Athens, Ohio, if you’re unfamiliar, is a glorious small college town nestled along the Hocking River in Southeast Ohio. James and I spent our more formative years at Ohio University, engaged in rigorous studies of anatomy, physics, and interpersonal communication. What separates Athens from typical college towns is its proximity to nothing. It’s literally the only bustling area betweeen Columbus and West Virginia, and all of the students seek binge drinking and social outlets because they’re simply bored out of their minds. It’s spectacular. So many nights of our young adult years were spent contemplating exactly where and when to start boozing and where the after-hours party was going to be. There were no bills (not that we paid regularly, anyway), no pressures of the real world, and all of this took place in a sprawling small town with 30+ bars and a party scene that needs very little explanation.
When we got the email about “Return to OU,” we were stoked. Basically, some dude decided to begin a facebook campaign to rally all of the OU grads from 1996-2003 to come back into town for two nights of old school alcohol consumption and bad behavior. It’s really quite an interesting premise. On one hand, very few of us can tie one on like we used to, but on the flip side, ten years ago we did it harder and better than anyone in the country. Needless to say, James flew in from Chicago and we’re making the trip…..
This is a pre-written post, folks. With all of the debauchery this weekend, we wanted to get this thing pre-scheduled to post. Who really knows what kind of situation we will be in on Sunday. Our best guess is that you’re going to have to wait until Monday to see if we actually survived. We’ve pre-programmed our Ipods for a kick ass playlist that will get us down I-77 in fine fashion. We’ve got some bands with local Athens ties, including the stellar Southeast Engine. They play regular at Casa down here and although they’re getting plenty of indie buzz, they know where their roots are. We’ve got an old-school Phoenix track (mainly because we’re bored with the crazy hype of all the new stuff). We’ve got some tunes we’ve been currently spinning a whole lot, and a mixture of some stuff on the horizon. If for some reason you managed to pull right up along side our car and tuned your FM transmitter to 90.7, you probably tagged along for the entire trip and caught a shitload of great music. Enjoy the track. We’ll post an update on our coordinates, weight gain, and fine totals sometime this week….
++The Wooden Birds – “Anna Paula”
++The Intelligence – “Thank You God for Fixin The Tape Machine”
Sparklehorse and Danger Mouse (Feat. Casablancas) – “Little Girl”
++Megafaun – “The Fade”
++Blitzen Trapper – “Murder Babe”
++Foreign Born – “Wait in this Chair”
++Crocodiles – “Flash of Light”
The High Strung – “Standing at the Door of Self Discovery”
Animal Collective – “For Reverend Green”
++Apostle of Hustle – “Perfect Fit”
++Pink Mountaintops – “And I Thank You”
Southeast Engine – “Preparing for the Flood”
White Rabbits – “Percussion Gun”
Harlem – “Beautiful and Very Smart” (Live Via WOXY Lounge Session)
