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MUSIC NEWS AND GOSSIP
Hopefully everyone is out of their feast-induced haze and ready
for the next week of Athens music news. If not, just jump in and
try to acclimate. The situation begins below...
A Vocal Majority: Listen up, Flagpole readers! We want to hear
from you about your past year in music. Take a minute to swing
by www.flagpole.com/Survey and let us know what your favorite
local albums of the past year were, and tell us about the best and •
worst shows you saw this year, as well as what you hope to see in
local music over the next year. Your thoughts and responses will
be featured in our year-end double issue. So hey, make your voice
heard!
Get On The Ball: Local bands, you know I love you, but the truth
is some of you can be notoriously lazy. So why not go ahead and
assign one bandmember to be in charge of submitting your stuff
for inclusion on next year's AthFest compilation CD, the comp
of local music put out annually to promote the summer festival.
All details are available over at www.athfest.com, but know that
submissions will be taken until Jan. 31, 2007. And they do prefer
that you at least consider submitting something previously unre
leased.
Residence. It's home to Explosions In The Sky and Mono, among
many otiier equaling compelling acts, and Maserati seems like a
perfect addition to the label's roster. Although no official release
date is set, all parties concerned seem to think it should hit some
time in early 2007.
Continental: Only kind of local these days, the band Je Suis
France has announced a release date for the long-long-long-await
ed album Afrikan Majik. According to the band, the full-length
should drop in April.
On Top Of The Rock: Carla LeFever, Athens' hardest working wom
an in show business, and her band The Rays are currently in the
studio producing a three-song demo; that's why you haven't seen
her normally ubiquitous flyers around town. The band is taking a
break from playing live shows right now. According to LeFever, the
group has cut tracks for a "sweet pop" song, a "groovy" song and
an "AC/DC-sounding song." Furthermore, the band plans to exploit
its stylistic catalog by releasing what is described as a "black/
white" album with one disc focusing on the group’s solid rock and
roll and one disc featuring pop and funk songs. LeFever's 2003
album The Path is currently available locally, and people can check
her out over at www.carlalefever.com.
Help These Dudes: Local Athens radio station WPPP 100.7 FM
(AKA Hot 100) will host a show for its own benefit on Saturday.
Dec. 2, over at Repent. The show starts at 9:30 p.m. and will fea
ture Aqualove, The Vinyl Strangers and Allison Weiss. Hot 100
is the only non-UGA affiliated, commercial-free station in Athens.
According to its website, it was created specifically for the Athens
community and to promote Athens artists. For that reason alone,
you should tune in at least once, if you haven’t already, and give
'em a chance. Lots of folks already know the scoop. Visit the sta
tion online at www.hotl007.com.
High Art: Propers are in order for contributing Flagpole writer
Hillary Brown. Her piece from our Nov. 30, 2005 issue about
R. Kelly's Trapped in the Closet DVD saga was mentioned in the
"Other Notable Essays of 2005" section in the Da Capo Best Music
Writing 2006 anthology book. The Da Capo Press series is similar
to the popular Best American anthology series, and claims to offer
"the yeai's finest writing on rock, hip hop, jazz, pop, country and
more." Now Hillary can say that her name is in a book along with
Robert Christgau, Greil Marcus and Alex Ross. Right on! For more
info, visit www.dacapopressmusicbooks.com.
Killer: Locally-based-but-world-traveling band Maserati has found
a home for its next album. Titled Inventions for the World Outside,
the release will come out on Brooklyn-based label Temporary
They Won't Last Long: Fans looking forward to Widespread Panic's
annual New Years two-day btowout at Atlanta's Philips Arena
should act fast. Mail order for tickets closed weeks ago and tickets
went on sale to the public last week. As of this writing, many were
still available, but I promise you, these shows will sell out com
pletely. The band performs on Dec. 30 and 31. Your only option at
this point is to go through Ticketmaster, but that's what happens
when you wait. Same advice goes for those eager to catch the
Drive-By Truckers and their two-night stand on Dec. 30 and 31 at
Atlanta’s Variety Playhouse.
Rumor*: Although not exactly a band to let Fleetwood Mac-style
troubles happen, there's a rumor that the local rock dogs in Brown
Frown will play their final show on New Year's Eve. No info yet on
where this will take place, but I'll keep you posted as information
comes in. Check back here fcr more.
And now, as always, I remind you to keep your news coming
in and always mention either Threats & Promises or my name in
the subject line of all emails. I hear the secrets that you keep via
email to music@flagpole.com, voicemail at 706-549-9523, ext.
203, or by post at P.O. Box 1027, Athens, GA 30603.
Gordon Lamb
Covers And Cosmetics: A benefit show for World AIDS Day is
scheduled for the fabulous 40 Watt on Friday, Dec. 1, and the
lineup is pretty great. This year's event is named "Underneath
the Covers" and features a host of local acts doing entire sets of
cover songs by specific artists. For
example. The Late B.P. Helium will
cover Paul McCartney and Wings,
Honey will cover T. Rex, The Vinyl
Strangers will do Cat Stevens and
Dark Meat is doing something so
secret no one would even tell me.
DJ Mahogany and Madeline Adams
will also perform and, somehow,
the Classic City Rollergirls will
represent as well. The whole event
is sponsored by the MAC AIDS Fund
and AIDS Athens. Advance tick
ets are 58 and available at Belk's
MAC cosmetics counter, Schoolkids
Records and Wuxtry. If you wait
until show time they'll run you 510.
More info on this event in the ABC
section.
> Schoolin' Ya: Widespread Panic
fans should take note of the show
over at the Melting Point on Friday,
Dec. 1, when Panic bassist Dave
Schools sits in with Jerry Joseph
& the Jackmormons. Schools and
Joseph have collaborated in the past Dave Schools
in the band Stockholm Syndrome,
and earlier this year toured together performing under the "Almost
Acoustic" tour banner. Joseph, Schools and drummer Brad Rosen
will mostly do Jackmormons material, but some special guests arc
expected to sit in on a couple of songs.
Unbelievable: Okay, the incredible has happened just in time for
Christmas. One of the most beloved Athens bands of the early
1990s will reunite for a show at the fabulous 40 Watt on Friday,
Dec. 15. The lovable, incredible and
altogether awesome band I'm speak
ing of is Roosevelt. Formed in 1989,
the band split originally in 1993 and
then reunited for a show in 2001
to celebrate the release of its "best
or CD. This show will feature the
original lineup of John Crain (bass),
Ballard Lesemann (drums) and
Daniel Pnjitt (guitar). It's difficult
to describe how universally liked
Roosevelt was back then, but it was
one of the few galvanizing bands of
that era. More about this will come;
for now, sample the wares at www.
myspace.com/rooseveltband.
Maybe In January?: The former ev-
erywhere-at-once local band An Epic
At Best played a rare show over
at Tasty World a couple of weeks
back and, dammit, a quick look at
the group's schedule shows nothing
Athens-related at all. The closest
these guys will play is at Lenny's
in Atlanta on Friday, Dec. 15. In
all fairness, though, they did a lot
of touring this year and maybe I
should cut them some slack. But I'm not really one for doing that,
so here's my vote for at least one more Athens show in the next
couple of months. The band's debut album There Will Be Rain is out
now on Two Sheds Music and cheapskates can sample the band
via www.myspace.com/anepicatbest.
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NOVEMBER 29,2006 • FLAGPOLE.COM 33