North Georgia Folk Festival

Saturday, September 20 @ Sandy Creek Park

originally published September 17, 2008

Produced annually by the Athens Folk Music & Dance Society, the day-long North Georgia Folk Festival is one of Athens’ longest-running annual events. Focusing on regional folk music, art, dance and crafts, and now in its 24th year, the festival features both older generations who helped to shape traditions as well as younger ones eager to carry the torch.

Although the whole event is billed as family-friendly, the day kicks off at 10:30 a.m. with events geared towards children, and banjo and fiddle workshops from 2–5 p.m. At 2 p.m. the music gets going full force on two separate stages. Mary Lomax and Bonnie Loggins are seasoned folk musicians who’ve sung all their lives, but last year’s festival appearance was their first in front of a large audience. Tony Bryant delivers a forceful rendition of Atlanta-style acoustic blues. Local bands who frequently play downtown also make a detour to the park today. The harmonizing Southern gothic folk of Hope for Agoldensummer, the spirited bluegrass of Packway Handle Band and the old-time country/folk of The Corduroy Road all find their way to the stage.

Entrance to the festival costs $10 for adults. Students get in for half price, while children under 12 years are admitted at no charge. Plan to bring a picnic, if you like, along with a blanket or lawn chair.

This year’s festival also features a pre-festival “kick-off” event, a contra dance and acoustic jam meant to get folks into the traditional mood with a caller and a live band - show up early to learn the dance steps. That takes place from 7:30–11 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 19, the night before the festival and is at Memorial Park rather than Sandy Creek Park. Tickets to the dance/jam cost $7.

Visit www.athensfolk.org for more information and a schedule of performance times.

Chris Hassiotis

Kenosha Kid

Saturday, September 20 & Sunday, September 21 @ Ciné

originally published September 17, 2008

Circa 1994, audiophiles and art house enthusiasts were mesmerized when they caught a glimpse of the serendipitous, albeit uncanny, synchronization of Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon to The Wizard of Oz. More than a decade later, Athens' own Dave Douglas-inspired composer Dan Nettles was commissioned by the Golden Isles Arts and Humanities Association to resurrect another film classic - Buster Keaton’s Steamboat Bill Jr., a 1928 silent film that was received as a “gloomy comedy” by The New York Times. Although the film witnessed poor box office results, Kenosha Kid’s jazzy blend of delta blues, bluegrass, avant-garde and indie rock colorfully enlivens the black and white screen while creating the perfect entry point for the jazz layman.

By the time the film has gotten underway, the jaunty vaudeville accompanying the score of Steamboat Bill Jr. views more like Fantasia for the jazz sophisticate. “Out the Window” creeps in with eerie Stratocaster loops, underscoring the meandering bass clarinet that yearns to break into “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice.” It’s shortly thereafter that William Canfield Jr., the film’s squeamish Mickey Mouse-like protagonist, finds himself caught in the midst of a nightmarish gale rainstorm. Here, Nettles succeeds in eliciting the pathos of the film with compositional wizardry, conjuring his 10-piece jazz-orchestra like an army of reanimated broom handles. Not to say that Nettles views himself as a puppet master - “The people I play with are my biggest influences,” Nettles admits.

As much a fan of Miles Davis as Music Hates You, Nettles aspires to represent a hybrid generation of musicians to contend with, asking himself, “What is it that jazz musicians are missing out on?” For the skeptics of the clinical jazz tradition, Kenosha Kid hopes to answer that question at the band’s live film-score presentation at Ciné this weekend, where it'll also release the dual CD/DVD of Steamboat Bill Jr. on Nowt Records.

Ryan Monahan

Marriage

w/ Extra Life

Sunday, September 21 @ Farm 255

originally published September 17, 2008

When Josh Wootton and Brent Blalock moved to Athens in 2004, the pair was on a mission: to glorify and share the love of God in their personal lives and in their music. Coming from secular musical pasts, the enlightened duo felt unfulfilled spiritually by their past projects, but "Christian rock" as a genre didn't suit them either.

"I never liked Christian music," says Marriage drummer Blalock. "If it's heavy at all it's usually Christian hardcore, and that seemed limiting." So, instead of trying to fit any particularly niche, Blalock and Wootton took their message of faith and spirituality and churned out slow, sludge metal influenced by bands like the Melvins and early Metallica. Perhaps not surprisingly, when Marriage took its act into Christian venues most kids didn't get it.

"We have a more confused reception [to our music] at Christian venues," says Blalock. "Christian kids are confused because they can't hardcore dance." Conversely, music fans that don't usually listen to faith-based tunes have been overwhelmingly receptive. That's why you usually find Marriage sharing bills with fellow hard-rock acts in front of audiences holding beers instead of Bibles.

After a couple of years, the initial incarnation of the band proved too limiting as well. On the second record, released this year, Marriage explored melody and harmonies by going acoustic. Not long after, they met young bassist Ted Khun in church, and the addition of a third member has significantly opened up the band's sound.

To showcase these divergent sonic perspectives, Marriage will play two sets at Farm - one electric and one acoustic. The electric tunes are actually all new, classic rock-leaning material that will be recorded with Joel Hatstat later this fall. "We want to be able to appeal to fans of not only rock in general, but also to fans of music trying to push the boundaries in any genre."

Michelle Gilzenrat