ATHENS 441: Taking The Local Sound Worldwide
H A 4- U r\ r-i c —It's more than J ust 3 highway now."
r\ Ll IV- I ID Conceived by Jack Reeves, a Greene County
resident and Athens music enthusiast, the Athens 441 concert will
bring the Athens music scene to the people via radio broadcasts
that will reach all over the world.
"There's an estimated 300 bands in Athens-Clarke County, the
smallest of Georgia's 159 counties That's
quite a reputation," says Reeves. "From
the beginning of this initiative, I
believed that this reputation should
be and could be exploited to the
advantage of talented musicians,
to advance the arts and to ben
efit the Athens/UGA commu
nity. Our goal is to accomplish
this by producing Athens 441
and to nationally market it to
radio stations."
Reeves came up with the
idea one Saturday afternoon
while listening to his future
collaborator on WUGA, the
Athens public radio station.
"I got the idea about three
months ago when I was listening to
JoE Silva's 'Just Off the Radar,"
Reeves says. Silva was talking about
Rolling Stone naming Athens the number
one college music town in America.
Silva's "Off the Radar" is "bent on exposing
listeners to the most expansive range of modern
pop music possible... more of a curated 59 minutes of
music than anything else. It's similar to one of those well
loved compilation tapes that you used to give/receive when you
had more time in your life," according to the WUGA website. When
approached by Reeves about the Athens 441 project, Silva saw the
live broadcast as a way to take what he has been doing with "Just
Off the Radar" and bring it to a wider audience.
Now that the two had a concept and were ready to work on it,
they needed a name. After some brainstorming, Silva came up with
the name "Athens 441."
"A lot of bands, [Highway 441]'s their main way through town,"
he says. "Also, 44.1 is the sampling rate for CDs."
"After we decided on [the name], I did some research on
Highway 441," Reeves says. "It is rich in Americana. It was begun
in 1926, the first highway to connect Canada with Florida,—all the
way to Miami—and it runs through Athens on its path down south."
As the project began to solidify,
Reeves and Silva enlisted the aid of
WUGA program manager Davin Welter
and the Morton Theatre. When asked
for the reason why he chose the
Morton Theatre as the proper
venue for such a concept, Reeves
gives several reasons. .
"Because of its size, floor
plan, charm and history," he
says. "I will add Bob Herman.
He is a valued asset to the
Athens art community. He and
his staff are exceptional. And
because the Morton Theatre is
America's first black-built,
owned and operated vaudeville
theater. That adds a novel element
to the venue."
"[The Morton's] just kind of a
natural choice," Silva says. 'The city
supports it and it's got a lot of history
behind it. It's just a fit. It's a beautiful
location."
Herman feels the same way about collaborating
with Silva and Reeves on the Athens 441 project.
"1 he size of the venue makes these kinds of concerts
more intimate," he says. "[The Morton] really looks for people who
have a clear idea about what they want to create and the enthu
siasm to carry it out. We always look to create partnerships or fill
voids in the arts community."
Local acts Green Lawns, Madeline and Tenderness will all perform
along with former Soft Boys member Robyn Hitchcock and Los
Angeles' A Dengue Fever, a group Silva describes as having "loungy
sort of Bollywood sound." According to Silva, each band will play for
roughly 20 minutes and the performance will be recorded for later
broadcasting over the radio.
"Doing radio adds another dimension of complexity to a produc
tion/concert," Reeves says. "We have to obtain a broadcast-quality
recording of the performance, which will be at least two .hours. This
is professionally edited to one hour. Then the broadcast has to be
duplicated and sent to subscribing radio stations. Georgia Public
Radio's 15 stations will air the program in October. The stations'
signal is received in five surrounding states. I've marketed Athens
441 to college radio stations in the United States, Canada and
abroad. To date, around 20 stations from coast to coast, in-between
and across Canada have requested Athens 441."
While part of the show may be geared toward recording, Athens
441 is still a live concert Silva and Herman both see the shows at
the Morton as a chance for people who don't get to see live music
very often to experience the best of the scene.
"A lot of people want to see music in this town but they can't
stay up until 12," Silva says. 'This is a way that people can go to a
show and still make it to bed at a decent hour."
Depending on Thursday night's performance, the Athens 441
crew hopes to get up enough funding through grants and the com
munity so they can turn Athens 441 into a weekly event in 2004. All
three men involved expressed a hope that in the future, Athens 441
could be marketed and sold worldwide, sharing the Athens music
scene with millions of people who wouldn't have a chance to hear
this music any other way. According to Silva, one nation, in partic
ular has already jumped on board.
'There's this sort of hip radio station in Taiwan for teenagers
that wanted to play us, so I guess we're gonna be broadcast in
Taiwan."
Kyle Wehrend
r
L
WHAT: Athens 441 with Madeline, Tenderness, Green
Lawns, Robyn Hitchcock, Dengue Fever
WHERE: Morton Theatre
WHEN: Thursday, October 9,7:30 p.m.
HOW MUCH: $5
COME WATCH THE DAWGS TAKE A BITE OUT OF TENNESSEE
>A % 10<t WINGS 8. $1.50 PINTS OF MILLER LITE
DpenY Y 6
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MONDAY
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Jack, Jim /
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/jSs, (706)227-2127
^AY : THURS^
Athens’ best I COME GET
h *PPy S°o U o r i BOMBED!
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Prices All Day!
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Help us celebrate our 11th Anniversary!
Stop by our Party in the Field
Saturday, October 11th from noon to 5 p.m.
Free food and beverages, live old-time music, and children's
and other activities in conjunction with BikeAthens Tour de
Sprawl 2003. Look for storewide Anniversary Specials
, between October llth and I9th
Daily Groceries Co-op • 523 Prince Avenue (corner of Prince & Pope)
Call us at 706-548-1732 or e-mail us at eatdaily@bellsouth.net
8am-l Opm weekdays • 9am-10pm weekends
OCTOBER 8, 2003 • FLAGPOLE.COM 25
