Truck'er Treat!

It's that time of year again when all the creepy crawlies and ghastly ghouls take over the streets of Chronic Town, turning ordinary men and women into the fantastic, the terrifying, and the overtly slutty. Ah, Athens in October is a sight to behold! But it's not just the little kids who get to have fun dressing up. Oh no, our lovely musician friends all seem to enjoy it too. So take a look at the following vids....if you DARE! MWHAHAHAHAHAH!

Drive By Truckers - Voodoofest. Dressed as Kiss? Ok.

Widespread Panic - Hot in Herre. No, I'm not joking. Panic Halloweens are legendary.

R.E.M. - Spooky

Don Chambers - Werewolf Moon

NaNoWriMo: Part 2

NanoWri what? Yes ladies and gents, as it gets closer to November it gets closer and closer to NaNoWriMo. Now, if you've been following the blog, you'll remember that I participated in NNWM last year and posted a little of what I'd written on this here site.

NaNoWriMo, short for National Novel Writing Month, is a once yearly deal where you basically write a whole novel in a month. Yes, 50,000 words of noveliness in 30 days. It's a heck of a challenge but always very rewarding. The novels I've written for the program range from ok to just plain awful but NaNoWriMo's not really about making the best novel ever, it's just a challenge to get you writing.

Now, since I'm working on another top secret project of awesomeness, I've been a bit distracted. But I really want to get back in the game for NaNoWriMo. But I need suggestions. Please, give me a name, character, place, idea, anything. A prompt if you will. Let's see if I can actually write my way out of a paper bag. I may even post some of it here if you'd like.

Anywho, if you want to get in on the action (and I know some of you artsy musician types do), you can sign up at the NaNoWriMo site here. So click on, get ready, and get to writing!

Weekly Show Picks

Wowzers look at the rain! While I'm glad things are cooling off a bit outside, I'm just hoping that this weekend will stay nice, cool, and dry. It's Halloween for heaven's sake! And with the spooky day approaching, so do some spooky shows! OH yeah, Next to Last Fest is happening to! WOW.

TONIGHT

Go Bar

Next To Last Fest Kickoff and WUOG Party

Big Eyes

Big Hug Little Kiss

Co Co Ri Co

Dead Dog

GeisterKatzen

Sleeping Friends

THURSDAY

Go Bar

CMJ Showcase

Bomb the Music Industry

Cheap Girls

Chotto Ghetto

Laura Stevenson

New Earth Music Hall

Next To Last Fest

See here for bands!

The Capital Room

Nathan Sheppard

FRIDAY

Seney Stovall Chapel

Halloween Live!

Caledonia

Dude Looks Like a Lady (Aerosmith Cover Band!)

The Shut Ups!

Farm 255

Monahan

Vinyl Vanilla

Little Kings

Girls Rock Fundraiser

New Earth Music Hall

Next To Last Fest

SATURDAY

WILD RUMPUS PARADE

Bad Manor

Radiolucent

The Rattlers

Little Kings

The Orkids

Kite to the Moon

Dj Mahogany

New Earth Music Hall

Next to Last Fest

SUNDAY

The Melting Point

Next To Last Fest

MONDAY

Caledonia Lounge

New Sound of Numbers

Poison Control Center

TUESDAY

Rye Bar

The Powder Kegs

Sidewalk Symphonies, Spooky Style

Wouldn't it be great if you could fight global poverty, support your local music scene, and get some great food? Our good buddy Nathan thinks that would be a wonderful thing so he created Sidewalk Symphonies just for that purpose.

Each Tuesday, a few acts do an acoustic show at a local restaurant, with all the proceeds going towards Nourish International. Tonight's Symphony is a little bit different. From 5 pm to 8 pm, you can hear Stone Walker Irvin, Werewolves, and Christopher Without His Liver at Weaver D's. Now, none of that seems too spooky, I know but the invite mentioned something about a mystery station where you can feel brains and eyeballs. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! *runs!*

Anyway, it's a pretty neat thing so if you're craving some good food and a lot of fun, I'd suggest moseying on down to the little green building tonight.

Low Yo Yo Stuff is Back...

The weather was just so beautiful on Friday night that I managed to leave my little basement and get out into the world for a bit. After a great supper at Copper Creek (holy crap those ribs were awesome), we wandered around towards the Caledonia in search of a little entertainment.

It was a curiously slow night in Athens, just a few cover bands playing here and there and a minor band or two taking roost at the other venues. The only people on the street were some of the fratties, lined up as usual in front of their mainstay bars. But as we walked toward the 40 Watt, I caught a glimpse of a light on in a little store that I long thought abandoned. Tucked between Flicker and Clocked, was a glimmering, shining bit of hope.

Lo and behold, it was a new record store! A Facebook message confirmed it, Low Yo Yo Stuff has come back to Athens! Yes, Chris Razz and Todd Ploharski merged Secret Sounds and Low Yo Yo Stuff, brought it to a little hole in the wall in Athens, and opened up shop.

Now, the store is planning some sort of grand opening for this weekend but it's already open for business. When we went inside, there were cds everywhere and a pretty hardy selection of vinyl singles for sale. So if you get the chance, drop in and check it out. Let us know what you think.

Athens Music News Roundup

"Just A Touch" of gray...

Good news from R.E.M. land. The next album will be called Collapse Into Now and is expected to drop in Spring 2011. Fingers crossed for a tour? Well, if they don't tour, we can always watch the "R.E.M. Live in Austin" dvd coming out. If you're the type to try before you buy, check out the screening this Monday at Cine. You can catch it at 7:30 or 9:30 for only $5 a pop. Additional footage from the same time period will be shown as well.

File this under HOLY *(#@! It's no secret that I have a major crush on all things U2. But word is that WUOG's own Danger Mouse is producing their next album, also due out in the Spring (we think). Not sure how this will turn out but it gives me another excuse to talk about U2 on an Athens music blog. HA!

Have yourself a crazy little Christmas with the Music Tapes. The group is taking a holiday tour and they'd like to play your living room. Check out the website for details right here.They'll be back in our neck of the woods Dec. 14-15th. So go ahead and make up the warmest of warm emails if you're interested in one of the best things you'll see and hear all season. Wonder if they'll play my couch?....

Tunabunny. Flash to Bang Time. Show next month. Release party. I'm claiming it as one of my birthday concerts this year. Just sayin'

Speakin' of the bunny, have you seen their video? Kudos to Mike Turner. 

And speakin' of kudos, kudos to Flagpole intern Marshall for keeping Homedrone buzzing.

Are you ready for NextToLast Festival? I am. If you're going, I'd love to hear from you about what bands you're going to be seeing. The festival kicks off next weekend!

And finally, more talk about moving the Georgia Music Hall of Fame to Athens via the Athens Banner Herald.I've been pondering this for a while now and will probably post about it yet again next week. And if it does come here, may I submit an application?

Hope you have a wonderful weekend. I'm off to the corn maze!

Hold Onto It Tightly

It's two in the morning and you've just stumbled out of the show, into the cloud of smoke that hangs around the entrance like a wreath. It burns and stings at your eyes but you just try to ignore it, clutching your jacket tighter as you make that oh so long journey back to your car where you'll sit for a minute telling yourself that you have to drive home. It's late. There's work and school in about six hours.

You do the mental math. If you were to fall asleep right now, you'd get six hours of sleep. But you have to drive home, move the crap off your bed, brush your teeth. Then get up in the morning, shower, eat, get to campus... ugh. Looks like it's going to be another four hour night. You groan as you crank up the car and turn on the lights, eyes blurry and your jacket smelling of smoke. Great.

As you pull back into your parking spot, you replay the images of the night in your head. How dumb the guitarist from the opening band looked with that see through guitar that he probably thought was the coolest thing ever when he bought it. Then the singer who would've been more at home at the karaoke bar than in the 40 Watt. The headliner wasn't that great either. Weeks of hype and constant listening to their latest album ("it is a departure from our usual style") had soured your experience.

But it was that second band, the one that no one really knew, that came from far away, that made everything worth while. You slide into bed remembering how incredible that bass sounded, how you felt every single beat of the drum. The singer held you in his hand the whole night, knowing that this may be the only time you'll ever hear what he's got to sing. The guitar was piercing and abrasive and subtle and sweet and... damn. It's 3:15 already.

But your mind is buzzing. You didn't have money for the full album at the show but the drummer gave you their demo and a sticker anyway. You want to hear it again so knowing full well that tomorrow's work day will be hell, you turn on the laptop and burn it into iTunes. Click. Sync. Play. In a feeble attempt to sleep, you leave the earbuds in as you lay down.Sleep...

The next day you're talking with your friends. They were so happy with the hot to trot headliners and start trashing the openers. You agree with the first but you can't bring yourself to say a word against that second band. They all start ribbing you about liking such an obviously untalented bunch but you disagree. You make your point and then move on. The walk back home finds you listening to the demo once again.  You've found a band.

Now you remember that either one of two things will happen. You'll be enthralled by this band for a month or so and then they'll start to crawl back into the corners of your mind or you'll love them forever. You sincerely hope that it'll be a case of the second this time but you know it'll more than likely be the first. Sighing, you wrap your coat around yourself to keep out the wind, turn on the record, and just enjoy the here and now. Worth it.

Weekly Show Picks

It's that time of week again. We've searched high and low for the best this week has to offer and here it is, all nicely laid out for you to enjoy yourself with.

TONIGHT

Flicker

Ladies' Night Hosted by Jess Marston

Little Kings

The Humms

Timmy Tumble

Rayon Beach

Shapes Have Fangs

New Earth

Afroman (hilarious description in Flagpole)

Elite tha Showstoppa

Wildkard

THURSDAY

40 Watt

Guzik

Hot Breath

American Cheeseburger

Barnette's

Concert for Tom Walker

Farm 255

Tin Cup Phrophette

Ruby Kindrick

Delicate Cutters

WUOG

Abandon the Earth Mission

FRIDAY

Caledonia

Pastor of Muppets

Powerload

Dog Ear Books

Ken Will Morton

Betsy Franck

Charlie Garrett

Ty Manning and Mark Durfield

Gnat's Landing

Nathan Sheppard

Terrapin Beer Co.

David Barbe and the Quick Hooks

Kuroma

The Melting Point

Love and Theft

SATURDAY

40 Watt

Brad Downs and the Poor Bastard Souls

Charlie Garrett Band

Jay Lang and the Devil's Due

Bad Manor

Rebuild the GA Theatre Party!

Mimosa

STS9

Two Fresh

Caledonia

The Arcs

Future Virgins

Landlord

Paul Collins' Beat

MONDAY

Caledonia

Hayride

TUESDAY

Caledonia

David Dondero

Toby Foster

Theo Hilton

Madeline

The Stonebreakers

Highwire Lounge

Kenosha Kid

New Addiction: Lera Lynn

Man, I love Birds & Wire. So when I heard that Lera was releasing a solo work, I had to jump on that. Expectations met and surpassed. I'm a sucker for a well-written song but a well-written album? I'm a goner.

I'm not quite sure what grabs me first. Perhaps it's the voice. There's a certain quality to Lera's voice that gives it that haunting feeling. Even on a sunny day, wearing rainbows and surrounded by puppies, Lera can sound like an abandoned widow crying in the rain. Sorrowful, would be the word, I think. Pair that with a strong emotive range and lyrics that will make even the hardest man cry, you've got a winner. Lera's got a pretty killer video to go with her first single "Bobby, Baby."


Lera Lynn- Bobby, Baby from S L O W R e c o r d s on Vimeo.

According to the handy dandy press release, the song is a tip of the hat to her late father and all his many demons. Do yourself a favor and take a listen. I think you'll like what you hear.

Check out Lera's release show this Thursday at Little Kings.

Pylon Junkies

Today is Vanessa's birthday so I thought I'd do a special little post here on AMJ just for her. Ya see, I have to blame Pylon for starting my Athens music addiction (not R.E.M. as many believe). Since Vanessa pulled me up onstage one cold night some years ago, I've been absolutely hooked. So now here's a few bits and pieces about Pylon.

Learn To Play Like Pylon
I learned bass from playing along to Michael's lines on Gyrate but it might have been a bit easier had I known about this site. There's a few well-written lyric sheets that have tabs to some of the band's major songs. Pretty darn nifty!

Early Internet Fanpages?
Yup, they're out there. Including this one that's a tad bit hard to read. But it's worth a look if only for the recollections and discography.

Video Goodness
Uploaded under my ol' screenname blueshades87....


And under the AMJ category...


New Year's EVE!


Epic footage

The AthensMusicJunkie Fall Playlist

Congrats to Matt M. for winning our Monday contest. Epic playlist is epic. Cd's in the mail dude. As for us, we made our own little local version of an Autumn playlist. Well, the ones that were on Youtube anyway.

Fall to me always meant a little bit of sleepiness, a bit of relaxation, and just general calmness. The following never fail to chill me out. So take a listen on this wonderful Friday and get ready for a good weekend. See ya on Monday!


Modern Skirts "City Lights"


Vigilantes of Love "Solar System"


Dancer Vs. Politician "Homeless Mind"


The Gold Party "Luxury and Light"


R.E.M. "Why Not Smile"

A Quick Note on the Upcoming Elections

Grr Politics Grr

I've gotten a few emails and messages from readers asking me if I'm going to throw blog support behind a mayoral and District 5 candidate.

Short answer is no. Long answer is 1) This is a music blog, not a political one. Even though the outcomes of these elections will have an impact on my much beloved music scene and the arts that feed it, it's a bit silly for a site like mine to endorse someone 2) At the time of registration, I didn't technically "live" in Athens and as of right now I don't think this borrowed couch counts as a residence so I'm not even voting here this go round. Bummer, eh?

Now I will point you in the direction of Flagpole which has some interesting articles on the candidates as well as a few question and answer rounds. Take a look and I encourage you to think for yourself and go vote. I cannot stress how important it is that you take your rights as a citizen and use them to make the world a little better place. I'll hop off this here soapbox now and let y'all get back to the music. Or flailing. Or whatever this is.


This message has been brought to you by the Athens Music Junkie Alliance for Sheer Awesomeness and Awareness.

Weekly Show Picks

Wowzers guys, it's starting to get a bit chilly outside. Won't be long now before we'll be breaking out the heavy jackets while the Yankees laugh at us for wrapping up in 65 degree weather. Oh well. At least we've got some awesome shows to look forward to.

TONIGHT

New Earth Music Hall

The Heavy Pets

Bodega Roja

Last Call

Benefit for Russell Edwards, Beat Paul Broun for Congress

Patterson Hood

Packway Handle

Futurebirds

Boo Ray

Matt McKinney

THURSDAY

Caledonia

Free Mountain

Nutria

Pilgrim

Farm 255

Nuclear Spring

Little Kings

Timmy Tumble

The Safes

(and a completely shameless promo for Misfortune500 in ATL at the Earl)

FRIDAY

Ten Pins Tavern

So So Glos

Carnivores

Bad Manor

The Dirty Guv'nuhs

Caledonia

Pride Parade

Kenosha Kid

Chrissakes

Little Kings

Voices of the Wetlands Benefit

Grape Soda

Laminated Cat

Vinyl Vanilla

Nuci's Space

The Orkids

Second Suns

SATURDAY

40 Watt Club

Beach House

Henry Barbe

Steve Strohmeier

New Earth Music Hall

Abandon the Earth Mission

Beats Antique

Lynx

Go Bar

Twin Powers

Rye Bar

Rye

MONDAY

Go Bar

Supercluster

(Vanessa's Birthday Jam!)

TUESDAY

WUOG

Grape Soda

Flicker

Nessy Gallons

Athens Music News Roundup!

We're making Jack o' Lantern patterns! If you've got any great Athens music pumpkin pattern suggestions, let us know! Also, where are you going for Halloween? Any awesome parties going on? Great costume suggestions? We're listening... Now onto the news.

Widespread Panic to "call it (quits) for a while"? Interesting article found here.

Todd Ploharski is opening up a record store near Clocked? Heck yes!

My, my. AthensMusicExpress has been busy as of late. Posts are randomly appearing but almost always worth a look.

Have you checked out Radio Free Athens yet? It's pretty awesome to listen to. All Athens, All the Time. 

The New Sound of Numbers play on WUOG tonight at 8 p.m. on "Live in the Lobby." 

And last but not least, my birthday's coming up next month. I'd like this shirt please. kaythaxbai.

Contest: Happy Monday with NMH

All Hail Neutral Milk Hotel!

I've got this extra cd, you see, a Neutral Milk Hotel one. And I want to give it to someone. But I'd like a playlist in return.

So here's the challenge. MAKE A KICKASS FALL PLAYLIST. Give me a list of 8 to 10 songs and artists that you feel embody the spirit of Fall. They don't even have to be Athens oriented (blasphemy!). You can include links to youtube videos, download pages, your band's myspace, etc. if you want, but it's not necessary.

Email your playlist to athensmusicjunkie@gmail.com with the subject title "Spoiled Milk." Whomever comes up with the most rockin' playist (as judged by our 3 person panel) will get the spoils. DEADLINE IS WEDNESDAY AT NOON. Winner will be announced and notified on Friday.

Oh, and Happy Monday.

Best and Worst of Losing My Religion

Wow. I got so many emails yesterday about the Glee version of "Losing My Religion" that I thought it'd be a bit fun to show some other versions of it that I've found on the web. Glee's is far from the best and far from the worst I've heard. And you'd better believe there are a lot. Below are a bunch of vids I've found of LMR. And if you're hungry for the real thing, R.E.M. just released a new itunes bundle... But enough talk, On to the post!

Heavy Metal. Shredded vocal chords. Wonder if our buddy Damien could do that...


Gregorian Chant?


As close to Gaga as you'd ever need. Colton Ford....um...yeah...


Let's get some female vocals in here please. The lovely Anouk..


And Tori Amos will make you cry. Too beautiful.


Man, you ever notice how well this goes on piano? Ryan Star...


Punk? Sure, why not?


Nice arrangement and use of strings here. Dolapdere Big Gang


HOOTIE! YES!


And there's about a million or so more. But when it comes down to it, you can't beat the originals. Now, I can play LMR on guitar but on mandolin? I fare about as well as Russell there...

I Thought That I Heard Glee Sing....

Note the spike.

It was the moment I've been worried about since I first heard that Glee was going to cover "Losing My Religion." "NOOOOOO!!" I cried into the night sky. "How dare they take such an important song and turn it into a trivial pop hit sung by actors in their late 20s pretending to be high-schoolers!" And thus began a full half-minute of pouting.

The thing is that so many of us grew up with "Losing My Religion." When you think about Glee's target audience, most would be in the "under 30" range, perfectly in line with those of us who practically have this song embedded in our DNA (along with the random Wallflowers tune from the later 90s but I digress).
It was everywhere in the early 90s, a hit. People all over the world know this song. So why wouldn't be up for the Glee treatment?

So I watched "Grilled Cheesus" and found that it circled around my favorite Gleek, Kurt. Now, religious affiliations aside, I thought the episode was pretty solidly written. But what of the music? I winced, remembering how U2's "One" was used last season and waited for the moment Finn would bust out LMR. While it wasn't a bad cover, I had two issues. First, did it have to be so damn literal? Wiki it if you don't know some of the lyrical background. Second, the Disney-fication.

Yes, Corey's a good singer and no, I'm not expecting him to recreate any sort of emotional range that the original had. That's what shows like Glee and things like Kids Bop do. They take songs and puree them until they're singable for all us talently uncoordinated folk. I'm not gonna bash Corey for his take because it's a hell of a lot better than I can do (but I'll kick ass singing E-Bow.)

Which brings me back to the literalness of the video. "Finn" is walking down the school hallways, in the library, looking at Kurt in the corner. Yup. A corner. Though we know how fond R.E.M. photographers are of sticking people in corners. And yeah, I can see how my uber-fandom of the band could be biasing me a bit in terms of interpretation. When you and your friends can pretty much redo the entire original video from memory, that'll color things a bit.

Overall, it wasn't as bad as I thought. It was short and within the context of the show, pretty forgettable.

So listen if you dare and lemme know what you think

Weekly Show Picks

 Awesome poster is awesome. Been a while since we've seen so many good shows in such a short span at the 'Donia and Watt but dang are they piling up this week. Also check out the other gems listed here! Support  your local music scene! WHOO!

Tonight

CALEDONIA

BombsBombsBombs

Dusty Lightswitch

Native Kid

THE CLASSIC CENTER

Tony Bennett

Thursday

40 WATT

Deer Tick

Blitzen Trapper

Malcolm Holcombe

Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit

FARM 255

Harp Unstrung

The Knockouts

THE CAPITAL ROOM

Nathan Sheppard

Friday

40 WATT

Bambara

Kuroma

The Whigs

NEW EARTH MUSIC HALL

Athens Music Collective Show

8 Bands full of Awesome

NUCIS SPACE

The John King Band

Yo Soybean

Saturday

40 WATT

Neon Indian

Prefuse 73

Miniature Tigers

CALEDONIA

Man Ray

Colour Revolt

RYE BAR

Rye

Albatross

Monday

CALEDONIA

The Fleshtones

The Humms

Nairobi Trio

The Trashcans

GO BAR

Arturo in Letto

Catawba

Fort Wilson Riot

Tuesday

40 WATT

Built to Spill

Revolt Revolt

GO BAR

The Falcon Lords

Witness the Apotheosis

A Halloween Tune. Sorta.

If you've lived in Athens more than a year, you know that Halloween lasts pretty much all of October here. Decorations are up, the pumpkins are getting prepared, and locals are already planning out their carefully detailed costumes. On the eve of the 31st, you can see everything from Old Gregg (!) to the Martians from Sesame Street. But what's Halloween without an awesome spooky soundtrack?

Sure, you can have your Time Warps and your Monster Mashs but few things will ever compare...to this.

In Need of Some Cheer..

Man, this weekend sucked. I know the Bulldog Nation is feeling the pain of yet another loss football wise. And then to return home only to find that the awesome bulldog statues, including Broad St. staple Dawgustus have been moved (though for a good cause)... UGH. Add to that my current moving woes (mergharghugh!) and you've got a heckuva bad Monday brewing.

But in times like these, it helps to find something to laugh about. So I've rounded up a few of my favorite funny bands to help ease the sting of the weekend. And if you're up for some real comedians, check out the Upright Citizens Brigade at the 40 Watt tonight. 2 for 1 deal with student i.d.? Now that's something to smile about.

PACKWAY HANDLE - Earl the Duck


THE WARM FUZZIES "Flux Capacitor"


CARS CAN BE BLUE "The Dirty Song" (NSFW! NSFH! NSAW!)

10 Reasons I Love Nuci's Space

Since the Space is turning 10 this weekend, I thought I'd type up a list of 10 Reasons I Love Nuci's Space. No particular order here, just my own little way of saying happy birthday guys!

It looks funky.
It's blue and square and brick and looks very stunning, yet inviting as you drive up the street. Catch it at the right time of day and the red of the steeple behind it, paired with the sunlight, makes for a beautiful sight.

The Staff
Bob and Will are constantly in view at the Space and around town. Will in particular has been awesome to AMJ and myself, dealing with random cds that get sent there for us and making sure we know what's going on. And Bob is just fun to talk to.

Practice Space
When I finally form my hypothetical Athens band cover band ("The Scrapes!"), you can bet I'll make use of those practice rooms. Of course, I enjoy just sitting in the lobby and listening to other bands practice there just as much. You never know who you'll run into. The next great Athens band could be banging out chords right then and there.

Community Building
The number of musicians, bands, and music type people that support Nuci's Space's mission is astounding. When a lot of people from extremely different backgrounds get together for a common cause, it really warms my heart.

The Shows
I've seen some great performances in Nuci's smallish area. It's great for singer-songwriters and bands alike. If you really want to be blown away, watch the organization's calendar for some impressive artists coming up.

Rental Equipment
Because some of us just really really really want to play a Strat and have no other way to. Mmmm. Stratocaster....

The Mission
"Everybody Hurts" could be Nuci's themesong if need be. The people involved in the Space work hard to make sure that musicians can know that they're not alone. Depression can set in and when it does, Nuci's does its best to make sure there's a support system ready and waiting.

Camp Amped
Kids. With guitars. And drums. Playing with Athens' finest. I love this camp.

The Food
Back when I parked in the lot facing the steeple, it was always so nice to know that food and drink was in quick reach. Nothing like a Gatorade and some candy to help make that 8 a.m. class a bit less horrible.

The Possibilities
I keep hoping that one day more cities will be able to have a Nuci's Space type environment. If we keep supporting the one we've got and help it grow, soon that dream may become a reality.

Happy Birthday Nuci's Space!