ONE YEAR ISSUE! FREE! METRIC • ASHER ROTH • CYCLE OF PAIN THE GINGER ENVELOPE • ST. VINCENT • CAGE THE ELEPHANT • MATTHEW SWEET CARS CAN BE BLUE • EELS • AND MORE! FOR FANS OF MUSIC & THOSE WHO MAKE IT ISSUE 8 TEN QUESTIONS WITH...311 THE UNDYING ROCK Father OPERA GIRLS IN ATHENS ROCK... Knows LITERALLY NIC CAGE: A STAR’S Best: TREK Patterson Hood PLUS! ULTIMATE Looks Back to MUSICIAN’S Move Forward GEAR GUIDE ATHFEST TURNS 13: OUR 2009 GUIDE 13th annual 4 days of music, art, camping & loving le: Profi SWOP 13th annual No overlapping sets, 35 Headlining Bands, 40+ Hours of music, All Ages, rain or Shine, Even Better VIP section, Microbrews, Kids area, Family camping, Drum circles, Food & Craft vendors & much much more! Ad Name: Full Flavor Closing Date: 1.7.9 Trim: 8.25 x 10.75 Item #: PSE20089386 QC: RR Bleed: 8.75 x 11.25 Job/Order #:594830-199138 Pub: Athens Blur Live: 7.5 x 10 cover story Father Knows (14) Athens legend and Drive By-Truck- ers frontman Patterson Hood looks back to move forward on his new Best release, Murdering Oscar (And Other Love Songs). —Alec Wooden (41) (45) After 19 years, 311 continues Athens’ homegrown music to uplift spirits with reggae- and arts festival continues infused rock on the first to get stronger with each album in nearly four years. passing year. tenquestions with311 — Nicole Black No — Alec Wooden Mystery About it: (51) (45) Ten bands beat the new singles craze and prove the concept album is back on the rise. turns — Natalie B. David freshly prepared coffee by the cup 13 loose leaf tea * local gelato * free wi-fi (56) Girls in Athens Rock! In Athens, there are a few summer camp options to (66) alleviate parental worries Maturing movie star Nicolas Cage about their kids wasting decides it’s time to put away the COFFEE, TEA, ESPRESSO summer days in front of guns. the TV. —DeMarco Williams DRINKS AND GELATO — Nicole Black ...literally (58) As the summer festival and FREE ON JUNE 20! the musician’s touring seasons kick into full gear swing, check out what the pros are working with this A Star’sTrek COME GIVE US A TRY! Ultimateguide summer. WE PROMISE YOU’LL BE BACK. Located in the Bottleworks on Prince Ave. Free Parking on Meigs Street behind the Bottleworks. www.redeyeathens.com ATHENS BLUR MAGAZINE 3 music 11 COLUMNS EDITOR’S PLAYLIST: 6 Ten Tunes Worth Noting THE FIRST WORD: 9 Signs of Life, Indeed WHAT’S YOUR MUSICSCOPE? 80 30 Astrology for Musicians SPOTLIGHTS EELS 11 17 Pepper 12 Mac Arnold 13 29 Patterson Hood 14 The Ginger Envelope 17 Conor Oberst & 18 The Mystic Valley Band Metric 21 St. Vincent 22 Cycle of Pain 24 Matthew Sweet 25 Cars Can Be Blue 26 Asher Roth 27 13 Jadakiss 28 Bambara 29 Cage The Elephant 30 28 25 ALSO: EAR CANDY: Album Reviews 32 UPCOMING CD RELEASES 35 TOUR DIARY: The Corduroy Road 36 THIS DAY IN MUSIC HISTORY 38 ARTS & 21 ENTERTAINMENT MOVIE PREVIEWS: 63 Worth your money? UPCOMING DVD RELEASES 65 22 FOOD 63 MEALS FOR YOUR BROKE ASS: 68 Applying The Apps! ALSO INSIDE: CALENDAR OF EVENTS: 70 Go Ahead, Make My Date ATHENS LIVE: The Month in Photos 75 68 ATHENS BLUR MAGAZINE 5 BLUR EDITOR’S PLAYLIST DEAR READERS FROM THE EDITORS WHO WE ARE OLD OR NEW, 10 SONGS WE CAN’T GET ENOUGH OF THIS MONTH Editor-in-Chief Summer is my favorite season in Georgia, aside from bouts of seasonal allergies. Driving The Athens Nicole Black through downtown to get to our office without any traffic is the first sign school is out and the WHO WE WHO ARE Nicole Black [email protected] Editor-in-Chief ExecutiveAlec Wooden Editor college students have vacated. Night time is further evidence when you no longer have to fight Blur Magazine for parking downtown. Despite missing nearly 30 thousand students, there are still tens of thousands of us living P.O. Box 7117 Executive Editor “Ain’t No Rest For The Wicked” “Stealing Song” Claire Schofield BLUR here year-round. Now is the best time for us to flood downtown to support local businesses, Cage The Elephant Athens, Ga Alec Wooden “Lisztomania” Phoenix whether it’s to grab a bite to eat and have a cold drink or check out a live show, all without [email protected] “That Look You Give That Guy” fighting a crowd. And don’t forget bars and restaurants on the east and west side of Athens, too. 30604 Eels “Plutonium” The Arcs The most notable local summer event we have, of course, is Athfest. Last year was my first Director of Sales introduction to the music and arts festival, as well as to Magic Hat #9. Be sure to check our “If Love Was a Train” Amy LaVere “Big Blonde” Aidan Moffitt guide to Athfest and the shows you don’t want to miss this year, if you can manage to find — or Main Office Stephen Simmons stumble — your way from the beer tent. [email protected] “Something New” “I Can Feel A Hot One” Most importantly, this issue marks our one year anniversary since printing the very first issue (706) 353-7799 The Airborne Toxic Event Manchester Orchestra of Blur. There are many people to thank for getting us to our one year milestone. From our Account Executives advertisers to our devoted writers, many of whom have been with us since our first issue, and “Dead Man Walking” Cycle of Pain “Nikorette” our readers. From our diligent sales team to our editorial team and our interns who work hard Conor Oberst & Mystic Valley Band juggling time at the magazine with their school schedules. Everyone has worked hard to realize Sales Adrienne Klein “Sun Blows Up” Cars Can Be Blue [email protected] “Ryan’s Song” Venice is Sinking the first year of this dream. (706) 207-9091 “Just One Drop” Corduroy Road I want to take a moment to thank Stephen Simmons and Alec Wooden. While I claim the Jim McGahee “Dearest Forsaken” Iron & Wine title of ‘Editor-in-Chief ’, these two are also truly the backbone of this magazine. Alec keeps [email protected] “Lotus” Cage The Elephant me grounded and calm and has taken on the role of laying out our magazine in addition to his For general comments “Transgression” Mike Pardew editorial duties. Stephen runs the business side of Blur and has kept us afloat since he joined us and inquiries: Advertising Interns “Hey Milunka” The Warm Fuzzies in August. [email protected] “All I Need” (Radiohead cover) Together, we have faced enormous obstacles. It’s not easy starting a magazine from the “In One Ear” Cage the Elephant AmpLive Elaine Emma Kelch, ground up — it’s a learning process, and there is more than ‘blood, sweat, and tears’ that go For advertising Morgan Kelly, Julia Ott into making something like this work. There is still more labor ahead, as well as obstacles to opportunities: overcome, but I am confident that with the team we have here at Blur we can accomplish any [email protected] Design feat together and continue to swell the streets of Athens as a prominent magazine “for fans of LOOKING FOR blUR? music and the ones who make it”. The Athens Blur Colin Dunlop, Lily Feinberg Thank you, Athens, for a great first-year and we look forward to delivering more issues of Magazine issue 8, copyright©2009 Blur in the years to come. Lauren Mullins, Carlye TRY HERE: By The Athens Blur Norton, Alec Wooden Magazine, INC. All rights 40 Watt Club Music Exchange reserved. No part of Editorial Interns ABC Package Musician’s Warehouse Keep Rockin’, this publication may be Barberitos School Kids Records reproduced in whole or Jessica Cole, Will Barnes & Noble Tall Boy Beverage Co. part in any way by any Hackett, Lindsey Lee Beef O’Brady’s The Burger & means unless written Kristen Lee, Lauren Moot, Julie permission is received McCollum, Sarah Saltzman, Blind Pig Tavern Cheesesteak Factory from the publisher. Erica Schwartz Borders Bookstore The Georgia Theatre Published monthly Copper Creek The Globe Nicole D. Black except for each summer Contributing Writers Espresso Royale Cafe The Taco Stand Editor-in-Chief issue in the United Jimmy John’s Transmetropolitan States of America and Jacquie Brasher, Jittery Joe’s Coffee Trappeze Pub distributed free of charge Natalie B. David, (limit one copy per J’s Bottle Shop Village Wine & Spirits reader, each subsequent Ed Morales, Jon Ross, Lay-Z Shopper Vision Video Kelly Skinner, Zac Taylor, copy is distributed DeMarco Williams, Little Italy Wuxtry Records at a charge of $4.95). Jenni Williams Locos Deli & Pub Your Pie Postmaster send address Melting Point changes to The Athens Blur Magazine, P.O. Box Or grab a copy at two publication boxes downtown — at the corner of 7117 Athens, Ga. 30604 ON THE COVER: Patterson College and Clayton, in front of Wuxtry Records, and across the street Hood at Home in Athens, Ga. in front of The Fred Building. Photo by Jason Thrasher. FOR MORE LOCATIONS, VISIT ATHENSBLUR.COM 6 ATHENS BLUR MAGAZINE ATHENS BLUR MAGAZINE 7 BLUR MUSIC THE FIRST WORD SIGNS OF LIFE, INDEED ARE THE ARTS RECESSION PROOF? that’S UP TO US. eople often ask me how business is go- spawned from the loins of UGA’s Grady Col- that is assimilated into a reader’s everyday ing here at Blur, usually getting the lege is okay in my book). lives, and they will see it an indisposable ex- cannedP response I prepared around the time By all accounts, I’m not supposed to write pense, even when money is tight.