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PHOTOS BY AMY UPHAM
AthFest 2000 Had Something for (Almost) Everybody
^^he AthFest 2000 music and arts festival kicked off with a
I loud bang and a whole lotta mischief downtown during the
1 second annual Flagpole Athens Music Awards on Thursday,
June 22 at the Morton Theatre and at the EyeBall Music Video
Showcase afterward at the 40 Watt Club.
Starting on Friday afternoon, over 30 regional artists dis-
their art at the Juried Artist Market near the Outdoor
Stage on Washington Street Danny Hoskinson took "Best Of
Show," with Jeff Arnold in second place arM honorable mention
to Heap Design, Brian Norris, Chris Hubbard, Maurice Cook and
Shari Zellers.
Friday's live music events at tire Outdoor Stage began on
time in the bright, hot sunshine, where it was all "powered by
Peavey" and fueled by Heineken among other boosters.
"As far as the Outdoor Stage and all the events nearby, l
thought it was a smashing success," said AthFest booking
chairman Troy Aubrey. "There were only few little snags behind
the scenes, like having to rent gas-powered generators and
power. I was very happy with the entertainment and the crowds.
People were well-behaved. I didn't see anything too crazy going
on."
There was music for almost everyone. (A few older Asian
tourists were spotted walking past the stage with their hands
over their ears as Athens trio
Michael slowly cranked into a
textured, emotive set of rock.)
The bizarre Karaoke of the 8-
Track Gorilla and his lovely
cohort caused a child in the
crowd to say, "Mommy, look at
that monkey... what's wrong
with him?"
On the heels of their
delightfully chaotic show at
the Morton the night before,
the three veterans of Five-
Eight continued the rough
pop-rock mayhem with a quick
set at 8:30 p.m., followed by a
strangely pleasant, hypnotic,
20-minute wall of droning
guitar-synth "noise" from
Andrew Rieger (Elf Power) and
s pedal guests out of Mach a
and Olivia Tremor Control. By
nightfall, the place was packed
and headlining band Macha
concluded the evening with a rousing, rhythmically seductive
set of mostly instrumental anthems and soundscapes.
As emcee at the Outdoor Stage, l didn’t get to partidpate in
the 16-venue Club Crawl, but according to my sources, high
lights of Friday evening's performances were: the sweaty,
crowded flicker film night, the low-key Kevn Kinney show at the
Athens Music Factory, the double-duty drumming of Brandon
McDearis playing back-to-back sets with Cafeteria and Urban
Henry at the Caledonia Lounge while wearing a cast on his
broken leg, the strange, indefatigable Koonda Hotaa & The
8eetchees experiment upstairs at Tasty World and the enthusi
astic "Songwriter in the Round" at One Love.
"Friday night and Saturday night were super," said sponsor
ship committee chair Alida Nickles. "I think all the clubs did
well, and there were a tot more people than last year. There
seemed to be a lot more people from out of town, too."
Saturday's live action kicked off at 1 p.m. at the Outdoor
Stage with solid acts like Rob Veat and his band, New Orleans
songwriter Sue Ford, singer-guitarist Pam Blanchard and her
Sunny-Side Up Band, The Eskimos' fine renditions of songs by
The Sand and Van Morrison, Soundtrack Mind playing it
smoothly as a brio, Atlanta's poppy-quirky Josh Joplin Band and
The Lures, who delivered one of their tighter, more inspired
shows of Ute. The late evening scene bounded ahead with
moving performances from such songwriters as Kemp Jones, 8ill
i
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