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pv the last three years, the annual Green Lantern Music
W V vT I Showcase has put the spotlight on some of the top
underground Athens and Atlanta bands while helping the annual
Kudzu Film Festival pay the bills and keep the projectors rolling.
Green Lantern serves as the late night entertainment for kudzu
Film Festival patrons, filmmakers, judges, staff and the general
public. For a complete schedule of the film-related events, check out
pp. 8-9 in this issue. Proceeds from Green Lantern benefit the Kudzu
Film Festival. Organized for the second year in a row by Atlanta
music aficionado Lee Smith, this year's three-day showcase looks
like a winner for sure.
"My goal is to create a show that will entertain the local music
community and also be a great regional sampler for the visiting film
people," says Smith, a freelance music writer. "I hope everyone will
come out and see the shows, because there is truly something for
everyone. I can guarantee that there will be a band that you've
probably never seen before that will truly knock you out. This year
is about a collection of exceptionally great music. I truly enjoy and
wholeheartedly endorse every act on these three nights."
Kudzu director Todd Campbell brought Smith into the festival to
help dig up some notable bands out of the local underground. Smith
was a judge at the EyeBall Music Video Showcase last year and loved
working with the Kudzu staff.
"I offered to help do last year's event and here I am again this
year," says Smith. "I like doing it because I love to see all the
bands on the bill play live."
Oct- lO
The Green Lantern Showcase kicks off on Wednesday at the 40
Watt Club starting at 9:30 p.m. with Atlanta rock band Alastor,
fronted by passionate lead singer Elizabeth Elkins. The Yum Yum
Tree (not to be confused with Claire & Bain's Maple Yum Yum) is an
Atlanta-based (by way of Texas) trio fronted by lead singer and
bassist Andy Gish—a vibrant lady whose vocal style nas been com
pared to that of PJ Harvey and Mazzy Star. The silky smooth < pH
Balance is a stylish Atlanta quintet that carefully combines elements
of acid-jazz, hip hop, groove-pop and soul fronted by singer Pam
Howe. Athens-based trio Spaceshot eschews the normal 0J route and
mixes up a potent drum'n'bass mix through drum machines,
sequencers and other instruments. Athenians best know "DJ SUX" as
Candy's Michael Lachowski—musician, DJJ and electronica enthusiast
(older Athenians know him as the lanky bassist out of Pylon!).
"ThiLj 1 0ct- n
The festivities shift up to the Flicker Theater & Bar on Thursday,
starting at 8:30 p.m. with a set from acoustic rock songwnter Kate
Simpkins, an Atlanta-based musician with a punctuated delivery.
Athens trio Martyr & Pistol is an unusual, stirring "dramatic torch-
pop" project featuring drummer Jason Emond (who spent some time
organizing a Green Lantern Showcase or two!), cellist-vocalist Kera
Schaley and guitarist Brent Van Daley. Athens' Frangipane V is an
off-kilter "folk rock" group featuring vocalist Sanni. The group mixes
in such oddball instrumentation as singing saws with a somewhat
skewed lyrical vision. Kitty Snyder is an Athens-based songstress
who regularly wows the crowd with her deeply heartfelt and well-
crafted tunes. She's set to release her second solo effort to be on
Pitch-A-Tent Records this year. Claire & Bain's Maple Yum Yum (not
to be confused with the Yum Yum Tree) features the talents of Athens
songwriters Claire Campbell and Bain Matrox—both of whom juggle
vocal duties, dulcimer, banjo, harmonica, accordion and musical saw.
PnideiLj^ (9ct-
Kitty Snyder returns to the showcase as "Master Of Ceremonies"
back at 40 Watt Club on Friday, starting at 9:30 p.m. Kicking this
evening's showcase off is Atlanta's American Dream, featuring gui
tarist David Railey. The band plays its rock with additional harp and
cello in what organizer Lee Smith calls "orchestrated chaos held
together with a knack for timeless pop melodies." Next up is
Goddess Perlman, a cabaret act from New York that is "equal narts
Bette Midler and Soupy Sales." Atlanta-based cellist and vocalist
Diana Obscura performed her very first Athens show at last year's
Green Lantern Showcase. The tall-standing brunette collaborated
with Flash To Bang Time earlier this year. It's rumored that she'll be
performing wearing only kudzu vines! Atlanta rock and roll quartet
The Moto-Litas A is a hard-hittina, no-nonsense all-girl band cele
brating the "CD Release" of its new album. For The Greater Good
(Daemon). The Litas specialize in harmonic double vocals, garagey
hi-jinx, gritty surf-guitar overtones and great big hooks. Athens'
own Flash To Bang Time returns to the showcase as a trio this year
(see story this page). The rascally performance ensemble
(Uninsured) Circus Of The Bars will be providing "incidental circus
music" and crazy antics between acts, so watch out.
Ballard Lesemann
WHAT: “Green Lantern Music Showcase”
WHERE: 40 Watt Club, Flicker Theatre & Bar
WHEN: Wednesday, October 10; Thursday, October 11;
Friday, October 12
HOW MUCH: $5 nightly
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F lash To Bang Time has been carving its
lusty signature into the delicate "art-rock"
comers of the Athens music scene for a
couple years now. The unusual group operates
almost entirely from the fringes of the scene
with a refreshingly unusual mix of sounds com
prised of dramatic and distinctive vocalizations,
cello, guitars and drums. There's not a whole lot
of worry and anxiety behind its actions and
motives; the band simply feels compelled to
experiment, compose and perform as it sees fit.
"I think we're really lucky in that we're
always trying to catch up to all the ideas we
want to take care of," states vocalist-cellist
Lynda Stipe. "We have a gazillion starts to a
gazillion different songs and ideas."
Stipe formed Flash To Bang Time (the name
refers to the lag between a flash of lightning
and the bang of thunder) gradually out of a
series of songwriting sessions. After playing bass
in the danceable post-punk band Oh, OK in the
early '80s and putting effort into the long-run
ning art-pop group Hetch Hetchy in Athens and
Gainesville, Florida during the late '80s and early
'90s, Stipe settled back into the Athens scene a
few years back and began writing new material
on her keyboard. She wrote a batch of songs
specifically with a cello sound in mind, although
she couldn't actually play the instrument. In
1998, she finally purchased a second-hand cello,
taught herself where the notes were on the neck
and got on with putting
a new band together.
"I had specific ideas
about specific sounds,"
she says. "But I do play
the instrument all
wrong!"
Stipe initially col
laborated with mem
bers of Macha and
Empire State, but
enlisted bassist Robin
Edwards and violist
Jenny Culler alongside
drummer-guitarist
Charles Greenleaf to
form the first proper
version of the band.
The music they made
was beautifully demented chamber music: a dex
terous blend of avant-pop, ominous noise-rock
and almost-operatic vocals.
"We've been called a 'quiet* band in the local
papers, but I don't think that's accurate," says
Greenleaf.
"Yeah, we're always trying to think of ways
we can get louder sounds out of the cello," adds
Stipe. "I'm not sure we want to be 'pop,' because
we're always trying to play harcW and harder.
It's also a little difficult to dance to some
of this music"
The quartet
recorded and per
formed at small clubs
and at benefit shows
in Athens and Atlanta
through '99 and 2000,
dazzling (and some
times baffling) audi
ences and challenging
music writers to come
up with a definition for
its oddball sound. Stipe
and Greenleaf reconfig
ured the lineup with
bassist Kevin Sims and
moved ahead with vio
linist Amy Heaton and
cellist Diana Obscura.
The band's 2000 debut, Glo, is a mini-album of
clever musical activity that spirals around
through layers and textures. The uninitiated
couldn't tell whether or not Flash To Bang Time
even qualified as a proper rock band at all.
"When [local promotion companyj Team
Clermont sent that disc out, we got one
response from a radio station that simply read,
Too spooky. Not into,'" laughs Stipe.
This summer, Flash To Bang Time officially
consolidated into a something of a power-trio
with Stipe on amplified cello, Greenleaf on
drums, Sims on bass and all three on vocals.
'There's always something new going on in
the band's sound," says Sims, who steps up as
lead vocalist on much of the newest recorded
(but unreleased) material "I'll bring something
coming in from a completely different direction
and Lynda and Charles will make it work
somehow."
"Some of the songs are heavy and more hard
hitting but others are a little more sweeping and
minimal," adds Greenleaf.
"Hitting notes is one thing, but the spirit
behind it is more important," explains Stipe.
"The lyrics are very personal... a lot of the songs
can sound dark, but we know they're actually
very upbeat. Sometimes the music is dark, but
the lyrics are quite happy-sounding. Musically,
it's a nice mix... just like life."
Flash To Bang Time plans to release a new
collection of songs later this year. The band
headlines Friday night's "Green Lantern
Showcase."
Bollard Lesemann
-QGTOBER 10,-2001 FlAGPOLE-.COM -27