Thursday, September 14, 2006
I’m quitting vet school to become a starving musician
(OK, since I’m almost done, I guess I’ll wait until I graduate.)
So far, I love this town. Tuesday night I attended a local club for a humble
benefit concert for some Athens youth programs. Eight different bands played R.E.M. covers in light of the release of their new compilation album,
I Feel Fine: The Best of the IRS Years. The place was small, so the crowd was small, quieter and older than you'd normally expect in a college town (I guess the undergrads didn’t get wind of the event--better view for vertically challenged me!)
So, being the old fart that I am, since the doors opened at 7:30, I got there on time and didn’t plan on staying much past my bed time. Good thing I did--after the first band, R.E.M. themselves came out to play a few tunes. It was a nice surprise, and I’m glad I got there early and stood up front (some people who got there later didn’t get to see or hear them at all). The best twelve bucks I've ever spent--all the performances were great, and quite insipring.
I guess the band was in town recording in their studio right down the street. I’ve met a couple people who work for the band, which makes sense since this is not a huge town (not counting the student body, of course) and the band’s studio and offices are here.
Carol and Peter’s (the people I’m staying with here in Athens) son-in-law is the art director for the band, and one of their neighbors is a personal assistant to the band manager.
How do I know this? Segue in to the barbecue . . .
Carol and Peter hosted a great little shindig Saturday for some new neighbors, which I thought was a very unusually kind gesture, but this may be the way some neighborhoods do things. I guess this is part of the
Five Points neighborhood, and people all know each other and help each other out.
I think about 40 people came, and I stopped down to meet everyone. It’s the first time in decades I’ve been to a neighborhood party.
The spread was great. Peter and Carol provided the barbeque pork, chicken, and yes, tofu. Everyone else brought side dishes, salads, and desserts. I was in heaven--there were four kinds of pie, two kinds of chocolate cake (one with rum!) and lemon bundt cake, which made me reconsider whether chocolate is really my favorite kind of cake.
