May was full of sunshine and festivals even for those of us who didn’t leave town. First we had the 34th Annual Athens Human Rights Festival (www.athenshumanrightsfest.org). This is a totally free show, they shut down College Square and build a big wooden stage/tent/homebase. Held over two days and nights, it was the place to be, hot in the sun, cool in the shade, tons of great music and lots of interesting speakers. My weekend started with Adam Payne, Adam Poulin and Shawn Patrick, all members of Dangfly (www.facebook.com/dangfly), then Showtime with Elite tha Showstoppa (www.myspace.com/elitethashowstoppaga), Lowdive (www.reverbnation.com/lowdive), Timi Conley and Kite to the Moon (www.kitetothemoon.com), Betsy Franck & the Bare Knuckle Band (www.bareknuckleband.net) and Big C & the Velvet Delta (www.reverbnation.com/bigcthevelvetdelta). All of these band are very uplifting no matter where they are playing but they transcend this feeling on the stage that has been used at every single Human Rights Festival since the very first one. Neighbors, friends and llamas hanging out in the streets of downtown Athens. The interesting speakers educated us on all sorts of topics, injustices, human rights and things. Some topics were a bit too graphic for me to enjoy hearing in between every band performance. If you don’t mind mixing your music with politics than it’s an awesome time. It was a too ‘up and down’ for me to get happy with the music than sad with the speakers. As my buddy Scott Low (Efren) says, “they go there…”. If you’ve never seen Kite To The Moon perform, the best time to see them is during a festival on an outdoor stage. Timi Conley has played at most Athens Human Rights Festivals and he doesn’t hold back. Fairies sprinkling pixie dust at the beginning of the show, stuffed animals being sling shotted into the crowd, Tiger Girls attacking the band, you never know what you’ll see at a Kite To The Moon show.
Oh My. Timi, Jay and Andrew..and all the Tiger Girls really got the Human Rights Festival jumping.
‘Girl on the Edge of a Seaside Cliff’
‘Another Way’
‘Caught In A Bad Romance’ (Lady Gaga) > ‘The W. 29th St. Shuffle’ (aka ‘Nobody’s Watchin’ Me)’
