Categories
Threats & Promises

Memorial for Keith ‘Bear’ Fowler, And More Music News and Gossip

Keith Fowler

REST IN PEACE: The memorial service for Athens musician, sound engineer and scene participant Keith “Bear” Fowler takes place Sunday, Mar. 26 at the Marigold Auditorium for Arts & Culture (373 N. Church St., Winterville) at 3:30 p.m. A reception will follow at Hendershot’s. While he lived in many cities during his adult life, he was a known quantity in Athens and a great friend to many. He is survived by his wife, Rachel Cabaniss. Keith was 54 years old. 

SHELF STABLE: There are several very solid shows happening in town Friday, Mar. 24 and, while I’d really love to be able to highlight them all, I’m choosing the album release show from Nicholas Mallis at the Flicker Theatre and Bar. The new full length is named Product Placement, and you will never convince me that Mallis didn’t have The Who Sell Out at least partially in mind while making this. The first single, the breezy and innocent sounding “Drug Store,” is available to stream everywhere as we speak. This album allegedly comes courtesy of Amazon’s new record label Second-Day Records. Also on this bill are Atlanta’s Moloq and Louisville, KY’s Buddy Crime. This show costs $10. 

TAIKO ‘BOUT IT: OK, I take that back a little, because I also want to highlight the Friday, Mar. 24 appearance from Yamato: The Drummers of Japan, who are on tour with their newest show “Hinotori—The Wings of Phoenix.” This performance happens at the UGA Performing Arts Center’s Hodgson Concert Hall at 7:30 pm. This year is the group’s 30th anniversary. The group lives and works in Asuka Village, which, as several press releases have advised me, is considered to be “the birthplace of Japanese culture.” These men are considered musician-athletes, and the size, heft and weight of the instruments they play should tip anyone off to that, not to mention the group’s forceful playing. This is one of those cases where I totally don’t know what I don’t know, so please see yamatodrummers.com for more information. Tickets for this performance range from $30–65, and information on purchasing may be found at pac.uga.edu/event/yamato-the-drummers-of-japan.

WELL, THANKS!: Chattanooga, TN’s Riverview Foundation recently continued its habit of contributing a lot of money to a worthy cause in Athens. It has previously given grants to the Athens Land Trust, the Athens YMCA, the Firefly Trail and many more. This past January the organization awarded a $100,000 grant to The Classic Center as part of the center’s Elevate fundraising campaign, the purpose of which is to “expand The Classic Center’s music, education and entertainment programming.” This grant is specifically earmarked to support the expansion and exhibition of the collection of the Georgia Music Hall of Fame, which is slated to begin being displayed around the center in 2024. For more information on The Classic Center’s Elevate Campaign, please see classiccenter.com/503/ELEVATE-Campaign. For more information on the Riverview Foundation, please see riverviewfdn.org. 

GOOD AS ANY: OK, this one is really stretching the geographical limits of what I’ll include in here, but it’s closely related to a few Athens talents who haven’t been mentioned recently. Colorado group Duck Turnstone just released its seven-track album Duck Tells A Story on Drew Kirby’s Marching Banana Records. It was produced by Jojo Glidewell (of Montreal, Modern Skirts), and Ross Brown of Shy Boys handled mixing duties. Appearing on the record itself is Jack Blauvelt (Night Palace, Neighbor Lady) playing drums, auxiliary percussion and guitar, while Glidewell contributes saxophone. Generally speaking, everything here is mid-tempo, kinda gentle indie rock, but without really sliding into super gentle territory. The vocal melodies are solid and creative, and even familiar chord patterns really shine out here. Check it out on your own at duckturnstone.bandcamp.com.

TIME CAPSULE: You didn’t ask for it, you didn’t think about it, and you probably had forgotten it ever existed. So rejoice or cry or whatever you want, because the 2009 album by Quiet Hooves No Mare O’ Mine has been reborn digitally courtesy of member and artist Julian Bozeman. The nine-track release actually stands up surprisingly well considering how ramshackle and off-the-cuff so much of their existence seemed to be. It’s still the folky, poppy, clever collection of tunes you might have used to love. Find this at quiethooves.bandcamp.com.

RELATED ARTICLES BY AUTHOR