roots rock and americana

Once upon a time, there was a wave of inspiration.
It always comes in waves; they crest in the summer and recede in the fall.
The roots are the same, but the voices change.
Every revival has its season.
Actors will emerge under new leaders.
Do your part to stir it up.
Pinker.

DIT

DIY in collaboration.

Rick-Rollers

It is Dr. Fred's "Famous" Karaoke after all. Rick Astley stopped in to the boyball karaoke fundraiser at Little Kings for a surprise visit- the famed singer of 80's hits "Never Gonna Give You Up" and "Together Forever" did a rendition of the former and created quite a stir due to his contemporary internet renown, a phenomena known as "rickrolling." (For a full explanation see Part V.)



There is only one rule to Dr.Fred's karaoke: wait your turn. Taken by surprise, our host allowed Rick Astley two songs in a row. I found such flagrant flaunting of fame distasteful and take the liberty here to expound on karaoke etiquette, so blatantly disrespected by our visiting pop star. My sister adds her opinion on tambourine over-enthusiasm and personal space.



After an emotional and inspired interpretation of Ike and Tina's "Proud Mary," I felt obliged to convince others to cathart. Once Emily got started, I abandoned the stage to share the protagonism. Someone, however, just couldn't get enough and once more made his way onstage out of turn....



This particular interruption truly bothered my sister Meghan, who had found her karaoke mojo after enjoying a few pints of the local Terrapin beer. Stay tuned for a full rant in Part V.



Dr. Fred was kind enough to shuttle us home, as we had enjoyed ourselves entirely too much to taxi ourselves. During the ride, we queried the expert on the official definition of "rick-rolling" and then took the liberty to apply it to the very simpsons-esque episode that had graced our evening.
In the end, we had a lot of fun and I think it might have been enough to convince my sister to visit again. So I suppose, Rick Astley, I should thank you for visiting our fundraiser and thoroughly enjoying yourself- it really seemed like you were just as much of a karaoke fanatic as the rest of us. We understand and you're welcome back anytime.

Some photos

We held a photo shoot/ film screening at the end of March.
Here are some of the pictures, courtesy of Justin Evans, a local photographer/ musician, who traded his work for help with the yearly Americana festival that he organizes:

Pictures Here

You can download and save these files by selecting "save."
Enjoy!

This film is about

I live in Athens, Ga, home to many famous music projects. As a graduate student interested in women's studies and other postmodern theoretical writing, I have begun a documentary endeavor that aims to record some of the community's trends in folk music and spontaneous performance, collaboration with up and coming women musicians, inclusive spaces, community efforts to keep the music scene and its cathartic creative play in motion, small business efforts and grassroots organization, and most importantly- artistically collaborative projects.
Stay tuned for footage via my youtube account (name: pinkerpage) and let me know if you are interested in working with us this summer- paticularly after May.
Cheers,
Jenn Formwalt