I think my favorite was the night I was one of about 6 people at the 688 in Atlanta in 1986. The 688 at the time had a College Night on Tuesdays, where you could get in for a buck or something like that with a college ID. I was in grad school at Emory, so I went whenever I could – saw Drivin’ n’ Cryin’, LMNOP, and a bunch of other folks that way. One week I checked Creative Loafing to see who was playing the College Night at the 688, and it said something like “The Coloneols”. I had a hunch. I figured it could only be so bad for whatever the cheap cover was, and I was already a fan of The Connells, which is what my hunch was telling me. My roommate’s band had opened for them in Little Rock earlier that year, during the late spring/early summer months, and I had my copy of Darker Days, which was the only LP they had out at the time (Boylan Heights wasn’t recorded until the next year). So I showed up and found my hunch was right. The band was heading out west to tour there and at the last minute decided to try to pick up some gigs along the way so the driving time wouldn’t be a complete waste. Whoever called in the info from the 688 to *Creative Loafing * botched it, so no one in their small Atlanta fan base knew they were playing that night, except for the handful of personal friends they’d called themselves. There were only three people in the club at the nominal start time. I’d met the guys at the Little Rock show, and while I doubt they remembered, George Huntley at least pretended to and sat down next to me at the bar and chatted for an hour or so while we waited for a few more people that they had called to show up. They finally started an hour or so late and played for the six or eight of us who were there by then – and did a heck of a show.
The show that probably blew me away the most was The Cramps with Flat Duo Jets opening for them at the Roxy here in Atlanta. I think it was October of 1992 – my recollection is that it was Halloween night, but I’m not certain of that. Dexter Romweber was in rare form that night, as was Lux. I freaked out in the parking lot after the show when I realized that my watch had stopped dead on the stroke of midnight.
Way up there with the others has to be the show Elvis Costello did solo, with just an acoustic guitar, at the Civic Center in Atlanta in 1987. The show was sponsored by the Emory University Student Union, so general admission with an Emory Student ID was just $3. Without an Emory ID it was $15 or something. I forgot my ticket at home and just bought another one at the door for $3. Didn’t come close to filling up the Civic Center, even with EC and Nick Lowe opening for him (also solo). Nick did join him for a few songs, including “What’s So Funny ('Bout Peace Love and Understanding)”. This was one of the tours where EC had the “Wheel of Requests” or whatever he called it – a big wheel with the names of various songs on it, where he’d spin it and play whatever came up.
One of those “present at the birth” moments came one night at the White Dot; some friends and I happened in to hang out and maybe hear some music without really caring what it was. What it was was billed as “An Evening With the Garbageman”. On stage was this big-boned but undeniably attractive woman I’d seen working at my neighborhood Turtles record store in previous months. She seemed profoundly uncomfortable onstage, but her voice, even as uncomfortable as she was, was unmistakably great. Of course, it was Kelly Hogan (Kelly Hogan-Murray, at the time). “An Evening With the Garbageman” morphed into the Jody Grind shortly thereafter, and the rest is history, for those who’re fortunate enough to have heard her.
There’s a bunch more from the late eighties/early nineties in Atlanta – shows at the 688 (later the Rollick, still later one of the locations of Backstreets), the Point, The White Dot, the Cotton Club, etc. – I have especially fond memories of The Dugout since it was right across from Emory and is where I finally got to see Joe “King” Carrasco and Alex Chilton.
But my most fantastic concert experience of all time has to be They Might Be Giants at the Cotton Club in Atlanta in the summer of 1988. I went with a college classmate who was living with me for the summer. He was in Atlanta doing an internship while working on a masters at University of Georgia. He was going with some friends of his from Athens. The only female in that group brought along a female friend of hers who was visiting Atlanta and interviewing for jobs with the school systems here – she’d just graduated a few weeks before from UNC. During the opening act (I’m ashamed to admit I’ve forgotten who it was), I kept ducking outside to cool off (it was always unbearably hot in there in the summer) and she kept going outside with me to get away from the noise and the smoke, both of which she hated. We started chatting, and seemed to really hit it off. Didn’t think too much more about it at the time, since I didn’t even know if she’d end up in Atlanta, but I did mention her to several of my friends. Sixteen years later, we’re happily married (for the last eight) with three wonderful kids. So that one has to be at the top of the list.
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