Whether you’re looking for some low-key weeknight fun or an all-weekend rager, Atlanta’s diverse LGBTQ+-inclusive nightlife scene includes DJs, live music, drag, drinks, and everything in between. Atlanta Eagle 1492 Piedmont Ave NE Atlanta, GA 30309 404-999-3826 AtlantaEagle.com Atlanta’s famed leather bar is bigger and better than ever! With events every weekend, it’s no wonder the Eagle is a favorite among everyone in the LGBTQ+ community.    BJ Roosters 2043 Cheshire Bridge Rd Ste 1 Atlanta, GA 30324 404-634-5895 Facebook.com/BJRoostersAtlanta This friendly neighborhood gay bar features pool, darts, videos, and go-go boys on the bar and milling about.

Why did the chicken cross the playground?* Nov. 12 — It's Cathy from Rough Draft with my weekly newsletter on Dunwoody. So much is going on this week in Dunwoody, with meetings, ceremonies, ribbon-cuttings, business openings, and author talks. And three flakes of snow. 📕 For starters, Prelude Bookstore, the city's first independent bookstore, opened in Dunwoody Village this week, right next to Valor Coffee. The city dedicated its new veterans memorial, the council indicated that at least one of several chicken joints trying to roost in Dunwoody may not enter the coop, and Alton Brown came to town to discuss his new book and drink red wine at the MJCCA.

Finalizing this column on Veterans Day, I want to be clear that our nation is forever indebted to the millions of men and women who have served in uniform, as well as those serving today, in every corner of the globe, protecting our nation, our freedoms and our way of life as Americans. A visit to Washington, D.C. and particularly to the National Mall cannot help but make your chest swell patriotism and pride, walking the several miles between our nation's Capitol building, the Washington Monument to the Lincoln Memorial, Jefferson Memorial and across the Potomac River and into Arlington National Cemetery, some of the most hallowed ground in our country.

Information is shared among all GPUs at the Atlanta Fairwater site with very fast, high-throughput networking. Photo courtesy of Microsoft. Microsoft has launched its first networked “AI superfactory,” linking its new two-story Fairwater data center in Atlanta with a sister site in Wisconsin to accelerate large-scale artificial-intelligence work. According to a blog post from Microsoft, the Atlanta facility, located in South Fulton County near Palmetto, began operation in October. The data center is connected to Wisconsin using a dedicated fiber-optic "AI WAN" (wide area network) to create a massive supercomputer running on Nvidia chips.

The City of Tucker is warning residents about a phishing scam that presents as a City of Tucker Planning & Zoning Department invoice requesting an approval fee over wire transfer.

The Rough Draft dining series continues to highlight restaurants in metro Atlanta neighborhoods within walking distance or a short bus ride of MARTA rail stations, including CT Cantina, Joey D's Oak Room, Yalda, and Food Terminal via Dunwoody and Sandy Springs MARTA stations.

Alton Brown talks with journalist Holly Firfer at the MJCCA Book Festival. (Photo by Cathy Cobbs) Alton Brown's resume is diverse and lengthy – American television personality, food show presenter, author, voice actor, and cinematographer, pilot, typewriter collector – but there's one thing he will never add to that list – restaurateur. Brown, according to his biography, is the creator and host of the Food Network television show "Good Eats" that ran for 16 seasons, host of the miniseries "Feasting on Asphalt" and "Feasting on Waves," a host and main commentator on "Iron Chef America" and "Cutthroat Kitchen," as well as a best-selling author.

Government blues Nov. 12 — In a moment of judicial sanity, the U.S. Supreme Court said Monday that it would not take up a case challenging marriage equality. Kim Davis, the former Kentucky city clerk jailed and sued for refusing a marriage license to a gay couple, was the would-be plaintiff. I guess she'll have more time to search for that fifth husband now. A few more headlines: 🙄 The longest government shutdown in U.S. history is expected to end tonight after eight Democrats caved on Sunday with an unlikely promise from the GOP for a vote on…

This week, we're sharing the recipe for Bread & Butterfly's Freedom Cake. Although Freedom Cake is usually prepared for holiday gatherings, you'll find the celebratory dessert available Thursday through Saturday during Bread & Butterfly's dinner service in Inman Park.

Tucker City Council is considering an ordinance to designate 70 parking spots in downtown Tucker as time-restricted, with a four-hour limit and a $75 fine for violators, but residents and council members have suggested reducing the fine and time limit.

Minnie Evans in Gatehouse at Airlie Gardens, 1962, photographed by Nina Howell Starr. (Image courtesy of the High Museum of Art.) Opening Nov. 14, 2025, at the High Museum of Art, The Lost World: The Art of Minnie Evans is the first major exhibition devoted to Evans in three decades. Bringing together more than 100 works, the show traces her practice from the 1930s to the 1960s. This span saw Evans move from intimate drawings to kaleidoscopic compositions and collages informed by visions, faith, and daily life in Wilmington, North Carolina.

Inside its sun-lit brick building on Edgewood Avenue, the Atlanta Center for Photography (ACP) is expanding how the city sees photography. This fall, the nonprofit announced a new Curator-in-Residence Program, its first significant step toward cultivating curatorial voices alongside the artists it has championed since 1998. Applications close tonight, at 11:59 p.m., EST. For Executive Director Lindsey O’Connor, the program answers a question ACP posed to itself in 2024: “How can ACP help catalyze the sustainable arts ecosystem our city desires and deserves?” “ACP has been an artist-centered organization since our founding,” O’Connor explained.

Veterans Day crowd at Brook Run (Photo by Paul Ward) Attendees braved 40-degree temperatures and brisk winds to dedicate a new veterans installation at Brook Run Park during an abbreviated ceremony on Nov. 11. The ceremony’s featured speaker was Captain Wayne Radloff, USN (Ret), a longtime Dunwoody resident who served more than 30 years of active duty as a Naval flight officer. Radloff kicked off his remarks by saying, "It's cold, we're in the shade, and my wife is already giving me the high sign , but it's an honor to be here this morning."

The TWOC Healing Project (pictured) and Game Changing Men are hosting a memorial gala honoring Trans Day of Remembrance on Nov. 15. (Photo via TWOC Healing Project.) Trans-led organizations TWOC Healing Project and Game Changing Men are hosting the fourth annual “I Was Here: A Celebration in Honor of Trans Day of Remembrance” on Nov. 15. The gala will honor the trans men and women who have paved the way for today’s trans community, including Sir Lady Java, Marsha P. Johnson, Gabriel, and more. Attendees are invited to come red carpet-ready to Ambient Plus Studio in South Atlanta for a night of live music, awards, delicious food, dancing, and life-lifting energy.

Wednesday warmup Nov. 12 — Atlanta Falcons and Atlanta United owner Arthur Blank will expand his sports empire with a newly awarded National Women’s Soccer League franchise. The club, which will begin play at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in 2028, will be operated by Blank's AMB Sports and Entertainment. 🌞 After another cold morning, it will be sunny and 63° today. 🌃 Did you catch the northern lights last night? Share your photo with us on Instagram. 🗳 Rough Draft will host candidate forums leading up to the Sandy Springs mayoral and District 4 council runoff elections on Nov.

Table Talk: The Early Word on Midtown Rooftop Lounge Celestia Nov. 11 — Happy Tuesday, and welcome to the table. 🍲 🥢This little cold snap we're experiencing has me thinking about heading out for hot pot. Not that eating hot pot should be relegated to specific weather conditions, but there may be no better time to squeeze around a table with friends and family to share in the comforts of hot pot than when it's chilly outside. I love this mini guide to hot pot restaurants Rough Draft Dining Reporter Sarra Sedghi wrote last year…

Veterans Day Tuesday Nov. 11 — While Veterans Day is coming to a close, there is still time to support the Veterans Day Telethon benefitting Top Dogg K9 Foundation. Established to help military families impacted by suicide due to mental illness, the organization's mission is to pair service dogs with disabled veterans. Learn more here. Friday marks both the opening of the First Voices Festival in Little Five Points and the Holiday Art Fair at Spruill Gallery in Sandy Springs. We also have a review of Theatrical Outfit's "The Glass Menagerie" from our theatre critic, Manning Harris.

Rendering of Raising Cane's design for Ashford Dunwoody Road (Courtesy of City of Dunwoody) Key Points:• Several city council members questioned the impact that the restaurant would have on an already-crowded corridor.• Raising Cane's representatives said the community supports the restaurant and that the traffic impact would be minimal. Members of the Dunwoody City Council, at its Nov. 10 meeting, voiced serious concerns about granting a Special Land Use Permit that would allow a drive-through fast-food restaurant on Ashford Dunwoody Road. Raising Cane's is petitioning for the SLUP in order to construct a 2,900 square-foot restaurant with double-drive-through service lanes on a 1.56-acre site at 4570 Ashford Dunwoody Rd.

Scenes from the Empower Her. Inspire All. event at The Interlock, where the formal announcement of the NSWL franchise. (Photo by Matt Bish/AMBSE) Atlanta Falcons and Atlanta United owner Arthur M. Blank will expand his sports empire with a newly awarded National Women's Soccer League club. The franchise, which will begin play in 2028, will be operated by AMB Sports and Entertainment. Atlanta will become the NWSL’s 17th team following the additions of Boston and Denver in the most recent round of expansion, according to a press release. Atlanta plans to play its home matches at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

Settled back in 1892, Tucker was a prosperous town in east central DeKalb County. Along the main rail line heading east out of Atlanta, it had a Main Street, prominent local businesses in the same family for generations like Cofer Brothers and Matthews Cafeteria, and its own high school and middle schools named for the town. The Tucker Tigers were a regional high school powerhouse, and without much of a plan, the unincorporated community steadily grew. In Georgia by the early 2000s, initially over concerns about the quality of service delivery by several urban metro Atlanta counties, a land rush of sorts began to create new cities to assert more local control over functions like public safety, planning & zoning, parks & recreation, roads & public works, etc.

Filmmaker Paul Romero Mendez (right) gives an interview at the Rome International Film Festival (Photo by Sammie Purcell). Last year, Paul Romero Mendez brought his short film “Ruth” to the Rome International Film Festival (RIFF). The film follows a woman named Ruth (Ania Marson) who, struggling with dementia, becomes lost in her own home. This year, Mendez is looking at dementia from another perspective. His short film “While It Lasts” played at this year’s film festival over the weekend. The movie, written by Katie Sheridan, is about a daughter (Sheridan) whose mother (Tracey Wilkinson) is suffering from early onset dementia.

Second Lt. Nicolas (Nic) Talbott (Photo courtesy of Talbott) President Trump signed EO 14183, titled “Prioritizing Military Excellence and Readiness,” on Jan. 27, directing the Department of Defense (DoD) to adopt policies that would prohibit transgender, nonbinary, and gender-nonconforming people from serving in the military. The Trump-Vance administration’s policy shift redefines the qualifications for military service, asserting that transgender people are inherently incapable of meeting the military’s “high standards of readiness, lethality, cohesion, honesty, humility, uniformity, and integrity,” citing a history or signs of gender dysphoria. According to the DoD, this creates “medical, surgical, and mental health constraints on individual.” Regardless of their physical or intellectual capabilities, transgender applicants are now considered less qualified than their cisgender peers.

Black and QTPOC-focused organization Southern Fried Queer Pride is hosting a mutual aid cabaret on Nov. 14, benefitting the Trans Women of Color Healing Project and Sol Underground. The “It’s Giving" cabaret will feature more than 15 drag, burlesque, music, and comedy performers, all raising money for the benefiting organizations. Taylor ALXNDR will host the event from 8 to 11 p.m. at Red Light Café, 553-1 Amsterdam Ave. TWOC Healing Project, founded by Toi Washington-Reynolds in 2019, combats the erasure of trans lives, narratives, and contributions to society and raises awareness of the work of trans women of color.

The City of Tucker is warning residents about a phishing scam that presents as a City of Tucker Planning & Zoning Department invoice requesting an approval fee over wire transfer.