First Post! Woo!

Hey people! This is my first post on my blog that is going to be about music venues and sort of all things music related in Athens, GA. Basically I want to explore more of the music scene here and write about it. So many great musicians have come out of the Athens area over the years, and getting to see cool shows in fun venues is one of my favorite parts about going to school here. Fun fact about me, the house I live in now was actually owned by members of REM when they went to school here. I have no idea how it eventually got passed down to me. One afternoon we were sitting on our porch and a guy walks up so excited to tell us about all the crazy parties he used to go to at our house back in REM's time here at UGA. We even found a book called "Party out of Bounds: The B-52's, REM, and the kids who rocked Athens, GA." The book has pictures of and stories about the house I live in, which is pretty much the coolest thing that's ever happened to me.

Anyways, the way venues advertise their shows and bring in customers and other artists has evolved so much over the years. While posters are still a thing around town, I get emails and Facebook invites to different venues for upcoming shows almost daily.

Social Media plays a huge role in how these venues market themselves, and I want to explore that while also getting to see a lot of shows in Athens.  Some of the bigger and more famous venues here are the Georgia Theater, 40 Watt, Live Wire and the Classic Center. The Classic Center is the biggest and hosts more well known artists like the Beach Boys last year. Smaller venues include Caledonia Lounge, Boar's Head, Flicker Theatre & Bar, The Foundry, The Globe, Go Bar, Hendershot's, High Wire, Iron Factory, and a few more. Some on the list I've never even heard of. Each of these venues has their own specialty and musical niche, from "jazz and folk nights" to bluegrass to hip hop to big name headliners. Some are so small they might not even advertise at all.  I've stumbled into Go Bar and Iron Factory before to see small local bands playing with only a few audience members cheering them on. Last year, my friend Sean was promoting his first rap album he had recorded. He made a Facebook invite and spread the information by word of mouth for his album release party. It was in his backyard and actually drew a pretty big crowd. It was so fun for me to get to go and see him perform and meet people who I wouldn't normally get to see around. This culture of backyard low key performances leads me to what I mainly wanted to talk about in this post.

This week, I want to talk about something new coming to Athens that one of my best friends is helping start up. She got the idea from her friend who studied abroad in London. This is a huge thing there for the more indie music, and she thought it would fit in perfect with the Athens music scene. Its called Sofar sounds and basically the premise is that you pay $15 to reserve your spot and you don't know the location until the day of and the artists are anonymous until they come on stage. Sign up for tickets here: https://www.sofarsounds.com/athens-ga! The emphasis is on the artist, not the venue, which is usually a small space or even apartment. I think this idea will be successful with the hipster crowd of Athens, and it is a great way to bring music lovers together in a nonconventional way. The anonymous aspect makes it interesting and exciting. Since this is sort of under the radar, it is being promoted by people making announcements in their class, Facebook posts, and texting friends. I'm hoping to attend the first show on Sept 6th somewhere in Normaltown, so I will let you guys know how it is.