🐰 Easter weekend - Rough Draft Atlanta

Good Friday

April 18 — Easter coincides with the observance of Earth Day, plus a plethora of art and music events across Metro Atlanta. Keep reading for our weekend guide.

☀️ Sunny and 83° today. The weekend will be a mix of sun and clouds with highs in the mid-80s.

💼 Georgia’s unemployment rate held steady at 3.6% last month, six-tenths of a percentage point lower than the national rate.

🎓 Georgia Tech’s School of Public Policy was renamed after Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter, recognizing the former president’s connection to the institution he attended in 1942.

💸 The Dunwoody City Council is raising awareness about financial scams after hearing about a resident who lost more than $200,000 in a Bitcoin scheme.

🖼️ After years of emphasis on outdoor sculptures, Sandy Springs will showcase more art inside the City Springs building.

ELSEWHERE

🚨 Two people were killed and six were injured after the 20-year-old son of a sheriff’s deputy opened fire at Florida State University. The suspect is in custody after being wounded by police.

🇸🇻 Sen. Chris Van Hollen met with wrongfully deported Maryland resident Kilmar Abrego Garcia in El Salvador yesterday.

⚖️ A federal judge ruled that Google has illegally dominated online advertising technology and “willfully engaged” in anticompetitive acts.

💰 The stock market is closed for Good Friday.

🕖 Here’s what’s in today’s newsletter:

• Earth Day and Easter: weekend activities
• Everybody loves brunch
• Film Review: ‘Sinners’
• The Sports Section
AND
• Top Stories of the Week

🐾 The Midtown Mutt Gala returns Sun., May 4! Inspired by the Met Gala, enjoy food, music, vendors, and costumed dogs on the red carpet. Free to watch; small fee to enter your pup (register by May 1). Details here! SPONSOR MESSAGE

Photo courtesy of Addison Hill

1. Easter, Earth Day, and art: a busy weekend of activities across Metro Atlanta

🐰 The weekend of April 18-20 is going to be full of events for the entire family.

From Sweetwater 420 Fest and Sandy Springs Artsapalooza to Earth Day observations and Easter egg hunts, there will be plenty of outdoor fun to keep you busy this weekend.

🌎 Check out our guide to some of the activities.

Embark on a prehistoric adventure!

SPONSORED BY FERNBANK MUSEUM

🦖 Journey through time at Fernbank Museum to discover what made dinosaurs that once roamed the Southern Hemisphere unique from their better-known relatives in North America. With stunning skeletal displays and augmented reality, the new exhibit Ultimate Dinosaurs reveals how the breakup of Pangaea shaped the evolution of dinosaurs. See life-sized casts, fossils, and hands-on specimens like Eoraptor and Giganotosaurus.

➡ Visit the Ultimate Dinosaurs exhibit daily during regular hours, plus select after-hours events until May 4. Plan your visit today and step into the prehistoric world!

Photo via The Pub at EAV Facebook

2. From jazz to drag, Atlantans love live performances during weekend brunch

👠 Atlantans love weekend brunch, and lately, performances ranging from jazz to gospel to drag give people another reason to roll out of bed on a Saturday and Sunday, put on something a little nicer than sweatpants, and visit restaurants around Metro Atlanta.

Drag brunch has become increasingly popular over the years, finding a home at venues like City Winery and The Pub at EAV. If you’re looking for live music, like gospel or jazz, you can find it at Louisiana Bistreaux or at Perfect Note.

🥓 Learn more about where to find the best brunch performances here.

MORE FOOD NEWS

🐝 A second location of acclaimed Atlanta soul food restaurant The Busy Bee Cafe will open next spring at Atlantic Station.

Photo courtesy of Warner Bros.

WEEKLY FILM REVIEW | BY SAMMIE PURCELL

🎸 Given that “Sinners” – Ryan Coogler’s new vampire movie – opens with Sammie (Miles Caton) covered in blood, clutching a sharp, sawed-off guitar neck mighty close to his preacher father’s back while father begs him to leave evil in the dust, you’d be forgiven for thinking that Coogler is setting up a story that rests on a confrontation between vampires (evil) and religion (good). As Sammie shakes and sobs in his father’s arms, we’re left wondering if he’ll be able to overcome whatever malevolent force has left him in such a state.

Except, that’s not quite where we’ll end up. “Sinners” does not have such an easy definition of good and evil, or even of freedom and repression – the typical map of which so many vampire stories have laid upon.

A messy, sexy, grotesque extravaganza that feels as much like a Southern gothic as it does a slasher, “Sinners” also has more complex ideas about liberation (particularly Black liberation) and how the past and the future connect than you might expect.

🧛 Click here to read Sammie’s review.

MORE MOVIE NEWS

💍 Contributor Jim Farmer spoke with filmmaker Andrew Ahn and actors Lily Gladstone and Kelly Marie Tran about the reimagining of the classic film “The Wedding Banquet.”
🍿 Stay in the picture with Scene by Rough Draft, our weekly newsletter about Georgia’s film industry. Subscribe for free.

4. Hawks host elimination game; Corso retires from ESPN

BY MIA FISHMAN

🏀 The Hawks host the Heat in a Play-In elimination game tonight at 7 p.m. (TNT; 92.9 FM). The winner advances to play top-seeded Cleveland in the First Round of the NBA Playoffs.

📺 ESPN’s Lee Corso announced his final College GameDay appearance will be Aug. 30, 2025, concluding a legendary 38-season run of entertaining fans with his iconic headgear picks that began in 1996.

🏃 The 129th Boston Marathon is Mon., April 21. Returning champion Hellen Obiri, the Olympic bronze medalist from Paris 2024, will try for her third Boston Marathon win.

🏒 The 2025 race for the Stanley Cup starts tomorrow with the St. Louis Blues facing off against the Winnipeg Jets – the league’s top overall seed.

⚾ The Braves, who are cellar-dwelling in the National League East, have a weekend series against the Minnesota Twins at Truist Park.

🏐 After 36 digs on the weekend and a 4.5 dig per set average, Atlanta Vibe’s Morgan Hentz was named the Pro Volleyball Federation Player of the Week.

🏌️‍♂️ After a dramatic Masters last weekend, the PGA Tour is in Hilton Head Island, SC for the RBC Heritage. Justin Thomas leads by three strokes after one round.

❤️‍🩹 Addiction isn’t confined to stereotypes — it’s a complex, silent epidemic affecting all walks of life. At Southern Live Oak Wellness, we are committed to meeting people where they are. Learn more about us and our programs here. SPONSOR MESSAGE

5. Top Stories of the Week

A look back at this week’s most-read stories from our website. Follow @RoughDraftATL on Instagram for regular updates.

① High-speed chase leaves teen dead in Little Five Points

② Temporary closures planned for GA 400 to construct express lanes

③ Protesters arrested, shocked with Tasers at Marjorie Taylor Greene town hall

④ Concert Review: Kylie Minogue brings high-energy, euphoric hits to State Farm Arena (pictured)

⑤ Sandy Springs opens new police headquarters, court complex

❤️‍🩹 Addiction isn’t confined to stereotypes—it’s a complex, silent epidemic affecting all walks of life. At Southern Live Oak Wellness, we are committed to meeting people where they are. Learn more about us and our programs here. SPONSOR MESSAGE

💭 Test your knowledge of the week’s news in tomorrow’s News Quiz. Keep an eye out for our email at 8 a.m. or bookmark this page!

🔤 Don’t miss News Word Atlanta, our new, daily word game – Presented by Oglethorpe University, Atlanta’s premier undergraduate learning experience.

🦋 Connect with us on Bluesky.