Part of the charm of the Athens area and its creatives is the willingness to experiment and enduring DIY spirit—even when breakthrough success falls short, there’s a great story and inspiration to share. As Spaceball Bazaar, the collectively shared art and music space at 130 N. Church St. in Bogart, faces the end of its year-long lease this month, co-organizer of the space Gary Autry expresses mixed sentiments.
“I just wanted it to kind of snowball more. I wanted the collective to grow more beyond our thing, which we did sort of accomplish,” says Autry. “I’ve made so many friends and connections that I sold some art to.”
It’s a Classic City story, one that many artists, musicians and entrepreneurs may relate to. And like many legendary stories in Athens, Spaceball’s starts in the ‘90s. Autry met Chris Fagot, whom he describes as the “main guy” behind Spaceball, and found a circle of friends through music. They formed a loose collective of bands in the mid- to late-’90s, which Autry calls “Elephant 6 adjacent.” At that time the group had a large space that hosted different creative projects and live shows, but eventually members began to move out of the area.
“It taught me from the beginning, which it took me a long time to get, Chris was real big on this: You want to be a perfectionist, and you want to do it, and it’s got to be like this. But he would be like, ‘No, it’s fine like it is.’ For better or worse, that’s one of the core things,” says Autry.
In July of 2023 Spaceball Entertainment celebrated its 25th anniversary with Whammocon, a multi-day event that served a larger purpose of reuniting that collective of creatives. The experience prompted Fagot to find a place that they could form into a multi-purpose studio. The spacious lot in Bogart was affordable, despite needing a lot of hands-on love and care from its new tenants. The vision was to have a storefront for Joel Price’s large record collection, Rachel Cabaniss’ vintage collection and an art gallery run by Autry featuring local artists. In October of 2023, Spaceball Bazaar opened its doors.
A few months later in January, Autry decided to test the live show waters in the residential neighborhood by putting together an event celebrating his birthday. He reached out to JD Pinkus as the inaugural performer, and an anonymous friend with a helpful hand set up a proper sound system in the one-room space.
“I did build a little platform stage. So we just grinded that out one weekend, but you couldn’t make it too high because the ceiling is like falling in,” laughs Autry.
In addition to making repairs to the building and painting, the tenants had to clear a lot of rubbish. The building was formerly a press shop, and Autry says that they found a large printer’s chest with drawers full of old pressing blocks. Although it adds to the charm, the process of making the space suitable as a studio was only one challenge the collective faced. The old building lacked any form of climate control, and without a liquor license it was difficult to bring in any significant revenue through events that covered all of the costs.
However, Autry says that he learned a lot about event production and promotion through this experience, and many good times were had at Spaceball. Friends and volunteers took it on as a labor of love, like neighbor Alex Johns, who ran sound for most shows. It encouraged Autry to begin booking and promoting shows at Flicker Theatre & Bar, the first being a joint art show with Jeff Rapier and a music performance by JD Pinkus. Moving forward beyond Spaceball, Autry plans to continue promoting shows and expanding in that direction.
As a final blow-out celebration of Spaceball, all of the people who put their passion into it and everyone who met new friends there, there will be a day-long festival on Saturday, Sept. 21. Featured performers include Jon Lester’s Dis-Taste-R, Grim Gardenerz, The Unus Mundus, Smaxxon, Original Hamsterz, Burly Ivy, Ramona Quimbys, Smoggo, Penny Loafer, pondgorl, Iconostasis, Mr. Blank and Bryant Perez with Something Haunted. It’s an all ages event with food, art and records.
One of Autry’s highlights from the past year is the opportunity to bring people together from different personal connections to experience something they may never have found otherwise. Those types of moments keep the creative scene flourishing, and Athens’ remaining DIY spaces are an important place to create them.
WHO: Last Call for the Balls Fest
WHEN: Saturday, Sept. 21, 1 p.m. (doors)
WHERE: Spaceball Bazaar
HOW MUCH: $12
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