Experience Athens’ world-renowned musical roots in this tour, based on a pamphlet originally developed in 1998 by the Athens Welcome Center and Flagpole Magazine.

1. 393 Oconee Street Across the street from the old church re-dedicated to R.E.M. was an empty commercial sewing factory and fiberglass fabrication plant known as Stitchcraft, now the parking lot of the Waterford Place Condominiums. Paul Thomas (of The Oracle and now X-Ray Cafe) and Chris DeBarr (of Downstairs fame) arranged several shows each month here throughout the early and mid-'80s. The site was later known as Lunch Paper. Bands played in a square, cinderblock room under high ceilings in a partial basement with high industrial windows and a courtyard. No bar, no restrooms. Couches came and went. BYOB. This was The Primates' first practice space. It became known for outrageous Halloween parties. Memorable performances include The Replacements, The Primates, The Tragic Dancers, Pylon and R.E.M. Just up Wilkerson Street is the old railroad trestle featured on the cover of R.E.M.'s album Murmur.
   
2. 394 Oconee Street Bill Berry, Pete Buck, Mike Mills and Michael Stipe of R.E.M. practiced here in the old St. Mary's Episcopal Church ("The Church"), where they played their first-ever gig on Saturday, April 5, 1980, at a birthday party. (The Side Effects opened.) Only the steeple remains. The church was torn down in 1990 to make way for the Steeplechase Condominiums.
   
3. 244 Oconee Street This large warehouse space served in the early '70s as The B&L Warehouse, a cheap-beer watering hole that hosted rock and roll cover bands in a cavernous room. The B&L gradually evolved into a big music club around 1979 and turned into The I&I Club in 1980. Iggy Pop played in 1982. The entrance was up a long staircase on the back side. Pylon practiced upstairs and performed all-ages shows here in 1981 and 1982. Other memorable gigs included Jason & The Scorchers, Guadalcanal Diary, The Killbillys. After a short comeback as Buckhead Beach, it was later utilized as a band practice space, artists' studios and keg-party room. The space was shut down by the fire marshal and later purchased and renovated into the current space.
   
4. 112 S. Foundry Street World headquarters for Flagpole Magazine, which Jared Bailey founded in October 1987, as the "Colorbearer of Athens Alternative Music," shortly after he and Barrie Buck re-opened the 40 Watt Club on Clayton Street. Bailey saw the need for a publication to call attention to the new Athens music scene, and Flagpole has been doing so ever since.
   
5. 1016 E. Broad Street Just down the hill from downtown, Weaver D's Fine Foods serves up soul food. R.E.M. used proprietor Dexter Weaver's slogan "Automatic For The People" (featured on the restaurant's sign) as the title of its 1992 album.
   
6. Corner of Foundry Street and East Broad Street Facing Foundry, across East Broad from the present Flagpole office, where a parking deck, landscaping, and a driveway now meets the eye, Tyrone's O.C. (Old Chameleon) succeeded Chameleon, an earlier club, in late 1978. Tyrone's was a fertile hotbed of underground activity in the burgeoning local scene. Pylon made its debut here. R.E.M. played many early shows, as did such local scenesters as Is Ought Gap and Time Toy. Tyrone's burned down in January of 1982. (Legend has it that hefty bar tabs belonging to R.E.M. bassist Mike Mills and Pylon bassist Michael Lachowski burned, too.) A famous bootleg recording of an R.E.M. set at Tyrone's is still floating around.
   
7. 433 E. Hancock Avenue The Rockfish Palace was originally established by local musician Bryan Cook (of Time Toy) in 1986 as a small dive for rock, blues and punk bands. The joint stood adjacent to Wilfong's fish market and had a small bar, small stage and an open-air backstage. Early gigs included Sleepy La Beef, Tinsley Ellis and Time Toy. The venue became more of an established club by the time J. R. Green took over in 1988. He booked such acts as Widespread Panic, Bloodkin, Hasil Adkins, Southern Culture On The Skids, GWAR and Five-Eight. The club closed in the early 1990s but the beat goes on, since the site is now occupied by the dance club/cabaret Boneshakers v 2.0.
   
8. 260 N. Jackson Street Off the beaten path at the time, Wax Jr. Facts served as a "junior store" for Atlanta's popular Wax 'n' Facts record shop from 1982-1984. The shop was a focal point of the early Athens music scene. Michael Lachowski (of Pylon) co-managed the store, which was well-known for occasional, extravagant beer parties. Jackson Street Books occupies the space now.
   
9. 142 N. Jackson Street In the early 1980s many influential bands practiced in the upstairs space above what is now occupied by J.R's Bait Shack. R.E.M., The Side Effects, Mystery Date, Love Tractor, Pylon, Roosevelt, Waylaid, Porn Orchard, Clamp and others toted their gear up the stairs here through the 1980s and early 1990s.
   
10. 382 E. Broad Street Here was the fourth location of the 40 Watt Club, billed as "The 40 Watt Uptown." Doug Hoescht opened the club here in early 1984, and he managed it and did the booking. University of Georgia offices occupy the space now. Far more "upscale" than the previous spots, this 40 Watt soon became the largest club in town. The Replacements, The Lyres, Kilkenny Cats, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Time Toy, Dreams So Real, Jason And The Scorchers, The Plague, 10,000 Maniacs, Suicidal Tendencies, Final Frontier, Mantra Factory and Bad Brains played there - need we say more? It was a helluva club through the mid 1980s. Club employees Jared Bailey and Barrie Buck continued as managers after Hoescht suddenly left town. This location closed in March, 1987.
    
11. 229 E. Broad Street An early Athens rock record store, Foreign Legion carried hip and hard-to-find underground vinyl and press. The Cramps played upstairs in the Foreign Legion's storage room in December, 1979, (Alex Chilton reportedly ran sound for them) after canceling a sketchy gig down the street at the Carafe and Draft. Businessman/music fan Eric Brown ran the store here as Chapter 3 Records, and it is now Five Star Day Café.
    
12. 100 College Avenue Above the Blimpie Base sandwich shop which became Yudy's and is now Starbuck's, Curtis Crowe and Paul Scales opened the second 40 Watt Club in 1980. The Side Effects and Love Tractor performed the first two nights. Patrons entered on the College Avenue side (sometimes through the sandwich shop) and paid a small cover charge to see up-and-coming local bands. The club had a small P.A. system and no air-conditioning. R.E.M. played a few early gigs shortly after the band's debut at "The Church."
    
13. 128 College Avenue A large, competitive music shop Ruthless Records, became Downtown Records in 1989. Both had wide selections of mainstream artists and independent releases. They stocked plenty of local bands' cassettes and discs. Blue Sky Coffee is in this location now. Downtown Records became Big Shot Records and moved next door to 114 College Avenue, which eventually became Lunch Paper before it moved to Washington Street and now site vacant. Big Shot moved around, eventually locating at 264 E. Clayton Street and is now known as Schoolkids Records.
    
14. 171 College Avenue The space above The Grill is the site of the original 40 Watt Club. In 1979 Curtis Crowe, drummer for Pylon, hosted a Halloween party on the third floor of this building. This floor was a single room where everyone congregated. A guest commented on the one 40-watt light bulb that lit the entire room, calling it a "40-watt club," and thus the 40 Watt name was born. At that time, Schlotzsky's Deli occupied the ground floor, and The Grill was located at 229 E. Broad Street.
    
15. 197 E. Clayton Street This small local music shop, Wuxtry Records, which is still here, was established in 1975 and became known for its wide selection of mainstream and obscure vinyl, CDs, cassettes and publications. R.E.M.'s Pete Buck worked here and at its sister store Wuxtry Café at 510 Baxter Street as a clerk and an enthusiast in the late 1970s and very early 1980s. Wuxtry owner Dan Wall and his staff have been major supporters of the Athens music scene. Adjacent to Wuxtry is the Athens Music Museum (not to be confused with the Athens Music History Project or Athens Music Preservation Society), which sells local music and showcases some of Wall and Wuxtry's memorabilia.
    
16. 140 E. Clayton Street In this very small venue in an old basement storage space below a downtown sidewalk, David Levitt, Beth Hale, and Dean Orlosky (for 2 months) opened The Downstairs in mid-1988 as a café with an eclectic schedule of live music. Hale and Levitt continued to own and run the venue and local musician/artist Jim Stacey later managed and took some ownership. Patrons were free to pick records out of a bin to play on the turntable during the day. Local and regional acts such as Smoke, Five-Eight, LaBrea Stompers, No Man, Porn Orchard, The Killbillys, The Woggles, and DQE were normal fare. It closed and then, after extensive renovations, re-opened in 1995 as DT's Down Under, a more mainstream music venue featuring folk, rock and jazz acts. After a brief period of closing as DT's, it opened once again under the same name.
    
17. 199 N. Lumpkin Street A college student and townie hang-out in the mid 1980s, Abbot's Pizza was popular for its cheap beer and pizza slices. It morphed into the beach-themed Athens Yacht Club, which hosted blues and cover bands in the late 1980s. After extensive remodeling, The Globe opened here in 1990 as a British/European-style pub frequented by academics, internationals, musicians and artists. The Globe hosted live music and film screenings upstairs until adding food to its lineup and using the space for a kitchen.
    
18. 215 N. Lumpkin Street Converted from an old movie theater to a music hall by Hap Harris and Sam Smartt, the Georgia Theatre opened January 11, 1978, with Sea Level playing. David Allen Coe followed soon after. The Police played a memorable show here during their first American tour in 1979. The B-52s played the same year, after going out and selling the $1500 worth of tickets demanded by the owners as a condition for letting the band play. Tyrone Davis, B. B. King, Muddy Waters and Tom Waits all played the Georgia in the early days, but Harris and Smartt were ahead of their time and couldn't make the theater pay for itself. They kept it going around three years and then pulled the plug. The old hall limped along as the Carafe and Draft movie theater, with occasional live music, until Kyle Pilgrim and Duck Anderson re-opened it as a live music and movie venue in November, 1989. The two partners have made the Georgia Theatre into a legendary music Mecca hosting the likes of Widespread Panic, David Allen Coe, Wynton Marsalis, Ice-T, Warren Zevon, Rev. Horton Heat, Phish, The Dave Matthews Band, Bela Fleck, Hootie And The Blowfish, GWAR and many, many local bands. Portions of the R.E.M. video for "Shiny Happy People" were filmed here. Anderson and Pilgrim had a falling out, however, and eventually Anderson took over management of the club after the two bid for the rights. Anderson not long after sold the club.
    
19. 159 W. Clayton Street The Georgia Bar opened in 1986 and is still going strong. The small room with a large main bar and a killer popcorn machine has hosted occasional local bands over the years, but is mainly a gathering place and headquarters for the music scene, where anybody might run into anybody. The bar forms part of the "Barmuda Triangle" with The Globe and The Roadhouse (and now El Centro) around the corner.
    
20. 184 W. Clayton Street A music club and bar, The Last Resort began in 1966 down the street from three finance companies. It was said that if you were turned down by all three, the bar was your "last resort." This pre-scene bar and music club mostly featured bluegrass, folk, jazz bands and stand-up comedy. It was owned for a while by pioneer Athens musician Terry "Mad Dog" Melton. The B-52s played an awkward show here in 1978. Memorable performers include Steve Martin (who, legend has it, took the audience out for french fries afterwards), Randall Bramblett, the Sunbelt Millionaires, Gamble Rogers and Jimmy Buffett. Guadalcanal Diary played their first Athens show here. The club, under the ownership of Lynn Miller, expanded into the space next door formerly occupied by a garage, and greatly expanded the music hall but couldn't draw the crowds to fill it. The Last Resort closed down in the mid-1980s. The space was occupied by a camera shop briefly and then in August, 1992, The Last Resort Grill was reborn as an upscale restaurant. (See the vegetable mural on the side wall by Athens artist Greg Williams which covers an earlier painting by Charlie Gardner).
    
21. 256 W. Clayton Street This spot was both the third and the fifth locations of the 40 Watt Club. Doug Hoescht bought the club and moved it here for a brief stay from 1982 to 1984. The club was known as a "real dive" with a small stage and dressing rooms off the front entrance. After a brief stay in its fourth location on East Broad Street (see above), Jared Bailey and Barrie Buck re-opened the 40 Watt back in this location in June, 1987, for incarnation number five. The new club had a decent room with a small bar, small restrooms and a solid stage. Bands loaded in and out from Clayton Street. Patrons entered behind the building off the Pulaski Street parking lot through the "beer garden." Local and national bands played here regularly: Fugazi, Bob Mould, Billy Bragg, The Melvins, Kilkenny Cats, Robyn Hitchcock, Volcano Suns, Porn Orchard, Buffalo Tom, Gypsy Cab Company, Five-Eight, The Jesus Lizard, etc.. This incarnation of the 40 Watt closed in summer, 1990. This building, however, had an even earlier music history. In the late 1970s it was briefly the 11:11 Club, so named because that's what time it opened in the evenings. R.E.M. played their first club performance at the 11:11 on April 19, 1980. The police raided the club during the performance, photographed the patrons drinking and closed the club down for lack of a proper license. The Caledonia Lounge now sits in the place, offering legions of new bands a place to play.
    
22. 285 W. Washington Street Jared Bailey and Barrie Buck moved the 40 Watt Club to its present location in the old Furniture Mart building in the first week of April, 1990, with shows by a reunited Pylon and The Flat Duo Jets. The space was plagued by poor acoustics early on, but that deficiency was quickly remedied by a larger P.A. system and decorative acoustic baffling hung by local artist Pattiy Torno. Spacious dressing rooms backstage came later. The club has continuously hosted a wide variety of local bands and such major touring rock acts as Sugar, Jonathan Richman, Pavement, Run DMC, The Cramps, Cracker, Junior Brown, Mike Watt, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Salt 'n Pepa, Sebadoh, The Fall, Vic Chesnutt, The Black Crows and drivin' n' cryin'.
    
23. 195 W. Washington Street Monroe Bowers "Pink" Morton built the Morton Theatre around 1910, and it was one of America's first African-American built, owned and operated Vaudeville theaters. Entertainers including Duke Ellington, Louie Armstrong, Cab Calloway and Bessie Smith performed here through the 1920s-1940s. Cindy Wilson and Kate Pierson of The B-52's worked in the El Dorado (later The Bluebird) restaurant in the southwest corner of this building in the 1970s. Several Athens rock bands practiced in back rooms through the 1980s and 1990s. After extensive renovation in the early 1990s, the theater re-opened as a community performing arts center and hosted the Flagpole Athens Music Awards since their debut in June, 1999 and The Kudzu Film Festival, and Athens 441 concerts, among many other events.
    
24. 120 E. Washington Street This was once a rustic pool hall (and a long time before that- the hangar for Athens aviation pioneer Ben Epps' homemade airplanes, with Washington Street as the landing strip). The restaurants The Hangar and ET's Hangar made a go of it with country and blues bands in the early 1990s before Kyle Pilgrim and "Duck" Anderson of The Georgia Theatre stepped in and set up shop as a sports bar/lounge carrying the old moniker The Uptown Lounge.
    
25. 140 E. Washington Street Kyle Pilgrim and "Duck" Anderson bought the fledgling Uptown Lounge in April, 1984, and gradually built it into a prime live music venue. Early on, many up-and-coming local acts considered this venue a hip alternative to the larger 40 Watt Uptown. Widespread Panic started out here in the mid 1980s as a weekly house band. By 1987, the Uptown was the largest club in town and attracted national acts such as The Pixies, Let's Active, Soul Asylum, Jane's Addiction, Dinosaur Jr., Red Hot Chili Peppers, Alex Chilton, Mercyland, Black Flag, and the Meat Puppets. R.E.M. played a few legendary unannounced shows here, as well. The Uptown closed at this location in early 1990. This room also held various rock clubs and discos (the Chameleon Club - not to be confused with Chameleon, The Shoe Box, The Atomic Music Hall) from 1990 through 1997. The Atomic Music Hall gained recognition as one of the more vital underground rock clubs in town during the mid and late 1990s. The Atomic hosted local benefit gigs, "redneck" punk-rock showcases such as "Trash Fest" and "Beef Stock," regularly booked up-and-coming local bands like Harvey Milk, Kincaid, Jucifer, Trinket, Five-Eight, Elf Power, Space Cookie and Buzz Hungry and attracted touring national acts such as Cake, Man Or Astro-Man?, The Oblivians and Kevn Kinney. The space is now occupied by Copper Creek Brewing Company. The music hall stage was located where the Copper Creek brewing vessels now stand.
    
26. 137 Hoyt Street This old train depot area called The Station, on Hoyt Street between Dougherty Street and College Avenue, was occupied by several bars, music venues and cafés throughout the 1970s and 1980s. TK Hardy's Saloon, located on the south end, opened in 1971 and hosted various classic rock and country bands into the late 1980 The Saloon gained notoreity - and a televised special years later - for the murder of the owner. Locomotion was a short-lived, high-minded coffee house and screening room open in 1975. A jam session held here spawned a noise band called Night Soil that evolved into the Zambo Flirts (with Ricky Wilson and Keith Strickland of the B-52's). In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the Flying Buffalo hosted a weekly series of acoustic shows by such local performers as Nathan Sheppard and Stewart Marshall. The Grit opened as a tiny restaurant/coffee-house/performance space/hangout in 1986 and hosted many underground acts. The annual, beery "Stationfest" featured a plethora of local rock bands through the early 1990s. Hoyt Street North booked indie-rock and punk bands in the early 1990s. The entire building burned down in 1996. Only the charred remains and the headquarters for the Athens Area Council on Aging testify that this was once a center of the Athens demi-monde.
    
27. 199 Prince Avenue In a room that is now the kitchen of The Grit vegetarian restaurant, Leslie Michel kept a small late-night café called the Coffee Club in the late 1970s and early 1980s. In this Athens-scene hangout the front rooms were usually filled with junk but were occasionally cleared out for local art shows. Boat Of, a band featuring Mike Greene (The Fans), Michael Stipe and a naked drummer, performed once or twice. Band members and artists tended to hang out, sitting on their cars and drinking after the bars closed. The Grit opened here in May, 1990. The independent film company C-00, run by filmmakers Jem Cohen, Jim McKay and Michael Stipe, kept offices upstairs here.
    
28. 1294 Prince Avenue In the heart of Normaltown, Allen's Hamburgers was at the center of things since the 1950s and was the focal point for a whole musical flowering back in the 1970s long before bands like Pylon, the B-52's and R.E.M. got the present downtown scene started. Many Athens musicians such as Randall Bramblett, Harold Williams and Davis Causey were regulars at Allen's, and they're still making good music today. The Normaltown Flyers were a popular band of that period, and with several changes of personnel, are still going strong and still playing at Allen's, along with latter-day counterparts like The Star Room Boys. To many people's chagrin, Allen's closed after a final farewell party on December 31, 2003.

This walking tour of Athens music history was initiated in the summer of 1998 by the Athens Welcome Center under the direction of Laura Straehla, who assigned intern Michelle Williams to work on the project. Flagpole Magazine asked permission to take over the walking tour and develop it for inclusion in their Guide to Athens. Jared Bailey helped with the initial foray as well. 

Flagpole Music Editor Ballard Lesemann did considerable additional research and conferred with people knowledgeable about the Athens music scene "back in the day." For their help in allowing their memories to be picked, thanks to John Seawright, Kurt Wood, William Orten Carlton, Greg Reece, Michael Lachowski, Jared Bailey, Jeff Walls, Barrie Buck, Tony Eubanks, Curtis Crowe and all the other people Ballard ran into in various bars. Thanks also to musician/artist Jack Logan, whose drawings grace the pages of the guide.

Jeff Montgomery of athensmusic.net further added information and edited the final product you see here.

To see some of this music history in action and to hear further comment on it, rent the 1987 DVD Athens, Ga.: Inside/Out or look elsewhere around here on Athensmusic.net

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