The Atlanta Constitution from Atlanta, Georgia • 97

The Atlanta Journal The Atlanta Constitution DEKALB EXTRA Thursday, Sept. 5, 1996 JA5 A chronicle of ife, love and marching information' Director films son's experiences in Decatur band On film: An- ishaRennick-Stackhouse (left) and Danny Zeiger, David Zeiger's son, are members of the Decatur High School band. -tlUa By Jonathan Harris STAFF WRITER fl filmmaker David Zeiger Special seems to be paying attention these next few weeks, don't fall for it. CHARLOTTE B. TEAGLE Staff Putting it together: Filmmaker David Zeiger and film editor Amy Linton work to reduce 200 hours of footage of the Decatur High School band into his second documentary film.

mid-September deadline for the New York preview approaches. But budget cuts in organizations that funded his first film have him scrambling to find the needed $150,000 to finish the "These attacks from the right on public funding for the arts have had a very specific real effect," he said. "Even though I was able to raise almost all the money for 'Displaced' with public money, I haven't been able to get much at all for this." All of which is far from the teenage reality he was immersed in for a year of his life, and which he hopes to shape into an honest look at kids today. "It started out as being a fun look at my son's world, but as I got more and more into it I saw that the point has more to do with what the kids are dealing with and how intelligently they deal with it," he said. "That's what I was looking at." For information about "The Band," call Displaced Films at 404-378-6537.

Mentally, he's somewhere else, reliving the past year of his life among the performances and personal dramas of the Decatur High School Band, in which his son, Danny, plays saxophone. And if 200 hours of film footage waiting to be spun together into his second documentary film don't have his mind completely wrapped up, his daughter Leah was born just two weeks ago and the remainder of his thoughts are with her. She slept last week in a room upstairs as he worked to bring the pieces of his newest project to life on a rented editing system. "It feels great, it feels like starting over," Zeiger said about the state of his life and his film. He sat on a couch at his Candler Park home, taking a break but still glancing longingly toward the editing machines on his kitchen table.

"The Band," which he bills as a look at "life, love and marching in formation," won't be finished until the end of this year, but Zeiger is producing a 20-minute preview of the film in progress to their families and their parents and I started discovering things I didn't expect. "One of the things I was totally unprepared for was eating disorders: anorexia and bulimia. The film is going to go a lot into that, mainly through Danny's girlfriend, who at the beginning of the year had been anorexic for a year and a half and was in therapy and was really coming out of it. She talked very openly about it. "There are other girls in the band who are anorexic or bulimic and are struggling with it.

That's a big part of life for teenage girls right now, much bigger than people admit." Zeiger found that about half of the kids in the band came from families with divorced parents. Zeiger is himself divorced from Danny's mother. "There was a sense of irony and freshness about it that you don't get from parents," said Zeiger. "A lot of the kids knew that if their parents were together it would be awful." Zeiger works constantly as the relationships and pressures as well as the youthful exuberance of the band members. "I was trying to see what it would be like to do everything I could to shed my generation's prejudices and my own experiences and just live in kids' experience," he said.

He often rode to out-of-town games on the band bus, talking with the kids and listening to what they had to say to each other. "I did a lot of eavesdropping," he said. "As I got to know the kids a lot better and learned some things about them, I did pursue things. I asked them a lot about and casual disinterest by the teenagers, he was eventually tolerated and nearly accepted as part of the group. "It was very mixed," he said.

"There were two barriers that were always there. First that I'm an adult, and second, I'm making a film and their parents are probably going to see the film. So there was always that issue among the kids about how much to let me in." Zeiger pursued the members of the band through the school year from pep rallies to hangouts and football games and even into their homes, catching on tape a web of show at the Independent Feature Film Market in New York later this month. Georgia Public Television has already agreed to air the documentary. "I keep finding myself pulled towards my son's world, his generation.

But then the world is brand-new, it's beautiful and it stinks just like it did for us," Zeiger reads in the opening narration of the preview. Zeiger started filming band members the summer before his son's junior year, during band camp. Pushed away at first with a combination of playful sarcasm Creating a positive Vybe for today's youth By Shawn Evans Mitchell STAFF WRITER he lineup of guests for its premier show included bodybuilder and fitness oriented," Leecan said. Given its target audience, the show's format is casual and relaxed, with an edge of creativity and professionalism. The show's lyrics were written by Rosemary Woods, who produces work for nationally known artist Curtis Mayfield.

The hosts, Joanne Jones, a communications major at Morris Brown College, and Brian Christopher, a singer and minister of drama at World Changes Church, are anything but camera-shy. "This feels wow good! can't believe that I'm actually seeing myself on TV," said Jones. "It's just awesome to be used by God. It's more than a TV show; it's a ministry." Said co-host Christopher, "I think my main reason for being so excited about this is because I feel it's my obligation to do some "We knew it was important to have a show for our youth," said Leecan, the show's co-producer and artistic designer. "But we knew it was just as important to present something positive and uplifting.

It wasn't enough to just provide entertainment." But entertainment, they concede, is the hook that penetrates the ears of babes. A segment of the show provides contemporary Christian music, including rappers with a positive beat. "Ninety percent of our guests are Christian," said Leecan. "But mainly, we are trying to show people who are doing positive things in the community. The owner of Klipper's Barbershop, for instance, will not allow profanity, loud noise or unbecoming behavior in his shop.

"And Lee Haney is very community-minded and youth- executive director Michael Reed, who has for 14 years worked as a producer with Turner Broadcasting System Inc. "I've always been producing other people's products, so I thought, why not do something for the youth that offers positive alternatives?" Reed, the only member of the production crew who doesn't fall into the "young adult" category, worked with fellow Light of the World Church member William Leecan to produce the church's half-hour program, "The Light Hour." Church pastors allowed them to borrow their air time to debut "The Vybe." Having done all the necessary research and marketing, including extensive surveys of DeKalb residents between the ages of 15 and 25, the show's format pretty much fell into place. SHAWN EVANS MITCHELL Staff Keep it light: The Vybe's staff include (top row, from left) Derwin Hughes, Arzialous Slack Joanne Jones, William Leecan, (bottom row) Michael Reed and Brian Christopher. guru Lee Haney and Christian musical groups Witness and Chri-stafari. Viewers also followed cameras into a Decatur barbershop that prohibits profanity and displays educational posters.

And, they got a taste of the area's Eat Right Restaurant. While diversity appears to be a factor in this new youth-oriented show, "The Vybe," aired Sundays at 7:30 p.m. and transmitted via MediaOne's Channel 29, Christian convictions and positive proposals are the unequivocal criteria. "I always thought about starting a production company," said eras, the young adults said they are praying for corporate and community support. Feedback and correspondence may be sent to: The Vybe, P.O.

Box 360241, Decatur, Go. 30036. thing positive, particularly for African-American males." The Vybe's next show will focus on the sensitive issue of date rape. In need of additional studio editing space and portable cam BlocksBlock WE'RE SPREADING THE NEWS Call 404-370-7281 to Include your neighborhood in this feature. Aso put us on your mailing list.

The DeKalb Extra would like to receive neighborhood association newsletters. Mo7 to 315 W. Ponce de Leon Decatur, Ca. 30030. the rear, all three sharing a common driveway.

The couple needed a variance in lot width to bring the rear home in compliance with the zoning code. The couple included in their plan several development conditions requested by the DHCA. The current R-85 zoning allows up to eight homes to be built on the acreage, but Nash's proposed layout of homes necessitated the zoning variance. DUNWOODY CHAMBLEE A program on the ecology of southeast waterways will highlight the regular meeting of the Friends of the Chamblee Library at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the community room at the library at 4115 Clair-montRoad.

Biologist Ken Martin will host the program "The ecology of the Georgia Coast, the Barrier Islands and the Okefenokee Swamp." Also, assistant library director Magda Sossa will discuss the status of the library system. DRUID HILLS The Druid Hills Civic Association (DHCA) is appealing a ruling by a county zoning board that will allow a couple to build three homes on their three-acre lot on East Lake Drive. DHCA member Clark Weeks said the association supports the couple's plan to develop the property, but disapproves of the layout of the homes, which require a variance from the standard lot width requirements. "We want to keep them as neighbors. We feel a compromise can be reached, but this is not the best design," Weeks told the board of commissioners, which was hearing the DHCA's appeal last week.

The commissioners deferred voting on the appeal until this week to research the issue further. Kenneth Nash and Joann Patterson were granted a variance by the Zoning Soard of Appeals to build two homes at te front of the property and one home at last week about 10 a.m., when most homes are unoccupied because residents are at work. He called police, who captured the suspects, said Jane Jaskevich, the community's Neighborhood Watch coordinator. "Neighborhood Watch works," Jaskevich said. The neighborhood, located off La Vista and Briarcliff roads, has been hit recently by a rash of burglaries and car break-ins.

Jaskevich said she hopes the arrest of the three suspects will show other criminals her neighborhood is on the lookout. The recent crime wave has also prompted the watch to launch a campaign urging homeowners to leave their outside lights on all night as a way to discourage criminals, Jaskevich said. "We need everyone to get involved, not just the block captains," Jaskevich said. "Everyone needs to keep an eye out and look out for each other." For the past year, Jaskevich and other community leaders have been working to revive their dormant Neighborhood Watch. It now boasts 39 active block captains who update their neighbors on criminal activity and crime prevention tactics.

To help block captains educate their neighbors about crime prevention, Jaskevich has given each flyers with tips targeting common crimes such as car break-ins, burglaries, suspicious people and cars, gun thefts and robberies. Block cap tains call each of the residents in their district to inform them of any crimes, then read or distribute a list of tips to prevent a reoccurrence. noise lost a final appeal to keep the operation running. The board of commissioners last week unanimously upheld the Zoning Board of Appeals' decision to close the quarry and gave owner Leonard Sullivan 30 days to clean up the rubble. Commissioner Ken Davis had offered a substitute motion to allow the quarry to remain open as long as it adhered to a set of conditions governing hours of operation and a prohibition against blasting.

However, no one seconded his motion. Homeowners near the quarry have led the fight to close the business, complaining the noise from digging the rocks disrupts their otherwise tranquil community. Sullivan said the quarry needed to remain open because it contained litho-nia granite, a stone that he occasionally needs when working on older structures built with the same stone. He said other granites, such as from Stone Mountain, cannot be interchanged with lithonia granite. Sullivan said the quarry has been operating off and on for decades in the residential zone, but could not prove it qualified to remain open under the grandfather clause.

LA VISTA PARK A vigilant neighbor and member of the community's Neighborhood Watch helped police apprehend three suspected burglars who were wandering through a backyard on Hopkins Terrace carrying a chain saw. The ncif spotted the three men A Dunwoody group is pleading for the return of Olympic banners that were stolen from utility poles. The 26 bright yellow "Pathways of Gold" banners that decorated Ashford Dunwoody Road, Chamblee-Dunwoody Road and Mount Vernon Road were bought by area businesses and residents. Most were going to be auctioned at fundraisers for non-profit organizations or donated to local libraries and schools. However, only four of the banners were left hanging by the end of the Olympics, and one of those was torn.

The banners are 8 feet tall and sport the Games' Olympic torch symbol above a leaf collage. The Dunwoody Guide Advisory Com-, mittee, which marketed the banners to promote community spirit, is requesting they be returned to Ann Henshaw at First Union Bank at 1630 Mount Vernon Road. No questions will be u-ked. DUNWOODY CLUB FOREST I Dunwoody Club Forest will soon welcome home its residents with a new entrance. The subdivision off of Mount Vernon Road and Dunwoody Club Drive will boast new walls, signs and landscaping.

The neighborhood association launched Project First Impression two years ago and will celebrate its completion with a ribbon-cutting ceremony Oct. 19. The neighborhood association is also helping to spruce up its community by donating $500 to a fund to purchase the Spruill property at the intersection of Mount Vernon and Chamblee-Dunwoody roads. The Dunwoody Preservation Trust is seeking donations to buy the property and renovate the 1880s-era farm house. Clabron Powell, president of the Dunwoody Club Forest Neighbors homeowners association, said he hopes other neighborhoods will match or exceed his community's donation.

KLONDIKEARABIA MOUNTAIN The owner of a small stone quarry near an Arabia Mountain community "where residents complained about the.