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COLORBEARER OF ATHENS IN ALL THE WRONG PLACES

LOCALLY OWNED SINCE 1987

Sunn O)))

An Unconventional Venue for an Unconventional Band p. 19

SEPTEMBER 23, 2009 · VOL. 23 · NO. 38 · FREE

Rock Opera

See The Decemberists’ Hazards of Love While You Can p. 23

Afghanistan p. 8 · Tennis vs. Farmers? p. 10 · A Hawk and a Hacksaw p. 20 · Minus 5 p. 21

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Punch Brothers Featuring Chris Thile

At the Madison-Morgan Cultural Center October 1, 2009 8:00 PM

2009

2008 2006

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2007

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2005

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Reserved seating: $25 - $50 Tickets available online at www.mmcc-arts.org and by phone: 706-342-4743 (877-233-0598 toll free) Madison-Morgan Cultural Center • 434 S. Main St. • Madison, GA 30650 30 Miles South of Athens on Highway 441

pub notes Here and There Barbecue to Brooklyn When I was able to jump on a cheap flight recently and go see daughter Molly in Brooklyn, I stopped to think: what can I take her that she can’t get up there in New York City? The obvious answer was Paul’s Bar-B-Q. Fortunately, between my impulsive decision to go and the departure date, a weekend intervened: critical, since Paul’s is only open Saturdays and the 4th of July, and this wasn’t anywhere near Independence Day. So, the Saturday before my departure, I called ahead and reserved two pounds of meat and two quarts of stew plus sauce: mild and hot. If you know Paul’s, you know what a gustatory treat that meant. I motored down to Lexington and arrived to find that my solicitous enabler had put up the meat in two plastic containers and the stew in four, so that I could freeze it and Molly didn’t have to eat it all at once. While there, I had a friendly conversation with longtime proprietor George Paul, Jr. and also with Karen and Morgan R. “Bucky” Redwine, Jr., regular customers. It can perhaps be revealed here that Bucky, back in the day, wrote a barbecue column for the old Athens Observer under the pseudonym “Johnny Billups.”

Johnny’s number-one criterion for a barbecue joint was that it shouldn’t also be serving fish and vegetables and stuff: only barbecue and the trimmings. Paul’s certainly qualifies under those standards. Once, when “Johnny” had written a column laying down the law that you couldn’t get good barbecue in a joint that also served fried chicken, I was accosted by the proprietor of a barbecue establishment that also had chicken and vegetables and everything else on the menu. He told me to pass the word that he wanted to have a conversation with Johnny Billups, saying: “Tell that little son-of-a-bitch to come see me.” Johnny never did get by there.

Back home I froze the meat and the stew and put the sauce in freezer bags and froze it, too. By Friday at 5 a.m. I was at the Atlanta airport, going through security, and was wondering if frozen barbecue sauce constitutes a prohibited gel. My regular bag made it through fine, but when the tote with the barbecue plus some scones Molly’s mama has made for her went through, the line stopped. “Busted,” I thought, as the X-ray guy examined the bag from all angles. Watching his monitor, I had to admit that the bag looked suspicious.

I had a speech memorized that begins, “Hey, y’all: you can’t blow up an airplane with barbecue sauce, even the hot stuff.”

After careful review, he let the barbecue through, and I delivered it to Molly in Brooklyn, inflaming the growing demand in that borough for Paul’s Bar-B-Q.

Three’s a Crowd The late, great journalist Phil Sanderlin used to point out the adage that showbiz notables always die in groups of three.

I thought about Phil’s reckoning last week when the actor Patrick Swayze, so lively in Dirty Dancing, died of pancreatic cancer. Then came Mary Travers, of Peter, Paul and Mary, one of the groups providing the soundtrack to the ’60s, always playing in the backs of many minds now covered in gray hair, if any.

Driving to work the third shoe fell: the “Laugh-In” comedian Henry Gibson, who later played a strong, straight role in Robert Altman’s film Nashville. Anyway, I recently re-watched Nashville and recommend it to those who have seen it and those who haven’t. It continues to be a timely comment on politics, the music business and American society.

Big, Bad Wolf Local author and activist Grady Thrasher has been named a finalist for Grandparent of the Year by Grand Magazine in a national contest recognizing outstanding grandparents.

Thrasher, a retired securities lawyer, is the prize-winning author of children’s books such as Tim & Sally’s Vegetable Garden and Tim & Sally’s Beach Adventure (both published by local Hill Street Press). Kindly old Granpap was also, as we all know, one of the tenacious terriers behind the movement against locating the Homeland Security Department’s biological pathogen research facility here. Gramps proved to have a bite as big as his bark in that fight. Here’s hoping he doesn’t turn his energies against the threat of airborne barbecue sauce.

Pete McCommons editor@flagpole.com

THIS WEEK’S ISSUE: News & Features City Dope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Athens News and Views

Fire hydrant opening is A-okay! Also: news of the plans for the revived Georgia Theatre starts coming in.

World View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 The Afghan Follies

The Afghan “election” has given Obama the chance to save himself, and he should seize the opportunity.

Arts & Events Film Notebook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 News of Athens’ Cinema Scene

Ciné begins hosting EcoFocus Film Festival screenings the week of Oct. 2 with Earth Days.

Art Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Zig-Zag Land, Art Machines and More

John Stidham’s new paintings depict neon-hued monsters acting up in a nefarious mod realm.

COVER DESIGN by Kelly Ruberto featuring a painting by Stanley Bermudez on display at the Lyndon House Arts Center

Music

5

An Evening with Scott McCaughey & Friends 21 The Same Four Musicians, Three Different Bands Minus 5, The Baseball Project and Steve Wynn IV all on one bill.

The Decemberists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 A Fantastical Rock Opera

This may be your last chance to hear The Hazards of Love live!

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LETTERS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 CITY DOPE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 CITY PAGES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 CAPITOL IMPACT. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 WORLD VIEW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 ATHENS RISING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 TENNIS CENTER. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 FARMING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 MOVIE DOPE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 MOVIE PICKS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 FILM NOTEBOOK. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 CUCUYO. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 ART NOTES. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

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THREATS & PROMISES. . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 SUNN. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 A HAWK AND A HACKSAW. . . . . . . . . . . 20 MINUS 5. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 RECORD REVIEWS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 LAURA VEIRS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 THE DECEMBERISTS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 THE CALENDAR!. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 BULLETIN BOARD. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 ART AROUND TOWN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 COMICS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 REALITY CHECK. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 CLASSIFIEDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 EVERYDAY PEOPLE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

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CONTACT US:

EDITOR & PUBLISHER Pete McCommons ADVERTISING DIRECTOR & PUBLISHER Alicia Nickles PRODUCTION DIRECTOR Larry Tenner MANAGING EDITOR Christina Cotter ADVERTISING SALES Anita Aubrey, Melinda Edwards, Jessica Pritchard MUSIC EDITOR Michelle Gilzenrat CITY EDITOR Ben Emanuel CLASSIFIEDS, DISTRIBUTION & OFFICE MANAGER Paul Karjian AD DESIGNERS Ian Rickert, Kelly Ruberto CARTOONISTS James Allen, Cameron Bogue, Jacob Hunt, Missy Kulik, Jeremy Long, Clint McElroy, Matthew Ziemer ADOPT ME Special Agent Cindy Jerrell CONTRIBUTORS Jace Bartet, Rebecca Brantley, Hillary Brown, Tom Crawford, Gwynne Dyer, Tony Floyd, Jennifer Gibson, Jeff Gore, Chris Hassiotis, John Huie, Annie Kelley, Coy King, Gordon Lamb, Dave Marr, Cathy Mong, Julia Reid, Jordan Stepp, Drew Wheeler, Amy Whisenhunt, Kevan Williams CIRCULATION Charles Greenleaf, Harper Bridgers, Jimmy Courson, Swen Froemke, Anthony Gentilles WEB DESIGNER Ian Rickert ADVERTISING ASSISTANT Maggie Summers EDITORIAL ASSISTANT Erin Cork EDITORIAL INTERN Fabian Poth MUSIC INTERN Charlie Stafford ADVERTISING INTERNS Melanie Foster, Teresa Tamburello

VOLUME 23 ISSUE NUMBER 38

STREET ADDRESS: 112 S. Foundry St., Athens, GA 30601 MAILING ADDRESS: P.O. Box 1027, Athens, GA 30603 EDITORIAL: (706) 549-9523 ADVERTISING: (706) 549-0301 FAX: (706) 548-8981 ADVERTISING: ads@flagpole.com CALENDAR: calendar@flagpole.com COMICS: comics@flagpole.com EDITORIAL: editor@flagpole.com LETTERS: letters@flagpole.com MUSIC: music@flagpole.com WEB SITE: web@flagpole.com

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SEPTEMBER 23, 2009 · FLAGPOLE.COM

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letters PERCEPTIONS OF PALESTINE I would like to express my deep appreciation for Jeff Gore’s articles on his perceptions of Palestine during his recent sojourn there.

It is a source of amazement for myself as well that so many Americans think of Muslims as monsters, while I have found the lion’s share of them to be extraordinarily generous, friendly and kind. It is heartening to find that Mr. Gore also found the Palestinians to be so, even amid their intensely difficult circumstances.

Despite my admiration for his work, I must proceed to express displeasure with some peculiar aspects of it. Mr. Gore observes that the Palestine society evinces a much greater degree of social cohesion than does American society, and attributes this difference to the influence of Islamic teachings concerning generosity and neighborliness, which I wholeheartedly accept.

Islamic prescriptions for social well-being are a finely tuned matrix of strictures, recommendations and accommodations whose end result is the production of a social spirit of benevolence. It is not merely by acting in accord with the letter of Islamic law that people act in accord with Islam, but rather by acting with the intention of serving God through concord with that spirit which derives from the letter.

Mr. Gore finds “distasteful” certain rules and customs among the Palestinians relating to sexual behavior and propriety, yet he has not perceived that these aspects of Palestinian

CONTACT US AT P.O. BOX 1027, ATHENS, GA 30603, LETTERS@FLAGPOLE.COM OR VIA THE “TALK BACK TO US” LINK AT FLAGPOLE.COM society are fundamental to that social cohewho would rather not have to swerve around people on bikes. But, I sincerely hope others sion which he so admires.

Sexuality is not a game, nor a mere passing don’t follow KW’s actions. “If my unpredictindividual pleasure. It is the glue that binds ability on a bicycle causes you to slow down the families that make up the society. If I am and pay attention to me, then that seems to taught from a young age that sex bears the be a good thing…” Are you serious? I sure hope you’re the only one. I think everyone is weight of life and death, which after all it aware of your “right” to be on the street, but does, how likely am I to dissolve my marriage, that doesn’t mean you have to put your life my family, for the sake of some momentary or the life of others at risk, to prove some enjoyment? And when all of the families are dissolved, who will prevent broken men from kind of point. And yes there are bicyclists in Europe, but surely there are angry motorists wandering the streets seeking intoxication to as well. blot out the anguish in their souls?

The fact of the I humbly submit matter is, you are that these aspects competing with tons of social life are in BUMPERSTICKER OF THE WEEK: fact related, and that of steel out there, and as much as they if one finds the one So, how’s that “hope” and need to watch out pleasing, so he must “change” working out for you? and make room for find the other, but if you, you need to do the one is distasteful, Send your sticker sightings to letters@ the same for them. so must be the other. flagpole.com or call 706-549-9523. Thanks.

Samuel Barry It would be a shame and a tragic situation Athens if the unthinkable happened because of aggression on the road.

It also seems avoidable and unnecessary. That being said, there are plenty of reckless drivers on these streets. Honestly, I don’t know how Now that school is back in session, the some of these people get their licenses. Plus traffic can be a nightmare. It is time to be many young ones, who may not think twice safer and more respectful of each other on when swerving around a bike and being a hazthe road. Therefore I have to say your article [“Athens Rising,” Sept. 9, 2009] was extremely ard to other drivers. They need to realize that, frankly, there aren’t any roads for bikes and we irresponsible in stating that it is somehow OK have to do the best we can to get by. These for bicyclists to attempt to stand their ground are the realities of living in a small (someand behave aggressively. Perhaps I missed the whole point, or I’m just one of those jackasses what) rural area. We are all human, though,

RE: SHARING THE ROAD

and a little patience and respect can go a long way. Remember, motorists are people, too, and at risk anytime anyone is being reckless on the road.

Fernando Granados Email

OUR FRIEND, OUR FOE? This is a rebuttal to Flagpole’s recent bicycle shenanigans, submitted by the High Council of Oracles of the Athens Road Safety Education Society. We at the Society, with great shock and split infinitives, read the “Athens Rising” article on “sharing the road” (Sept. 9, 2009). While we wish to applaud Kevan “Bill” Williams and Ben “Rahmbo” Emanuel for their efforts in attempting to educate the motoring elite of this city-state, their notions were about 20 cards shy of a full deck.

We at the Society understand the pain of bicyclists: that life is a big, ooky, scary place with lots of shiny lights, confusing things and people shouting, “Get off the road, you suicidal maniac!” at the top of their lungs.

Through years of dedicated research, we have found that the best way to avoid motor vehicle un-safety on the road is to be in a motor vehicle. It should be noted that at this time, the lead researchers are currently seeking damages against us in the State of Idaho, and we are unable to cite the research specifically.

It’s online, we think… [continued at Flagpole.com] The High Council of Oracles of ARSES Athens

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open for lunch on gameday tapas • wine • martinis catering available 269 e. broad • upstairs • downtown • 706-546-5556 www.facebook.com/speakeasyathens

city dope

Saturday @ Sideways

Athens News and Views Georgia Theatre Status Report: Georgia Theatre owner Wil Greene got a good reception at a meeting of the ACC Historic Preservation Commission Sept. 16. This was simply what they call a “conceptual design review,” a newish procedure at the HPC that gives its members an early chance to see the direction in which a significant project is going and gives builders and property owners a chance to see if their plans are likely to fly. The response was positive at last week’s review, and the Theatre’s plans are exciting: in addition to rebuilding and upgrading its interior, Greene wants to add a new rooftop restaurant. With a simple menu from the folks behind White Tiger Gourmet, the place will aim to be a cool lunch spot and also a place to take a break during big shows. Greene and his architects say you’ll hardly be able to notice the roof addition from the street, and hey—they have to build a new roof anyway, so they may as well trick it out. Inside, he wants to morph the mezzanine into a little museum and make balcony upgrades too. He’s still aiming for an opening on New Year’s Eve next year (2010-2011), which will put the revived Theatre ahead of a completed parking deck on the same block if all goes according to schedule, although there will be construction-time overlap. And as it turns out, the same firm is handling both projects (!), but is working on each independently. Greene and

AthFest has “pretty much grown every year,” he said, although given the economic downturn, 2009 marketing was concentrated closer to Athens than in earlier years. Meanwhile Athens has fewer than 2,500 hotel rooms, added the CVB’s Amy Clark.

“It is an industry. That’s why we’ve sort of been discussing the need to take stock,” Clark said, and evaluate its economic impact. Savannah estimates a $46 million annual impact of arts festivals there, she said; a 1985 Athens study suggested a $25 million impact here at that time. “There really hasn’t been a precise economic impact study in the arts,” said Bailey.

“It would be a very valuable tool for the community.” But is Athens becoming too expensive a place for artists and musicians to live? “I think that’s a very good question,” Bailey said. It happened in Seattle, he said; that’s why Seattle’s musicians moved to Portland. “The music scene became a victim of its own success… Let’s hope we never get to that point.”

[John Huie]

DJRX

www.UGADJ.com

Music

Feed ’Em Back: The ACC government has just put out a website survey to solicit feedback on its Internet presence, which it is apparently planning to make improvements to at some point soon. The survey is open through Oct. 16, and “invites both internet users and non-users to participate,” according to

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H r ai Michael

St ud

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Rachel Bailey

5 Points

706.549.8074

Just a friendly reminder: don’t freak if you see ACC crews opening up fire hydrants around town. They’re just flushing the water lines. his guys hope to be back at the HPC in mid-October, and with approval there they’ll just need to get through the various hoops at the building permits office, and they should be ready to go. [Ben Emanuel] Tasty News: Word comes via the Athens Convention & Visitors Bureau (or CVB) newsletter that the Georgia Organics annual conference is coming to the Classic Center Feb. 18–20, 2010.

This is not only exciting because that conference has been growing in recent years, it also speaks well for the huge increase in sustainable farming—and the community’s interest in it—here in Athens over the last couple of years. Georgia Organics brought 1,100 people to Agnes Scott College in Decatur for this year’s conference, their communications guy, Michael Wall, tells City Dope, and the headlining speaker there was author Michael Pollan. Also, Wall reports that Hugh Acheson will serve as the executive chef of the “farmers’ feast” banquet during the conference weekend. Go Athens! [BE] Speaking of Which, Sort Of: “There should be an office of music and arts and film” in Athens to promote the arts and attract cultural tourists, AthFest Director Jared Bailey told a Federation of Neighborhoods audience last week. “Seattle has one. Austin has one.” Aside from football games, Athens’ largest crowds come here for the Twilight Criterium bike races and for AthFest. Around 60,000 people attended the AthFest music festival in June, Bailey said, while the city’s largest convention (the North Georgia Methodist conference) attracted 3,000.

an ACC press release. Print copies of the survey are available at local government offices and in downtown publication racks, or you can fill it out online by going to www.athensclarkecounty. com and looking for the button on the right. And yes, they are asking for input on the domain name generally and the whole “.com” thing, which always seemed weird for a government website. Help ’em out! [BE] ’Hood News on the Horizon: Not everyone likes infill development—not, at least, when a “McMansion” is built next door. “Five Points residents do indeed consider potential ’incompatible’ infill construction to be a real threat,” Friends of Five Points president Sara Beresford told City Dope via email recently; the neighborhood group did a survey of residents in the spring. Residents “are interested in taking part in a process to do something about it before it becomes widespread,” she added.

“McMansions” are large, imposing homes (not always on similarly large lots) that can be out of scale with their surroundings. A report on the neighborhood survey will be forwarded to the two Five Points ACC Commissioners. “Part of the process would be to come to some sort of consensus about what is generally compatible vs. incompatible,” Beresford added, “which will be hard because it’s so subjective.” One solution could be “conservation overlay districts” with requirements intended to preserve an area’s character. [JH] Ben Emanuel & John Huie

SEPTEMBER 23, 2009 · FLAGPOLE.COM

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city pages said that panhandling is “detrimental to the health of downtown and public safety” and that it “chips away at the health of the retail and hospitality business.” He worries the city loses repeat business when panhandlers confront visitors, but he’s aware of the legal complications that could follow a new ordinance.

Panhandling is still a big issue affecting “I don’t want the Girl Scouts to not be able to downtown businesses, as far as discussion at sell cookies downtown,” Heery said. He also the most recent meeting of Athens’ Hospitality admitted seeing an improvement in daytime Resource Panel can be judged. The two panhandling, which he attributed partly to the members of the Downtown Athens Business replacement of some downtown benches with Association (DABA) in attendance at the bike racks. Heery and Renee Middleton, owner Sept. 8 meeting expressed a need for stricter of East/West Bistro and the panel’s host, were enforcement of panhandling ordinances, some- the only two downtown business owners to thing they’ve wanted for a while, but county attend the meeting. law enforcement officials said free speech Every year, a new crop of students, who issues would plague a tougher ordinance and may have never encountered a panhandler, that a lack of victim cooperation is a continucomes to town, said Evan Mills, a commuing snag in prosecution efforts. nity development specialist with ACC Human Asking for money on public sidewalks is and Economic Development. Mills said stuconstitutionally protected speech, and the dents, visitors and business owners are often current ACC ordinance prohibits only “aggresunaware that alternatives to panhandling exist sive” panhandling, ACC Solicitor General C.R. for Athens’ homeless, and it might be a good Chisholm said at the meeting. Panhandlers idea to inform these groups of outreach sercan’t accost, follow or block the path of the vices such as the Homeless Day Service Center, person from whom they are soliciting money. the Sparrow’s Nest, or even the bright red The current ordinance doesn’t make any donation meters pegged around College Square time or place restrictions on panhandlers, nor that made Athens notable to national homedoes it differentiate between active and pasless rights groups. sive solicitation—a designation that could “Not all these folks are homeless,” said curtail one-on-one solicitation and keep buskMills, who appeared at the panel at the ing and sign-holding legal. request of the solicitor general.

When police make an Some panhandlers have hotel “We’ve got our aggressive panhandling arrest, rooms or sleep on couches, there is still the issue of victim marching orders.” which makes them ineligible involvement in the case. Often, for existing services. People victims are out-of-towners uninterested in should be encouraged to give in another way, returning for court dates and trials. Otherwise, through “hands up” instead of “hand outs,” victims just want to move on, Chisholm said. he said.

“It’s very difficult to do anything without Ordinances from Orlando, FL and Valdosta, a victim,” ACC Police Chief Jack Lumpkin GA were mentioned as examples for Athens, said. And a panhandling conviction is only but applying another city’s ordinance to a temporary fix—the stiffest penalties are downtown is difficult because of Athens’ six months in jail and a short-term ban from pedestrian-heavy sidewalks and café tables. downtown.

Some panelists said they liked a Tacoma, WA The HRP was formed originally in 1999, law that used similar language to the ACC spent a few years dormant, and was revived ordinance in describing aggressive panhanrecently by the solicitor general. The panel is dling but added time and place restrictions. In a roundtable where business owners, hospitalTacoma, it’s illegal to ask for money within 15 ity and tourism associations, county officials feet of an ATM or between sunset and sunrise. and other community groups can hash out But it appears any action toward a stricter public safety concerns, among other matters. ordinance won’t come soon.

Heery’s Clothes Closet owner, DABA board The problem isn’t yet on all of the commember and chair of the Athens Downtown missioners’ radar, ACC Commissioner Doug Development Authority (ADDA) Rusty Heery Lowry said, and it needs to be made a wider

Downtown Business Owners Still After Panhandling

A Survey of Panhandling Ordinances: Highlights from Other Southern Towns Orlando, FL: • When asking for money to buy your baby diapers, baby must actually exist.

• Feel free to solicit money from strangers, but do so while standing in one of seven designated blue boxes before 7 p.m. and not after.

• Non-aggressive panhandling violations can run up a $500 fine.

Chapel Hill, NC:

• At night, don’t use words or hand out notes—keep it simple with a sign.

• You can, however, rock out with your guitar case out.

Gainesville, FL: • Don’t even try it. This Florida college town, along with Orlando and Atlanta, made the National Coalition for the Homeless’ “Ten Meanest Cities” list.

Gainesville fines both panhandlers and the motorists who give them money.

• During the day, a panhandler may only make one request per person.

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FLAGPOLE.COM ∙ SEPTEMBER 23, 2009

Andre Gallant

community issue before it will attract their attention. He asked ADDA Executive Director Kathryn Lookofsky and the present DABA board members to “define what it is you want [the commission] to look at.”

“We’ve got our marching orders,” Heery said.

demolition. Such a delay might have saved the Hull-Snelling house (torn down in 2001 for a Holiday Inn parking lot), Lynn said. Typically, less than 10 buildings a year are demolished in Athens-Clarke County.

Commissioners have already passed, as a stopgap measure, a moratorium until 2010 on demolitions within the city’s National Register Andre Gallant of Historic Places historic districts. But that designation (while providing tax credits for owners who rehab buildings) does not confer the permanent protections that locally designated historic districts do. Athens has nine such locally designated districts: downtown, plus eight multi-block residential districts including Boulevard, Dearing Street, Woodlawn Avenue and Reese Street. Within them, own“Almost without exception, since tax bills ers must get approval from the Historic went out, people that are having difficulty Preservation Commission before making sig[paying them] are senior citizens,” Athensnificant exterior changes (or for demolitions, Clarke County Tax Commissioner Nancy Denson which are strongly discouraged). told several ACC Commissioners last week.

But commissioners also felt they should ACC property taxes have continually gone up, be looking ahead, rather than just putting and elderly people, especially those living out fires once demolitions are proposed. “If on Social Security, are hardest hit. Typically, there’s historic resources out there that we’re Denson told the five not doing anything commissioners on the “The administration of this about, then we probably Legislative Review need to get on the ball,” could be a nightmare.”

Committee at their Sept.

Lynn added. That could 15 meeting, an elderly mean funding a study by couple can make it on Social Security until the ACC Planning Department (costing $20– one of them dies; then instead of two checks 30,000) to determine what buildings need histo support the household, there is only one. toric protection but aren’t already protected.

Over the years, Denson told Flagpole, she has Such a study is much needed, says Amy worked out payment plans for around 1,200 Kissane of Athens-Clarke Heritage Foundation. homeowners who couldn’t pay their tax bill all “Athens has not had a county-wide survey at once. since the late ’70s,” she told Flagpole.

Committee members have discussed how to ease the burden—perhaps by reducing taxes John Huie johnphuie@gmail.com on people below a certain income, or above a certain age. Already, Clarke County has frozen school taxes, which account for 51 percent of tax bills, at 2002 levels for citizens 65 and older (they must apply for the exemption).

And Oconee County waives taxes entirely for individuals 65 and older, if their household income is under $42,320. That exemption, used by “four to five hundred” homeowners, Zakary Noles believes in truth and deliverwas passed several years ago, Oconee County ance by bicycle. It’s no wonder the word veriTax Commissioner Harriette Browning told tas, the Latin word for his favorite virtue, has been tattooed on his left wrist and is the root Flagpole. It was approved by local voters.

But reducing one citizen’s tax bill only of his business name, Veritas Bike Couriers.

Noles just might be the first bike courier means others must make up the difference, in Athens. When he’s not working as a cook county staffers have pointed out—and verifyat Mama’s Boy, he can be found at the Jittery ing income or assets can also be difficult, Joe’s Roasting Company, where coffee roaster opening the door to fraud. “The administraCharlie Mustard might ask him to deliver up to tion of this could be a nightmare,” Denson 12 pounds of ground and whole-bean coffee to told the committee. Instead of a tax reduca dorm or University of Georgia office. tion for those who qualify, she suggested, a “I started at Jittery Joe’s, doing home tax deferral (perhaps until the homeowner’s and business delivery,” Noles, who moved in death, at which time the estate could pay the January from Pinckney, MI, to Winterville, taxes) would be simpler and fairer. “A deferral says. “I might deliver to the Terry College of makes a lot of sense,” she said—and would not encourage cheating, since the taxes would Business, or Plum Creek Timber,” some miles out of town. It occurred to Mustard and Noles have to be paid eventually anyway. There that there might be a need for attorneys and is already a provision for such a deferral in other professionals to get paperwork or small state law, Denson said, but it is outdated and packages delivered around town quickly. Noles rarely used (because it applies only to properalso thinks students could benefit from his ties under $50,000 in value, which are rare). quick delivery of a term paper or forgotten or Commissioners agreed to ask local legislators to update that law, but the committee decided late paper due on the other side of campus.

Noles is good at what he does. “I can get not to “open a can of worms,” as one put it, it there faster than a car,” he says. A former by recommending local tax reductions based triathlete, he has dropped the swimming on age or income. The school district’s freeze on property taxes “had tremendous impact” on portion of the grueling competition and is concentrating on running and cycling, and its budget, Commissioner David Lynn said. will be participating in the 2009 Concord ITU And, concerned about historic properDuathlon World Championship bike race and ties being “hauled down the road,” as run Sept. 24–27 in Concord, NC. His sponsor Commissioner Kathy Hoard put it, the comis The Hub bicycle shop in Five Points. After mittee discussed instituting a 45- or 60-day that, Noles hopes his business picks up. “I’ve delay whenever a building owner wants to basically hit every business on Broad Street, tear down a building over 50 years old. That down Milledge, Five Points and Normaltown,” would give interested parties—like commishe says. “I’ve targeted every little neighborsioners (who could possibly designate the hood, delivering fliers and getting my name property as historically protected), or the ACC out there.” To contact him, call 706-202-0611.

Historic Preservation Commission, or even a developer who might be interested in saving a Cathy Mong property—a chance to consider alternatives to

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One of Maxwell’s friends, an 86-year-old veteran of World War II, was caught up in a case involving an 11-year-old girl he had met at church and was convicted of child molestation. The man’s attorney called Maxwell and asked the legislator to testify as a character witness.

Maxwell testified during the sentencing hearing that his friend was “nothing but a man of character… I’ve never heard any problems, any word, any type of discussion, nothing come out against him.”

Maxwell’s friend avoided going to prison.

The judge instead ruled he could remain at home, under house arrest, so that he could continue to take care of his ailing wife.

The judge who allowed the child molester to stay out of prison was Paulding Superior Court Judge James Osborne—a former law partner of Glenn Richardson.

Maxwell acknowledged that he voted for that sex crimes bill but now contends that it’s one of several state laws that are perhaps too tough.

“This is the whole problem with half the laws we pass, like the two-strikes law and zero tolerance in the schools,” Maxwell said, referring to a Cobb County school policy that caused a sixth-grader to be suspended because the 10-inch key chain on her Tweety Bird wallet was considered a weapon.

“I don’t particularly like the laws, no,” he said. “I think they’re too stringent. I don’t like it that we’ve taken the power to sentence away from the judges, basically. You’ve got to use common sense.”

Common sense often goes out the window when our legislators are stampeded into voting for something that seems to be a political winner. They need to be careful how they vote: as this incident shows, actions have consequences.

c

When Republicans gained control of the Georgia House after the 2004 elections, the party leadership saw a political issue they were sure would be a winner: sex offenders. At the time, there was not any particular problem with sex crimes. Georgia already had laws that imposed lengthy prison sentences on persons who molested children. There had not been any great scandals where sexual predators were set free to prey on the innocent. But in the spring of 2005, there had been a brutal slaying in Florida where a nine-year-old girl was senselessly raped and murdered by a sex offender.

“We need to review our own laws and make sure they are the toughest in the nation,” House Majority Leader Jerry Keen said. “My intent personally is to make it so onerous on those that are convicted of these offenses… they will want to move to another state.“ House Speaker Glenn Richardson agreed: ”These are sick people, and I think the public has a right to know where they are.”

The Legislature overwhelmingly passed a sex crimes bill in the 2006 session that probably is the toughest law in the nation. It made prison sentences even longer, required lifetime electronic monitoring of registered sex offenders and prohibited offenders from living anywhere near schools, churches or other places where children might gather.

As with any law passed under such political pressure, this one had some unforeseen consequences. A teenager in Douglas County who had consensual sex with a younger classmate was given a 20-year prison sentence (the state Supreme Court ruled that was cruel and unusual punishment and ordered his release).

Rep. Howard Maxwell (R-Dallas) is one of the many legislators who voted to pass these measures to get tough on sexual offenders, but his vote came back to haunt him this summer.

Tom Crawford

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SEPTEMBER 23, 2009 · FLAGPOLE.COM

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Maybe it’s the relatively thin air up on those high plateaus far more severely for admitting a mistake than for making it in that makes them foolish. First Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who the first place. would probably have won the second round in the presidential What Obama could now say if he wanted, however, is: “This election in Iran anyway, cheated massively in order to win in changes everything.” the first round and avoid a runoff. The incredible voting figures It doesn’t, really, because the war in Afghanistan has been declared by the government triggered huge demonstrations in unwinnable for years, and it was never a vital American interIran and gravely undermined the regime’s legitimacy. est. Nor was Karzai’s regime honest or competent before this Two months later, in next-door Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai election. But Obama could say that the revelation of the true did exactly the same thing. All but one of his opponents would nature of the regime that the United States is supporting has have been eliminated in the first round of voting, so his reforced him to reconsider the scale of the U.S. military commitelection as president in the second round was assured. He had ment in Afghanistan, and he could then start working his way bribed the northern warlords to deliver large blocks of votes to towards the door. him, and in the south his Pashtun ethnic roots made him the Suppose he does that, and that in a couple of years he is favoured candidate among those who dared to vote. safely out of the door. The last American and other foreign Yet in order to “win” in the first round of voting and avoid troops have gone home, leaving Karzai to his fate. What hapthat runoff, Karzai’s people indulged in brazen, systematic pens then? cheating. His men set up hundreds of fictitious polling stations This is the tricky bit, because of course we cannot know for and registered hundreds of thousands of ballots in his favour. sure. But here are some significant facts to consider.

(Some of them weren’t even folded, so The 9/11 attacks were not planned in they could never have been inserted into Afghanistan.

They were planned by alWhat Obama could now say a real ballot box.)

Qaeda operatives in Germany and Florida, Karzai’s organisers also took over and it is very unlikely that the Taliban if he wanted, however, is: 800 real voting stations and kept local government of Afghanistan had advance “This changes everything.” warning of them. citizens out while they stuffed the ballot boxes with votes for their man. In some The Taliban and al-Qaeda were not provinces, the number of votes for Karzai was 10 times greater “allies,” though they held similar views about the right way for than the total number of people who had actually shown up Muslims to live. The mainly Arab senior members of al-Qaeda and voted. But the “Independent Election Commission,” a body were in Afghanistan in 1996–2001 because they had fought dominated by Karzai loyalists, reported that Karzai got 54 peralongside the Afghans as foreign volunteers during the war cent of the votes and won in the first round. against the Soviet occupation in the 1980s. The Taliban leaders Why did he do it? Maybe it was because he knew that felt a debt of honour towards them, and gave them refuge. the Obama administration wanted him replaced, and feared The Taliban never ruled all of Afghanistan. They controlled that the United States would try to manipulate the election their own Pashtun homeland in the south and east, plus Kabul in the other direction. At any rate, the damage is done, and and some other bits, but the militias of the other ethnic Washington is now shackled for the next four years to a corrupt groups always held out in the north. and incompetent “winner” whose contempt for the electoral So why does Western political rhetoric take it for granted process and the Afghan people is manifest. that the Taliban would gain control of all of Afghanistan if At the moment, there is dismay in the Western capitals Western troops left, or that they would then allow al-Qaeda to that have sent troops to fight in Afghanistan. How can they have bases in the country again, or that they have the slightask their soldiers to die defending an illegitimate regime est desire to attack the West? whose leading lights are a crooked president, his drug-trading If Western troops did pull out of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai brother and two vice-presidents who are both former warlords would try to make a deal with the Taliban, and he might sucwith much Afghan blood on their hands? But this shameful ceed. Even if he failed, few Western interests are at stake in election is not just a disaster for Western policy. It’s also an the outcome. This outrageous parody of an election has given opportunity.

Barack Obama the political room he needs to save himself, and President Obama made a huge mistake in accepting the he should seize the opportunity.

Washington orthodoxy that the war in Afghanistan is both vital to American interests and winnable. If he doesn’t turn around Gwynne Dyer and start looking for a way out, it may destroy his administration in the end (though probably not in his first term). But the Gwynne Dyer is a London-based journalist whose articles are published in hardest thing in politics is to change course: you are punished 45 countries. Read his columns weekly at Flagpole.com/Weekly/WorldView.

athens rising What’s Up in New Development One of the ideas being thrown around for the next round of SPLOST projects concerns walkable neighborhood parks and greenspaces. One would think Athens is lacking in these small parks, especially when compared to cities like Savannah. Athens never had Savannah’s squares, but it does have triangles, especially in Five Points. Many of them function as not much more than mowed medians, but they are publicly owned and located at crossroads, and they have great potential as neighborhood parks.

Streets Meet: Hodgson-Dodd Park is the best kept of the triangular parks around town, with sculpture, benches and a flagpole. (No, a real flagpole.) This park was established around 10 years back, even though the city has held the land since the 1930s. The name refers to Lamar Dodd and Hugh Hodgson, the former chairmen of the UGA art department and music department, respectively, who also have big buildings named for them on campus, where both men in their day cast large shadows. Read the historic marker at the park for more info on this dynamic duo. The park is located where Springdale Street and Cloverhurst Avenue come together.

n

Inviting Spaces: Decker Park is the name of one of the two triangles on Milledge Circle.

From what I’ve heard, it was also donated to the city years ago, but it has no amenities, other than grass and a big tree or two.

With all the historic architecture in the area, a more attractive landscape could go a long way.

Larger Areas: There are several other parks or potential parks in the two-to-three acre range around town. Athens Regional Medical Center has landscaped its stormwater drainage areas into a nice park on Talmadge Street. The area is nicely kept up, with a little loop trail.

The signs about cameras watching you are a bit disconcerting for a park, but hospital staff do eat lunch there, and neighbors walk their dogs. This one is pretty successful. It’s also a good precedent for a maintenance scheme, if large local institutions can give back to the surrounding communities they impinge upon.

Five Acre Woods is located on Northside Drive, off North Avenue, and is an urban forest tract. The land was bought using a combination of neighborhood fundraising and SPLOST funds and placed under a conservation easement with the Athens Land Trust. Currently onsite is a short loop trail. At Boulevard and Barber Street, there’s a tract of a few acres owned by the city and said to be originally intended for a park, but never developed out.

While the tiny green triangles may not make big contributions to habitat, these remnant patches of woods around town do a better job.

What Next?: Now that we know they exist, what do we do with all these places? SPLOST is all about capital costs, so maybe grants could go out to neighborhoods that want to fix these places up. $100,000 here or there could really make these places shine, and since they’re already publicly owned, it won’t require any land costs. Neighbors could be brought in to help design each space, and

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Hodgson-Dodd Park sits invitingly at the intersection of Springdale Street and Cloverhurst Avenue.

In the Bloomfield-Midtown neighborhood, at Wilcox and Bloomfield streets, there’s a fairly large, shady triangle with a lot of potential. The neighbors think so, too, since they’ve made a few additions in the form of Adirondack chairs. I hope they keep it up and continue to make this place their own.

Beyond Five Points Oak Point Park is located in the Sunset-Holman area, at Holman Avenue and Best Drive. This little wedge of land is only denoted by a wooden sign and some daffodils, in season. A birdhouse is also onsite, doing its own small part to contribute to urban wildlife habitat. These little parks don’t just come in triangles, though. These, and another dozen just like them, are typically under an acre and sit at visible intersections.

neighborhood garden clubs or associations could take over management.

People are asking for neighborhood parks, and the good news is that they’re already right under our noses. Until some plans for these spaces emerge, folks ought to get together for some good old-fashioned guerilla gardening or kickball, badminton, or tire swings, or whatever. Each of these spaces could be a home for their neighborhoods, cluttered with folk art and managed by garden clubs. It may be that the shared act of coming together to improve these places can force paths to cross which might not otherwise, better weaving neighbors together.

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The New Tennis Center May Displace the Farmers’ Market

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NT motions are beginning to surface around proposed IAN sites for the $2.3 million tennis complex to be built ANT with local taxes. Proponents and opponents of three RIAN R AN site finalists are urged to let their thoughts be known N A I NT next scheduled public hearing from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. atRAthe A Thursday, Sept. 24, at the Athens-Clarke County Planning TA T U A N Department auditorium, 120 W. Dougherty St. A I R TA R A project is one of 33 local improvement projects The N approved GETA ANT by voters in 2005 to be funded by the Special A S AN Purpose TAR I Local Option Sales Tax. The SPLOST project statement R calls constructing a park area dedicated for year-round tenN STA for A E NT nis VEGusage U R A of approximately 18 courts, a support building, parkI for spectators, lighting and walkways.

R ing areas ETAR N T VE R U A T S late August In a site selection committee recommended the AN T AN Rbuilt center at Southeast Clarke Park, Bishop Park—both T · VE TAbe S U Apublic-owned GETA AN land—or the Athens YWCO, which is privately T VE S E IAN would entail purchasing some property. owned which AN R and ETAR T U A Those three sites were winnowed from more than 100.

ANT ST R AN

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FLAGPOLE.COM ∙ SEPTEMBER 23, 2009

“It doesn’t matter if the courts aren’t in one spot,“ he says. ”If it has the economic impact as expected, why not spread it around? The east needs an economic shot in the arm. There are three or four out-parcels in front of Wal-mart that we’d like to see developed, and a couple in front of Lowe’s.”

Lowry says if the vote were taken next week, “It would go in Southeast Clarke, on Lexington Road.”

A Choice Is Coming Commissioner Lowry’s opinion isn’t totally shared by ACC Leisure Services Director Pam Reidy, who arrived in January from southern Florida, and who served on the site selection committee.

“We already have a real strong tennis program at Bishop Park,” Reidy says. “We contract with Tennis for Life run by Stacey Venker,” who started the program in 1987. “Tennis for Life has really outgrown Bishop Park,” she says. “The new facility will not only help meet the needs of the local tennis community, but will hopefully bring regional and state tournaments as well.”

She said locating the complex at either park would displace a number of existing leisure activities, but having 11 tennis courts already in Bishop is a big plus.

At least one group, the Athens Farmers’ Market, is hoping the community that has supported and transformed the market into a dynamic Saturday morning destination the past two summers will oppose the center being built in Bishop Park, which would displace the market.

Jerry NeSmith, one of the market’s founding directors, says the not-for-profit market has become a significant cultural attraction and economic boost for organic farmers within a 26-county radius of AthensClarke County. Since its inception last summer, the market has doubled from about 20 to more than 40 vendors. It also has spread the “locally grown” concept of food consumption.

A fact-sheet distributed by the AFM states that about 1,400 adults visit the market from 8 a.m. to noon each Saturday from May through November. Each of the 37,800 adults spending $10 means that $378,000 of annual sales stays in the regional economy. The AFM pays $60 rent to the ACC Leisure Services Department each of the 27 Saturdays it is open.

“Here’s what I believe,” NeSmith Will tennis force the vegetables out of Bishop Park? says. “People who care about the farmers’ market have a chance to be heard. I don’t think many “That’s one of the greatest benefits,” she says. “When we want to have expanded tournaments, everyone is there in the community understand how important this market has become in two years. People come here to talk, listen to music. together.”

It’s a great little event.”

The downside, however, in addition to possibly losing the farmers’ market, would be elimination of the system’s only drop-in multipurpose field, located on the Sunset Drive side of the park. She also says the parking situation at Bishop needs a “hard look.”

ACC Commissioner Doug Lowry has another reason for wantThe three sites will be presented to the Mayor and ing the tennis elsewhere. “My personal belief is that the tennis Commission on Oct. 6, and if approved, one site will be complex won’t go to Bishop Park,“ Lowry says. ”It needs to go recommended by staff and committee members, possibly in to Southeast Clarke (Park). There’s more space, and it would November, with the project beginning in 2010. displace fewer people from leisure and sports activities.”

Reidy says the location still could change. “Ultimately, the Lowry says putting the complex on the Lexington Road side Mayor and Commission can do anything they want. They can of the park would do away with a Little League park and a socaccept the three or offer any others; whatever they choose to cer field that is used for Sunday soccer leagues. do.”

He says there is plenty of space for the tennis complex on But, she says, the next step is crucial. the park’s 238 acres. “We’d like to leave the Whit Davis side for “It gives us permission to get to the root of the site, to ‘passive use’ only,” Lowry says, which means activities would do a detailed examination; what is it really going to mean to wind down at dusk, which would be less intrusive. the site, to the programs there, and what is the budget for the He says the tennis complex would ignite “good economic site? Once we get to do all that, one of the sites is going to development” especially in the aging Willowood strip mall on rise to the top.”

Lexington Road.

The process has been an eye-opener for Reidy.

Lowry says putting the center in Bishop Park would “dis“Do people really have a voice here? The next public forum place 13,500 users of the park. It’s so mature; it’s got all kinds is the 24th,” she says. “I wouldn’t go through this if they of leagues using it. Plus it would change the look. It would didn’t have a voice. Never have I been in a community where turn into the tennis park.” there is a greater voice. It might make for a longer process, but Lowry argues that the existing tennis courts at Bishop it’s a fairer process.” could be upgraded, along with the pool, and the center could be built on the other side of town.

Cathy Mong

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Wild Things We were right. Like you, I heard the story about the kid who had his eye plucked out by a ferocious chicken, and the one about the little old lady who was trampled and eaten by her favorite Yorkshire, Wilbur. Upon introduction, I was trembling in my Crocs. The expected desire to pet, befriend and develop a special language with the hens and pigs was replaced with a looming paranoia that any minute nature would attack.

How else was I supposed to feel when the feeding rounds began? When we set out to feed the hens, they’d come running toward us like hungry little raptors, flocking en masse around our EZGO golf cart, moaning their creepy, deep-throated croaks. Every morning and evening we were surrounded. They’d impatiently claw at the dirt and cock their parabola-shaped heads, staring us down with

Russ could feed the pigs without getting mauled, confidently handle the hens, fix technical farm problems and hitch a trailer: but we were amateurs. We were afraid of touching the batteries that ran the pigs’ electric fence, and we didn’t dare try to run the tractor. Though our inadequacies must’ve been obvious, Russ looked upon us with confidence and allowed us to manage his farm anyway. His last piece

Annie Kelley

t’s a midsummer Friday night and I’m sitting outside surrounded by egg crates.

They are stacked in neat columns that loom like towers above my head. One by one, I reach up to lift off a crate and, like a robotic assembly-line worker, pack it up with eggs. Then I lift another crate. Then another.

Over time, my stack of crates shortens and my egg supply dwindles, and I have a little neckstretch and a sigh and take a swig of the beer that’s nestled in between my knees. Drinking on the job? Oh, hell yes.

A personal repulsion for soul-compressing office work is what landed me this job, acquired from a yearning to work outdoors and a tendency to romanticize the farm life. I emailed a handful of nearby farmers seeking part-time work, and the next thing I knew I was entrusted with the care of an animal farm for two full weeks while the owners vacationed in South Africa. Somehow, I convinced my husband that this was a rare and wonderful opportunity: test driving the farm life.

Envisioning an extended honeymoon with a chore or two on the side, we tossed our oldest clothes into a suitcase and trekked it out to Morgan County. Where? Exactly.

Fact is, my husband and I are cupcakes.

We packed three different SPFs of sunscreen, a year’s supply of mosquito repellent and an armload of books. In a wheeled suitcase. I had to borrow a pair of Crocs, the manliest shoes I now own, and my husband, well, he wears dark-rimmed glasses, plaid shirts and is studying physics. Point being, when we met Russ, the owner of Greendale Farms, and watched him wipe the chicken shit out of the hen’s watering trough with his bare hands, we simultaneously realized this wasn’t going to be a J.Crew photo shoot out in the fields.

It’s eat or be eaten down on the farm, and sometimes it’s not clear who will be eating whom. their hungry, curious eyes. It was an all too familiar scene: we had become Melanie and Mitch from The Birds.

The pigs could exhibit some frightening behavior as well. There we were, standing in their fecal encrusted mud, tolerating their loathsome smell in order to pour them fresh grain, and out of nowhere they’d attack. Twice a day we’d enter their pens, only to bear the brunt of their greedy stomachs. They’d trot up to us, cute-as-can-be with their flapping ears and ringlet tails, only to clamp their jiggling jowls on the feed bag and mercilessly rip it apart. Most days their grain ended up in the mud rather than the trough, not that it made any difference to the pigs, who like to bathe in their own urine.

of advice before leaving was to “Just do what we farmers do and figure it out.” I guess he sized my husband up as a man who knew how to use duct tape and figured we’d be okay.

Farmer Finesse It took about six full farm days for a “farmer finesse” to emerge. After a week, I no longer feared my back would crack in half when lifting the 50 lb. bag of hog feed to pour out breakfast and dinner, and I was manhandling broody hens with the austerity of a professional. Although I’m sure in appearance I resembled Tom Hanks’ marooned figure in Castaway, I am hopeful that my farm skills

acquired a certain grace. My husband, a man I used to mock for his lack of handiness, shed his nerd-like exterior and busied himself with hitching trailers and unloading feed bags. All he needed to do was hold a pitchfork, and he morphed into a stud right before my eyes.

The chores became easier, perhaps, but no less relentless. In addition to running the farm, we’d also signed up for Monday egg delivery, Thursday’s Athens Locally Grown delivery and Saturday’s farmers’ market. It soon dawned on us that nice-sounding ideas like “sleeping in” or “a weekend off” don’t exist in Farm World. We were packaging eggs on a Friday night instead of heading to a movie. Saturday mornings we woke before the rooster crowed. Every single day there were over 200 eggs to be collected, cleaned, sorted, packaged and stored. Or else.

Shamefully, we were bullwhipped into exhaustion on a daily basis, and we were running Greendale Farm on its smallest scale. The usual hustle and bustle of cows and lambs were removed for our convenience (probably the key to our survival). And, of course, we don’t raise four small children, in addition to an animal farm, as they do. May I suggest that you request their autograph at the farmers’ market? Perhaps you should buy their chicken, beef, steaks, lamb or eggs. You’ll be able to show up that dilettante foodie you can’t stand who thinks he knows superior quality food but doesn’t ever buy local. Yes, their prices are higher, but now that I’ve walked a mile in the Greens’ mud-encrusted Crocs, I pay the higher price for their eggs because I know that I am helping to preserve a farming style on the verge of extinction. Organic prices reflect something not all of us can give to an animal we are going to eat: time, money, commitment, backbreaking labor, tolerance…

Farm life might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but there’s a freedom in having muddy legs, dirty fingernails, armpit stains and unkempt hair that most people seem to have forgotten. Working outside, too, felt good for my soul, like I’d been let off a leash. In those two weeks I felt more myself than I’d ever experienced in any job, maybe because I felt like a kid again: wild, free and surrounded by nature. We’d do it again in a heartbeat, as long as we’ve got the paycheck and the beer.

Annie Kelley

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11

movie dope Some releases may not be showing locally this week.

9 (PG-13) In a future post-apocalypse, the only living things left are nine, binocular-eyed, “stitchpunk” dolls created by the scientist who was also responsible for the destruction of everything else. Opposing the dolls are giant, beastly machines, built for peace but used for war. Shane Acker’s video game-inspired milieu wants for a better story.

THE 11TH HOUR (PG) 2007.

Leonardo DiCaprio narrated, cowrote (along with directors Nadia Conners and Leila Conners Peterson), and produced this documentary about how we can save the planet. An endless stream of great minds—writers, scientists (Stephen Hawking), and world leaders (Mikhail Gorbachev)—are on hand to repeat Leo’s heartfelt message.

The 11th Hour failed to make much of a post-Inconvenient Truth impact.

Nominated for a Satellite Award for Best Documentary.

ALIENS IN THE ATTIC (PG) A family moves to Maine and discovers the top floor of their new home has been invaded by aliens. The cast is all over the place. First, there’s High School Musical alum Ashley Tisdale; then you’ve got “SNL” vets Kevin Nealon and Tim Meadows. Director John Schultz (The Honeymooners) won some awards for his 1996 debut, Bandwagon. I honestly can’t decide whether I’m looking forward to this or dreading it more than I did G-Force.

ALL ABOUT STEVE (PG-13) Poor Bradley Cooper. The Hangover didn’t come out soon enough for him to avoid being in a romcom starring Sandy Bullock. Eccentric crossword creator Mary Horowitz (Bullock) falls in love with cameraman Steve (Cooper) after

just one date. First-time feature director Phil Traill’s 2003 short, Dangle, was well-received, but I’m not curious to see how he fares with cookie-cutter comedy. With Thomas Haden Church and Keith David (not to be confused with David Keith).

ASTRO BOY (PG) Osamu Tezuka’s comic series comes to life. In Metro City, young robot, Astro Boy (v. Freddie Highmore, Finding Neverland), is built by brilliant scientist, Dr. Tenma (v. Nicolas Cage), in the image of his dead son. My only knowledge of Astro Boy comes from a superior Gameboy Advance game. Featuring the voices of Kristen Bell, Charlize Theron, Samuel L. Jackson, Bill Nighy, Donald Sutherland, Eugene Levy and Nathan Lane.

BRIGHT STAR (PG) Jane Campion, the Oscar-winning writer-director of The Piano (she was only the second woman to ever be nominated for Best Director), returns with a period romantic drama about the short-lived relationship between poet John Keats (Ben Whishaw, one of the Dylans in I’m Not There), who died at 25, and Fanny Brawne (Abbie Cornish, StopLoss). Nominated for the Palme d’Or at Cannes. With Thomas Sangster (Love Actually) and Paul Schneider, a strange choice for a drama set in 19th-century England.

CHICKEN LITTLE (G) 2005. Disney’s first fully computer animated film retells the fable of the loudmouth chicken who rallies a village to mass hysteria, this time giving him daddyissues and the voice of Zach Braff.

CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF MEATBALLS (PG) When inventor Flint Lockwood (v. Bill Hader) devises

a machine that delivers food, on order, from the heavens, the town of Chewandswallow rejoices. Kids will too, as Judi and Ron Barrett’s 1978 children’s classic comes to life on the big screen. Parents, especially those who had to sit through July’s G-Force, won’t be disappointed either.

The animation resembles every other high profile CG feature, but the 3D is top-notch.

Inside the sorority girl factory.

COCO BEFORE CHANEL (PG-13) Before Coco Chanel was Coco Chanel, she was Gabrielle Chanel. Amelie star Audrey Tautou is drawing raves— and Oscar buzz—for this biopic of the famous French designer, who started out in an orphanage. Coco Before Chanel is writer-director Anne Fontaine’s second buzzy release of the year. (The Girl from Monaco garnered some nice pub back in July.) With Benoit Poelvoorde (Man Bites Dog), Alessandro Nivola (Junebug), Marie Gillain and Emmanuelle Devos (A Christmas Tale).

M OVIE L ISTI NG S

Theater schedules often change after our deadline. Please call ahead.

ACC LIBRARY (706-613-3650)

The 11th Hour (NR) 7:00 (Th. 9/24) Chicken Little (G) 3:00 (Tu. 9/22)

Lynch Mob (R) 1:50, 4:25, 7:10, 9:45 Sorority Row (PG-13) 1:45, 4:30, 7:15, 9:45 Whiteout (R) 1:00, 3:15, 5:30, 7:45, 10:00

BEECHWOOD (706-546-1011)

CINÉ (706-353-3343)

Due to production deadlines, Beechwood movie times are only accurate through Sept. 24. Visit www.flagpole.com for updated times.

9 (PG-13) 5:15, 7:15, 9:25 All About Steve (PG-13) 4:15, 7:30, 9:55 Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (3D) (PG) 5:05, 7:25, 9:35 Eureka Seven: Good Night Sleep Tight Young Lovers (NR) 7:30 (Th. 9/24) Extract (R) 4:15, 7:30, 9:55 (no 7:30 or 9:55 show W. 9/23 or Th. 9/24) The Final Destination 3D (R) 9:45 I Can Do Bad All By Myself (PG-13) 4:20, 7:00, 9:40 The Informant! (R) 4:05, 7:20, 9:50 Inglourious Basterds (R) 4:30, 8:00 Jennifer’s Body (R) 4:30, 7:20, 9:50 Love Happens (PG-13) 4:10, 7:05, 9:35 Sorority Row (R) 4:35, 7:35, 10:00 Whiteout (R) 4:40, 7:15 Wizard of Oz 70th Anniversary (PG) 7:00 (W. 9/23)

CARMIKE 12 (706-354-0016)

Due to production deadlines, Carmike 12 movie times are only accurate through Sept. 24. Visit www.flagpole.com for updated times.

9 (PG-13) 1:10, 3:15, 5:20, 7:25, 9:30 Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (PG) 1:00, 3:15, 5:30, 7:40, 9:50 The Final Destination (3D) (R) 1:45, 4:15, 7:05, 9:35 I Can Do Bad All By Myself (PG-13) 1:30, 1:55, 4:10, 4:45, 7:00, 8:00, 9:45 The Informant! (R) 1:45, 4:30, 7:15, 9:55 Inglourious Basterds (R) 1:45, 5:00, 8:15 Jennifer’s Body (R) 1:30, 4:15, 7:00, 9:30 Love Happens (PG-13) 1:40, 4:20, 7:05, 9:40

12

Heap Us ‘Round Our Ruins (NR) 7:30 (M. 9/28) In the Loop (NR) 7:35 (new times F. 9/25: 9:30) (add’l times Sa. 9/26–Su. 9/27: 2:45) (no 9:30 show Su. 9/27) Manhattan Short Film Festival (NR) 7:00 (F. 9/25– Su. 9/27) O’Horten (PG-13) 5:00 (add’l times M. 9/28–W. 9/30: 7:15) (starts F. 9/25) (no 5:00 show Tu. 9/29) Paper Heart (PG-13) 5:30, 9:45 (new times F. 9/25: 9:45) (no show Su. 9/27) Ponyo (G) 5:15, 7:30 (add’l times Sa. 9/26–Su. 9/27: 3:00) (starts F. 9/25) (no 5:15 show Tu. 9/29) The Room (R) 9:30 (new times F. 9/25: midnight) (ends Sa. 9/26) Soul Power (NR) 5:00, 7:30 (ends Th. 9/24)

GEORGIA SQUARE 5 (706-548-3426)

Due to production deadlines, Georgia Square Five movie times are only accurate through Sept. 24. Visit www.flagpole.com for updated times.

Aliens in the Attic (PG) 4:35 Funny People (R) 7:50 Orphan (R) 4:20, 7:30, 10:15 The Proposal (PG-13) 4:25, 7:35, 10:05 Transformers (PG) 4:30, 8:00 Up (PG) 5:20, 7:40, 10:10

OCONEE COUNTY LIBRARY (706-769-3950)

Anime Movie Night with Cowboy Bebop (NR) 6:00 (Tu. 9/22)

TATE CENTER THEATER (706-542-6396)

The Rock (R) 8:00 p.m. (Th. 9/24) Transformers (PG-13) 3:00, 5:15, 7:30, 9:45 (F. 9/25–Su. 9/27)

FLAGPOLE.COM ∙ SEPTEMBER 23, 2009

EXTRACT (R) Office Space writerdirector Mike Judge may have disappointed with his 2006 follow-up, Idiocracy, but Extract looks like a return to the workplace antics at which he excels. Nice guy Joel (Jason Bateman) owns an extract plant and has to deal with a cadre of professional idiots and personal problems. The cast, including Kristen Wiig, Mila Kunis, Ben Affleck, J.K. Simmons, Clifton Collins, Jr.,

David Koechner and more, is shaping up as fall’s strongest comedic ensemble.

FAME (PG) Fame really does live forever. This remake of the popular 1980s musical centers on a new batch of talented students going broke for their dream at the New York City High School of Performing Arts. A bunch of neophytes (including “So You Think You Can Dance” finalist Kherington Payne) are joined by “real” actors (almost all of whom have TV background), Kelsey Grammer, Bebe Neuwirth, Megan Mullally, Charles S. Dutton and Debbie Allen, of course.

FEAR AND LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS (R) 1998. Terry Gilliam (Brazil, 12 Monkeys) turns his twisted vision to Hunter S. Thompson’s gonzo story of oddball journalist Raoul Duke’s (Johnny Depp) search for the American Dream. Duke is accompanied on his drug-addled Las Vegas journey by his psychopathic attorney (Benecio del Toro). Nominated for the Palme d’Or. With Tobey Maguire, Ellen Barkin, Gary Busey, Christina Ricci, Mark Harmon, Cameron Diaz and more. Appropriately, Ciné is offering this film as a midnight movie, a status it has most certainly attained.

THE FINAL DESTINATION 3D (R) The Final Destination 3D is too silly to be scary. After another bland, pretty teen (Bobby Campo, the poor man’s James Franco) saves his pals from Death’s masterplan, said bland, pretty teens must figure out a way to stop the unstoppable, unseen Grim Reaper. The 3D performs as advertised.

FUNNY PEOPLE (R) As raunchy and immature as The 40-Year-Old Virgin and Knocked Up, Apatow’s third film is maturely depressing. Laughs are prolific but tempered by death’s looming visage. A devastating diagnosis leaves George pondering his life choices. His only friend is a newly hired assistant, wannabe stand-up comic Ira Wright (Seth Rogen), and his true love is married with two kids. But impending mortality frees George to amend the mistakes of his past and he reconnects with Laura. While no one was looking, Apatow became the new James Brooks

and Funny People is his penis-jokefilled Terms of Endearment.

HEAP US ‘ROUND OUR RUINS (NR) Heap Us ‘Round Our Ruins: An Interstate Film Circuit is a 16-state film tour, plotted to encompass every region of the continental U.S. by filmmakers Ben Balcom and Josh Weissbach.

Heap Us ‘Round Our Ruins features Weissbach’s experimental documentary, Interiors of the Liquid Gap, Balcom’s Anomie Compendium, and the duo’s only analog collaboration, To All Those Who Have Been There Before. The screening will be followed by a Q&A with the filmmakers.

I CAN DO BAD ALL BY MYSELF (PG-13) With his latest, I Can Do Bad All by Myself, Tyler Perry continues preaching to the choir. The unconverted will be as unimpressed and uninterested in the latest faith-based, tonally bipolar dramedy starring himself in drag as mad matron Madea as they were the previous four features.

THE INFORMANT! (R) See Movie Pick.

INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS (R) Once upon a time, the world was at the mercy of a madman. Then “The Basterds,” a gang of Jewish-American soldiers led by a Southern mountain man, swept across Nazi-occupied France. The world lived happily ever after. The hyperbolical trailers are right.

You’ve never seen war until you’ve seen it through the eyes of Quentin Tarantino. Inglourious Basterds is the film both critics and moviegoers have been waiting for since the ‘90s trifecta of Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction and Jackie Brown. Anyone only exposed to the previews will be shocked to hear that Basterds is QT’s most mature film, despite its graphic, gratuitous violence and howling hilarity.

IN THE LOOP (NR) The U.S. President and British Prime Minister want a war, but their advisers, U.S. General George Miller (James Gandolfini) and British Secretary of State for International Development Simon Tucker (Tom Hollander, The Pirates of the Caribbean’s Lord Cutler Beckett), don’t think a conflict is such a swell idea. The potential is there; director Armando Iannucci was responsible, in a good way, for Brit polit-com “The Thick of It” and “I’m Alan Partridge,” starring Steve Coogan.

JENNIFER’S BODY (R) See Movie Pick.

LOVE HAPPENS (PG-13) While watching “Mad Men” the other day, I saw a preview for the newest romantic dramedy starring Jennifer Aniston and Aaron Eckhart and wondered how I’d missed this late-’90s/ early-’00s flick.

Then I realized it was new. Burke Ryan (Eckhart), the author of a bestselling book on grief falls in love with florist Eloise Chandler (Aniston), only to discover he’s yet to get over the death of his wife. With Judy Greer, Dan Fogler and Martin Sheen.

LYNCH MOB (R) I don’t think the mafia and zombies ever needed to be combined, but Lynch Mob does just that. The ruthless family goes after a snitch hiding out in Lynchburg, GA (I’m sure the state will be represented well), but they encounter something more terrifying. Too bad the trailer doesn’t give away one clue as to what that terrifying thing is. Described as “A Cannibal Movie with a Zombie Twist” and “A Mob Movie with a Horror Twist”

and as “A Horror Movie with a Mob Twist,” I doubt Lynch Mob has any clue what it is.

MANHATTAN SHORT FILMFEST (NR) Ciné brings the largest short film festival in the world to Athens with the 10 best short films selected from 428 entries representing 36 countries. This year’s featured films hail from Spain, Mozambique, Australia, Israel, Sweden, France, Italy, the UK and the U.S. Screening 532 times in 173 cities on 5 continents, the festival’s stated mission is “to unite audiences from all seven continents of the globe for one week via the most compelling short films.”

MY ONE AND ONLY (PG-13) I am at a loss for words after learning that My One and Only is based on the life of the tan one, George Hamilton. I wasn’t expecting that. Renée Zellweger stars as Anne Deveraux, a glamorous ‘50s vixen who cruises the eastern seaboard seeking a new husband and daddy for her two boys, George (Logan Lerman, set to hit it big in 2010’s first Percy Jackson & the Olympians flick) and Robbie (Mark Rendall). With Chris Noth, Kevin Bacon, David Koechner, Eric McCormack and Steven Weber.

NO IMPACT MAN: THE DOCUMENTARY (NR) Watch as one Manhattan family tries not to impact the environment for a year. No soda cans, no bottled water, no magazines, no newspapers, no airplanes, no subways, no taxis, no elevators! In fact, they can’t get anything new at all.

Sounds like a doozy of a challenge.

Will Colin Beavan sacrifice his family to the gods of green? An official selection at Sundance, Silverdocs and the Los Angeles Film Festivals. Directed by Laura Gabbert and Justin Schein.

O’HORTEN (PG-13) Odd Horten (Bård Owe) is a 67-year-old train engineer whose life is derailed by retirement.

After 40 years on the rail, O’Horten isn’t sure what to do without his timetables and familiar stations. This eccentric comedy has been garnering rave reviews from everyone who’s seen it. Writer-director Bent Hamer, a three-time Amanda-winner (they’re like Norwegian Oscars), last helmed the Charles Bukowski adaptation, Factotum, starring Matt Dillon, Lili Taylor and Marisa Tomei.

ORPHAN (R) Orphan is an aboveaverage horror flick in the childrenwho-kill subgenre. The currently, amusingly named parenting duo, John and Kate (Peter Sarsgaard and Vera Farmiga), wish to adopt. After a single visit to an orphanage, John and Kate decide to take home Esther (Isabelle Fuhrman), a 19th-century Russian orphan with ribbons tied around her neck and wrists. Suddenly, Kate begins to wonder, “What’s Esther’s deal?”

PANDORUM (R) This sci-fi horror flick looks pretty familiar. Crew members awaken on a spaceship and have no knowledge of who they are or why they’re there. Twilight’s Cam Gigandet, Ben Foster and Dennis Quaid (attached for “respectability,” I presume) star.

Resident Evil’s cinematic patriarch, Paul W.S. Anderson, whose own Event Horizon appears to be sampled by Pandorum, produces. I’m pretty sure I played this last fall on PS3 when it was called Dead Space.

PAPER HEART (PG-13) Athens got a sneak peek at performance artist, musician, writer and painter Charlyne Yi’s hybrid romcom-documentary back in the early summer. Star-cowriter Yi (the funny stoned girlfriend in Knocked Up) and director-cowriter Nicholas Jasenovec ponder what love means to different people. Also, Yi’s more famous friends/former costars— Michael Cera, Martin Starr, Seth Rogen—show up.

PONYO (G) Beloved animator and Academy Award-winner Hayao Miyazaki (Spirited Away) returns to delight anyone willing to venture

beyond Pixar, Ice Age and Shrek. A young goldfish princess named Ponyo must save the world with the help of a young boy. Can Disney get its huge, loyal crowds to pack theaters for a traditional animated film? I hope so.

Featuring an all-star voice cast including Cate Blanchett, Matt Damon, Liam Neeson, Tina Fey, Lily Tomlin, Cloris Leachman and Betty White.

THE PROPOSAL (PG-13) I was worn out by the trailer for this Sandra Bullock-Ryan Reynolds romantic comedy way back in April. An unlikable career woman, Margaret Tate (Bullock), is about to be deported to her native Canada. Her quick fix requires her put-upon assistant, Andrew (Reynolds, whom I can’t help but like), to marry her. Naturally, a trip to meet his family—Mary Steenburgen, “Coach” Craig T. Nelson and Betty White as the loopy grandma—in Alaska is the next step THE ROCK (R) 1996. When, during a guided tour of Alcatraz Island, a rogue Marine force takes 81 tourists hostage and threatens San Francisco with nerve gas, the Pentagon calls on the expertise of the only prisoner to ever escape Alcatraz: Sean Connery.

THE ROOM (R) 2003. I’ve wanted to see writer-director-star Tommy Wiseau’s personal cinematic atom bomb since reading an article in Entertainment Weekly about the prominent billboard for the would-be auteur’s debut, an awful picture beloved by two of my favorite ensembles, “The State” and “Arrested Development.”

Wiseau’s film is supposedly THE new cult phenomenon. You definitely want to see this flick in its Athenian debut on the big screen. My Must-See Pick of the Week.

THE SEPTEMBER ISSUE (PG13) The hot doc of the moment, The September Issue chronicles the production of Vogue’s 2007 fall fashion issue, which, weighing in at a

whopping five pounds, was the largest issue of a magazine ever published.

The Devil Wears Prada fans should be excited to see editor-in-chief Anna Wintour, the alleged inspiration for Miranda Priestly, in action. Director R.J. Cutler won an Emmy for “American High.” Winner of the Cinematography Award and a Grand Jury Prize nomination from Sundance.

SORORITY ROW (R) Sorority Row has nothing new to offer the genre.

Pretty people get slaughtered in increasingly creative ways until the masked killer gets his (or hers). Yet this silly, scary movie exemplifies everything that’s right and entertaining about slasher pics.

SOUL POWER (PG-13) A documentary of the legendary soul music concert held in Kinshasa, Zaire in 1974 as part of the Rumble in the Jungle, the renowned rematch between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman.

Soul Power features archival footage of a mustachioed James Brown, Celia Cruz, and B.B. King. The film was an official selection of the Berlin Film Festival, Tribeca Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and Los Angeles Film Festival. Directed by two-time Independent Spirit Awardnominee Jeffrey Levy-Hinte (High Art, Thirteen). l SURROGATES (PG-13) Another graphic novel adaptation, Surrogates revives Bruce Willis, yet again, as a cop investigating a homicide. The sci-fi twist is that people live out their fantasies through robotic surrogates, a process everyone thought was safe until someone died. Terminator 3 director, Jonathan Mostow, reteams with his screenwriters, Michael Ferris and John D. Brancato. With Radha Mitchell (Pitch Black), Rosamund Pike (Die Another Day), Boris Kodjoe (television’s “Soul Food”), James Cromwell and Ving Rhames as “The Prophet.”

TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN (PG-13) The millions trekking to the theater to witness over two hours of robotic mayhem are going to get their money’s worth and their socks rocked by Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. The only people who won’t like it probably didn’t really want to gorge on a gigantic robot civil war anyway.

TYSON (R) Controversial filmmaker James Toback (Black and White) returns to documentaries for the first time in a decade with this chronicle of his pal, former heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson. Tyson’s legendary infamy ever increases; maybe Toback, who’s known him since the late ‘80s, can shed light on one of modern sports’ most mercurial figures.

UP (PG) Seventy-eight-year-old Carl Fredricksen (v. Edward Asner) and his late wife, Ellie, always dreamed of traveling to South America. After Ellie’s death, Carl floats his house to the fabled Paradise Falls via several thousand helium balloons. Carl and a young stowaway, lonely Wilderness Explorer Russell (v. Jordan Nagai), confront the wilderness for the first time, encountering a mythical bird, a talking dog named Dug (v. Bob Peterson) and Carl’s childhood hero, lost adventurer Charles Muntz (v.

Christopher Plummer).

WHITEOUT (R) Based on a comic

by Greg Rucka, Whiteout stars Kate Beckinsale as U.S. Marshal Carrie Stetko, who must track a killer before six months of darkness set in at Antarctica’s McMurdo Station. Director Dominic Sena previously helmed Swordfish and Gone in Sixty Seconds; those movies don’t quite build confidence for Sena’s latest. With Gabriel Macht (The Spirit), Alex O’Loughlin, Columbus Short and Tom Skerritt.

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13

movie pick A Damon-ic Delight

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THE INFORMANT! (R) Steven Soderbergh’s newest film reminds of his second Ocean’s adventure, during which the actors appeared to have more fun hanging out at George Clooney’s Italian villa than we the audience had watching them scheme. In The Informant!, a puffed up Matt Damon, sporting a Trumpish biz-cut and unstylish, middle-management mustache, goofs and grins lightheartedly through the lies spun by supposed whistleblower Mark Whitacre.

As the apparently true story goes, Whitacre was a higher up in agri-business giant Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) during the early 1990s.

Matt Damon ADM and its competitors were involved in an international conspiracy to fix the price of lysine, a food additive. When Whitacre informed the FBI of the scandal, he became the first person ever to willingly step forward and cooperate in a price-fixing investigation.

But he also fictionalized a grandiose illusion to cover up the fact that he had stolen millions of dollars from ADM while working for the FBI. Whoops!

From the trailers, The Informant! appears to be a riotous shakedown of corporate scandal and sputtering federal agents, all of whom

are at the mercy of a naïve, childish liar. An hour later, the film becomes just that, once Whitacre finally turns informant, amateurishly recording hundreds of incriminating tapes in a bid to become the “white hat” he envisioned.

Damon completely buys into Whitacre’s delusional buffoonery. Beaming beatifically while piling lie on top of lie, Whitacre ends up a frustrating, funny protagonist who forces the audience to transfer its empathy to the gentle G-Men caught in his net. So long as they productively bumble from meeting to meeting, using cameras hidden in lamps and tape recorders stashed in briefcases, no one asks any questions. Once Whitacre is exposed as the lying liar he is, the FBI agents are personally devastated by the betrayal.

At first, Soderbergh and screenwriter Scott Z. Burns (The Bourne Ultimatum) seem unsure that they want to satirize Insider-ish corporate thrillers. They should have taken their cues from the surefooted Damon. He paints as a tragicomic clown from his first rambling inner monologue to his final plea for a presidential pardon.

Drew Wheeler

movie pick More Body than Brain JENNIFER’S BODY (R) A glance at the soundtracks of screenwriter Diablo Cody’s Oscarwinning debut, Juno, and her scary sophomore satire, Jennifer’s Body, shallowly summarizes the differences between the two films. Where the former was touched by indie angels Belle and Sebastian, Cat Power, Sonic Youth and Yo La Tengo, the latter blasts tunage— from Panic! at the Disco, Paramore’s Hayley Williams, Dashboard Confessional, and Cobra Starship—that would get you killed by any indie record store employee.

Uncommonly beautiful flag twirler Jennifer Check (Megan Fox) is possessed by a demon thanks to a bunch of wannabe emo-rockers (including Adam Brody). Her Megan Fox more surface-flawed BFF, Needy Lesnicky (Amanda Seyfried, Mamma Mia!), senses Jennifer’s evilness. She just doesn’t know the pretty teen must devour their high school’s male population to keep her flawless skin and perfect hair. Soon, the wickedness really kicks in, and Jennifer starts making hungry eyes at Needy’s boyfriend, Chip (Johnny Simmons). Needy does not approve, and some time in the library’s tiny occult section provides her with the knowledge to take down a demon.

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In Jennifer’s Body, Cody attempts a Whedon-esque horror satire. However, the film suffers from its own broad sense of humor.

Her work misses Juno director Jason Reitman’s timing and rapport with actors. The waste of the usually reliable J.K. Simmons dismays.

The horror half works better. Fox practically oozes gorgeousness, but she’s yet to show she has anything to offer besides her Junior Miss Angelina Jolie sexuality.

Those who “know” Juno was not as good as the mass public believed will think they have proof that Cody’s success was a fluke, but they’d be wrong.

Jennifer’s Body doesn’t prove that the former stripper’s hit was all luck. Great horror movie scripts are rare; the last great piece of horror writing was Kevin Williamson’s Scream.

Good scary screenplays appear occasionally but are quickly beaten down by lesser works released on an almost weekly basis. If the world were Juno-less, the flaws in Jennifer’s Body would be easily hidden by its genrebending curves. It’s a funnier Ginger Snaps or an exponentially better produced Teeth. But from Cody, I expected more Scream.

Drew Wheeler

film notebook News of Athens’ Cinema Scene Funny How Time Slips Away: I’m not confessing to much when I say that I’m a fan of Judd Apatow—the “R”-rated comedy auteur has earned praise from fans and critics alike for the genial blend of sincerity and smut in his films as a writer-director (The 40 Year Old Virgin and Knocked Up), even as his posse of “average-dude” actors (Seth Rogen, Jason Segel, Jonah Hill, etc.) and films as producer (Superbad, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Pineapple Express, countless others) threaten to make his brand even more ubiquitous. His third feature as a director, Funny People, which I saw last night, has been less enthusiastically received than its predecessors, mainly because of its heavy preoccupation with subjects like responsibility, marriage and,

More at Ciné: There are a number of notable events coming to Athens’ arthouse cinema.

Ciné begins hosting EcoFocus Film Festival screenings the week of Oct. 2 with Earth Days, Robert Stone’s doc on the growth of the modern environmental movement—an appropriate kickoff to the second incarnation of the festival, which will be spread over the month of October. For more info, go to www. ecofocusfilmfest.org… On Sept. 28, filmmakers Ben Balcom and Josh Weissbach will be in attendance to present Heap Us ‘Round Our Ruins: An Interstate Film Circuit. The 90-minute compendium is comprised of three experimental/documentary films: one by Balcom, one by Weissbach, and the third a collaboration by the two, whose work is “unified by an

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Robert Stone, the director of Earth Days, the first film of the EcoFocus Film Festival series. especially, death. This is not to be confused with the light preoccupation with the first two in Apatow’s previous films; the prominence of the third here invests the proceedings with an unavoidable—and sometimes unwelcome— gravity. Apatow’s male characters’ struggles with maturity are funny in his films, but they are certainly more poignant in his earlier work on the television series “Freaks and Geeks” and “Undeclared,” where the protagonists are actually children. As the adult crises in his films have grown progressively more dire— from unwanted chastity to unexpected fatherhood to leukemia—Apatow has had more trouble reconciling them with his unapologetically sophomoric humor. I won’t fault Apatow for his ambition in trying to move his comedies into a more adult arena, and in a way I consider it a show of good faith with his audience; I just hope we’ll all be a little better rewarded next time.

Manhattan Takes Us: The weekend of Sept.

25–27, Ciné will host the Manhattan Short Film Festival, an international competition of films whose finalists are judged by audiences in 173 different cities. The festival, now in its 12th year, selected 10 finalists from over 400 entries to screen on five continents (Africa will be added next year; Antarctica in 2011).

Votes will be tallied from audience ballots at over 500 screenings and a winner announced on Sept. 29. This is a great opportunity for Athens filmgoers to take part in a truly worldwide cinema event, with the 10 finalists coming from nine different countries. For more information, go to www.ManhattanShort.com.

interest in the vitality of the moving images as an experience of communication.” Go to www.round-our-ruins.com… Opening Sept.

25 is Ponyo, the latest animated feature from Japanese master Hayao Miyazaki. Don’t miss this, with or without the kids… Also beginning that day is O’Horten, the new film from Bent Hamer. It’s gotten excellent reviews…

On Oct. 2 we get to see the new film from Cannes Palm d’Or winners Luc and JeanPierre Dardenne, Lorna’s Silence. The brothers shared the award for best screenplay… For more, go to www.athenscine.com.

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Free Movies: The ACC Library’s iFilms screening for Sept. 24 is The 11th Hour, a 2007 environmental doc directed by Nadia Conners and Leila Conners Patterson and co-produced, cowritten and narrated by Leonardo DiCaprio.

The Oct. 1 screening is Munyurangabo, an intense Rwandan drama from 2007 by Lee Isaac Chung. All iFilms screenings are Thursdays at 7 p.m. in the auditorium of the main library at 2025 Baxter St. Also at the library, at 2 p.m. on Oct. 1, is the 1931 classic Dracula, with Bela Lugosi, presented with an audio narrative track for visually impaired viewers. For more info, go to www.clarke. public.lib.ga.us… The ICE-Vision series, held Thursday nights at 8 p.m. in Room S150 of UGA’s Lamar Dodd School of Art, continues Sept. 24 with Wojciech Has’ legendary, surreal 1965 Polish comedy The Saragossa Manuscript, and Oct. 1 with Robert Aldrich’s marvelously kinky 1955 noir Kiss Me Deadly.

Dave Marr film@flagpole.com

SEPTEMBER 23, 2009 · FLAGPOLE.COM

15

How to Catch a Firefly Laura Vaughn Lights Path for Dominican Youth

“I

was on a really isolated beach when will pick them up on the street. Anyone who two limpiabotas, which are shoe can spend time with that, I will thank them.” shiners, sat down their boxes of shoe Vaughn describes Bonao, the small city polish, took off all their clothes and jumped where Cucuyo will reside, as a beautiful valinto the ocean. It was just life at its simplest, ley community surrounded by mountains. Its life at its hardest, life at its best.” community center is an open structure with a Laura Vaughn loves you. And with the same basketball court on one side and a stage platspirit of a woman who gives warm hugs with form on the other. Already established as an every encounter, her innovative theatre and emotional center and place to gather, it’s not language program, Cucuyo, exudes such comas bustling as it could be. Vitalizing the cenpassion and ambition. Cucuyo is an encuenter to become a nurturing space for Dominican tro for the arts. Located in the Dominican adolescents is one small step toward the Republic, American and Dominican adolescents prevention of drug abuse and involvement will spend three weeks sharing meals and mak- in crime: some of the effects of poverty that ing theatre. What’s the idea? “I want to talk she’s witnessed among teens during her time about their important social issues and conthere. So, with a Bread and Puppet kind of front them through art,” says Vaughn. resourcefulness and tenacity, she says: “Let’s Currently in the stage of recruitment and put all this together, and with these talents fundraising, Cucuyo plans to take its first trip and resources, share it with someone else.” in the summer of 2010. Ultimately, it aims to With an acute admiration and understand“provide Dominican and American youth with ing of Dominican culture, she anticipates creative guidance and instruction in order the challenges that lie ahead. And hopefully, to facilitate exploration of self and culture; immersion in a different language, and posengender, through collaborative projects, sibly socio-economic status, will provide understanding, sensitivity and meaningful American youth with new perspectives they encounters between the two cultures, while can bring home, an idea reminiscent of influsimultaneously cultivating and refining the ential Brazilian theatre director Augusto Boal, artistic abilities of each youth.” who once said, “We can learn enormously Vaughn developed the idea for Cucuyo when we recognize ourselves in alterity: the over a few years, a process sparked by her Other also loves and hates, fears and has love for Latin America. In 2004 she visited courage—just like me, like you, even though the Dominican Republic for the first time when she facilitated health sessions for teenagers through a local university. But eventually she became conflicted by her role as a health educator on grounds of principle. “It’s not fair to the Dominicans,” she explains. Expecting teenagers to automatically commune with a foreign stranger on personal matters such as sexual health: “It wasn’t sustainable.”

Sustainability is a Laura Vaughn has been a health educator in the Dominican Republic and famain theme in Vaughn’s cilitator of social programs founded in sports and the arts. philosophy. Traveling through Central and South America, she witnessed the activity of she/he, you and I have cultural differences. multiple artistic communities, some thriving Precisely because of that, we can learn from and some not, which inspired her to form a each other: we are different, being the same.” social program founded in art. After becoming After all, cucuyo is a folk word meaning involved with the whimsical Forest Theatre “firefly” and in Dominican folklore, fireflies of Pure Form here in town, Vaughn fell in serve as leaders of the living. “And I really like love with the collaborative power of theatre. the significance that everyone has; we’ll call it The Forest Theatre aesthetic, which espouses an inner light,” says Vaughn.

DIY and the avant-garde, is grounded in the Cucuyo’s Firefly Brew is a fundraiser and a belief that formal training and experience celebration of local creativity with an evening are peripheral necessities to creating art. As of art and music at 170 Virginia Ave. on Sept.

Vaughn puts it, nothing serves more as an 26, 7 p.m. For an entry of $25, guests will intersection of the arts than theatre, and if receive a mason jar of carnival tickets with theatre is the impetus in a cultural partnerwhich to purchase local food and a variety ship, no perceived differences—cultural, reliof homemade beverages ranging from microgious or linguistic—remain as barriers. brews to kombucha. Local sponsors include Two and a half years later, Vaughn now 1000 Faces Coffee, Daily Groceries Co-op and presides over a board of five volunteers as Ben’s Bikes. With the proceeds, Cucuyo will Cucuyo’s executive director and works as strengthen its program and fund scholarships a Spanish interpreter at Athens Regional for participants. For information on participaHospital. “I’ve never left the Latino population and becoming a guest artist, please visit tion. There are so many Latinos in this comwww.cucuyo.org. munity who are literally scared to walk out of their house because they’re afraid the police Amy Whisenhunt

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art notes Zig-Zag Land, Art Machines and More WHAM!: Remember those “Batman” TV shows from the ‘60s? How when a bad guy got punched, a word like POW! or BAM! would flash on the screen, or how pretty girls tended to be evil psychopaths? Now imagine a parallel universe sans the patrolling efforts of the good guys—you would have something like John Stidham’s “Zig-Zag Land.” Drawing from Pre-Columbian art and Op Art (which seem to have a natural affinity toward one another), this group of acrylic paintings is dominated by brash patterns and characters of the twodimensional cartoon variety. Their style is also a significant departure from Stidham’s work of the past (a dark, cloudy landscape in oil comes to mind). Colors are neon. There are monsters. You might get a headache looking

shifting surface of a body of water, but it also makes reflected reeds look like the inky lines and soft shapes of a Miro. Overall, this exhibition isn’t going to shake your preconceptions about art, but does offer windows into pleasant, unpopulated slices of nature.

Punk’d: Presented by the Georgia Fine Arts Academy (the same people who brought you Café Apollinaire at Ciné on Sept. 22), drawings and paintings by Tyler Harris are on display at the Art Spot at the ACC Public Library. His series of portraits is rendered in simple contours and bright colors, and his dual portraits are by far the most interesting, often playing two similar-looking male figures off one another. A pair of sailors calls to mind American modern painter Charles Demuth’s portraits of gay couples in the early 20th century. Using a simple, stylized approach like Demuth, Harris’ work has been described as “punk without the need to shock.” It’s true that the North Carolina artist has the same simple, DIY aesthetic that has been claimed as punk, but there is also something reminiscent of folk art or the early moderns (the real punks, maybe) like Demuth or his more illustrious contemporary, Matisse. What all seem to share is an intuitive style that is, in the case of Harris, a little hit-or-miss.

Endless Art: Recently exhibited at Art Basel in Miami, PAM (Perpetual Art Machine) is now on display here in Athens. PAM is, according to its manifesto, a “living database” and “breathing archive.” If features over 1000 John Stidham’s painting “Sea Witch” is on display at the Lamar Dodd videos and allows you to curate School of Art. your way through its archive of digital art. While this might at “Agent Orange Returns,” but maybe that’s sound suspiciously like Google, the idea of an the point. What remains from Stidham’s earlier alternative to the traditional gallery for new work is an underlying post-apocalyptic tone, media work does have repercussions for the though this time we’re trapped in a nefarious way we think about and make art. That being mod realm. “Sea Witch” embodies all of this: said, you have to go to the Lamar Dodd School a ghostly, bikini-clad witch is water skiing of Art to see and experience PAM in person. If on top of a background of blue and black zigPAM proves too non-traditional for you, also zags. In her wake are more brightly colored on view are works that take on the oldest of zig-zags, and watching over this whole psyartistic themes: the human body. “Figure in chedelic affair is a maniacal, grinning skelForm: Contemporary Representations of the eton head. As they say, the flame that burns Body” is mostly local in its inclusion of arttwice as bright burns twice as fast, and these ists. Both shows are up through Oct. 15. paintings are only up through Sept. 28 at the Lamar Dodd School of Art. Media Junkie: Just like the visual arts, the press is experiencing a shift with the advent Basic Elements: If you did get a headache from of digital media. Sept. 18 marked the opening too much time in “Zig-Zag Land,” “Reflections of ATHICA’s “Free Press in Free Fall,” an exhion Water, Earth & Sky” at the Madison-Morgan bition devoted to the changing face of mass Cultural Center offers a bucolic antithesis. media. Curated by journalist Allie Goolrick, the Taking nature as her subject, Lucinda Bunnen plight of print media and the veracity of blogs photographs everything from commonplace and the Internet are obvious issues at the treetops to dramatic panoramas of the forefront of this topic, but the show includes Galapagos Islands. She has her fair share of other aspects relevant to the media, such perfect-moment, documentary-style photoas featured artist Kathryn Refi’s “All Things graphs such as a bird caught at just the right Considered.” Mapping out the locations menangle in “Frigate in the Sky,” but Bunnen’s tioned in NPR’s trusted morning radio show, best photographs capture the abstractions and Refi’s work reveals which areas are largely patterns inherent in the natural world—turnignored by NPR’s daily news program. The ing the surfaces of ponds into lyrical abstracexhibition will be up through early November. tions, sea shells into constellations and tree Expect more in future Art Notes. stumps into mountains. Her “Hatcher’s Pond” series reveals the myriad variations in the Rebecca Brantley

SEPTEMBER 23, 2009 · FLAGPOLE.COM

17

threats & promises Music News And Gossip Welcome back, folks. This week’s news is pretty detail-oriented so slow down and read carefully. It’d be a shame for you to miss something, wouldn’t it? Exactly. Slow your roll below…

Walk On: The UGA chapter of Kappa Kappa Psi, the National Honor Fraternity for College Band Members, will host its annual marching exhibition at Cedar Shoals High School on Tuesday, Sept. 29. The participating area high schools are West Hall, Jefferson, Madison County, Franklin County, Elbert County, Apalachee, Oglethorpe County, North Oconee, Oconee County and Cedar Shoals. The UGA Redcoat Band is also participating. The event is geared specifically toward providing knowledgeable critiques for the participants before each begins its competition season.

For more information on the exhibition, please drop a line to Christopher Happel at cdhappel@uga.edu. To learn more about UGA’s Kappa Mu chapter, please see www.kkpsikm.org.

A Sound Salvation: Paul Nunn (Push!, Penguine, Corsair) has launched his newest project and, honestly, this is the one that he’s probably been waiting to do for a long time. He’s dubbed his, as of now one-man, project The Transistor Diaries and has so far posted two tracks to the web. What’s interesting about Nunn is that he never seems to take cues so much as he tends to operate in the same sphere as artists he admires. Although I could personally do with a little less vocal treatment on the track “Mirror Logic,” there’s no denying Paul I’m a total sucker for his Pet Shop Boys/ Calvin Harris/New Order-styled dance music.

Hear for yourself over at www.myspace.com/ thetransistordiaries.

Any Questions? Call Moon Mama: Athens artist Jennifer Schildknecht is coordinating a quilt project to both memorialize and benefit the Georgia Theatre. Two quilts will be made: one to present to the Theatre as a gift and one to auction off. She has put the call out to artists who would like to participate by submitting two identical 12”x12” blocks. Make sure to leave a half-inch border so the square can be sewn in. The non-traditional quilts will actually be wall-hanging art and, as such, each block can be made of any functional material the artist chooses. That is, no cloth fabric is required. She says, “Absolutely any media may

k

Corn Dog Nation: Country-rapper Colt Ford will join… wait for it… comedian Larry the Cable Guy on tour Nov. 12–Dec. 12. The closest this tour comes to Athens is State College, PA and Uncasville, CT, though, so it looks like we’re gonna miss out. For the record, yes, I’d go.

I mean c’mon! Colt Ford’s debut album Ride Through the Country is available nationwide and is selling copies by the pickup truck load.

A Decade of Decadence: It’s hard to believe, but Go Bar will celebrate 10 years of existence Friday, Sept. 25. I’m far from the only one who has had many memorable nights at Go. In addition to maintaining an unfaltering charm and sense of style while never once pandering to the Joe college/ Coors Light crowd, the bar has increasingly become a key place where small, creative acts can get a foot in the door of the local scene. Of course, musically speaking, Go is known best for its DJs and, even then, they’ll take chances one might not expect. Hell, they’ve even let me spin a couple of times. All of which is to say, congratulations, Go. The celebration mentioned above will coincide (as in same place, same date) with WUOG/90.5 FM’s Back to School Dance, which will feature performances by Deaf Judges, Casper & the Cookies, DJ Immuzikation and Twin Powers with Winston Parker providing visual stimulation. All in all, it seems a great way to celebrate a decade of awesomeness and introduce the place to a new crop of Athens tastemakers.

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Nunn be used as long as it doesn’t interfere with the flat hanging of the quilt… in other words, nothing overly heavy.” The submission deadline is Oct. 23. For further information, please contact Schildknecht at MoonMama61@aol. com or at 706-540-2712.

Strike Up the Band: The Athens Symphony has announced its 2009–10 schedule and is also seeking string players of all skill levels to join its all-volunteer ensemble. The Winter Concert will be held on Nov. 15, the annual Christmas concert will be held on Dec. 12 & 13 with the Athens Symphony Chorus, the Spring Concert will happen Apr. 3, 2010 and the Pops Concerts are scheduled for May 7 & 8, 2010. All performances take place at the Classic Center. The concerts are free, but tickets are required. Tickets can be picked up at the Classic Center box office beginning Oct. 26. Now in its 32nd season, the Athens Symphony still retains the services of long-time conductor Al Ligotti, and he has identified a particular need for string players this season. “Violinists, violists, cellists and double bassists across Northeast Georgia are invited to join the symphony,” says Ligotti, “with no audition necessary.” Potential players must commit, of course, to a rehearsal schedule, but it’s a pretty relaxed one at that. All interested persons should contact Ligotti via symphony@athenssymphony.org or call 706425-4205. This is a very cool thing we have in our community, and I wholeheartedly encourage people to attend these performances.

Learn more over at www.athenssymphony.org.

Gordon Lamb threatsandpromises@flagpole.com

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the course of our day-to-day movements, we are always worshipping.

It is not necessarily pretty, or sentimental, or anything otherwise magnificent.

It is not always consciously enacted toward anything specific or universal, or conscious at all. Still, general human culture has made a habit of relegating the formal act of spiritual worship to specific locations. Certain buildings become sanctified, and certain activities become expected and unexpected within their walls. Though 121-year-old Seney-Stovall Chapel on North Milledge Avenue is a traditional “chapel” only in name (it has been open for rental to the public and operated

by UGA’s Carl Vinson Institute of Government since 1997), its octagonal structure bears all the weight of a formal place of spiritual worship. On Sept. 27 and 28, courtesy of Chunklet magazine and its wizardly proprietor Henry Owings, California’s Sunn O))) (no need to pronounce that “O”) and cohorts Eagle Twin will bring their droning, Ent-ish fortress-punch of volume to Seney-Stovall’s Spalding Theater.

“Music is unique, special, sacred… it’s our desire to present it in an unorthodox, atypical venue,” says Sunn O)))’s Greg Anderson, onehalf of the group’s core duo alongside Stephen O’Malley. “Churches are actually a preferred place to play for us because they have such a heavy atmosphere to them already. We enjoy creating an atmosphere that is an alternative to what you can get in a typical rock club.”

Sunn O)))’s hallmark, despite a general adherence to a flexible interpretation of “heaviness,” could never be mistaken for “typical rock club” music. Guitars are a cornerstone, but it seems they’re chosen primarily for their convenience as projectors of volume and low-mid frequencies rather than something with which to “rock.” Percussion tends to be ineffably sparse, if not absent.

The band’s most recent album, this year’s Monoliths & Dimensions, displays the same primary emphasis on timbre as past works (as opposed to traditional riffage and note structures), but with the widest breadth of instrumentation they’ve explored yet. Various woodwind, brass, reed and traditional string instruments congeal to create a germinating spread of sound that plumes and disintegrates into and out of itself. The effect is as though Sunn O))) flew to Jupiter and recorded the grinding of a bow against the obelisk from 2001: A Space Odyssey.

The album’s closing piece, the 16-minute “Alice,” named in tribute to Alice Coltrane, is a standout moment not only on Monoliths & Dimensions, but in the Sunn O))) discography as a whole. The sparkle of “Alice” is a cathartic moment in contrast to the suffocating crush that pervades much of the band’s other works. About the infusion of a relatively uplifting or hopeful atmosphere into Sunn O)))’s sonic ethos, Anderson says, “there has

definitely never been an intent not to do it.

We don’t set restrictions or boundaries on what the music will be… the track “Alice” was pieced and composed in a way that happened to allow for that particular atmosphere to emerge. The album, overall, slowly evolved, and we really took our time. There is always some intent, but like the live shows, the album sessions are loose and open with a minimum of restrictions.”

Anderson stresses, though, that attendees of Sunn O))) performances should not expect to be met with mere regurgitation of the most recent album material. “Stephen and I have been playing together since the mid-’90s,” he says. “There is a lot of instinct and intuition that is called upon when we’re playing music together. Somewhere between 30 to 50 percent is based on improvisation, but we discuss the set oftentimes before we play… We use a skeletal outline, but we don’t follow it to the letter because we want to keep things open.

We’re not just flying by the seat of our pants, but when I’m playing in a head-space that I consider appropriate, it’s very transcendental.”

As for the integration of the handful of Monoliths & Dimensions collaborators that will be joining the duo onstage, Anderson says, “When there’s a new person onstage, there’s a different dynamic, and the chemistry of the players is committed in that moment.”

Sunn O)))’s Southern Lord labelmates Eagle Twin will be opening the festivities at Seney-Stovall. “I think it’s an amazing band,” Anderson says. “[Guitarist and principle Eagle Twin songwriter] Gentry Densley is an old friend and one of my favorite existing guitar players, and I think his style is completely amazing. It’s an honor to have them with us.”

The southeastern shows mark the third station of Sunn O)))’s most extensive U.S. tour. “Some great things have happened at the shows on the previous legs of the tour,” Anderson promises. “There are some strong, solid things we’ve worked on that we look forward to continuing to explore on this next go-around. Sunn O))) is a challenging listen, and we’re fully aware that most people don’t connect with it. We never set out to be a group that was going to accomplish anything in particular. We’re not on any mission to get people to like our band. What we’re doing is pretty selfish… People appreciating us is a gift, and we really appreciate that in turn.”

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19

A Hawk and a Hacksaw An Outsider’s Take on the Music of Eastern Europe

“T

Tamir Kalifa

hese days, the rock club feels foreign.” So says Jeremy Barnes, former drummer for Neutral Milk Hotel.

Barnes’ main focus for the past several years has been the folk band A Hawk and a Hacksaw, an excursion into the folk traditions of Eastern Europe. After three years as an Athens resident, Barnes found himself in France in 2000, where he first launched the project. Some time spent there and then in England allowed for incubation, and by the time Barnes returned to the U.S.—to re-settle in his home state of New Mexico—A Hawk and a Hacksaw was ready to take flight.

“We have played in a variety of places that fall outside the bounds of the typical rock club,” he says. “Canadian folk festivals, a battle re-enactment in Hungary, a treehouse in Budapest, a pub in Transylvania, a Romanian restaurant in London, a beach club in Italy, weddings and baptisms in Italy and Hungary… just last week we played a show in Canada where the attendees and musicians had to hike up to an Alpine lake, and the promoter flew our instruments in on a helicopter!”

Barnes lived in Athens from 1998 to 2000, and through his performances in The Gerbils and later in Bablicon made solid the fact that there was more to Neutral Milk Hotel than just the brilliance of Jeff Magnum’s lyricism and poignant vocals. Barnes lived with a bunch of the Elephant 6 folks and worked as a dishwasher at the downtown Harry Bissett’s restaurant. He helped Conor Oberst record an early Bright Eyes album in Athens and

worked with Broadcast and, more recently, with Beirut. He was a whomping presence in Neutral Milk Hotel and in others, a forceful beast of a drummer who never overwhelmed his bandmates. That same instrumental precision shines through on Délivrance, A Hawk and a Hacksaw’s sixth and newest album.

Recorded with a bevy of European musicians while Barnes (vocals, accordion, drums, glockenspiel) and Heather Trost (violin, viola, cello, melodica) lived in Hungary, the disc draws on numerous Baltic traditions and only cements Barnes’ life as a musical diplomat.

“We recorded the new album in Budapest,” says Barnes, “with musicians there that we had been playing with for about two years.

The completion of that album was kind of the end of an era for A Hawk and a Hacksaw, as when we finished we left Hungary and haven’t been able to get together with the musicians there since. The album consists of songs that we’d been playing in Europe, and so they have more of a live sound than previous records.”

Délivrance opens with “Foni Tu Argile,” a lively take on the Greek rembetika style, a woozy and subversive music popular in Athenian hash dens 90 years ago that Barnes & Co. adapted for brass instruments.

“Kertész” is one of the few tracks on the album to feature English lyrics, and it’s more of a Hungarian tune: propulsive accordion, nimbly prancing strings, dreamy vocals. At

times, A Hawk and a Hacksaw leaves the lyrics aside and lets the evocative song titles on Délivrance suggest a framework for the sounds: “Vasilis Carries a Flaming Skull Through the Forest,” for instance, or “Raggle Taggle.”

“At times we work hard to learn traditional songs and do them justice,” says Barnes, “but we also like to compose our own music in the style of certain regions… I am interested in the gray area between borders of peoples and culture, and Eastern Europe has a great deal of that.”

After Athens, A Hawk and a Hacksaw will be continuing a cross-country tour with the aspiration of bridging backgrounds and sharing sounds.

“It helps when audiences are used to asymmetric rhythms, and don’t attempt to clap along in 4/4 to a song whose rhythmic structure is in 7/8 or 9/8. I enjoy attempting to turn people on to the music of Eastern Europe, and I do think that many people are sick of electric guitars and drum kits.”

And, he adds, “We are here to help!”

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FLAGPOLE.COM ∙ SEPTEMBER 23, 2009

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Chris Hassiotis

WHO: A Hawk and a Hacksaw, Damon & Naomi WHERE: Melting Point WHEN: Thursday, Sept. 24, 9 p.m.

HOW MUCH: $10 (adv.), $13 (door)

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The Same Four Musicians, Three Different Bands

S

cott McCaughey might just be the essence of rock and roll personified.

With his trademark sunglasses, devilish grin and easy going attitude, the Young Fresh Fellows leader has spent the better part of the past year conquering the musical landscape with his ever growing group of friends.

And he’s nowhere near done yet.

Most musicians would be satisfied with releasing one complete record in a year. But McCaughey has appeared on no less than four releases in the past few months. The Portlandbased musician gathered up his longtime pals in the Young Fresh Fellows and created I Think This Is, releasing it on the same date in July as another of his projects, The Minus 5’s Killingsworth.

Featuring seasoned McCaughey co-conspirator Peter Buck (R.E.M.), Killingsworth has more twang to it than most previous Minus 5 records. Harnessing the talents of everyone from the Shee Bee Gees to Colin Meloy (The Decemberists), the record showcases McCaughey’s dark humor and creative range.

There’s still plenty of booze being slung between verses, but the quiet and touching “Big Beat Up Moon” is the emotional center of the album.

“It’s been something that I’ve wanted to do for a while now,” says McCaughey about the slower direction of the Minus 5. “It’s not going to sound the same with four people playing it, but it’ll be good.”

For this tour, the Minus 5 is made up of the same cast of McCaughey collective characters that are responsible for the Baseball Project: Buck, Dream Syndicate rocker Steve Wynn and Miracle 3 drummer Linda Pitmon.

The Baseball Project’s record, Volume 1: Frozen Ropes and Dying Quails, is a baseball fan’s dream album, lovingly cared for by the baseball obsessives Wynn and McCaughey. The idea was sparked after the duo spent hours talking about the sport and decided to just go ahead and make a full-fledged record about it. Along with Buck and Pitmon, they began writing songs such as “The Yankee Flipper” and “Ted Fucking Williams.” The songs usually revolve around legendary and retired baseball players, each with their own stories to tell.

When the band asks “Pastime, are you past your prime?” you hope and pray it’s not.

Adding to the fun on tour will be the Steve Wynn IV, basically the same lineup with a different name and different songs. Wynn’s latest solo record, Crossing Dragon Bridge, adds more subdued songs to the already massive set list.

With all the potential material, it’s a wonder that they can decide what to play from night to night.

“I figure we’ve got somewhere between 35 to 40 songs worked up,” says McCaughey.

“Steve picked out what he wanted to play from his albums and I picked out some stuff from the Minus 5, and we worked up the Baseball Project songs, so we’ve got a lot to pick from.”

So far, the tour has been a whirlwind of cities, guest appearances, half-crazy cover songs, and long stretches of time commuting. It’s in those few precious moments in the back seat of the van that the band manages to catch some sleep, though you could probably just as often find McCaughey drawing up ideas for a new song. The college rock/pop icon keeps a mean schedule that could probably drive anyone a bit crazy.

“Well, I’ve never really stayed sane…,” he laughs.

His adventures after the current tour lead him straight into a run with Robyn Hitchcock as part of the Venus 3 through Oct. 10. He’ll then head to Spain right after that and begin a stint as a Young Fresh Fellow for most of October. Then it’s back to his gig as R.E.M.’s right-hand man when the band begins recording in November for the next album. Not to mention the fact that the Baseball Project has already started recording a follow-up to Frozen Ropes and Dying Quails. But for now, McCaughey is touring hard behind Killingsworth.

By some accounts, it’s been about three years since the Minus 5 played Athens, so the band is making up for it a bit by playing the 40 Watt on Sept. 28, the night right after a stand in Atlanta at the EARL. With so many friends in and around Athens, McCaughey’s not denying that there’s a possibility of having some guest musicians at the show.

“It certainly could happen, and I hope it does,” he says. “I’ve always had a good time in Athens. It’s a great music town.”

It’s hard not to have a good time when you’re getting three great bands in one. With the Minus 5, Baseball Project and Steve Wynn IV, it’s going to be a hell of a night. And unlike the Atlanta Braves this season, Scott McCaughey and company won’t disappoint.

Jordan Stepp

WHO: The Minus 5, The Baseball Project, The Steve Wynn IV WHERE: 40 Watt Club WHEN: Monday, Sept. 28, 9 p.m.

HOW MUCH: $12 (adv.)

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706-549-4660

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SEPTEMBER 23, 2009 · FLAGPOLE.COM

21

record reviews Beach Casual Food & Attitude SAFEST WAY TO GET CRABS!

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ROMANENKO Squid Record Independent Release As rad as this record is, it nonetheless falls into a sad category: top-shelf material weakened by poor vocal mixes. But don’t tune out yet—it’s a bit naïve to expect perfection from a band self-releasing its debut, and listening to Squid Record, once you’ve tweaked the mix a bit, is really a rewarding experience.

The package delivers 40 minutes of enthusiastic, defiant, punk-influenced pop tempered with just the right amount of melancholy and delivered through incisive, poetic lyrics and hooks that smack of ability. It’s enough to effectively magnetize even the snobbiest of musicphiles. Guitarist/ vocalist J. Marston pretty much rips it straight through the collection, leaving me wondering how she really growls and coos, and if she can wield the axe as skillfully as she does on record in the passion of the Present; I mean, I thought of Dave Mustaine once or twice while listening. This is more NYC punk than Megadeth, though, and the rest of the band definitely holds these tracks down for whatever abuse is necessary: the drums are loud, busy and glorious bouncing beneath ‘70s-style boppin’ bass lines that sometimes push you until you’re about to pop. The group moves together, and they know how to craft some compelling tunes.

There really is a fine record shining through this inconsistent mix that reveals a fresh band well worth checking out. Do yourself an extra favor and go to one of their shows, too.

This confrontational yet predominantly upbeat sound is almost guaranteed to please—think Pixies making out with Yes at a NOFX show.

Tony Floyd

1080 Baxter St. • 706-850-5858 www.gnatslanding.net

THE TWILIGHT SAD Forget the Night Ahead Fat Cat

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FLAGPOLE.COM ∙ SEPTEMBER 23, 2009

Listening to this record feels like driving through a storm at night.

Navigating through these foreboding melodies requires your complete attention and focus. The mood is deadly serious, but the underlying anxiety that tingles and buzzes underneath the layers of Ebow-induced sustain is exhilarating. Like thunder and lightning, Twilight Sad buzzes with relentless electricity and rages with ominous power.

Yet even with this wall of aggressive, swirling sound, vocalist James Graham manages to stay prominently in the front of the mix, and his vocals are by the far the most striking instrument on the record. Rock music has a funny way of diminishing accents sometimes. Vowels get stretched and extended and sometimes British singers sound American. That is definitely not the case here. Graham is unequivocally Scottish, and his thick, throaty accent is overpowering to my American ears—it took several repeat listens before the lyrics sounded like anything more than one long rolling “rrr.” But that’s certainly not a fault; on the contrary, Graham’s distinctive vocals serve as yet another unique texture in The Twilight Sad’s sound that further distinguishes the group from its peers.

Michelle Gilzenrat The Twilight Sad is playing the Masquerade in Atlanta on Sunday, Sept. 27.

ATLAS SOUND Logos Kranky After floating blissfully into the solo arena with 2008’s Let the Blind Lead Those Who Can See but Cannot Feel, Deerhunter’s Bradford Cox has planted both feet on the ground with his second full-length as Atlas Sound.

Not only have the spiraling ideas he recorded alone returned to Earth a bit for Logos, but he’s left his bedroom confines to rejoin the world.

Combinations define Logos, of people and of genres. “Walkabout,” the result of Cox’s lesson in song sampling from Animal Collective’s Noah Lennox, is a collaborative powerhouse.

Above thumping bass, sharp treble clicks dance with happy keys and both guys’ remarkably different voices. It’s one of those summer-y songs that evokes a sort of alt-pop euphoria few can match.

Likewise, “Quick Canal,” Cox’s collaboration with with Stereolab’s Laetitia Sadier, demonstrates that Cox’s greatest strengths may be his friends.

An epic track both voiced and scripted

by Sadier, its high altitude synth parts mix with a dancehall beat and climactic noise breaks. And “Attic Lights,” an ecstatic, sweet, sad number, features improvised violin from Sasha Vine of Sian Alice Group to great effect.

But Cox can succeed by himself, as well. Even the more straightforward garage tracks on Logos (“Shelia,” “Criminals” and “My Halo”) charm with old-fashioned song structures and swishing sound effects in the background, all parts sewn together in a way that indicates, if not painstaking premeditation, then a naturally prodigal ear for spacing and ornamentation.

Even Cox’s down-to-earth sounds are heavenly.

Julia Reidy Atlas Sound is playing at the EARL in Atlanta on Oct. 15.

SMOKEDOG Rogue Warrior Happy Happy Birthday to Me Smokedog is the quintessential Athens band: curious and prolific enough to record 16 releases in the space of a couple of years and just humorous enough to never take itself too seriously. The cassette-only Rogue Warrior is the “greatest hits” (although it contains practically nothing but outtakes from other records) compilation for the duo composed of Jason Jones and Thom Strickland.

Mainly through drenching recordings in reverb and burying several vocal tracks deep in the mix, Smokedog manages to create sounds that a lot of bands spend thousands of dollars to achieve. Make no mistake, though, Smokedog never spends hundreds of dollars on anything. And, in the case of this album, maybe more like 10 dollars.

Throughout the record different touchstones become apparent. Even though it’s a compilation, the tracks are arranged as if it’s an album. The narrative runs from muddy psychedelia through Black Flag-styled guitar strangulations to grumblingly repetitive rhythms practically devoid of melody (but with background hoots and hollers) and then back to reverb-soaked guitar banging.

One caveat, though. Due to the format, cassette tape, things kind of run together. Highlights include “Wolfking,” featuring lost tapes of Mama Cass (yep, for real), a cover of Neu!’s “Hero” and the truly mesmerizing “I Feel Alright.”

If there’s any overarching aesthetic to Smokedog, it’s one of being fully versed in the history of rock and roll and saving some parts, dismissing other parts, and then choking the last bit of life out of what’s left. If forced to name a single band that represents, at least in Athens, how utterly free, and utterly pretension-free, music should be, Smokedog is it.

Gordon Lamb

SLARAFFENLAND We’re on Your Side Hometapes Danish export Slaraffenland’s new record, We’re on Your Side, might very well be the most original recording you’ll hear all year. After all, it can’t be easy to piece together songs in such a way as you’d swear you were listening

to a record being played backwards, so I imagine not many bands give it a go.

Of course, had the band taken a step or two from a well-worn playbook, it might have hidden a possibly homicidal confession beneath the tracks to give this album some lift. As it is, aside from its neither-rhyme-nor-reason structure, the most memorable things about these 10 songs are the dreary, almost martial percussion and robotic vocals randomly draped over a bleak backdrop I’m sure no one is actually meant to see, but is nevertheless hard not to visualize.

Every once in a while the record approaches likeability, like on “Meet and Greet,” a catchy, nicely harmonized song that masquerades as a sweetly quiet track, something that might serve as mood music for a yoga studio. But more often than not, its seemingly deliberate quirkiness is just not something I can get into.

Jennifer Gibson

RAT BABIES The Complete Guide to Caring for Your Rat Babies Vol.1 Independent Release Rat Babies are not cute and cuddly.

Like the rodent they’re named for, they rip and tear into what they’re given.

With screamed, nigh incomprehensible vocals, sludgy guitars and spastic, thrashing drums, Rat Babies are about as grunge metal as you can get. In fact, they’re pretty much standard.

The Complete Guide… is their collection of unreleased demos and live tracks. More than half of the album heads into the five minute and over mark, leaving you wondering when the song actually ended. The sound quality is spotty at times, but for the genre, it works.

There’s a constant drone throughout the record—perhaps the result of massive amounts of feedback, but it does give an otherwise unrelated collection a unifying sound. The lyrics are nothing special, featuring much mulled over ideas of death and blood and dying. “Bleeder” asks “Did I go numb just to feel something?” But there’s hope still for some originality. The song “Vibrator” is a delightfully X-rated grind that dissolves into declarations of why a certain member of the body is no longer needed. It takes a few listens to understand every word, but once you get it, it sticks.

The album came with a DVD that I can only describe as someone with a video camera running around a swamp either during a lightning storm or just with a flashlight. It honestly wouldn’t be a bad backdrop for Rat Babies to play in front of since it does match the music pretty well. But as a stand-alone disc? I’d rather just watch Blair Witch again. It aims for artsy but just falls into the realm of bad ideas.

Rat Babies just want to be your fuzzed-out, sludgy metal vibrators.

They may not always blow your mind, but they’ll get the job done.

Jordan Stepp

Laura Veirs Delivers the Peaches In Arabella Buckley’s 1878 science classic for children, The Fairyland of Science, the author sweetly serves up some of the hottest scientific dishes of the time: gravity, energy, magnetization and the kinetic theory of gases.

Its author was secretary to Charles Lyell, mentor to Darwin, and her entreaty to “look for the invisible fairies of nature” finds progeny in Laura Veirs’ place-anchored ruminations on relationships in the broadest sense. Eels and seagrass mark territory with constellations overhead while someone and someone are going through something amid the wonder of it all. Story-time remains at the heart of Veirs’ deliberate cursive: knitted items fine enough to under-appreciate at a glance, still, a fancy dress you don’t always get to own. Where location informs us of the natural world yawing on its giant axis, there speaks a wide-eyed narrator using words from science magazines to speak the mute exactitude of love and its consequences in the earnest voice of a child reading a pill bottle. People eventually enter these scenarios, relationships collide, galaxies attract and repel, and someone is kind enough to forgivingly describe it all— troubled, intricate, retold in hindsight’s better words.

In January 2010, Veirs will release her seventh full length, July Flame, on her own label, Raven Marching Band Records. The record was written and recorded in the Portland, OR home she shares with producer Tucker Martine (Jesse Sykes, Sufjan Stevens, Mudhoney, Bill Frissell). It is their sixth album working together and the first official LP for her fledgling imprint, having started initially as a conduit for self-releasing tour EPs and other between-albums material. The label’s launch coincides with her partnership with Hush Records president and Portland neighbor Chad Crouch, who manages the new Raven Marching Band team.

“It’s wonderful having everyone so close, with Tucker there as editor in the studio and having our warehouse be just down the street. We don’t have to go outside of that for very much of anything,” says Veirs.

July Flame turns outward from the interpersonal tumult of 2007’s Saltbreakers and occupies itself instead with notions of summer contentment. On a scorching day in late July 2008, she and a friend were visiting a local farmers’ market and stumbled upon a variety of peach bearing the future title of the album. After suggesting to the friend that they each go home and write a song with that title, Veirs and pal proceeded to buy said peaches, take them home and can them on the hottest day of that summer.

“I’d been in a songwriting slump at that time, and writing that song pushed me over my plateau into a new place. I invented oddball tunings, so I was really using my ear to search out new melodies and patterns. I wrote this album from a searching place, soulful place. I hope it elicits a real gut feeling.”

Having dubbed them “The Hall of Flames,” Veirs’ current backing band includes Kenai, Alaska imports Nelson Kempf and Keeley Boyle (who also form the duo Old Believers and provide vocals and multiple instrumental duties), Kate O’Brien-Clarke (violin and vocals) and Eric Anderson (vocals, bass, keyboards), with Tucker Martine handling percussion.

Coy King

A Fantastical Rock Opera

If

you heard The Decemberists’ 2004 EP, The Tain, then maybe their latest album, The Hazards of Love, didn’t come as quite such a surprise. The earlier release, an 18-minute track based on an 8th-century Irish epic poem, was the first sign that this bookish pop band had its sights set on the grandiose, served up with a side of badass shredding.

“The first movement of The Tain EP,” Pitchfork wrote in a 2004 review, “finds Meloy and the others most immediately concerned with—am I about to say this?—serious Ur-metal riffage.” Yep, it was a shock even then, but that was just a sliver of what was to come.

Fast forward to March of 2009 at the SXSW music festival where The Decemberists debuted The Hazards of Love live, playing the full album from beginning to end. I was there, and I was one of the few who missed the epic foreshadowing of albums past. So, when singer Colin Meloy started unleashing Black Sabbath-style sludge, my jaw sank into the Texas soil.

Was this really the same wordy, nerdy tunesmith who previously sang quirky sea shanties and highbrow pop? And then, shock number two: Meloy stepped back from the mic and, for the first time ever, relinquished lead vocal duties. That’s when it became clear that Meloy was not himself at all that night, but rather the voice of various characters in a full-on rock opera.

The honey-voiced Becky Stark took the reins as the demure, star-crossed lover Margaret followed by the roaring, Grace Slick-style power of Shara Worden who voiced the fiery Fairy Queen.

The Decemberists’ multi-instrumentalist Jenny Conlee says Meloy likely wrote those character parts with Worden and Stark in mind from the beginning. “When the rock opera was being introduced to us,” she says, “[Meloy] said he would like to get two female characters that had very different vocal qualities to take the Margaret and the Fairy Queen characters…

Both Lavender Diamond, Becky’s band, and Shara’s band My Brightest Diamond had both toured with us recently in the last couple years, so I think those voices were fresh in his head…

Thank God they had time to tour with us because it wouldn’t be able to happen otherwise.”

And in fact, a full staging of Hazards of Love may never happen again after this tour. “[Worden and Stark] are just so busy with their own projects; we are just so lucky to have them for this year,” says Conlee. “We won’t be able to have them, probably, after this… So, this is a last chance tour right now for people who want to see [Hazards of Love].”

While there have been a handful of shows where the band played just one or two Hazards of Love songs as a five-piece, this is a record best served whole, with most songs seamlessly flowing into one another, rising and falling with the arch of the story. It’s an adventurous ride from start to finish, dipping from sinewy pedal-steel ballads to lurching metal climaxes.

Meloy actually first envisioned Hazards of Love as a full-on stage production. As he told the A.V. Club in March, “I was approached by a director and producer from New York about doing a musical, and at the same time, I was also starting to

write this song called ‘The Hazards Of Love’ that borrowed its title from the name of an Anne Briggs EP—her first. And the song was kind of tending toward the beginnings of a longer piece… And then I had this idea that’d I’d pitch as a musical this idea of creating a narrative out of these recurrent folksong motifs.” As the tracks came together, however, Conlee says Meloy realized that the narrative was a bit too abstract for staging and would be better served “in the more vague realm of the rock opera” where the audience can interpret the action for themselves.

Even so, it’s an extraordinarily ambitious project, and the record’s success in what is now a largely singles-driven market is truly exceptional. The music industry has been mourning the “death of the album” ever since the iTunes music store began dominating the market, but The Decemberists were bold enough to put out a record that not only defies shuffling but also offers no real singles. That says a lot about Capitol Records’ confidence in the band and The Decemberists’ confidence in their fanbase.

“I think if you came out of the gate with something like this it would definitely be harder to find an audience,” says Conlee. “But I think The Decemberists’ fans, which there are a decent amount of, love it… I think people like buying records; they like having a whole one-hour experience with the band…

This was a good stage in our career to tackle something of this size.”

And to all those long-time Decemberists fans who are pining for their band’s back catalog, never fear; you, too, will be treated this weekend. The band is planning two sets of music, the first will feature The Hazards of Love in its entirety. The second will feature all the old favorites, with Stark and Worden guesting on a few numbers. During this set you can expect even “more than the usual amount” of charming banter and witticisms from Meloy and Co. Says Conlee: “The first set is kind of serious, and after that I can look out at the audience and interact with them… There’s a lot of chatting and there’s a lot of energy in that second set now because it follows the Hazards of Love.”

During that set we may also get a sample of The Decemberists’ next project. Here’s a hint: it’s not going to be a rock opera. “I think it might harken back to earlier work that we’ve done, but I’m not quite sure because we haven’t quite fleshed things out yet. I think you can look forward to a more Decemberists-y, traditional record.”

Michelle Gilzenrat

WHO: The Decemberists, Laura Veirs WHERE: Classic Center WHEN: Saturday, Sept. 26, 8:30 p.m.

HOW MUCH: $26–$31

SEPTEMBER 23, 2009 · FLAGPOLE.COM

23

Autumn DE Wilde

July Flame

The Decemberists Present The Hazards of Love

the calendar!

WHAT’S HAPPENING THIS WEEK

Deadline for getting listed in the calendar is every FRIDAY at 5 p.m. for the issue that comes out the following Wednesday. Email calendar@flagpole.com.

Tuesday 22 EVENTS: Book Sale (Madison County Library) Check out the Friends of the Library Book Sale during library hours. Sept. 18–26.

706-795-5597 EVENTS: Café Apollinaire (Ciné) The GA Fine Arts Academy hosts projections of the work of Picasso, Magritte and Dali, readings by Athens writers and a film screening in celebration of the Autumnal Equinox. 7:30 p.m. 706-353-7377 MEETINGS: Success for Students Community Meeting (Board of Education, 240 Mitchell Bridge Road) Clarke County School District hosts a conversation with the Annenberg Institute for School Reform’s senior consultant Anne T. Henderson. 5:30–7 p.m. FREE! 706208-1190 GAMES: Locos Trivia (Locos Grill & Pub) All three Athens locations of Locos Grill and Pub (Westside, Eastside and Harris St.) feature trivia night every Tuesday. 8:30 p.m.

FREE! www.locosgrill.com

Wednesday 23 EVENTS: Book Sale (Madison County Library) Sept. 18–26. 706795-5597 EVENTS: Boybutante Bingo (Little Kings Shuffle Club) Join Sophia LoRent for this popular annual event.

Proceeds benefit AIDS Athens. 8 p.m. www.myspace.com/littlekingsshuffleclub PERFORMANCE: Classic City Kings (New Earth Music Hall) Athens’ first and only drag king troupe! 10 p.m. www.newearthmusichall.com PERFORMANCE: UGA Recital (UGA Ramsey Concert Hall) Georgia Woodwind Quintet and Fischer Saxophone Quartet. 8 p.m. FREE! 706-542-4400, www.uga.edu/pac KIDSTUFF: Children’s Storytime (ACC Library) For children ages 18 months to 5 years. Tuesdays, 9:30 a.m., Wednesdays, 10:30 a.m. FREE! 706-613-3650 KIDSTUFF: Wildcard Wednesday (ACC Library) Up next: Victorian Decoupage Boxes. Decorate a keepsake box with clip art. Ages 11–18.

4 p.m. FREE! 706-613-3650 MEETINGS: American Sign Language Study Group (Cups Coffee Café) All skill levels welcome.

Come once or come weekly. Meets Wednesdays. 7–8 p.m. FREE! www. myspace.com/aslstudygroup MEETINGS: Amnesty International (Earth Fare) Meet with others to campaign for human rights worldwide. 5:30 p.m. FREE! www.athensai.blogspot.com MEETINGS: Cyber Safety Symposium (Clarke Middle School) Athens-Clarke County par-

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ents and children are invited to join this discussion on cyberbullying and other internet dangers. Space is limited; email to register. 5:30–7:30 p.m. FREE! caaron@pcaathens.org MEETINGS: Invisible Children (UGA Memorial Hall) The international non-profit organization screens The Rescue, a film that documents the struggles of the child soldiers in the ongoing war in Uganda and hosts a discussion about the conflict. 7 p.m. FREE! www.invisiblechildren.com, icuatuga@gmail.com GAMES: Movie Trivia Night (Flicker Theatre & Bar) Where movie trivia meets performance art. Sign up at 8 p.m. Trivia starts at 8:30 p.m.

FREE! www.myspace.com/flickerbar GAMES: Sports Trivia (Beef O’ Brady’s) Every Wednesday. 8:30 p.m.

FREE! 706-850-1916 GAMES: Trivia (Willy’s Mexicana Grill) Every Wednesday. 8–10 p.m.

FREE! 706-548-1920 GAMES: Trivia (Blind Pig Tavern) Think you know it all? 9:30 p.m.

706-548-3442 GAMES: Trivia Wars (283 Bar) “If you know your stuff you can win great stuff.” 9 p.m. FREE! 706-2081283

Thursday 24 EVENTS: Athens Heritage Walk (Call for location) John Whitehead leads this informal walking tour of the Henderson Avenue Historic District. Space is limited; call to reserve spot. 7 p.m. $15. 706-3531801, www.achfonline.org EVENTS: Book Sale (Madison County Library) Sept. 18–26. 706795-5597 EVENTS: Scare Up a Harvest: Help the Hungry (Lyndon House) Entries for the scarecrow competition are on display! Help the Food 2 Kids program collect 5,000 cans!

10 a.m.–noon, please donate cans of ravioli, 706-613-3623, www.accleisureservices.com THEATRE: Company (Athens Community Theatre) The Town & Gown Players perform Stephen Sondheim and George Furth’s musical comedy about the ups and downs of marriage. Sept. 24–26, 8 p.m.

Sept. 27, 2 p.m. $18, $15 (students and seniors). www.townandgownplayers.org, 706-208-8696 THEATRE: Cookie Dough’s Not Fattening… till you bake it!

(Morton Theatre) Athens Creative Theatre presents a musical comedy written and directed by T. A. Powell.

Sept. 24–26, 7:30 p.m. Sept. 27, 3 p.m. Oct. 1–3, 7:30 p.m. Oct. 4, 3 p.m. $15 (adults), $12 (seniors, students and children). 706-613-3771, www.mortontheatretix.com THEATRE: Our Lady of 121st Street (Cellar Theatre) The University Theatre Department

FLAGPOLE.COM ∙ SEPTEMBER 23, 2009

performs Adly Guirgis’ play about the memorial of a nun in Spanish Harlem and the frantic community’s search for her missing body. A comedy! Sept. 24–25, 29–30, Oct. 1–2, 8 p.m. Sept. 27 and Oct. 4, 2:30 p.m. $15. www.drama.uga.edu, 706-542-2838 KIDSTUFF: Chapter Book Review (Madison County Library) Every Tuesday and Thursday elementary school-aged children meet in the lobby to read aloud and share thoughts about books. 4:30 p.m.

FREE! 706-795-5597 KIDSTUFF: Children’s Book Award Program for Home School Students (ACC Library, Storyroom) Discuss the nominations for the Georgia Children’s Book Award. For first through fifth graders. 3:30–4:30 p.m. FREE! 706-613-3650 KIDSTUFF: Pajama Storytime (Madison County Library) Snuggle in your jammies with your favorite stuffed animal and listen to bedtime stories. Light snack provided. All ages. 7 p.m. FREE! 706-795-5597 KIDSTUFF: Parent/Child Workshop (ACC Library, Storyroom) For children ages 1–3 and their caregivers. Registration begins Sept. 8. 10–11 a.m. FREE! 706-613-3650 MEETINGS: Clarke County Democratic Committee (Clarke County Courthouse, Grand Jury Room) Monthly meeting of the CCDC. All interested persons are invited to attend. 6 p.m. FREE! 706202-7515 GAMES: Pool Tournament (Fat Daddy’s) 7 p.m. 706-353-0241 GAMES: Trivia (WOW Café & Wingery) Every Thursday. 706-5435510 GAMES: Trivia (El Azteca) Every Thursday. Prizes! 8 p.m. 706-5492639

Friday 25 EVENTS: Book Sale (Madison County Library) Sept. 18–26. 706795-5597 EVENTS: Floorspace Variety Night (Floorspace) An evening of live music, dance, performance and readings. Musical performances by Maps and Transit and Nanny Island. 8 p.m. $5–$8 (suggested donation), www.floorspaceathens. com EVENTS: Lunch with the Dawgs (The Melting Point) This week’s speaker is former UGA quarterback David Greene. Ticket includes buffet lunch. 11:30 a.m. $8 (adv.) $10 (door) www.meltingpointathens. com* EVENTS: Manhattan Short Film Festival (Ciné Barcafé) Ciné hosts the screenings of the 10 finalists in this global festival. Your vote counts! Sept. 25–27, 7 p.m. www. athenscine.org

Terry Rowlett’s new series of paintings, “Moments and Time,” is at Ciné through Oct. 19.

EVENTS: Scarecrow Fest (Hoschton, GA) Tour the Scarecrow Capital of the World as they host their annual scarecrow competition and pageant. www.hoschtonfallfestival.com EVENTS: Sock Hop (Buffalo’s Southwest Café) Do the twist, shag and other popular dances of the ‘50s and ‘60s. Wear your poodle skirt, saddle shoes, penny loafers or pedal pushers to win a prize. Every Friday.

7 p.m. FREE! 706-354-6655 PERFORMANCE: “It Was Open Mic Nite at Ye Olde Rustic Inne” (Ciné) Lisa Mende and Stephanie Astalos-Jones bring their hilarious show back by popular demand. The night features “comedy duos ranging from Borscht belt favorites, the Schmeckle Sisters, to the red hat ladies of ‘Southern Magic.’”

8 p.m. $15. www.athenscine.com THEATRE: Company (Athens Community Theatre) A Town & Gown production. See Sept. 24 Theatre. Sept. 24–26, 8 p.m. Sept.

27, 2 p.m. $18, $15 (students and seniors). www.townandgownplayers. org, 706-208-8696 THEATRE: Cookie Dough’s Not Fattening… till you bake it!

(Morton Theatre) Presented by Athens Creative Theatre. See Theatre Sept. 24. Sept. 24–26, 7:30 p.m.

Sept. 27, 3 p.m. Oct. 1–3, 7:30 p.m.

Oct. 4, 3 p.m. $15 (adults), $12 (seniors, students and children).

706-613-3771, www.mortontheatretix.com THEATRE: Our Lady of 121st Street (Cellar Theatre) A University Theatre Department Production.

See Theatre Sept. 24. Sept. 24–25, 29–30, Oct. 1–2, 8 p.m. Sept. 27 and Oct. 4, 2:30 p.m. $15. www. drama.uga.edu, 706-542-2838 KIDSTUFF: Japanese Storytime (ACC Library, Storyroom) Led

by Hijiri Hattori, Japan Outreach

Coordinator for Asian Studies with UGA. 5 p.m. FREE! 706-613-3650 LECTURES & LIT.: “Science Rejects Postmodernism (and feminism) in Educational Research” (UGA Campus, Miller Learning Center) Elizabeth St. Pierre is this week’s Women’s Studies Friday Speaker. 12:20 p.m. FREE! 706-542-2846 MEETINGS: Happy Hoop Hour (Canopy Studio) Hooping fun with friends. Unwind from the week and chat while practicing your hoopdance skills. No formal instruction is provided. 7–8 p.m. $5. www.athenshoopdance.wordpress.com

Saturday 26 EVENTS: Athens Farmers’ Market (Bishop Park) Buy fresh, locally grown organic produce, locally crafted goods and freshly baked breads. Every Saturday. 8 a.m.–12 p.m. athensfarmersmarket.net EVENTS: Athens/Oconee Greek Festival (St. Philothea Greek Orthodox Church) Live music, Greek dancing and delicious Greek cuisine.

Festivities continue on Sunday. 11 a.m.–8 p.m. $3 (adults), $1 (seniors and students), FREE! (kids 11 and under). 706-546-7341 EVENTS: Book Sale (Madison County Library) Sept. 18–26. 706795-5597 EVENTS: Firefly Brew (Email for Location) A party for Cucuyo, Athens’ bi-cultural teen arts program in the Dominican Republic. 7–11 p.m. $25. moreplease@cucuyo.org See story on p. 16.

EVENTS: Manhattan Short Film Festival (Ciné Barcafé) Sept.

25–27, 7 p.m. www.athenscine.org EVENTS: Open House: “Animal Adaptations” (Sandy Creek Nature Center, ENSAT) Explore camouflage,

mimicry, predator/prey relationships and other various survival techniques. 1–3 p.m. FREE! 706613-3615 EVENTS: Saturday Stroll (Oconee County Courthouse) Oconee County Commissioner Chuck Horton leads an informal walking tour of Watkinsville. 9 a.m. $5. www. oconeedemocrats.org EVENTS: Scarecrow Fest (Hoschton, GA) Tour the Scarecrow Capital of the World as they host their annual scarecrow competition and pageant. www.hoschtonfallfestival.com ART: Athens Artists Clearance Sale (Chase Street Warehouses) Young, Foxy & Free magazine and local artists team up to sell their wares. Sep. 26. 12–7 p.m. mattblanksart@gmail.com THEATRE: Company (Athens Community Theatre) A Town & Gown production. See Sept. 24 Theatre. Sept. 24–26, 8 p.m. Sept.

27, 2 p.m. $18, $15 (students and seniors). www.townandgownplayers. org, 706-208-8696 THEATRE: Cookie Dough’s Not Fattening… till you bake it!

(Morton Theatre) Presented by Athens Creative Theatre. See Theatre Sept. 24. Sept. 24–26, 7:30 p.m.

Sept. 27, 3 p.m. Oct. 1–3, 7:30 p.m.

Oct. 4, 3 p.m. $15 (adults), $12 (seniors, students and children).

706-613-3771, www.mortontheatretix.com OUTDOORS: Herb Garden and Conservatory Ramble (State Botanical Garden of Georgia) Mexican tarragon, pineapple sage and Texas Flame Vine are just a few of the cool season crops you’ll see on this garden stroll. 10 a.m. FREE! www.uga.edu/botgarden KIDSTUFF: Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs Family Program (Oconee County Library) Come to

the library to listen to a reading of the book that inspired the movie and its sequel, Pickles to Pittsburgh.

Crafts and wacky weather discussion follow. 11 a.m. FREE! 706-769-3950 KIDSTUFF: Family Fun Day (Rocksprings Park) Bring the family for crafts, music, food, games and fun. 11 a.m.–2 p.m. $1. 706-6133603.

KIDSTUFF: Geocaching Adventures (Ben Burton Park) Learn the basics of geocaching and use your skills to find a hidden cache. Under 16 accompanied by an adult. Space is limited; call to register. 10–11:30 a.m. $5, 706613-3615 LECTURES & LIT.: Screenwriting Workshop (Oconee Cultural Arts Foundation) Introductory workshop taught by Emmy-winner Terry Kay. Space is limited; call to register.

Sept. 26–27, $150, $75 (students).

706-769-4565, info@ocaf.com.

Sunday 27 EVENTS: Athens Heritage Walk (Call for location) Tour a horse and mule farm with Smith Wilson, leader of the Southern Piedmont Farming Tour. Space is limited; call to reserve spot. 2 p.m. $15. 706-353-1801, www.achfonline.org EVENTS: Athens/Oconee Greek Festival (St. Philothea Greek Orthodox Church) Live music, Greek dancing and delicious Greek cuisine.

12 p.m.–6 p.m. $3 (adults), $1 (seniors and students), FREE! (kids 11 and under). 706-546-7341 EVENTS: Cultural Clays Sporting Clays Tournament (The Lake Oconee Shooting Club) The Madison-Morgan Cultural Center hosts this friendly but spirited shooting competition with awards ceremony, silent auction, raffle, cocktails, food and live music by The Apostles of Bluegrass. Visit website for schedule and fees.

EVENTS: Manhattan Short Film Festival (Ciné Barcafé) Sept.

25–27, 7 p.m. www.athenscine.org EVENTS: Scarecrow Fest (Hoschton, GA) Tour the Scarecrow Capital of the World as they host their annual scarecrow competition and pageant. www.hoschtonfallfestival.com ART: Opening Reception (State Botanical Garden of Georgia) For “Intimacy,” an exhibit featuring the photography of Don Byram.

1:30–3:30, FREE! 706-542-6156, www.uga.edu/botgarden THEATRE: Church Mess (The Classic Center) Touring urban gospel stage play featuring the moneyhungry deacon, the religious mother, the choir member with the alternative lifestyle and more. Despite these issues, Church Mess portrays the church as an institution for healing and deliverance. 8 p.m. $10–$35.

706-357-4444. www.classiccenter. com* THEATRE: Company (Athens Community Theatre) A Town & Gown production. See Sept. 24 Theatre. Sept. 24–26, 8 p.m. Sept.

27, 2 p.m. $18, $15 (students and seniors). www.townandgownplayers. org, 706-208-8696 THEATRE: Cookie Dough’s Not Fattening… till you bake it!

(Morton Theatre) Presented by Athens Creative Theatre. See Theatre Sept. 24. Sept. 24–26, 7:30 p.m.

Sept. 27, 3 p.m. Oct. 1–3, 7:30 p.m.

Oct. 4, 3 p.m. $15 (adults), $12 (seniors, students and children).

706-613-3771, www.mortontheatretix.com THEATRE: Our Lady of 121st Street (Cellar Theatre) A University Theatre Department Production.

See Theatre Sept. 24. Sept. 24–25, 29–30, Oct. 1–2, 8 p.m. Sept. 27 and Oct. 4, 2:30 p.m. $15. www. drama.uga.edu, 706-542-2838 LECTURES & LIT.: Screenwriting Workshop (Oconee Cultural Arts Foundation) Introductory workshop taught by Emmy-winner Terry Kay. Space is limited; call to register.

Sept. 26–27, $150, $75 (students).

706-769-4565, info@ocaf.com.

GAMES: Full-Contact Trivia (Allen’s Bar & Grill) Sports-themed rules with diverse categories. 9 p.m.

FREE! www.allensbarandgrill.com GAMES: Team Trivia (Wild Wing Café) Every Sunday. FREE! www. wildwingcafe.com

Monday 28 EVENTS: Last Comic Standing (New Earth Music Hall) Round 2 out of 4! Aspiring comedians compete for a cash prize in this bi-weekly series. Hosted by Chris Patton. Special guests DJ AZ-IZ and Gus Darnell will spin in between acts. 8 p.m. www.newearthmusichall.com PERFORMANCE: MunDanish Comedy Showcase (Tasty World Uptown) Featuring the best local and nationally touring comedians. Last Monday of every month. This month, Chris Porter headlines. 9 p.m. $5 (21+), $8 (18+). www.mundanish. com PERFORMANCE: UGA Recital (UGA Ramsey Concert Hall) Chester B. Phillips, wind instruments. 6 p.m.

FREE! 706-542-4400, www.uga. edu/pac OUTDOORS: Bike Ride (Main Street Yarns) A leisurely ride to Bishop (8ish miles) and back. Every Monday.

6:15 p.m. FREE! 706-769-5531 KIDSTUFF: Bedtime Stories (ACC Library) Every Monday. 7 p.m. FREE! 706-613-3650 LECTURES & LIT.: Last Monday Book Group (ACC Library, Small Conference Room) This month’s title is Absalom, Absalom! by William Faulkner. Newcomers welcome. 7 p.m. FREE! 706-613-3650 MEETINGS: Slow Food Meet and Greet (The National) Come out and learn about this year’s Slow Food activities over small plate tapas.

Register by Sept. 25. 5–6 p.m. $5 (plate), FREE! (members). showard@athenstech.edu MEETINGS: Zen Meditation and Book Discussion (Email for Location) The Key by Cheri Huber.

Meets every Monday. 7:15 p.m.

FREE! meditateathens@gmail.com GAMES: Darts (Broad Street Bar and Grill) Blind Draw Darts Tournament.

Every Monday. 10 p.m. 706-5485187 GAMES: Karaoke (Top Dawg Activity Bar & Nightclub) Every Monday.

FREE! www.athenstopdawg.com GAMES: Ping Pong (Flicker Theatre & Bar) Get your paddle ready for a round of table tennis. 8:30 p.m.

FREE! www.myspace.com/flickerbar GAMES: Rock and Roll Trivia (Little Kings Shuffle Club) Get a team together and show off your extensive music knowledge every Monday! 8 p.m. FREE! www.myspace.com/littlekingsshuffleclub GAMES: Sports Trivia (WOW Café & Wingery) Every Monday. 706543-5510.

GAMES: Team Trivia (Beef O’ Brady’s) Get a team together and test your knowledge. Every Monday!

8:30 p.m. FREE! 706-850-1916 GAMES: Texas Hold ‘Em (Fat Daddy’s) Every Monday. 6 & 9 p.m.

706-353-0241.

GAMES: Trivia (Fat Daddy’s) Monday with Stan. 9 p.m. 706-353-0241.

GAMES: Trivia (Transmetropolitan) General knowledge trivia. Every

Monday. 8–10 p.m. FREE! 706613-8773 GAMES: Tune Trivia (Alibi) Test your knowledge of music trivia. Hosted

by Bobby Nettles. 9 p.m. FREE! 706549-1010

Tuesday 29 EVENTS: Dancing with the Athens Stars 2010 Kick-off (Family Protection Center) Project Safe announces its top-secret line-up of community stars! 5:30 p.m. 706549-0922 EVENTS: Fourth Annual Northeast Georgia Marching Exhibition (Cedar Shoals High School) Come out to support your local high school marching bands. 6 p.m. $5 (adults) $3 (children, students and seniors) THEATRE: Our Lady of 121st Street (Cellar Theatre) A University Theatre Department Production.

See Theatre Sept. 24. Sept. 24–25, 29–30, Oct. 1–2, 8 p.m. Sept. 27 and Oct. 4, 2:30 p.m. $15. www. drama.uga.edu, 706-542-2838 KIDSTUFF: Chapter Book Review (Madison County Library) Every Tuesday and Thursday elementary school-aged children meet in the lobby to read aloud and share thoughts about books. 4:30 p.m.

FREE! 706-795-5597 KIDSTUFF: Children’s Storytime (ACC Library) For children ages 18 months to 5 years. Tuesdays, 9:30 a.m., Wednesdays, 10:30 a.m. FREE! 706-613-3650 KIDSTUFF: Parent and Student Orientation (ACC Library) Explore the library’s various resources in this hour-long tour. Call for times. FREE! 706-613-3650 LECTURES & LIT.: Brown Bag Lunch (ACC Library) Sandi Turner and Chris Wyrick speak on shopping locally. Feel free to bring a lunch to this 45-minute program. 12:15 p.m.

FREE! 706-613-3650 LECTURES & LIT.: Pipo Nguyenduy (Lamar Dodd School of Art, Rm S151) Photographer Pipo Nguyenduy, whose recent work explores “humanity in the context of the postapocalyptic landscape,” speaks as part of the Visiting Artist Series. 5:30 p.m. FREE! www.art.uga.edu MEETINGS: Liberty in North Korea (UGA Campus, Miller Learning Center) Representatives from LINK screen Seoul Train, a film that documents the attempts of many North Koreans to escape their homeland in search of freedom. 8 p.m.

FREE! icuatuga@gmail.com MEETINGS: Pub Theology (Trappeze Pub) Open conversations revolving around theology.

Currently reading Gordon Kaufman and progressive theology. Contact Chris for reading materials. 8 p.m.

FREE! 706-549-1915, cmccreight@ fccathens.org GAMES: Flicker Poker Night (Flicker Theatre & Bar) Last Tuesday of every month! 8:30 p.m. www. myspace.com/flickerbar GAMES: Locos Trivia (Locos Grill & Pub) All three Athens locations of Locos Grill and Pub (Westside, Eastside and Harris St.) feature trivia night every Tuesday. 8:30 p.m.

FREE! www.locosgrill.com

GA vs. LSU Weekend!

Just outside of Athens!

Sponsored by:

Wednesday 30 EVENTS: Trunk Show (Heery’s Clothes Closet) Tibi designer Amy Smilovic unveils her fall and holiday collections. In-store cocktail party follows from 6–9 p.m. All are welcome! 10 a.m.–4 p.m. FREE! 706-543-0702 k continued on next page

SEPTEMBER 23, 2009 · FLAGPOLE.COM

25

Eat. Drink. Listen Closely.

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23

INGRID MICHAELSON

with GREG HOLDEN Opening Tickets $12 adv. • $15 at the door

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 24

A HAWK & A HACKSAW with DAMON & NAOMI

Tickets $10 adv. • $13 at the door ($10 at door with UGA ID)

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 25

in U un

presented by

LUNCH WITH THE DAWGS

featuring former UGA Quarterback DAVID GREENE 11:30am • Tickets $8 adv. • $10 at the door • $40 season pass

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 25 AN EVENING WITH

THE JESTERS

featuring the ABSOLUT ANGELS Team with Specials and Premium Gear Tickets $12 adv. • $15 at the door

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 30

SUMILIAN with LINGO

Tickets $5 • Music at 9pm • $1 Domestic Drafts 6-8pm

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1

SAM & RUBY

with YOUNG GOODMAN BROWN Tickets $8 adv. • $10 at the door

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 2

ATHENS’ ORIGINAL RACK OF SPAM Tickets $10 adv • $13 at the door

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 7

DAVE BARNES

Tickets $12 adv. • $15 at the door

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 8

THE GOURDS

with SHINYRIBS

Tickets $15 adv • $17 at the door

GET YOUR TICKETS NOW

COMING SOON

10/5 - THE HOOT 10/14 - JEFF COFFIN MU’TET feat. JEFF SIPE, KOFI BURBRIDGE & FELIX PASTORIUS 10/15 - DELTA MOON with SETH WALKER 10/16 - BEARDS OF COMEDY CD Release 10/17 - MODERN SKIRTS with THE FEATURES 10/22 - MIKE DOUGHTY: The Question Jar Show (an acoustic evening) 10/24 - TINSLEY ELLIS CD RELEASE 10/28 - COWBOY MOUTH 10/29 - ERIN McKEOWN 10/30 - KENOSHA KID CD Release with TREY WRIGHT TRIO 11/14 - MARCY PLAYGROUND All doors at 6pm and all shows 18 + up.

Bring in this ad for 2 for 1 admission! (To Tuesday Series Only)

Terrapin Tuesday

BLUEGRASS SERIES $3 All the time • Every Tuesday 7-10pm

2 TERRAPINS

$

(India Brown Ale, Rye Pale Ale, Golden Ale & Sunray Wheat)

SEPT. 22 - TOWN MOUNTAIN + KORT McCUMBER ($5) SEPT. 29 - THE NORTH GEORGIA BLUEGRASS BAND OCT. 6 - LONESOME TRAVELER OCT. 13 - STEEL STRING SESSION LOCATED ON THE GROUNDS OF

295 E. DOUGHERTY ST., ATHENS, GA

706.254.6909

WWW.MELTINGPOINTATHENS.COM

FOR TICKETS & SHOWTIMES OR CALL THE BOX OFFICE 706.254.6909

26

FLAGPOLE.COM ∙ SEPTEMBER 23, 2009

Wednesday, Sep. 30 continued from p. 25

PERFORMANCE: UGA Recital (UGA Ramsey Concert Hall) Brandon Craswell, trumpet and Jane Craswell, piano. 8 p.m. FREE! 706542-4400, www.uga.edu/pac THEATRE: Our Lady of 121st Street (Cellar Theatre) A University Theatre Department Production.

See Theatre Sept. 24. Sept. 24–25, 29–30, Oct. 1–2, 8 p.m. Sept. 27 and Oct. 4, 2:30 p.m. $15. www. drama.uga.edu, 706-542-2838 KIDSTUFF: Children’s Storytime (ACC Library) For children ages 18 months to 5 years. Tuesdays, 9:30 a.m., Wednesdays, 10:30 a.m. FREE! 706-613-3650 KIDSTUFF: Eatin’ with the Critters (Sandy Creek Nature Center, ENSAT) Bring a sack lunch for an hour of learning about our world and the animals that inhabit it. For ages 3–5 with an adult. Call to register. 12:30 p.m. $0–$13 (scholarships available). 706-613-3615 KIDSTUFF: Wildcard Wednesday (ACC Library) Up next: Copycat Art: Tissue Paper Landscapes. Create a soothing watercolor landscape using tissue paper collage technique. Ages 11–18. 4 p.m. FREE! 706-613-3650 KIDSTUFF: Young Adult Book Discussion (Madison County Library) Call for this month’s title.

4:30 p.m. FREE! 706-795-5597 LECTURES & LIT.: Oconee Dems Book Group (Five Points Deli & More, Epps Bridge) Communitywide book group hosted by the Oconee County Democrats. This month: The Devil We Know: Dealing with the New Iranian Superpower, by former CIA operative Robert Baer.

Newcomers from any county and of any political affiliation are welcome.

6 p.m. FREE! ppriest@charter.net, www.oconeedemocrats.org GAMES: Movie Trivia Night (Flicker Theatre & Bar) Sign up at 8 p.m. Trivia starts at 8:30 p.m. FREE! www.myspace.com/flickerbar GAMES: Sports Trivia (Beef O’ Brady’s) Every Wednesday. 8:30 p.m.

FREE! 706-850-1916 GAMES: Trivia (Willy’s Mexicana Grill) Every Wednesday. 8–10 p.m.

FREE! 706-548-1920 GAMES: Trivia (Blind Pig Tavern) 9:30 p.m. 706-548-3442 GAMES: Trivia Wars (283 Bar) “If you know your stuff you can win great stuff.” 9 p.m. FREE! 706-2081283 * Advance Tickets Available

Down the Line THEATRE: Cookie Dough’s Not Fattening… till you bake it!

10/1 (Morton Theatre) Athens Creative Theatre presents a musical comedy written and directed by T. A. Powell. Sept. 24–26, 7:30 p.m. Sept.

27, 3 p.m. Oct. 1–3, 7:30 p.m. Oct. 4, 3 p.m. $15 (adults), $12 (seniors, students and children). 706-6133771, www.mortontheatretix.com THEATRE: Our Lady of 121st Street 10/1 (Cellar Theatre) A University Theatre Department Production. See Theatre Sept. 24.

Sept. 24–25, 29–30, Oct. 1–2, 8 p.m. Sept. 27 and Oct. 4, 2:30 p.m. $15. www.drama.uga.edu, 706542-2838 LECTURES & LIT.: “How Does a Shadow Shine?” 10/8 (Morton Theatre) The Georgia Review hosts a reading from Pulitzer Prize winner and former U.S. poet laureate Rita Dove. 7 p.m. FREE! www.thegeorgiareview.com THEATRE: The Grapes of Wrath 10/13 (Seney-Stovall Chapel)

The University Theatre presents John Galati’s adaptation of John Steinbeck’s Dust Bowl classic. Oct. 13–18, 8 p.m. Oct. 18, 2:30 p.m. $10, $7 (students and seniors). 706542-2838, www.drama.uga.edu EVENTS: Girls’ Rock Camp Benefit Dinner 10/14 (Earth Fare) Chef Michael Perkins prepares an Italian dinner accompanied by a five wine flight. Vegetarian meal upon request. Space is limited; call to reserve your spot. 6:30 p.m. $40, tickets@girlsrockathens.org, www. girlsrockathens.org PERFORMANCE: Robert Belinic 10/17 (UGA Hodgson Hall) Renowned Croatian guitarist performs. 8 p.m. $18. www.uga.edu/ pac* PERFORMANCE: Taikoza 10/18 (UGA Hodgson Hall) Internationally acclaimed Japanese dance and drum ensemble featuring a 6-foot long ancestral Taiko drum. 3 p.m. $20–$25.

706-542-4400, www.uga.edu/pac* EVENTS: The Art of: Music 10/20 (Stan Mullins’ Studio) The Georgia Museum of Art presents Grammy Award-winner Art Rosenbaum in this old time and bluegrass music performance. Part of GMOA’s “The Art of…” series. Call to RSVP. 6–8 p.m. $20. 706-542-0830, www.uga. edu/gamuseum LECTURES & LIT.: Michael Fried 10/20 (Lamar Dodd School of Art, Rm S151) The poet, art historian and art and literary critic speaks as part of the Visiting Artist/Scholar Series.

5:30 p.m. FREE! www.art.uga.edu EVENTS: Pagan Pride Day 10/24 (Bishop Park) Performers of magic,

vendors of wonders, teachers of wisdom and just plain folks are welcome to celebrate at this annual day of education, activism, charity and community. 10 a.m.–5 p.m. FREE! http://athenspaganpride.org PERFORMANCE: Lynn Harrell 10/24 (UGA Hodgson Hall) Awardwinning cellist performs as a part of UGA Performing Arts Center’s Music Series II. 8 p.m. $23–$28. 706-5424400, www.uga.edu/pac* EVENTS: Fall Wine Fest 10/25 (Ashford Manor) OCAF fundraiser features food/wine tasting from local and regional vineyards and restaurants and a silent art auction. 3–6 p.m. $30 (advance), $35. 706-7694565, www.ocaf.com* PERFORMANCE: Atlanta Symphony Orchestra 11/5 (UGA Hodgson Hall) Conductor Robert Spano conducts Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 6 and Stravinsky’s Nightingale. 8 p.m. $37–42. 706542-4400, www.uga.edu/pac* EVENTS: Annual Christmas Tour of Homes 12/5 (Monroe) Tour an eclectic mix of homes. Proceeds benefit the Monroe Art Guild. 12–6 p.m. $10 (advance), $15. 770-2078937, www.monroeartguild.org* * Advance Tickets Available

Live Music

Buffalo’s Southwest Café 6–10 p.m. $5. 706-354-6655 DINE & DANCE NIGHT Beginners and advanced dance lessons every Tuesday from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. followed by open dance until 10 p.m. Tonight features country and line dancing with live music from James Hunter & Southern Pride Band.

Caledonia Lounge 10 p.m. $6 (21+), $8 (18+). www.caledonialounge.com BIRDS OF AVALON North Carolina’s Birds of Avalon mine numerous deep veins of rock and roll, with blistering lead guitarists dipping into psychedelia and heavy blues-rock.

DARK MEAT Super-group of 10+ members playing psychedelic garage-rock rave-ups ranging from the tight and efficient to the expansively sprawling, drawing inspiration from free-jazz, punk and showboating funk. New full-length coming soon!

HOT BREATH Thrash trio featuring members of experimental local acts Garbage Island and S.V.A. Farm 255 10 p.m. FREE! www.farm255.com DAN NETTLES Celebrated local jazz musician known for his work fronting Kenosha Kid.

Tuesday 22

Fat Daddy’s 10 p.m. FREE! 706-353-0241 KARAOKE Huge karaoke dance party hosted by Lynn every Tuesday.

Alibi FREE! 706-549-1010 KLASSIC KARAOKE DANCE PARTY Every Tuesday.

Go Bar 10 p.m. www.myspace.com/gobar JONESIN’ Sugar-sweet and sardonic electro duet from San Francisco

Friday, September 25

Shelley Short, Alexis Gideon, Marriage, Reptar Flicker Theatre & Bar Shelley Short was raised in Portland surrounded by simplicity.

Her family grew its own food and chopped down wood needed to heat their Victorian home.

That same back-to-basics mentality seems to inform the beautifully sparse arrangements on her latest record, A Cave, A Canoo. (“I am attracted Shelley Short to how words look aesthetically,” says Short of the unconventional spelling, “I was drawn to the look of the word “canoo.”) The cooing guitars seem to build a nest around her innocent, delicate vocal tones. It’s a voice that many critics agree is almost childlike in quality, a descriptor Short is not put off by.

“If I ever hear a recording of myself talking or conversing with someone, I wince at how much I sound like a five-year-old,” she admits. “So, I guess I am not surprised that ‘childlike’ is a word used to describe my voice. I have never consciously tried to sound a certain way with my singing voice… but that description doesn’t bother me.”

Tender as it may be, her voice never wavers, and Short says the years since her Hush Records debut in 2006 have done much to build her confidence as a writer and performer.

“I have experienced a lot since that time, and have been able to let that influence the songs…” Thematically, Short looks both inward and outward for inspiration, without concerning herself with overarching themes. “I like to make things, and find the thread afterwards… Maybe when I’m 80 drinking some tea, sitting in the old rocking chair, I’ll listen to this record and say, ‘Wow I never knew I was so happy back then’ or ‘What the heck was I thinking?’”

Alexis Gideon, who co-produced A Cave, A Canoo, will accompany Short on guitar in addition to playing a solo set of his own experimental electronica. The rest of the lineup is extraordinarily diverse, including the sludgy metal of local rockers Marriage and the danceable electropop of must-see up-and-comers Reptar. [Michelle Gilzenrat]

Faulkner Short

THE CALENDAR!

replete with cutesy vocals and ironic moustaches.

TUNABUNNY Experimental local act featuring hazy and warped experimental psychedelia. Dual female guitarists/vocalists are backed by synthesized percussion and a wall of noise.

WEREWOLVES Quirky and minimalist rock from Wyatt Strother.

The Melting Point 7 p.m. $5. www.meltingpointathens. com KORT MCCUMBER The singersongwriter and multi-instrumentalist breaks out the guitar, mandolin, banjo, harmonica, piano, bouzouki, cello, bass and who knows what else.

TOWN MOUNTAIN Drawing heavily from two classic American styles, this Asheville band packs its original repertoire with tunes touching on classic country and first-generation traditional bluegrass.

New Earth Music Hall 10 p.m. www.newearthmusichall.com MEAN MIC TUESDAYS Hosted by celebrated local rapper Elite tha Showstoppa and featuring DJ Tune, this weekly hip-hop series organized by Tommy Valentine will host local up-and-coming rappers, freestyle battlers, breakdancers, DJs and beatmakers.

Square One Fish Co. 8 p.m. FREE! www.squareonefishco. com NORMALTOWN FLYERS This Athens roots-rock institution plays a set of good-time rock and roll with a Southern leaning.

Tasty World Uptown Americana Night. 10 p.m. $5. www. myspace.com/tastyworlduptown BO BEDINGFIELD Singer and primary songwriter for local band The Wydelles, Bo Bedingfield’s smooth, warm vocals are steeped in all the soul of country music without the twang.

BETSY FRANCK Soulful, brassy Southern rock and country songs rooted in tradition, but with a modern sensibility.

CLAY LEVERETT One of this town’s finest country frontmen, Leverett has led both The Chasers and Lona. Clay hosts Tasty World’s Americana night every Tuesday.

TY MANNING The singer/guitarist from Athens’ The Bearfoot Hookers and host of Rye Bar’s open mic night plays a solo set.

Wild Wing Café 10 p.m. FREE! www.wildwingcafe.com KARAOKE Every Tuesday night at the downtown chain’s upstairs space.

Wednesday 23 40 Watt Club 9:30 p.m. $5 (21+), $7 (18+). www.40watt.com GUFF This non-stop local punk quartet’s style hearkens back to the Lookout Records sound from more than a decade ago, with a sense of fun amid the noise.

ROMANENKO Local trio draws from ‘70s pop and folk with a modern rock edge, like Mary Timony fronting the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.

TENDABERRY Tendaberry brings its funky, soulful post-punk to Athens.

Think Rick James sitting in with Gang of Four.

Allen’s Bar & Grill 10 p.m. FREE! www.allensbarandgrill. com DJ SPY Atlanta dance/techno DJ makes his Athens debut.

Caledonia Lounge 10 p.m. $5 (21+), $7 (18-20). www. caledonialounge.com MAXIMUM BUSY MUSCLE Local tech-metal trio featuring Jay Roach on guitar, Mary Joyce on drums and Kris Deason on bass.

NO MORE Three-piece pop-punk group from Gainesville, FL featuring beautiful vocal melodies. Although the lyrics occasionally veer toward the political, the tunes are always fun and danceable.

SHITTY CANDY Local femme punk crew Shitty Candy “throws some bitch punk in your face.” The accompanying Circus Peanuts are the crew of backup dancers going the costumed/burlesque-ish route.

Fat Daddy’s 10 p.m.–1 a.m. FREE! 706-353-0241 OPEN MIC Every Wednesday featuring Avery Dylan.

WINDSTORM AND THE 40 WATT CLUB PRESENT

THE DECEMBERISTS !

URDAY!!

THIS SAT

SATURDAY, SEPT. 26 8:30pm with special guest LAURA VEIRS & THE HALL OF FLAMES

All Ages Tickets available at The Classic Center Box Office and www.classiccenter.com.

To charge by phone - 706-357-4444. www.decemberists.com

Gnat’s Landing 6 p.m. FREE! 706-850-5858 DAVID PRINCE This Athens staple and one-time member of The Jesters plays your favorite soul, rock and R&B oldies.

Go Bar 10 p.m. www.myspace.com/gobar DJS RAPEDOGG 40 Watt club employees and local rockers Jeff Rapier (The Dumps, American Cheeseburger) and Zack “Z-Dogg” Hosey make up this rad DJ duo, spinning dance classics, punk, ‘80s and more.

TWIN POWERS Local Kindercore Records alum Dan Geller and local chef Eddie Russell mix up contemporary Top 40 hits with danceable ‘80s new wave and some Britpop tunes.

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 29

The Felice Brothers TAYLOR HOLLINGSWORTH (OF THE MYSTIC VALLEY BAND) doors open at 9pm • ten dollars adv. **

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 30 285 W. Washington St. Athens, GA • Call 706-549-7871 for Show Updates

CHEAP DRINK SPECIALS EVERY NIGHT BEFORE 11PM • 18 + UP

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23

GUFF

Harry Bissett’s Bayou Grill 8 p.m. FREE! www.harrybissetts.net NATHAN SHEPPARD WITH JOHN KEANE Acclaimed producer and rocker John Keane will be joined by local acoustic stalwart Nathan Sheppard for a set of rock and Americana numbers.

ROMANENKO • TENDABERRY

Locos Grill & Pub 6:30 p.m. FREE! 706-549-7700 THE VIBRATONES Local band featuring original takes on swing and jump-style blues.

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 25 SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 26 GEORGIA THEATRE PRESENTS

The Melting Point 8:30 p.m. $12 (adv), $15 (door). www. meltingpointathens.com GREG HOLDEN British singer/ songwriter and YouTube sensation brings his intimate solo performance to Athens.

INGRID MICHAELSON Ingrid Michaelson’s sweeping piano-based romances have been turning ears on numerous commercials and TV soundtracks, and there’s a bold sensitivity that recalls singers like Mia Doi Todd.

The Office Lounge 9:30 p.m. FREE! 706-549-0840 KARAOKE Every Wednesday with Stan.

Rye Bar 10 p.m. www.myspace.com/ryebarathens JENNIFER MATTHEWS Singer/ songwriter whose tunes shift from acoustic ballads to alt-rock with some funky soul in between.

Square One Fish Co. 8 p.m. FREE! www.squareonefishco. com TJ MIMBS This local acoustic singersongwriter plays melodramatic pop in the vein of Dave Matthews.

COLOUR REVOLT TWIN TIGERS • BAMBARA doors open at 9pm • six dollars

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1

GEORGIA THEATRE PRESENTS

RANDY ROGERS BAND

doors open at 9:30pm • five dollars

TWO nights of

perpetual groove

SAM HUNT

doors open at 8pm • ten dollars adv.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 2

STAT E R AD IO

DO IT TO JULIA

doors open at 8pm • fifteen dollars adv.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 3

doors open at 9pm • fifteen dollars fifty cents •

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 28 AN EVENING WITH

THE MINUS 5

THE BASEBALL PROJECT STEVE WYNN IV

Performed by Scott McCaughey, Peter Buck, Steve Wynn and Linda Pitmon

doors open at 9pm • twelve dollars adv. **

DAN DEACON

WAVVES • NUCLEAR POWER PANTS doors open at 9pm • twelve dollars adv.

All Shows 18 and up • + $2 for Under 21 * Advance Tix Available at Schoolkids Records ** Advance Tix Sold at http://www.40watt.com

EXCLUSIVE HOME OF THE

PBR 24oz CAN

k continued on next page

SEPTEMBER 23, 2009 · FLAGPOLE.COM

27

THE CALENDAR!

Wednesday, Sep. 23 continued from p. 27

Tasty World Uptown 10 p.m. $5. www.myspace.com/tastyworlduptown 3 FOOT SWAGGER Local band featuring musicians Dave Cardello, Jake Cohen, Scott Lerch, Charlie McCoy and Jeff Reusche. The Swagger plays dynamic, high-energy rock and roll with a lot of funk.

THE REGULARS BAND Funk rock from Atlanta.

THE WALES Brand-new local band makes its live debut!

Thursday 24 Alibi Thursdays, FREE! 706-549-1010 OPEN MIC/JAM Hosted by Tracy Carroll and Matt Joiner of The Rattlers. Open to all musicians.

Caledonia Lounge UGA Freshman Night. 10 p.m. $5 (21+), $7 (18+). www.caledonialounge.com DR. SQUID Jangly, frenetic rock and roll at its best when emphasizing its British Invasion sounds.

GEMINI CRICKET Local three-piece plays sleazy garage stomps that swagger through reverb and jangle with an air of ‘60s abandon.

THE WARM FUZZIES Weezerinspired quirky local pop-rock outfit whose last release, the Bubblegum EP, features scratch-and-sniff artwork.

Club Chrome 9 p.m. FREE! 706-543-9009 KARAOKE Every Thursday night hosted by Blueberry Bill.

Farm 255 10 p.m. FREE! www.farm255.com BABY’S BLUE SWINGSET Vocalist Mary Sigalas pulls out all the stops in this classic jazz, swing and blues band. Also playing tomorrow night at Square One Fish Co. Fat Daddy’s 10 p.m. FREE! 706-353-0241 KARAOKE Hosted by Lynn!

Flicker Theatre & Bar 8:30 p.m. $5. www.myspace.com/ flickerbar MIKEY DWYER There’s a touch of Elvis Costello in Athenian Mikey Dwyer’s distinctive vocals. The multi-instrumentalist can handle guitar, mandolin, lap steel, bass and drums on his own, but not necessarily all at once.

PAUL MCHUGH Longtime musician who spends most of his time onstage fronting Mother Jackson, the hard-charging, ‘70s-sounding rock and roll band.

PATRICK MORALES Local singersongwriter who recently launched a project called The Viking Progress featuring moody folk songs inspired by his time on the Bering Sea. RETRIC Ryan Hetrick is backed by a revolving cast of local musicians ranging musically from old school rock, bluegrass, acoustic and punk.

Girasoles 6–9 p.m. FREE! 706-310-0410 SONNY GOT BLUE Local group plays swing and Latin jazz standards for the dinner crowd every Thursday.

Gnat’s Landing 6 p.m. FREE! 706-850-5858 BROS. MARLER Brothers Drew and Daniel Marler bring their brand of Neil Young/Elliot Smith/Allman Bros.-influenced music to the people as an acoustic duo. Also playing later tonight at Flicker Theatre.

28

Go Bar 10 p.m. www.myspace.com/gobar “DR. FRED’S KARAOKE” Hosted by karaoke fanatic John “Dr. Fred” Bowers, every Thursday.

Little Kings Shuffle Club Midnight. FREE! www.myspace.com/ littlekingsshuffleclub BODAPOP Acoustic country duo with lovely female vocals.

DAFFODIL Trio Daffodil—Derek Wiggs, Zack Kennedy and Max Talkovich—plays fuzzed-out, early’90s sounding heavy rock and roll.

LAMINATED CAT Local psychedelic pop band fluent in the absurd.

Magnolia’s at Tasty World Uptown 5 p.m. FREE! 706-543-0797 JASON FULLER Local piano man plays blues, jazz and country.

The Melting Point 9 p.m. $10 (adv.), $13 (door). www. meltingpointathens.com A HAWK AND A HACKSAW Former Neutral Milk Hotel drummer Jeremy Barnes and violinist Heather Trost perform accordion and tin drum music with Balkan roots. A bouncy brass section and the occassional jazz musician further set off this New Mexico-based band’s sound. See story on p. 20.

DAMON & NAOMI These two are probably what music would have been like had indie pop existed during medieval times.

New Earth Music Hall 10 p.m. FREE! www.newearthmusichall. com NEON Get your dance on to the sounds of DJ Lexus Luthor, Thump & Hustle and D:RC. Spinning electro, house, dubstep and more.

Roadhouse 11 p.m. 706-613-2324 EDDIE & THE PUBLIC SPEAKERS Local blues-funk trio led by frontman Eddie Speaker.

Tasty World Uptown Midnight. FREE! www.myspace.com/ tastyworlduptown B-SIDE REVOLUTION Local piano pop-rock fronted by Kyle Rogers.

Terrapin Beer Co. 5:30 p.m. www.terrapinbeer.com SACRED HOLLOW Athens/Atlanta hard rock band naming Tool, Chevelle and Sevendust among its many influences.

IAN THOMAS The “American Songster” returns with his unique one-man country act.

Top Dawg Activity Bar & Nightclub 10 p.m. 706-870-6563 DJ RICH ROCK Weekly hip-hop dance party.

Wild Wing Café 9 p.m. FREE! www.wildwingcafe.com JUSTIN BROGDON Rock vet Justin Brogdon puts a lot of Southern soul into his songs, drawing from artists like The Black Crowes and Tom Petty. His all-American sound owes a lot to his all-star backing band.

Friday 25 40 Watt Club Presented by the Georgia Theatre. 9 p.m. $15.50 (adv). www.40watt. com* PERPETUAL GROOVE This group has been stirring crowds into a

FLAGPOLE.COM ∙ SEPTEMBER 23, 2009

frenzy around the Southeast with its high-energy jams and spirited cover tunes. Friday is the first night of a two-night engagement.

Alibi 9 p.m. FREE! 706-549-1010 COMMON PEOPLE BAND Local band pays tribute to Motown’s greatest hits.

Allen’s Bar & Grill 9 p.m. FREE! www.allensbarandgrill. com ROLLIN’ HOME This band jams on originals with a Dead groove and a Southern rock leaning.

Big City Bread Cafe 6:30–9:30 p.m. FREE! 706-353-0029 FRED WILLIAMS Delightful contemporary jazz piano.

Broad Street Bar and Grill 10 p.m. FREE! 706-548-5187 BUNNY CARLOS Longtime Athenians Doug Pynn (guitar, vocals), Bill Bokas (drums, vocals) and Mike Flynn (bass), formerly of Barking Charlie, play “rock and roll the way it was meant to be played.”

Caledonia Lounge 7 p.m. (EARLY SHOW!). $6 (21+), $8 (18+). www.caledonialounge.com ISLANDS Based around the musical collaborations of Nick Diamonds and J’aime Tambeur, both formerly of The Unicorns, Islands’ latest offering, Vapours (out on Anti- Sept.

22) sets the bar high for pop craftmanship.

10 p.m. $5 (21+), $7 (18+). www.caledonialounge.com HARRISON HUDSON Musician Harrison Hudson (vocals, guitar) and his backing band, David Dees (bass), Brandon Dees (bass) and Steven Kadar (drums), head south from their Nashville base, playing upbeat, melodic, no-frills pop rock.

THE K-MACKS An eclectic mixture of folk, blues and punk driven by narrative storylines.

ANDREW NELSON One time Athenian now based in Nashville performs solid American pop.

RADIOLUCENT Local band Radiolucent falls somewhere between bluesy Southern rock and the poppier side of alt-country.

The Classic Center 8 p.m. $25. www.classiccenter.com* COREY SMITH Georgia native and UGA grad Corey Smith is a celebrated singer-songwriter with a gift for storytelling. Smith’s fans seek solace in his highly relatable lyrics that drift smoothly over a mix of country, rock and blues.

Club Chrome 9 p.m. $5. 706-543-9009 THE MARTY FORD BAND Soulful Southern rock from Winder, GA. Farm 255 10 p.m. FREE! www.farm255.com DJ MAHOGANY Freaky funk, sultry soul, righteous R&B, and a whole lotta unexpected faves as DJ Mahogany dips into his bag of goodies from the ‘60s, ‘70s and ‘80s.

Flicker Theatre & Bar 8:30 p.m. FREE! www.myspace.com/ flickerbar ALEXIS GIDEON Accompanied by minimal beats, guitar and xylophone, this Portland-based rapper is backed by projected animations illustrating his entertaining lyrics.

MARRIAGE Truly unclassifiable local Christian sludge-rock trio experiments with every heavy and bizarre sound it can muster. Performing an acoustic set.

Tuesday, September 29

The Rural Alberta Advantage, The Lovely Feathers, The Love Language, Lona Tasty World Uptown Some people like to avoid bands they perceive as the “next big thing,” but once you get enough believers on the bandwagon, it gets to a point where the hype is hard to ignore. And when hip outlets like Pitchfork and The A.V. Club start singling out little-known The Rural Alberta Advantage openers as having humbled the headliners—in this case, indie-folk-pop trio The Rural Alberta Advantage opening for Grizzly Bear at SXSW ’09—you know it may be time to drop the snobbery and hear for yourself what has the blogosphere abuzz.

“Lots of the songs, you can strip them away to the basics, and it would be like an acoustic campfire song,” says RAA singer/guitarist Nils Edenloff. “I’ve never accurately been able to pin [the sound] down. Friends of friends ask, and I say I don’t know, but I like it.”

That explanation is simple enough, but on the band’s debut record, Hometowns, released independently in 2006 and re-released on Saddle Creek in July, the question is a bit more complex. Edenloff wrote the songs as a tribute to his native Alberta, Canada, (hence, the band’s name) which he describes as industry-rich yet full of natural beauty.

But how could he convey that contradiction while staying true to the campfire vibe? The strings and horns added to some songs ultimately wound up giving the record a depth often lacking in sparse arrangements.

“We didn’t want to deviate too far from what our live show is,” he says. “But with the live show, we try to bring the energy level that might not necessarily be on the album.”

If they’re as good as Internet legend has it, RAA won’t be playing small venues for long. Catch them at places like Tasty World on Sept. 29 while you still can. [Jennifer Gibson]

REPTAR This up-and-coming local quartet sounds like the result of Animal Collective and Talking Heads teaming up to travel back in time and fight Napoleon. Dance shoes recommended.

SHELLEY SHORT Inventive, dreamy lullabies delivered through rustic folk. See Calendar Pick on p. 26.

Floorspace 8 p.m. $5-$8 suggested donation. www.floorspaceathens.com MAPS & TRANSIT Featuring Kyle Dawkins of Georgia Guitar Quartet, this local instrumental duo creates diverse soundscapes using a wide range of instrumentation–from more traditional guitar and mandolin to experimental sounds made by radios or kitchen implements.

NANNY ISLAND Local band featuring SJ Ursrey (The Ones, Creepy) and Shauna Greeson (Hola Halo) playing dreamy, tropical melodies.

Gnat’s Landing 6 p.m. FREE! 706-850-5858 BLAKE WHITWORTH Georgia-born singer-songwriter whose style borrows equally from the sincere simplicity of artists like James Taylor and the rock sensibilities of Counting Crows.

Go Bar WUOG Back to School Dance/ Go Bar Turns 10! 9 p.m. FREE! www.myspace.com/gobar CASPER & THE COOKIES Increasingly experimental but always rooted in pop, this local act presents a danceable mix of quirky fun driven by keyboard and guitar.

DEAF JUDGES Consisting of three MCs and one DJ, the Deaf Judges focus on an energetic live show backed by beats that utilize elements of world music and old school funk and soul, and lyrics influenced by the modern underground as well as a classic New York hip-hop style.

IMMUZIKATION Celebrated local DJ Alfredo Lapuz Jr.—also known for

his over-the-top Daft Punk tribute act—mashes up high-energy electro and rock.

TWIN POWERS Local Kindercore Records alum Dan Geller and local chef Eddie Russell mix up contemporary Top 40 with danceable ‘80s new wave and Britpop tunes.

Harry Bissett’s Bayou Grill 8 p.m. FREE! www.harrybissetts.net THE SPLITZ Classic Motown, ‘70s funk, R&B, disco hits and more.

Little Kings Shuffle Club 10 p.m. $5. www.myspace.com/littlekingsshuffleclub SEAN ARINGTON Rip-your-heart-out acoustic pop originals and covers from Athenian singer/songwriter formerly of bands Big Atomic and One Big Eye. JASON BECKHAM’S INNOCENT Blues-influenced rock/Americana featuring Jason Beckham on vocals and guitar plus Jeff Rieter on bass, Brad Sikes on drums and Jack Stirling on keys.

TIMBER Frontman Daniel Aaron serves up his brand of hangoverfriendly country rock. His lyricfocused arrangements are often nestled within minimalist instrumentation, incorporating the fiddle, piano, pedal steel and xylophone.

Magnolia’s at Tasty World Uptown 11 p.m. FREE! 706-543-0797 BLUEPRINT JAZZ QUARTET Part of a series of jazz nights at Magnolia’s.

The Melting Point 8 p.m. $12 (adv.), $15 (door). www. meltingpointathens.com* THE JESTERS Before R.E.M., Pylon or The B-52s there were The Jesters.

This celebrated rhythm and blues ensemble formed in Athens over 40 years ago. After periods of breaking up and reuniting, the latest lineup maintains its enthusiasm for music from the ‘60s, featurig hit songs in

the genres of rhythm and blues, soul and surf.

New Earth Music Hall 10 p.m. www.newearthmusichall.com* GROGUS The local and long-running ensemble plays jazz and salsa accentuated with reggae, hip-hop and Afro-Cuban styles.

The Office Lounge 9:30 p.m. FREE! 706-546-0840 HELEN, DODGE Local Americana act featuring Neal Canup, Mark Cunningham, Roger Alan Wade and Corey Holland performing both original music and obscure covers.

The Rialto Room Shows at 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. $55. www.therialtoroom.com CHRISTOPHER CROSS Renowned musician and winner of five Grammys and an Oscar brings his legendary adult contemporary sound to Athen’s newest venue. Get caught between the moon and NYC. Square One Fish Co. 8 p.m. FREE! www.squareonefishco. com BABY’S BLUE SWINGSET Vocalist Mary Sigalas pulls out all the stops in this classic jazz, swing and blues band.

Tasty World Uptown 10 p.m. FREE! www.tastyworld.net THE BLEKERS Young Andrew Bleke’s band plays piano-driven jazz and woeful blues. He lists Ben Folds as a major influence.

WELCOME TO BUCKHEAD New local “schizophrenic power rock” with an affinity for ‘90s alternative and classic rock alike.

Terrapin Beer Co. 5:30 p.m. www.terrapinbeer.com SQUISH The Georgia-born duet of Mark Day and Julie Woods recently added a bassist to the lineup. The group performs a set of fun rock covers.

Wild Wing Café 9 p.m. FREE! www.wildwingcafe.com 1 STORY TOWN Justin Brogdon and his band play heartfelt, melodic Southern rock.

WUGA 91.7 FM 4 p.m. FREE! www.wuga.org “IT’S FRIDAY!” Michael Luketan and Lara will perform on the local radio station’s weekly program.

University Cable Channel 15 will also broadcast the show.

Saturday 26 40 Watt Club Georgia Theatre Presents. 9 p.m. $15.50 (adv). www.40watt.com* PERPETUAL GROOVE This group has been stirring crowds into a frenzy around the Southeast with its high-energy jams and spirited cover tunes. Saturday is the second night of a two-night engagement.

Alibi 9 p.m. FREE! 706-549-1010 WONDER BLIND Covers and originals.

Athens Farmers Market 8 a.m. FREE! 706-296-8000 JAKE MOWRER TRIO Guitarist Jake Mowrer (of Brazilian-style band Cachaça) teams up with Dennis Barew (bass) and Kane Stanley (drums) for a set of classic jazz.

Performing second at 10 a.m.

WHISPER KISS New acoustic project featuring multi-instrumentalist Michael Wegner (Abbey Road LIVE!, Fuzzy Sprouts, Sunnyside Up Band) and Shelley Olin (DubConscious, Grogus). Playing first at 8 a.m.

Big City Bread Cafe 6:30–9:30 p.m. FREE! 706-353-0029 FRED WILLIAMS Delightful contemporary jazz piano.

Caledonia Lounge 10 p.m. $5 (21+), $7 (18+). www.caledonialounge.com BLACK LABS The live debut of this brand-new local rock duo featuring Ben Dupriest (drums) and Adam Saunders (guitar, vocals).

BUBBLY MOMMY GUN Raucous psychedelic explorations led by members of Sleeping Friends, The Lickity-Splits and Ice Cream Socialists.

VELVETEEN PINK This matchingoutfit-clad quartet of funksters (including DJ Alfredo of Immuzikation) plays electro-based, groove-laden, upbeat stuff in the Prince, Stevie Wonder and Jamiroquai style.

The Classic Center 8:30 p.m. $25. www.classiccenter.com* THE DECEMBERISTS Portland, Oregon’s folk-rock balladeers perform in support of their most recent album The Hazards of Love. See story on p. 23.

LAURA VEIRS Thoughtful, sweetvoiced folk rock. Veirs is a long-time friend of The Decemberists, having provided guest vocals on the song “Yankee Bayonet.” See story on p. 23.

Club Chrome 9 p.m. $5. 706-543-9009 THE RATTLERS Athens’ own energetic Southern rockers with a guitardriven sound and an exciting show that often features surprise special guests.

Email for Location Firefly Brew. 7–11 p.m. $25. moreplease@cucuyo.org FIREFLY BREW A party for Cucuyo, Athens’ bi-cultural teen arts program in the Dominican Republic.

Featuring Irish music by Dan Everett plus performances by Kate Morrissey, Rachel O’Neal and Emily Hearn.

Farm 255 10 p.m. FREE! www.farm255.com GIFT HORSE Athens’ Gift Horse is as dark and brooding as it is sensual.

The ominous yet sparse tones creep and ache with tingling reverb.

GUS D Local teen rapper Gus Darnell performs with a precise, confident flow. DJ Will Waxx provides backing beats.

Flicker Theatre & Bar 8:30 p.m. $5. www.myspace.com/ flickerbar NANNY ISLAND Local band featuring SJ Ursrey (The Ones, Creepy) and Shauna Greeson (Hola Halo) playing dreamy, tropical melodies.

REBECCA PRONSKY Young songwriter from Brooklyn singing country-tinged pop-noir songs with a jazz-trained voice and biting lyrics.

Go Bar 9 p.m. www.myspace.com/gobar A POSTWAR DRAMA Local act plays folk-rock with an occasional eastern European bent. Dramatic tales of loss and hardship are mixed with driving, upbeat stomps.

INCATEPEC A combination of traditional tunes from South America and Cuba with a unique jazz twist.

12 a.m. www.myspace.com/gobar “LATE NITE DISCO” The house deejay and occasional special guests spin a cool mix of disco, new wave and modern dance tunes for a sweaty and energetic closing-time crowd. Dance party begins after the live music every Saturday.

Little Kings Shuffle Club 10 p.m. $5. www.myspace.com/littlekingsshuffleclub THE KNOCKOUTS Local act featuring Steve Casadont, Kevin Sims, Charles Greenleaf, Ned Gardiner, Bill Oglesby and Alliene Bouchard that plays an array of traditional music— from polka to bluegrass to Irish folk music—in a rather nontraditional, punk-inspired way.

NAIROBI TRIO Local act featuring Jeff and Phyllis Walls, Doug Stanley and Pat Patterson.

New Earth Music Hall 10 p.m. www.newearthmusichall.com ENTROPY Frequently accompanied by backup singers, guest percussionists and a horn section, this Atlanta band plays soulful funk-fusion.

JAZZCHRONIC Local five-piece band that explores freaky, funky, psychedelic fusion jazz while incorporating rock, R&B, heavy beats and more.

(9:20 p.m., outside)

UGA Online Courses

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WE CARVE IT, YOU CRAVE IT.

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See your academic advisor about applying specific IDL courses to your program of study.

The flavor made famous

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COUPLES-FRIENDLY ATMOSPHERE Come check out our beautiful, well-lit store offering the LARGEST selection and LOWEST prices of adult novelties and DVDs in NE GA. Our store is especially geared for women and couples, is LGBT friendly, and “icky”-free.

50 Gaines School Rd, Athens, GA 30605 s Tel: 706-850-6919 s store.sexy-suz.com

Rye Bar 10 p.m. www.myspace.com/ryebarathens SAM HUNT Romantic, acoustic country singer-songwriter from Nashville.

Sideways 10 p.m. 706-319-1919 DJ RX Brian Gonzalez delivers his own original mixes ranging from old-school to country.

Square One Fish Co. 8 p.m. FREE! www.squareonefishco. com TENT CITY This local four-piece fuses elements of jazz, funk, blues and world music.

Tasty World Uptown 10 p.m. $5. www.myspace.com/tastyworlduptown THE CONSTELLATIONS Freshly signed to Virgin Records, this k continued on next page

SEPTEMBER 23, 2009 · FLAGPOLE.COM

29

FORMERLY SPIRITS PUB

$3.75 Jager bombs

FRIENDLIEST BAR IN ATHENS! 3 Pool Tables, $2 DOMESTIC BEER Darts, Foosball ALL DAY, EVERY DAY!

LIVE MUSIC EVERY WEEKEND!

FRI. SEPT. 25th

Common people band Best of Motown music!

SAT. SEPT. 26th

come tailgate with us WATCH THE GAME • WE HAVE

FOLLOWED BY LIVE MUSIC FROM

Wonder Blind

Don’t fight the downtown crowd! we bring the chicken - you bring a fixin’! bloody mary bar or try royce anne’s best bloody mary in town!

JOIN US MONDAY-SATURDAY! TUNE TRIVIA MON. $9 BEER BUCKETS ALL NIGHT KLASSIC KARAOKE! TUES.

RECORD YOUR PERFORMANCE! $2 Well drinks • $4 PITCHERS

WED. thurs.

2ND STOP BIKE NIGHT $5 BEER BUCKETS 9-11pm OPen Mic / jam night

hosted by members of the rattlers

$1.50 PBR bottles, $1.50 draft, $2.50 well drinkS

MON-sat noon-2am • COME WI-FI AT ALIBI!

50 Gaines school rd. • 706-549-1010

Atlanta band plays a psychedelic blend of soul rock with hip-hop flourishes. The latest record, Southern Gothic, was produced

by Grammy-winner Ben H. Allen (Gnarls Barkley).

KITE TO THE MOON A noisy pop cacophony with a quirky sense of humor. Expect a dizzying array of visual stimulation to accompany the set–from video projections to ladies in tiger suits and other quirky costuming.

SOLSHAKR New rock power-trio from Atlanta plays high energy rock and roll in the vein of The Black Crowes.

Terrapin Beer Co. 5:30 p.m. www.terrapinbeer.com HIGH STRUNG STRING BAND This local act plays offers three-part harmonies and ramblin’, upbeat bluegrass on acoustic guitar, banjo and mandolin.

RACHEL O’NEAL Local singer/ songwriter formerly of Truth in Advertising and Moonlight Sol. In addition to emotional acoustic originals, O’Neal will perform a range of indie, classic rock and folk covers.

Sunday 27 Jittery Joe’s Roasting Company 4 p.m. FREE! 706-227-2161 PICKIN’ ON THE PORCH This month, local bluegrass band Packway Handle Band graces the porch of Jittery Joe’s.

Seney-Stovall Chapel 7 p.m. $15 (adv.), $17 (door). www. cviog.uga.edu/about/chapel EAGLE TWIN Molasses-thick metal with bluesy undertones.

SUNN O))) Legendary experimental metal band backed by lots of sludgy drone and a wall of ambient noise.

See story on p. 19.

Monday 28 40 Watt Club 9 p.m. $12 (adv). www.40watt.com THE BASEBALL PROJECT The team of Buck, McCaughey, Wynn and Pitmon tackle an album’s worth of songs about America’s pastime.

THE MINUS 5 Scott McCaughey, Peter Buck, Steve Wynn and Linda Pitmon play triple duty tonight, performing in all three bands. The latest offering from The Minus 5 is a folky rock record called Killingsworth that has plenty of pedal steel twang. See story on p. 21.

STEVE WYNN IV Psych-tinged rock!

Caledonia Lounge 7 p.m. $2 (21+), $4 (18+). www.caledonialounge.com HAYRIDE This long-running Athens trio has maintained a steady output of prog- and metal-influenced rock.

Hayride’s punk leanings, however, don’t exclude strong melodies.

Ciné Barcafé 6–8:30 p.m. FREE! www.athenscine. com OPEN JAZZ JAM Calling all jazz musicians. Now you can join local jazz group Sonny Got Blue every Monday for an open mic jam.

Go Bar 10 p.m. www.myspace.com/gobar GARRETT MOORE Edgy R&B and rock guitarist-vocalist from Atlanta with a diverse arsenal of accessible tunes.

KATE MORRISSEY Best known throughout this corridor for her dark

30

FLAGPOLE.COM ∙ SEPTEMBER 23, 2009

Saturday, Sep. 26 continued from p. 29

velvet voice that stands on its own, Morrissey’s songwriting is literate and sincere, and her conversational live shows come punctuated with an offbeat sense of humor.

THE PREMONITIONS Local act featuring the luscious vocals of Maureen McGinnis. For fans of Celebration, Beach House and Yeah Yeah Yeahs.

YO SOYBEAN Nicholas Mallis and Ryan Sedwick sing melodic, emotional acoustic numbers influenced by acts like Bright Eyes.

Little Kings Shuffle Club 10 p.m. $5 suggested donation. www. myspace.com/littlekingsshuffleclub TOM GOSS Singer-songwriter Tom Goss fashions his single “Til the End” as the anthem for the marriage equality movement. Tonight, he stops by Athens on his tour to promote his new album, Back to Love.

MARA LEVI An acoustic D.C. punkfolk singer-songwriter whose typically political focus can also touch on modern love, homosexuality and stalking celebrities. She’s been compared to artists like Liz Phair.

Tasty World Uptown 11:30 p.m. www.myspace.com/tastyworlduptown THE SUBJECTS Manhattan power pop quartet with a fun, summery sound, even on the track titled “Winter Vacation.”

Top Dawg Activity Bar & Nightclub FREE! www.athenstopdawg.com KARAOKE Every Monday.

Tuesday 29 40 Watt Club 9 p.m. $10 (adv.). www.40watt.com THE FELICE BROTHERS The Felice Brothers join the canon of young men playing old-timey music.

Tonight, they bring their bluesy, whiskey-soaked sound to the Watt.

TAYLOR HOLLINGSWORTH Snarling Hollingsworth’s distinctive vocals lead his three-piece through bluesy garage rock taking cues from The Replacements and the Stones.

Alibi 9 p.m. FREE! 706-549-1010 KLASSIC KARAOKE DANCE PARTY Every Tuesday.

Rye Bar 10 p.m. www.myspace.com/ryebarathens THE EPIC OPEN MIC NIGHT Athens Blur magazine and Rye Bar present a six-week open mic challenge.

It’s like March Madness, only with more guitars and less basketballs.

Championship round this week!

Caledonia Lounge 10 p.m. $5 (21+), $7 (18+). www.caledonialounge.com OVO Dark, twisted and evil metal from across Europe that sounds like Gollum is on lead vocals.

SUBARACHNOID SPACE Progressive post-rock instrumentals from Portland.

Seney-Stovall Chapel 7 p.m. $15 (adv.), $17 (door). www. cviog.uga.edu/about/chapel EAGLE TWIN Molasses-thick metal with bluesy undertones.

SUNN O))) Legendary experimental metal band backed by lots of sludgy drone and a wallk of ambient noise.

See story on p. 19.

Ciné Barcafé 9 p.m. $6. www.athenscine.com IGE_TIMER Duo with toy hacker Simon Berz from Zurich. The project is specially designed for sonic art/ visual art spaces.

KLAUS JANEK/ KILLICK DUO Klaus was one of the early Solponticello artists and hasn’t played in Athens

since 2000. He’ll be joined by celelocal experimental artist Killick.

MAPS AND TRANSIT Featuring Kyle Dawkins of Georgia Guitar Quartet, this local instrumental duo creates diverse soundscapes using a wide range of instrumentation—from more traditional guitar and mandolin to experimental sounds made by radios or kitchen implements.

POCKETFUL OF CLAPTONITE Pulling the power trio into a wide open stream of consciousness, this new local group features Darrin Cook on bass, Jamie DeRevere on drums and acclaimed experimental artist Killick on guitar.

Farm 255 10 p.m. FREE! www.farm255.com CARL LINDBERG Jazz bassist Carl Lindberg (Grogus, Squat, Kenosha Kid, etc.) performs standards, originals and some surprising tunes from divergent styles.

Fat Daddy’s 10 p.m. FREE! 706-353-0241 KARAOKE Huge karaoke dance party hosted by Lynn every Tuesday.

The Globe The Globe turns 20! 8 p.m. FREE! 706353-4721 FLASH TO BANG TIME Local new wave group finds a marriage between fun and somber, like a stormy beach party. Features Lynda Stipe (Oh-OK), Charles Greenleaf, Kevin Sims, Matt Tamesin and Ritchie Williams. See Calendar Pick on p. 30.

ART ROSENBAUM Traditional American folk music from a local Grammy-winner and acclaimed archivist. See Calendar Pick on p. 30.

The Melting Point 7 p.m. $3. www.meltingpointathens. com* THE NORTH GEORGIA BLUEGRASS BAND An eclectic blend of traditional and contemporary acoustic music. Part of Melting

Tuesday, September 29

20th Anniversary Party w/ Art Rosenbaum and Flash to Bang Time The Globe The turnover rate for bars in downtown Athens is pretty brutal—it seems like every fall there’s a new name on just about every door. So, it’s a noble achievement for The Globe to celebrate its 20th birthday next week. Bar owner Randy Camp, a library assistant at the time, opened up The Brent Hedrick Globe after traveling through Europe and being inspired by the pubs there. “I saw pubs where families would come and meet friends after work,” says Camp, “and there were people of all ages sitting together. There wasn’t really a place like that in Athens.” When The Globe first opened its doors, Camp says there was a “very polite line from the Guinness tap stretching all the way across the block.” The Globe was the first downtown bar to serve the classic pub stout, one of just three beers on tap at the time. Of course, the bar has expanded and grown much since then, and that willingness to change is a large part of the The Globe’s success. “The Globe is in constant state of creation,” says Camp, “not just by the people who work here but by the customers, too. Everyone puts their stamp on it and tries to keep it fresh.”

The Globe has recently become a thriving music venue as well, with a stage upstairs hosting acts on a weekly basis. Art Rosenbaum and Flash to Bang Time will headline the birthday party, which is free to attend. And even as things continue to change for the bar, General Manager Brent Hedrick says it’s the things that stay the same that make The Globe special to him: the warm wood paneling and the homey atmosphere it projects. “It feels like you’re in your own house,” he says. Add to that the friendly staff that always seems to know your name and “the ‘Cheers’ comparison is inevitable.” Wouldn’t you like to get away? [Michelle Gilzenrat]

Rachel Bailey

ALIBI

THE CALENDAR!

Point’s weekly bluegrass series, the Terrapin Tuesday Bluegrass Series.

New Earth Music Hall 10 p.m. www.newearthmusichall.com MEAN MIC TUESDAYS Hosted by celebrated local rapper Elite tha Showstoppa and featuring DJ Tune, this weekly hip-hop series organized by Tommy Valentine will host local up-and-coming rappers, freestyle battlers, breakdancers, DJs and beatmakers.

Square One Fish Co. 8 p.m. FREE! www.squareonefishco. com NORMALTOWN FLYERS This Athens roots-rock institution plays a set of good-time rock and roll with a Southern leaning.

Tasty World Uptown 10 p.m. $5. www.myspace.com/tastyworlduptown LONA The flagship band for local songwriter, guitarist and drummer Clay Leverett (The Chasers, Now It’s Overhead, Bright Eyes). The band sends out more than a little country and more than enough gutsy, midtempo rock.

THE LOVELY FEATHERS Duo from Montreal featuring reverb-heavy melodic indie pop that’s as pretty as it is danceable.

RURAL ALBERTA ADVANTAGE Canadian indie pop for fans of artists like Ben Kweller and Spoon. See Calendar Pick on p. 28.

Wild Wing Café 10 p.m. FREE! www.wildwingcafe.com KARAOKE Every Tuesday night at the downtown wing chain’s upstairs space.

Wednesday 30 40 Watt Club 9 p.m. $6 (21+), $8 (18+). www.40watt. com BAMBARA Local power trio has a sound that draws from both the atmospherics of bands like Slowdive and the ferocity of bands like Fugazi.

COLOUR REVOLT Top-notch indie band from Mississippi whose dark, brooding yet melodic full-length Plunder, Beg and Curse was one of our favorite releases of 2008.

TWIN TIGERS Loud and lush at the same time, this local rock band combines jarring guitar riffs with sweeping melodies and heavy percussion.

Caledonia Lounge 10 p.m. $5 (21+), $7 (18+). www.caledonialounge.com MARSHMALLOW COAST Local group that once featured smooth and airy, swirly indie-pop recently turned up the funk on Phreak Phantasy.

SIMPLE TEEK Young local hip-hop artist with a positive message. Her beats are programmed by Andy Gonzales (Marshmallow Coast).

Fat Daddy’s 10 p.m.–1 a.m. FREE! 706-353-0241 OPEN MIC Every Wednesday featuring Avery Dylan.

Go Bar 10 p.m. www.myspace.com/gobar ABBANNA LEBON Hilariously bratty and overtly perverted lo-fi swingpunk, like Yeah Yeah Yeahs meets the Cramps.

DAFFODIL Trio Daffodil—Derek Wiggs, Zack Kennedy and Max Talkovich—plays fuzzed-out, early’90s sounding heavy rock and roll.

DANIEL FRANCIS DOYLE Austin experimentalist with vocals that recall Jesus Lizard, Doyle constructs fractured, silly guitar lines through

a Line6 delay and then plays drums along while triggering loops with his left foot. High speed and energy.

MEMORY GOSPEL DANCERS Not actually dancers, but rather a new project featuring Luke Fields, Jeff Tobias and Scott Smith of We Versus the Shark performing “improv power-kraut jams.” Special guest Chartreuse tonight!

Harry Bissett’s Bayou Grill 8 p.m. FREE! www.harrybissetts.net THE COMMON PEOPLE BAND Local group pays tribute to Motown’s greatest hits.

FRI. OCT. 16 SAT. OCT. 17

Locos Grill & Pub 6:30 p.m. FREE! 706-549-7700 NAPOLEON SOLO The multitasking one-man rock band handles it all.

The Melting Point 9 p.m. $5. www.meltingpointathens. com LINGO Funky, soulful jam band from Marietta that recorded its debut album with John Keane (R.E.M., Widespread Panic) here in town.

SUMILAN Local progressive jam rockers.

The Office Lounge 9:30 p.m. FREE! 706-549-0840 KARAOKE Every Wednesday with Stan.

Tasty World Uptown 10 p.m. $5. www.myspace.com/tastyworlduptown LEADING EDGE The local band formerly known as Mudra has gotten a bit more upbeat since the name change, channeling alternative rock and pop sounds from across the decades.

NOBLE THIEVES Local folk-rock duo with an eclectic multi-instrumental approach.

THE RON JONSONS Brand new progressive rock band that incorporates unique Latin and jazz influences. * Advance Tickets Available

Down the Line 10/1 Randy Rogers Band (40 Watt Club)* 10/1 Arizona (Caledonia Lounge) 10/1 Punch Brothers (MadisonMorgan Cultural Center)* 10/2 State Radio (40 Watt Club)* 10/2 B. B. King (The Classic Center)* 10/3 Dan Deacon / Nuclear Power Pants / Wavves (40 Watt Club)* 10/6 Caltrop / Hot Breath / Music Hates You (Caledonia Lounge) 10/6 Lonesome Traveler (The Melting Point)* 10/7 Titus Andronicus (Caledonia Lounge) 10/9 Dearling Physique / Kalvinova / Reptar (Go Bar) 10/9 Larry Keel and Natural Bridge (New Earth Music Hall) 10/9 Vic Chesnutt / Elf Power / Nana Grizol / Scott E. Spillane EXP (Orange Twin Conservation Community) 10/9 Don Chambers / Corduroy Road (Tasty World Uptown) 10/10 Circulatory System / Faust (40 Watt Club)* 10/10 Thayer Sarrano / Tin Cup Prophette (Athens Farmers Market) 10/10 North Georgia Folk Festival (Sandy Creek Park) 10/12 Dish (Caledonia Lounge) 10/14 Jamey Johnson (40 Watt Club)* 10/16 Drivin’ N’ Cryin’ (40 Watt Club)* 10/17 Reptar / Spring Tigers (Caledonia Lounge) * Advance Tickets Available

TUE. OCT. 20 FRI. SEPT. 25 SAT. SEPT. 26 MON. SEPT. 28 TUE. SEPT. 29 THU. OCT. 1 FRI. OCT. 2 SAT. OCT. 3 THU. OCT. 8 FRI. OCT. 9 SAT. OCT. 10 THU. OCT. 15

Grogus - Salsa!

ATL Funk with atH Jazz/Funk

Entropy with JazzChronic Bi-Weekly Comedy Series

Last Comic Standing

THU. OCT. 22 FRI. OCT. 23 TUE. OCT. 27

Mean Mic Weekly Hip Hop Series

WED. OCT. 28

Kite to the Moon

FRI. OCT. 30

Tommy Valentine

HipHop Jazz Electronic

Two Fresh

with Random Rabbit Country Recording Artist

Matt Stillwell

Live Electronic Downtempo ReWorld Dub

Telepath with Priceless

Contemporary Bluegrass

Larry Keel & Natural Bridge Live Electronic and Dub

Signal Path with

Uprise Dub

Ninja Tune Records

Bonobo DJ Set

THU. NOV. 12 FRI. NOV. 13 THU. NOV. 14 WED. NOV. 18 SAT. NOV. 21

Early Show at 9pm

Strawberry Flats DubConscious with Heavyweight Dub Champion

Electronic Duo

TNT Triz & T8r(tot) Zach Deputy Bubba Sparxxx Warpaint

Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson Dubstep from UK

Caspa

LFO YEAH! pt. 2 Grateful Dead Tribute

Cosmic Charlie 10 yr. Anniversary

A Ballers’ Ball Event

Dark Party

Pink Floyd Tribute Band with members of Maserati, sts9 and Count Kellam

Pigs on a Wing

Zoogma

with Noise Organization Dubstep

Joker

LFO YEAH! pt. 3

Kyle Hollingsworth from String Cheese Incident

with Ryan Montbleau

706.543.8283

227 W Dougherty St. Downtown Athens Open Mon-Sat 5pm-2am Tix available online at Schoolkids Records and

www.newearthmusichall.com

THE KING OF THE BLUES

FRIDAY

OCTOBER 2

SPECIAL GUEST

Rachael Cantu

THE THRILL IS BACK... IN ATHENS Call, Click or stop by the box office in Downtown Athens www.ClassicCenter.com 706.357.4444

SEPTEMBER 23, 2009 · FLAGPOLE.COM

31

bulletin board DO SOMETHING; GET INVOLVED! Deadline for getting listed in Bulletin Board and Art Around Town is every THURSDAY at 12 p.m.

Email calendar@flagpole.com. Listings are printed based on available space, more listings are online.

ART Art Classes (Blue Tin Art Studio) Classes include drawing, painting, encaustic, comics, book making, jewelry and photography. 404-5566884, www.bluetinstudio.com Call for Artists (Downtown Washington) The Washington Wilkes Arts Foundation seeks submissions for ArtFest, taking place Nov. 7 & 8. www.washingtonwilkesarts.org Call for Artists (Call for location) Seeking artists for the “Phoenix Rising Georgia Theatre Art Quilt Project.” No sewing required.

Deadline Oct. 23. 706-540-2712, www.MamaInTheMoon.blogspot. com or on Facebook.

Call for Artists (Fringe Collective Artistic Studios) Seeking artists for Halloween art show and sale. $15 entry fee. Deadline is Oct. 21. 706-540-2712, www.mamainthemoon.blogspot.com Call for Entries (ATHICA) Seeking proposals from curators or potential featured artists who have bodies of work for slots in late 2010 and 2011. Deadline Sept. 30. www. athica.org/callforentries.php

CLASSES Acting for Film Workshop (106 West Performing Arts Venue, Winder) Open to ages 16 & up.

No acting experience necessary.

Tuesdays, 6:45 p.m. $95 (adults), $65 (students). 770-868-1977, beckytollerson@106west.com Adopt-a-Stream Workshops (Sandy Creek Nature Center) Learn how to assess the water quality of our streams. For ages 13 and up.

Sept. 26, 9 a.m.–1 p.m. FREE! Preregister at 706-613-3615.

32

African-American Genealogical Research (ACC Library) The Clarke-Oconee Genealogical Society explores African-American family history research experiences and methodology. Sept. 26, 1 p.m. FREE! 706613-3650, loutome@aol.com Art and Music Classes (UGA Center for Continuing Education) Find a new way to express yourself this fall with one of the Center’s many creative classes. Open to all.

706-542-3537, www.georgiacenter. uga.edu/ppd Beginning Golf (UGA Center for Continuing Education) Take a swing at this class for beginners. Open to all! Through Nov. 2, 706-542-3537, www.georgiacenter.uga.edu/ppd Bellydance Basics (Athens YMCA) Wednesday mornings. 10:45 a.m. www.athensymca.org Bellydance for Fitness (Floorspace) Women of all sizes and experience welcome. Wednesdays, 7:30 p.m. $60/6 weeks, $12/class. floorspaceathens.com Booty Camp (Sangha Yoga Studio) A low-impact core fitness course led

by Mary Imes. Tuesdays, 5:30–6:45 p.m. Fridays, 10:30–11:45 a.m. $60/6 weeks. 706-613-1143 Clay Classes (Good Dirt) Weekly “Try Clay” class every Friday, 7–9 p.m. and “Family Try Clay” every Sunday, 2–4 p.m. ($20/person).

706-355-3161, www.gooddirt.net Clay, Glass Fusing, and Knitting Classes (Good Dirt) Now accepting registration for fall classes. All levels of experience welcome. 706-355-3161, www. gooddirt.net Computer Class (ACC Library) Introduction to Excel. In the Educational Technology Center. Call to register. Sept. 24, 10–11:30 a.m.

FREE! 706-613-3650

FLAGPOLE.COM ∙ SEPTEMBER 23, 2009

Craft Classes (Main Street Yarns, Watkinsville) Offering instruction in knitting, crocheting, wheel spinning and more. Full schedule online.

706-769-5531, www.mainstreetyarns.com Dance Classes (Floorspace) Now registering for beginning and intermediate modern dance classes.

706-540-1039, www.floorspaceathens.com Drumming for Fun and Well-Being (Mind Body Institute) Led by Dr. Arvin Scott. Saturdays, through Oct. 3, 2–3:30 p.m. $75/4 classes, $25/class. 706-475-7329, www.armc.org/mbi English as a Second Language (Pinewoods Hispanic Community Library) Classes every week! Tuesdays and Thursdays, 6:30–8 p.m. FREE! 706-613-3708 Fall Container Planting (State Botanical Garden of Georgia) Landscape architect Connie Cottingham discusses the principles of design and tips on containers, spring bulbs and plant choices for sun or shade. Nov. 10, 5:30–7 p.m. $17. www.uga.edu/botgarden GEN Homeschool Program (State Botanical Garden) Garden Earth Naturalist program for homeschoolers. Topics include pollination, air and water purification, pest control, soil production and recycling. Nov. 23–Dec. 11, 9–11 a.m. (ages 6–8), 1–3 p.m. (ages 9–11). $22–$36. 706-542-6156 Gentle Yoga (St. Gregory’s Episcopal Church) Bring your own mat or towel and wear loose clothing. Julie Horne, instructor.

Tuesdays, 5:30–7 p.m. $9/class.

706-354-1996 Hatha Yoga (Sangha Yoga Studio) Candlelight traditional Hatha Yoga.

Beginners welcome. 706-613-1143, www.healingartscentre.net

Lauren Harrell’s paintings are on display at Big City Bread Cafe through September.

Intro to Computers (Madison County Library) Three weekly meetings; attend one per week or all three. Register. 706-795-5597.

Tuesdays, 2–3 p.m. or 7–8 p.m.

Wednesdays, 11 a.m.–12 p.m.

Introduction to Excel (ACC Library, Education Technology Center) Register. Sept. 24, 10 a.m.–11:30 a.m. 706-613-3650 Laugh-a-Yoga (Mind Body Institute) Laugh your stress away.

Sept. 26, 5:30 p.m. $5. 706-4757329, mbiprograms@armc.org Mama-Baby Yoga (Five Points Yoga) For babies 1–8 months old and their grown-ups. Every Monday.

11 a.m. $10. 706-355-3114, www. athensfivepointsyoga.com Mama-Baby Yoga (Mind Body Institute) For mamas and their babies. Six weeks old to crawlers.

Every Wednesday. 10:30–11:45 a.m. $60/6 classes. 706-475-7329, mbiprograms@armc.org New Canopy Classes (Canopy Studio) Now registering for hoopdance and trapeze classes. Full schedule online. 706-549-8501, www.canopystudio.com Online Job Application Tips (ACC Library) Learn tips and strategies for filling out job applications on the web. Sept. 24, 12:15 p.m.

FREE! 706-613-3650 Open Art Studio (Art School, Watkinsville) Instruction is provided as requested. Open to all experience levels. Mondays, 12:30–2:30 p.m. $190 for 8 classes (includes supplies). artschoolstreet@gmail.com, www.artschoolwatkinsville.com Open Hoops (Canopy Studio) No instruction. Bring your own hoop.

Every Friday, 6–7 p.m. $5. 706-5498504, info@canopystudio.com

Outdoor Boot Camps (St. Mary’s Wellness Center) Twomonth-long high-intensity fitness bootcamps. Sign up by Oct. 2.

Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, 5:30–6:30 a.m. $100/month. 706389-3355, cwoodall@stmarysathens.org Perennial Symposium (State Botanical Garden) Discover which plants are best suited to Georgia’s gardens through seasonal changes.

Oct. 14, 8:45 a.m.–3 p.m. $50. www. uga.edu/botgarden Pilates Classes (Balance Pilates and Wellness Studio) Schedule and details online. Private lessons also available. 706-546-1061, www. balancepilatesathens.com Plant Taxonomy (State Botanical Garden of Georgia) Gain plant identification skills needed to name and describe plants in Georgia’s natural areas. Core Course for the Certificate in Native Plants. Sept.

26, 8:30 a.m.–4:30 p.m. $100. 706542-6156 Prenatal Yoga (Five Points Yoga) Get ready for birth and beyond with Jenni Derryberry Mann, RYT-200.

Every Sunday. 10:30 a.m. $10. 706355-3114, www.athensfivepointsyoga.com Prenatal Yoga (Full Bloom Center) Get ready for birth and beyond. Every Thursday. 5:30 p.m. $14/class or $60/6 classes. 706353-3373, www.fullbloomparent. com Qigong (State Botanical Garden of Georgia, Visitor Center) Certified Qigong instructor Carl Lindberg leads class on the ancient Chinese art of self-cultivation that fosters health, relaxation and calm.

Mondays, through Oct. 5, 12–1 p.m.

$50. 706-542-6156, www.uga.edu/ botgarden Quiet Woman: Restorative Yoga (Mind Body Institute) Call for information. 6 classes/$75, 706475-7329, mbiprograms@armc.org Scottish Country Dancing (Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Athens) Introductory classes. No partner necessary! Thursdays, 7–9 p.m. $25/12 weeks, $3/class. 706255-1010, info@thistleandkudzu.net Spanish Classes (Email for Location) Beginner and intermediate classes for spoken or written Spanish. 706-372-5570, kwindley@ uga.edu Swing Dancing (Dancefx) Social swing dancing, with advanced and beginner lessons preceding the fun.

Sept. 23, 9 p.m.–12 a.m. $3–$5. www. athensswingnight.com Tae Kwon Do & Jodo Classes (Live Oak Martial Arts) For kids and adults, beginner through advanced.

Chase St. Warehouses, next to Canopy and ATHICA. Mondays– Thursdays, 3:30-8:30 p.m. 706-5480077, www.liveoakmartialarts.com Tai Chi in the Park on Talmadge Drive (Mind Body Institute, Athens Regional Medical Center) Offering Tai Chi instruction.

Reserve a spot. Saturdays, 9:30– 10:30 a.m. FREE! 706-475-7329, mbiprograms@armc.org Take One: A Fundamental Look at Screenwriting (Oconee Cultural Arts Foundation) An intro to screenwriting taught by veteran writer Terry Kay, a regional Emmy winner for his teleplay Run Down the Rabbit. Sept. 26 & 27. $150. 706-769-4565, www.ocaf.com Tech Tips: YouTube (ACC Library) Learn your way around

today’s most popular video-sharing website. Sept. 30, 12:15 p.m. FREE! 706-613-3650 UGA Swing Club (UGA Memorial Hall) Learn the Lindy Hop or the Charleston. No partner necessary.

Every Monday, 7–8 p.m. www.uga. edu/ugaswingclub Veil Dancing (Five Points Yoga) Open to all! 1:30–3:30 p.m. www. fivepointsyoga.com Women’s Self Defense Class (American Black Belt Academy) Bring a friend for this free monthlong course of women’s self defense classes. Limited space; call to register. Thursdays, 5 p.m. FREE! 706-549-1671 Workshop for Artists (ACC Library) The Hampton Fine Art Gallery presents: “Almost Everything You Need to Know About Your Art and What to Do with It.” For artists, galleries or friends of the arts.

Register by Oct. 3. 4–8 p.m. $30.

706-454-2161, www.artistcameronhampton.com Yoga and Tai Chi Classes (Athens Wellness Cooperative) For beginners through experienced. See full calendar online. $14/drop-in, $60/6 classes, $108/12 classes. www.wellnesscooperative.com Yoga Classes (Om Town Yoga, 190 Park Avenue) Ongoing classes with detailed asana instruction.

Mondays, 6:15 p.m. Wednesdays, 5:45 p.m. $10/drop-in. www.athensomtownyoga.com Yoga Crawlers (Full Bloom Center) For active babies 8–18 months. Every Tuesday. 10:30 a.m. $14. 706-353-3373, www.fullbloomparent.com Yoshukai Karate (AKF Itto Martial Arts) Learn Yoshukai Karate, a traditional hard Okinawan style. www. akfitto.com Zumba at the Garden (State Botanical Garden of Georgia) Latin rhythms and easy-to-follow moves

comprise this dynamic fitness program. Wednesdays, through Oct. 28, 5:30–6:30 p.m. $10/class, $48/session. www.uga.edu/botgarden

HELP OUT! American Red Cross (Red Cross Center, 3525 Atlanta Hwy.) Seeking donors for all blood types. 706-5460681, www.redcrossblood.org Athens Farmers’ Market Volunteers (Bishop Park) Looking for people willing to help out anytime between 6:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. on any Saturday through Nov. 14. marketmanager@athensfarmersmarket.net Athens Pagan Pride Volunteers (Bishop Park) Now seeking Pagan and Pagan-friendly vendors, educators and entertainers for the upcoming annual festival on Oct. 24. For more information, contact athenspaganpride@gmail.com, http://athenspaganpride.org AthFest Volunteer Opportunity (Email for Location) The AthFest Education Committee seeks year-round volunteers to assist them in their mission to connect local music to local schools. education@athfest.com Bike Recycling Program (Chase Street Warehouses) Join BikeAthens volunteers as they clean and repair donated bicycles for local service agencies. Sunday, 2–4:30 p.m. Monday & Wednesday, 6–8:30 p.m. www.bikeathens.com Community Blood Drive (Oconee State Bank, 7920 Macon Highway) Save a life; donate blood.

Sept. 23, 8:30 a.m.–1:30 p.m. 706769-6611 Scare Up a Harvest: Help the Hungry (Lyndon House Arts Center) Design scarecrows for a display at the Lyndon House! Proceeds benefit Food 2 Kids program at the

ART AROUND TOWN ACC Library (Top of the Stairs Gallery) Paintings by Tyler Harris. Through September.

Antiques and Jewels “Athens Fine Art Gallery,” an exhibit featuring works by Mary Porter, Elizabeth Barton, Brandon Zinninger, Greg Benson, Jim StipeMaas, Taylor DuBeau, Judy Dudley O’Donnell and Susan Elizabeth. Through September.

ATHICA “Free Press in Free Fall” features the work of 13 artists addressing the current state of the American news media. Lectures and receptions on Nov. 8.

Aurum Studio New charcoal work on paper by Mark Watkins and arcrylic paintings by Amy Wilmoth Watts. Though September.

Big City Bread Cafe Acrylic and watercolor paintings by Lauren Harrell. Through September.

Ciné Barcafé “Moments and Time,” featuring paintings by Terry Rowlett, examines the human occupation of the planet from a historical perspective.

Through Oct. 19.

Circle Gallery, UGA College of Environmental Design “Across the Spectrum” showcases the award-winning work of students and alumni of UGA’s College of Environment & Design.

Through Sept. 25.

Custom Styles (698 Baxter Street) “Athens from a Different Angle,” a collection of black and white photographs by Alan H. Icard.

Downtown Watkinsville Artscape 2009, an outdoor display of art boards created by 10 local artists that is sponsored by the City of Watkinsville and Grassroots Arts Program. Through September.

Espresso Royale Caffe Work by Ainhoa B. Canup.

Five Star Day Café Paintings of Athens by Heidi Hensley. Through September.

Five Star Day Cafe–Eastside Acrylic paintings

by Matt Blanks. Through September.

Flicker Theatre & Bar Paintings by Eric Simmons. Through September.

Hair Therapy Studio Work by Pain & Wonder’s Graham Bradford. Through Nov. 14.

Food Bank of Northeast Georgia.

Through Oct. 17, 5 cans of 15 oz ravioli (individual), 15 cans (group), 706-613-3623, www.accleisureservices.com Tailgate Raffle (Athens YMCA) Tailgate4kids is looking for organizations to help with sponsorship and ticket sales in a raffle to send kids to summer camp. 706-613-9098, tailgate4kids@gmail.com.

KIDSTUFF Creative Movement (Floorspace) Ongoing class for ages 3–5.

Tuesdays, 10 a.m. Wednesdays, 1 p.m. 706-850-5557, www.floorspaceathens.com Sweet Pea Club (State Botanical Garden of Georgia) Program involves puppet shows, storytelling, learning games, nature crafts and garden explorations. Ages 3–5. Preregistration required. Fridays, Oct. 16–Nov. 6, 9–11 a.m.$14. www.uga. edu/botgarden Yoga Sprouts (Full Bloom Center) Wednesdays, 3:30 p.m. $14/single class, $60/6 classes. 706-353-3373 Yoga Sprouts (Memorial Park) Session II: Oct. 20–Dec. 8. Ages 3–6 & 7–12. Tuesdays. $0–$48 (scholarships available). 706-6133580, yogasprouts@gmail.com

ON THE STREET 27th Annual Road Skate (Various Locations) Now registering for Athens to Atlanta Road Skate on Oct. 11. Deadline is Oct. 7. 404806-7251, www.a2a.net Athens Coca-Cola Recycling Drive (Athens Coca-Cola, 650 Athena Drive) Athens Coca-Cola wants your old electronics, batteries and shoes! Oct. 2, 8 a.m.–2 p.m.

706-613-3512 f

Hampton Fine Art Gallery (Greensboro) “The Roaring ‘20s, ‘30s and ‘40s,” featuring work from the Third Annual Locals Exhibition. Through Sept. 26.

Just Pho…and More Work by Bob Hart. Through October. Work by Jill Leite. Through Oct. 30.

Lamar Dodd School of Art “Contemporary Representations of the Body,” an exhibit featuring figures by Kinzey Braughn, Andy Cherewick, Dennis Harper, Andy Nasisse, Christina Pettersson and Terry Rowlett. Through Oct. 15. Perpetual Art Machine is a living archive of 21st-century international video art. Through Oct. 15. Paintings by John Stidham.

Through Sept. 28.

Last Resort Grill Encaustic and mixed media paintings by Sarah Seabolt. Through September.

Encaustic/mixed media paintings by Sarah Seabolt.

Through September.

Lyndon House Arts Center “Lord Love You: Works by R.A. Miller from the Mullis Collection” includes more than 75 paintings, drawings, sculptures and whirligigs created by the Georgia self-taught artist Reuben Aaron Miller. Through Oct. 24. “Surrealist Tropical Pop,” features paintings by artists Stanley Bermudez and Carlos Solis. Through October.

Madison-Morgan Cultural Center “Reflections on Water, Earth & Sky,” featuring work by Lucinda Bunnen. Through Oct. 11.

Red Eye Coffee Photography by Jaclyn Enck.

Through September.

State Botanical Garden of Georgia “Intimacy,” an exhibit featuring the photography of Don Byram. Sept. 27–Oct. 18. Reception Sept. 27.

Transmetropolitan Photographs by Kathryn Bowen.

Walk the Line Tattoo Co. “Don’t Tell Mommy,” an annual erotic art show, features work by Joe Havasy, Nash Hogan, Keith Rein, Lea Purvis and other local artists. Through September.

Walker’s Coffee & Pub Paintings and mixedmedia by Laura Franta and Liz Williams. Through September.

White Tiger Gourmet Food & Chocolates Work by Todd Diederich, Will Donaldson and Heather Kohlberger. Presented by the Next to Last Festival.

BAYOU GRILL CONCERTS ON THE PATIO: WED, SEPT. 23 - Nathan

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SEPTEMBER 23, 2009 · FLAGPOLE.COM

33

comics

Comics submissions: Please email your comics to comics@flagpole.com or mail copies, not originals, to Flagpole Comics Dept., P.O. Box 1027, Athens, GA 30603. You can hand deliver copies to our office at 112 S. Foundry Street.

Comics POLICY: Please do not give us original artwork. If we need your original, we will contact you. If you give us your original artwork, we are not responsible for its safety. We retain the right to run any comics we like. Thank you, kindly.

34

FLAGPOLE.COM ∙ SEPTEMBER 23, 2009

reality check Matters Of The Heart And Loins Why are women so crazy? I met this girl a couple of months ago. We hit it off right away, and we spent a lot of time together for like a month. She had to leave for school in another town, which we were both bummed about, but we still talked to each other every day, usually more than once, and also text and stuff. So, like, the second week she’s there, she told me in a very offhand way that she didn’t expect me to wait for her.

Meaning that she wasn’t waiting either, and since we are in different towns we are not really dating like that. I was kind of mad, but I didn’t say it, but I really didn’t want her to see anybody else, and I wasn’t going to, either.

When I finally mentioned it to her a week or so after, she acted like it was nice that I liked her that much but that we’re young and we should be dating other people and getting other experiences. I didn’t agree, but I didn’t say no, either, because I like her and I want to figure stuff out.

I talked to my best friend about it and he said it was perfect because I had freedom but I also kind of had a girlfriend when I could see her. So, we keep talking every day and she calls me every night and texts me from class and everything. I keep feeling confused, but I try to meet other girls and see if I can date other people. Well, the answer is no I can’t, because I really like her and I don’t know why we can’t just try to do this dating long distance. She isn’t that far away and I told her I would drive down to see her on weekends.

So, I drove up there a couple weekends in a row, and everything seemed fine, but in the back of my mind I know that she is still maybe seeing other people and I don’t like it. Finally, the last time I was up there I said I don’t think I can do this because I really like you and I don’t want you to see other people. She said she wasn’t and thought I knew that, and she just wants to try and see each other as much as possible.

I am confused. I am happy that I don’t have to worry about it anymore, but I don’t understand why she thought I knew we were boyfriend and girlfriend. And what if I had been seeing other girls? Would I be in trouble now? Would that make me an asshole? Did I miss something?

Happy but Confused From what you have told me, HBC, I don’t see how you were supposed to know one way or the other. It’s great that things worked out the way you wanted, but your letter indicates a pattern of going along with things that you don’t necessarily agree with and not really talking about your feelings. If you really want this relationship to work, you are going to have to learn to communicate your own feelings and decipher what she’s saying. It sounds like you both like each other a lot, so get to work on that and you should have a lot

of fun. Also, invite her to come and see you sometimes, too. You don’t want to be the one doing all the work to keep this thing afloat.

There is a guy I work with that has been flirting with me for ages. He has never asked me out, but I know he doesn’t have a significant other because I have asked. He is constantly coming by my desk, leaving me little notes (jokes, but still, he doesn’t do this to other people) and chatting me up in the elevator or the hallway. So, I finally decided that maybe I should ask him out, since we have been having this flirtation for MONTHS and it seemed to be going no further.

The other day, after five minutes of him hovering near my desk for no reason, I asked if he wanted to get a drink after work. No. Okay, that’s fine. Maybe he has plans. So, I said, “What about Friday?

Happy hour at ---?” Nope, he’s busy. And he doesn’t follow up with a “maybe next week” or a “why don’t we do lunch?” so now I am at a total loss. Two hours later, he’s in the elevator talking about us “going down” together. WTF? It has been a week since I asked him out for a drink, and he is still as flirtatious as ever, but he has not reciprocated my invitation. I swear I have never seen him act this way with anybody else, and our desks are very near to each other so I would know. It has gotten to the point where other people in our office have asked me what was “up” with the two of us. Arrrgh! I am going insane. Why does he keep at this when he must know that I find it confusing? I don’t want to ask him out again because it is too embarrassing, but I really and truly do not understand what he is thinking. Am I crazy? Is he? Should I ask him out again?

Should I ask him what is up with his behavior?

I have to work with this guy, so I don’t want it to get weird, but seriously. I can’t take any more.

That Sound You Hear Is My Head Hitting My Desk Repeatedly I don’t know what this guy’s deal is, my headbanging friend, but here’s what I would do: ask him out one more time. Casually, of course, and also with some notice (i.e., not “Do you want to go out after work today?”) so that he is less likely to have actual plans.

If he says no, then you just put him at arm’s length. Do not respond to his flirtations with laughter or reciprocated flirting. Just treat him like you would a female colleague that you like well enough. His behavior is slightly confusing and totally inappropriate for an office environment, so you should have no trouble shutting it off. I can’t imagine that he doesn’t know what he’s doing, but I also can’t imagine why he would do it if he wasn’t interested in you. Weird. Just weird.

Books? Clothes? Dinner? Music? Jewelry? Shoes?

You really CAN have it all.

Jyl Inov Got a question for Jyl? Submit your anonymous inquiry via the Reality Check button at www.flagpole.com.

SEPTEMBER 23, 2009 · FLAGPOLE.COM

35

Real Estate Apartments for Rent 3BR/2.5BA Eastside townhome.

Spacious & convenient, on bus route. Pets allowed. Incl. W/D. Only $700/mo. Call Aaron (706) 207-2957.

Best deal in town! El Dorado 2BR/1BA & studio apts. in Normaltown. Free water, gas, basic cable & wireless Internet.

W/D in 2BR units. Dog runs. $420–$675/mo. Joiner & Associates (706) 549-7371.

2 b e d ro o m s , 1 b a t h .

Fireplace, dishwasher.

Cedar Shoals Rd. Eastside. Rent $525/ mo., $525/dep. Call (706) 769-8781.

1BR apt. for $475/mo. 2BR apt. starting at $700/mo. 3BR apt starting at $1000/mo.

All close to campus! Howard Properties (706) 546-0300.

2BR/2.5BA condo. Along river. Avail. now. HWflrs., W/D, DW, ceiling fans, deck, amenities galore, convenient to everything. $650/mo. Call Matt at (706) 248-9088.

1BR/1BA. All electric, water furnished, nice! On busline.

Single pref. Avail. now! (706) 543-4271.

1BR/1BA Historic Apar tments in historic homes. Avail. 1/1/10, 2 at 197 S. Milledge (W/D, DW) & 1 at 130 Grady Ave (DW). All have HWflrs., high ceilings, very unique units. Quiet graduate based bldgs., $525–$625/mo. incl. water/trash. No dogs, cats OK. Pls. call Chris (706) 202-5156.

1BRs starting at $467.50/mo., 2BRs starting at $506.67/mo., 3BRs starting at $705/mo. Sec. dep. starts at $150. On busline, pet friendly! Walk–in closets, FPs, recycling avail. on site.

Call today! (706) 549-6254.

Restrictions apply.

1BR/1BA + study/guest rm.

Security gates, pool, fitness center, 1 mi. from campus.

Excellent condition. Reduced $550/mo. Pets OK. Call Rob ( 706) 338- 4984 or em ail robwimberly@gmail.com.

1BR/1BA. Completely furnished apt. Mature student preferred. No smoking, drinking, pets. CHAC. Quiet & safe. $525/mo. Utils. & cable incl. (706) 549-7590, (706) 296-6957.

2BR/1BA Five Points Duplex on Mell St., t o t a l e l e c t r i c , D W, W / D hookups. (706) 546-6900 ValerioProperties.com.

2BR/2BA apt. w/ fireplace & crown molding. By the mall.

Gated community, pool, fitness center. Retails for $900/mo., asking only $750/mo. Avail.

10/1/09. Dep. negotiable (706) 254-7474.

2BR/1.5BA East Athens Duplex for rent. Fresh paint, W/D, DW, range, fridge, trash & yard service incl. Pets OK. Avail. now! $550/mo. Toll free (877) 740-1514.

205 Little Street.

2BR/1BA. Water, gas, power incl. Near Dwntn. $550/mo.

Call Joiner Management (706) 353-6868.

3BR/2.5BA. Incl. W/D & fridge.

Great condition. At bus stop on S. Lumpkin. $900/mo. Call (404) 644-7983.

A Nice 2BR/2BA in great n’hood (ARMC area). Centrally located, convenient to everything. Walking n’hood.

HWflrs., lots of light, big front yd. W/D. $700/mo + sec. dep. 1 yr. lease. Small pet negotiable w/ pet dep. N/S. 132 Sunset Terrace. Call (706) 850-5530.

Athens’ nicest duplexes.

2BR/1BA. $525/mo. Eastside.

Free month’s rent. Clean, quiet. Tile, good landlord, on busline. We show everyday.

Rich (706) 548-3045. Hendley & Associates.

Best proper ty in town!

Woodlands of Athens.

3BR/3BA full of amenities.

G a t e d c o m m u n i t y, g re a t specials. Reduced to only $1050/mo. Call Pete (706) 372-3319.

Great option! Overlook Village at China & Little St. 2BR/1BA. $480/mo. + sec. dep. Pls. call Dave (706) 207-2908.

1-Year-Old

TOWNHOUSE EASTSIDE

3BR / 3BA • Basement/Garage $950 Hamilton & Associates

706-613-9001 · 706-613-1776 (fax)

www athens-ga-rental com

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HUGE 3BR Townhomes Newly Remodeled and 4BR/3BA Townhouse w/ Study Includes Washer & Dryer, Free Wireless and 42” Plasma TV! Call Today for viewing.

Hamilton & Associates 706-613-9001 · 706-613-1776(fax)

www.athens-ga-rental.com

36

FLAGPOLE.COM ∙ SEPTEMBER 23, 2009

Quiet duplex apt. 1BR/1BA E a s t s i d e . L g . p r i v. l o t .

Convenient location. Ideal for grad student. $375/mo. (770) 725-2758.

Studio condo Downtown Athens. On Broad St. & across to campus! $600/mo.

One avail. now & 2 avail. 12/1.

Call (404) 557-5203.

White Columns Hall.

1BR/1BA, 1 block from Dwntn.

Water, gas, incl., laundry onsite. $465/mo. Call Joiner Management (706) 353-6868.

Houses for Rent 2BR duplexes starting at $450/ mo. 159 Gran Ellen, 3BR/3BA $1300/mo. 1BR/1BA $600/ mo. 167 Tibbets, Normaltown house $650/mo. Pls. call (706) 549-6070.

Cute 2BR/1BA. All electric, CHAC, W/D, nice yd. $600/mo. + dep. Call Mark (706) 202-5110.

4BR/2BA. New appls., W/D, new CHAC, clean, nice yd.

260 Timothy Rd. $900/mo. Call (706) 340-3435.

Westside condos. 2BR/2BA, $600/mo. 3BR/2BA, $700/mo.

Converted clubhouse into a huge open flr. plan. 4BR/2.5BA, $1200/mo. 5 Pts. 2BR/2.5BA. lv. rm w/ FP. Corner lot. $700/ mo. Eastside quadraplex 2BR/2BA, $525/mo. 2BR/1BA, $490/mo. Call M c Wa t e r s Realty, (706) 549-3222, (706) 353-2700 or cell (706) 540-1529.

Affordable housing.

Houses, condos, A-frame all $550/mo. or less. First month’s rent free. Various locations.

Excellent cond. Cats permitted w/ dep. Call (706) 202-0147, (706) 549-6070.

Commercial Property

First month free. Walk to campus! 2 & 3BRs from $625/ mo. W/D, DW, priv. deck, pets welcome. Mention this ad & pay no pet fee! (706) 548-2522, www.dovetailmanagement.com.

Amazing Office Spaces for lease above Dwntn Five Guys restaurant. No better location!

Call Reign at Coldwell Banker Upchurch Realty (706) 3724166, or (706) 543-4000.

Commercial/Residential. Lg. house on North Ave. $1500/ mo. Approved for shelter, group home, or possibly even restaurant or office. Call David (706) 247-1398.

Creative workspace. $400/ mo. 800 sq. ft. Lights & power incl. Great for sm. business or artist. If interested call Matt at (323) 304-0720 or email mfpproductions@gmail.com.

Eastside offices for lease.

1060 Gaines School Rd. 170 sq. ft., $375/mo., 500 sq. ft., $625/mo., 1200 sq. ft., $1200/mo. (706) 546-1615 or athenstownproperties.com.

Paint Artist Studio for rent.

300 sq. ft., $150/mo. 400 sq. ft., $200/mo. 160 Tracy St. Historic Boulevard Area, Artist/Crafts Community. (706) 546-1615 or www.athenstownproperties.com.

3BR/2BA country house. 9 mi. from Dwntn. FP. $138,000.

(706) 540-8461.

Duplex for rent. 2BR/1.5BA. Jolly Lane in Sleepy Hollow Subdivision. Near UGA, Memorial Park & Birchmore Trail. W/D, DW, CHAC, FP. $675/mo. Call April (706) 549-5006, go to www. athenscondosales.com.

First mo. rent free! Close to Dwntn. New 4BR/3.5BA houses. 2 master BR’s & 2 private BA’s within house. New appls. Pets welcome. $1100/ mo. Call (706) 540-1257. $750/mo. Blocks to Campus.

4BR/2BA. Tall ceilings, central air, DW, W/D conn., sunroom, pets allowed. 231 Elizabeth St. Owner/Agent. Call Mike (706) 207-7400.

231 Wiltshire Dr. 3BR/2.5BA. 2–car garage. Convenient to the Eastside & UGA. Spacious living area. Go to www.johnivy. com, call JS Ivy Realty (706) 207-5649.

3BR/2BA. 525 McWhorter, Five Points. HWflrs., tile BAs, FP, eat–in kitchen, study, master BR/BA w/ jacuzzi, bonus space/playroom. B a r ro w Elementary. Call (706) 5489797 boulevard​p roperty​ management.com.

3BR/2BA house. Eastside, W/D, DW, brick, lg. fenced backyard, screened porch, great location, near bus. $800/mo. Pets OK. Call (706) 705-1288.

3BR/2BA. Remodeled IKEA kitchen. All electric, HVAC, W/D. $800/mo. + dep. Call Mark (706) 202-5110.

3BR/2BA. Off Milledge. CHAC, W/D, HWflrs. $850/mo. + dep.

Call Mark (706) 202-5110.

3BR/2BA brick home. All appls. incl., fireplace, dining rm., lg. private back lawn, 2–car covered parking, storage rm., & back patio. Lawn & water incl.

Dekle Reatly (706) 548-0580.

3BR/1BA attractive brick house in quiet residential n’hood.

CHAC, DW, W/D, & carport.

Nice condition. $650/mo. Call (706) 548-5869.

3BR/2BA house. Cedar creek subdivision. Fenced backyd., gas grill attached to sundeck, FP, wooded lot. Quiet family n’hood. Swimming community.

360 Sandstone Dr. Avail. 7/1. $1025/mo. + dep. (706) 3191846 or (706) 548-4819. GA. R, E, lic. 300830.

3BR/2BA renovated home.

1 street mi. from Dwntn in Chicopee–Dudley. $ 7 2 5 / mo. Big yd., pest control, yd. maint. incl. Photos & info www.1596eastbroad.blogspot. com. (706) 255-0659.

3BR/2BA Brick. HWflrs., living, den, dining, deck, garage.

Enjoy Fishing. On Hwy 106 M a d i s o n C o . Vi s i t w w w.

P i n e b u s h N u r s e r y. c o m f o r details, pictures, location. $825/ mo. + dep. (706) 614-8875.

3BR/2.5BA. 1 mi. to UGA. $1200/mo.1 yr. old house.

Open floor plan, microwave, DW, W/D conn. Avail. now.

(706) 410-6122.

3BR/2BA renovated Victorian. Price reduced.

1/2 mi. to UGA. Lg. rms., high ceilings. HWflrs, front porch back deck. Nice yd. lots of parking. W/D, DW, CHAC. Pets OK. $1000/mo. (706) 369-2908.

4BR/2BA house w/ sunroom, laundry room, W/D, lg. backyd., partially fenced, near ARMC. $900/mo. Call (706) 543-6604 or (706) 207-6008.

4BR/2.5BA beautiful plantation h o u s e o n 3 a c re s . H i g h ceilings, HWflrs., lg. kitchen & rooms w/ a country setting.

Front porch, screen porch & rear sunroom. Pets welcome.

3–sided fence. 990 Double Bridges Rd. Avail. now! $1200/ mo. + dep. (706) 319-1846, or (706) 548-4819. GA. R, E, lic.

300830.

5 Pts. area. 3BR/2BA house.

CHAC, DW, laundry rm. w/ W/D, back deck, carport. Call (706) 255-0066.

70 White St., Watkinsville.

4BR/2BA. Basement, lg. yd.

Quiet n’hood. $975/mo. incl.

Trash p/u. Go to www.johnivy. com, or Call John JS Ivy Realty (706) 207-5649.

Avail. now! 3–5BR cottages.

Close to campus & Dwntn!

HWflrs, W/D, micros. $350–$485/BR. Call (706) 543-1910 or email becky@ landmarkathens.com.

Adorable 1BR/1BA home close to Dwntn Athens. Wood flrs., sunroom w/ Mexican tile flr., front porch, 3–car covered parking.

Lawn & water incl. $600/mo.

Dekle Realty (706) 548-0580.

Brand new 3BR/2.5BA houses w/ HWflrs., granite countertops.

Walk to Dwntn. Avail. now! $1200. 706-713-0626.

Beautiful forest setting.

Mins from Dwntn/UGA. HWflrs., lots of windows, multi–lvl. decks, open floor plan. 2BR. Upstairs sleeping porch & loft.

Photos at www.athenshouse. net. $875/mo. (706) 208-9543.

Clean 3BR/2BA. Nice house in quiet n’hood on Eastside.

Only 3 mi to Dwntn/campus.

Avail. now! Great house! All appls incl. (706) 713-0626.

Commercial/Residential. Lg. house on North Ave. $1500/ mo. Approved for shelter, group home, or possibly even restaurant or office. Call David (706) 247-1398.

Five mins. from campus, Dwntn.

3BR/1BA home. CHAC, WD, N/S, fenced backyd., oak flrs. $750/mo. + deposit. (706) 3381859. Email bro@athens.net.

For Sale or Rent. 3BR/1BA in 5 Pts. 176 Habersham Dr. Avail. now! Pets OK. W/D & CHAC incl. $139,900 or $900/mo. Call Talley Toro (706) 424-2695 or Calvin (912) 399-4057.

House for Rent. 2BR/1BA located at 640 Tallassee Rd. $600/mo. Quiet private setting.

In the trees. Fireplace to warm the winter nights. CHAC, W/D connections. Call Bill at Thornton Realty & Construction (706) 353-7700.

Own your own rental property!139 & 143 Strickland Ave. 4BR/3BA on each side of duplex. Each side for rent at $1200/mo. Entire duplex for sale $359,800. Call Reign at Coldwell Banker Upchurch Realty (706) 372-4166, or (706) 543-4000.

Spacious 2BR/2.5BA Sleepy H o l l o w To w n h o u s e n e a r Memorial Park, wooded trails.

CHAC, DW, W/D, deck, pet friendly. Avail. immediately. $750/mo. (678) 777-6979.

Houses for Sale Full renovation! First St. millhouse. 1200 sq. ft. Big yd.

2BR/1BA. Tile & wood floors. 10 ft. ceilings. Metal roof. Custom kitchen–bathroom. $179K. Call Drew (706) 202-2712, or Christy (706) 559-4520 . $349,000. 3BR/2BA. 2.3 a c re s o n 1 0 a c re l a k e .

Granite, stainless steel appls.

Hardwoods, open flr. plan.

1–of–a–kind greenhouse. 5 mi. from Arch. 550 Scarlet Oak Dr. (706) 461-1009.

115 Hight Drive. $134,900. 3BR/1.5BA. Completely Renovated Oconee Co. home in Cedar Hills Subdivison behind Ashford Manor. Call Reign at Coldwell Banker Upchurch Realty (706) 543-4000, or (706) 372-4166.

3BR/2BA. Min. from UGA & Dwntn. Bamboo flrs., stainless steel appls. & a tin roof. 459 Little Oak St. $162,900. (678) 770-8772.

Roommates Female roommate wanted for 2BR/2.5BA 2nd flr. apt. Furnished except for priv. bed & bath.

Great location on S. Milledge busline! $390/mo. + 1/2 utils.!

No deposit! Email Rebecca at becca747@uga.edu.

Room avail. for student roommate to share 3BR/1BA behind ARMC. W/D, CHAC, HWflrs., renovated house, fenced-in backyd. Pets w/ dep. $300/mo. + 1/3 utils.

(404) 713-0655.

1BR in 2BR/1BA Eastside duplex.

Grad student or professional pref’d. W/D, DW, CHAC. $263/ mo. + 1/2 utils. + dep. Avail. now!

(706) 254-1534. Lv. msg.

Ve r y n i c e ro o m a v a i l . i n 3BR/3BA Cape Cod style home located in Winterville! 10 min from Dwntn. W/D, DW, CHAC, deck, free WiFi, free utils. No pets pls. $450/mo. + dep. Ask for Brian (706) 621-3579.

Rooms for Rent $350/mo. Grad student pref’d.

Quiet n’hood, fenced yd., dogs OK. Off–street parking. Call (706) 247-3487.

Sub-lease Awesome 5 Pts. house for sublease 11/10. 2BR/1BA. Great location. HWflrs., FP, loads of space. $775/mo. Call (706) 254-8572.

Avail. end of December. 1BR/1BA apt. across from UGA baseball stadium. $460/mo. Lease runs through 7/2010. Comes w/ free W/D & gas grill! (706) 614-1429 or jillhurst@gmail.com.

For Sale Appliances 24 cubic ft. Hotpoint refrigerator for sale. White, side–by–side doors. Only 4 yrs. old! $450 OBO. Call (706) 338-1661.

Run an ad UNTIL IT SELLS in FLAGPOLE CLASSIFIEDS for only $36. Call 706-549-0301.

Computers Fast notebook PC, 14” screen, built-in camera for video messaging, long life battery (6 hrs), HP Pavillion Special Edition, Windows Vista Home Premium, 2 GB RAM, 150 GB hard drive, Intel Core 2 Duo CPU, T5250. Like–new condition. $350. Call Dot (706) 369-0708.

Brand new laptops & desktops.

Bad credit, no credit, no problem. Small wkly payments.

Order today & get free Nintendo Wii game system! Call now (800) 840-5439 (AAN CAN).

Flea Markets Recycled/Used Furniture, Antiques, Rugs, Home fur nishings & Collectibles Galore. 30+ vendors selling treasures, art, locally grown produce, & baked goods.

Outside tables avail. for rent.

790 Gaines School Rd. Wed–Sat 10am-5pm, Sun. 1pm-5pm.

Furniture Tables, chairs, sofas, antiques, clothes, records & players, retro goods, & more! Cool, affordable furniture every day.

Go to Agora! Your favorite ever ything store! 260 W. Clayton St., (706) 316-0130.

Pillowtop Queen Mattress set.

Never used. Still in factory plastic. $260. Full size mattress set. Never used. Still in factory plastic. $160. (706) 769-1959.

Delivery avail.

Miscellaneous Come to Betty for vintage quilted Chanel bags, just in for Fall! On the corner of Pulaski & Clayton, next to Agora. Open 1–4 daily. (706) 424-0566.

Baby piano $8500. Pop-Up camper $3200. Canoe $350.

NordicFlex $225. Gazelle $300. TotalGym $300. Ping Pong table $25. Van $2500.

Convertible $5900. Call (706) 850-1909.

Muscadine, Scuppernong grapes ready at the Vineyard.

8 mi. east of Lexington on Highway 78. Open 7 days. Also local produce, boiled peanuts, blueberries & more.

Photography Darkroom equipment for sale. $250 OBO. Omega D2 enlarger w/ variable condenser, extra lenses + Gralab timer, Master time–o–lite & much more. Call (706) 254-2428, lv. msg.

Music Equipment Roland TD–10 V Drums. $1400, price negotiable. Comes w/ extras: sound proofing tiles, drumming DVDs, teaching workbooks. Contact (706) 2027316 or email redhubcap@ gmail.com.

Sound Design Drumset. 5 piece kit w/ 2 ZPT Zildjian cymbals & hi–hat, Remo heads, Gibralter double bass pedal. $500 OBO. Barely moved from my house.

(706) 206-1355.

Instruction Athens School of Music.

Instruction in Guitar, Bass, Drums, Piano, Voice, Brass, Woodwinds, Strings, Banjo, Mandolin, Fiddle, & more.

F ro m b e g i n n e r t o e x p e r t .

Instrument repairs avail. (706) 543-5800.

Music Services Fret Shop. Professional guitar repairs & modifications, setups, electronics, precision fretwork.

Previous clients incl. R.E.M., Widespread Panic, Cracker, Bob Mould, John Berry, Abbey Road Live!, Squat. (706) 549-1567.

G u i t a r R e p a i r , setups, electronics & fretwork by 20 yr. pro. Thousands of previous clients. Proceeds help benefit N u ç i ’s S p a c e . Contact Jeff, (404) 643-9772 or www.

AthensGuitar.com for details.

Looking for a fun, classy alter native to the typical wedding band? If you are looking for “YMCA” then Squatis not your band. If you want Duke Ellington, Ray Charles, & salsa, then visitwww.squatme.com/ weddings. (706) 548-0457.

Wedding Bands. Quality, professional bands. Weddings, parties. Rock, Jazz, etc. Call Classic City Entertainment. ( 7 0 6 ) 5 4 9 - 1 5 6 7 . w w w. classiccityentertainment. com.

Featuring The Magictones—Athens’ premiere wedding & party band. www. themagictones.com.

Musicians Wanted Folk guitar, singer–songwriter seeking bass or stand–up bass & percussion. (678) 988-5310.

Services Health Penis enlargement. Gain 1-3” permanently. FDA approved medical vacuum pumps, Testosterone, Viagra, Cialis.

Free brochure. (619) 294-7777, http://www.drjoelkaplan.com.

Discounts avail. (AAN CAN).

Pregnant? Considering a d o p t i o n ? Ta l k w / c a r i n g agency specializing in matching birthmothers w/ families nationwide. Living expenses paid. Call 24/7. Abby’s One True Gift Adoptions (866) 413-6293 (AAN CAN).

Home and Garden Fall Lawns installed. Suburban Tractor Service. Call John (706) 769-8697, (706) 224-2940. ➤ continued on next page

Roommate needed for 1200 sq. ft. 2BR/2BA on river. 2 mi. from campus, mall, & 316. Must like dogs. $325/mo. + utils. (706) 394-4283.

Northside 2BR/1BA, lg. lot, $600/mo. Hospital area Fenced–in yd. Avail. June. $800/mo. Five Points 2BR/2.5BA, lv. rm. w/ FP, corner lot, $700/mo. Eastside 3BR/2BA. Lg. yd., on dead–end street. $1100/mo. 4BR/2BA w/ lg. yd. $1300/mo. 2 or 3BR/1BA w/ screened front porch, $800/ mo. Cedar Creek 4BR/2BA $1100/mo. Oconee County 3BR/2BA. Lv. rm. w/ FP, din. rm., double garage, $1100/ mo. Call McWaters Realty, (706) 549-3222, (706) 3532700, (706) 540-1529.

Normaltown/ARMC. 180 Willow Run. Very nice 3BR/1BA. HWflrs, DW, W/D, CHAC. Lg. fenced backyd. Pets OK w/ dep. (404) 210-7145.

SEPTEMBER 23, 2009 · FLAGPOLE.COM

37

Backyard Solutions.

Make your neighbors jealous!

Water falls, ponds, fences, decks, gazebos, porches, & more! Call Robin for free estimate! (706) 340-4492.

Legal Services Have you won a judgement? Did you collect it? At Peachtree Judgment Recovery we specialize in locating debtors & their assets to collect civil judgments. Tur n that worthless piece of paper into cash! Call (706) 621-3261 or visit us on the web at www.

EnforceMyJudgment.com/ peachtree/.

Massage Revolutionary Massage & Wellness. Intro 60 min.

Massage: $40. Book Online!

Go to www.revolutionary massage.com.

Sports Martial Arts. Ladies Kickboxing, Kenpo Karate, Kali, Silat, Muay Thai, Tue. & Thu., 6pm–8pm.

4th Degree Black Belt. Call Steve (706) 410-0951, or email steve@karatefire.com.

Jobs Full-time Hardcore Sales Reps Needed. Hourly + commission.

PT & FT positions avail. I need the best & forget the rest! Call Chris (770) 560-5653.

Custom Surveillance is l o o k i n g f o r a n i n s t a l l e r.

Knowledge of surveillance equipment, networking, & professional customer service a +. Email resume to sales@ customsurveillanceinc.com or call (706) 316-0210.

Dental Office Person needed for busy Athens practice. Ability to multi–task a must. Mon–Fri. Following on–the–job training, the right person will primarily perform dental assisting but also be asked to perform front office duties. Bachelors degree and min 3.5 GPA preferred. Must provide work references showing long-term employment per job. Computer literate.

Great opportunity for a great employee. $15/hr. during training phase. Employer contributes 100% to retirement plan. Apply at DentalAthens@gmail.com.

Clocked is looking for experienced servers in a fun, fast paced environment.

R e s u m e s o n l y. 2 5 9 W. Washington St. Dwntn, Athens.

Marketing Communication Specialist. Join an est.

Athens company calling CEO’s & CFO’s of major corporations generating sales leads for technology companies. $9/hr.

BOS Staffing www.bostemps. com, (706) 353-3030.

Sexy Suz Adult Emporium now hiring 21+ retail positions.

Retail experience pref’d. Email resume/photo to sexysuz@ comcast.net. No calls pls. 50 Gaines School Rd. T–shirt printer looking for a FT salesperson. Pls. email us at jobs@rubysuegraphics.com w/ your info.

Jobs Wanted Bright, resourceful & slightly naive 24 year old F grad student look for PT opportunity. Inquiries at altoerin@gmail.com. Did I mention intelligent?

Opportunities Brand new laptops & desktops.

Bad credit, no credit, no problem. Small wkly payments.

Order today & get free Nintendo Wii game system! Call now (800) 816-2232 (AAN CAN).

Chronically anxious? You may be eligible for a 6–week exercise study. Compensation of $80.

Complete screening (45 mins) at: https://www.surveymonkey. com/s.aspx?sm=whnwaViaanm yJpaadHNIfw_3d_3d, or contact Matt at mph8@uga.edu (URL has HN “capital i” fw_3d).

Does your daughter have symptoms of bulimia nervosa? Has your daughter injured herself on purpose?

Researchers at the University of Georgia Psychology Clinic are conducting a treatment study for teens w/ symptoms of bulimia nervosa & deliberate self harm.

Open to teenage girls age 16–18.

For more info email the UGA Eating, Drinking, & Personality Research lab at bnstudy@uga. edu, or call (706) 542-3827.

Earn great pay selling merchandise from catalog! My company splits profit 50/50 w/ you! This makes it worth your time & energy! This is a great opportunity for eager & ambitious participants to earn a very generous profit w/ no investment needed! Call Gary for more info! (706) 526-7243.

Part-time Inoko Express is looking for cashiers. Apply in person from 2–4pm at Inoko Express, 3190 Atlanta Hwy. (706) 425-8828.

Mystery shoppers earn up t o $ 1 0 0 / d a y. U n d e rc o v e r shoppers needed to judge retail & dining establishments.

No exp. req’d. (800) 743-8535.

Child care business needs loving caring person. Infant & toddler experience helpful. Will train. Great PT job for students!

Call Sharon (706) 351-0761.

Maintenance person needed w/ skill sets for carpentry, light electrical & plumbing, sheetrock repair, painting, roof repair, & everything else to maintain houses & apts. Pls. fax resume to (706) 316-2007.

Vehicles Motorcycles For Sale. 2007 250 Kawasaki Ninja motorcycle. Black w/ red flames. Like new, only 14 mi. $2700 OBO. Call (706) 788-3160.

Autos 1998 Nissan Altima. 179K mi.

New tires, new brakes, good condition. $2500 OBO. Call (770) 880-9623.

1985 MB 300D, 268, XXX m i l e s . B o m b p ro o f . D a i l y driver. PW/Pl/sunroof. Run anything combustible. New Greasecar kit, w/ 13-gallon tank. Free WVO everywhere! $2750 neg. (706) 621-0135.

One owner. 2005 PT Cruiser.

Extra clean, 85K, auto, power windows, locks, AM & FM, cassette, spoiler. Death in family, need to sell. Call after 6pm. (706) 769-6208.

WUGA C the lassic

38

FLAGPOLE.COM ∙ SEPTEMBER 23, 2009

91.7

97.9fm

Van for Band. 1997 Astro Cargo, 80,845 mi., safety cage, cruise, tilt wheel, cold air, automatic, new paint, uses gas or propane. $3200. John (706) 614-0306.

Notices Messages Do you have video footage of the Georgia Theater burning (even cell phone) or that would be good for Georgia Theater documentary? Describe to eric@krasle.com for consideration.

Free Scrap Metal Pick Up! Appliances, aluminum cans, metal junk, lawn equipment, wire of all kinds, heating & AC units & ductwork, junk cars & parts, just about anything!

Call Related Recycling (706) 224-1601.

Gain national exposure. Reach over 5 million young, active, educated readers for only $995 by advertising in 110 weekly newspapers like this one. Call Jason (202) 289-8484 (AAN CAN).

Organizations Advertise your business in 111 alternative newspapers like this one. Over 6 million circulation every wk. for $1200. No adult ads. Call Rick at (202) 289-8484 (AAN CAN).

Personals Friendly, attractive 43 yr. old white male seeks male 25-45 yrs. old for tennis, friendship, & road trips. If interested pls. call (478) 451-7381.

Flagpole: What does a coroner do exactly?

Sonny Wilson: The coroner’s job is to determine the cause and manner of death. It’s the police department or law enforcement’s job to investigate the crime scene.

FP: Which kind of deaths do you deal with specifically?

SW: The way the law is—if you die without the attendance of a physician, the coroner has to be notified. If you die at

SW: Pretty much. The coroner is the only person that can serve papers on the sheriff… in other words, he’s the only one that can legally arrest the sheriff. We can execute subpoenas, we have the same jurisdiction things as a sheriff does. I don’t ever foresee having to use all that… but the biggest thing that we’ll do is subpoena hospital records.

FP: You’re also a director at this funeral home, correct?

SW: Yep… in Georgia, most coroners have funeral home backgrounds anyway. If you look at who holds the coroner’s office, the majority of them are funeral directors or embalmers or morticians… very few counties have a full-time [coroner]. The counties that have full-time medical examiners who are pathologists… those are your major counties: you know, Fulton, Dekalb, Cobb: major metropolitan counties.

FP: What would you say is the hardest part of both of your jobs?

SW: The hardest part is dealing with families that you know.

People that are close to you… it’s difficult to tell anybody they’ve lost a person, especially a child, but when it’s family or colleagues…

Charles-Ryan Barber

FP: Do you have a favorite thing about either of your jobs?

SW: Well, the coroner’s job… there’s not a favorite part to that job. But with the funeral side is when families come up and say “You helped us through a difficult time, and you really made things easier for us to get through.” Just the satisfaction of knowing that you helped them when they were down and needed some help and some comfort.

FP: You say that there’s no favorite part to being a coroner, but since it’s an elected office and you campaigned for it, there must have been something driving you to want this position.

SW: The thing that led me to run for the coroner’s office was—I’m not trying to say that my predecessors didn’t do a good job—but there were ways that the office could have been improved.

home and you’re not under a doctor’s care, the coroner has to be notified… [but] the coroner does not become involved with hospice patients.

FP: Do you bring the body anywhere, or do you do all your work at the scene?

SW: The examination is done at the scene… if a person has no medical history, middle-aged person, just suddenly dies, [then there’s] a good chance he’s gonna be going to the [Georgia Bureau of Investigation] crime lab… to the lab in Atlanta for a pathologist to examine… [the pathologist] tells me what his findings are and what to put on the death certificate. If [the deceased] doesn’t go to the lab, I have to make the determination from medical records and what I can ascertain from other people as to what the cause of death was.

FP: How often are you called to investigate a scene?

SW: It varies. There’s about 280 to 300 cases a year.

FP: So before I got here I read this little bit from a Wikipedia article: “In Georgia, the coroner has the same powers as a county sheriff to execute arrest warrants and serve process.” Is that true?

FP: Did you grow up wanting to be a coroner, or a funeral director? Or did you end up just falling into it?

SW: Just ended up doing it. I’ve been in funeral services since I was 14 years old… I grew up in Perry, Georgia, and back when I was growing up, Perry was still a small town in the middle of Georgia, and [I] just happened to be friends with the funeral director’s son. He and I grew up together and just started cuttin’ grass, movin’ chairs, washin’ cars, movin’ flowers and just never left.

FP: I have a hunch that many people have a misunderstanding of what a coroner actually does. Would you agree?

SW: Yeah. A lot of people watch these shows on TV—”CSI,” you know… we’re not “CSI.” “CSI” is strictly Hollywood, and people expect results back in two or three hours, because that’s what they do on TV. But it doesn’t work that way… sometimes it’s months before I can tell a person why [somebody] died. I’ve still got cases pending now from back in March.

FP: What TV show would you say is the most realistic, as far as coroner depictions go?

SW: If I watched one it would probably be “NCIS” more than it would be “CSI”… “CSI,” to me, some of that is so far out.

Jeff Gore

DOWNTOWN LOCATION er COMING Exp nn I SOON! ress Your

a TM

When people in Athens-Clarke County die, there’s a good chance they’ll pass beneath the eyes of Sonny Wilson—a funeral director at Bernstein Funeral Home on Atlanta Highway—before being laid to rest. And if this hypothetical person dies unexpectedly, he or she may just be seen twice by Wilson, since he is also the county coroner. Wilson has spent half a century in funeral services, garnering Funeral Service Examining Board certifications in chemistry, anatomy, pathology and microbiology along the way. With the exception of a year spent at an embalming school in Indiana, Wilson has been a lifetime Georgian, going from his hometown of Perry to Gainesville to Athens, where he has lived for 14 years.

If you’ve been in Athens for a while, you may have known Sonny’s son, Warren Wilson, who died in a car accident in 2003. Warren was better known as the bold and audacious drag queen named “Letha Weapons,” and was said to have a heart as huge as his (or her) stage presence. This magazine published a memorial piece on Warren shortly after his death, which Sonny Wilson recommends reading (Flagpole, June 4, 2003, “And the Marquee Said Letha Weapons”).

zz

SONNY WILSON, CORONER & FUNERAL HOME DIRECTOR

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