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An event that truly brinqs the community and
campus together. Organizations & dignitaries from
around campus and the community parade through
the streets of downtown celebrating the spirit of
Homecoming and the Classic City.
HOMECOMING PARADE
UGA Music Business Program
AthFest Panels
Are you looking for an investor for your hand?
Should you sign a major label deal?
Join un on Saturday, October 20 at I GA -s Student Learning Center
Room 101 horn 12:30 to 5:00 p.m. for an exciting FREE event.
Panel topics: “Music and Money” & “Deal or No Deal”
Panelists include:
Jeff Holl man - PruvhnrooiTi 1 nrcrtainnienf Venture Capitalist
Rasheed Mohammed - Sim trust Private Wealth Management
Rick Baker - I* ust Vice President Merrill I ynch Private Hanking
Cappriccieo Scales - SF.SAC
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Paul Diaz - free Sound Studios
Scott Freeman - Si. editor Creative Loafing / Author
Giti Khalsa - Smith Barney / formei member of Seven Man Three’’
Marcus Matthews CEO Blue Heat Games
Scott Keniley - Entertainment Attorney
George FIcward Loyola Univ / Berk lee College of Music / ArtistsHouseMusic.org
Chad Denney GM !)cgy Brink mg International
.For more information. e-mail musbusiterry.uga.edu
o, www.athfest.CDm WWW.TERRY.UGA.EDU/MUSICBUSINESS
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The (stiin Born m The use toup
hits atnens
people think they're funny. Thing is,
it's one thing to make your friends at
the bar laugh when you say a bunch
of dick jokes, but it's another thing entirely to
get onstage before an audience of strangers and
have people laugh at your dick jokes.
'The (Still) Born
In The USA Tour" will
roll through Athens
this week and feature
comedians Jonah Ray
(creator, writer and
star of The Freeloader's
Guide on Turner's www.
Superdeluxe.com), Sean
O'Connor (named one of
the New York Posts "20
Entertainers To Watch"
in 2006), Brooklyn resi
dent and UGA graduate
Andrew Wright and New
Jersey's Nick Maritato
(creator of New York's
live comedy hit Here's The Thing). Also appearing
on the bill are Atlanta's Drennen Quinn, Athens'
TJ Young and Nashville's Pull The String Players
puppet theatre.
The tour, presented by Chunklet Magazine,
is similar to the higher profile "Comedians Of
Comedy" tour in that it showcases smart, keenly
observational comedians who aren't out for the
cheapest laughs available. Also, the tour is play
ing rock clubs almost exclusively. Loosely defin
able as "alternative comedy," as unwieldy a term
as "alternative rock,"
the thing that seems to
cement the acts together
is a notable distaste for
the normal comedy club
atmosphere and industry.
Promoter Henry Owings
says, "Alternative comedy
can be a cringe-worthy
tag, but in a nutshell,
it just means stand up
that doesn't fall into the
typical 'brick wall' or 'club
comic' approach to stand
up. I think alt-comics, at
least the ones I've dealt
with, are just tired of
comedy clubs."
For his part, Young
says, "I think alterna
tive comedy is comedy
that evokes and attempts
to explore a wider range of reactions than just
laughter... Alternative comedy goes beyond
direct observations and turns a mirror back on
the audience itself... any comedian willing to
measure the merit of a performance on some
thing more than simply laughter can be called an
'alternative comedian.' That, or someone with 30
solid minutes of dick jokes."
O'Connor says, "I think alternative comedy is
just smart comedy for smart audiences."
In a town where the primary artistic expres
sion is loud rock bands, it may surprise some
that the writing process for comedy is markedly
different than the way a group of dudes will just
decide what to play and then overpower the
audience with volume. By its nature, live comedy
is much more intimate than blasting noise at
someone. When asked about how the audience
plays into this process, Wright says, "Audience
reaction is obviously a consideration when hon
ing any well-crafted dick joke, but the fun part
about stand-up is the bit doesn't have to stop
with the audience's reaction. You can react to
their reaction and get all interactive with your
reactions..."
Young speaks of it thusly, "Being more
subjective than music, the writing process for
comedy is greatly different. Generally, songs are
written and crafted and perfected and then they
are performed. I try to
start by writing what I
think is funny, not what
I think other people
might find funny... No
good comedy bit is ever
completely finished, but
rather it is constantly
evolving... into a dick
joke."
Maritato replies, "I
try not to write bits
with the audience in
mind, but you can't be
a butt-hole and not
care about the audi
ence, because they are
who really matters at shows. You need a healthy
balance."
An interesting aspect of America's current
"alternative comedy" scene is its willingness to
take high-profile jobs the counterparts of which
would be nearly unthinkable to the staunchly
independent musician. That is, whereas doing
shows on corporate broadcasts and networks
owned by huge conglomerations might be
supremely distasteful to a local band of anarcho-
punks, the limited outlets for comedy seem
similar to the outlets for
music in the 70s. That
is, participating, to some
degree, with the corpora
tions isn't selling out, per
se, it's exposing a wider
audience to one's work.
O'Connor says, "With
bands, there are so many
ways to make money:
touring and selling merch
and record deals. With
comedy, it's like, 'Well,
we should try to make
money off of comedy'.
Sometimes, it's doing
super shitty shows like
summer camps... Or it's
being on a shitty CW
show. The whole thing
with 'alternative' comedi
ans is most of us want to
do stand-up as our job, but we have to do things
like that to get some recognition so we can
become a draw at places."
Wright puts the notion into perspective:
"There's so little money in comedy at most
levels—until you get to be as funny as Carlos
Mencia—that people are forced to take whatever
jobs they can get sometimes. Comics are just try
ing to make a living. Just like Gene Simmons!"
Gordon Lamb
\
WHAT: The (Still) Born In The USA Tour
WHO: Jonah Ray, Sean O’Connor, Andrew
Wright. Nick Maritato, Drennen Quinn,
TJ Young, The Pull The String Players
WHERE: Classic Center
WHEN: Friday, October 19,9 p.m.
HOW MUCH: $8
V J
20 FLAGPOLE.COM • OCTOBER 17,2007
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