Carolinas, Georgia & South Trips (Lonely Planet, 1st Edition) - Alex Leviton [101]
Heading west out of downtown on Prince Ave, you’ll find a few buildings owned by Michael Stipe. In one of them, the Grit is a hip vegetarian restaurant he frequents. A few blocks down on Barber St, known as the “Street of Stars,” is where all kinds of shenanigans took place throughout Athens’ ’80s heyday. Stipe and former Oh OK member Linda Hopper shared the home at 169 Barber St, while REM’s Peter Buck lived with his girlfriend next door at 181 Barber St. At the corner of Barrow and Barber St, a drunken meeting with wet cement in the early ’80s resulted in Stipe’s carving of his initials into the sidewalk as well as the artwork of a gaggle of groupies hanging out with the bands: REM, Love Tractor, Limbo District and Method Actors are all still visible today.
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“The Athens music scene has grown considerably since our time. These days it’s a lot more diverse, considering when Pylon was playing regularly, there were only three or four bands. Now there are close to 400! Along with that comes the good and the bad of cramming 400 bands into a small town. Sometimes I worry it will reach saturation point, but it looks like there’s still room!”
Curtis Crowe, Pylon
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But the most notorious address in Athens is 748 Cobb St, a Second Empire Victorian home painted 12 different colors and known as Buck Manor. Buck lived here until his divorce from his ex-wife, Barrie, who still lives here. In that same neighborhood at 165 Hillcrest St is John Keane Studios. The B-52s Funplex as well as many REM and Widespread Panic albums have been recorded in this home.
Today, the Athens music scene is as healthy as ever. Come to town, lay your head at the Foundry Park Inn or the UGA Center for Continuing Education and check out some live music. You never know when you might walk into a church and find sonic salvation.
Kevin Raub
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TRIP INFORMATION
GETTING THERE
From Atlanta, take Hwy 78 (eastbound) to Athens.
DO
Wuxtry Records
Peter Buck worked at this indie music store, still going strong with a massive collection of new and used CDs and vinyl. 706-369-9428; www.wuxtryrecords.com; 197 E Clayton St; 10am-8pm Mon-Thu, 10am-10pm Fri & Sat, noon-6pm Sun
EAT
Grit
Meat has never been cooked in this veggie kitchen in a building owned and frequented by REM’s Michael Stipe. 706-543-6592; 199 Prince Ave; mains $4-8; 11am-10pm Mon-Fri, 10am-3pm & 5-10:30pm Sat & Sun
Last Resort Grill
Athens’ most creative cuisine: dig into pecan-crusted blue trout and the like. 706-549-0810; 174/184 W Clayton St; mains $10-17; 11am-3pm, also 5-10pm Mon-Thu & Sun, 5-11pm Fri & Sat
Weaver’s D’s
“Automatic!” soul food and the inspiration for REM’s 1992 album title, Automatic for the People. 706-353-7797; 1016 E Broad St; mains $4-8; 11am-6pm Tue-Sat
DRINK
40 Watt Club
Athens’ most legendary venue for live music. 706-549-7871; www.40watt.com; 285 W Washington St; cover $5-15; 9pm-2am
Caledonia Lounge
See up-and-coming live music from the Athens scene here before it graduates to the 40 Watt or Georgia Theatre. 802-295-4600; www.caledonialounge.com; 256 W Clayton St; cover $6; 10pm-2am
Georgia Theatre
Athens’ biggest venue hosts a variety of local and national acts (but we saw Dave Matthews play a sorority gig here in the ‘90s!). 706-549-9918; www.georgiatheatre.com; 215 N Lumpkin St; cover $5-25; 10pm-2am
SLEEP
Foundry Park Inn
Athens’ nicest hotel is an 1820 replica row house that also houses a rustic pub and concert venue. 706-549-7020; www.foundryparkinn.com; 295 E Dougherty St;r $115-145;
UGA Center for Continuing Education
Turn a blind eye to the old-school Victorian decor and this convenient hotel on UGA’s campus is