Happy Memorial Day

We are Four. Win our Stuff

It's hard to believe that AthensMusicJunkie is now officially four years old. I began this thing as just a funny little place to post amusing things that happened while out and about in the awesome town of Athens. It became so much more.

This blog birthday is especially strange to reach when I look around and see many of my favorite blogs closing up shop, retuning, or just going blank for a bit. And yes, I'll admit AMJ isn't what it could be lately. Such is life when the thing you love to do can't pay the bills. But that's the case with most of us junkies. We love what we do. The only way life could be better is if we could make this our day job.

But! We've had a lot of fun this year too. Hell, we were on FRIGGIN NPR! We made the ABH again. We did bid Schoolkids and R.E.M. goodbye. And Popfest. And many of our favorite bands... Okay, so it wasn't the happiest of years but for the most part, we had a good time. And this upcoming year, our fifth!, will be even better.

So here's your chance to win a birthday present. From us, to you. It'll include a few cds, a couple of stickers, maybe a dvd or book (whichever I get my hands on first), and the invisible cloak my great great grandfather left me. All you have to do is email athensmusicjunkie@gmail.com with the answer to the following question and the subject heading HAPPY BDAY AMJ!

Question: Which Athens producer has worked with both R.E.M. and Widespread Panic?

Thanks guys for reading and giving us four years. Who knows how far or long we'll go but we'll figure it out when we get there together!

Weekly Show Picks

Tonight 

Melting Point 

Patterson Hood and the Downtown Rumblers 

Globe 

Gypsy Sideshow 

Friday 

Flicker 

Joyscout 

Heather Luttrell 

Caledonia 

All City Cannonballers 

Mad Axes 

VG Minus

Black Moon

Saturday 

Farm 255 

Wild Moccasins 

The Gold Party 

Tunabunny 

40 Watt 

The Viking Progress 

The Breaks 

Eddie and the Public Speakers 

Tumbleweed Stampede 

Sunday 

Farm 255 

Al Scorch 

Monday 

Flicker 

Four Eyes 

Dana Swimmer 

Alexander and the Grapes 

Tuesday 

Little Kings 

Punk Rock Night 

Hendershot's 

Ike Stubblefield and Friends 

Wednesday 

Melting Point 

Lefty Hathaway 

Mama's Love 

Go Bar 

Monahan 

Tin Man 

The Woodworks 

Kade Kahl

Suspect Raptor Wants to Attack Your Ears

One of the benefits of living in this particular house is that I've heard some of the best acts in Athens practice in my basement. One of those, Suspect Raptor, is currently in the midst of recording and finishing up their album.

 Raptor is one of the more original sounding acts to come out of Athens lately. Think a mix of hard pop, a tiny bit of reggae, and lovely melody. It's definitely worth tossing $5 at. So hop on over to the Kickstarter page. You'll be glad you found these kids on the up and up.

Reptar Guys Have Weird Faces

Reptar released another music video today and some of the images seem a tad...familiar. Then you get to the face distortion effects. Really, neither the song nor the video are my thing but it's worth a look.

Athens Music News Roundup

Woah! Hey! We're back from a short break and have all sorts of goodies for you this week. So let's get on with the news, eh?

Here's a reminder from Gordon Lamb about getting your show listed in Flagpole's calendar. Heads up!

R.E.M. fans are kinda weird but at least they all agree the early stuff was the best...

Some of Widespread Panic are playing Athens in June. Details here. 

It's AMJ's birthday on Friday. We'll be giving away stuff all day. Stay tuned.

Don't forget to vote for the Best of Athens Music!

And last but far from least, congrats to Flagpole Music Editor Michelle Gilzenrat who married Shane Davis this weekend and threw a party to remember. Awesome sauce!

Vacation Time!

Alrighty guys and gals. As you know, this time of year is really, really slow in Athens. Most of the venues are taking a few nights off here and there to pretty themselves up and all of us are getting ready for the craziness that is ATHFEST. So, AMJ is on break until next Monday. But we'll be back with a bang, especially since our 4th birthday is coming up! You like prizes, right? Sure you do. See ya on Monday.