the city and coming within feet of where Ilias created made-to-order tombstones, statues and other items out of white marble.

The flames ignited a gasoline-filled generator at his workshop, which burned for two days before he could get near the property. A bust of a Greek Orthodox saint was spared and now rests in front of the gutted and soot-covered site in the suburb of Halandri.

“It’s not the financial cost. I’ve lost my work — something spiritual,” Ilias said. “I’ve been doing this for 35 years, since I was a kid, aged 14.”

The Aug. 11-13 wildfire tore through more than 100 square kilometers (40 square miles) of forest and scrubland and scorched the shores of the city’s main water reservoir at Marathon, where an ancient battle inspired the modern distance race.

After reaching the urban fringes of Athens, the blaze forced thousands to flee. It destroyed homes, businesses, green spaces and a sports arena in the northern suburbs — and left deep scars on the landscape around Greece’s capital, home to more than a quarter of the country’s population of 10.4 million.

The National Observatory of Athens said the fire brought the area of the land burned in the Attica region since 2017 to more than 700 square kilometers (270 square miles). That represents 26% of the region’s total area and 37% of its forests — underscoring the increasing frequency and severity of the wildfires in recent years.

“We knew that this year would be the most difficult firefighting period in living memory,” Vassilis Kikilias, a minister for the climate crisis and civil protection, told private Skai television. “Since the beginning of the fire season on May 1, some 4,000 fires have started, a rate 50% higher than last year.”

Blackened hills, torched cars and the aerial views of the devastation serve as stark reminders of the blaze’s intensity — it defied a massive deployment of firefighters, as well as water-dropping planes and helicopters. Several other countries also scrambled planes and fire crews to help Athens.

The government ordered speedy evacuations along the southward path, but also imposed fines on homeowners who disregarded fire safety regulations.

“The fire started, and then strong winds carried it — that part was a natural phenomenon,” Ilias said. “But many residents ignored orders to clear the grounds of their homes, so we can’t just blame politicians for the response. It’s also up to us.”

___

Follow’s AP photography at: https://apnews.com/photography

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September 8, 2024
Pylon Reenactment Society singer Vanessa Briscoe Hay looks back (and forward), ahead of triumphant Orlando return

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click to enlarge

Photo by Jason Thrasher

Call it a comeback: Pylon Reenactment Society play Orlando this week

Athens, to paraphrase some singer somewhere, has so much to answer for — in
the annals of alternative rock. For a few halcyon years in the 1980s, the Georgia college town was ground zero for adventurous guitar pop, birthing a scene that included R.E.M., The B-52s, Love Tractor … and Pylon.

Though never quite reaching the commercial heights of their better-known pals, Pylon’s angular, brittle, but deeply groovy and buoyant sound has become an inextricable element of the DNA of modern indie music. Pylon released their influential debut album, Gyrate, in 1980, a perfect Southern answer to the post-punk grooves of Gang of Four and Siouxsie and the Banshees; all razor-sharp precision pieces led by the exuberant and commanding snarl and scream of frontwoman Vanessa Briscoe Hay.

Pylon carved out a niche as an oft-copied cult act — though they did play big shows opening for U2 and R.E.M. — before disbanding in 1991, later regrouping in the early 2000s to record for tastemaking label DFA. The death of guitarist Randall Bewley put an end to the original Pylon, but Pylon Reenactment Society is an utterly charming successor. Members of Casper & the Cookies support the inimitable Hay on a romp through the Pylon catalog — and, of late, some new material.

As part of a run of upcoming dates that includes shows in Jacksonville, Memphis and Nashville, Pylon Reenactment Society returns to Orlando on Friday, Aug. 30. It will be their first Central Florida date since a concert at Thornton Park’s Veranda in 2018 and before that, the Beach Club around about 1990 or so. Singer Hay remembers a surreal moment at an early show in Fort Lauderdale where, sitting outside the venue, she spotted a plane in the sky towing a banner that shouted “PYLON TONIGHT.” (Local promoters, take note of this hustle.) “I just cracked up,” she laughs. “Why didn’t I have my camera with me?”

As you may have now surmised, Orlando Weekly had the singular honor of an audience with the iconic Hay, wherein we chatted about past, present and future matters Pylon Reenactment Society.

PRS was originally intended as a one-off, a live happening as part of Art Rocks Athens in 2014, but it quickly became apparent that there was some alchemy at work. The event’s curator, Jason NeSmith, reached out to Hay, wanting to include Pylon’s music in the proceedings. Although hesitant at first, she worked with NeSmith to put a band together. NeSmith studied hard on Bewley’s unique guitar techniques and they did the gig successfully. Hay promptly “put it on a shelf and forgot about it,” but things weren’t over yet.

“A year later, [NeSmith] was like, ‘Hey, we’re doing it again, and we could give you more time this year.’ So we played longer, opening for [B-52s singer] Fred Schneider’s solo project The Superions. Some friends of ours, [Denver indie-rockers] Dressy Bessy, heard about this, and they were about to do a short tour in North Carolina and in Georgia. And they said, ‘Would you like to open for us?’And I was like,‘Somebody wants to see this? They’ll pay to see this?’ But I told them we would. Then after that, we just continued to get offers to play. It organically grew into a writing project. I had, you know, previously been involved in a writing project with Jason and Kay Stanton and Supercluster, and so we just couldn’t help it. We started writing songs. Here we are, 10 years later, we just put out an album [Magnet Factory],” recounts Hay.

click to enlarge

Photo by Christy Bush

Call it a comeback: Pylon Reenactment Society play Orlando this week

“So the idea wasn’t just to continue the Pylon process, it was also a fun thing for us to do. Getting to write with these creative people and perform. With the name, we wanted to be sure that we differentiated ourselves from Pylon. I had the idea to call ourselves the Pylon Reenactment Society. Because the third time, we were having to relearn all of our music and we were jokingly calling ourselves at practice the Pylon Historical Reenactment Society. So I shortened that down a little and that’s where the name came from.”

Hay looks back at a now 45-plus-year “career” in music with a mix of understated surprise and deep gratitude.

“I never could have foreseen this. It’s been very therapeutic for me, and it’s been fun, you know, all the craziness and changes that life brings — to be able to still connect creatively,” she marvels. “In the 1980s, bands didn’t have much of a lifespan beyond five years. I never expected people to continue to have interest. But there were two things that happened in the mid-to-late ’80s after we disbanded. The first was that R.E.M. recorded ‘Crazy’ as a b-side for one of their singles, andt hat rekindled interest. The other thing was Athens, GA: Inside Out [the 1986 Athens scene doc], that brought focus back to Pylon. Otherwise, I think we would have been in cut-out dustbins all over the country, 99 cents.

“In 1988, after I had my first child, R.E.M. started talking to [Pylon members] Michael and Curtis and Randy — I wasn’t going out a whole lot at that point. They were like,‘Y’all need to get back together. We think the world’s ready for you now.’ Well, they might not have been ready, but we sure had fun.”

Despite the tongue-in-cheek appellation “Reenactment Society,” PRS is a living and breathing creative undertaking with new, younger fans dancing to all points of the Pylon discography.

“I think the kids have always gotten us. When we play around the country, I see our audience. They’ll be people that are my age, and down somewhat younger into their 40s, and then I’ll see almost an equal-sized group of high school- and college-age kids who just discovered us,” she says.

“I love that energy. I don’t dance as much as I used to; I spend a lot of my energy just getting sounds out there. But the music itself inspires movement. The audience dances for me. I live vicariously through them.”

You have your gyrating orders, Orlando.

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Matthew Moyer

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August 28, 2024
Keith Urban plays free pop-up concert outside a Buc-ee’s store in Alabama

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ATHENS, Ala. (AP) — Country singer Keith Urban gave just a few hours’ notice before performing a free concert Friday night in the parking lot of a large convenience store and gas station in north Alabama.

About 5,500 people turned out for the show in Athens, about 100 miles (161 kilometers) south of Nashville, said Athens Police Department Capt. Brett Constable. The concert was outside a Buc-ee’s, a chain of roadside stores known for barbecue.

“I came down to this Buc-ee’s about a month ago. And when I left, I went, ‘It’d be kind of fun to do a show there,’” Urban told the crowd during the concert, according to an Instagram video posted by WAFF-TV in Huntsville, Alabama.

Urban said his “cave man brain” told him it would be fun to set up a little stage for a small audience.

“I swear to you, I thought maybe 100, 200 people,” Urban said as a video showed a larger crowd.

People started gathering hours before the show, news outlets reported.

“I was at work and we heard it on the radio that there was going to be a surprise concert at Buc-ee’s in Athens,” Cindy Wilson told FOX 54 WZDX-TV in Huntsville. “And I was like, ’Oh my God, it’s on my way home.’ And it’s 15 minutes from my house. So I couldn’t believe it.”

While he was at the store, Urban also worked behind a food counter. A video showed him wearing a Buc-ee’s T-shirt and apron as he poured barbecue sauce on some brisket and chopped the meat into smaller pieces.

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August 18, 2024
NC State vs. Georgia scores, updates, schedule from Athens Super Regional :: WRALSportsFan.com

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By WRAL Sports, Associated Press

Georgia hit four home runs, including two in the first three innings, en route to an 11-2 Game 2 victory against NC State in its best-of-three super regional in Athens.

The Georgia win sets up a decisive Game 3 on Monday with the winner earning a spot in the College World Series in Omaha, Neb. The game will start at noon or 7 p.m., ESPN announced.

NC State clobbered Georgia 18-1 on Saturday in the series opener.

But it was the Bulldogs who struck early in Game 2, grabbing a 2-0 lead in the first inning and extending it to 5-0 in the third. Georgia extended its lead to 10-0.

Georgia 11, NC State 2 (bottom of 8th inning): NC State catcher Jacob Cozart hit his third home run of the super regional.

Georgia 11, NC State 1 (top of 8th inning): Corey Collins hit a solo home run to lead off the inning.

Georgia 10, NC State 1 (bottom of 7th inning): Luke Nixon singled, advanced to third on a single by Matt Heavner and scored on a groundout by Noah Soles, getting the Wolfpack on the board.

NC State has been shut out once this season and held to one run on three other occasions.

Georgia starting pitcher Leighton Finley tossed 6.2 innings, allowing eight hits and one run. He struck out five and walked two.

Georgia 10, NC State 0 (top of 7th inning): Fernando Gonzalez singled to center, driving home Clayton Chadwick with Georgia’s 10th run of the game. Gonzalez was thrown out trying to stretch it into a double.

NC State relief pitcher Ryan Marohn has pitched four innings, helping preserve the rest of the bullpen for a likely Game 3 on Monday.

Georgia 9, NC State 0 (top of 6th inning): Paul Toetz hit a solo home run to extend the Bulldogs’ lead.

Georgia 8, NC State 0 (top of 4th inning): Georgia added to its lead with a RBI double from Kolby Branch and a run-scoring groundout by Corey Collins.

Tre Phelps drove in another run on a hit by pitch.

NC State starting pitcher Dominic Fritton was taken out after three-plus innings pitched. He allowed seven hits and seven runs (all earned).

Georgia 5, NC State 0 (top of 3rd inning): Tre Phelps smacked a three-run home run to center field, extending the Bulldogs’ lead. It was the 11th home run of the season for Phelps, a freshman.

It was Georgia’s third hit of the inning and sixth of the game. NC State held the Bulldogs to four hits in Saturday’s Game 1.

Georgia 2, NC State 0 (top of 1st inning): Georgia grabbed an early lead in its must-win Game 2 against NC State on Sunday afternoon. The Bulldogs are the visiting team even through the game is in Athens.

Second baseman Slate Alford hit a two-run home run off NC State starter Dominic Fritton.

NC State never trailed in Saturday’s 18-1 victory in Game 1, erupting for 11 runs in the second inning. The Wolfpack need just one more win to advance to the College World Series for the third time.

NC State is the No. 10 national seed and Georgia is the No. 7 national seed.

Wolfpack clobber Georgia in Game 1

Noah Soles had two doubles and five RBIs in N.C. State’s 11-run second inning, and the Wolfpack routed Georgia 18-1 on Saturday in Game 1 of the best-of-three Athens Super Regional.

Luke Nixon and Matt Heavner had back-to-back bunt singles in the top of the second inning, the former to drive in Brandon Butterworth and open the scoring and the latter to load the bases with nobody out.

Soles followed with a three-RBI double down the line in right and Eli Serrano III hit the next pitch over the wall in right center. Butterworth added an RBI single before Nixon and Soles each hit two-RBI doubles to give No. 10 seed N.C. State (37-20) an 11-0 lead.

“Hitting is contagious,” catcher Jacob Cozart sad. “You start out the game having a quick inning, then the second inning came around and we got two really, really good bunts down. They found the hole, chaos unloaded and we just started to roll. We got to the top of our lineup, and then that’s what we do. Once they turn that lineup around, they start to roll.”

Sam Highfill (7-2) gave up a run on four hits and three walks over six innings to earn the win for the Wolfpack. Andrew Shaffner pitched three scoreless innings of no-hit relief for his first save of the season.

“He was unbelievable today,”Soles said of Highfill. “He’s very tough. I personally look up to him and I think he’s a great leader, on and off the field. He’s just someone everyone looks up to and I think he’s a really, really good leader for the clubhouse.”

N.C. State can clinch a berth in the College World Series with a win Sunday in Game 2. The Wolfpack have made three appearances at the CWS, the most recent in 2021.

“It’s good to get that first one, but obviously we have to get one more,” NC State coach Elliott Avent said. “They’re tough to get but obviously we played really well today. We obviously also had that one inning that got things out of kilter for them.”

Corey Collins singled to right in the bottom of the fifth for seventh-seeded Georgia (42-16) to make it 13-1.

“Here’s the great thing about our game: nothing carries over to tomorrow,” Georgia coach Wes Johnson said. “The scoreboard goes back to 0-0, and we’re going to come out, and we’re going to be ready to respond.”

FINAL: NC State 18, Georgia 1: Shaffner gets another 1-2-3 inning and the Wolfpack complete a convincing win in Game 1 of the Athens Super Regional.

Game 2 is set for Sunday at 12 p.m. A potential Game 3 would be played on Monday. Another win would send the Wolfpack to their fourth College World Series and first since 2021.

NC State 18, Georgia 1 (top of 9th inning): Andrew Shaffner gets a 1-2-3 eighth inning and we head to the ninth with State holding a commanding lead.

Jacob Cozart and Alec Makarewicz hit back-to-back home runs to make it an 18-1 lead in the top of the ninth. The Wolfpack now have five home runs on the day and Cozart has two.

NC State 16, Georgia 1 (top of 7th inning): Garrett Pennington hit a solo home run to left field to extend the Wolfpack’s lead.

Every NC State batter in the starting lineup has at least one hit and at least one run scored. Seven players, including Pennington, have at least two hits. Five players, including Pennington, have at least two runs scored.

Alec Makarewicz doubled and scored on a wild pitch to make it 16-1.

NC State 14, Georgia 1 (top of 6th inning): Luke Nixon scored on a throwing error by Georgia, adding to the Wolfpack’s lead. Nixon singled, advanced to second on a wild pitch and moved to third on a fly out.

NC State 13, Georgia 1 (bottom of 5th inning): Georgia finally scratched a run off NC State starting pitcher Sam Highfill on an RBI single by Corey Collins. The Bulldogs loaded the bases with two outs after a walk to star Charlie Condon walked, but Highfill pitched out of the jam.

Through five innings, Highfill allowed three hits and one run. He walked three and struck out two.

NC State 13, Georgia 0 (top of 5th inning): Jacob Cozart’s two-out single to right field drove home Eli Serrano III, who doubled to start the inning.

NC State 12, Georgia 0 (top of 3rd inning): Jacob Cozart homered to right field, extending the Wolfpack edge. It was his 17th home run of the season.

NC State 11, Georgia 0 (top of 2nd inning): NC State jumped out to a big early lead against Georgia with a barrage of hits in the second inning.

Brandon Butterworth and Alex Sosa started the inning with singles. Luke Nixon scored Butterworth with a bunt single. Another bunt single from Matt Heavner loaded the bases.

Then Noah Soles delivered a bases-clearing double to extend the lead to 4-0.

Eli Serrarno III homered to bring in Soles and extend the lead to 6-0 with no outs.

With the bases loaded again, Butterworth delivered a long single to make it 7-0, chasing Georgia starter Kolten Smith, who failed to record an out in the second inning.

Nixon followed with a one-out, two-run double to extend the lead to 9-0. Soles then blooped a two-run double to left field, giving him five RBIs in the inning and pushing the lead to 11-0 before Georgia finally got out of the inning.

The record for runs in a single inning in a super regional is 13.

Athens Super Regional Schedule

Saturday, June 8
Game 1 – No. 10 NC State 18, No. 7 Georgia 1 (NC State leads 1-0)

Sunday, June 9
Game 2 – No. 7 Georgia 11, No. 10 NC State 2 (Series tied 1-1)

Monday, June 10 (If Necessary)
Game 3 – No. 10 NC State vs. No. 7 Georgia| Time TBD | TV TBD

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June 9, 2024
Norse Atlantic Airways Launches Flights from JFK to Athens Starting at $199 One-Way

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Norse Launches Flights from JFK to Athens

Norse Atlantic Airways has added a new route from New York (JFK) to Athens, with its first flight taking place May 30, 2024.

Visitors will be able to take advantage of Norse’s affordable and convenient travel to the Greek capital, where prices will start at just $199 one-way (including taxes and fees) in Economy and $498 in Norse Premium. Norse customers can travel from New York to London Gatwick, Paris, Berlin, Rome, and Oslo.

The 9-hour, 35-minute flight from New York (JFK) to Athens (ATH) will depart five times a week, taking off Saturday at 1:55 p.m. EDT, arriving Sunday at 6:30 a.m. local time, Monday at 1:30 a.m. EDT–6:05 p.m. local time, Tuesday at 12:55 p.m. EDT, arriving Wednesday at 5:30 a.m. local time, Wednesday 1:10 p.m. EDT, arriving Thursday at 5:45 a.m. local time, Thursday at 1:25 p.m. EDT, and arriving Friday at 6:00 a.m. local time. (Times are subject to change).

Norse Atlantic exclusively operates modern Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft with personal entertainment. Norse Premium cabin offers a 43” seat pitch and 12” recline.

To book and for more information on Norse Atlantic, you can visit www.flynorse.com

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May 31, 2024
Tourists flee Rhodes wildfires in Greece’s largest-ever evacuation | CNN

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CNN
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A large wildfire tearing through the Greek island of Rhodes forced thousands of tourists to flee their hotels in what Greek officials said was the largest evacuation effort in the country’s history.

Those caught up in the blaze described chaotic and frightening scenes, with some having to leave on foot or find their own transport after being told to leave.

The wildfire in the central and south part of Rhodes – a hugely popular island for holidaymakers – has been burning since Tuesday. It is the largest of a number of blazes in Greece, which is sweltering due to a heat wave that experts say is likely to become the country’s longest on record.

Amy Leyden, a British tourist in Rhodes, told Sky News she was told she had to leave her hotel immediately or her and her family “would not make it.”

“It was just terrifying,” she said. “We’ve got our 11-year-old daughter with us and we were walking down the road at two o’clock in the morning and the fire was catching up with us.”

Cedric Guisset, a Belgian tourist, fled Saturday with nowhere to go. “We told the hotel about the messages we had received on our phones to evacuate the area, but they didn’t even know about it,” he told public radio station RTBF.

“We really just took our identity cards, water and something to cover our faces and heads.”

The Greek government said nearly 19,000 people had been evacuated on Rhodes since Saturday.

The government called the operation “the largest such effort Greece has ever seen,” and said 16,000 people, including tourists and residents, were transported by land and 3,000 by sea.

According to the local fire service, there are currently three active fronts firefighters are focusing on in the central and south part of the island.

The blaze is burning near the areas of Kiotari and Lardos, not far from the Lindos archaeological site. The site has not been threatened so far.

Hotels, schools, sports centers and conference centers have been activated in safe parts of the island to host evacuees in need.

Greece’s foreign ministry will set up a dedicated helpdesk to assist tourists on their return to their respective countries, according to the Greek government. Tour operators have additionally ordered charter flights to land in Rhodes without passengers “in order to pick up travelers who wish to leave the island,” it said.

Eight people have been taken to hospital with respiratory problems, according to fire officials.

British airline Jet2 canceled all flights and holiday offers to Rhodes on Sunday. Holiday group TUI has also canceled all holiday packages to the Greek island up to and including on Tuesday due to the ongoing wildfires, both companies have said in statements.

According to the Greek Ministry of Civil Protection, 13 departments, including the Attica region where the capital city of Athens is located, were under red alert for wildfires Sunday, which is the highest state of alarm due to the extreme risk of fire.

In Athens, visiting hours for the Acropolis and other archaeological sites have been revised due to soaring temperatures. Staff at some sites are on strike to protest working conditions.

“We will probably go through 15 to 16 days of a heat wave, which has never happened before in our country,” the Director of Research at the National Observatory of Athens Kostas Lagouvardos told CNN.

He told CNN that the streak could go beyond those days, but at the moment “it’s hard to predict.”

The longest continuous heatwave that Greece has faced was 12 days long, back in July 1987, Lagouvardos said.

Lagouvardos said temperatures in Athens this summer could possibly break the city’s all-time record, which was set in June 2007, when Athens registered 44.8 degrees Celsius (112.64 degrees Fahrenheit).

Large parts of the northern hemisphere have seen fierce temperatures, with Europe seeing dramatic shifts from one form of extreme weather to another.

Italy’s northern region of Veneto was pounded with tennis-ball sized hail overnight on Wednesday, injuring at least 110 people. Emergency services responded to more than 500 calls for help due to damage to property and personal injuries, the Veneto regional civil protection said.

The country also experienced record-breaking heat, with capital Rome hitting a new high temperature of 41 degrees Celsius on Tuesday. Earlier in the year the country was hit by devastating floods.

In the Balkans, severe thunderstorms storms claimed several lives after hitting on Wednesday, CNN’s affiliate N1 reported Thursday.

Scientists are warning that the extreme weather may only be a preview of what’s to come as the planet warms.

“The weather extremes will continue to become more intense and our weather patterns could change in ways we yet can’t predict,” said Peter Stott, a science fellow in climate attribution at the UK Met Office told CNN.

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July 23, 2023
Festival at Greece’s ancient theaters dedicated to Maria Callas and century since her birth

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ATHENS, Greece (AP) — The music from “Madame Butterfly” and other major operas is known to Greek audiences largely through the recorded performances of Maria Callas, the U.S.-born Greek artist who died in 1977 and is still revered here.

For theatergoers in Athens, watching the tragic story of the young geisha Cio-Cio-San unfold in Puccini’s emotionally charged classic has become a familiar favorite at the Odeon of Herodes Atticus, the stone theater the Romans built at the foot of the Acropolis more than 1,800 years ago.

Late Thursday, it hosted an open-air performance of “Madame Butterfly” to launch Greece’s main summer theater and arts festival, dedicated this year to Callas and the century since her birth in Manhattan on Dec. 2, 1923. She died of a heart attack at her home in Paris at age 53.

Officially known as the Athens-Epidaurus Festival, the summer concerts and plays are also held at the ancient theater of Epidaurus, the UNESCO world heritage site in southern Greece. Much of the program was chosen to complement the centenary celebrations.

Ticket sales from June performances by an opera world power couple, French tenor Roberto Alagna and Polish soprano Aleksandra Kurzak, will help fund the planned summer opening of a Callas Museum in central Athens, according to festival artistic director Katerina Evangelatos.

“It’s all part of the year’s celebrations marking the 100 years … since the birth of the great diva of opera,” Evangelatos said.

Finally free of constraints imposed by the pandemic, the festival has been expanded this year to include new venues and additional collaboration with overseas artists, festivals and theater companies. Organizers also created a new online platform to help Greek performers seek opportunities abroad.

“One of the main objectives of the festival has always been to be outward-looking,” Evangelatos told reporters during a recent presentation of this year’s festival. “We don’t want to just bring artists from abroad, we want to build collaboration and relationships.”

The lineup this year includes the superstar Chinese pianist Lang Lang, the German violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter, classical pianist and conductor Christoph Eschenbach and the pioneering German electronic band Kraftwerk, as well as a performance by Icelandic band Sigur Ros with the London Contemporary Orchestra.

The Greek National Opera produced “Madame Butterfly,” choosing French director Olivier Py and the Italian choreographer Daniel Izzo. The title role was given to soprano Anna Sohn, who on Thursday gave the first of four scheduled performances.

Sohn partnered with Italian tenor Andrea Carè for a sparse interpretation of the Italian classic, featuring giant helium-filled balloons, dancers in head-to-toe white makeup and time-bending backdrops that included scenes of Japan’s World War II nuclear devastation and modern banner ads for major U.S. commercial brands.

Publicist Constance Shuman, who promotes the work of the Greek National Opera in the United States, said a performance by the company was a fitting start for the festival in the year marking what would have been Callas’ 100th birthday.

Born Maria Kalogeropoulos, the singer made her professional debut with the GNO in Athens as an 18-year-old student.

“When she became internationally known, she always came back here, and she really is emblematic of what this opera company is about,” Shuman said.

“This is the opening of the Maria Callas year, but her early years are not known about by a lot of people,” she said. “So this is a chance to tell people about how Greece and the Greek National Opera contributed to her becoming Maria Callas.”

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June 2, 2023
Greece to allow pets into more than 120 archaeological sites

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ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Pets will soon be allowed into more than 120 archaeological sites across Greece, the country’s Culture Ministry announced Thursday, although not in the Acropolis or some of the other top tourist draws.

The move, unanimously approved by the country’s powerful Central Archaeological Council, will relax current rules which only allow guide dogs for disabled visitors into archaeological sites. The ministry did not specify when the new regulations would be implemented.

The decision is “a first, but important, step toward harmonizing the framework of accessibility to monuments and archaeological sites with the standards of other European countries, where entry rules for pets already apply,” Culture Minister Lina Mendoni said in a ministry press release.

The council approved the entry of pets provided they are kept on a leash no more than one meter (3 feet) long, or carried by their owners in a pouch or a pet carrying case. Owners will also need to show their pet’s health certificate and carry the necessary accessories to pick up their animal’s droppings in order to be allowed entry, the ministry said. Larger dogs will have to be muzzled.

But some of the most popular archaeological sites, such as the Acropolis of Athens, Knossos in Crete, Ancient Olympia or Delphi, which tend to get very crowded, will still remain pet-free, as will ancient theaters, temples, graves and monuments with mosaic floors.

Cages will be installed at the entrances of more than 110 other archaeological sites, the ministry said, so owners can park their pets during their visit.

Tourism is one of Greece’s main industries, generating billions of euros in revenue each year.

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May 2, 2023
Former UGA football star Jalen Carter sentenced to probation in crash that killed teammate and team staffer | CNN

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Former University of Georgia football standout Jalen Carter was sentenced to probation on Thursday for his role in the January crash that killed his teammate and a team staffer.

The crash happened hours after the Bulldogs’ national championship victory parade.

Carter entered pleas of no contest Thursday to charges of racing and reckless driving, according to his attorney, Kim Stephens.

Carter was then sentenced to 12 months of probation, a $1,000 fine and 50 hours of community service and completion of a state-approved defensive driving course, the attorney said.

“Mr. Carter is happy and relieved to get this matter behind him, so now he can do what he needs to do for the NFL draft,” the lawyer said.

“He continues to grieve for the loss of his friends,” Stephens added.

Athens-Clarke County Solicitor General Will Fleenor confirmed the sentence and said Carter’s privilege to drive in Georgia has been suspended for 120 days.

Fleenor, in a statement, acknowledged questions about the severity of the charges and “whether more serious offenses occurred.” He said law enforcement officers evaluated the appropriateness of more serious charges.

“However, after consultation with the District Attorney’s Office, the Solicitor’s Office, and the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council, based on the evidence and applicable laws in this case, it was determined that the appropriate charges were the two traffic offenses that were resolved in court this morning,” the statement said.

Carter has been projected as a top pick in the NFL draft next month.

CNN has reached out to Athens Solicitor’s Office for comment.

Carter’s teammate Devin Willock and football team staff member Chandler LeCroy were killed in the January 15 crash, which happened hours after the team participated in a parade through campus to celebrate its second consecutive national title.

Carter turned himself in at the Athens-Clarke County Jail earlier this month on charges of reckless driving and racing.

LeCroy was driving a Ford SUV near the campus with Willock and two other members of the football program also in the vehicle, police said. The SUV was traveling “about 104 miles per hour” before it veered off the road and slammed into two power poles and several trees, Athens-Clarke County police said.

Authorities said Carter was driving a separate vehicle and he and LeCroy appeared to be racing.

Police said “both vehicles switched between lanes, drove in the center turn lane, drove in opposite lanes of travel, overtook other motorists, and drove at high rates of speed, in an apparent attempt to outdistance each other.”

Toxicology results show LeCroy, who was driving a university vehicle not authorized for use at the time of the crash, had a blood alcohol concentration of .197 – more than twice the legal limit in Georgia, police said.

Willock was ejected and died at the scene and LeCroy died at a local hospital. The two other passengers in the vehicle were injured, officials said.

Carter was a key part of Georgia’s vaunted defense that allowed the fewest rushing yards per game (77.1) in 2022 and was named to several All-America teams.

More than four months before the fatal crash, Carter had been issued three traffic citations – including one for speeding at nearly twice the legal limit, according to documents and body camera video obtained by CNN from the Athens-Clarke County Police Department.

On September 22, Carter was stopped for speeding. An officer is heard on body camera footage telling him that he was “reckless,” and issued three traffic tickets

One ticket showed Carter was driving at 89 mph in a 45 mph zone. A second ticket cited him for having “material affixed” to his car which “obstructs vision.” A third citation was for an illegal windshield tint.

Bodycam video from the stop showed Carter in the driver’s seat of a Black Jeep. The officer held up a radar gun showing a speed of 89 mph, according to the video.

Carter is seen on video, expressionless, as the officer named two other UGA athletes who he said he had recently stopped.

“Y’all need to slow down dude,” the officer is heard telling Carter, who didn’t respond.

“Look I don’t know if y’all need to send out a text or something to other teammates, but slow down,” the officer said, adding, “That was reckless.”

“When you’re around your teammates, tell them to slow down,” the officer said.

The officer then tested the tint on Carter’s vehicle – which he said is illegal in the state of Georgia. “The front windshield can’t have nothing on it. No material on it whatsoever, OK?”

“Your break is you’re not going to jail. That’s your break. Because that would make all kinds of news, alright?” the officer is heard telling Carter in the footage.

The player smiled nervously. “You’re getting a ticket for speeding,” the officer said.

The officer added, “Slow down OK. That’s all I ask.”

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March 16, 2023
Greece: House arrest for police officer in shooting of teen

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THESSALONIKI, Greece — A Greek police officer accused of shooting and seriously wounding a Roma teenager during a police chase over an allegedly unpaid gas station bill will remain under house arrest, after a prosecutor and an investigating judge disagreed Friday on whether he should be jailed until his trial.

About 200 protesters from the Roma community were gathered outside the courthouse in Greece‘s second-largest city of Thessaloniki Friday, where the 34-year-old officer appeared amid tight security.

The officer has been charged with a felony count of attempted manslaughter with possible intent, and a misdemeanor count of illegally firing his weapon over the Monday shooting, which has left the 16-year-old hospitalized in critical condition with a head wound.

Police have said the teenager tried to ram a police motorcycle involved in the chase, and the officer has said he fired his weapon because he believed his colleagues’ lives were in danger.

The prosecutor handling the case recommended the officer be remanded in custody until the trial, and the investigating judge who questioned the officer in court on Friday recommended he be released on bail.

Until a panel of judges resolves the disagreement, the officer will be placed under house arrest. The prosecutor has three days to make another recommendation to the panel, and a decision could come as early as next week.

Security was tight at the courthouse for the hearing, with riot police forming a cordon and the police officer surrounded by dozens of his colleagues as he arrived for questioning.

Friends and relatives of the injured 16-year-old and other protesters from the Roma community gathered outside the courthouse, holding up photos of the youth and calling for justice. The shooting already sparked days of violent protests by members of the Roma community in Greece’s second-largest city, as well as Athens and other areas, with vehicles and at least one business torched and police coming under fire from shotguns.

“It wasn’t the gas, it wasn’t the money, the cops shot because he was Roma,” the protesters chanted outside the courthouse before the decision on the officer’s house arrest was made public. Some burned 20-euro notes – the amount the teenager allegedly failed to pay at the gas station.

Community leaders had called for a peaceful protest outside the courthouse.

“We want justice. The crime was racist,” Panagiotis Sabanis, head of the Roma Federation of Central and Western Macedonia, said. “There is racism against us in Greece. It’s not the first incident of a police shooting against a Roma just because he is a Roma.”

Several Roma men have been injured or fatally shot in recent years during confrontations with police while allegedly seeking to evade arrest for breaches of the law.

Andonis Tasios, general secretary of the Roma community where the boy lives, was among the protesters outside the courthouse Friday. “They shot him because of his color. If he wasn’t Roma, they wouldn’t have done it,” he said.

Members of the Roma community in Greece have long faced discrimination and many often live on the margins of society.

The 16-year-old, who was chased by motorcycle police after he allegedly drove away from a gas station without paying a 20-euro (dollar) bill early Monday, was hit in the head and remains hospitalized in critical condition.

In a preliminary court appearance earlier in the week, the police officer said he fired his weapon because he feared for the lives of his colleagues but he had not aimed at the youth. During his questioning Friday, the officer said the youth had tried to ram the motorcycle three times.

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December 9, 2022
Greece to ban spyware as wiretap scandal grows

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ATHENS, Greece — Lawmakers in Greece are set to approve plans to outlaw commercial spyware following weeks of allegations that senior government officials may have been targeted.

The revelations have hurt public support for the country’s center-right government as it faces elections in 2023.

Under the draft legislation to be voted on later Thursday, the use, sale or distribution of spyware in Greece will carry a penalty of a two-year minimum prison sentence. Additional safeguards were also planned for legal wiretaps as well as for hiring the director and deputy directors of the National Intelligence Service, or NIS.

Speaking in parliament, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis described the reforms as “a bold institutional response to a challenge that — and I want to emphasize this — does not only concern our country.”

Reports in the news media that multiple members of the cabinet as well as other senior officials and journalists may have been targeted with the spyware that can snoop on cell phone calls, stored contacts and data, and access devices’ microphones and cameras have prompted a judicial investigation.

In August, a top government aide and the country’s security chief resigned following revelations that a Socialist politician who was later elected leader of Greece’s third largest party had been the subject of NIS telephone surveillance that the government insists had been legally sanctioned.

The resignations were followed by weeks of newspaper reports that senior officials were being tracked using Predator spyware, which is similar to the more widely known Pegasus surveillance software.

The government insists its agencies have never used the spyware.

The use and alleged use of surveillance software in European Union member states is also the subject of an ongoing inquiry by a European Parliament committee, whose members visited Athens last month.

Facing elections before next summer, the government of Prime Minister Mitsotakis’ center-right New Democracy party, has seen its strong lead in opinions polls in recent weeks suffer as a result of the wiretapping allegations and the ongoing cost of living crisis.

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December 8, 2022
Eurovision winner Ruslana leads Ukrainians in Athens march

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Ukrainian pop singer and former Eurovision song contest winner Ruslana, center, shouts slogans as she takes part in a protest to condemn the Russian strikes against multiple cities across Ukraine, in Athens, Greece, Saturday, Nov. 19, 2022. AP Photo/Yorgos Karahalis)

The Associated Press

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November 19, 2022
No. 1 Georgia eyes perfect season with tightly bonded team

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ATHENS, Ga. — Georgia added another title to its growing collection, yet there wasn’t a whole lot of reason to celebrate.

The Bulldogs, you see, are chasing the loftiest of goals.

Perfection.

Having locked up another trip to the Southeastern Conference championship game as the top dog in the Eastern Division, No. 1 Georgia (10-0) quickly moved on Monday.

“I didn’t really celebrate too much,” receiver Kearis Jackson said. “I know we have bigger goals ahead of us.”

It’s a rather lengthy list, for sure.

The Bulldogs are positioned to make a run at their first SEC title since 2017. They certainly have their sights on a return for the College Football Playoff as the top seed, which would undoubtedly be rewarded with a short trip to Atlanta for the Peach Bowl semifinal. And, of course, they want to become the first team since Alabama in 2011-12 to repeat as national champion.

Last year’s title team had a blemish on its record — an upset loss to the Crimson Tide in the SEC championship game. In fact, only two teams in Georgia’s modern football history have made it through a season unscathed.

The 1946 Bulldogs went 11-0, tied for the SEC title, won the Sugar Bowl, but only finished third in The Associated Press rankings behind Notre Dame and Army, who played to a scoreless tie in what was billed as the “Game of the Century.”

The 1980 Georgia squad, led by freshman star Herschel Walker, finished 12-0 and, until last season, was the only team in the school’s storied history to win a consensus national title.

Can this team complete what is undoubtedly a more difficult undefeated journey, with the longer schedule and additional gauntlet of a conference championship game and four-team playoff to get through?

“That would be great,” Jackson said, his face lighting up. “I’ve never been a part of an undefeated season, besides like rec league or something like that. I’m sure it would be very difficult and very special, but I think this team is special enough to accomplish a goal like that.”

Without question, these Bulldogs are instilled with a passion and desire that often slips away from a reigning champion.

There’s a reason they say it’s harder to remain on the mountaintop than it is to get there.

“The pitfall of every profession, of everything people do in society, is being able to repeat habits,” coach Kirby Smart said. “Can you do what you do better than the people in your profession on a daily basis and not get bored with monotony. It’s hard to sustain anything in life, in your career, whatever it is.”

Smart’s job was made a bit easier, in a way, by losing a record 15 players in the NFL draft. Many of the players on this roster are getting their first crack at a starring role.

But there’s also something more innate going on, a hunger that never ceases even as the Bulldogs have every reason to stumble over their already impressive accomplishments.

“Sometimes people get comfortable.,” Smart said. “When you get comfortable, you’re not always at your best. We’re trying our best to be at our best. That’s our job.”

Don’t overlook the culture that Smart has built in Athens, which makes the sum of the roster greater than it’s individual parts.

“We say we’re at our best when the worst happens,” the coach explained. “It’s hard to be connected when a guy misses you for a touchdown pass and you don’t pout about it. A guy fumbles, a guy throws an interception, a guy gives up a huge pass interference. Where’s your connection now when it’s needed most?”

No worries there. Smart is hard-pressed to recall another group of players who were so invested in each other.

“That’s the muscle that we like to say is the strongest muscle on our team,” he said. “If you’ve got it, why not use it?”

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November 14, 2022