ENCORE OF THE MONTH
June, 2019
R.E.M.
Think of a band that has etched their music into the soul of your very being. R.E.M. is likely to find it's way onto many people's shortlist. One former house buddy had R.E.M. at the very top of their list. When I lived in a college I hated the antics that went on so I had to escape. I fled to a shared apartment off campus. Little did I know that I was escaping to the world of R.E.M. In the three years that I shared that apartment I heard every R.E.M. song and on every album on a daily basis. I was a very long way from being interested in R.E.M. or their music but I knew something was up when I started to hum along to 'Orange Crush". What was happening to me? I think I was becoming a fan. What pulled me in was the harmony and the lyrics. For me "Orange Crush' is R.E.M. at their very best.
I knew I had become an R.E.M. fan when I was on a road trip. I found myself making a very significant detour so we could visit Athens, Georgia, the home of R.E.M.
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Michael Stripes, R.E.M.'s lead singer, is a man of many talents. You may not know but he is also a photographer and the front cover of their first album Murmur is a photo he took. That photo is of a very overgrown train trestle that you can still see today in Athens, Georgia. They even call it the R.E.M. Murmur Trestle. I have to admit that you have to use your imagination to recreate that image as it wasn't covered with kudzu when I was there. Needless to say listening to 'Radio Free Europe' and sitting in Dudley Park looking at the train trestle could become a special holiday memory for some.
Another R.E.M. related thing to do in Athens is to eat some soul food at Weaver D's Delicious Fine Foods. The restaurant's motto is 'Automatic for the People'. Before the band used the name for their eighth album they went down and got the owner's permission. The restaurant is located at 1016 E. Broad Street. I strongly recommend the Peach Cobbler. As you dig in don't be surprised if you catch your self humming one of R.E.M.'s many classics.
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