The Boomers: Reflecting, Sharing, Learning
Athens Rockin Roots Recorded
Thursday, 18 October 2012 09:25
Music the Way it Was in Athens in the 60's and 70's was revisited in a lively event at the Melting Point on October 7. About 200, some new to the Athens music scene, listened while a panel told some stories about those days. Ron Wetherbee, the volunteer who put the event together for our community, set the stage, followed by a tribute to Athens' musicians who have died by the Voices of Truth Community Choir. CLICK HERE to listen.
You'll hear some gems in the video archive of panelist at Rockin' Roots Revisited. CLICK HERE to listen. Kemp Jones, who has written nearly all his songs at the same address on Prince Avenue, talked about how Athens had and still has all the things a place needed to grow good music.
Donny Whitehead reflected on the 60's as a time of social change and that music "broke the barriers of racial tension." He described the night the Jesters opened for Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell the day Martin Luther King, Jr. was shot.
Brian Burke described the path from real County Music at the Silver Saddle to fame with the Normaltown Flyers and other bands. After opening for Doc Watson at the Georgia Theater "the phone started ringing." You'll have to chuckle when you hear how he got his start--all over someone else's girlfriend.
Talk about getting a start in music, David Blackmon said he started playing violin in the school orchestra in the 4th grade because it got him out of social studies and P.E. His path, described as "tentacles," took him from classical music to bluegrass, then rock. One "tentacle" took him to Tennessee to work with Jerry Reed, another to Athens to play with the Normaltown Flyers, then on to play with many others including Widespread Panic.
Moderator John Straw proclaimed "We've had some great musicians in this town." He talked about the music clubs of the day: Mother's Mustache, The Last Resort, B & L Warehouse, Allen's, The Hedges and more. A bass player with the Acme Blues Band, he also played with other bands as musicians formed in different combinations to grow Athens music scene.
Listen to these stories and more in a four part series. CLICK HERE to enjoy the set from the Normaltown Flyers.
CLICK HERE for the Dodd Ferrelle Band.
Hopefully it brings back good memories of your own music scene when you were coming of age wherever and whenever that was.
Pete Muzyka on Abandoned Rural Georgia
Wednesday, 26 September 2012 00:00
Peter Muzyka will present a slide talk on Abandoned Rural Georgia through the paintings, drawing, and photographs he has been creating for decades. The program is free and open to the public on Oct. 4, 7 p.m. at Lyndon House Arts Center, 293 Hoty St., Athens, GA. It can also be streamed online and later archived on the Boomer Website. The program is in partnership with the Athens Art Association.
Muzyka said, "I felt that by documenting the abandoned structures through photos, drawings, paintings and music, I could preserve the memory of the former occupants before they were lost forever, merged in into the surrounding landscape."
The password for the live streaming webcast is 123456. If logging in to a webcast is new for your please read these easy instructions before logging in.
Muzyka's work is currently exhibited in the Steffen Thomas Museum of Art in Abandoned Rural America, The Family Farm in Transition, through Oct. 27, 2012.
The Boomers: Reflecting, Sharing, Learning, a leadership grant from the U. S. Institute of Museum and Library Services, is awarded to the the Lyndon House Arts Center and the Athens Regional Library System.
The Lyndon House Arts Center is located at 293 Hoyt St. Athens, GA.
Watching our Winged Residents
Wednesday, 12 September 2012 15:49
Some know the songs and hideouts of our birds. Others just like to listen to them sing in the backyard. Bird Dawgs: Where, When and How to see Birds in the Athens Area is for birdwatchers of all levels. Enjoy this program in one of three ways. Either come to the Lyndon House Arts Center, 293 Hoyt St. on Sept. 26 at 12:30 p.m. to participate on location. Or, you can attend right from your browser at home or work. CLICK HERE for the link, and enter the password 123456. If you're busy at that time, you can still watch the archived program from boomersinathens.org
In spite of being Georgia's smallest county, Athens-Clarke County punches above its weight when it comes to bird diversity, with over 200 species recorded every year.
In this program Dr. Richard Hall, assistant research scientist, UGA, Odum School of Ecology, and Dr. Carole Ludwig, retired veterinary practitioner and avid birdwatcher, 
will offer some tips on identifying our most commonly-encountered species by sight and by ear, how to attract birds to your backyard through the changing seasons, and highlight some birding 'hotspots' in the Athens area.
If you'd like to watch from your computer at home or work, but are new to webinars, CLICK HERE for some instructions ahead of time.
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