About Flagpole. (Athens, Ga.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (June 22, 2011)
MUSIC NEWS AND GOSSIP This week I want to start out by welcoming all visitors to Athens. I know a lot of you are in town for AthFest, although I imagine a few could have just started driving and wound up here, so please have a good time and enjoy our city and our music. Remember, too, that we locals live here year-round and we're an amenable bunch if you need help with direc tions, advice on where to eat, etc., but we'll bristle up really quickly if you start throwing around big-city attitudes. So, stay hydrated and kind, and we'll all get along just fine. Now, let's really get into it... > Sing Out Loud, Sing Out Strong: Collapse- rock band Tunabunny has a new video out for its song "(Song for My) Solar Sister" which has been a live favorite of the band's for several months. The song is featured on the group's new self-titled 7-inch single (available locally at Wuxtry) and is from its upcoming album Minima Moralia that comes out Aug. 2. Each of these releases is on Athens' HHBTM Records. The song itself is one of the band's most clearly executed pop songs and reminds me very much of the old Austin band The Reivers, but it also manages to somehow ^ deliver the mood and feel of the Athens J| music scene from way | back when. The art- 5 o studio/crowd-scene i video solidifies this. Catch the video over at www.youtube.com/ user/TheTunabunny. In other news, Tunabunny will play this Saturday night, June 25, at Cine at the HHBTM Records AthFest Showcase along with Flash to Bang Time, Eureka California, Cars Can Be Blue and Hug Abuse. For more information please see www.hhbtm.com. Beer for Breakfast: The Caledonia Lounge will host Its first ever unofficial AthFest day party on Saturday, June 25 from noon-8 p.m. The free event, dubbed "Dirty Athens," will feature Bambara, Casper & the Cookies, Co Co Ri Co, Prizmatic Spray, White Violet, Abby Go Go Turf War and others to be announced. There are also "two big surprises," but I have absolutely no idea what these are, so don't bother asking me. Check out the event's Facebook page for set times. Notably, this is Bambara's last show in Athens before the boys make the big move to Brooklyn, NY in August, so feel free to go by the show and ask them exactly what their problem is. Hull-Hounds on Your Trail: The Rick Fowler Band has a new five-song EP titled Discordia out now which thematically addresses "the destruction of the economy by major corpora tions and bankers and the resulting suffering of the poor and middle class." The heavy blues and classic rock band will perform most, if not all, of the EP during its set on the AthFest Hull Street stage at 6:30 p.m. Sunday, June 26. The EP is available at all major download merchants and at local record shops. Fowler's biography is pretty unimpeachable and those unfamiliar with his work can bone up over at www.rickfowler.com. One More Silver Dollar: The funky dudes in Athens' Tent City (the band, not the place) will match their jazz with the likeminded folks from Tuscaloosa's The Hypsys and present a tribute show to Macon, GA's favorite sons, The Allman Brothers Band, on Thursday, June 23 at the Melting Point. If this sounds like your kind of thing, visit www.reverbnation.com/ tentcity and check out the folks entrusting Duane's legacy to themselves. Artists Only: The surprise hit around my house this week is the new album by the strictly rhythm-'n'-vocals group Pretty Bird. I mean, I'm not really surprised that I like it, as I tend to aggressively go in for projects that oper ate via subtraction, but rather that it was a nice surprise to be tipped to. Titled Rules, the 15-track album is the latest release from local psychedelic/experimental collective The Birdhouse Collection which comprises Pretty Bird, Cottonmouth, Muuy Biien, Green Gerry and Kids. The whole collection plays the Caledonia Lounge on Thursday, June 30, so go dig 'em. Before you do, though, download Rules and other releases over at www. thebirdhouse.band- camp.com. All the Live Long Day: I've said before that if you dropped a stranger into Athens between spring and summer they'd think all we did here was host festivals. Even though you're all in AthFest mode this week, keep your cal endar open for the Third Annual Classic City American Music Festival. The one-day event happens Sunday, July 3 at the Melting Point and is presented by that venue, Nomad Artists and the Packway Handle Band. Featured performers include Patterson Hood, Yo Soybean, Mountain Heart, New Familiars, Seven Handle Circus, Lera Lynn, The Welfare Liners, Art Rosenbaum, Ken Will Morton, String Theory and Border Hop 5. Doors open at 1 p.m., music begins at 3 p.m., and advance tickets are $15 until June 27 when they go up to $17. Tickets at the door are $20, and UGA students can get in for $12 with a student ID. Children 12 and under get in free. For more information, please see www. meltingpointathens.com. Welcome to AppFest: If you're wondering if there was an official AthFest iPhone applica tion, well, you're in luck. This year all iPersons can have a sortable schedule, map of down town Athens, band synopses and more all in your pocket and ready to do your bidding at any time. Just head to the iTunes store and search for "AthFest" to get wired. Let's Stay Inside: The blissed-out and newly- back-in-Athens band Pacific UV has steadily released one song for free each month since February as a way of leading up to its new album, Weekends, which is due this fall. Just head to www.pacificuv.bandcamp.com and hear what you've been missing. Gordon Lamb threalsandpromises@flagpo!e.com Tunabunny LaughFest 2011 Celebrating Athens’ Burgeoning Comedy Scene M usic and stand-up comedy make natu ral allies. Stand-up possesses many of music's key elements—a good comic must pay close attention to cadence, rhythm and timing, and at its best, a stand-up routine develops into what the late George Carlin called a "verbal ballet." In fact, spoken- word performances might be stripped-down enough to compete with experimental jazz as the most avant-garde musical form—if we count the "verbal ballet" as music, that is. It makes perfect sense that stand-up com edy finally claimed its rightful place as part of AthFest last year, and this time around, LaughFest promises to be bigger, better and, most important, funnier. Many Athenians surely remember Chicago comic Dan Telfer from Patton Oswalt's two-night stand at the 40 Watt in March, mainly because Telfer put on a hell of a show. His intellectual and observational humor had the audience inter mittently unsettled and laughing uncontrollably, with jokes about every day life, a bit about 16th-century astrono mer Tycho Brahe and an extremely memorable scientific tirade about dinosaurs. Telfer is headlining LaughFest this year, supported by locals Chris Patton, Natalie Glaser, Matt Gilbert, Ed Burmila, Drew Dickerson and TJ Young. Since 2006, Young has been watching the Athens stand-up scene develop while playing an active role in its growth "I didn't see a whole lot of comedy going on in Athens," says Young. "It just didn't seem like the very little comedy that was happening was being very widely promoted." So, Young started running a monthly comedy showcase out of The Loft, an endeavor which lasted about three years. "Over the course of that time, I definitely saw a steady build of people who were more and more interested in seeing comedy," says Young. "People were almost always excited and surprised that comedy was going on... now that there's a variety of people doing it, you get a lot of different circles of friends that don't necessarily overlap, so you just get a wider audience automatically... I think it's just taking time for everybody to see that comedy is a thing that happens in Athens." Another featured performer in this year's LaughFest lineup is New York-based comic Dave Waite. Waite's style is self-deprecating, drawing on his pre-stand-up career failures and myriad misfortunes in love. He began doing comedy after taking a stand-up class in Newport, KY, and his career's been growing ever since. Young's thoughts on the efficacy of stand- up comedy classes are largely positive. "I don't think that's any better or any worse than anybody just going to an open-mic and really trying it... I was comfortable onstage already, just having done improv performance, and I took a class. I don't know that it taught me much about being onstage, but it gave me a jumping off point for how to write stand- up, in terms of how to brainstorm an idea or learning about word economy... which is just making sure that you tear your joke down to the absolute essential information that people need in order to get the punch-line." While local talent Luke Fields will host, introducing the plethora of comedians gracing the stage that evening and throwing in some of his own jokes, comedy fans will see each comic's "best seven minutes," followed by a 10-minute set by Waite, then a full hour from Telfer to close out the night. Young is excited about Athens' burgeon ing stand-up scene, and he encourages any Athenians with an interest in stand-up to join in the fun. "Just do it. I tell people this all the time. If you have any inkling to want to try it, just do it... no one ever dies from doing stand-up comedy. There are plenty of places to perform around here, and there's no time like the present." Kevin Craig WHAT: LaughFest 2011 WHERE: 40 Watt Club WHEN: Wednesday, June 22,8 p.m. HOW MUCH: $10, $5 w/ AthFest wristband V ) 12 FLAGPOLE.COM-JUNE 22, 2011
