Athens Music Scene

Welcome back, folks! It’s 2011: Twenty-some months until the flipping of the Mayan Calendar and the beginning of the end-times! There will be plenty time for that in the future, so let us turn to more mundane matters.

With all of the OU students back in town, I can’t help but notice that the level of trash (dis)gracing our streets has increased greatly. This may come as a surprise to many students who may see no discernible increase in the amount of broken glass, food wrappers, puke and Appalachian tumbleweeds occupying our streets than when they left, but as a committed pedestrian, I notice these things.

It’s true. When the students leave, the trash seems to leave with them. When they come back, it reappears. Coincidence? Perhaps, but instead of carp about it, I have an idea, difficult as that may seem to believe.

If the university is the lifeblood of this town, then trash is the cholesterol, clogging our streets and sewers. What I have is a health-inducing recommendation. Modeled after the Adopt-a-Highway program, I say let’s start an Adopt-a-Sidewalk program.

Students often have public-service requirements for their classes, and there are probably hundreds of different clubs at OU that would, if not happily, volunteer to take a segment of sidewalk and clean it up at a regular interval. Lots of local businesses would love to participate, I’m sure, but they generally have to clean up what lies in front of their shops anyway.

We could make little signs to post proudly bragging about how the League of Ohio Procrastinators were the folks keeping this part of Athens clean. Certainly, there are enough sidewalks to go around. Several different groups could organize for alternating weekends so that a constant, gentle scrub could keep our sidewalks and streets free from the embarrassing trash and disgusting vomit that makes it tough for any self-respecting family to bring children uptown too early in the day (and I don’t even know where to begin about the mind-boggling amount of gum stuck to the sidewalks! Who are you people? That thing is a trash-can 10 feet from you!).

The Town and Gown Bigwigs should get together and see if some kind of arrangement can be made. Perhaps some small donation could be made to the city on the part of the clubs (or, gasp, by the university) to pay for the signs to put up or even to benefit the Athens public office that deals with our perennial litter problem.

Why don’t I lobby for this myself? Well, I am far too cynical about the way governments and institutions work to waste my time beating my head against that wall. I try to choose my battles. Me, I keep the fight personal by wearing a backpack on my walks and picking up trash as I come across it, depositing it in one of the handy repositories that the city so graciously maintains. I guess we could all do something like that and not bother with some sort of concerted social change, but where would the fun be in that?

Music can be an agent for social change — or even delightfully trashy, if you let it. Let us know about your weekly events and your upcoming shows by emailing me at athens.music.scene@gmail.com. Send pictures to news@athensnews.com; Editor Terry gets the fun of placing the pics. This weekend’s musical offerings are sounding good, so please do these hard-working musicians proud by meeting their efforts with your attendance and dancing feet!

Casa Cantina

Tonight, the Casa kicks things off with an Art Opening for Ezra Thobaben that will feature visual art, via his paintings, and musical art, courtesy of his band Poppycock. This one is free.

The Fayble Family brings their energetic approach towards new-folk to the Cantina on Friday night. This free show also features the indie-rock of Scubadog and the folky-blues of Jess & Kyle (Duke Jr. & TSB). Also free.

Broken Ring waxes Americana for you during a free early show at the Casa Cantina Saturday evening from 6:30-8:30.

Open Doors Dance Night rekindles their boogie on Saturday night.

Rattletrap String Band maintains their regular Monday jam session at the Casa, despite the cold and their country-living lifestyles.

The Casa Cantina still has its Open Stage every Wednesday night. There are no sign-ups for this free event.

Jackie O’s

Whip & Tickle saves the night tonight in a last-minute effort that will bring harmonica-drenched blues to Jackie O’s for some woogie-boogie fun. Leah Nairn & Adam will add their skills to the bill to make for fun and fashion.

Fletcher’s Grove comes up from West Virginia to lay down grooves so thick you can cut a rug on them (Friday night in the Public House). They have made a few appearances in town and are destined to be a favorite.

The Porters are a solid, blues-based group with helpings of rhythms from across the board, with smoky vocals and lots of great lead players. They will perform Saturday night in the Public House. The Porters are on the Band To Be Reckoned With list, for sure.

Monday nights have a guy who looks like me (Junebug) hosting an Open Stage at Jackie O’s. The event is free and there are no sign-ups. First come, first served. Bands that are looking for a gig at Jackie O’s would do well to start by showing up there to audition.

A Celtic Jam happens every Tuesday in Jackie O’s Public House. Some of the finest Celtic musicians anywhere are regulars.

The Union

Tonight the Union gets back to business with local faves Whale Zombie and their gothic surf music. Blithe Field continues to craft beguiling electronic mosaics, and they will perform along with Columbus’ Mutual Benefit and the mythic Brothertiger.

Dance or Die shows you why it is one of Athens’ favorite dance parties on Friday night.

Saturday night, Boxcar Burlesque presents the much-anticipated Baconfest. Do you love bacon? Of course you do. It is a documented fact that most recovering vegetarians were seduced back to normalcy by the glorious aroma of bacon. Based upon that olfactory delight alone, you should be able to close your eyes and find your way to the Union on Saturday. There are a variety of contests to enter, including best attire, appetizer, entree, dessert, beverage, etc. They have a Facebook page you can check out (search for “athensbaconfest”), and they will have music from Hexnet and Chickenpussy, and of course, live performances from the lovely ladies of Boxcar Burlesque — with bacon, I’m sure. Where do I sign up to be a judge? Greasy!

ARTS/West

The monthly series Front and Center happens this Saturday from 12-1 Saturday afternoon. The first half-hour features performances from local musicians and school-age kids. This one will feature poet Wendy McVicker collaborating with flutist Emily Prince and young pianists. The second half-hour is a kid’s Open Stage. This is a free event and lots of fun.

Smiling Skull

The Skull has revived itself from a break-time slumber to present a rocking slate of music. Tonight, there is a “huge” ACRN welcome-back party taking full advantage of the perennial student condition — no money — by making this a free show. The Satanic event features DJs Sweet Dee and Butter Rugz, horror movies, a pie-eating contest, and of course — BINGO.

Friday evening, Leah Nairn is hosting a benefit called Cash for Dash for a recently rescued pup from the shelter who has tested positive for Heartworm, an insidious disease that will kill a dog if left untreated. It is a very expensive treatment (I know because I have paid for such a treatment for my Bobo). Leah and friends, including Kev, will perform for this Happy Hour show, 6-9 p.m.

Metal and more is in store Saturday night. The skinny: Bridesmaid (Columbus) brings their dual-bass attack to their stoner-doom music. Speaker Ritual (Mansfield) will invoke some doom-drone metal rituals. Kid Panda Hands triumphantly returns as Athens’ only “shoegazing, occult-folk, ambient, black-metal band.” Drug Money comes down from Columbus to unleash their “nasty power-violence.” This band contains members of the Horrible Creeps.

The Aquabear Legion presents a great night of music on Sunday. Virginia’s Midair is on tour and makes a stop to visit with their mostly instrumental music that sounds similar to Slint and Don Caballero. They are joined by Weird Science — featuring the return of the visiting Matt Presutti — and the recently re-invigorated Poppycock.

Don’t forget that JJ Reed is at the Skull every Tuesday night, bringing you the best in Open Stage on the upper-lower West Side.

Donkey Coffee

The Donkey continues to have a fine Open Stage every Thursday night from 9-11 with sign-ups at the counter throughout the week. There is a caveat to tonight’s event, however — it is a fundraiser. Cory Love and Kelly Latimore are donating their considerable talents to raise money for people killed recently during Cambodia’s Water Festival. After these two featured sets, there is a “come one, come all” feel to the rest of the Open Stage with no sign-ups required. But again, this is just for this week.

Friday night features two relative newcomers, though they are not related. Seam Kwon gets crafty with his music while Chloe Mockensturm wears her heart on her sleeve so that it does not interfere with her fine piano playing. She also wins the Most Difficult Name of the Week award. I do appreciate the info given to me by the clubs, but if you all would use lower-case letters in your posts, I wouldn’t have to type so much.

Saturday night’s show might have come straight from a Mark Twain novel. Emily Dale and the Huck Finns are joined by Deadwood Floats for a night of pop-inflected acoustic-leaning music — thoughtful music for thoughtful people.

Red Brick Tavern

Steve Zarate is playing Happy Hours every Friday at the Red Brick Tavern from 5-8 p.m. He knows a slew of songs, so go see if you can stump him. Free.

I know that the Red Brick has a bunch of weekly music with bands and DJs, maybe someone can send me some info about what things look like this winter.

Rhapsody Restaurant

The aforementioned Steve Zarate will make an instrumental appearance Saturday from 6:30 to 9:30 at the Rhapsody (free with dinner).

Oak Room

Speaking of Steve Zarate, he will appear every Wednesday from 4:30-6:30 p.m. at the Oak Room, should you feel like some fine music with your fine food. Are you folks starting to understand the power of self-promotion in a free media outlet? I hope so.

Athena Cinema

Dave Rave and the OU Electronic Music Club will be sponsoring the showing of “Take One,” a documentary of the Swedish House Mafia 7 p.m. Monday at the Athena. Also showing will be the premiere of Dave Rave’s “historic performance” headlining last year’s Athens’ Halloween block party. This event is free for all.

That’s all that I could find for this week. Help me out and send me an email detailing your “supah-fly” event or telling me a bit about your music. Don’t forget to celebrate Elvis’ birthday on Saturday. To quote: “Let’s get real, real gone for a change.” Buggone.