Walking home on a Tuesday night, my attention was caught by a violin’s twang.
In front of the Speciality Books’ abandoned storefront, a grey-haired man in a bright yellow shirt tucked into his too-short khakis was playing me a song.
How did he know I am a sucker for street musicians?
He then continued to tell me his name was Rick and that he was going to dedicate a song to me, one which he recently learned in Argentina. “Don’t worry, “ he said. “I’ll tell you the words in English first before I sing it in Spanish.” The song was called “Linea Curva,” (“curved line”), regarding the windy road of love matching the curves of a woman’s figure.
I was a little creeped out at this moment, but I couldn’t walk away.
The song that followed was not exactly in tune or one I’d desire to hear again, but after three hours in Alden Library, Rick’s song made me smile in a way that only a random street musician who resembles Doc from Back to the Future could.
Court Street is a magically musical place where anyone can be a minstrel’s muse. Each night as the bars empty, students are serenaded as they toss a few dollars into some stranger’s guitar case and disappear into the night, still singing.
Whether on the street, in a basement or at the bar, there is always great live music in Athens. Every genre is accounted for on any given weekend.
Bluegrass babies can rock out at Jackie O’s to some good ol’ mountain music complete with a banjo, washboard and a few yeehaws. Dance club divas can Dave Rave in their neon tank tops like there’s no tomorrow.
Even the kids who are too alternative for any genre can find some post-aggressive-transcendental-shoegaze-tribal-techno-death-metal basement show to bob their heads at. The underground music scene in Athens has never been so … underground!
This past weekend, the music of Athens was turned way up with Nelsonville Music Festival and 9Fest, two equally epic and different concerts that seemingly split the Ohio University demographic into two: the chill folky-folks and the party-rock ragers.
What is Nelsonville, Ohio, known for? Birthplace of Sarah Jessica Parker, yes, but also (according to its website), it is the home of the best music festival in the state. With a musical collection of regional favorites and big names in indie, folk, rock, bluegrass, and funk, Nelsonville Music Festival delivers a weekend of jammin’ and campin’ beneath an open Ohio sky.
If swaying to the sweet sounds of Iron and Wine isn’t your type of party, maybe 9Fest better suited you.
The dub-step wobble-wobbles and blaring bass could be heard from miles away as party anthems and hip-hop war cries rallied armies of sweaty students to mud battles and mosh pits. Ah, nothing like warm Natty and the smell of manure to make you want to dance.
Now that the loudest weekend of the spring is over, it is time to take the volume down a notch and hear a less obvious song.
The song of Athens is always playing. In the day, it’s the bumping of bricks, the harmony of the Singing Men of Ohio, the bells of Galbreath Chapel and the drum beats of the Marching 110. The night song is the passionate, drunken Karaoke ballads at the Skull, the buzzing bass of porch-side parties and “Call Me Maybe” squealing from The Crystal.
Next time you are walking through town, take out your headphones and listen for the beat of this town. Don’t be afraid to sing along and smile — you’re in Athens!
Remember the Piano Man? Mr. Piano Man, if you are reading this, I miss your boogie-woogie finger poppin’ tunes. Come back to the streets of Athens!
Anna Moore is a junior studying magazine journalism and fine arts and is a columnist for The Post. Email her at am846608@ohiou.edu.
