EoA/AMJ WUOG takeover this Sunday!

This Sunday at 6 PM, Echoreyn of Athens and Athens Music Junkie are teaming up to give you two hours of our favorite local tunes on WUOG 90.5, the University of Georgia's very own student-run radio station! You're sure to hear everything from Bambara to R.E.M. and all of the rockin' madness in between. And hey, if you're a regular on the scene, you might even catch a song or two that you've fallen in love with at a live show. It's going to be a wild time!

But there's more! This weekend WUOG will give all the people of Athens the chance to determine which songs they want to hear on the radio. That's right, it's time for their annual Seize the Airwaves event! For a charitable donation of $10, which will go to a foundation created to combat AIDS, you too can nab one of the remaining spots to play your favorite radio-friendly tunes for the masses on WUOG's station.

And don't forget! Whether you're dying to find out what's new on the scene, hoping to hear your friends' bands on the radio, or just eager to rock out to some awesome Athens songs, tune in to WUOG 90.5 FM or visit their website at this link at 6 PM this Sunday!

Get a Clue! WUOG's Mystery Party

What a weekend! Even now, several days later, I'm still recovering from the excitement that some of our favorite local bands gave us. However, I just couldn't let the week go by without mentioning this awesome little show.

In celebration of the end of Spring semester, UGA's student run radio station WUOG hosted a rather exciting Clue-themed party complete with costumed guests, cookies, and, of course, the board game itself. Local band Grey Milk started off the night with some sweet indie tunes highlighted by clever and ridiculous lyrics that put a sure smile on my face. This band caught my attention with their unique approach to songs and stage presence from the acoustic guitar player rocking out while seated in the crowd to the moment they prefaced a song by telling us to pretend we were in a barn listening to owls. Also, nearly every other song included some sort of unexpected noise or shout which caused a few hilarious situations, and they even got the audience to join in on their stomp-based rhythm with snaps and claps during one of their tunes. I've gotta say, it was quite a fun set! After all, who doesn't love passionate songs about zombies?

A bit later in the night, the much-buzzed-about band Little Tybee stepped onstage. I've heard great things about these guys, and their soft, indie sound certainly lived up to the hype. There was a pretty awesome turnout by this point, and the crowd really got into into their style in a big way. Some guys even started waltzing across the room. Nice.

Then it was Wowser Bowser's turn to give it all they've got. Now, since the first time I saw these guys a year ago, I've been dying to catch them again, and soon they'd proved that my fond memories were certainly well-deserved. Their bouncy and energetic indie dance pop had the crowd grooving like crazy and tons of people sang along to every word of their tunes. In the middle of their set, they even got all of the listeners to go down low and then leap up in unison to one of their songs. And their energy! Wow! All of their tunes were overflowing with joy and fun, and best of all, they weren't afraid to jump out into the crowd and dance along with the fans. At one point, the drummer even gave us his rhythm from the middle of the dance floor. Just too cool. And, to add to the happy madness, balloons floated and hopped over the fans to the beat. Reminiscent of the always wild band Reptar, Wowser Bowser is this band's less life-threatening counterpart, complete with their own amazing and unique style. Every time I see them, I love them more! Man, what a show!

A plea to the venues

I've visited a massive number of venue websites since the beginning of the Echoreyn of Athens blog. As our regular readers know, every month we put out a Kristen's Concert Picks entry - a list, complete with descriptions, of exciting upcoming shows in Athens, handpicked for the sheer awesomeness of the bands that are playing them. Basically, if my friends and I have seen and loved a band live, we're sure to feature their shows here so that more fans of the scene can get a delicious taste of their tunes. And while checking out the websites, Facebook pages, and, yes, even the MySpace pages of some of our favorite local bands helps us to discover a few of these shows, most of the time the venue websites are our best friends in this matter.

So here's my plea, my call to action, if you will:

Venues, please make your websites cater to the fans!

After all, the whole point of establishing a venue is to create a space where fans can come and listen to their favorite tunes. If there are no fans in attendance (and trust me, I've been to a few of those shows before), then what's the point having the band rock your stage? And, let's be honest here, an empty venue does no favors for the bank account either.

See I've been on a bit of a website-building spree lately, and as such, I've found myself taking a critical eye towards the sites I come across. The venues that serve their fans best are those that post the key feature, the event calendar, right on the main page of the website for all to see.

Proving that a site need not be complicated to be the perfect venue space, the Caledonia Lounge tops the list of Athens venues with sites made for the fans. A single page (yes, just one) provides seekers and makers of rockin' tunes with all they need to find the place, book a show, and discover when their favorite bands are taking the stage. Everything you need to know in one glance... Now, that's awesome! Right up there with the Caledonia's site is 40 Watt's professional site. Their main page features three whole calendars of delectable music with upcoming big name shows listed in a simple breakdown up top and in more detail towards the bottom as well as a weekly show calendar to the side.

But, being one of Athens biggest and most famous venues, there's no way they would just stop there! They've also got a schedule tab which describes each show in great detail among other tabs that provide all sorts of useful information from directions to booking to even the rather fascinating history of how the club came to be. That is one solid website! Other examples of great venue sites built with the fans in mind include WUOG 90.5's site featuring shows for Live in the Lobby, New Earth Music Hall's site, and Nuçi's Space's site.

But what about the smaller venues, those that don't require a full site to keep their fans in the know? Well, Facebook is here to save the day! A well-maintained Facebook page can serve as a venue website too, provided that those who manage the venue's page include all location and contact info and update it regularly with event pages created for every show - a makeshift calendar of sorts. Best of all, Facebook is search engine optimized to be a top result whenever a fan searches for your venue which means that they'll easily find your page when they're dying to know exactly who's rockin' your stage next.

Now, once again, I've got to put in a short word against using MySpace as a website. I've noticed that venues that subsist solely on their MySpace pages tend to forget to update them regularly. Even worse, the site's new layout makes it difficult for fans to see the events listed anyway. At this point and time, I encourage venues to move beyond this site when establishing their web presence.

So, to sum it all up, is a quality website or a regularly updated Facebook page a must-have for venues? YES! In this day and age, nearly every fan who dreams of seeing their favorite band, whether it be a famous touring rock group or a fresh new indie singer/songwriter, will check the Internet first before heading downtown to catch a show. Venues, give these fans what they need: a chance to rock out to the tunes you provide!

Hear that tune? Athens welcomes you home!

And we're back! Home, sweet Athens!

This entry's going to be a bit short because I've got a few things in the works and I'm busy gearing up for the overflowing cornucopia of unbelievable Athens shows that will be occurring over the next few weeks as well. For those of you (like me) who must miss out on the craziness that is Texas's giant music and arts festival SXSW, Athens certainly won't be leaving your eardrums tuneless. Tonight, catch Venice is Sinking and Spring Tigers at Tasty World and, if you love WUOG like I do, you can also check out a free sneak peek of the Winter Sounds tomorrow at 8 at UGA's Tate Center before their official Caledonia show on Wednesday (St. Patrick's Day!). For a whole bunch more amazing shows, including several newly added ones, don't forget to look back over March's Concert Picks calendar!

These next two weeks look so exciting, I can hardly breathe! Hope you enjoy them as much as I will!

I've Got a Friend that You Can't See

Aman Amun (Brian McGaw) & I at a Crumbling Arches show in January

I entered the WUOG radio station premises in the Tate Center for the first time on Thursday with a feeling of great excitement and anticipation. I was just about to see one of the most creative Athens acts, Aman Amun, perform for the “Live in the Lobby” segment of the radio show. My friend Jordan (Athens Music Junkie) greeted me at the window and beckoned to me to come inside. The cozy little lobby with its walls covered in posters and CDs provided the perfect backdrop for Aman Amun’s soothing and melodious sound. Aman Amun’s alter ego, singer/guitar player Brian McGaw from the lovely Crumbling Arches, was just setting up as I got there, and he welcomed me in with a smile before beginning his mini show.

It is nearly impossible to place Aman Amun’s sound into any one genre. Brian uses both electronic and acoustic elements to create a listening experience far different from anything else I’ve heard in Athens. He began his short set with my second favorite song of his, “Opportunity Cost”, a calm yet heavy tune with an almost ethereal feel and an emphasis on the acoustic guitar. From there, he let the music flow out of his guitar, subtly changing without pausing into a newer song that was characterized by some rather impressive vocal work on his part. He continued to debut several new songs in an unbroken medley of soft strumming and computer-generated sounds. My only wish was that they had used a speaker with less static so that the songs could have been more clearly heard by the live audience. I’m not sure whether or not this affected those listening online.

Due to a series of terribly unfortunate circumstances involving prior plans, a friend’s rap craving, and a timing mix-up, I was unable to see the rest of Aman Amun’s show. My friend Sheila, who was happily listening to it at http://www.wuog.com from her room, told me that, just after I left, he performed my absolute favorite Aman Amun song “Scapegoating” complete with an interesting array of experimental sounds. I can’t believe I missed it. Sadness, indeed! However, I am overjoyed to say that he will be performing a more extensive and likely visually delicious show on May 1st in association with the Touch My Project interactive art show in the Lamar Dodd art building in Room S150. Since that’s a Friday and Reading Day for UGA students, everyone should most certainly check it out!