We Want to Know: Where do you eat before and after shows?

IMMA EAT A HOT DAWG!!! NOOOMMMM!

Just what it says on the tin, guys! Where are your favorite places to eat in town before a show, during that lull or a boring band, and afterwards when you're stumbling out of the venue at two a.m.? Who's got the best burger, pizza, drinks, atmosphere, whatever!

We're asking because we want to start helping our fellow junkies out with recommendations on where to go for post show noms and such. So pimp your favorite food place here or email some recs to athensmusicjunkie@gmail.com.

I tend towards just leaving some twizzlers in the car myself....

A Short Reminder Before the Long Weekend

Hey guys! Not much post-worthy for today but we're gearing up for our Athfest/Flagpole Awards/Athens music cluster**** of coverage coming up soon. Just a few reminders on how to keep up with all the stuff that we can't always post to the main blog every day.

We're on Facebook! Yup, probably the easiest way to keep up with the latest news is here on our Fanpage. "Like us?"

We're on Twitter, well, Jordan is. Random musings, retweets of interesting things locals say, and other handy Athens info from music, traffic, food, weather, and beyond.

We're on Youtube. Keep watching here for updates including soon to be upcoming ton o' footage from Athfest 2011.

We're now on Tumblr. Cause we can.

And of course you can always reach Jordan at athensmusicjunkie@gmail.com or any of the interns with questions at amjintern@gmail.com

Happy holiday guys!

Weekly Show Picks

TONIGHT

Flicker Theatre

Yo Soybean!

Mann Ray

John French and the Bastilles

New Earth Music Hall

Spiritual Rez

Yo Mama's Big Fat Booty Band

The Melting Point

The Burning Angels

FRIDAY

Caledonia

Free Mountain

The Dictatortots

Hayride

The HEAP

Farm255

Henry Barbe

David Barbe and the Quick Hooks

Gnat's Landing

Nathan Sheppard

SATURDAY

Cherokee Farms

Amberland Festival

Hendershot's

The Hobohemians

Little Kings

Reptar

DJ Spencer Sloan

Melting Point

Rack of Spam

MONDAY

Caledonia

Dan Nettles

Shane Perlowin

Gyan Riley

TUESDAY

Caledonia

Spring Tigers

The Memorials

No Where Bar

Leaving Countries

We are 3. Athfest Wristbands on Us.

remember this logo? Done in MSPaint.

Hey! AMJ is officially three years old! Holy smoking cows! What a year. Man, what a bunch of years. So as we chug right along into our most exciting year yet, we wanted to give you a little thanks by way of our friends at ATHFEST.


A pair of Athfest wristbands for the club crawl can be yours if you email athensmusicjunkie@gmail.com with the answer to the question below and the subject head I HEART ATHFEST. We remind you that age restrictions do apply with these things so sorry 17 year olds. :(

Question: Jordan ran the light show for this 2008 Athfest Headliner and nearly blinded the entire band. Hint: It wasn't the Skirts.

So yay! Thanks to everyone who has read this blog over the years. We're in a building phase right now so this upcoming year will be exciting, dangerous, and oh so rockin!

Monahan Sets a Guy On Fire, Films It

Picture here the pyro, Ryan Monahan

...In his new music video that is. There's a pretty interesting tale behind all of this. I heard from Monahan's drummer that the guy in this video had never been set on fire before. Naturally, I just had to ask what the deal was. Is it true you lit a random guy on fire and had him dance?

This is true! 

The whole unfolding of events was very serendipitous....

Andy Rusk, is a professional pyro-technician/stunt-director (who works on Hollywood movies, and also the new Teen Wolf series), lives here in Athens, GA. Michael VanHassel, is his next-door neighbor, and volunteered himself to be set on fire! As soon as Brett Vaughn caught wind of Michael being lit on fire, he asked if he could be there to film the happening. 

Brett's concept was to film Michael while dancing, and then to set it to slow motion. Incorporating "Moving Targets" into the footage was actually an afterthought, but somehow, it immediately made sense when the two were put together. Brett put in some crazy hours editing, looping, and working to stretch this very simple idea into a full length music video. 

There are a lot of slow, ambient layers in the song that are constantly "fighting" against its own relentless pacing. The way the footage captures this in a visual sense is really startling. - Monahan

Well damn. We should mention that if you like the song, Ryan's offering it for free on his bandcamp account found HERE.

Monahan- Moving Targets from Brett Vaughn on Vimeo.

Athens in the Morn

There are few things more magnificent than pulling into Athens, GA at 7 a.m. on a Saturday morning after a show. The town is quiet. But not in an eerie sense. No, it's more of a "calm before the storm" feeling. Some of us are asleep (not the driver thank God!), myself, I'm drifting in between conscious thought and the idea of finally getting home to my bed. Turns out I'll sleep until 3 that afternoon. No matter. The fifteen minutes we're riding through town is enough.

This old lady had been blowing smoke in my face all night at the venue. I hadn't really been paying attention at the time but now that we're all in such close quarters, the smell is amplified. Reason #5467 to love Athens: No Smoking Indoors. My eyes are watering, though that may be from lack of sleep as well. I watch blurry eyed as the landscape of Broad Street passes by. For a short time, I lived near the Melting Point. I walked to work every morning around 6:30 through these same abandoned streets. So peaceful. If you catch it at the right angle, the sunlight turns the buildings a slight gold color.

It's the deafening quiet that gets to you though. All the students are gone. The stores won't open for three hours or so. Every night owl is tucked away somewhere. All is calm, all is bright. Maybe I should remind myself that I am NOT a morning person. But is it really "morning" when you haven't slept all night? It strikes me that I'm not sure what time I last ate. Yeah, I'm gonna end up hungry when I get up. If I get up. I've been far more exhausted. This time it just feels more appropriate to be sleepy.

Conversations get a bit wacky around 2 a.m. You move from philosophy to art to Nyan cat within minutes, never quite sure where you're headed with all of this but knowing it somehow makes sense. There have been empires made and broken by 2 a.m. conversations. A lot of stupid youtube videos too. And the road goes ever on and on. You stop at a 24-hour place, usually a Love's Truckstop or A QT on some lost highway. Restock, reload, bathroom breaks for all, a tiny bit of stretching, a lot of yawning, and on we go again.

So, in summary.... If you ever get the chance to be kidnapped by a rock band for a weekend, do it. 

So, Got that Playlist Ready, Stipey?

"Death is pretty final. I'm collecting vinyl. I'm gonna DJ at the end of the world" - JMS

Well, apparently the world is ending tomorrow and everyone else is getting ready by making a few epic playlists. Of course, the number one song on an end of the world playlist would be "It's the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)," known as ITEOTWAWKIAIFF (pronounced i-tea-ot-waaw-kia-layfff).



But did you know that plenty of other R.E.M. songs deal with the apocalypse and post-apocalyptic worlds? Yes indeed. Take for example "I'm Gonna DJ" from Accelerate.

Accelerate was ripe with end of the world references. Like most of "Sing for the Submarine."
The city did not collapse in a shudder, the rain it never came...



Of course, Around the Sun wasn't all bright and sunny either. Remember "Aftermath"?


You could argue that "High Speed Train" was set in the dystopian future as well.


So what have we learned today? R.E.M. will dominate your end of the world playlist. Because they're shiny happy people like that.

Congrats You Grads! Video Dance Party!

I meant to put this up last Friday but blogger went *kaboom*. So I'm putting this out there today since I have just been informed that a few local High Schools are graduating kids tonight.

'Tis Party Time! That means it's time to dance!

Weekly Show Picks May 18 - 24

TONIGHT

Lo Yo Yo Sponsored Show

Y La Bamba

The Globe

Ian McFeron

THURSDAY

Caledonia

ODIST

This Piano Plays Itself

Culture Shock

Ashutto Mirra

Farm 255

Green Thrift Grocery

Memory Map

NEVER

Ol' Blue Heeler

Theo Zumm

Little Kings

Shallow Palace

Ryan Sheffield

Misfortune500

Sleepy Eye Giant

FRIDAY

Caledonia

Ice Cream Men

Powerload

Georgia Bar

Worn Out Welcome

Rye Bar

Cloudeater

Sumilan

SATURDAY

Farm 255

Bright Light Social Hour

Cousin Dan

Timmy Tumble and the Tumblers

Plush Palace

SO It Goes

Reeks of Failure

Caledonia

Nate Nelson

Ruby Kendrick

Matt Hudgins

MONDAY

Flicker Theatre

Paul McHugh

Hendershot's 

Open Mic

TUESDAY

Manhattan Cafe

BOB DYLAN BIRTHDAY BASH

Athens Music News Roundup

Congrats to Reptar and the Futurebirds on being selected for Austin City Limits Festival. There's some mighty big acts there. Wowzers.

Our buddy Brent Cash got a major shout out from Stomp and Stammer the other week. You would probably know him as the drummer from our much beloved late Television Buzz. Brent's last album is perfect so if you're into beachy keen grooves and beautiful pop, give him a listen.

Please tell me you caught the Neutral Milk Hotel thing on Parks and Recreation the other night...

Bob Dylan festival happening soon. Details also happening soon...

Pylon's gonna release something this summer. I'm hearing 2 song 7 inch?

The ATHFEST CD show will be held at the Melting Point on June 6. It's free and features The Knockouts, The Welfare Liners, and PowerKompany.

Athens Area Habitat is looking for volunteers for this weekend. "We are looking for 5 volunteers to help us out on the job site this Saturday. We'll be staining decks, painting foundations and finishing a staircase. If you're interested in getting a group together or coming out by yourself, email us at pr@athenshabitat.com for all the details!"

Early blog fave Randall Bramblett has a new cd out called "Jammin' in the Attic"

Quite possibly the most revealing Michael Stipe interview I've read in a long time...

Speaking of Reveal, the R.E.M. album turned 10 this weekend. Our buddy Mark created this wonderful site for it.

WUOG is throwing a carnival of sorts in August. Details coming later.

Kay Stanton from Casper and the Cookies has been participating in a Songwriter in Residence Program. Here's her first song! (Thanks Vanessa!)

Jordan made a tumblr while Blogger was down. God help us all....

Hold On Tight!

It's that time of year again when we start gearing up for all things Athfest! Yay! And as always, we're going to need YOUR help in covering/commenting on everything Athfest has to offer. What shows do you want reviewed? Who do you want us to interview? What bands do you want to see on AMJ TV? Also, do you want AMJ sunglasses? So tell us what you want via this blog, twitter, facebook, or email athensmusicjunkie@gmail.com!


And we'll be starting our annual Flagpole Athens Music Award coverage very very soon as well. But until then, we recommend you feast your eyes on the latest lineups for Athfest venues by clicking on this here link!
Last but not least, our 3rd birthday is coming up and we're probably gonna give some stuff away....

Contest: Allison Weiss, Winter Sounds, Young Orchids, & Misfortune500

Allison Weiss

Misfortune500

Look who's back in town after moving to NYC! Yup, Allison Weiss is on tour and playing the 40 Watt tomorrow along with The Winter Sounds, Young Orchids and Misfortune500!And since we're obviously enamored with some of the artists on this bill, we're shilling for all of them and giving you tickets. Yay you! So if you're a fan of any one of the four bands, here's your chance to snag a Plus One to the show tomorrow night.

Rules are simple as always, email athensmusicjunkie@gmail.com with the subject line Black Cat with the answer to the following question. First to get it right wins!

QUESTION: What is the name of Allison Weiss's brother?

Come get your graduation on!

Athfest 2011 Outdoor Stage Lineup

Well guys, as the kiddies all head home today from UGA, we're starting off our Athfest/Flagpole Awards coverage season. We're beginning today with a shamelessly copy/pasted lineup from the Athfest website. This does not include the club crawl that happens at night but we hope to have the schedules for those pretty soon.

Here's hoping this list will help you decide who is worth standing outside in the 101 degree heat to hear. Me? I'm saying Monahan, Vigilantes of Love, and the Kevn Kinney Band are at the top of my list. Who are you excited to see?

AthFest 2011 Outdoor Stage Lineup

Main Stage

Second Stage

Friday – 06/24/2011

5-6pm Easter Island

6-6:30pm Oryx And Crake

6:30-7:15pm  Lera Lynn

7:15-7:45pm Woodfangs

7:45-8:30pm Centro-Matic

8:30-9pm Thomas Hardy(of Dead Confederate)

9:00-10pm Futurebirds

Saturday – 06/25/2011

12-1pm TBA

1-1:30pm  Klezmer Local 42

1:30-2:15pm  The Charlie Garrett Band

2:15-2:45pm The Welfare Liners

2:45-3:30pm  Dodd Ferrelle

3:30-4pm Monahan

4-4:45pm The Knockouts

4:45-5:15pm The Whiskey Gentry

5:15-6pm Nappy Roots

6-6:30pm Free Mountain

6:30-7:15pm Jim White

7:15-7:45pm Don Chambers

7:45-8:30pm  Chickasaw Mudd Puppies

8:30-9pm  Bill Mallonee & Vigilantes of Love

9:00-10pm Guadalcanal Diary

Sunday – 6/26/2011

12:30-1:30 TBA

1:30-2pm The John King Band

2-2:45pm Rachel Farley Band

2:45-3:15pm Lingo

3:15-4pm  Grogus

4-4:30pm Dank Sinatra

4:30-5:15pm Bruce Hampton & The Pharaoh Gummitt

5:15-5:45pm Dr. Arvin Scott

5:45-6:30pm Kevn Kinney Band

6:30-7pm  Rick Fowler Blues Band

7-8pm  Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit

500 Songs for Kids Video Post

It looks like a bunch of our folk made the trip up to ATL for the annual 500 Songs for Kids Benefit. The following videos include some blog favorites, personal friends, and very familiar faces. Happy Monday!


Kevn Kinney



The HEAP


Blog friends Trances Arc


Good buddy Levi Lowrey


And wonderwoman Sonia Leigh

Press Release Theatre: Lifes Rich Pageant Coming in July

Photo/Jordan Stepp

The band has teamed with Capitol/I.R.S. for the July 12 release of an expanded 25th Anniversary 2CD and digital edition of Lifes Rich Pageant. The new edition features the digitally remastered original album, plus 19 previously unreleased demo recordings cut prior to the album's studio sessions. The commemorative release also adds new liner notes by music journalist and author Parke Puterbaugh, with the 2CD package presented in a lift-top box with a poster and four postcards. On the same date, the remastered original album will be reissued by Mobile Fidelity on 180-gram vinyl in faithfully replicated LP packaging.

Produced by Don Gehman, "Pageant" includes the singles "Fall On Me" and "Superman." The album was R.E.M.'s first to achieve Gold certification status, and it reached #21 on Billboard's Top 200 Albums chart, the band's then-highest chart position.

"The Athens Demos," as R.E.M. has dubbed them, comprise the new edition's second disc of 19 previously unreleased recordings, including drafts of Pageant's 12 songs, plus additional demos of songs that were later recorded for other releases. Among them are early versions of "Bad Day," "Rotary Ten," "Two Steps Onward," "Mystery To Me," "All The Right Friends," and "March Song (King Of Birds)," an early instrumental version of "King Of Birds" from Document. One track, "Wait," has never before been officially released by R.E.M. in any form, but it has shown up on bootlegs over the years.

R.E.M.: Lifes Rich Pageant (25th Anniversary Edition) (2CD, digital)
Disc One: digitally remastered original album
1. Begin The Begin
2. These Days
3. Fall on Me
4. Cuyahoga
5. Hyena (Album Version)
6. Underneath The Bunker
7. The Flowers of Guatemala
8. I Believe
9. What If We Give It Away?
10. Just a Touch
11. Swan Swan H
12. Superman

Disc Two: The Athens Demos – all previously unreleased
(Recorded March 1986 at John Keane’s Studio, Athens GA)
1. Fall On Me
2. Hyena
3. March Song (King Of Birds)
4. These Days
5. Bad Day
6. Salsa (Underneath The Bunker)
7. Swan Swan H
8. Flowers Of Guatemala
9. Begin The Begin
10. Cuyahoga
11. I Believe
12. Out Of Tune
13. Rotary Ten
14. Two Steps Onward
15. Just A Touch
16. Mystery To Me
17. Wait
18. All The Right Friends
19. Get On Their Way (What If We Give It Away)

Don't Fret: Walker Howle

By Gerald Burris

For the first two segments of Don’t Fret, I talked about a couple of guys--Peter Buck and Randy Bewley--without whom an Athens music scene might not exist. The success of early Athens bands like R.E.M. and Pylon inspired other local musicians to start bands, and brought attention to bands that already existed. The spotlight on our town also enticed bands from outside Athens to relocate here, and the guy I’m going to talk about today is a great example.

Walker Howle is the guitarist for Dead Confederate, a band that started out in the slightly less metropolitan city of Augusta and moved here before their full length debut Wrecking Ball received enough attention to land them a late night spot performing on “The Tonight Show with Conan O’ Brien” and a Billboard charting single in “The Rat.” Although Hardy Morris’ hoarse growl and distorted power chords have earned the band apt comparisons to a certain 1990s Seattle grunge act, many of their (in my opinion) best songs contain noticeably sparse arrangements and a distinctly ungrungelike dreamy shoegaze aesthetic, largely on the back of Howle’s terrific slidework.

Howle’s playing is remarkable in its utter simplicity. Great musicians always make their work sound easier than it really is, but Howle’s licks truly aren’t at all technically difficult to play. Anyone that has played guitar for even a few months has enough skill to replicate Howle’s work. Yet no other guitarist in town sounds as good or contributes as much character to their band’s style.

“It Was a Rose” is a prime example of what Howle has to offer. The song is played at an extremely slow tempo, around 76 beats per minute, with an unobtrusive rhythm section built around softly strummed chords from Morris and a steady tom beat by either Jason Scarboro or the guy who plays the “Tomohawk Chop” drum at Braves games. Howle provides some early flavor with a few volume swells, a trick that involves the striking of a note with the volume knob at zero, followed by a slow fade up. The licks are played incredibly slowly; sometimes Howle takes four beats to slide over one half-step, or one guitar fret. Then, halfway into the song, he jumps into a chaotic freakout that sounds like Duane Allman’s reply if the Devil had challenged him for his soul instead of Charlie Daniels.



In “Yer Circus,” Howle’s slide doubles Morris’ vocal line so perfectly that it could almost be mistaken for an extra layer of reverb. In the final seconds, a few faint Howle slides can be heard as the rest of the song fades to a close. “Yer Circus” demonstrates Howle’s greatest strength: knowing when not to play, or at least when to hold back. In “The News Underneath,” Howle again adopts an understate approach, playing counterpoint to Morris’ vocal lines, while incredibly never seeming to repeat a lick over the song’s seven-plus minute run time.


One of the original purposes for this column was to bring knowledge and insight into the craft of guitar-playing to nonmusicians. If I can editorialize for just a moment, Walker Howle (like Randy Bewley before him) should be a model to anyone who has wanted to learn to play an instrument but thought they didn’t possess the musical aptitude. That’s not to say Howle doesn’t have prodigious talent--he certainly does--but his playing is a case in point that you don’t have to be a virtuoso to make great music. It may sound cliché, but sometimes less really is more.

As always, I’d love some feedback. You can leave a comment here or on the Facebook page, or drop me an e-mail at amjintern@gmail.com.

Weekly Show Picks

TONIGHT

Rye Bar

Chris Cundari

Graham's Number

Rialto Room

Rachel Farley

Holly Williams

THURSDAY

MAX

Kite to the Moon

The Orkids

Machismo USA

Farm255

Basshunter 64

Heady Rebels

FRIDAY

40 Watt

BombsBombsBombs

Dr. Squid

Grinnin Bear

Caledonia

Karbomb

Manger

Sharkheart

So It Goes

Go Bar

Bambara

Bigfoot

Tom Eisenbraun

Native Kid

Xavii

SATURDAY

Terrapin

Will Rock For Food

The Orkids

Liars and Lovers

Nutria

3-Foot Swagger

Caledonia

Spring Tigers

Roberta and Charlene

Feral Youth

Easter Island

The Stonebreakers

Cine

AUX FESTIVAL

Little Kings

AUX FESTIVAL

MONDAY

Rye Bar

Cloudeater

Hi8us

Melting Point

The Hoot

TUESDAY

Flicker

Company

Filmstrip

Never

Sea of Dogs

New Addiction: Chickasaw Mudd Puppies

They're baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack! Man, are we ever glad to see the Chickasaw Mudd Puppies again! We haven't heard much from the band since, oh, 92 or so. But it looks like they're resurfacing just in time to play the ATHFEST main stage right before Guadalcanal Diary that Saturday. In order to get back into performing mode, they recently hit the stage at the Melting Point.

Credit to Daniel Peiken for letting us use all this great footage and for giving us the heads up! Check out the rockin' washboard action here!

Athens Music News Roundup

Java Music Junkie
Okay guys, check this one out. Kai and Sunny created these recordings in Indonesia right? They're pretty doggone awesome alone but then those two managed to get over 20 different Athens musicians (like Pete Buck, Andy Lemaster, & Kate Pierson) to collaborate on recreating, remixing, and re-imagining the recordings. They're looking for funding on the project so head over to the Indie Go Go page and be amazed!

Love Mama's Love?
Mama's Love was apparently featured on NYC's BreakThru Radio as a "Discovery Artist." Look here!

Amberland Groovin'
You've heard about P-Groove's Amberland, I hope. If not, I suggest you scroll on over to the page and take a look at the impressive lineup set to hit the stage Memorial Weekend.

Must. Catch. Breath.
From Pylon: The new Pylon release on DFA records is in the works. We anticipate a summer release for this 2-song seven inch vinyl and digital download! EEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

Mid-Afternoon Acid Trip
The new Reptar video

Say Goodbye
Bubbly Mommy Gun and Quiet Hooves are headed off on a tour of America and Canada. I'm sure you'll be able to recognize the van anywhere. Listen for loud noises and party animals.

Bombs Away!
BombsBombsBombs is having a cd release party at the 40 Watt this Friday. We'll have the review for ya this week.

Happy Lemmy?
Happy Birthday to our good buddy Lemuel Hayes.

Bit by Bit
Dan Gellar's piece on Bit Pop is live now.

Meow
Hey, ATL folk! Do you know about Catlanta? Pretty awesome if you ask me.