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ENDLESS SUMMER: Tickets are now on sale for the long awaited
Atlantis Music Conference, which takes place August 5-8 in
Atlanta. All your favorite venues, where Atlanta professionals go
to rock — then die — are included: the Star Bar, Variety
Playhouse, the Masquerade, and the horribly with-it Hard Rock
Cafe ("Oh my God, I just saw the fey, emotional lead singer of
Tender Idols standing next to a leather jacket that may, at some
point in time, possibly have been touched ay Chuck Negron of
Three Dog Night! Pinch me!"). A $25 ticket will get you into three
days of music at such hot spots (which will be really worthwhile,
since you just paid $20 to see many of these bands at AthFest),
while a full conference registration costs $100. What? Well, come
on, this is your future as a musician — or .sycophant — we're
talking about $100 gets you into all the shows,
panels and industry parties your
si nging-i nto-the-hai rbrus h-like-it-was-
a-microphone self could imagine ("Oh
my God, I just saw the A&R rep from
Bleeding Fist records standing next to Lhe
fey, emotional lead singer of the Tender
Idols! Punch me!"). You also get access
to an opening day Braves game, a
celebrity golf tournament, and a shuttle
service. According to event partner Mark
Willis, Atlantis is a "great opportunity to
get tapes into people's hands, go to pan
els, and make connections" — with bands
the likes of Lawrenceville's Vagrant
Justice, and Denton, Texas' Bowling for
Soup, for example. Partner Willis exudes a
tare enthusiasm comparable only to the
feeling one would be flushed with while
preparing to open a Bennigan's. or managing Stuck Mojo. This is
the third 4-day summer music festival we've had in the past
month — I could've spent upwards of $140 just to see Gwitty
Kitty, Trinket and Dayroom (twice!) in just 30 days. Shell out
your cash to Ticketmaster at (404) 249-6400, or visit
www.atlantis.com for more information.
A PARALLEL: Michael Moore's classic 1989 film Roger and Me
painfully documents the dying blue-collar town of Flint, Mich.,
and the flaming hoops the residents attempt to leap through in
order to breathe a little life into their home. At one point a few
townspeople smile into the camera, eyes glazed with fear and sad
The Heckler
Music News inn a Tabitha Soren Sty lee
by JOHN BRUT
hope, reduced to pathetic excitement over the city's first and only
escalator. They proceed to ride the miraculous contraption as
though it was a brand new bullet train, because they have noth
ing else to do, and little else to stimulate their atrophying intel
lects. Folks, get off the escalator.
JIJST THE FACTS: Guadalcanal Diary finally headed
to Charlotte's Reflectioni Studio on July 24 to mix
down recordings for a live album to be released by
the end of the year. The songs were recorded during
a January show at Smith's Olde Bar in Atlanta and
focus mostly on older material from the band's
salad days. You can catch the aging hipsters chat
ting it up with Loveapple's Kitty Snyder on 0NT\Ts
“Soundcheck" this week.
BACK TO ROCKVILLE
W ;eswmiu ■ BIM., 1-S2’S, PTI8N 6
i&mssi m limit TREMIB CONTROL
1 “ nM ““ —REVISIT ATHENS, GA
WHAT ABOUT GREG & THE GRUNTONES,
BUB? HUH? EVER HEARD OF THEM?:
Then again, I'm surprised that
there are enough bands to play
these festivals, since, according
to the August issue of Alternative
Press, there are only about five or
six bands playing in town nowadays.
The magazine's feature story "Back to
Rockville," which does a great job of documenting Athens' early
music history, drops the ball when it gets to today by focusing
only on the Elephant 6/Kindercore contingent of Athens music.
It must be tough on Olivia Tremor Control, Elf Power, Neutral
Milk HoteL The Gerbils, Music Tapes, and Kincaid — they must
play 15 shows a night, six days a week, trying to keep all these
clubs in town in business. Not that said bands don't deserve the
attention (they certainly do), but where's Vic Chesnutt, Jack
Logan, Servotron, or hell, Widespread Panic, who just drew
about 100,000 crazed hippies to this town for a free concert?
THE AUTHOR RESPONDS. "Vic's been in Athens for what 15 years?"
AP writer Dave Daley tcld Flagpole. Also: "Jack Logan? That
story was done four years ago."
And: "Widespread isn't an AP kind of band." True enough.
So what did you do while in Athens, Dave? "I went to Wuxtry, I
had a pizza dinner with [the 40 Watt's] Velena Vego, I talked to
bands." Anyone outside of the E6/Kindercore loop? "Uh, no. But
there were a lot of bands who I wanted to put in that got cut"
Like who? "Of MontreaL" Bingo. Daley, who spent four days in
Athens this past February, also claimed that he e-mailed Flagpole
Snack Packer Deb Sommer, and received a reply that recom
mended these bands as the ones to catch. Of course, Deb's neve r
been to a Kindercore show and spends most of her time drooling
after the Star Room Boys and Drive-By Truckers. "I'm the punk-
country girt' she rebutted. Kindercore co-CEO Ryan Lewis, who
was Daley's host during his visit, took the writer on a Wuxtry
shopping spree, where Daley picked up "a huge stack of local
45s." Anything good? "I don't recall right now. I can't remember
what exactly I got" Daley defends the article as a mostly retro
spective piece, and due to space constraints,
he could only choose five bands to repre
sent Athens today. Of course, while the
article laments the temporary death of a
scene where everyone was invited,
money wasn't an issue, and people just
wanted to have fun, Daley focused on
new bands that are "up and coming in
the national scene." That is, making
money, charting on CMJ and the
like.
FUNNY, I ALWAYS THOUGHT HE
SOUNDED LIKE BARRY WHITE:
Speaking of Vic Chesnutt,
perhaps you caught Noah
Adams' interview with Jared
Bailey on NPR's "All Things
Considered" last week, when
Adams lost any hint of alter-
na-cred (not that he really
cares) by saying that Chesnutt
"sounds ? lot like Jim Morrison.
Buddy, that's why you're still on
public radio.
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m FLAGPOLE JULY 22, 1998
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