LIGHT-N-LIVELY: The UGA Performing Arts Center is hosting Athens-based artist Jackie Dorsey’s “Living Legends of Georgia Music” exhibition in its lobby. The show will run through Jan. 5, and the opening reception is Thursday, Aug. 28 from 5–6 p.m. This set of works—featuring watercolor paintings of Georgia legends such as Randall Bramblett, Cindy Wilson, Gregg Allman, Chuck Leavell, Mike Mills, Kevn Kinney, Chuck Leavell, Vanessa Briscoe Hay, Shawn Mullins, William Bell and Big Boi, among many others—was originally displayed at The Lyndon House Arts Center a couple of years ago. Next year, it will travel to the Marietta Cobb Museum of Art. For more information, please see jackiedorseyart.com and pac.uga.edu.
OLD SCHOOL’S IN SESSION: Rapper Donny Knottsville must’ve refilled his gas sometime recently, because he’s on an absolute tear. After a four-year break, he’s now released his second collection of the season. This newest one is the 15-track collaborative mixtape titled Caledonia Loungin’. It is, of course, a tribute to the Athens music scene as a whole as well as the now-shuttered Caledonia Lounge, which was unceremoniously murdered by COVID. The album features Knottsville collaborating with a hugely diverse swath of artists, including Four Eyes, Bambara, Space Brother, SOHI, Sienna Chandler, DJ Triz, Seline Haze, Madeline, Louie Larceny, Sawmill Slang and others. Knottsville himself continues to deliver his solid, somewhat old-school flow across all tracks. Find this at donnyknottsville.bandcamp.com.
AUTOSTATIC FOR THE PEOPLE: The main man behind label and cultural movement machine Primordial Void, Marcel Sletten, just released his first live album. It’s titled MIDI Never Sleeps and contains eight tracks recorded live at UGA’s WUOG 90.5 FM, except for one track: A cover of The Velvet Underground’s “Sister Ray” which was recorded at Miracle House, but I have no idea where that is. Opening track “Everlasting Soul” is a smoothly catchy tune, but with a lot of unpacked drama throughout its keyboard melodies and drones. Tracks 2–7, well, you’d have been forgiven if you switched the dial during any of them. Each begins with a bolt of straight up static before each, with varying degrees of length and run-up transitions to its respective melodic sections. And at the record’s end, it’s not as if the world really needed another cover of “Sister Ray,” but after listening to Sletten’s own aggressively noisy compositions, this long-revered experimental piece actually acts as an aural palate cleanser, which is something I never imagined I’d say about “Sister Ray.” Dig it at primordialvoid.bandcamp.com.
HOMETOWN SOUL: Athens native Dekovian Rashad is a charmingly talented young vocalist who recently released his debut single “Torn.” Fans of early ‘90s smooth R&B should fall in love pretty immediately. Rashad’s vocals are steady yet emotional and invested in the song’s subject, which is heartache and longing. Rashad has also included his a capella vocals with this release, so if there’s any doubt this unadorned version makes his talent clear. Find this on major streaming services, and for more information, please see instagram.com/dekovianrashad.
THE MOST ZEN PLACE ON EARTH: The 1986 film Athens, GA: Inside/Out remains the only film for which I know the entire dialogue and can quote it word for word, even with the sound turned off. It played an outsized role in my moving to Athens, and it remains one of the most important films of my life. If you have even a passing interest in the Athens music scene, this once-contemporaneous film, and now historical document, is essential viewing. In 2023 producer Bill Cody donated the original 16 millimeter film as well as its audio components to the Walter J Brown Media Archive at the UGA Special Collections Library. The film is approaching its 40-year anniversary, and Ryan Lewis, music and popular culture curator for the UGA Special Collections Libraries, has undertaken a $60,000 fundraising effort to bring it into the 21st century. These costs include “… pay[ing] for the work of scanning, color grading, and audio mastering the elements in order to produce a DCP [digital cinema package] and a 35mm film print for projection in all theaters, as well as a new film negative for long-term preservation.” If you’d like to help with this, please consider donating via give.uga.edu/funders/inside-out-funder.
THE NAME GAME: Punk/hardcore folks Mr. [Redacted] (formerly known as Mr. Transmission) have a brand new release titled Transmission out now on Rag Doll Records. Don’t worry about your attention span, either, because everything here clocks in at under two minutes, and most of them don’t even come close. It starts off punchy enough with “I Don’t Know Anything” and “Jittery Joe,” but I think it starts to come into its own on the third song, “Slimes or Dimes,” which, in a perfect world, would inspire circle pits everywhere. The same is true with the next two, “Slow Burn” and “Got This Thing.” Basically the meat is in the middle, but it’s a middle well worth making your way towards. Find this at ragdollrecords.bandcamp.com.
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