News — Arts

The thing about being a woman is you always have to pretend to be interested in characters in books and movies to whom you don’t quite relate. I don’t relate 100 percent to men in suits, or men with guns, or men pining after women, or anguished male artists in paint-splattered pants, or men sailing ships, or men making money. I relate, at best, 74 percent to these men. And then I do the work, make the mental leap, bring myself the extra 26 percent so I can really enter the story. What I can potentially relate to 100 percent...

Photograph courtesy of Bill Lowe Gallery In the blockbuster biopic Rocketman, Bernie Taupin’s character is the English wordsmith who met Elton John at a cafe in 1967 and became the stalwart friend who stood by his songwriting partner through decades of stardom and tumult. Atlantans also may recognize Taupin as the lyricist who wrote dozens of radio hits (from “Tiny Dancer” to “I’m Still Standing”) with John, including the album, Peachtree Road, which was recorded in our city and celebrated at a legendary concert at the Tabernacle in 2004. The pair continues to collaborate, but Taupin has spent the past...