Last Weekend

(TWIN TIGERS tearing it up on the main outdoor stage on Washington Street, in front of the 40 WATT club)

Another busy weekend on the schedule, as Missy's parents are in town for the 4th of July weekend. HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY, Y'ALL! Last weekend we were out and about downtown, soaking in (literally) the sights and sounds of our yearly ATHFEST music and arts festival. The heat and humidity was oppressive, but it was worth it. These are just some of the things we witnessed during the festival...



You CAN NOT have a proper festival in Athens without some elaborately decorated ART CARS showing up...we especially liked the pinkish minivan adorned with rock 'n' roll and country icons...











The BRAIN FREEZE ICE CREAM TRUCK - owned by a neighbor up the street from us - made an appearance and we took advantage by getting some ice-cold goodness:



We checked out the still-smoldering remains of the historic GEORGIA THEATRE which was gutted by a fire a couple of weeks ago. The roof was totally collapsed and burned away, and we could see the sun shining down on the charred interior...





There were musicians and performers oozing out of every crevice of downtown Athens, including the mobile PIANO MAN:



As the sun went down and the night wore on, things would just get more surreal...

ATH 4875 from Raoul de la Cruz on Vimeo.

We walked off the grid to the other side of town to catch a bunch of bands at NUCI'S SPACE...on the there, we stopped at THE STEEPLE, the only remaining part of the church that R.E.M. once used to practice, perform, and live in (and yes, MICHAEL STIPE was indeed spotted about town, checking out the Athfest festivites)...





We stayed for the entire show at Nuci's, which kicked off with a performance by LIZ DURRETT and her band...



She was followed by an energetic sets by ELEPHANT 6 performers CIRCULATORY SYSTEM and local darlings THE MODERN SKIRTS...It was jam-packed in there and sweltering hot, with Circulatory and Skirts fans vying for space. It was funny, because you could totally tell which fan was which...middle-aged dude with mutton chops? Ciculatory fan. Co-ed who looks like she's an understudy for "The Hills"? Skirts fan. Skinny punk rock kid wearing a dingy No Age t-shirt? Circulatory fan. Brah with the pucca shell necklace, flip flops and red UGA polo shirt? Skirts fan. Dude with a mohawk? Circulatory fan. Dude with a fauxhawk? Skirts fan. Tall tree creature from the Lord Of The Rings movies? Circulatory fan. Fresh-faced sorority girls taking pictures of each other with the band as their background? Skirts fans. 30 years old and older? Probably a Circulatory fan. 30 years and younger? Probably a Skirts fan...

ATH 4848 from Raoul de la Cruz on Vimeo.

ATH 4855 from Raoul de la Cruz on Vimeo.

ATH 4862 from Raoul de la Cruz on Vimeo.

It got so hot and crowded inside that Nuci's was forced to open up one of their walls, which was a garage door...



On our way back to Washington St., we ran into Jesse and members CAPTAIN #1 hangin' out on a street corner busking...and actually making a good amount of money!

ATH 4862 from Raoul de la Cruz on Vimeo.

We also saw an unidentified punk band (AMERICAN CHEESEBURGER?) playing out of teeny-tiny OK COFFEE:

ATH 4870 from Raoul de la Cruz on Vimeo.

Saturday night, we were back at Nuci's Space...my band, THE SLOW ROWBOAT performed, along with our friends CAPTAIN #1 and a new band called REPTAR...I didn't take any pictures of our band, but I did take a photo of the stage plus our equipment and empty chairs before we went on:



Captain #1 played after us and closed their set with a conga line...

ATH 4883 from Raoul de la Cruz on Vimeo.

Punky and funky Reptar closed out the night and kept the kids dancing from that point on....