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After her three-year stint in Raleigh, we're pleased to report that mystery novelist Mary Kay Andrews is once again a proud resident of Avondale Estates. And judging from the way our ribs hurt Wednesday during a phone call with the writer we've known since she was an AJC scribbler by the name of Kathy Hogan Trocheck, the neighborhood should alert the Welcome Wagon.
Trocheck's latest release under her pen name, "Blue Christmas" --- her first novella --- once again centers on her Savannah-centric heroine, Weezie Foley. The holiday-themed book is her second this year; "Savannah Breeze" was released in April.
Of the idea for "Blue Christmas," Trocheck explains: "My daughter Katie was getting married, and my publisher essentially said, 'Here's how you can pay for it.' " In August, the writer holed up in a beach house on Tybee Island with Christmas discs by Phil Spector and Dean Martin.
"I've never written short before," she told us Wednesday, before her book signing in Savannah. "What I ended up with for 'Blue Christmas' is what I normally end up throwing away."
Of her three-year sojourn in Raleigh, she says, "I just never took root there. The people were lovely, but I was always writing or out on a book tour."
But her re-entry into her old Avondale Estates neighborhood hasn't been glitch-free, either.
"Thugs with trucks moved us," she cracks. "I'm not going to elevate them and call them movers. We're still looking for the sofa cushions."
For more information: www.marykayandrews.com. 'Peril'-ous party
The Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation unveils the 2007 list of "Places in Peril," 10 endangered historic buildings and sites across the state, at its cocktail buffet benefit tonight at the Foundry at Puritan Mill downtown. In an artful twist this year, local artists were paired with a site and asked to make a work related to it. The art will be auctioned off at the fund-raiser.
Atlanta shutterbug Lucinda Bunnen has a personal relationship with the place she photographed: The Eleanor Roosevelt School in Warm Springs was the last of more than 5,000 schools across the country built for African-American children, seeded with money from Sears, Roebuck visionary Julius Rosenwald. The school was completed in 1937 with funds from the Works Progress Administration and the African-American community.
The school closed in 1972, but the building has been used for office space and storage.
Rosenwald is Bunnen's great-uncle. Tickets still available, $75, Party at the Foundry at Puritan Mill. 6:30 p.m. Fed-Ex update
Hey, Britney Spears, you've just filed legal work to finally untether yourself from your tanktop-wearing, under-employed baby daddy: What do you do now?
In the case of the artist we formerly referred to as a "Toxic" pop tart, you go ice skating at Rockefeller Center. Spears appeared upbeat, if a little off balance, as she took to the ice skating rink in New York City on Tuesday night, just hours after filing for divorce in Los Angeles.
The 24-year-old singer cited "irreconcilable differences" in court papers filed Tuesday seeking dissolution of her marriage to aspiring rapper Kevin Federline. Spears is seeking "legal and physical" custody of both of the couple's small children.
She declared in court papers that she and Federline have no community assets, which indicates she had a really good prenuptial agreement.
On Wednesday, the ever-tasteful TMZ.com reported that K-Fed may fight for custody of his children because he was reportedly blindsided by the filing.
According to the online celebrity Web site, since the fledgling rapper (whose debut album was memorably dubbed "reprehensible" by Rolling Stone) will likely not see much coin because of the prenup, he may try to score "a more lucrative settlement" through a protracted custody battle. 'Thrill' is gone?
In a calculated move that will no doubt cause us all to forget about his weird, creepy personal life, de-throned King of Pop Michael Jackson will perform "Thriller" from his famed 1982 album during a rare public appearance at the World Music Awards in London next week, organizers announced Wednesday.
Jackson will perform "Thriller" (the video of which, you'll recall, contained the following prophetic piece of dialogue: "I'm not like other guys. I mean, I'm different") at this year's show, to be held Nov. 15 at London's Earls Court Arena.
The 48-year-old reclusive pop star also will receive the Diamond Award, given to artists who sell more than 100 million albums.
Since he was acquitted of child molestation charges in June 2005, Jackson has spent most of his time in Bahrain.
Contributing: Catherine Fox and news services. CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS
Singer Mary Travers of Peter, Paul and Mary is 70. Actor Robert David Hall ("CSI") is 58. Actor Lou Ferrigno ("The Incredible Hulk") is 54. Rapper Pepa of Salt-N-Pepa is 37. Rapper Scarface of Geto Boys is 37. Musician Susan Tedeschi is 36. Singer Nick Lachey (left) is 33. Singer Sisqo is 28. ON MY iPOD
Eagle 106.7 FM "Rhubarb and Dallas in the Morning" co-host Dallas McCade:
"Back to Basics," Christina Aguilera; "Some People Change," Montgomery Gentry; "Trouble Is," Kenny Wayne Shepherd; and the "Saturday Night Fever" soundtrack.
Copyright 2006 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
