CREEMEDIA

CREEMEDIA

HEY, BULLDOGS!

ATHENS, GA_

INSIDE/OUT

(Subterranean/Spotlight

Productions)

Bill Holdship

Tony Gayton has made a nifty little documentary with Athens, GA.—-Inside/Out. The town of Athens seems to have all the right elements for an interesting film about real people. It's a college town in the deep, rural South with all the history and culture that might suggest (shades of Faulkner!) and all the eccentrics (ranging from the genuinely weird to the utterly pretentious) such environments seem to attract. But even though some interesting folks and bands are spotlighted throughout the film, it’s less the content than it is the way Gayton has put the documentary together (the editing, in particular) that makes it so much fun to watch.

Gayton introduces us to poets, artistes, rock bands and other assorted nutcases who mingle with the common folk in this Georgia town. There’s Walter of “Walter’s Barbecue”—said to be the best barbeque in the entire South—who jovially recalls the time, in his words, “the Asshole Surfers” came in to sample some of his cooking. In a scene right out of Woodstock, Gayton asks two older gentlemen about the town’s new music scene; the first belligerently asks Gayton if he’s ever heard of Frank Sinatra or Liza Minnelli, while the second claims he took his wife to see one of those newfangled bands and she nearly died when they used one of the old-fangled fourletter words. There’s an oidtime husband and wife gospel music team. And there’s the bearded Ort, who semi-narrates the film, and who is reminiscent of those strange guys you can find hanging around almost any college town in the U.S.

Most interesting (and probably most famous) is Reverend Howard Finster, a painter and sculptor who’s become somewhat legendary for his work with R.E.M., as well as his award-winning painting on the cover of Talking Heads’ Little Creatures LP. it seems Finster, who’s been labeled “insane” by others, has these visions. In a wonderful anecdote, he claims to have had his first vision at the age of three when he saw his dead sister descend from Heaven. Weird, of course, but from these visions, Finster has created some of the most hauntingly beautiful and mystical art you’d ever want to see. As if to explain himself, Finster quotes the Bible: “Young men shall have dreams. Old men shall have visions.” Oh, yeah, he also mentions that he had to paint the Little Creatures cover twice, ’cause he originally wrote the band’s name as “Peeping Heads.”

But let’s face it—this movie would’ve never been made if it weren’t for the success of both R.E.M. and the B-52’s, and a majority of Athens concentrates on the town’s rock ’n’ roll scene, which pretty much covers every musical angle. (It should be noted here that the “unknown” bands aren’t any more extraordinary than the bands you’d find in most any college town—in fact, I know there were several bands in East Lansing, Michigan during the early ’80s that could blow most of these off the stage— but I guess that’s beside the point.)

A lot of time is devoted to R.E.M., of course, who perform “Swan Swan H” and a beautiful rendition of the Everly Brothers’ “(All I Have To Do Is) Dream,” the latter which—despite a recent critical backlash—might remind you of what it was you loved about this band in the first place. In accompanying interviews, Michael Stipe— a man of many hair colors— comes across as both pretentious ("Some people can smell ants,” he tells us; how utterly fascinating!) and comical (he demonstrates “Popeye exercising”). Peter Buck, who’s interviewed in his pajamas, still comes across as a pretty neat guy, as he takes the camera on a guided tour of his “Elvis bathroom,” complete with an “Elvis At Two” sculpture by Reverend Finster.

There’s an interview with and live footage of the B-52’s during their prime, as well as the late, great Pylon, whose lead singer now works at a photocopy center. There’s the melodic hardcore punk of ! ihe Bar-B-Q Killers, complete ' with a shirtless Sid Vicious clone on bass, a female drummer (shades of Mo Tucker!), and an incredibly androgynous (I still couldn’t .tell if it was a boy or a girl by the end of the film!) lead singer, There’s the twangy, . R.E,M.-ish sound of Dreams So Real, who have received numerous accolades, but who could be subtitled Not So Hot from the evidence of this film. Love Tractor are almost reminiscent of a hippie band in the Grateful Dead mold with their long, trippy instrumentals. The Squalls, on the other hand, flatly state that they’re not a hippie band, despite their long hair, so we’ll call ’em wimpy folkrock—though it’s pretty good stuff nonetheless. The Kilkenny Cats produce some nice pop music. But Time Toy produce totally pretentious shit. Their lead singer merits nothing but disdain for his silly free-form jive, and he should definitely consider a career in any field but music.

Finally, for my money, the best thing to be discovered in Athens is Flat Duo Jets, two crazy guys who produce what might be termed “psychobilly” (albeit more traditional than the Cramps) on a cheap guitar and junkyard drumset. Guitarist/vocalist Dexter Romweber, ail of 17 years old, comes off like a punky, nutty Elvis, playing bass and rhythm guitar at the same time before sliding into a solo, as the drummer maintains the back beat. Incredible stuff! They also play a great ’50s-ish ballad with just guitar and snare, and, in this sense, are rather reminiscent of Jonathan Richman’s basic less-is-best premise before his “playing in the rain” concepts took hold. Flat Duo Jets produce a joyous noise, are as exciting as hell—and watching Romweber jam with Reverend Finster (on banjo) to a glorious “When The Saints Go Marchin’ In” is alone worth the price of admission. They may end up being nothing more than a novelty act, but if I was in A&R, I’d Sign these guys pronto.

Check out Athens, GA.— Inside/Out. If you enjoy rock music—and just “crazy” folks in general—this is probably right up your alley.