Athens Community Music Festival Returns for 9th Year
By Matthew Toledo - 8/15/2006
Nine years ago, the founders of the Athens Community Music Festival staged their first show on top of the Athens city parking garage. Over the years, the festival has slowly grown to include more bands and more venues. The festival's modest growth from year to year has proven to be a recipe for success. past events have raised thousands of dollars for local charities. This year's charities will once again include the Athens County Visiting Nurses Association and the Athens Musician Network.
The festival kicks off at 4:00 PM on Saturday August 19, 2006 at the Front Room. There will be free "Union Dogs" with all the toppings including chili. I highly suggest that all the bands playing the event make it to this gathering. It's a great time to meet your fellow musicians and enjoy the best sort of music and food there is--the free kind. This may be the last time that the event will be held at the Front Room, as Ohio University will have completed their new, gigantic student union center by January of 2007.
A printable interactive schedule of events can be found here. In addition, local AMN useres are discussing the festival on the AMN BBS.
There are two new venues included on this year's festival: The Shisha Cafe and Evolution. The Shisha Cafe is a gorgeously decorated club perfect for singer songwriters and small groups. The Cafe will take the spirit of the festival to heart by featuring an eclectic group of performers. Everything from simple acoustic to hip-hop will be represented.
Evolution is known as Athens primary location for hip-hop and dance music. The club will feature nothing but DJ's the entire evening including DJ Barticus and "Potter" who I assume is dedicated Evolution employee and music scene fan, Tom Potter.
