✦ "Blackground" ✦ GULCH Weekly Visual Arts Calendar ✦ Sounds Like ATL: Rex Evans ✦ Circus Vazquez ✦ “Taste the State Georgia: Distinctive Foods and Stories from Where Eating Local Began. ”

✦ Have you ever watched Ferris Bueller's Day Off or The Wizard of Oz and thought, "Where are all the Black characters?" Dad's Garage is answering that burning question in their show "Blackground," which is on stage through September 27. WABE arts reporter Summer Evans sat down with Jon Carr, the artistic director of Dad's Garage and one of the show's participants to learn more. ✦ City Lights Collective members Jasmine Hentschel and EC Flamming, the creatives behind Atlanta's visual art print magazine, "GULCH", want you to get out and engage with the city's art scene. Each week, they spotlight five standout happenings, and today their mix includes: SCAD in 4D with Atlanta Photography Group, Trees Atlanta, and Lost in the Letters collaborating to bring us stories of Atlanta's canopy, and a global group show at ABV's headquarters in East Atlanta. ✦ WABE's Sounds Like ATL documentary series explores the vibrant Atlanta music scene. Each week, it either introduces or reintroduces you to a local artist, sharing their creative process and a few live performances. You can watch, dance, and sing along to new episodes every Wednesday on the YouTube channel, @WABE ATL. Here's a preview featuring Rex Evans. ✦ Originating over 50 years ago in Mexico City, Circus Vazquez has presented death-defying acts and mesmerizing entertainment since 1969. Their all-human cast of performers has come together from locations around the globe, including Italy, Africa, and even Ukraine. The Circus is returning to Atlanta on August 22, and they'll be pitching their tent at Plaza Fiesta on Buford Highway through August 24. When City Lights Collective co-host Kim Drobes caught up with ringmaster and performer Yan Vazquez, and aerialist Valeria Koshova, Yan began by explaining why his grandfather originated the Circus over 5 decades ago. ✦ When you think of iconic Georgia foods, pecan pie, peach cobbler, or boiled peanuts might come to mind. But a deeper dive into the state's culinary history reveals a much richer—and sometimes surprising—story. Taste the State Georgia: Distinctive Foods and Stories from Where Eating Local Began.   offers just that. Co-authors Dr. David Shields and Chef Kevin Mitchell take readers on a delicious trip through the state's food history—one recipe, one story at a time. City Lights Collective producer Josh Thane spoke with the duo about the dishes that define Georgia and the deeper stories they tell.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.