If you are my age (late 40's), Athens, GA means one thing. Even more than the University of Georgia, Athens is the birthplace of REM* and the B-52's. I remember visiting my grandparents in the early 1980's and seeing flyers for the band REM playing at the DePauw university auditorium in Indiana. What was the REM?, I wondered. A few months later, I had the EP Chronic Town and played Boxcars constantly (it made sense for a teen in Webster Groves- so many boxcars to see on the two rail tracks that cross WG). By the late 1980's, REM exploded and I kind of lost interest. "Anything after Fables is a sell-out," I said because I was cool like that.
Anyway, when my friend Richard moved to Athens, I thought REM's birthplace! But, Richard also found this sweet and sad mansard. Thanks Richard!
Footnote: I interviewed a lovely man from Athens for a family WW2 football project I was working on. He was charming and helpful. He was a press assistant to a 508th AB officer who had a great memory of some historic WW2 occupation football game. Anyway, he reminded me in his smooth accent that Athens was the home of REM, the B-52's
and Widespread Panic, LOL.
