THE LOCAL MUSICAL FAMILY TREE..........this will probably only make sense to me...........

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

JINGLE WHAT!?!?!..........JINGLE WHAT!?!?!?.....jingle all the where?!?!?..........

Okay.............so my internets name has been dragged into the media spotlight by the local free weekly paper based upon a debate i was involved in on a local bar's message board........the issue at hand was the selection process for 12 BANDS OF CHRISTMAS which is a wildly popular Augusta charity recording and concert for the Children's Medical Center here...........i was beaten down at every turn during said debate even while i espoused views that i know for a FACT many other local musicians share..........they are afraid to speak them aloud...........and i just can't figure out who's getting the beat down in this article.......it seems to be written with an agenda.........but i can't prove that............it could be that it has simply succeeded in making me look small...........i'm not sure about that.........it CERTAINLY does not contain many key points that were brought up over the course of a few weeks of argument............you can read the article for yourself..........for now, i reserve further comment...........until the dust settles.........messages have been sent to the pertinent parties by myself and i need to wait a bit for their responses............but it's coming...........and hey GATDAMMIT, i'm blogging again..........


And heeeeeeere's the link!!!

Damn..........i've become famous for being a befouler of sacred lambs........COOL!..........

Stak