The Day Celebration
Homegrown Festival Gives Back to the Community
originally published May 7, 2008
What started as a vision shared by three friends and fellow UGA graduates has since matured into a sizable music event with a genuine homegrown heart. “Music is a moving, positive force that moves people in a positive direction,” says The Day Celebration coordinator Stan Harrison.
The festival was designed to be open to music enthusiasts while being accommodating for the whole family, as children 12 and under are admitted for free. In order to ensure an experience that is both safe and convenient, the grounds will include secure parking, a pre-designated family camping area, general and RV camping, an interactive “Kids Zone,” as well as 24-hour security.
The festivities will take place May 8–10 on the scenic hills of the 80-acre Triple-B farm in Buckhead, GA, approximately 30 minutes from Athens.
The Lee Boys
With an aversion towards the impersonal nature of overgrown corporate festivals, event organizers were inspired by the seminal music events of the ‘60s and ‘70s, where audience participation played just as much of a role in the overall festival experience as the performances themselves. In full entrepreneurial spirit, Harrison, along with co-founders Dave Hood and Jamie Miller (both musicians themselves), felt the need to create an intimate festival experience while giving back to the community. The response was immediate. "Not only was there a need," Harrison says, "but people were reaching out for it.” It wasn't long before Alvin Lee of The Lee Boys phoned Harrison requesting to be a part of the event. "Alvin called me up saying, 'We want to be part of this… What’s it going to take?'" Of course Harrison was happy to have The Lee Boys on board. The steel-guitar jam band with gospel roots has graced the stage of numerous prestigious events, including an opening slot at the Georgia Theatre supporting four-time Grammy nominee Susan Tedeschi. They'll even be at Bonnaroo later this summer after headlining The Day Celebration mainstage May 9.
Modeled after Idaho’s Jerry Fest and similar in musical scope to the Northeast’s annual Gathering of the Vibes festival (also a camp-out event that advocates environmental and social issues), The Day Celebration will showcase a variety of genres including bluegrass, funk, soul, R&B, jam, folk, rock and reggae. In addition to The Lee Boys, headliners at this year’s celebration will include Blueground Undergrass, Col. Bruce & the Quark Alliance, and Athens’ own DubConcious among the festival’s more than 20 performing artists. Positioned to be the next among Athens’ historic music lineage, DubConcious will headline the event armed with a non-violent militia of guest performers in what promises to be a landmark performance for the group. And don’t expect the music to end there; the inviting atmosphere of the festival will be sure to encourage spontaneous all-star collaborations and after-hours "campfire" jams. For the younger crowd, the "Kid’s Zone" will host a series of kids-only jam sessions in addition to arts and crafts, face painting and special performances by the festival’s visiting artists.
With approximately 1,200 people in attendance during the original festival in 2006 (which featured performances by Jimmy Herring of Widespread Panic, Bobby Lee Rogers and Jeff Sipe, among others), festival organizers anticipate 2,000 concertgoers at this year’s Day Celebration if weather conditions are favorable. With all net proceeds being shared evenly between several charitable causes, Harrison is especially enthusiastic about meeting the expected turnout.
"It would make my year - and the same could be said for everyone else involved - if we could achieve a little something,” Harrison says. “Our mission is to give back to the community, and that’s the truth.”
It was in response to the growing needs of the community that Harrison, Hood, and Miller unanimously decided that a non-profit organization would be the most effective means for channeling their future endeavors of charitable outreach. Thus, the event organizers created the Fare Thee Well Foundation, a non-profit group that "fuses [their] pride for regional community with [their] love of the arts."
When The Day Celebration launched in 2006, proceeds benefitted the Brain Tumor Foundation for Children. Now an ever-expanding hub for philanthropic activity, four additional charitable organizations are recognized under the auspices of the Fare Thee Well Foundation. “This year’s festival is a whole different animal in comparison to what we’ve done in the past,” says Harrison. In fact, when DubConcious was approached by Juxtapoz Magazine to perform at its “Veni Vidi Vici” issue release party in San Francisco, it was ultimately the charitable aspect of The Day Celebration that tipped the group’s decision in favor of headlining the festival instead of the party, vocalist/guitarist Adrian Zelski tells Flagpole.
Proceeds from this year's event will benefit the following charities: The Georgia Coalition to End Homelessness, committed to funding solutions surrounding homelessness since 1955; The Georgia Wildlife Foundation, concerned with the ecological effects of rampant and unfettered development; The Dogwood Alliance, a non-profit that advocates sustainable forestry in order to ensure Georgia’s rich biodiversity; and The Humane Society of Morgan County, a volunteer-driven organization that promotes the humane treatment of animals through education and legislative support, in addition to providing temporary housing and medical treatment for rescued and adopted pets. All participating organizations sponsored by the foundation emphasize advocacy and education as a vehicle for change and intend to raise awareness through their presence at the festival.
Throughout the three days of non-stop music, food, fun and charity, the festival’s organizers and participating artists hope to spread a message which is far greater than the sum of its parts: rejoicing through the healing power of music. “The Lee Boys have a message,” says Alvin Lee, “to touch people through our music. If we can touch one person, then we’ve done our part.” Harrison agrees, “Isn’t that what music is all about?”
WHAT: The Day Celebration
WHERE: Triple-B Farm in Buckhead, GA
WHEN: Thursday, May 8–Saturday, May 10
HOW MUCH: $75 (weekend), $45–$50 (single day)
Thursday, May 8, 2008
- 6:30 p.m. Brian Burgess
- 7:00 p.m. Rebecca Jean Smith & Johnny Evans
- 7:35 p.m. Funkle Fatback
- 8:15 p.m. Sound Punch!
- 8:50 p.m. The Planet Riders
- 9:25 p.m. ToyTV
- 10:00 p.m. The Dappled Grays
Friday, May 9, 2008
- 12:00 noon Boldermonkey
- 12:45 p.m. Electric Codpiece
- 1:45 p.m. Soulhound
- 3:00 p.m. Big City Sunrise
- 4:30 p.m. Laura Reed & Deep Pocket
- 6:15 p.m. Donna Hopkins Band
- 8:00 p.m. The Lee Boys
- 10:00 p.m. Blueground Undergrass
- Special Late Acoustic: The Ramblers playing Dead’s Reckoning
Saturday, May 10, 2008
- 11:00 a.m. Stop Drop & Roll
- 1:00 p.m. The Squirrelheads
- 2:45 p.m. Ralph Roddenbery Band
- 4:30 p.m. Deep Blue Sun
- 6:15 p.m. Speakeasy
- 8:00 p.m. Col. Bruce & the Quark Alliance
- 10:00 p.m. DubConscious
- Special Late "Family Jam"
For last minute changes and announcements visit www.thedaycelebration.com.
Taking Care of Business
Classic Rock Sounds from a Forward-Thinking Band
originally published May 7, 2008
J Roddy Walston and the Business
Take heed young bands of Athens: if you think you can get an asymmetrical haircut, throw some songs up on MySpace and then sit around waiting for a label to throw money at you like some deus ex machina - you are way off. Deep pockets in the music industry are few and far between these days, and if you really want to make it, you're going to have to do it yourself. It's phenomenal how the digital age has provided an unprecedented amount of opportunities for bands to be self-sufficient, but that also means a lot more competition. You have got to be savvy to survive, and nobody knows this better than the hard rocking and even harder working Baltimore band J Roddy Walston and the Business.
The debut record Hail Mega Boys might have wrapped up a year ago, but once the recording was done the real work began. Drummer Steve Colmus remembers how much the band had to learn, and struggle, just to get things moving.
"When that record first came out, we were working full-time jobs and coming home and probably putting another eight hours into the record," says Colmus. "You have to wear so many different hats to have any sort of national presence at this time, especially getting out of the gate. You have to know how to book a tour; you've got to write the songs; then you practice them so you can play them live; you probably have to record them, so you have to have some knowledge of recording; then you probably have to do your own press at first, so you learn extremely rudimentary public relations; then you have to handle your own finances; deal with a distributor; figure out where you get your merch from… You definitely have to bust your ass to do it, but, if you're willing to bust your ass, there's a whole world of opportunity that maybe wasn't there 10 years ago."
So how does an artist learn to be a businessman, too? For Colmus it was all "trial by fire." He talked with other bands who were signed, networked with industry types, and then just dove in head first. "The learning curve is pretty steep," Colmus admits, "but, I mean, if you're this age and you're in a band, you've probably been serious about it for a long time, and you've probably had to learn how to do some of that stuff in the meantime."
Although J Roddy Walston and the Business are still a ways away from completing their sophomore record, they have already considered utilizing all the skills they've learned from the first album to launch their own label as a means to distribute future releases.
"We'd love if we could find an independent label… but, we might just start our own label and hire a PR firm and do it ourselves that way, because labels don't necessarily have as much to offer as they maybe did even five or 10 years ago. There's really no need to pay someone else to do it unless you really just don't want to do it."
The irony in all this is that J Roddy Walston and the Business have a totally different work ethic when it comes to the songs themselves. While the band is out on the road constantly, bandmembers don't obsess over the finer details of performance. These are workhorses through and through, but this is also a true-blue rock and roll band. Who cares if you flub a distorted note as long as everyone's having a good time?
"We don't rehearse - ever. Because it just doesn't lead to better shows for us," says Colmus. "We're not a technical band… our biggest thing is trying to capture the spirit of a song, the heart of it. That's the biggest difference between us and whoever else you might compare us to. Our main concern when we get up there is having fun. We don't try to over-think things or over-analyze things; we just play what we feel."
Colmus adds that it was actually quite difficult for him to adopt this attitude when he first came on board. "I joined [the Business] two weeks before they had this weekender with The Features, and it was going to be packed shows for all three dates. I was shitting a brick because I had to learn 16 songs in two and half weeks. With every other band I had been in up to that point, you practiced your ass off because when you get up there the biggest concern was playing your part perfectly… "
When Colmus expressed his anxiety to Business guitarist Billy Gordon, Gordon encouraged him to focus more on having a good time than hitting every note. "He said, 'you just gotta get up there and have fun, and that's it. If it's not fun for you it's not going to be fun for anybody to watch.' It seems obvious now, but at the time it seemed like a really crazy way to be in a band - to not have your ultimate goal be to play something perfectly, but to feel a certain way."
What Colmus eventually learned is how to pay attention to the moment - the energy of the band and the audience as a whole - instead of focusing in on each minute drum beat. Amazingly, the resulting performance never comes across as sloppy or loose, just simply unadulterated. This is rock and roll in its purest, most joyous, natural form. There is nothing premeditated or calculated in bassist Zach Westphal's head-banging. Nothing ironic in Walston's swagger or snarl. It's rock without pretense, and that free spirit is absolutely contagious.
Just ask anybody in town who's seen J Roddy perform before. Gordon Lamb was swelling with accolades after he caught their debut at the Caledonia two years ago, saying their record "just as often leads me to near tears of joy as it does beer-swilling abandon." The crew at Tasty World was floored by Roddy's last performance, leading venue employee Fritz Gibson to declare that "they are, without a doubt, the finest new band we've had through here in a couple of years." Go see what a band can accomplish when they really bust their asses.
WHO: The Help, Jackpot City, J Roddy Walston and the Business
WHERE: Tasty World
WHEN: Wednesday, May 7
HOW MUCH: $6
All the Saints
A Chilled Intensity
originally published May 7, 2008
All The Saints
On Boston label Killer Pimp's website, it claims to have a preference for bands whose sound is "nothing less than loud and intense." Well then, that explains why Atlanta band All the Saints is the latest signing. This power trio excels in both intensity and volume. It's the kind of music you can feel in your chest. Live, it reverberates off the walls, through the floorboards and shakes you to your core. Song after song of dark, ominous low-end drone pulsating underneath wailing, epic melodies saturate the air and absolutely fill the club. All the Saints gave "the loudest band in New York" (A Place to Bury Strangers, also signed to Killer Pimp) a run for its money at the Caledonia a couple weeks back, summoning the ferocity of bands like Black Sabbath and the spiraling psych-rock of Blue Cheer. This is some serious rock from a band that's… not so serious.
"We're all pretty goofy guys," laughs bassist Titus Brown. "There's definitely a humor aspect to our music, but there is also intensity. It's like a chilled intensity. We hate that rockstar image - just do your shit, but don't take it too seriously, you know?"
For Brown, these swelling, heavy songs have proven to be a therapeutic outlet. Brown and guitarist/vocalist Matt Lambert and drummer Jim Crook are all fun-spirited, approachable guys. Brown suggests that all this dark music actually keeps the band light at heart. "Everybody has good days and bad days, but you get the bad days worked out within the music so you can focus on the good," he says.
Sometimes it's hard to decipher the lyrics in All the Saints' songs as they lilt and soar along with such overpowering instrumentation, but an astute ear will pick up on the prevailing themes of greed, excess and pretension. "In my whole life being super happy has never really caused me to sit down with a guitar and start messing it," says Brown.
Whatever the inspiration, All the Saints have been diligently at work for the past year to bring us what will soon be titled Fire on Corridor X. The debut full-length is actually out now as a self-titled record, but Killer Pimp will be reissuing the record on May 28 with a new title, new package and hopefully much greater distribution. Brown is disarmingly modest and realistic in his hopes for the record and the band.
"My dream right now is to just make a living doing music. I mean, you'll finally play a show with a band you really love and you realize that they have day jobs, too. That's just the way it goes. You go out and do what you love, and then you go home and make some more money so you can go out and do what you love. That's the cycle; and I'm happy with that."
Brown says it has taken a year to get these songs on record because it was a struggle finding time to go into the studio between full-time jobs and touring. Now that Killer Pimp has stepped in, Brown hopes it will be just a couple of months before the next project gets under way. All the Saints already have material for the sophomore release, and if everything goes as planned we won't have to wait a another year to hear it.
In the meantime, All the Saints have teamed up with kindred spirits Dead Confederate to go out and "do what they love" up the East Coast in June. You can catch them with local rockers a.armada and Pride Parade before the big tour.
WHO: a.armada, All the Saints, Pride Parade
WHEN: Friday, May 9
WHERE: Caledonia Lounge
HOW MUCH: $6 (21+), $7 (18+)
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