About Flagpole. (Athens, Ga.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 11, 2012)
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
