Newspaper Page Text
October 21+22
Vanessa Briscoe Hay, singer of Pylon
"R.E.M. surprised me today. I thought it was Leonard
Cohen's birthday! Shopping day! The equinox! Then came the
news. My friend Maureen ran upstairs to tell me, and soon I
was checking my email and Facebook—and yes, it was true.
The R.E.M. website had crashed. That said even more.
Today the sky in Athens, GA is threatening lain at one min
ute, with sunshine pouring down the next. I have mixed feel
ings, just like that sky. Sadness on the end of an era. No more
shows or records to look forward to. Happiness that it was not
something sad that caused their demise. They chose to end
their career on their own terms. Without movement or change,
there is the true deatn.
I remember the first time that I saw them perform at the
Church for K.O.'s birthday party. (R.E.M.'s first show in April
1980.) Girls screamed and ran to the front of the stage. It was
sweaty, hot and dark. The vines were growing through the walls
of the sanctuary. Up on the stage, R.E.M. had that something
extra right away. That mysterious thing. I watched from high in
the rafters of the church as they shook it down.
They never gave it up or sold it out. Let's remember them as
one of the great bands of all time, and count ourselves lucky
to have been there, too. Thank you, R.E.M., for 31 great years.
You have made the world a better place."
William Orten Carlton, AKA Ort,
Athens icon
"The old church was crowded. Three new bands were to
debut that night... one was (or evolved into) Men in Trees;
another's name I don't remember at the moment. The third was
toying with their new name: r. e. m., in lower case, like that.
Partly for the sleep-connected thing and partly in homage to
visionary black-and-white photographer Ralph Eugene Meatyard
(1925-1972), who always signed his correspondence exactly
that way: r. e. m.
It was Kathleen O'Brien's birthday, and there were enough
kegs for the masses. I crammed myself into the crumbling
former sanctuary, plastic cup in hand and witnessed this near-
Meatyardian band's first out-in-the-open clatterings.
It was pure magic.
Somehow, they had this three-way harmony going, from
Stipe to Berry to Mills. It was celestial. They did a song, one
of their earliest originals, named "Body Count." The vocals
were like nothing I'd ever heard before... a stack of harmonies
tastier than any flapjacks ever could be.
Great, late Red & Black music writer Jimmy Ellison once
summed them up in those early days by saying: 'two-thirds
cool covers, one-third cool originals... can YOU tell the
difference?'
I could. And those originals grew to be 50/50 with covers,
then 66/34. And they became better and better. And better.
And better.
Now, 31 years later, the chapel is gone and only the steeple
remains. The band, minus Berry (who took early retirement)
has decided to hang it up, to retire.
They will never know how much of a better place they made
my life, and for so many years."
Kurt Wood, DJ
"Hearing that R.E.M. is calling it quits makes me think
back... way back, all the way back to their first ever show.
That would be in April of 1980, in the Church, which was
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MIL
V- \ *>*/*» N
FOR
BOYS AND GIRLS CLUB
of Athens
Join us on October 21st for a night
under the stars with the music of Crosby
Stills, Nash and Young by Deja vu
Table of 8 Sponsorship: $500.00 .
Includes dinner, wine, show
and silent auction
Time: 7pm
Locos Mooseyard
at 581 S. Harris Street
To sponsor your table, please contact us at 706-548-7277
3
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485 BALDWIN ST. - ( 706 J 548 3442
WWW.BUMPHCTflWEBN.C8li
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SEPTEMBER 28,2011 FLAGPOLE.COM 17
