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We4£«»me to tl%e f5rst of &
Promises for 2012. Without getting too
about it hem's to a great year futt of new
record*. new bands and exciting, worthwh&e
events in the Athens musk scene. Mow let's
jump in... T"
Help Him Row the Boat Ashore: The award for
the first Athens musk Kkkstarter campaign of
the year goes to Patrick Morales and his The
Viking Progress project Named thus after
the two separate commercial fishing boats he
worked on during 2008—The Viking and The
Progress—Morales has an album in the can
that explores the concept of the end of the
world from various points of view. Recorded
with Surry Lyons at Pop Heart Studios, the
only thing it lacks is
mixing and mastering.
It's even got a title
already: Whistling While
the End Is Hear. Morales
has a conservative
goal of $2,500, and, of
course, the graduated
tiers of support each
bring their own particu
lar set of rewards. Them
are about three weeks
left in this campaign,
so head over to mm.
facebook. com/thevvking-
pregress and see what
you think.
Gotta Hear It: After
months of waiting to
hear Zaek Hembree's
new band. Tarnation,
it seems we're getting
dose. Although initially
taking shape while Hembree was still in Stone
Mountain freeway, the project became fully
loaded last summer. Composed of Hembree
(vocals/guitar) Taylor Norland (banjo/wash-
board) and Jack Reinhart (guitar/vocats)
at the core, the band has been augmented
by others during live shows and recording.
Notable contributors include AntiSeen's Jeff
Clayton (!) as welt as Noah Ray and Erin
Stagg from Musk Hates You. The band's debut
record. There's a fine Line Between Neck and
Break, was recorded by Mark and Vaughn
Moody (both of In the Lurch) and should
be done by March. Hembree is splitting his
time evenly these days between Athens and
Sarasota, FT. For lack of a better descriptor,
this all seems to add up to outlaw country in
the truest sense. Hembree agrees and adds,
'[There's) also a very healthy dose of 'fuck
you'-styte punk rock in there, 1 la Music Hates
You-style with acoustics and banjos. There is
a major dark element to what we do as welt...
not really any happy-go-lucky undertones...
songs about suicide, homicide, heartbreak,
alcoholism, anxiety attacks... the basics, Hal*
Although no Athens shows are planned so far,
Tarnation hopes for a record release show here
sometime this spring. Keep up to date over at
www.facebook.com/7ARNATI0Nnation.
Stand Up and Shout* Tamil Murphy-Hall
(Triangle fire) has organized the “Up Your
Athens Punk Fest"—proving that some folks
still get a giggle out of punning "Athens' with
"ass'—and it's gonna happen at Utile Kings
Shuffle Club on Saturday, Jan. 21. Doors open
at 4 p.m., and tire music starts at A p.m. The
entirely local event will host performances
Patrick Morales
from Triangle Bre. fttarx. The Fact Cloak A
dagger Bating Service, The hosiers, Gripe,
Crum fhm, Rottgut Wrist Bandits, Shehehe,
Rater Was*,. Ethan Ogtetrae and fmtm Mean,
fm You It's all free, too.
Breathe In, Breathe Out Indigo Girl Amy Ray
wilt play tire Melting Paint on Wednesday,
Jan. 13. Her latest solo album, and sixth
overall will be released in February cm her
own Daemon Records imprint If you can get
past the clumsy tongue-twister of a title—
Lung of love—you can then be thankful
that it presumably beat out other potential
titles Hke, perhaps. Thyroid of Hate or fib of
Indifference. Seattle's Lindsay Fuller also per
forms this night. Please see www.meitingpoin-
tatirens.com for more
information.
A Moveable Fest* The
folks behind the rock
and roll Gypsy Farm
record label and collec
tive will run a three-day
house show Jan. 13-15.
Appropriately billed as
"3 Day House Show," tire
event will present 26
bands at three decently
well known house ven
ues in town. Find out
exact locations over at
www.gypsyfarm. net.
Featured bands include
OK Smokey Figboots,
Stiifrist The Puzzlers,
Bubbly Mommy Gun,
Timmy Tumble A
the Tumblers, Pretty
Bird, TaterZandra, The
Hamms, Sleeping Friends and more. Cross
your fingers that someone remembered to
keep the heat turned on, and go have a bail
Steal of a Deal: David Barbe's musk pro
duction dess, a course in the UGA Music
Business Program, is seeking a band or artist
who would allow the class to produce a song
for them. This project was done last year, too,
and looks to be at least a yearly occurrence.
The deal is this: submit one (1) MP3 of an
original song to the program, and, if yours
is chosen, you'll get to record that song at
Chase Park Transduction on Jan. 31. So, time
really is of tire essence. The track vriU be pro
duced by the students under tire supervision
of David Sarbe. By participating you will grant
the students tire right touse tire song for"
projects (remixes, etc.), but you wiU own the
track itself. Submit your one and only MP3 to
dbarbe@gmaiLcoin. V
Short Takes: Titans of Filth released a new EP
last month, cleverly titled Serf City, featuring a
relatively new lineup of stars from bands such
as Gemini Cricket, El HoUin and Werewolves.
Find it at www.titansoffHth-bandcamp.com...
The Corduroy Road entered The Glow Studio
to begin work on its second full-length. The
group next plays locally Mar. 23 at the Georgia
Theatre... Film Athens (the folks behind
the Sprockets Music Video Competition) is
seeking a lead graphic designer to handle the
creation of all materials related to this year's
competition. More details available at www.
filmathens.net.
Gordon Lamb {hreateandpfomises@flagpoie.com
12 FLAGPOLE.COM JANUARY 11,2012
H aving witnessed nearly 20 Republican
debates so for, tire American public is
overwhelmed by tire resultant renais
sance of rich, enlightened discourse. Like
students of Socrates, tire 2012 presidential
hopefuls pursue truth through extremely
exhaustive debate. Of course, the layperson
needs some guidance when confronted with
such a high-minded forum, and during the
21st GOP primary debate of this campaign sea
son, Athenians will witness an unprecedented
meeting of the minds: tOccupythedebate.
Local performers Ed Burmila, Jesse Rosoff,
Nate Mitchell, Caleb Synan and Chris Patton
will provide public commentary live at New
Earth Musk HaU as Fox News broadcasts its
Jan. 16 GOP debate.
"I figured we could get people to come out
and pay a little bit of attention while having
some fun in the process,* explains Patton.
Burmila teaches political science at UGA,
making him the most credentialed political
commentator slated to occupy tire debate.
Patton assures us that 'all of tire perform rs
are educated in a seme and know what they
are talking about* However, profundity is not
necessarily everyone's goat as Synan explains.
"I won't be doing a lot of in-depth come-
dk examinations of their economic policies,'
he says. TU be saying things like, 'Doesn't
Mkhelle Bachmann look tike Bat Boyr...
Personally, I only care tf it's funny. If you go
too high-brow with your satire you'll end up
losing everybody. There aren't a whole lot of
gut-busters in primal Farm. That's right Now
I'm dissing George OrweU..'
According to Synan, the format will be
somewhat like that of 'Mystery Science
Theatre 3000,' in that the commentators will
be 'making fun of an embarrassingly bad cast
of undead characters who are already funny by
themselves.'
Synan seems slightly ambivalent about
the current roster of Republican contenders,
implying that there's something tragically
amusing about them. 'Just Youtube Rick Perry
and you've got a solid hour of laughs,' says
Synan. 'Part of me is embarrassed for the
Republican voters that have to pick a candi
date out of this bunch.'
Patton claims that Perry produces the best
inadvertent comedic fodder. However, what
makes Patton laugh also stirs a bit of fear
in him; he describes Perry as 'just a charac
ter, like a dumber George Bush... and that's
scary.' Patton reluctantly chooses Ron Paul as
his 'favorite' uOP candidate, simply because
Paul 'stays really consistent in his views.'
However. Patton's discovery that Paul 'basi
cally has his own version of Mein Kampf illus
trates how Quickly one of these politicians can
go from quirky to downright frightening.
Synan is no fan of Paul either, calling him
'the craziest one of them all.'
'I took one of those bogus Internet
surveys to see who I should vote for,' says
Synan, 'and the number-one guy was Ron
Paut I wanted to throw my computer down a
flight of stairs.'
All five comks are sure to lampoon every
one behind a lectern at Roccupythedebate—
Rick Santorum's hyper-social conservatism.
Newt Gingrich's questionable past and general
unpleasantness, Mitt Romney's suspiciously
synthetic appearance and John Hunstman's...
invisibility cloak are all fair game.
'I think, really, the fact that any of these
people are even considered is a testament to
the fact that most people really don't even do
their research,' says Patton. 'So, maybe some
of these people wiU come out to this show
and that wiU snowball into them paying atten
tion to what they are actually voting for.'
Patton and Synan plan to continue hold
ing events in this format mainly focusing on
the upcoming 2012 debates and having 'some
really good talent come down and participate
in future versions.' Synan has some other
commentary-based comet i mind. 'I'd love
to do a series of bad movies,' he says, 'or
maybe one of those terrible Tyler Perry shows
orr TBS. I've always found those offensively
bad.'
The commentators want to keep the com
edy going during commercial breaks, so they're
asking for 'any question about anything" to
be sent to occupythedebate@gmaU.com.
As for the show's heavily improvisationst
element the comks feel safe "winging it'
on this one. "That's the most fun thing
about ccmedy, is the unscripted moments,'
says Patton, "for both the crowd and the
performer.'
"The Republicans have handed us the jokes
on a silver platter," adds Synan, 'and we just
have to improv a punch-line."
Kevin Craig
m^T:f£teipyth@«ate
WHERE. Itew Earth Musk HaU
