I have had the luxury and honor to be both a participant and observer of the evolution of music in my hometown of Augusta,Georgia..........the picture you see above was taken at SQUEAKY'S TIP TOP..........an Augusta landmark that was once described in GQ magazine by the members of a New York band called Lotion as "a tool shed with a bar on the side"..........they made the remark in the most loving way possible..........because most every band that came to SQUEAKY'S loved it.........Jay Aston from the 80's band GENE LOVES JEZEBEL calls SQUEAKY'S a friend to this day.........for a good long run, it was the oldest functioning bar in Augusta...........for pete's sake, DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER came there for a burger and a beer after a round of golf at the AUGUSTA NATIONAL............
The picture at the head of this post was taken in the late 80's.......obscured behind the cymbals and drums is yours truly.........it was around the time that THE TIP TOP began having live entertainment..........that's my band NEATO TORPEDO.........waaaaaaayyyy back in the day..........the bands set up in the back of the bar at that time.........seeing that pic puts me in a nostalgic mood........so imma run down some of the bands from Augusta that either inspired me,blew my mind.........or of course the ones i played a part in...........(dig my dangle,Bpops).............
i'll start with a band that fueled my curiosity and desire to play music.........My dad's band THE PALLBEARERS............they billed themselves as "the last ones to let you down"..........and they made a name for themselves playing the frat circuit all over the southeast............i was not present for their career..........however........the memorabelia(sp?) i got to see, belied how big time these cats were.........they played white boy soul.........and they released records on two separate label imprints..........they rode the then very influential top 40 of WBBQ for many many weeks just prior to my birth...........and the music kicked ass.............
flash foward 15 or so years to the mid 80's...........as a teenager, i became aware of a burgeoning scene of cats that were doing the whole DIY thing and building the foundation of our music "scene"............
John Brownlee impressed me very early on as a sort of impressario.....he played bass with a band called THE FUNGOES...........and he brought bands from out of town to play Augusta............they held the shows in a practice space above a chinese laundry on 8th street downtown.........there was always a keg..........and the shows always got busted..........but it was cool as shit to me as a teenager........THE FUNGOES later became THE OUTLINES............and it was good.......
there were other bands sharing that practice space..........one prominent band was THE CRAWLING PEGS...........who's members later went on to form BLAH............
around this time, i helped found NEATO TORPEDO.............along side us, several great bands were forming...........taking our cues from the variety of great stuff we were discovering by bands from labels like SST and all the DUTCH EAST INDIA TRADING COMPANY stuff.........FUCKSTICK turned into PAINTED TAMBOURINE......which evolved into SWIMMING GROUND............the boys from TIN SOLDIER eventually joined forces with DAVID BRADBERRY from STAN'S BIKE and ORPAN TRAIN to form DEBT OF NATURE(one of this town's all time greats)........
i joined DEBT OF NATURE upon leaving NEATO............DON dissolved into SMILE.........after SMILE, Dave Newhall and I formed MARY JANE JONES...........and so on and so forth.........up to now..........
in the middle of that span of time, there were other great Augusta bands such as DESOLATE JAMES,BURNING BUSH,JAMESGATE,PINE.........and how do you forget HUNDRED YEAR SUN..............
the list, the history and the chronology are by no means complete.........but the point is this..........this town has produced great original music for more than 20 years now..............
i'm proud to have been involved in whatever small capacity..........
Rock it like your next artistic endeavor may in some small way make history........lay that shit down with the most passion you can muster...........
Stak
5 comments:
I remember Neato Torpedo...
Augusta has some terrific music, you are right. And thank goodness people are finally getting on the ball and coming up with ways to pay for performers at some city events. (To remain nameless in case reporters are still lurking.) I keep smacking peeps with the Nerf Bat - also called "fund the independent artists" Bat. So what happens? I get another freaking committee to sit on. sigh.
(Pretend whining - i really don't mind.)
Rhi, you've probably heard alot of my gripes on the subject.......performers and artists in this town have been conditioned to give their craft away for free.......for "the exposure"......and as long as we function with the mindset of being "amateurs", that's all we'll ever be..........fair compensation for effort is all i'll ever ask.........being in a band is not a holiday on the beach........it's a ton of sweat equity and sheer courage.........it takes balls to put your stuff out there in front of the public for judgement.......
it's equally unfortunate that this town has not come to appreciate the treasures that lie in their own back yard..........
long time gripe of mine as well darling. Spent the past few years trying to get some annual grant money set aside for visual artists here and it's looking possible. And i have been told that first friday bands will be paid. While there's not lots of money in the coffers there is a growing awareness that the independent artists including bands, poets and visual artists deserve some financial support here as well. AND alot of people aren't aware of how fiercely Brenda works to try and keep the galleries, the bands, the artists, the writers included in planning and expenditures. Just saying.
Still a long way to go - but i'm seeing the first steps start to finally happen - ya know?
PS - i've missed you. lots. welcome back to blogland.
being back........it's good.......
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