Georgia Natural Wonder #100 – Athens / Clarke County (Part 4) - Music. 1,865

[Top Row Dawg]

Georgia Natural Wonder #100 – Athens / Clarke County (Part 4) - Music

We sort of left off Athens around the time of the 1940’s in our last post. I will pick that up in my wrap up #100 (Part 5) post on this Georgia Natural Wonder. But today I am tangential within a tangent deep on the Music History of Athens for GNW #100 (Part 4). I have probably spent more time on this post than any other in this series. First, the tour description issues (cutting and pasting), secondly it was hard to find old photos, and third I have posted more links than ever (Had to read them all too). I may be up to speed on psychedelic 60’s and 70’s music but I am sorely lacking in this 80’s and 90’s New Wave - Alternative music. I am doing my best to capture and communicate the vibe. If there are any supplements to add (Keef - Johnny Bee - bNe - others), please do so in reply so I can add to the Forum re-post for posterity. The city is dominated by a pervasive student culture and music scene centered on downtown Athens, next to the University of Georgia's North Campus. Major music acts associated with Athens include numerous alternative rock bands such as

R.E.M.,



The B-52's,



Widespread Panic,



And Drive By Truckers.



The music of Athens, Georgia, includes a wide variety of popular music and was an important part of the early evolution of alternative rock and new wave. The city is well known as the home of chart-topping bands like R.E.M. and The B-52s, and several long-time indie /rock hip-hop groups.



The Athens music scene grew in the early 1970s and later during the 1980s with the Georgia Theatre and 40 Watt Club as the aforementioned bands scored breakout hits.



To see early footage of the Athens music scene and for further commentary, watch the 1987 film Athens GA: Inside /Out, available for purchase at the Athens Welcome Center and athensmusic.net.



OK - This took forever but this is a labor of love. The Athens Visitor Center and Flagpole Magazine provides a Music History Tour, I have copied and pasted excepts here.

300 N. Thomas Street:


300 North Thomas is Classic Center today.

In the early 1980’s, in the present day location of The Classic Center was Sparky’s, a seafood establishment featuring local musical acts and the Athens Folk Music and Dance Society’s “Hoot”. In the Classic Center’s loading dock area on Hancock Avenue, was a popular dance oriented college club called the Madhatter. It had a large back room, drawing sizeable crowds for national touring acts, such as the Blasters, Jerry Lee Lewis, and R.E.M., as they gained fame and required larger concert halls.



Across Hancock Avenue, the Rockfish Palace was originally established in 1987 by local musician Brian Cook (of Time Toy) as a small dive for rock, blues, and punk bands. The joint had a small bar, small stage, and an open-air backstage. The venue became more of an established club by the time J.R. Green took over in 1988. The club closed in the early ‘90s and was reopened as a popular dance club/ cabaret Boneshakers before being demolished in 2006. Today, the Classic Center is northeast Georgia's regional convention center and performing arts theater. More than 350,000 people from the Southeast attend over 800 events annually
.

The legendary Bar-B-Q Killers at the Rockfish Palace in Athens, Ga circa 1988 or so.

140 E. Washington Street:



Kyle Pilgrim and Duck Anderson bought the fledgling Uptown Lounge in April 1984 and gradually built it into a prime live music venue. Early on, many up-and-coming local acts considered this venue a hip alternative to the larger 40 Watt Uptown. Widespread Panic started out here in the mid ‘80s as a weekly house band. The Uptown closed at this location in early 1990.This location also housed various rock clubs and discos. The Chameleon Club (AKA the “Ham Leon”, when two letters dropped from the sign), The Shoe Box, and the Atomic Music Hall from 1990-1997. The Atomic Music Hall gained recognition as one of the more vital underground rock clubs during the mid- to -late ‘90s. The Atomic hosted local benefit gigs and ‘red neck’ punk-rock show - cases, including Trash Fest and Beef Stock.


Neutral Milk Hotel - 5/8/97 Atomic Music Hall, Athens.

Morton Theater Building



We talked about the Morton the other day on our black history tour. We know how Cab Calloway, Count Basie, and Duke Ellington played here back in the day. Members of the B-52s worked in the El Dorado (later the Bluebird) restaurant in the northwest corner of the building in the 1970s. Several Athens rock bands including the B- 52s and the Bar B Q Killer s practiced in the backrooms through the 1970s and ‘80s. A segment of the film, Athens GA: Inside/Out, featuring an REM performance was filmed in the pre restored Morton Theater. After extensive restoration in the early ‘90s, the theater reopened as a community performing arts center. It is now a popular venue for a wide variety of theatrical and musical performances, including the annual Flagpole Athens Music Awards.
.


285 W. Washington Street:



Jared Bailey and Barrie Buck moved the 40 Watt Club to its present location in the old Potters House building in April 1991, with shows by the Flat Duo Jets and a reunited Pylon. The space has decorative acoustic baffles by artist Pattiy Torno and spacious backstage dressing rooms. The club has continuously hosted a wide variety of local bands and major touring as the longest running music venue in Athens’ history.



256 W. Clayton Street:


Turn you Inside – Out

Originally known as the Coffee Club 11:11, this was the location of R.E.M.’s second show, the first show using their official name. The police raided the club during that performance, photographed drinking patrons, and closed it down for lack of a proper license. This spot was also the third and the fifth location of the 40 Watt Club. Steve Allen, who invested in the 40 Watt, moved it here in 1981. It hosted many local bands. It was a real “dive” with a small stage and dressing rooms off the front entrance. After the 40 Watt relocated to its fourth location on East Broad Street, Jared Bailey and Barrie Buck returned the 40 Watt to this location in June 1987, for incarnation number five. Housing 40 Watt Club number five, the ‘new’ club was a decent room with a small bar, small restrooms, and a solid stage. Bands loaded in from the Clayton Street entrance, with patrons entering at the rear through the “beer garden” adjacent to the parking lot. National bands played here regularly.  R.E.M. also played several unannounced shows and filmed the video for “Turn you Inside - Out” here. This incarnation of the 40 Watt closed in the summer of 1990. The venue has since reopened as the ever- popular Caledonia Lounge, which continues the alternative music tradition today.



184 W. Clayton Street:

A music club and bar, The Last Resort began in 1966 down the street from three finance companies. It was said that if you were turned down by all three, the bar was your “last resort”. This pre scene bar and music club mostly featured bluegrass, folk, jazz bands and stand -up comedy, such as Steve Martin. For a time, it was owned by pioneer Athens musician Terry “Mad Dog” Melton. In 1978, the B-52 s played their fourth Athens show here – an amazing performance. Guadalcanal Diary played its first Athens show here. Under the ownership of Lynn Miller, the venue expanded to encompass the garage space next door, but the now larger music hall was unable to draw crowds to fill it. The last Resort closed in the mid ‘80s. The space was briefly occupied by a camera shop and in 1992, it was reborn as the Last Resort Grill. Today it remains an upscale restaurant.



59 W. Clayton Street:



The Georgia Bar opened in 1986 and is still going strong today. This small room, with a large main bar and killer popcorn machine, has hosted occasional local bands over the years, but is mainly a gathering place and headquarters for the music scene, where anybody can run into some body. In 2006, after Beck’s show at the Georgia Theater, he and band mates did a surprise post - concert performance ensconced in wigs at this tiny bar. The Georgia Bar is part of the “Barmuda Triangle” along with The Globe and The Road house around the corner on Lumpkin Street.


Beck at Georgia Theater.

199 N. Lumpkin Street:

A college student and townie hangout in the mid ‘80s, Abbot’s Pizza was popular for its cheap beer and pizza combo. It morphed into the beach - themed Athens Yacht Club, hosting blues and cover bands in the late ‘80s. After an extensive remodel, The Globe opened here in 1990 as a European - inspired pub, frequented by academics, internationals, musicians, and artists. The Globe remains a pub and occasionally hosts live music and film screenings upstairs. The Globe bar was voted by Esquire magazine as the third top bar in America in 2007.



215 N. Lumpkin Street:



Converted from an old movie theater to a music hall by Hap Harris and Sam Smartt, The Georgia Theatre opened on January 11, 1978 with Sea Level playing. David Allen Coe followed soon after and the Police played a memorable show here during their first American tour in 1979. The B-52s also played the Georgia Theatre that year, under the owners’ condition that they themselves pre-sell $1500 of advance tickets for the show, before letting the band play. B.B. King, Muddy Waters, and Tom Waits all played the Theatre in the early days. While Harris and Smartt were ahead of their time, it was difficult to make ends meet; they kept it alive almost three years and pulled the plug in 1980. The old hall then limped along as the Carafe & Draft, a movie theater with occasional live music, until Kyle Pilgrim and Duck Anderson re-opened it as a live music and movie venue in 1989, again named the Georgia Theatre. These partners made it a legendary music Mecca, hosting the like s of Widespread Panic, Winton Marsalis, Warren Zevon, Phish, Jorma Kaukonen, The Dave Matthews Band, Hootie and the Blowfish. A portion of the R.E.M. video for “Shiny Happy People” was filmed here. The success of the Georgia Theatre later continued under the ownership of Wilmot Green. Following his tasteful improvements to the building, a fire all but destroyed the old land - mark on June 6, 2009, burning the interior and leaving only the exterior At Deco walls intact.



Home of the Athens YMCA from 1889 until 1919, the original building on this site became a music store, movie house, hotel, Masonic Temple, furniture company and Sears Roebuck store before being replaced by the Elite Theatre in 1935. Except for a brief period as a Methodist church, this theatre – later renamed the Georgia Theatre – has served as a significant performance venue for emerging and established musicians from Athens and beyond. Devastated by a fire on June 19th, 2009, this historic concert hall has been rebuilt as a labor of love with reverence for the creative spirit that Athens has long embraced. With special thanks to the people of Athens and all who worked so diligently to restore her and make her better, the Georgia Theatre stands proudly reborn.



140 E. Clayton Street:



In 1988, within a small basement storage space below a down - town sidewalk, local musicians Jim Stacey, Dave Levitt, Beth Hale, Mindy Jacques and Chris De Barr opened The Downstairs as a café with an eclectic schedule of live music. By day, patrons were free to pick records from a bin to play on the turntable; by night, local and national acts were normal fare. It closed and, after extensive renovations, re-opened as DT’s Down Under, a more mainstream music venue featuring folk, rock, and jazz acts. It has since been reinvented, but the space remains a bar with live music.



171 College Avenue:


Pylon plays the original 40 Watt.

Above The Grill restaurant, the third floor of this historic building is the location of the original 40 Watt Club. In 1978, Pylon drummer Curtis Crowe hosted a Halloween party in a small room on its third floor. Pylon held its debut show here in February 1979. It was dimly lit, with a single 40-watt light bulb. Noting its minimalist lighting, a guest coined the moniker “40-watt club” and the name of the legendary venue was born.



100 College Avenue:



On the second floor of this building at the east corner of Broad and College (currently Starbucks), Curtis Crowe and Paul Scales opened the second 40 Watt Club East in May of 1980. The Side Effects performed the first night and Love Tractor performed soon after. Patrons entered on the College Avenue side (sometimes through the sandwich shop) and paid a small cover charge to see up -and -coming local bands and New York acts. The club had a small P.A. system and no air conditioning. R.E.M. played a few early gigs here throughout 1980.



382 E. Broad Street:


40 Watt location on Broad according to Wikipedia.

On the south side of Broad was the location of the fourth 40 Watt Club, billed as “The 40 Watt Club Up town.” Doug Hoescht opened the club here on April 22, 1983, which he managed and booked. Far more ‘upscale’ than the previous spots, this 40 Watt soon became the largest club in town. It was a ‘helluva’ club through the mid ‘80 s. Club employees Jared Bailey and Barrie Buck continued as managers after Hoescht suddenly left town. This location closed in March of 1987.


You can get on roof of current 40 Watt. With the Booty Boyz.

286 Oconee Street:


Iggy Stooge!

This large warehouse space served in the early ‘70s as the B&L Warehouse, as cheap-beer/student- oriented watering hole that hosted rock & roll cover bands in a cavernous room. The B&L gradually evolved into a big music club around 1981 and turned into the I&I Club in 1982, after Tyrones burned down. Iggy Pop played a show that year. The entrance was up a long staircase at the back of the building. Pylon practiced upstairs and performed all - age shows here in 1981 and ‘82. After a short comeback as Buckhead Beach, it was later used as a band practice space, artists’ studios, and a keg - party room. After substantial renovations, it now houses the University of Georgia’s Division of Public Affairs and Police Department, in what is named the Hodgson Oil Building, recalling its original use as a cottonseed oil company.

 



394 Oconee Street:



Bill Berry, Pete Buck, Mike Mills, and Michael Stipe of R.E.M. practiced here in the old St. Mary’ s Episcopal Church (“The Church”), where they played their  first-ever gig at Kathleen O’Brien’s birthday party on Saturday, April 5, 1980 (the Side Effects Opened).



Only “The Steeple” remains, as the church was torn down in 1990 to make way for the adjacent condominium


Will have to take a current photo my upcoming trip to Athens and beyond.

393 Oconee Street:

Across the street from the R.E.M./ St  Mary’s Steeple was Stitchcraft, a sewing factory, now the parking lot of Waterford Place Condominiums at the Oconee River.


Waterford Place today.

The large industrial complex had spaces that were cheaply rented by artists and musicians. Throughout the early and mid -1980’s Paul Thomas (of X-Ray Café) and Chris DeBarr (of Downstairs Cafe) arranged several shows each month in a large boiler room that was first adapted as Pat Goslee’s art studio. The unofficial club became known as Lunch Paper. Bands played in this cinder- block sunken room, under high ceilings with large industrial windows and an outdoor space, where large crowds watched from outside. No bar, no rest rooms. Couches came and went. BYOB. Poet Allen Ginsberg spoke here. R.E.M. also performed the song “I’ve Got You Babe” for the film Just Like a Movie at Stitchcraft. Other rooms in the building were rented as practice spaces (and sometimes residences) for many local bands. The Primates’ practice space is well-remembered for their outrageous Halloween parties

Trestle in Dudley Park:



Along the Oconee River Greenway in Dudley Park, stands what is left of an old railroad trestle that was featured on the back cover of R.E.M.’s 1983 debut album Murmur . With the international success of R.E.M., the trestle’s iconic image has been known all over the world since the early 1980’s. In 2000, CSX Railway began demolition of the trestle. After world-wide outcry, the destruction was soon halted by a memo of (then) Mayor Doc Eldridge and with the subsequent purchase of the Murmur trestle by the local government to prevent its demolition. Efforts have since been underway to convert the old railway for adaptive reuse in the Rails- to-Trails program, which turns abandoned railroads and into natural trails for biking and walking.



1016 E. Broad Street:



At the Oconee River, downhill from Athens’ commercial downtown, Weaver D’s Fine Foods serves up traditional soul food . R. E.M. used proprietor Dexter Weaver’s slogan “Automatic for the People” (featured on the restaurant’s sign) as the title of its 1992 album. You can still enjoy a meat - ‘n - 3 southern spread at this favorite local eatery.



Corner of Foundry Street & E. Broad Street:



At this northeast corner, where a grassy lot now meets the eye, was Tyrone’s O.C., a fertile hotbed of underground activity in the burgeoning music scene. It succeeded the old Chameleon (“O.C.”) night club in late 1978. Pylon made its club debut here, while R.E.M. played many early shows (2 –night weekends, monthly). The club was beginning to gain an international reputation when it burned down in January 1982.



[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbLJAoW0-dg[/video]

Oconee Hill Cemetery:



100 acres of one of the more scenic landscapes in North Georgia. An excellent example of the fashionable natural landscape cemetery movement, this mid - 19th Century cemetery is the resting place of many of the founders of Athens, as well as the B- 52's Ricky Wilson, Widespread Panic’s Michael Houser, and Vic Chesnut. In the early 1980's, Athens downtown bars closed at 1 a.m. on Friday, and Midnight on Saturdays. After closing time, restless members of the ‘scene’ would find themselves wandering around Oconee Cemetery. R.E.M.'s song "Stumble" tells the story of one such excursion.



Sanford Drive at Hooper Street:



UGA Memorial Hall was built to commemorate students and faculty lost in WWI, Memorial Hall’s ballroom space hosted fraternity mixers, concerts, and comedic groups, such as Warren Zevon, the B-5 2’s, Andy Kaufman,and Second City Comedy. The University of Georgia’s student-run college radio station, WUOG, began operations on the top floor in 1972.

Off Lumpkin Street & University Court:


Dawgs after Dark 2012.

UGA Legion Field. Spanning the early 1980’s to 2000, the University of Georgia hosted free concerts in the summer. Bands such as Asleep at the Wheel, Los Lobos, the Blasters, the Gang of Four, Wet Willie, Pearl Jam, and the Chickasaw Mudd Puppies played these university -funded gigs. An over flow crowd of 12,000 people attended an R.E.M. show in this grassy, dusty field. For four years beginning in 1979 the Student / Human Rights Festivals were held at Legion Field.



Smith Street:



Stegeman Coliseum, constructed by UGA’s Ag Department in the 1960s, was home to rodeos, basketball, and music concerts such as Neil Young, Frank Zappa, Kenny Rogers, Bob Dylan, Ike & Tina Turner, Seals & Crofts, Boston, Atlanta Rhythm Section, Yes, Marshall Tucker Band and the B-52’s, to name a few. It was THE place to see national acts since the 1970s.



37 Hoyt Street:



An old railroad freight depot called The Station, on Hoyt Street between Dougherty Street and College Avenue, was occupied by several bars, music venues, discos and cafes through the 1970 s and ‘80 s. TK Hardy’s Saloon, located on the south end, opened in 1971 and hosted various classic rock and country band s into the late ‘80s. At this location in 1975, Locomotion was a short- lived, high- minded coffee house and screening room. A jam session held there spawned a noise band called Night Soil that evolved into the Zambo Flirts with Ricky Wilson and Keith Strickland, later of B-52s fame. In the late ‘80s and ‘90s, the Flying Buffalo hosted a weekly series of acoustic shows by local performers. The Grit opened as a tiny restaurant/coffee house/performance space/hangout in 1986 and hosted many underground acts. The annual, excuse to drink beer “Stationfest” featured a plethora of local rock bands through the early ‘90s. Hoyt Street North booked indi -rock and punk bands in the early ‘90s. The freight depot building burned down in 1996. The passenger depot in this historic railroad area is now home of the Athens Community Council on Aging.



653 N. Milledge Avenue:



In this house on February 14, 1977, the B-5 2' s played their very first show, which many say is the beginning of the currently internationally famous music scene . Even though music had been made for years in Athens, it was the B-5 2's who made the world wonder what was going on in this sleepy little college town .Non-musician locals were soon motivated to pick up instruments, just to see what they could create.



Dawgsong Addendum, This day in Georgia Music history.

45 years ago today (2-14-1977), a band based in Athens, Georgia finally took the big step they’d been working toward since the previous October and played their first live show…and, no, we’re not talking about R.E.M.



The B-52’s legend goes like this: in October 1976, Fred Schneider, Kate Pierson, Keith Strickland, Cindy Wilson, and her brother, Ricky Wilson, shared a Flaming Volcano at a Chinese restaurant in Athens, GA and soon found themselves in the midst of a jam session. Blame it on the alcohol or the camaraderie, but the end result remains the same: The B-52’s were formed, their name taken from a type of beehive hairdo, which had taken its name because it resembled the nose cone of the aircraft known as the B-52.



Mind you, it took a few months for the newly-minted fivesome to get themselves together enough to perform a real concert, and when they did, it was at a Valentine’s Day party for their friends, so it’s not as though it was at a paying venue or anything, but it hardly matters: by the end of their performance, they’d proved themselves to be a real band. In short order, they were playing around the area, and by 1978 they’d recorded and released their first single, “Rock Lobster,” which turned them into cult sensations.



Where was the show? A group of about 15 or 20 UGA art students gathered in their most fabulous thrift-store finds at Julia Stimpson and Gray Lippett’s house at the corner of Prince and Milledge Avenues, across the street from the Dunkin’ Donuts’ to listen to The B-52’s play their first show.

1294 Prince Avenue (vacant lot):



In the heart of the Normaltown neighborhood, Allen’s Hamburgers opened in 1955, where there is now a vacant lot. Through the years, they occasionally hosted local talent alongside their regular fare of hamburgers, fries, and cold beer. The Normaltown Flyers were a popular band that began playing regular Gigs there in the 1970 s and, with a few personnel changes, are still going strong. This was long before Athens bands like Pylon, The B-52 s, and R.E.M. got their start downtown. Many Athens musicians were regulars at Allen’s, and they are still making good music today. The old Allen’s remained a favorite local dive, with a stream of steady shows until long - time owner Danny Self died in 2002. Under new management it remained open, but closed on Dec 31, 2003 and was town down soon after. Allen’s lives on in the B-5 2s’ “Deadbeat Club”, a paean to their early days in Athens. Under new ownership, the food, music, and remnants of the old décor survive in Allen’s new location at 810 Hawthorne Avenue.





Other notable bands in Athens were

Dreams So Real,



Vigilantes of Love,



Matthew Sweet,



The Method Actors,


Little figures album.

Love Tractor,



Pylon,


Pylon on stage 1981

Flat Duo Jets,



The Primates,



Modern Skirts,



The Whigs,



and Corey Smith.



National acts that have come out of Athens include:

Reptar,



Danger Mouse,



Alternative duo Jucifer,





Servotron,



Vic Chesnutt,



Neutral Milk Hotel,



Bar-B-Q Killers



Elf Power,



Lera Lynn,



The Sunshine Fix,



Colt Ford,



Brantley Gilbert,



Harvey Milk,



The Olivia Tremor Control,



of Montreal,



Perpetual Groove,



Five Eight,



Dead Confederate,



Thayer Sarrano,



Jet by Day,



Mothers,



R.E.M. members Michael Stipe, Mike Mills and Peter Buck still maintain residences in Athens.


Stipe, Mills, Buck.

Every summer since 1996 the city has hosted AthFest, a nonprofit music and arts festival in the downtown area.

 

 

Whew an Athens Music tangent gone out of bounds. Our Georgia Natural Wonder gals for today.



JC-DAWG83 replied to the original post and I want to add as a permanent addendum.....

I work with Hap Harris, the former owner of the Georgia Theater. He has some great stories about owning and operating the Georgia Theater. It was a complete financial failure and he had to come back home to Augusta pretty well penniless and in debt but he had a good time for a little while. He is still something of an old hippie at heart and still loves music.

Funny story about Hap; he spent 7 years as an undergrad at Georgia, he had enough credit hours to earn more than two degrees when he finally graduated. He went in 1969 and kept taking classes and staying enrolled to avoid the draft until the Vietnam war was over and the draft ended in 1975.

Leotis tells us the night UGA upset top ten Clemson in 1991 that.........

Nirvana played the 40 Watt less than a week before the video for Smells Like Teen Spirit was released.