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6
I\ibsday, October 13, 2010 | The Red a Black
VENUE Lucky break allows 40 Watt to trademark name
► From Page 1
along.
Python left an old backdrop,
now hanging next to the
entrance.
Cobain left a message in a
back room for girlfriend
Courtney Love, once stolen, now
returned. The Flaming Lips left
confetti.
“Literally, we were still clean
ing it up seven years later,”
Buck said.
The most enduring mark,
perhaps, is that any of the oth
ers were left at all.
Since moving to its current,
and largest, location in 1991, 40
Watt has seen many artists on
its stage none easily defined
by one genre or target audience.
Country singers have stepped
up beneath the lights; as have
former University students
tumed- stars.
John Mayer played a gig
before his fame skyrocketed.
The first time My Morning
Jacket walked in front of the
audience, there were only 100
faces in the crowd.
“That was always the key:
have all styles, all genres," Buck
said.
Appreciating and under
standing talent-in-the-making
has been a defining trait of the
40 Watt’s lineup throughout the
years.
“There were lots of times
where we’d have only 200 peo
ple, but we knew they were
going to explode,” said Velena
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Vego, the club’s booking agent.
Variety has also been impor
tant: the idea that live music is
meant for the discerning
masses.
Tb that end, Vego pursues
and schedules without loyalty to
a particular aesthetic. Her goal,
mirrored in the history of past
performers, is simply to show
case talent.
“I’m trying to be a tastemak
er across the board,” she said.
The passing of time has
made her task easier, but no
less important.
Twenty years ago, when Vego
came to work at the 40 Watt,
there were far fewer bars and
clubs downtown.
The music scene wasn’t near
ly what it would become; and
the club’s place within it was
still being defined.
Buck had just relocated to a
thrift shop she had once fre
quented, having moved from the
building the Caledonia Lounge
would someday call home.
“It [wasj a ‘plain Jane’ build
ing. for sure,” Buck said.
She had the strain of a small
designing budget, but the luck
to have friend Curtis Crowe,
with whom the original idea for
the space had begun back in the
late-‘7os, helping her lay it out.
“I love that, him still being a
part of it after all these years,”
Buck said.
She also had the benefit of a
built-in base of customers:
those regulars who had been
going to the 40 Watt since its
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“There were a lot of
times where we’d have
only 200 people, but we
knew they were going to
explode.’”
, Velma veoo
Booking Agent kok the 40 Watt
earlier iteration on Clayton
Street and before in the ‘Bos,
when the previous owners left
amid financial trouble.
Buck, who’d graduated with
a degree in political science and
was considering law school, was
a bartender at the time; and she
decided to continue on with the
help of the club’s then-booking
agent.
"I said, ‘Why don’t we do
it?’,” Buck said.
The pair hired a lawyer, who
discovered the 40 Watt logo had
not, in fact, ever been trade
marked.
With the help of the logo’s
original artist, Buck was then
able to retain the same look and
feel when moving the venue to
the first of two new homes.
“That was the first lucky
break, I guess,” she said.
A few years later and already
they were over capacity, reach
ing crowds that surpassed the
200-person limit.
So 40 Watt moved again, into
its ex-thrift store space, and
began further building on the
_
ASH LEE CULVERHOUSC i Tn Kid * Buci
▲ Lt. Dan Choi speaks to students at a University Union event Monday
night. Choi was honorably discharged from the Army because he’s gay.
Former officer speaks out
Discharged lieutenant
devotes life to advocacy
By ADAM CARLSON
The Red & Black
Dan Choi is a face for
the cause.
Choi, who spoke to
University students
Monday night, has been a
vocal and active proponent
of repealing “Don't Ask.
Don’t Tell” - the policy
that bars open homosexu
als from serving in the U.S.
military for nearly a year
and a half, when his own
coming-out led to being
discharged.
“I found there’s a real
need to share the message
of coming out and being
yourself,” he said.
His work, including
speaking engagements
across the country, pro
testing, even a hunger
strike, has made him one
of the most public figures
in the fight against DADT.
“It has been a roller
coaster, definitely,” he said.
“It’s difficult sometimes
because you don’t know
where you’re going
because the tracks haven't
been laid yet."
Yet he believes in his
work, and in the need to
spread his message to as
many as possible.
club’s reputation, spreading the
word and reaching out to per
formers.
Even then, in the early-’9os,
Vego had an ear out —a feel for
where the sound was heading.
“I was staying away from the
hip ... cover bands, booking the
grunge bands and no one was
doing it then," she said.
College radio was exploding
and 40 Watt was there at the
blast site.
The trend would continue,
with a mix-and-match of bands
and singers coming through
over the years.
In one sense, the diversity
among them is crucial.
“That’s always been our
thing: never the same bands,
never the same clientele,” Buck
said.
However, building relation
ships among artists, their crew
and the surrounding community
is even more important it’s
kind of the whole point.
“That has really helped cre
ate the 40 Watt name,” Vego
said.
The Drive-By Truckers roll in
for three nights annually, an
event that continually sells out.
Brian Burton, a former
University student and down
town record store employee, has
made repeat appearances as
part of both Gnarls Barkley and
Broken Bells.
Kenny Chesney came once,
out of the blue, and then once
more.
“Most bands don’t just play
“I need to be at schools
because that is where kids
are getting bullied," he
said.
Additionally, motivating
the young is practically a
requirement for change.
And while he’s deter
mined to have his voice
heard, Choi is equally set
on making sure his mes
sage remains free from lib
eral or conservative bias.
He's more interested in
the political how than the
what.
Specifically he points to
the study being conducted
by the Pentagon on the
possible effects of repeal
ing DADT which, he
argues, is simply bigotry
veiled by politics.
“So to see that happen
ing is more than disap
pointing,” Choi said “It’s
disgusting. It’s morally dis
gusting.”
Moving forward, the
goal is to educate, certain
ly, but also tQ agitate if agi
tation is what's being
called for.
Central and key to this
is acceptance: not only a
broad embrace of differ
ence, but for people to
accept difference within
themselves, to end what
Choi calls “the internalized
‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”'
“My goal is to let people
know they are somebody,”
he said.
And after the gay rights
movement has moved on
from the inevitably
repealed DADT. it will be
this struggle, this battle,
which will continue on.
“That’s going to be my
life’s work at that point,"
Choi said. “And you’re only
going to get busier.”
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the 40 Watt once,” Vego said.
It’s also not just bands that
play in the venue, either: for the
past 21 years, the dragged-up
performers of the Boybutante
Ball, an event that supports
AIDS research, have been fix
tures.
Buck has also worked with
Null’s Space and the Humane
Society; she’s hosted charity
events and afternoon meetings
—but active involvement In the
Athens community comes with
the territory.
“We’re here,” she said. “We’re
a part of this town.”
Her philosophy is based on
consistency, even as the music
continues to shift and evolve.
“Just being around as long as
we have is an improvement,”
Buck said.
Two decades in and there are
no great changes coming soon.
But stability should not be con
fused with stagnation.
“Every year you wanna outdo
yourself," Vego said. “You don’t
wanna rest on your laurels.”
There have been marriage
proposals in the 40 Watt, along
with birthday parties and baby
showers.
The same space that saw
Iggy Pop has also seen The
Killers; Wilco has played the
same stage as The Cramps.
Above it all, the disco bail
still spins.
“You always wanna make
sure that when people come in,”
Buck said, “they go, ‘This is
awesome.’”
Lecture
encourages
open mind
By ALEX LAUGHLIN
Tits Red & Black
Monday night. University
students had the opportu
nity to see Lt. Dan Choi
speak about his experience
in the U.B. Army as an
openly gay man
Choi is a West Point
graduate and is fluent in
Arabic, but when he
became open about his
sexuality, he was honorably
discharged from the Army.
He now spends his time
speaking to groups to
encourage a more tolerant
atmosphere for homosexu
als, bisexuals and trans
gender people.
Choi spoke to the audi
ence about his sexuality
and of his first romantic
relationship with a man.
In his speech, he drew
parallels between the gay
rights movement and the
Civil Rights Movement of
the 19605.
He cited the deaths of
several gay teenagers in
the last year who have
committed suicide due to
peer harassment as a call
to action.
"The only remedy [to
these problems] is cour
age." Choi said. He said
people need the courage to
support someone who Is
struggling to be open about
his or her sexuality
“I wasn’t really sure of
my stance on (Don’t Ask
Don’t Tell], so it was a real
ly great opportunity to
hear the point of view from
someone who actually lived
through it,” said freshman
Caroline Schilling.