"Underneath The Covers"

Friday, December 1 @ 40 Watt Club

originally published November 29, 2006

Bryan Poole

The Late B.P. Helium

The latest craze in Athens benefit concerts has been to put on shows centering around sets of cover songs, and why not? It's a way to catch local artists you may have seen several times (and perhaps are already tired of) lending their style to different material, and it's handy for drawing in fans of established stars who may not be familiar with the locals doing the interpreting. It worked earlier this year with the 40 Watt's "Gimme Shelter" and "Finest Worksongs" benefits, when local acts tackled the Rolling Stones and R.E.M., respectively.

This week's World AIDS Day benefit charts the same course, though its scope broadens somewhat to music of the late '60s and early '70s. Local songwriter J.S. Dillard and his band Honey will perform a set of T. Rex tunes, while The Late B.P. Helium rams through the back catalog of Wings and Paul McCartney. The '60s-pop connoisseurs in The Vinyl Strangers will tone things down a bit to offer up Cat Stevens tunes, and local songbird Madeline channels Lucinda Williams. A stripped-down set from the core members of Dark Meat closes things out, and the band will perform a fun start-to-finish rendition of a seminal album by one of the band's biggest influences, though in an effort to build suspense, all involved are keeping mum about exactly what it'll be - show up to find out, yeah?

DJ Mahogany spins tunes before, between and after the sets, and the local rollerderby squad Classic City Rollergirls will be on hand skating around. Tickets cost $8 in advance and $10 at the door, with money raised going to the MAC AIDS Fund and AIDS Athens. Advance tickets are available now at SchoolKids Records and Wuxtry Records, as well as the MAC Counter at the Belk department store at the Georgia Square Mall. Music starts at 10 p.m.