Forces Worldwide, Love it or Leave it Alone

Somewhere between Dead Confederate in next months Rolling Stone (look for it in the "10 Bands to Watch for '09" section), Dark Meat's two page spread in Spin, We Versus the Shark and Harvey Milk getting rave reviews on the ol' Pitchfork, and The Whigs on David Letterman, I realized that a handful of bands are about to get a lot of national attention and spark a resurgence of serious magnitude. I personally believe it will not be unlike the wave of bands in the day (uh, you know who I'm talking about here) that are responsible for singlehandedly turning Athens into a musical boomtown. Local "purists" may claim that I am completely wrong, sublimely naive, and that Athens is a pretentious town with a music scene whose popularity constantly ebbs and flows. These people would be correct. That said, I feel proud to coexist alongside artists who are being recognized for their art. It feels good to watch bands carve out their own little footholds on history. I'm glad to witness. So yeah, the best bands may never ever be heard, and while it may leave some people regretfully mourning in their Boulevard home whilst listening to records whose level of obscurity you could never understand or even begin to know about, the abundance of local bands being toasted by national publications makes Athens once again noticed as one of America's musical meccas. And it is. So the only thing left to do is burn that "I love what Athens used to be" shirt that you bought from Schoolkids, lace up your townie boots, and ride your lime green 1964 Schwinn beach cruiser downtown to go see some bands. Or don't. Either way, I'll see you at The Grit.