Athens, Ga. - Inside/Out

I first saw ATHENS GA: INSIDE OUT when it was released, and it has remained a favorite of mine - a very skillfully made (creative use of a limited budget) presentation of a grass-roots local creative community, with roots, atmosphere, and a very quirky home-grown originality on full display. If New York, LA, San Francisco and Nashville represent institutional American entertainment meccas, Athens was among the first eruptions of something else - a small town, well off-the-beaten track suddenly rising to a position of creative prominence and influence nationally or internationally. This colorful heritage is very well documented here (music icons like R.E.M., The B-52's, Pylon, Squalls, Bar-B-Q Killers and others are well represented, along with local gospel musicians, and artists like the late Howard Finster).

The lone flaw of here is a cautiousness in digging deep into the personalities illuminating the scene - a bit more discussion of regionalism (or the Southern identification surrounding the scene, and influencing even the most avant-garde of the Athens artists) would've added tremendous complexity; ditto for the very heavily gay milieu (surrounding the pre-fame B-52s as they rose through the house party scene that preceded the emergence of a club scene in Athens) the scene initially sprang from. And - as a huge fan of The Bar-B-Q Killers and Pylon (one of the greatest American post-punk bands without a doubt), I would've love to seen more footage of them.

Still, this set the standard for independent documentaries of the type, and unlike many that followed in its' wake (the Chapel Hill-oriented YOUNG ROCK springs to mind) this hasn't dated much at all. Great to see this getting a very belated DVD release, which includes commentary from some newer Athens luminaries (members of Widespread Panic) as well.

This movie does a wonderful job of of displaying the emerging music scene in Athens after the success of the B-52's and REM. It follows several hopeful groups across a variety of genres in Athens in 1987. Some of the more amusing scenes are the ones set in Philomath and the ones with the members of Pylon describing how they turned down an opportunity to tour with U2. Plus it shows REM's live performances of "Swan, Swan H" and "Dream (All I Have to Do)" at the Lucy Cobb Institute chapel. All in all a great documentary, and also a great trip down memory lane for someone who grew up in Athens during this time.

Not really much here to chew on besides a scattershot of band(s) that got big later and a ton of others that went no where and have spent 40 years basking off being in this, and still tour with it. It has absolutely nothing to say and coasts entirely on an endless loop of nostalgia and the luck of having had a budget to record in somewhat hi-def for the time.

One of the most embarrassing things about Athens is that the town has been unable to move beyond this specific time period, partially because every gate keeper (aka home owner, business owner, the Gen X people from this doc that have money) has been unable to. More than anything this is a testament to that.

I can see why this has stuck around though, its great as a piece of tourism slop. Every schmo who has heard Patton Oswalt's standup bit about Athens might fall onto this and be charmed into a forgotten past that never was before booking an AirBnB off Broad and checking out the "Walk of Fame" that exists entirely of bands from a solid 40 years ago now.

"I can't believe its all happening in Athens, GA!".

What exactly was happening? Well if you watched this, you wouldn't have any idea of internality into the scene at all, just a bunch of feel good happiness in the shining heart of America. Some good performances though!