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6 • The Red and Black • Thursday, May 31, 1990
SOUND
■ BEST BET
Give your ears a treat this Friday at the University's Men's Glee
Club annual spring concert. The program consists of traditional
selections and contemporary tunes. The concert is free to the
public and starts at 8:15 p.m. In the Fine Arts Auditorium.
Allgood Music Co. will open for UB40 Friday at Lakewood
Allgood beat 57 competitors
By RACHEL CURRY
Entertainment Writer
This past Monday in the Georgia
Hall of the Tate Student Center,
four Athens bands performed for a
panel of five judges in hopes of win
ning the privilege of opening for
UB40 at Lakewood Amphitheatre
this Friday, June 1.
Lakewood Amphitheatre Pro
ductions Director Sarah Rutledge
Waters needed an opening band for
l’B40 and came up with the idea of
having a contest in which Athens
bands would compete for the
chance to open for the well-known
reggae group as well as play at
Lakewood to a crowd of thousands.
Waters got in touch with
WUOG’s local music director,
Lorrel Manning, who handled most
of the contest organization here in
Athens.
As soon as word got out about
the contest, WUOG was flooded
with tapes. They received 57 in
under a week. A committee was set
up at the radio station to select the
four finalists.
Ruben Kincaid, Cone Ponies. Al
lgood and Seven Simons were
chosen to play in front of the panel
of judges, which consisted of two
record producers, two Lakewood
execs (Waters was one of them)
and Betsy Shearron of the Athens
Observer. In the end, Allgood was
pronounced the winner.
“You really had to see each band
and what they could do when they
were forced to get up there and do
it," said Manning, a sophomore
dramatic writing major. “They (Al-
lgood) did really well. I was very
impressed with them."
The Allgood camp couldn’t be
happier.
“We were pretty surprised,” said
band manager Jim McLean, a se-
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M& re fun. really. Ana summer is the most fun time
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So come work for us this summer. It s real cool. Unless the
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For more info, call 543-1809, or drop by our offices down
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LOOK:
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We need contributions for both publications
Experience that lasts a lifetime.
They no longer play for beer
By TAMMY MOSELEY
Contributing Writer
Two years ago, five guys assem
bled a band and played at parties
for beer in return.
Allgood Music Co. doesn’t play
for beer anymore.
Now, with the recent contest win
to open for UB40, the Athens-
based band is more popular than
ever on the local scene, and is ex
panding to performances in other
states - quite a different picture
from its beginning.
“We started playing at parties
for beer,” said Mike Sain, the
band’s 24-year old bass player and
backup singer. “Our first gig was a
Mike Dukakis benefit. Then we
started playing at clubs in town.
We realized that we needed to get
organized, so we got our manager,
Jimmy McLean.
“We tried to develop a following
in town, and threw in some cover
songs. We started playing at fra
ternity parties, then began to ven
ture out of town, and things
started to work for us.”
Sain said the band has played in
various places around Athens, in
cluding the Tate Center, fraternity
parties and sorority formals. He
said it has also played in North
Carolina, Virginia, Alabama and
Florida.
The band celebrated its two-year
anniversary in February. Sain said
the band clicked from the begin
ning. ..
“Clay (Fuller) and I were in an
other band and it broke up,” said
Sain. “We were trying to start an
originals band. We started jam
ming with Charlie (Pruet), and de
cided that clicked, and we pulled
Corky (Jones) in to play rhythm
and sing. Charlie got John (Carter)
to play lead guitar and we just got
together, jammed and clicked.”
Pruet, the band’s 25-year old
drummer, said Allgood has played
at several unusual functions.
“Probably the most unusual
event was the Pogo Fest in Way-
cross,” said Pruet. ‘Togo is a comic
strip character, and the festival
was a small-town celebration. We
opened for the Swingin’ Medallions
on a flatbed truck in front of City
Hall.”
Sain said Allgood does not ad
mire one particular band.
‘There’s not one band we try to
pattern ourselves after," he said.
“But we do have so many influ
ences we could list a page of them.”
Jones said the band’s major in
fluences are Folk Blues, Spinal
Tap and mid-seventies rock and
roll.
One way Allgood’s personality is
revealed is by its members’ desig
nation of nicknames.
Fuller, a lead guitarist, said
“Skunk” is the green Dodge van
the band uses to travel. He said
‘The Mecca” is the building in
which the band practices. The
Mecca is decorated inside with
spray paint designs.
Fuller said “The Mecca Bitch” is
Allgood’s mascot. It is the top half
of a female mannequin covered
with paint. She adorns The Mecca
and is a part of Allgood’s logo.
“Sans Herrin, who worked with
sets in the movie 1969, gave her to
us when we first started,” Pruet
said. “She was part of the set.”
Sain said Allgood is happy with
the response in Athens. He said the
band appreciates all its fans, and
has at least one group of devoted
fans.
There’s a Ford pickup of women
that follow us everywhere,” he
said. “We’re not sure who they
are.”
“But we are sure they’re
women,” said Jones.
Jones said the band has big
plans for the future.
“We want to work with an inde
pendent label to get a record out,”
said Jones. “And we want to in
crease our following in the South
east. We want to make a career out
of this.”
“Or die trying,” said Fuller.
Sain said Allgood works hard to
excel.
“We’re just hoping the hard
work will pay off one day,” Sain
said. “But in the meantime, we’re
enjoying what we do.”
nior economics m^jor. "It’s absolu
tely, without a doubt, the best
opportunity we’ve had.”
“We’re really fired up about it.
It’s going to be quite an experience
and an opportunity too," said bas
sist Mike Sain.
Undoubtedly, the main perk for
Allgood is that they’ll be seen by
lots of record industry big shots.
“Allgood will definitely be seen
by a lot of influential people,” Man
ning said.
“It’s really exciting to get the
chance to expose ourselves to
people who wouldn’t normally have
any idea that we exist," said Sain.
“Its a nice stepping stone...an op
portunity that most people don’t
get”
Sain said that Allgood is very ap
preciative of their fans who came
out to support them Monday.
“I think that had a lot to do with
us winning,” he said. “We’d like to
thank everybody who took time out
of their day to come down and give
us their support.”
White Buffalo drummer Alberto
Salazarte has been playing conga
drums with Allgood for about four
months and will perform with
them Friday night.
“We’re glad to have him with us.
He brings a whole truckload of en
ergy to what we do,” said Sain.
Lakewood Amphitheatre and
WUOG plan to continue working
together on contests similiar to this
one to give Athens bands a better
chance at breaking into the big
time. Hopefully, Allgood will make
the most of their chance this
Friday night.
Allgood ain’t bad: Local band and their ‘Mecca Bitch’ have
a chance at the bigtime Friday night in Atlanta
They said it was cool.
They said you'd feel great.
They didn't say it would mess up your life.
They didn't tell you you'd be caught...
hooked... dependent... unable to get free.
So let us tell you.
There is help.
Call The Commencement Center,
a free-standing alcohol
and drug treatment center
located on the campus of
Athens Regional Medical Center.
Our success rate for substance abuse
is well above the national average.
354-3660.
The Commencement Center • Located behind the hospital between King Avenue and Talmadge Drive • 354-3660