Name:
Bart Sasso

Aka: 
Barty (properly pronounced with some New Englandy nasal action, Bahhty); Squat; Big Flower (for the old homies)  

Website: 
www.esperanza-atl.com 

Where are you from?
Atlanta via Newington, CT

Who do you work for?
ESPERANZA ATL 

What are your Current Project(s)?
Spankin’ new CINCO DE MAYO collabo with our major homies THE PROCESS; our increasingly infamous ATL HOLD IT DOWN Foam Hand; a collabo with our Chattanooga affiliate Randy Wallin of FRESH NEWS; new ESPERANZA products every week all summer long; WORLD CUP headquarters; and some big, big plans that should start to unfold very soon……

Who would you love to work with?
Danny Jones from YASLY.com; Clark Orr; the guys at MORNING BREATH; the guys at BURLESQUE OF NORTH AMERICA; Methane Studios; Mike Giant; Jessica Hische; Simon Page. These are artists who fascinate and inspire me. I’d love to just observe them over the course of a couple days (if y’all are listening!).

If you had to give all your sneakers away to charity except for one pair, which ones would you keep?
They’re all pretty beat up, so if they want em, they can have em all. I’ll just go snag a new pair of CHUCKS tomorrow.  

What’s on your iPod right now?
Aggrolites, Bad Religion, Delroy Wilson, Evil Stig, Gallows, Ghostface Killah, Glasvegas, H2O, Jamie T, Joe Gibbs, Low Anthem, Madlib’s Medicine Shows, Mariachi el Bronx, Menahan Street Band, Minor Threat, Ocha la Rocha, Old Canes, Operation Ivy, PAC DIV, panama!3, Partisan, Phosphorescent, Rancid, RATATAT, Raekwon, Rolling Stones, Sick of it All, Sizzla, The Streets, Van Morrison, The Walkmen, When Rhythm was King Comp. Just scrolled through my nano, got a REBEL8 sticker on the back if it counts.

What’s your Favorite ATL food?
Pork Belly Torta @ HOLY TACO – that thing is a religious experience. 

What’s your Favorite ATL hangout?
The Local, Bookhouse Pub, Star Bar & EK’s house when his lady Lauren is cookin,

What are your Pet Peeves?
People who say NO. People who settle for mediocrity. And just bitchassness in general.

Shout outs?
My Moms, Pops, & sis Becks who support me endlessly and whom I will never take for granted. The rest of ESP, Danny & EK, who crush it with me. Neboner, our estranged 4th. Karlo Vicente, Lee Starnes, Hunter Weeks, & Ali Faiz, true believers. Our GaTech fam, the Saints. Annie Znosko and her impeccable opinion. Ed and the boys at DANGER. Fadia Kader. Jack, Talley, & Esteban from CJ’s, TIN ROOF & STAR BAR. Malissa from 4THE WARD HEROES. Matty @ the SPIRIT. Mike & Blake from SMKA. Philip @ GRAVEYARD. THE VAGINAS rock ‘n roll crew, esp. Adam & James. Randy Wallin. Dres tha Beatnik. Wax @ MINDZAI. GregMike who’s just doin’ it right now. And last, but certainly not least, THE PROCESS crew who we’ve got mad love for.

Name:
Eric Kelly

Aka:
EK, E to the K, Big E, Eazy E, EEEEKKKK

Website:
www.esperanza-atl.com 

Where are you from?
Atlanta via Stone Mountain

Who do you work for?
Esperanza Atlanta

What are your Current Project(s)?
Workin on several projects at the moment. As always, trying to keep things fresh with new threads from Esperanza. Our insane section at Hawks playoffs games. We just put a massive showcase on at SXSW in Austin with Fadia Kader and SMKA and can’t wait to plan for next year. Ocha La Rocha has some new music coming out with Esperanza artwork adorning their wax. Got some things in the works with Aleon Craft…..and the list goes on. Let’s just say it’s about to get “multimedia.”

Who would you love to work with? 
The way it’s going, I just love to work with anyone and everyone who works with us because they realize our talent and respect what we do and how hard we work to get it done…or The Beastie Boys.

If you had to give all your sneakers away to charity except for one pair, which ones would you keep? 
The Adidas Campus sneaks that I have had since 2002…love those things. I don’t even remember what the original color was, haha.

What’s on your iPod right now? 
Mumford & Sons, Broken Bells, Mos Def, Avett Brothers, Handsome Furs, Johnathan Boulet, Collective Efforts, Jamie T , Madlib, Animal Collective, K’naan, Murs, Felt, Michael Jackson, King Tubby, I-Roy, Outkast, Beach Boys, Rancid, Junior Murvin, M. Ward, Sam Cooke, Rhymefest, The Slackers, James Brown, Fleet Foxes, Diplo, Vampire Weekend, The Smiths, Hall and Oates….yes that’s right.  The Very Best, Phaseone, K-OS, Blakroc, Bullion, Wu Tang, Local Natives, 808 Experiment, Ella Fitzgerald….I feel like that is enough to tell…

What’s your Favorite ATL food? 
The Varsity

What’s your Favorite ATL hangout? 
Depends on my mood, The Local, The Clermont, Leon’s, The Brickstore, The Star Bar, Bart’s Condo

What are your Pet Peeves?
People who win on a scratch off ticket and think that means that they don’t have to go to the back of the line, people who walk around with their bluetooth on and don’t realize that nobody gives a shit about their conversation. Why you gotta talk so loud?

Shout outs?
The Process of course, SMKA, 4th Ward Heroes, Studio Crispo, Danger, Bart, Daniel

Name:
Daniel Barbalho 

Aka: 
DBAR, Yutti,  

Website: 
www.esperanza-atl.com 

Where are you from?
ATL, where else? 

Who do you work for?
ESPERANZA ATL 

What are your Current Project(s)?
Various new designs for ESPERANZA, the ATL HOLD IT DOWN FOAM HAND, art direction for A.LEON CRAFT and other various Atlanta artists, and I have to mention the SXSW showcase we just put on in Austin Texas, Branding and Promoting the hell out of Esperanza in Atlanta and beyond. 

Who would you love to work with?
Already work with the guys I want to work with, Bart and Eric.  As for Collaboration work, anyone who is fiercely and overly passionate about what they do.  I don’t want to work with anyone who doesn’t sacrifice for their craft. 

If you had to give all your sneakers away to charity except for one pair, which ones would you keep?
Grey and Green Puma Speeders  

What’s on your iPod right now?
Unfinished ALEON CRAFT ALBUM, Ocha La Rocha, and BlacRoc 

What’s your Favorite ATL food?
The Ridiculous Holeman and Finch hamburger alongside some of the best bartenders/mixologist in the city 

What’s your Favorite ATL hangout?
Pink Pony 

What are your Pet Peeves?
People who are overly emotional about people they have never met. 

Shout outs?
All those who have helped Esperanza in the past. Ed Jewell and the crew at DANGERPRESS, Jack, Talley, and Stephen from STAR BAR, TIN ROOF and the ol’ CJ’s LANDING, Ocha La Rocha, Fadia Kadar, Greg Mike, Matty at the Hawks, Hunter Weeks, Karlo Vicente, Lee Starnes, the Saints, Meri, Lauren, Ryan Nerone, Annie Znosko, Patrick Clingan and the Esperanza crews’ parents, friends and loyal fans.

Name:
Skylar Morgan

Aka:  
doc.

Website:
www.smf-d.com
www.docbuilt.com

Where are you from?
Miles City, Montana

Who do you work for? 
I own two furniture companies, Skylar Morgan Furniture + Design (SMFD) and doc.

What are your Current Project(s)? 
New West Egg, White Provision, Ormsby’s Pub, Office Furniture for Armchair Media, Dining Table and Chairs, and Product Additions for doc.

Who would you love to work with?
e15 and Hans Wagner

If you had to give all your sneakers away to charity except for one pair, which ones would you keep? 
My hunter green Toms.

What’s on your iPod right now?
Avett Brothers and Ryan Adams

What’s your Favorite ATL food?
JCT and Serpas True Food

What’s your Favorite ATL hangout?
Ormsby’s Pub

What are your Pet Peeves?
Butterfly patches and air guitar.

Shout outs?
Shea at Intrinsic Architecture, Stephanie at State Design Co., Rob at Coalition Society, and Jesse at SMFD

Name:
Michelle Consuegra

Aka:  
Juez

Website:
www.michellemariephotography.com

Where are you from?
Good ol Woodstock, GA. But growing up I lived a few other places and traveled a bit. I always said I would move back to ATL. Right now I live on one of many Peachtree streets in Atlanta

Who do you work for? 
Founding partner and photographer at Michelle Marie Photography

What are your Current Project(s)? 
1. Enjoying life
2. Drawing, painting, taping, felting and super imposing as many mustaches & red lips, as possible on poor unknowing victims!
3. Stalking newly engaged couples… because they are so cute to photograph.
4. Scavenger Saturdays (this needs more time to explain, but loads of fun)
5. Hoo La La: the love project, set to launch in 2010
6. Baking cupcakes and giving them away before I eat them ALL!

Who would you love to work with?
Steven Lambert, oh wait I do!  On top of being incredibly sexy he is one very talented and creative dude.
A creative marketing group for non-profits.  My sister Heather, she never ceases to amazing me with her off the wall and amazing costume designs!  

If you had to give all your sneakers away to charity except for one pair, which ones would you keep? 
my payless converse knock-offs.  I have had them for ages, I bought them before I had enough money for real ones.  I really like that they have a red stripe on them, other than that I am not totally sure why I love them so, but they are faves for sure.

What’s on your iPod right now?
Randomness…Bob Marley, M83 all the way to The Buena Vista Social Club, The Deadlines and The Juan MacLean.  I really love Pandora though. Fav station right now is Empire of the Sun.

What’s your Favorite ATL food?
Hot Wings at the Local… aaaaa so good!

What’s your Favorite ATL hangout?
Piedmont park, right in the middle of the field where dogs and people run around playing games.

What are your Pet Peeves?
When people have too many pet peeves.

Shout outs?
Sister corner, my beautiful family and hot fiance, the 50′s, person who invented the bicycle.

Name:
Farbod Kokabi

Aka:  
Farzad Moghaddam

Website:
www.letsgetboring.com
www.geographic-north.com
www.armchairmedia.com

Where are you from?
The upper West Side?

Who do you work for? 
I’m a senior designer at Armchair, co-owner of Geographic North. 

What are your Current Project(s)? 
Wrapping up work on an upwardly human expose of pedantry and sophistication for the College Board. 

Furthermore, Geographic North in 2010 is Windy & Carl, Mountains, Paul Duncan, Charles Atlas, Au Revoir Simone, Christopher Willits, The Papercuts, Rameses III and perhaps more. The plot thickens as our wallets do.

Lastly, I am heavily invested in recording an album with some men of talent. 

Who would you love to work with?
The people who are the best at what they do are all dicks.

If you had to give all your sneakers away to charity except for one pair, which ones would you keep? 
It’s less that I own a pair of sneakers and more that I wouldn’t give anything to charity. 

What’s on your iPod right now?
I have two ipods. One I keep for myself and one filled with Bon Jovi that’s meant to be stolen.

What’s your Favorite ATL food?
$12 sandwiches from Star Provisions

What’s your Favorite ATL hangout?
Trader Vic’s. My fondest memories of Atlanta reside there.

What are your Pet Peeves?
The ever judgmental eye of old people.

Shout outs?
Armchair brethren and parents.

Name:
Will Scruggs

Aka:  
CC Booker III

Website:
www.willscruggs.com

Where are you from?
Born in ATL – raised in Raleigh, NC

Who do you work for? 
Myself… I’m a saxophonist, singer, and band leader. I also freelance as a hired gun sax man, teach some private lessons, and I’m sponsored by Jupiter Saxophones.

What are your Current Project(s)? 
I have two projects of my own – Will Scruggs Jazz Fellowship and CC Booker III feat. Will Scruggs. You can find me around town with KINGSIZED, Cadillac Jones, Lloyd’s Rocksteady Review, and the Soulphonics w/Ruby Velle. I also play in a horn section called the FunderHorns… we’ve recorded with Natalie Cole, Dallas Austin, Cee-Lo and Jermaine Dupri, among others. 

Who would you love to work with?
Wow… although I’m a jazz specialist I love many different kinds of music, and I’d love to get outside my genre a bit. Stevie Wonder and Paul Simon are a couple of my biggest musical heroes who are still active. I’d also love to collaborate with someone like Bela Fleck, just from a standpoint of pure creativity of sound. When I was a kid my favorite band was The New Grass Revival (Bela Fleck, John Cowan, Sam Bush). I got to play and record with Cowan this year (he’s appearing on my next CD) but I’ve never met Sam or Bela. 

If you had to give all your sneakers away to charity except for one pair, which ones would you keep? 
Wow, that’s tough. I ran a PR in the ING Georga Marathon last year in a pair of brown on brown New Balance ZIPs. Definitely the most stylish running shoes I’ve ever owned, plus there’s the sentimental value. 

What’s on your iPod right now?
I’m listening to the soundtrack from Rosemary’s Baby… some crazy stuff. Also, Random Abstract by Branford Marsalis and American Song by Andy Bey.

What’s your Favorite ATL food?
Miss Anne’s World Famous Ghetto Burger. Or the smoked wings at Fox Bros. And my really guilty pleasure is Wing and Philly on the corner of Moreland and Memorial (I’ve gotta eat greasy after a long run).

What’s your Favorite ATL hangout?
Blue Frog Cantina dollar tacos – Mon/Tues in East ATL.  Or Churchill Grounds on weekends.

What are your Pet Peeves?
Ankle Tendonitis. The BCS. Glenn Beck, Hannity, Rush, and similar haters. Unexpected traffic (it’s not so bad if you’re ready for it, like at rush hour).

Shout outs?
CC Booker CD release party Friday Feb. 26th at Eddie’s Attic. Book it! 

Name:
Anthony Rotella

Aka:  
Mayhem / Rrrump

Website:
http://shadowlawrecordings.com
http://myspace.com/mayhemslr

Where are you from?
Atlanta, GA born in Knoxville, TN. Gentlemen by choice, Southern by the Grace of God.

Who do you work for? 
Me, myself and I. Always Never, Ram Records, Atlanta Dubstep, and 404 Audio.

What are your Current Project(s)? 
I run two Drum + Bass record labels. My main one is Shadow-Law Recordings (SLR) and I’ve started a second one, Aesthetics, for rising international talent. I run two monthly nights at El Bar. One is Drum + Bass, entitled Tambor Y Bajo, every 1st Wednesday and the second is Dubstep, entitled Sub.Traction, that I promote with Atlanta Dubstep every 3rd Wednesday. I also am a resident at Fuck Yesss every 1st Thursday of the month with Le Castle Vania and Oh Snap Kid at the Drunken Unicorn. Outside of promoting parties, I try to stay as busy as possible in the studio recording Drum + Bass, Dubstep, and Electro tracks for several national and international labels. My largest project at the moment is an album entitled “Into Oblivion” which will be released on my own label, SLR, hopefully sooner than later.

Who would you love to work with?
Big Boi, Andre 3000, Ludachris, Killer Mike, Joker, Rusko, Scuba, Maynard James Keenan, Gravious, 2562, Pill, Hollyweerd, Ed Rush + Optical, Matrix, Optiv, Apex, Spor, Nike SB, 10 Deep, and Kaws.

If you had to give all your sneakers away to charity except for one pair, which ones would you keep? 
That’s like only choosing one family member to keep! I’d say it would have to be my Tiffs.

What’s on your iPod right now?
Joker, Rusko, Outkast, Ludacris, Scuba, Helmet, and Tool amongst others.

What’s your Favorite ATL food?
Favorite restaurants are Nan, JCT Kitchen, Eugene, JR Crickets, Marco’s Pitas, and Graveyard Tavern where you can find a hoagie named after me.

What’s your Favorite ATL hangout?
El Bar and Graveyard easily. It’s like Cheers for me.

What are your Pet Peeves?
I can’t really think of any besides sleeping in too late.

Shout outs?
My son Giovanni, Moms, Dads, my sister Kathy, 404 Audio crew, Atlanta Dubstep crew, Evol Intent boys, Ewun/Kill The Noise, Le Castle Vania, Oh Snap Kid, Phace, Misanthrop, Noisia, The Upbeats, Bulletproof, Cern, 12th Planet, Gridlok, Dieselboy, Skapezilla/The Hydrilla, Rob and Rosa Wonder, Philip and Tara Christensen, All the Graveyard staff, All El Bar staff, Justin Bright, Drew Van Atten, Ron and Christina Madison, Adam and the soon to be Cristen Darby, Josh Clark, the Atlanta Hawks, Inca Kola, summers in Jersey, my Grandmothers and Grandfathers RIP!, Birdalupe, Aireon Himes, Eric Martin Burgos, Chris Houston, and of course my homies at Process!

Name:
Julia LeRoy

Aka:  
Twin Dagger Turkey (God of Cookery reference)

Website:
julialeroy.com

Where are you from?
Detroit

Who do you work for? 
The Bookhouse Pub – 736 Ponce de Leon

What are your Current Project(s)? 
Localvore Mondays – a chance to feast on local food prepared by loving hands. Every Monday at the Bookhouse from 5-10pm

Who would you love to work with?
10 clones of me. nobody works as hard for me as i do.

If you had to give all your sneakers away to charity except for one pair, which ones would you keep? 
I’m no sneaker head, but I have a pair of low-top composition notebook Air Jordans that I’m in love with.

What’s on your iPod right now?
Reigning Sound, Dan Sartain, Francois Hardy, Celebration (The band, not the disco song), En Vogue , Purple Rain, all Nirvana.

What’s your Favorite ATL food?
The octopus carpaccio and the pork belly at Repast are the best dishes in Atlanta right now.

What’s your Favorite ATL hangout?
Carter Center lawn. it’s my secret spot…oops. Not anymore.

What are your Pet Peeves?
When labels don’t all face the same direction; having enough time for a bike ride, but it’s raining; or it’s a beautiful day and not having enough time for a bike ride.

Shout outs?
My fam, my friends; present, past and future.

Name:
Jenifer Vandagriff

Aka:
Futurista – that technosexual, sentimental, futurist girl who’s into digital media, human computer interaction, computer science, design, and new media theory; also known as the awkward one; aka most likely to succeed; aka the quintessential leo; aka mixed baby, kim kardashian/anne frank lookin’ ass; aka wild thing you make my heart sing; aka harajuku mouse.

Website:
fem-fATL.com
jenifervandagriff.com
twitter.com/jeniferv

Where are you from?
I’m a military brat. Born in Charleston, SC; grew up in San Antonio, TX; moved to Germany for 2 years; and landed in Atlanta when I was a sophomore in high school. I’ve been in Atlanta for the last 7-8 years.

Who do you work for?
I work as an interaction designer for an Atlanta based interactive marketing agency IQ Interactive and as a graduate research assistant in the Wesley New Media center at Georgia Tech. I also co-run a female perspective blog on Atlanta nightlife, entertainment, fashion, sex, technology, etc called fem-fATL.com.

What are your Current Project(s)?
My current focus is on my master’s project; which is a mobile activist campaign whose interaction model draws heavily from performance art practices from the 60s and 70s.

With fem-fATL.com we are currently gearing up to launch a campaign against domestic violence. We’d like to use our influence as female leaders as a way to generate empathy and aid towards social injustices that particularly affect women. As a woman, I empathize and feel compelled towards the struggles of other women.

I guess you could say I have an activist vein pulsating right now.

Who would you love to work with?
I’d love to work with Yoko Ono! She’s an art figure I’ve always admired and have become particularly fond of as my research interests have turned towards performance art.

These are instructions from her project ’100 Acorns: 100 days of conceptual instructions by Yoko Ono’:

Walk in the footsteps of the person in front of you.

1. on the pavement.
2. in the mud.
3. on ice.
4. in the snow
5. on fire
6. on water

I think it’s brilliant; I think these Fluxus like instructions resonate with procedural code; and I’d like to make a movie documenting myself enacting them all!

If you had to give all your sneakers away to charity except for one pair, which ones would you keep?
Sneakers? I’d be sure to hang on to my Jeffrey Cambell wedge gladiator heels! But if I had to choose, I’d probably have to hang on to my pair of black converse sneaker boots; with without I could not complete my nerdy bomber chic look.

What’s on your iPod right now?
My iPod is embarrassing because I hardly use it and I don’t have a robust iTunes collection. My favorite album on my iPod is the Fugees. I also work out to Linkin Park’s old school album Hybrid Theory. I don’t think I have anything on my iPod after 1999! I’m more a proponent of cloud computing and internet radio. I’m an avid Pandora Radio listener and my favorite stations are ‘Wild Thing Radio’, ‘Mono Radio’, ‘Massive Attack Radio’, ‘Krwing Radio’, ‘File Under Futurism Radio’, ‘Dubstep Radio’, ‘DJ Shadow Radio’, and ‘Bitter:Sweet Radio’.

What’s your Favorite ATL food?
My favorite Atlanta restaurant is Two Urban Licks. The other ladies of Fem-fATL.com and I are trying to find the best calamari in the ATL and think they are the winner thus far. We haven’t found a spot that beats them yet. They have this amazing sauce that is sort of sweet and the calamari isn’t too soggy or too fried… it’s just right! It’s a really great ATL restaurant because they serve up southern style soul food, play live jazz, and serve vino out of a keg! They also have amazing high ceilings and a beautiful patio. Basically, what I’m trying to say is that I get off on their bistro steak! I want Two Urban Licks now!

What’s your Favorite ATL hangout?
I’m a regular at Tilt Coffee Shop in the Castleberry Hills neighborhood where I live. I love this spot so much that I say I have regular office hours there. I also host along with my fem-fATL crew a weekly film series every friday night. We are finishing up a Hitchcock series now and starting a French New Wave series for the rest of November and December. I’m fond of Octane also, but in my opinion, Tilt’s got the quirks that make you fall in love. The place is chill enough that you can start a conversation with the guys who work there, who are all super cool and down to earth. They do their job right when it comes to coffee and they can also serve up some mean sandwiches. The golden child of Tilt, however, is their banana split. It’s amazing… amazing. It comes with green kiwi lime syrup! Another thing that makes this my favorite spot is it sports a permanent collection of artwork by scrap metal sculpture artist Grant Spafford. There are all these cool metal, robotic looking animals and lamps all over the place.

I wrote about Tilt and put some pictures up on fem-fATL.com

What are your Pet Peeves?
I absolutely can not stand when people are late to meetings, appointments, dates, anything because I’m always early; which means I’m wasting more time when people aren’t on time!

Also I have a problem with other people using my computer. I literally feel anxiety. I probably should not feel this way, but I seriously have a relationship with my computer and it just feels so awkward. It almost feels like my privacy is being invaded. Or I’m obsessive and feel jealous. Either way, that’s a bit of an awkward pet peeve.

Another pet peeve when it comes to computers is when things take way to slow to load. I always default to ‘Preview’ or a basic ‘Text’ program than opening up some bulkier application when it isn’t necessary. I feel agitated sometimes waiting for programs to load. hahahaha

Shout outs?
The rest of my fem-fATL.com crew Brittany aka justB and Kristen aka the UrbanSocialite, our fem-fATL readers, my Twitter followers (@jeniferv), Cobra Corps, WhiteLight ATL, Joy Tolentino, Fres Co Society, Justin Huff, freshiam.net, Tilt Coffee Shop, Halo, Graveyard, Sutra, Luckie Lounge, and all my Georgia Tech larping, video game playing, self righteous nerds!