By GABE HARPER – Variety Writer
The 40-Watt Club, located at 285 West Washington St. in Downtown Athens, Ga. has seen many world-renown acts such as R.E.M., Nirvana and The B-52s, but only once a year does it host the variety of acts Athens Business Rocks offers.
“A few years ago there was a guy who worked at Trappeze downtown and he put together a ‘Battle of the Bar Bands’, and when they couldn’t do that anymore, we kind of took the idea over,” Event Coordinator and Nuci’s Space employee Laura Ford said. “ We wanted to make it a regular fundraiser for Nuci’s Space and incorporate all kinds of businesses and not just bars.”
Nuci’s Space, located at 396 Oconee St. is a center for musicians to practice and receive music lessons as well as providing counseling for suicide prevention and depression.
Nuci’s was established by Linda Phillips in memory of her son Nuci Phillips, an accomplished Athens musician, who took his own life 1996 following a fight with clinical depression. With its doors open since 2000, Nuci’s Space has been a major part of developing Athens’ musical culture, and now, with Athens Business Rocks, the community is given an opportunity to return the favor.
The event consists of three nights: two nights with nine bands each, followed by a finale show during which a winner of the three finalists is chosen. Scoring during the show is done both by the crowd and by three Athens celebrity judges.
Past years judge’s have included people, such as The Whigs drummer Julian Dorio, owner and operator of Chase Park Transduction and Director of the Hugh Hodgson School of Music at the University of Georgia David Barbe and Drive-By-Truckers frontman Patterson Hood. Bribing the judges is often encouraged throughout the show, as all the proceeds go towards Nuci’s Space.
“The winner gets bragging rights,” Ford said, “ so for an entire year, they get to boast the title of Athens Business Rocks Champion.”
The opening act, “Shaken not Stirred,” a family band representing The Red Zone, a boutique specializing in University of Georgia apparel, seemed to hum into a medley of James Bond tunes with uncanny accuracy and confidence. Their set was finished with an Adele-like rendition of the theme, “Skyfall.” However, where the consistent rhythms associated with classic Bond car chases led audience members to relax a bit.
The next act, “Torpendero,” representing the Oglethorpe County School District, delivered a pounding punky set that brought the mostly middle-aged audience to their feet.
Later in the show, “Sam and the Backbreakers,” a group made up of Automax employees, took the stage sporting hard hats and reflective vests and let loose on several Creedence Clearwater Revival covers. They finished their three-song set with a slow and sweet gospel number, the bassist proclaiming to the audience, “We’re all lovers and followers of the Lord Jesus Christ,” before diving into the next song.
Well into the show, returning champions “80-Pound Cougar” representing Bel-Jean Copy and Print, spread their feathers in sharp contrast to the blues sprawls and overalls of Automax’s earlier act. The eight-piece, mostly male band clad themselves in dresses, clearly not holding anything back as they tore into a poppy set of show tunes from Annie.
Without knowing quite what hit them, the awestruck audience watched as the ever-more flamboyant Super Proof, a mini-Stonehenge-wielding, Spinal Tap cover band made up of Baxter Street Jimmy John’s Sandwich shop employees, took the stage. Brandishing leopard spotted tights and long hair, this group’s heavy metal delivery seemed to scare everyone in the audience over 30.
Athens Business Rocks is an ideal example of a community coming together for the sake of benefiting local organizations like Nuci’s Space, and despite the bizarre and eccentric acts of the night, it is easy to say that Athens certainly does rock.
