WEBVTT

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Welcome to Overeducated and Underemployed, y

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'all. We got a really cool episode this week.

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If you remember a few months back, I went to

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AthFest and talked to a bunch of bands there,

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talked to the photographer there. This week,

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we're sitting down with the CEO of AthFest, Mary

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Joyce. She's also a musician. She was in bands

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like Shitty Candy and the Circus Peanuts, Maximum

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Busy Muscle, Incendiary, and just... We had a

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really cool talk about all kinds of different

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things, music, nonprofit organizations, even

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touching on adoption and that process. So I hope

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you enjoy it. Thanks for tuning in, y 'all. Hit

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that subscribe button. And we got a lot coming

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up. We got John Neff. We got Jim Kimo West. We

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got Tommy Simbazo. Next week, we got Sam Lipkin.

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So stick around. We're on Overeducated and Underemployed.

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I'm here with Mary Joyce. She's the CEO of Atfest

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and among other things. But we're going to learn

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all about all those things today. But you're

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also a musician to some degree. I've gathered.

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So I'm going to ask you the same question I ask

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every musician. Okay. To start with. And I think

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it's an important question even if you're not

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a musician. But what's the first song that you

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remember loving as a kid? I don't know the title

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of it, but Jeremiah was a bullfrog from the Big

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Chill soundtrack. Joy to the world, maybe? One

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of my favorite things growing up was putting

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on my parents' records. The Big Chill soundtrack

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was one of my favorites, and then I would roller

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skate around the house. Nice. Yeah. I used to

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roller skate, and my dog would pull me. We, yeah.

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That's interesting. A lot of people, their first

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song that they remember, it seems to have something

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to do with a movie. Oh, yeah. It's just something

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I've noticed, whether it's like Twist and Shout

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out of Ferris Bueller or Bohemian Rhapsody out

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of Wayne's World, because that brought that song

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back to a whole new, another generation of people.

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But yeah, I think it's, did you see the movie

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or was it just the soundtrack? Can't imagine.

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That my parents showed me the Big Chill. Yeah,

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I don't know that I've ever seen it, honestly.

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Age seven. Because there is like a suicide and...

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Gotcha. Drug use and... It is one of the best

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selling soundtracks of all time. It's incredible.

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Yeah. I still listen to it now. We would sell

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it constantly, even like in the early 2000s at

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the record store I worked at. Yeah. It was like

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constantly something we would sell and keep in

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stock. Yeah, it got me really into it. I ended

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up... Getting really interested in canned heat

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and Sam and Dave. Oh, cool. A wide variety. It's

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also limited to what my parents had in their

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record collection, but theirs was massive. So

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what did you start to get into when you really

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got into music as a kid? Yeah, so I did piano

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lessons when I was really young and singing in

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the church choir always. And then in sixth grade,

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You could choose whether to be an orchestra or

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in band. And I wanted to play the trumpet, but

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we didn't have the money to rent a trumpet. Gotcha.

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But some generous donor had donated drums to

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the school. Yeah. And so all we had to buy was

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sticks. Oh, nice. So I started learning how to

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play the drums. I bet your parents loved that.

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They were very... accommodating. Yeah. For sure.

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Yeah. I think maybe around 12 or so, I got a

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Sears drum set that everything sounded like,

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but then eventually, and then eventually as I

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kept playing, I think I was 15 when they got

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me like a real drum set. Gotcha. Gotcha. So were

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you playing in bands? What kind of music were

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you like playing along to and stuff when you

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were playing drums? So I was playing along to,

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I ended up playing a lot along to Lenny Kravitz.

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Oh, okay. Cool. Because A, the drummer, she was

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like fantastic, but it was also very simple.

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Yeah. Yeah. And so my brother's friend. It was

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like accessible to you. Yeah. Yeah. My brother's

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friend gave me a couple lessons and was like,

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listen to her and try to listen to the beat.

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And then. have your friend turn the volume down

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in the headphones and then turn it back up and

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see if you're still in line. Yeah. And so it's

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the beats were. So you weren't playing to a click,

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but you were like imitating, having like testing

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yourself and seeing if you could keep in time.

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Yeah. And then I didn't, I was an athlete in

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high school. Okay. So I didn't really play it

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on my own, but I didn't actually play with a

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band until the, my senior year of college. Okay.

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And what band was that? How did that go down?

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Oh, gosh. What was the name of the band? Something

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Waiting for January. Interesting. But some friends

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of mine were playing together and we need a drummer.

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I was like, I actually. Everybody needs a drummer.

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Yeah. I was like, I actually am that and have

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those things. And it was not very good, but.

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But sometimes, especially with drums, like that's

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if you have the things and you show up on time.

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That was, yeah, that's the situation. Definitely.

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So played with those folks for a couple of years

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and that kind of morphed into other projects.

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And I discovered very quickly that I hate touring.

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Yeah. And it's possible I was. So y 'all started

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touring. Tried to. We were very young. It's hard.

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It was like a week or two. You know, going up

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to New York and back or going down to Gainesville

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and back. And I discovered I did not like that

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very much. What were the things about it that

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you really, like, that you hated? Being around

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people all the time. All the time, yeah. And

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then especially, like, the second and third groups

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I was with. I think a lot of female musicians

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encounter this if you're playing with all men,

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that you become the person who's managing everything.

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I think, yeah, no, I think that's common a lot.

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Like even I know several groups that are like

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all women, but it always seems to fall on one

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person. Yeah. And I feel like the like intrinsic

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misogyny in our culture, like it usually is,

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oh, yeah, the woman will do that. The woman will,

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they'll schedule the thing or they'll do it.

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A lot of the executive functioning, I feel like.

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Which is honestly not my strong suit. And so

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I think I just got frustrated with that. But

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more just being around people all day, every

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day. Really fun. Really exhausting. I am awed

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by the folks that do it for a month or two at

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a time out of a van. Shocked. Yeah, I really

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like being on the road. Doing this, doing comedy,

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even just going to shows. I do think I hit like

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a point after a week where I'm like, all right,

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this is not. And I wonder like, how do you go

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beyond that? And like, still feel like you have

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a home or anything like that. And it's just not

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something, in some ways, it's not something I've

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been fortunate enough to do yet. But I'm also,

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it's also scary. Yeah. I think with comedy. It

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can be a little bit different though, too, because

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you're flying a lot of the time. You're like

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going for like a weekend or, and so you're home

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like in between shows on off days a lot more

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often than a musician might be. But I still,

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I can't fathom it. What about just the kind of

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having to rely on diners and that sort of, what

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was that like for you? So we were all just so

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poor. And for a lot of us, it was, we weren't

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in a place in our lives where we had paid time

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off or whatever. So we were like 20 to 25. And

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we packed sandwiches for a week. That was wild.

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And I remember around this time, I think it was

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the first time I saw Maserati play. Okay. And

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blew all of our minds, but from the music, but

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then also like they were. in a parking lot and

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pulled out like a little camp like a bunsen burner

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camper stove and we're like making ramen and

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we were like that's so smart we're definitely

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doing that so we would like park at state parks

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and use their grills and yeah we didn't get to

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eat out tons but one of the benefits of being

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to the beauty of like small playing like house

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shows and traveling around to small venues and

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A lot of places, the punk house is going to feed

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you burritos. I just heard about this program

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that Taco Bell has had for decades, apparently,

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where touring musicians can go on and it's almost

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like a grant that they get. And they apply with

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Taco Bell directly and Taco Bell sends the band

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gift cards. That is amazing. Yeah, it made me

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fall in love with Taco Bell all over again. I

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needed another reason. To love Taco Bell. But

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then when you mentioned burritos, I was like,

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wait a second. But I don't know if it existed

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back then, but I think they've been doing it

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for at least like 15, 20 years now. It's amazing.

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So at what point did you decide like you didn't

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want to be like a touring musician? You didn't

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want to be maybe even it doesn't sound like you

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pursued music like super hard after that. So

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I did. So when I moved to town. There was a point

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in time where I was on like three or four bands

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at a time and was loving that. But y 'all were

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staying here. Yeah. And there was a point. So

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one of my bands here, Incendiaries, started getting

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a little bit bigger, like asking, being asked

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to open for Wild Flag in the Forty Water, like

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getting these asks. And I was, I've always known

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I wanted to be a mom. And so I was in the adoption

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process, like. waiting to be matched, and they

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were wanting to do more. So at that point, I

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stepped back, and they became a three -piece

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called Motherfucker that took off and went to

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Europe and all kinds of stuff. Was that name,

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like, because you wanted to be a motherfucker?

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It was kind of like a one -off where they, like,

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Incendiary was so intricate music and, like,

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lots of parts and guitar -many and... dual vocals

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or trio vocals. And so they were like, let's

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just do a yes and band. Whatever somebody writes

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is great. We're going to play maybe that riff

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and maybe one other. And that's our song. And

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they nailed it. Just knocked it out of the park.

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And people were like, no, you have to keep doing

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that. And so they did. And I think it was just

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a one -time name for Slapfest. Little Kings.

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Like, we're going to do this one time. And then

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people loved it. At that same time, I was playing

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with Maximum Busy Muscle, which was like instrumental

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math metal. And so we pulled in a second drummer,

00:12:45.559 --> 00:12:48.639
Erica Rickson, so that if, because when you're

00:12:48.639 --> 00:12:50.639
masked for adoption, like your whole life changes

00:12:50.639 --> 00:12:53.159
immediately and you don't have a prep. So if

00:12:53.159 --> 00:12:56.279
we were booked for shows or something, we would

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either do double drums or if I was pulled out

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for some reason, they would still be able to

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perform. Yeah. So that's when. This was about

00:13:03.809 --> 00:13:06.230
12 years ago, 13 years ago. So that's when I

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started dialing back. Let's back up a little

00:13:09.269 --> 00:13:12.009
bit here because I feel like we just skipped

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a chunk where you're playing drums like at home

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by yourself. And you started playing along to

00:13:18.970 --> 00:13:20.450
Lenny Kravitz. But what else were you listening

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to? What bands were you going to see? What were

00:13:23.549 --> 00:13:25.610
you like in college? What were your bands that

00:13:25.610 --> 00:13:29.269
you liked? So like in high school, it was a lot

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of Grateful Dead. All my brothers really loved

00:13:33.940 --> 00:13:36.080
the Red Hot Chili Peppers, but then also like

00:13:36.080 --> 00:13:41.580
Belly, NWA, Nine Inch Nails. All over the place.

00:13:41.580 --> 00:13:44.000
Yeah. So I graduated in 97. So there was like

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a really eclectic. Yeah. Like Nirvana and also

00:13:48.139 --> 00:13:51.820
Prince. Yeah. There was so much out. And there

00:13:51.820 --> 00:13:53.899
was, it was like this period where the older

00:13:53.899 --> 00:13:57.480
stuff was still like, like Prince, Bowie and

00:13:57.480 --> 00:13:59.730
stuff like that were still. actively putting

00:13:59.730 --> 00:14:02.409
out music, but then also all these new sounds

00:14:02.409 --> 00:14:06.710
like Chili Peppers, Nine Inch Nails, Nirvana,

00:14:06.789 --> 00:14:09.309
all these. It really was an interesting time

00:14:09.309 --> 00:14:12.490
period for music. Yeah. And it was, so I grew

00:14:12.490 --> 00:14:16.070
up in Atlanta. Okay. And so it was Lollapalooza

00:14:16.070 --> 00:14:18.330
started, I think it was in eighth grade, ninth

00:14:18.330 --> 00:14:20.789
grade when those. I started going to music midtown

00:14:20.789 --> 00:14:26.429
in 2001. So yeah, I'm, I'm 39. So I, I think

00:14:26.429 --> 00:14:30.289
my first one, I was like 15. It was right before

00:14:30.289 --> 00:14:33.750
9 -11, I remember. Oh, yeah. And Dylan played,

00:14:33.950 --> 00:14:36.129
and it was like one of those notoriously terrible

00:14:36.129 --> 00:14:39.950
Dylan sets. Like top 10 worst shows ever kind

00:14:39.950 --> 00:14:42.269
of thing. And it made me like swear off Bob Dylan

00:14:42.269 --> 00:14:45.830
for a long time. I was like 15. I was like, why

00:14:45.830 --> 00:14:48.710
do people care about this? Yeah, interesting.

00:14:49.309 --> 00:14:52.889
So I grew up going to Atlanta for shows a lot.

00:14:53.090 --> 00:14:56.129
The Masquerade, Tabernacle, even the Cotton Club

00:14:56.129 --> 00:14:59.409
when it was. I saw them years at the Cotton Club

00:14:59.409 --> 00:15:02.610
when they were like nobody. Yeah. And they only

00:15:02.610 --> 00:15:04.809
got to play three songs because the lead singer

00:15:04.809 --> 00:15:08.110
cut his lip open and they had to cancel the rest

00:15:08.110 --> 00:15:11.789
of the tour. But I loved it. Atlanta was like,

00:15:11.850 --> 00:15:14.970
that was my playground. I loved Atlanta as a

00:15:14.970 --> 00:15:18.710
kid. Yeah, we would, and this kind of ties back

00:15:18.710 --> 00:15:22.409
into AthFest, we would, one of the bands we would

00:15:22.409 --> 00:15:25.899
sneak in to places to see was 5 '8". Okay. This

00:15:25.899 --> 00:15:31.480
is probably 95, 96. And then when I was in town,

00:15:31.559 --> 00:15:35.960
like interviewing for grad school, I like wandered

00:15:35.960 --> 00:15:38.480
into AthFest and 5 '8 was playing. I was like

00:15:38.480 --> 00:15:40.200
calling my high school friends. You will not

00:15:40.200 --> 00:15:42.799
believe what's happening right now. They're still

00:15:42.799 --> 00:15:45.279
playing. That's awesome. And they're on a stage.

00:15:45.299 --> 00:15:47.240
And I just saw, I just saw them two months ago.

00:15:47.340 --> 00:15:49.299
They played like a private event at normal bar.

00:15:49.399 --> 00:15:52.399
It was incredible. Yeah. It was amazing. Yeah.

00:15:52.399 --> 00:15:55.460
It was really loud. That's a loud room. So then

00:15:55.460 --> 00:16:00.519
I got to college and like still Grateful Dead.

00:16:01.259 --> 00:16:04.740
Got interested in Bela Fleck. Yeah. So were you

00:16:04.740 --> 00:16:06.779
like in the fests and stuff at that point? Were

00:16:06.779 --> 00:16:08.860
you going to? Some of them. You were going to

00:16:08.860 --> 00:16:11.919
Bonnaroo or anything like that? Okay. No. Got

00:16:11.919 --> 00:16:15.559
really into Ani DeFranco. And then my senior

00:16:15.559 --> 00:16:18.679
year of college when I started playing music.

00:16:19.470 --> 00:16:21.110
And people heard that music and they were like,

00:16:21.169 --> 00:16:22.809
oh, you guys sound a lot like Modest Mouse. And

00:16:22.809 --> 00:16:24.250
I was like, tell me about this Modest Mouse.

00:16:24.429 --> 00:16:27.129
Oh, interesting. So I learned about this whole,

00:16:27.330 --> 00:16:29.909
I just didn't really know about this kind of

00:16:29.909 --> 00:16:33.710
indie. Yeah. Well, like in the late 90s, early

00:16:33.710 --> 00:16:36.009
2000s, like it was right when it was blowing

00:16:36.009 --> 00:16:39.250
up. Yeah. Like I feel like their big record didn't

00:16:39.250 --> 00:16:42.970
even come out until 2003, maybe 2002, something

00:16:42.970 --> 00:16:46.210
like that. Yeah. So learning about like. Modest

00:16:46.210 --> 00:16:50.409
Mouse and Cursive and June of 44 and like this

00:16:50.409 --> 00:16:53.549
whole genre that I didn't know existed. And I

00:16:53.549 --> 00:16:54.750
was like, you're right. We do sound like that.

00:16:54.809 --> 00:16:58.809
And I like this. Yeah. I've had a similar experience.

00:16:58.889 --> 00:17:01.230
Like I grew up listening to a lot of the standard

00:17:01.230 --> 00:17:06.829
of all genres, really. Hip hop, soul, rock, but.

00:17:07.200 --> 00:17:09.339
just like the standards uh and then i started

00:17:09.339 --> 00:17:11.400
working in an indie record store when i was 18

00:17:11.400 --> 00:17:14.220
and it yeah it was getting all kinds of stuff

00:17:14.220 --> 00:17:16.200
yeah it completely changed everything i got into

00:17:16.200 --> 00:17:20.559
eric bachman and the drive -by truckers and cursive

00:17:20.559 --> 00:17:22.400
is one of those bands i got really into for a

00:17:22.400 --> 00:17:26.480
while too spoon so yeah yeah no i relate to that

00:17:26.480 --> 00:17:28.880
a lot it's like there's a whole world out here

00:17:28.880 --> 00:17:32.819
yeah and it was no idea and it was like They

00:17:32.819 --> 00:17:35.380
were doing what they wanted to do. That was the

00:17:35.380 --> 00:17:36.980
thing that was super appealing to me about it.

00:17:37.039 --> 00:17:38.480
It was like, there's this whole world of artists

00:17:38.480 --> 00:17:43.339
that aren't controlled by corporate radio. How

00:17:43.339 --> 00:17:47.200
much was that a part of it for you? The kind

00:17:47.200 --> 00:17:49.160
of independence of it, not just the genre of

00:17:49.160 --> 00:17:51.019
music. I don't think I was like aware enough

00:17:51.019 --> 00:17:55.180
at the time to fully understand that aspect of

00:17:55.180 --> 00:17:57.940
it. Gotcha. Gotcha. It hadn't gotten quite as

00:17:57.940 --> 00:18:00.519
evil yet either. Like it wasn't as super apparent,

00:18:00.599 --> 00:18:04.339
I feel like, until. Like Napster. Yeah, I think

00:18:04.339 --> 00:18:07.160
I had friends who worked at the college radio

00:18:07.160 --> 00:18:10.539
station. And I think there was definitely an

00:18:10.539 --> 00:18:13.099
awareness around me. I was not in particular

00:18:13.099 --> 00:18:17.819
aware human at the time. But you, I guess I bring

00:18:17.819 --> 00:18:22.140
that up because I feel like that is part of why

00:18:22.140 --> 00:18:25.380
you're so involved in AFFest now. And what got

00:18:25.380 --> 00:18:27.960
you into AFFest is like the independent kind

00:18:27.960 --> 00:18:32.160
of nature of it all. Yeah. Yeah. I don't think

00:18:32.160 --> 00:18:35.640
I even knew that putting on festivals was a job.

00:18:36.180 --> 00:18:39.940
Really? Or I just hadn't thought about it. But

00:18:39.940 --> 00:18:43.839
yeah, the amazing thing about AFES to me, there's

00:18:43.839 --> 00:18:46.140
so many amazing things about it to me, but the

00:18:46.140 --> 00:18:50.039
fact that it is, yes, we get some larger names

00:18:50.039 --> 00:18:54.680
from out of town or regionally or whatever, but

00:18:54.680 --> 00:18:57.079
it is, the whole goal is putting a spotlight

00:18:57.079 --> 00:19:01.660
on what we have here locally, Georgia. specifically

00:19:01.660 --> 00:19:05.200
in Northeast Georgia. And I love that part. But

00:19:05.200 --> 00:19:09.740
yeah, it's interesting. I got to see how the

00:19:09.740 --> 00:19:14.220
Athens music scene bleeds out. That first tour

00:19:14.220 --> 00:19:18.799
that I went on ever, we went up like North Carolina,

00:19:18.799 --> 00:19:21.759
Virginia, maybe Pennsylvania, then New York and

00:19:21.759 --> 00:19:25.579
back down. And literally every single house we

00:19:25.579 --> 00:19:28.700
stayed at, they were playing in an airplane over

00:19:28.700 --> 00:19:32.309
the sea. Yeah. They just come out. Just right.

00:19:32.410 --> 00:19:35.390
Yeah. And it was everywhere. It sounds like I'm

00:19:35.390 --> 00:19:37.890
exaggerating, but we would walk into a half and

00:19:37.890 --> 00:19:41.049
that's what was going on. I was probably selling

00:19:41.049 --> 00:19:45.230
a copy of that record every day, like just this

00:19:45.230 --> 00:19:48.009
one little indie record store. Yeah. Yeah. So

00:19:48.009 --> 00:19:53.230
I believe it. Yeah, I believe it. So you was

00:19:53.230 --> 00:19:55.710
that your first at best then when you walk in

00:19:55.710 --> 00:19:59.470
and not in five eights playing? Yeah. So. What

00:19:59.470 --> 00:20:03.309
happened then? Did you keep coming back every

00:20:03.309 --> 00:20:05.910
year after that? Yeah, so I got into the grad

00:20:05.910 --> 00:20:10.589
program, and so I moved up here in 2005. And

00:20:10.589 --> 00:20:12.150
what were you going to school for? What were

00:20:12.150 --> 00:20:14.250
you studying? Nonprofit management. Okay, so

00:20:14.250 --> 00:20:17.470
you knew what you wanted to do a little bit.

00:20:17.589 --> 00:20:22.910
Yeah, so after school, after undergrad, I took

00:20:22.910 --> 00:20:27.869
several years off, like five years off. Kept

00:20:27.869 --> 00:20:31.990
ending up in like nonprofit -y jobs, but I was

00:20:31.990 --> 00:20:35.390
working two or three jobs and not making enough

00:20:35.390 --> 00:20:40.670
to really live on. And so despite swearing that

00:20:40.670 --> 00:20:43.069
I would never go back to school, I was like,

00:20:43.089 --> 00:20:46.990
okay, maybe if I get some letters after my name,

00:20:47.130 --> 00:20:51.710
like I can just have one job. And I am incredibly

00:20:51.710 --> 00:20:55.049
grateful that worked out. So I moved here 2005.

00:20:56.240 --> 00:21:00.940
And then started playing in bands, going to school.

00:21:01.720 --> 00:21:04.740
The first band I got into was called Shitty Candy

00:21:04.740 --> 00:21:09.039
and the Circus Peanuts. Okay. Which is all female.

00:21:09.160 --> 00:21:11.660
There's one guy. There's been different iterations.

00:21:11.779 --> 00:21:15.220
There were. I gotcha. Mostly all female, like

00:21:15.220 --> 00:21:18.440
tongue in cheek, comedy, punk rock with confrontational

00:21:18.440 --> 00:21:22.500
ballerinas. So there was like. choreography and

00:21:22.500 --> 00:21:25.140
we were all dressed up as characters so almost

00:21:25.140 --> 00:21:28.380
like performance art not just a bit yeah yeah

00:21:28.380 --> 00:21:31.279
and i actually ended up playing guitar in that

00:21:31.279 --> 00:21:35.339
band and then eventually found i guess maximum

00:21:35.339 --> 00:21:39.099
busy muscle first yeah and then incendiaries

00:21:39.099 --> 00:21:42.779
and and you're in grad school at this time too

00:21:42.779 --> 00:21:44.519
yeah while you're playing in all these bands

00:21:44.519 --> 00:21:47.980
yeah and then i lucked into through an internship

00:21:47.980 --> 00:21:50.990
got a full -time job in child welfare for a non

00:21:50.990 --> 00:21:54.910
-profit in town gotcha stayed there for 15 years

00:21:54.910 --> 00:22:00.069
still playing music and towards the middle of

00:22:00.069 --> 00:22:03.970
that end of that adopted my son and so that kind

00:22:03.970 --> 00:22:07.009
of cut some things back in terms of the playing

00:22:07.009 --> 00:22:10.789
music playing music yeah for sure and at that

00:22:10.789 --> 00:22:15.109
same time you're getting like more involved like

00:22:15.109 --> 00:22:19.069
with other things in town Like volunteering.

00:22:19.490 --> 00:22:23.430
So I was doing work with, I worked with Bike

00:22:23.430 --> 00:22:27.049
Athens a fair amount. I really liked that. The

00:22:27.049 --> 00:22:31.630
hard part, I think, or a side effect of working

00:22:31.630 --> 00:22:36.089
at a nonprofit is that you end up occasionally

00:22:36.089 --> 00:22:39.930
donating a lot of your time to that nonprofit.

00:22:40.690 --> 00:22:43.130
So the volunteering becomes a bit difficult,

00:22:43.250 --> 00:22:48.210
honestly. Yeah. So, yeah, I think Bike Athens

00:22:48.210 --> 00:22:51.170
and Jeanette Rankin Foundation were the last

00:22:51.170 --> 00:22:54.970
things that I really volunteered with. But during

00:22:54.970 --> 00:22:57.250
that time, like playing AthFest, going every

00:22:57.250 --> 00:23:00.450
year. And it's interesting. I think I played

00:23:00.450 --> 00:23:05.289
in 2012 and 2014. And at least one of those,

00:23:05.390 --> 00:23:09.150
maybe both times, I didn't realize that it benefited

00:23:09.150 --> 00:23:12.490
a nonprofit. Like I didn't know. Oh, interesting.

00:23:12.869 --> 00:23:16.210
And so that. Was some of my interest and kind

00:23:16.210 --> 00:23:19.329
of motivation for taking the job is if I didn't

00:23:19.329 --> 00:23:22.069
know, like I'm working in the nonprofit field

00:23:22.069 --> 00:23:24.549
and I'm playing this festival and I go every

00:23:24.549 --> 00:23:27.109
year and I don't know. There's a whole lot of

00:23:27.109 --> 00:23:29.089
people that don't know, which leads to a lot

00:23:29.089 --> 00:23:32.910
of misunderstanding about finances and that kind

00:23:32.910 --> 00:23:37.009
of thing. I think there's just like some fact,

00:23:37.069 --> 00:23:39.970
like y 'all do compensate the artists, but at

00:23:39.970 --> 00:23:43.660
the level that most of them deserve. Oh yeah,

00:23:43.740 --> 00:23:45.420
definitely not deserved, but definitely not the

00:23:45.420 --> 00:23:49.759
level of other for -profit festivals are paying.

00:23:50.000 --> 00:23:53.259
Yeah, but that's part of the way that bands are

00:23:53.259 --> 00:23:55.440
giving back to the community as well. They're

00:23:55.440 --> 00:23:57.579
basically paid enough to where they're not going

00:23:57.579 --> 00:24:03.180
to lose money by playing, but that's it. Yeah,

00:24:03.200 --> 00:24:07.539
and I think having been in the music scene and

00:24:07.539 --> 00:24:11.220
now in this role, it is... easier for musicians

00:24:11.220 --> 00:24:14.119
and artists to hear that coming from me yeah

00:24:14.119 --> 00:24:17.579
and it's easier for me to communicate to the

00:24:17.579 --> 00:24:21.799
community about here's where these funds go because

00:24:21.799 --> 00:24:26.559
my face operates in both spaces so talk can you

00:24:26.559 --> 00:24:28.500
talk about just how you came into that role in

00:24:28.500 --> 00:24:31.920
the first place and then and then I'd love to

00:24:31.920 --> 00:24:36.109
hear just more about the structure of AFEST and

00:24:36.109 --> 00:24:38.769
AFEST educates and like how the relationship

00:24:38.769 --> 00:24:41.210
between the fundraising and the grant distribution

00:24:41.210 --> 00:24:45.089
and that sort of thing goes. Yeah. After about

00:24:45.089 --> 00:24:48.569
15 years or so in child welfare, I got burnout.

00:24:49.490 --> 00:24:54.589
It's hard. Yeah. I, yeah, I got real burnout.

00:24:55.029 --> 00:24:58.789
You're seeing like the worst of humanity on a

00:24:58.789 --> 00:25:01.730
regular basis. Yeah. And the pressure of testifying

00:25:01.730 --> 00:25:06.140
in court and that. The things I say go into these

00:25:06.140 --> 00:25:09.640
decisions that are, could be life and death or

00:25:09.640 --> 00:25:12.460
just whether family is staying together or not.

00:25:12.480 --> 00:25:16.720
Like that, it just got to be too much. And so

00:25:16.720 --> 00:25:20.579
looking around and also just being a newish mom,

00:25:20.940 --> 00:25:25.940
this takes too much. Yeah. Like I, maybe I just

00:25:25.940 --> 00:25:28.519
need to be doing like, what do you call that?

00:25:28.559 --> 00:25:33.559
Like medical dictation, something. And then this

00:25:33.559 --> 00:25:37.839
job popped up or it came across my radar. And

00:25:37.839 --> 00:25:41.279
I had known somebody on the board. I met them

00:25:41.279 --> 00:25:44.980
through Lead Athens, which is like a program

00:25:44.980 --> 00:25:50.079
put on by the Chamber of Commerce to like help

00:25:50.079 --> 00:25:52.900
develop leaders in the community. Gotcha. And

00:25:52.900 --> 00:25:55.420
she was like, yeah, you should apply. So I applied

00:25:55.420 --> 00:25:58.380
and I was really excited most of my life, especially.

00:25:59.180 --> 00:26:01.400
Or most of my life in Athens, especially with

00:26:01.400 --> 00:26:05.599
the court appearances and the way I had to present

00:26:05.599 --> 00:26:10.079
myself. I kept my music life very separate from

00:26:10.079 --> 00:26:13.480
my professional life. Like extremely separate.

00:26:13.859 --> 00:26:17.660
Do you think that ever affected gigs that you

00:26:17.660 --> 00:26:21.160
would or wouldn't take or bands that you may

00:26:21.160 --> 00:26:23.839
or may not want to play with? I'm thinking I

00:26:23.839 --> 00:26:27.539
can think of like more direct things as a comedian.

00:26:28.680 --> 00:26:31.559
where like self -censorship might come into play

00:26:31.559 --> 00:26:35.059
if you're in a really any kind of a government

00:26:35.059 --> 00:26:38.779
position of any kind or involved in those sorts

00:26:38.779 --> 00:26:41.960
of not even working for the government but in

00:26:41.960 --> 00:26:44.740
a role where you're constantly interacting with

00:26:44.740 --> 00:26:47.579
the public and yeah i can say for sure i'm really

00:26:47.579 --> 00:26:51.720
glad that there weren't smartphones or most people

00:26:51.720 --> 00:26:53.279
didn't have them when i was playing with shitty

00:26:53.279 --> 00:26:56.059
candy in the circus yeah that's the one that

00:26:56.059 --> 00:27:00.430
would have been a bit of a challenge. Did you

00:27:00.430 --> 00:27:03.410
say they were confrontational ballerinas? Yes.

00:27:03.450 --> 00:27:06.950
Can we talk a little bit more about that? Performing

00:27:06.950 --> 00:27:09.890
with that group was some of the wildest stuff

00:27:09.890 --> 00:27:14.690
I have ever... Yeah. So yeah, they would do audience

00:27:14.690 --> 00:27:20.289
interaction and we had songs like Slutty Ballerina

00:27:20.289 --> 00:27:26.430
and UTI and Soul Sauce and just... It was wild.

00:27:26.880 --> 00:27:30.240
Like we, so the 40 watt asked us not to come

00:27:30.240 --> 00:27:33.660
back. They were kind about it. That was more

00:27:33.660 --> 00:27:36.799
about, we also threw out candy. Oh, gotcha. So

00:27:36.799 --> 00:27:39.359
then there were like gummy bears ground into

00:27:39.359 --> 00:27:41.900
the carpet of the stage there. Oh yeah. That's

00:27:41.900 --> 00:27:45.299
yeah. Not cool. Yeah. Now I'm like, wow. I'd

00:27:45.299 --> 00:27:48.000
be real mad too. We had one, we played the star

00:27:48.000 --> 00:27:53.599
bar in Atlanta. Oh no. Yeah. We did jello wrestling

00:27:53.599 --> 00:27:56.720
on stage. Or the confrontational ballerinas did.

00:27:57.180 --> 00:27:59.500
And we thought we had it set with, we have a

00:27:59.500 --> 00:28:01.700
little tarp and then the kiddie pool and the

00:28:01.700 --> 00:28:04.799
jello would be in there. This is not, of course

00:28:04.799 --> 00:28:07.420
it was not going to stay in there. And the band

00:28:07.420 --> 00:28:12.480
after us was like all sludge, like sludge, slow

00:28:12.480 --> 00:28:15.920
metal. And they were all in black with like long

00:28:15.920 --> 00:28:18.980
hair to their waist and trying to stand like

00:28:18.980 --> 00:28:25.059
wide stance. And like slipping on stage. Good

00:28:25.059 --> 00:28:28.720
stuff. Really good stuff. There's a lot of bands

00:28:28.720 --> 00:28:32.339
that came out in the 90s and early 2000s that

00:28:32.339 --> 00:28:34.460
were doing a lot of stuff like that. I feel like

00:28:34.460 --> 00:28:37.200
War comes to mind a little bit, but then also

00:28:37.200 --> 00:28:40.640
bands like the Infinite Sea Snakes or the Jenna

00:28:40.640 --> 00:28:44.960
Torturers. I feel like Lords of Acid probably

00:28:44.960 --> 00:28:47.160
did some stuff like that at their shows too,

00:28:47.319 --> 00:28:50.740
but I never... Was that just... Were y 'all just

00:28:50.740 --> 00:28:56.740
trying to be disruptive? Yeah, I think so. And

00:28:56.740 --> 00:28:59.299
because we were all different characters, you

00:28:59.299 --> 00:29:03.180
got to exercise some demons out there. Yeah.

00:29:03.299 --> 00:29:05.680
And be a whole different person. It's all the

00:29:05.680 --> 00:29:08.559
brainchild of this, like, one of the smartest

00:29:08.559 --> 00:29:10.319
women I've ever met, Jeannie Wiggins. She's a

00:29:10.319 --> 00:29:13.559
dancer. And she wrote a lot of the songs. And

00:29:13.559 --> 00:29:15.859
she would do, like, the choreography for the

00:29:15.859 --> 00:29:20.099
performances. And, yeah, I don't. It was a wild

00:29:20.099 --> 00:29:23.660
time. It was just like anything. Like, oh, you

00:29:23.660 --> 00:29:27.019
want to just wear a motorcycle helmet and a tutu

00:29:27.019 --> 00:29:29.539
and ram into the wall while you're playing? Great,

00:29:29.740 --> 00:29:32.079
let's do it. How can we put glitter on that?

00:29:32.799 --> 00:29:36.880
Good times. So did that end because nobody wanted

00:29:36.880 --> 00:29:41.700
to book y 'all anymore? No. The drummer went

00:29:41.700 --> 00:29:46.220
off to go to helicopter school. I've never heard

00:29:46.220 --> 00:29:48.740
that one before. Yeah. Yeah, I think she's back

00:29:48.740 --> 00:29:50.240
in town now. I haven't seen her since she moved

00:29:50.240 --> 00:29:53.980
back home. And then Jeannie, the singer -writer,

00:29:54.099 --> 00:29:59.059
like, leading the driving force. She and her

00:29:59.059 --> 00:30:02.180
husband had a kid. We all just, I think that's

00:30:02.180 --> 00:30:04.339
a... Settled down and moved to the suburbs. Yeah,

00:30:04.380 --> 00:30:09.160
I think it's like a specific time. Yeah. There

00:30:09.160 --> 00:30:12.880
was an era of that. Yeah, and that's kind of

00:30:12.880 --> 00:30:14.819
what I meant when I was talking about these other

00:30:14.819 --> 00:30:16.940
bands. I wasn't trying to imply that y 'all were

00:30:16.940 --> 00:30:19.480
doing something unoriginal. It was more that...

00:30:19.819 --> 00:30:23.079
there was a culture of this at the time like

00:30:23.079 --> 00:30:27.140
it was like a thing that that would happen and

00:30:27.140 --> 00:30:31.319
i remember i worked at a venue in the late 90s

00:30:31.319 --> 00:30:34.119
early 2000s like it was my first job and war

00:30:34.119 --> 00:30:37.380
played there a couple of times and i mean we

00:30:37.380 --> 00:30:40.039
would just literally have to cover the whole

00:30:40.039 --> 00:30:42.559
venue with tarps like on the inside and then

00:30:42.559 --> 00:30:44.440
i'd care i'd be like loading their equipment

00:30:44.440 --> 00:30:50.529
and My hands would just be red with dry. It was

00:30:50.529 --> 00:30:54.730
like chalky, dried, fake blood. And I think it

00:30:54.730 --> 00:30:59.289
was really surreal. I actually just saw a video

00:30:59.289 --> 00:31:01.569
of them just popped up on my feed this morning

00:31:01.569 --> 00:31:04.849
and I saw it. So it's like on the brain, but

00:31:04.849 --> 00:31:08.750
there was like a thing where this wasn't like

00:31:08.750 --> 00:31:12.930
so far out of left field that you were being

00:31:12.930 --> 00:31:17.650
like destructive. This was like a kind of a cultural

00:31:17.650 --> 00:31:21.009
movement of bands that were out of control for

00:31:21.009 --> 00:31:24.250
a while. Even like the extreme version of it

00:31:24.250 --> 00:31:26.269
would be like Gigi Allen or something like that.

00:31:26.609 --> 00:31:30.390
But it was a thing. Yeah, yeah. It's unheard

00:31:30.390 --> 00:31:32.509
of now, I think. People were definitely shocked

00:31:32.509 --> 00:31:35.990
when they came to a show. But that was why they

00:31:35.990 --> 00:31:40.309
came. Yeah, yeah. Or, yeah, I remember having,

00:31:40.490 --> 00:31:43.829
it was pretty soon after I got transferred to,

00:31:44.430 --> 00:31:47.170
A full -time job from an internship that all

00:31:47.170 --> 00:31:49.309
of a sudden my boss showed up. We were playing

00:31:49.309 --> 00:31:51.750
like the roller derby. Oh, gosh. I was like,

00:31:51.849 --> 00:31:55.329
I have to go change my costume. Just make some

00:31:55.329 --> 00:31:59.670
adjustments. And this is kind of the dynamic

00:31:59.670 --> 00:32:02.589
that we were getting after. Like when we started

00:32:02.589 --> 00:32:04.950
talking about all this, it's like when you're

00:32:04.950 --> 00:32:10.109
working in this field where your decisions are

00:32:10.109 --> 00:32:14.930
like very heavy. Yeah. Now. With smartphones,

00:32:15.150 --> 00:32:18.650
like, anybody can use anything to try and blow

00:32:18.650 --> 00:32:21.890
out. But, like, I just imagine, like, a scenario

00:32:21.890 --> 00:32:26.170
where somebody, like, is trying to discredit

00:32:26.170 --> 00:32:28.269
somebody because of something they do in their

00:32:28.269 --> 00:32:31.750
off time or something like that. Yeah. That's

00:32:31.750 --> 00:32:35.309
complicated. I don't think, I worked for different

00:32:35.309 --> 00:32:39.809
non -profits and the state and all sorts of things,

00:32:39.849 --> 00:32:41.730
and I never could have been a comedian before.

00:32:42.750 --> 00:32:45.509
not doing those things I feel like it makes sense

00:32:45.509 --> 00:32:49.230
it was just like it was like not an option in

00:32:49.230 --> 00:32:52.430
my head and so I'm wondering like how did you

00:32:52.430 --> 00:32:55.369
wrestle with that you had the experience where

00:32:55.369 --> 00:32:57.690
you're like I gotta go adjust my costume but

00:32:57.690 --> 00:32:59.910
also I mean was this something was this part

00:32:59.910 --> 00:33:03.529
of you backing away from that as well like becoming

00:33:03.529 --> 00:33:08.849
a parent I mean maybe some I think But it was

00:33:08.849 --> 00:33:11.109
surprising to me, actually, the first year that

00:33:11.109 --> 00:33:14.490
I had this job as the executive director for

00:33:14.490 --> 00:33:18.569
AthFest Educates. I was picturing like, cool,

00:33:18.650 --> 00:33:21.710
I won't have to dress up anymore. Or it'll be

00:33:21.710 --> 00:33:26.910
like, so laid back, I just do the job. And that

00:33:26.910 --> 00:33:29.930
was not true. And it was a little bit, it took

00:33:29.930 --> 00:33:32.490
a little bit of learning curve. There's still

00:33:32.490 --> 00:33:35.450
aspects of that kind of professionalism that

00:33:35.450 --> 00:33:38.900
I need to display. especially coming in as a

00:33:38.900 --> 00:33:41.279
new executive director after someone who did

00:33:41.279 --> 00:33:44.079
such an incredible job for years building the

00:33:44.079 --> 00:33:48.640
organization up who was that jill helm okay yeah

00:33:48.640 --> 00:33:53.519
and so figuring out that line of like when i'm

00:33:53.519 --> 00:33:57.279
talking to artists or musicians or vendors to

00:33:57.279 --> 00:33:59.619
help put on the festival or club owners or whatever

00:33:59.619 --> 00:34:04.019
yes but there is still since it is a non -profit

00:34:04.019 --> 00:34:08.670
and My main role is with the nonprofit, the AthFest

00:34:08.670 --> 00:34:11.789
Educates, that when I'm talking to donors or

00:34:11.789 --> 00:34:14.610
board members or recruiting board members or

00:34:14.610 --> 00:34:18.710
community, just like outreach, there is still

00:34:18.710 --> 00:34:23.309
that level of professionalism that you have to

00:34:23.309 --> 00:34:27.969
wear. You have to present a certain way. I wear

00:34:27.969 --> 00:34:29.929
a different hat when I'm doing these interviews

00:34:29.929 --> 00:34:34.940
than I do on stage telling jokes. I'm, I'm curious

00:34:34.940 --> 00:34:39.360
at what point did, sorry, let me back. I'm like,

00:34:39.420 --> 00:34:41.739
I had just had a brain fart. Sorry. I think a

00:34:41.739 --> 00:34:43.820
previous question you'd asked was about like

00:34:43.820 --> 00:34:46.820
the structure. Right. Yes. So that, no, that

00:34:46.820 --> 00:34:49.179
actually is exactly what I was getting. Thank

00:34:49.179 --> 00:34:52.079
you. You got me back on track. So what I'm thinking

00:34:52.079 --> 00:34:55.599
about is like, you mentioned donors. I know.

00:34:55.699 --> 00:34:59.340
So what percentage of like the revenue and the

00:34:59.340 --> 00:35:03.059
funding of AFES comes from ticket sales? How

00:35:03.059 --> 00:35:06.400
much of it comes from donors? Can you break some

00:35:06.400 --> 00:35:09.679
of that down for us? Yeah, so the kind of income

00:35:09.679 --> 00:35:13.039
breakdown for AFFest educates the organization.

00:35:14.460 --> 00:35:17.139
Probably, I'm just doing the budgets now, so

00:35:17.139 --> 00:35:19.199
I've seen these numbers recently. And you don't

00:35:19.199 --> 00:35:21.400
have to be exact, but I would love an estimation.

00:35:21.519 --> 00:35:24.360
It's like 80 % to 85 % is from the two events.

00:35:24.539 --> 00:35:27.260
So from AFFest Music and Arts Festival and from

00:35:27.260 --> 00:35:31.840
the AFHF Happy Marathon. And then 15 % from...

00:35:32.909 --> 00:35:36.849
Private donors, foundations, grants, that kind

00:35:36.849 --> 00:35:40.769
of thing. And that's just what keeps it afloat

00:35:40.769 --> 00:35:43.570
in order for you all to raise the money, put

00:35:43.570 --> 00:35:45.369
on the event to raise the rest of the money.

00:35:45.909 --> 00:35:50.309
Yeah. The individual donations and the foundations

00:35:50.309 --> 00:35:53.789
and grants and stuff for the organization, those

00:35:53.789 --> 00:35:57.070
go more directly to the funds that we give out.

00:35:57.469 --> 00:36:00.650
Okay. So they're not so much covering the overhead.

00:36:00.750 --> 00:36:03.469
You cover the overhead with. the events. And

00:36:03.469 --> 00:36:06.849
so that money essentially gets funneled through

00:36:06.849 --> 00:36:11.130
to directly help. So can we talk a little bit

00:36:11.130 --> 00:36:13.449
about some of the grants and some of the programs

00:36:13.449 --> 00:36:15.489
that y 'all have funded over the years? And if

00:36:15.489 --> 00:36:18.289
you can think of anything notable that I know

00:36:18.289 --> 00:36:21.929
there's hundreds at this point of individual

00:36:21.929 --> 00:36:24.610
grants and projects that have gone out, but if

00:36:24.610 --> 00:36:28.070
there's any, anything that, you know, want to

00:36:28.070 --> 00:36:31.679
highlight. Yeah. I guess just first to date,

00:36:31.719 --> 00:36:35.760
we've given out over $750 ,000 in grants. That's

00:36:35.760 --> 00:36:38.440
amazing. Been able to reach every elementary,

00:36:38.739 --> 00:36:42.320
middle, and high school in Athens, Clark County.

00:36:42.400 --> 00:36:47.440
All of our grants go to serve public school students.

00:36:47.559 --> 00:36:49.099
So that's something that's really important to

00:36:49.099 --> 00:36:56.340
us. At this point, we're giving out over $65

00:36:56.340 --> 00:36:59.739
,000 a year in grants. Some of my favorites,

00:36:59.980 --> 00:37:02.659
let's see. And when they apply for these grants,

00:37:02.719 --> 00:37:04.659
they have to be very specific about what they're

00:37:04.659 --> 00:37:07.500
going to use the money for. It's a very, it's

00:37:07.500 --> 00:37:10.940
not just we need money for stuff. Yeah, so we

00:37:10.940 --> 00:37:14.219
have three categories. We give out grants for

00:37:14.219 --> 00:37:17.880
arts equipment. So that could be instruments,

00:37:18.239 --> 00:37:22.099
amplifiers. One of my favorites from two years

00:37:22.099 --> 00:37:25.230
ago. was for a music technology class at a high

00:37:25.230 --> 00:37:30.090
school, and they got microphones and software

00:37:30.090 --> 00:37:32.789
platforms to be able to record live music or

00:37:32.789 --> 00:37:37.329
live interviews to create podcasts or create

00:37:37.329 --> 00:37:41.429
YouTube videos. One kid did this amazing podcast

00:37:41.429 --> 00:37:43.949
all about his favorite video game. It was like

00:37:43.949 --> 00:37:47.849
Sword something, and he explained every aspect

00:37:47.849 --> 00:37:49.889
of the video game and why that's cool to the

00:37:49.889 --> 00:37:52.349
storytelling that happens in the game. it's really

00:37:52.349 --> 00:37:57.969
neat another one of my favorites drums that went

00:37:57.969 --> 00:38:01.309
to a school that they utilized initially for

00:38:01.309 --> 00:38:07.230
a math class so like kind of that that rote memorization

00:38:07.230 --> 00:38:11.329
of addition or multiplication tables like all

00:38:11.329 --> 00:38:14.869
of that stuff they would do it to a rhythm making

00:38:14.869 --> 00:38:17.610
it easier for the kids and then they ended up

00:38:17.610 --> 00:38:21.460
taking those to like a language arts class to

00:38:21.460 --> 00:38:23.940
do poetry with and like figure out meter. And

00:38:23.940 --> 00:38:27.219
it's really interesting. I love that. Yeah, that's

00:38:27.219 --> 00:38:30.119
really cool. This year, one of our grants is

00:38:30.119 --> 00:38:34.840
helping to fund a local middle school was invited.

00:38:35.079 --> 00:38:38.300
Their orchestra was invited to perform at Carnegie

00:38:38.300 --> 00:38:41.559
Hall in New York City. So we're helping to fund

00:38:41.559 --> 00:38:44.260
that trip for 50 middle schoolers to go up there.

00:38:44.340 --> 00:38:46.119
That's really cool. Performing Carnegie Hall.

00:38:46.900 --> 00:38:51.349
Another one is. There's a local nonprofit organization

00:38:51.349 --> 00:38:55.289
called Divas Who Win. And they work with folks

00:38:55.289 --> 00:38:59.110
who are coming out of like the sex trade industry,

00:38:59.429 --> 00:39:03.369
getting out of there and prevention. And so this

00:39:03.369 --> 00:39:05.469
is what the prevention with young teen girls.

00:39:05.590 --> 00:39:08.210
They're going to do like a summer camp and we're

00:39:08.210 --> 00:39:10.449
supporting the arts track. So doing fashion,

00:39:10.550 --> 00:39:12.829
they're going to have a fashion show. Oh, cool.

00:39:13.070 --> 00:39:15.550
And then some digital kind of graphic art stuff.

00:39:16.130 --> 00:39:20.269
So, yeah. Yeah. All kinds of different art, not

00:39:20.269 --> 00:39:25.010
just music, visual art, poetry, everything kind

00:39:25.010 --> 00:39:27.690
of gets loved. Oh, I'm sorry. I mentioned the

00:39:27.690 --> 00:39:31.530
equipment, the other things. Yeah, yeah. So programs

00:39:31.530 --> 00:39:35.050
and experiences. The Carnegie Hall would be an

00:39:35.050 --> 00:39:38.929
example. Or the summer camp with Divas Who Win.

00:39:39.110 --> 00:39:41.389
And then professional development, which is something

00:39:41.389 --> 00:39:44.130
that's so hard for teachers to get funded. So

00:39:44.130 --> 00:39:47.210
we're sending one teacher to the National Arts

00:39:47.210 --> 00:39:52.230
Educators Conference in Chicago and another teacher

00:39:52.230 --> 00:39:56.750
to do like a, it's called ORF training. It's

00:39:56.750 --> 00:39:59.150
like a whole music teaching method. I've heard

00:39:59.150 --> 00:40:01.130
of it, but I don't know much about it. Yeah,

00:40:01.210 --> 00:40:03.530
it seems to be like a lot of kind of xylophone

00:40:03.530 --> 00:40:07.170
type instruments, but going to get trained in

00:40:07.170 --> 00:40:12.780
that and certified. That's cool. Yeah. What are

00:40:12.780 --> 00:40:15.659
some of the different types of art that the fest

00:40:15.659 --> 00:40:19.639
itself highlights? You have bands playing everywhere,

00:40:19.760 --> 00:40:23.800
but there's all kinds of different vendors. And

00:40:23.800 --> 00:40:26.619
can you just talk a little bit more about what

00:40:26.619 --> 00:40:29.099
would people experience when they come to AthFest?

00:40:29.340 --> 00:40:33.659
So coming to AthFest, so everything that happens

00:40:33.659 --> 00:40:36.199
outdoors is free to the public, open and free

00:40:36.199 --> 00:40:38.260
to the public. So the three outdoor stages with

00:40:38.260 --> 00:40:41.489
musical performances. On the Kids Fest stage,

00:40:41.710 --> 00:40:45.309
so those are youth performers or performers that

00:40:45.309 --> 00:40:48.190
are like directed at youth, like kids bands.

00:40:48.590 --> 00:40:51.690
But we also have dance performances there. Then

00:40:51.690 --> 00:40:56.730
there's a block -long artist market with anywhere

00:40:56.730 --> 00:41:00.630
from 55 to 70 artists that are local or regional

00:41:00.630 --> 00:41:05.090
artisans that have, whether it's working with

00:41:05.090 --> 00:41:08.650
fabrics, metal work. They're selling their wares

00:41:08.650 --> 00:41:13.530
there. It's incredible. We also have affiliated

00:41:13.530 --> 00:41:17.670
events. So these are events that happen alongside

00:41:17.670 --> 00:41:21.190
or with. So comedy night, that usually happens

00:41:21.190 --> 00:41:24.889
Thursday night. Yeah. Nate Ball's comedy. And

00:41:24.889 --> 00:41:30.809
then we have the, at UGA, Lamar Dodd, they have

00:41:30.809 --> 00:41:34.710
a print and zine expo, I think it's called. Yeah.

00:41:36.059 --> 00:41:38.920
Local and regional artists are making scenes

00:41:38.920 --> 00:41:42.099
or graphic novels, that kind of thing. This year

00:41:42.099 --> 00:41:46.539
we added a poetry reading at the Globe. We usually

00:41:46.539 --> 00:41:49.519
have a movie night. So this year it was Weirdo,

00:41:49.519 --> 00:41:52.219
the film about 5 '8", and then 5 '8 performed

00:41:52.219 --> 00:41:55.059
that Sunday. So we're always like tacking stuff

00:41:55.059 --> 00:41:59.019
on. I think we have fire breathers this year

00:41:59.019 --> 00:42:03.099
too. I don't get to see a lot. Yeah, yeah. We

00:42:03.099 --> 00:42:05.980
were both there and I don't know that we ran

00:42:05.980 --> 00:42:09.679
into each other at all. Yeah. So we're always

00:42:09.679 --> 00:42:14.539
talking about adding more. I am so lucky in this

00:42:14.539 --> 00:42:17.320
job. A, that this job exists and like I get to

00:42:17.320 --> 00:42:20.099
do all these different things and wear all these

00:42:20.099 --> 00:42:22.219
different hats. But also the previous executive

00:42:22.219 --> 00:42:26.099
director and the previous board had to do so

00:42:26.099 --> 00:42:31.639
much work. Like the festival has not always broken

00:42:31.639 --> 00:42:36.989
even. Probably not until 2018 or 19 was it consistent.

00:42:37.230 --> 00:42:41.210
Okay. That it broke even every year. And now

00:42:41.210 --> 00:42:47.010
we're raising $50 ,000 to $100 ,000 net. Yeah.

00:42:47.610 --> 00:42:49.750
And that's because of the work that they did.

00:42:50.050 --> 00:42:54.349
And that means the organization, we've increased

00:42:54.349 --> 00:42:55.989
the amount of grants we're giving out each year

00:42:55.989 --> 00:43:01.449
30%. I get to be fun because previous folks worked.

00:43:01.920 --> 00:43:05.079
their asses off to make it happen. Yeah. So I

00:43:05.079 --> 00:43:07.920
get to be the person that says, hey, as part

00:43:07.920 --> 00:43:11.039
of our values, if we're showing, if we're trying

00:43:11.039 --> 00:43:13.280
to show kids that the arts is a field you could

00:43:13.280 --> 00:43:17.460
go into and maybe even make a living, who knows,

00:43:17.500 --> 00:43:20.619
then we need to be paying our artists, our vendors,

00:43:20.739 --> 00:43:23.519
the lighting, the sound, the musicians. We need

00:43:23.519 --> 00:43:26.000
to be paying them more. We need to increase and

00:43:26.000 --> 00:43:30.539
catch up. Yeah. I get to say that because people

00:43:30.539 --> 00:43:34.300
in the past have, worked so hard. The board also,

00:43:34.440 --> 00:43:39.159
several years ago, looking at COVID and if 85

00:43:39.159 --> 00:43:42.860
% of your income is from large community events

00:43:42.860 --> 00:43:47.219
and there's a pandemic, you got to pivot. And

00:43:47.219 --> 00:43:49.500
so what they chose to do, which is brilliant,

00:43:49.679 --> 00:43:52.800
is they started an investment account with our

00:43:52.800 --> 00:43:56.039
local community foundation. And we have been

00:43:56.039 --> 00:44:00.179
this largest of the past several years of raising

00:44:00.179 --> 00:44:03.000
a lot of funds. made the sometimes difficult

00:44:03.000 --> 00:44:06.000
decision of instead of giving that in grants,

00:44:06.059 --> 00:44:08.599
we could give out all that in grants this year.

00:44:08.920 --> 00:44:11.480
But what if it happens again? So investing that

00:44:11.480 --> 00:44:14.820
and diversifying our portfolio to have money

00:44:14.820 --> 00:44:18.280
markets and different things so that our goal

00:44:18.280 --> 00:44:23.139
is to, at some point in the future, probably

00:44:23.139 --> 00:44:26.039
be like 10 years from now, endow that fund so

00:44:26.039 --> 00:44:31.320
that my job is paid out of that. Or if everything

00:44:31.320 --> 00:44:34.739
shuts down again for some sort of pandemic, we

00:44:34.739 --> 00:44:36.460
can use those funds. Our grants still happen.

00:44:36.619 --> 00:44:40.099
The grants still go out, which is the kind of

00:44:40.099 --> 00:44:42.199
forward thinking that can be really hard to do

00:44:42.199 --> 00:44:45.519
when you're a struggling nonprofit. So I am eternally

00:44:45.519 --> 00:44:47.420
grateful to all those folks for making those

00:44:47.420 --> 00:44:50.440
hard choices and that kind of work so that I

00:44:50.440 --> 00:44:53.519
get to be I get to think how big we can go and

00:44:53.519 --> 00:44:59.199
I get to dream big. Yeah, that's. And it's nice

00:44:59.199 --> 00:45:03.039
to like, to recognize that too, like the cause

00:45:03.039 --> 00:45:08.119
I know that the Fest has always been something

00:45:08.119 --> 00:45:14.380
that people loved, but it hasn't always met its

00:45:14.380 --> 00:45:17.219
goals. And it's something that the community

00:45:17.219 --> 00:45:20.440
always supported, but it took a long time for

00:45:20.440 --> 00:45:23.000
it to get to where it is now, where it's consistently

00:45:23.000 --> 00:45:27.340
not just providing this awesome event for everybody,

00:45:27.420 --> 00:45:29.800
which I think another aspect that we haven't

00:45:29.800 --> 00:45:33.099
talked about is it happens in the summer when

00:45:33.099 --> 00:45:38.739
a lot of things in Athens are slowed down. It's

00:45:38.739 --> 00:45:42.300
hot. It's hot as hell. And there's been people

00:45:42.300 --> 00:45:45.719
have wanted to move it at different points in

00:45:45.719 --> 00:45:48.179
time. But like one of the reasons y 'all do it

00:45:48.179 --> 00:45:53.059
then is to bring this like influx of because

00:45:53.059 --> 00:45:54.900
it's really great for the businesses. It's great

00:45:54.900 --> 00:45:57.099
for all the venues that host the club crawl.

00:45:57.840 --> 00:46:03.300
I've never seen Athens as alive as I do during

00:46:03.300 --> 00:46:07.059
AppFest. Yeah. It is a lifeline for a lot of

00:46:07.059 --> 00:46:10.139
those businesses. It's not as intense as it used

00:46:10.139 --> 00:46:13.539
to be. I think universities are like making kids

00:46:13.539 --> 00:46:16.219
take more summer classes and things like that.

00:46:16.280 --> 00:46:18.579
I see that a lot at Florida State as well. Oh,

00:46:18.619 --> 00:46:22.500
I bet. Yeah. But it's still... It's still, especially

00:46:22.500 --> 00:46:25.679
for that side of town. Yeah. So even though...

00:46:26.190 --> 00:46:29.650
Not all the students are leaving. A lot of the

00:46:29.650 --> 00:46:32.349
ones that stay tend to stick towards the east,

00:46:32.389 --> 00:46:36.750
kind of half of downtown where the student -directed

00:46:36.750 --> 00:46:40.929
bars are. And so the west side of downtown that

00:46:40.929 --> 00:46:46.309
has music venues and such struggles. So can we

00:46:46.309 --> 00:46:48.809
talk a little bit about how you, and I don't

00:46:48.809 --> 00:46:50.670
know if this is even you that makes these decisions,

00:46:50.730 --> 00:46:54.320
but how it gets decided? What bands are going

00:46:54.320 --> 00:46:56.619
to play on the outdoor stages? What bands are

00:46:56.619 --> 00:46:59.739
going to play in the club crawl? Who the headlining

00:46:59.739 --> 00:47:04.420
acts are going to be? I know that there's, even

00:47:04.420 --> 00:47:07.679
when you're working with the big headlining acts

00:47:07.679 --> 00:47:11.440
that are Georgia -based typically, but not necessarily

00:47:11.440 --> 00:47:15.900
like a local band anymore, they're also playing

00:47:15.900 --> 00:47:18.300
this festival to give back to the community as

00:47:18.300 --> 00:47:21.079
well. So how do some of those decisions get made?

00:47:21.460 --> 00:47:25.409
Yeah. So I'm the only full -time staff. We do

00:47:25.409 --> 00:47:31.269
have contracts with community members for stipends.

00:47:31.269 --> 00:47:33.030
We are certainly not paying them for all their

00:47:33.030 --> 00:47:37.989
time. We're not there yet. But basically, AthFest

00:47:37.989 --> 00:47:41.610
is put on and put together by a mostly volunteer

00:47:41.610 --> 00:47:45.429
committee of about 20 people. We have one event

00:47:45.429 --> 00:47:48.289
coordinator, and that is like a paid stipend

00:47:48.289 --> 00:47:52.139
person, and then our booking agent. troy aubrey

00:47:52.139 --> 00:47:55.159
of aubrey booking or aubrey entertainment in

00:47:55.159 --> 00:47:59.239
town he's been doing it for 20 years okay maybe

00:47:59.239 --> 00:48:05.659
so my part of that my part of that job is figuring

00:48:05.659 --> 00:48:07.400
out the budget here's how much you have to spend

00:48:07.400 --> 00:48:09.440
for outdoor stages here's how much you have to

00:48:09.440 --> 00:48:12.380
spend for indoor stages and like how many artists

00:48:12.380 --> 00:48:16.679
we need to slots to fill or handles more of that

00:48:16.679 --> 00:48:20.739
okay But he works with, Troy works with a booking

00:48:20.739 --> 00:48:23.500
committee. And that is something that he's done

00:48:23.500 --> 00:48:25.820
a great job. It was one of my first pushes when

00:48:25.820 --> 00:48:28.559
I started was adding more people to the booking

00:48:28.559 --> 00:48:32.199
committee. And he's done a great job of recruiting

00:48:32.199 --> 00:48:35.099
from the community, recruiting a couple of people

00:48:35.099 --> 00:48:38.599
who work in like booking hip hop shows in town.

00:48:39.119 --> 00:48:42.960
And then going to some of the smaller clubs like

00:48:42.960 --> 00:48:46.659
Flickr, Bouvet, and getting their booking folks

00:48:46.659 --> 00:48:50.219
on. They're going to know who those smaller up

00:48:50.219 --> 00:48:53.320
and coming folks are better than myself or Troy

00:48:53.320 --> 00:48:56.860
or. One thing I noticed this year, and I don't

00:48:56.860 --> 00:48:59.860
want to say that it like stood out versus other

00:48:59.860 --> 00:49:02.219
years, but I just noticed it. There was a lot

00:49:02.219 --> 00:49:04.639
of diversity in terms of the music, especially

00:49:04.639 --> 00:49:08.179
in the club crawl. I got to see punk bands and

00:49:08.179 --> 00:49:12.659
Bubba Sparks was the headliner. And I mean, it

00:49:12.659 --> 00:49:15.929
was just. It was really a nice representation

00:49:15.929 --> 00:49:19.190
of a lot of different kinds of music. There's

00:49:19.190 --> 00:49:22.889
some fests that happen at, you know, where I'm

00:49:22.889 --> 00:49:25.210
from and I don't want to, I'm not going to, but

00:49:25.210 --> 00:49:27.929
it's like they, they act, it's like a representation

00:49:27.929 --> 00:49:30.590
of all the local music. And then it's like literally

00:49:30.590 --> 00:49:33.590
all middle -aged white people playing blues and

00:49:33.590 --> 00:49:40.210
folk. Yeah. And I think that is also, yes, this

00:49:40.210 --> 00:49:42.539
year. Like I have to report on the diversity

00:49:42.539 --> 00:49:45.440
of our performances for our grants. And yes,

00:49:45.559 --> 00:49:49.860
this was the most diverse year by far. And a

00:49:49.860 --> 00:49:53.260
lot of that is Troy's work recruiting great folks

00:49:53.260 --> 00:49:55.760
for the booking. It makes it a much better experience

00:49:55.760 --> 00:49:59.139
too. Like it's not just like a token or something

00:49:59.139 --> 00:50:03.219
like this is. It's way better to go see 10 different

00:50:03.219 --> 00:50:06.030
kinds of music. than it is to see three yeah

00:50:06.030 --> 00:50:10.369
it's just better i think it also speaks to again

00:50:10.369 --> 00:50:15.829
that just like the past several years and before

00:50:15.829 --> 00:50:19.570
my time being consistently successful we don't

00:50:19.570 --> 00:50:23.530
have to stress so much about yes this is representative

00:50:23.530 --> 00:50:26.690
of our community but are people gonna pay the

00:50:26.690 --> 00:50:28.929
club crawl pass to come see it like we don't

00:50:28.929 --> 00:50:32.849
have to we're allowed the freedom So Troy just

00:50:32.849 --> 00:50:35.329
trust like they're like, oh, the club crawl is

00:50:35.329 --> 00:50:37.650
going to be awesome because we we just know it's

00:50:37.650 --> 00:50:40.269
going to be worth the. And it's always reasonable.

00:50:40.369 --> 00:50:43.789
Yeah. Yeah. I think this year we increased the

00:50:43.789 --> 00:50:47.329
prices a little bit. And I think the highest

00:50:47.329 --> 00:50:49.469
cost was forty dollars if you got it like the

00:50:49.469 --> 00:50:53.730
weekend up, which for 13 venues, 14 venues is.

00:50:54.610 --> 00:50:57.309
Can we talk a little bit about the VIP package

00:50:57.309 --> 00:51:01.179
and like how that's emerged and how. you're constantly

00:51:01.179 --> 00:51:04.079
you're trying to like add new perks to it or

00:51:04.079 --> 00:51:07.019
make that more because i do feel like that is

00:51:07.019 --> 00:51:11.019
something that that people buy it mainly because

00:51:11.019 --> 00:51:16.260
they want to donate money yeah it's interesting

00:51:16.260 --> 00:51:20.460
yeah people buy it because they want to donate

00:51:20.460 --> 00:51:24.059
more money when i my first year we like actually

00:51:24.059 --> 00:51:28.860
did the math of Your drink tickets, your t -shirt,

00:51:29.019 --> 00:51:31.780
your club crawl pass. I did the math and it was

00:51:31.780 --> 00:51:36.719
a good deal. And I was like, I think we need

00:51:36.719 --> 00:51:40.059
to make this less of a good deal. Yeah, yeah,

00:51:40.059 --> 00:51:42.360
yeah. It was still a really good deal. We're

00:51:42.360 --> 00:51:44.599
sort of losing money on this. So we upped those

00:51:44.599 --> 00:51:46.739
prices a bit and then started thinking about

00:51:46.739 --> 00:51:49.920
what are some add -ons. What are some things

00:51:49.920 --> 00:51:53.159
that we can do? We got the nice water bottle.

00:51:53.960 --> 00:51:55.880
The water bottles are so good. They're really

00:51:55.880 --> 00:51:59.639
cool looking too. You don't lose them. They're

00:51:59.639 --> 00:52:02.019
heavy and they keep stuff cold all day. They're

00:52:02.019 --> 00:52:05.000
bright green. But adding the Morton Theater as

00:52:05.000 --> 00:52:07.519
just a place where VIP folks could go to the

00:52:07.519 --> 00:52:12.079
bathroom, could sit in air conditioning. We had

00:52:12.079 --> 00:52:14.539
the live stream going on inside the theater of

00:52:14.539 --> 00:52:17.659
the main stage. So I think we're trying to think

00:52:17.659 --> 00:52:21.650
of things like that where especially It's just

00:52:21.650 --> 00:52:23.610
going to get hotter every year. And there's literally

00:52:23.610 --> 00:52:27.130
nothing we can do about that. No. We're things

00:52:27.130 --> 00:52:29.989
very much out of our control. Yeah. So having

00:52:29.989 --> 00:52:33.809
things like easy access bathrooms, air conditioning.

00:52:34.530 --> 00:52:37.369
I like the VIP seating in the venues is really

00:52:37.369 --> 00:52:40.030
nice. Because like I was able to get a seat.

00:52:40.090 --> 00:52:42.630
Like I was able to go from venue to venue a lot

00:52:42.630 --> 00:52:45.610
easier and not worry about, oh, am I going to

00:52:45.610 --> 00:52:48.769
be able to sit down? Yeah. Having set aside seating.

00:52:48.889 --> 00:52:51.800
It's also something that we use. Like our new,

00:52:51.860 --> 00:52:54.840
the ticket buying platform we've used for the

00:52:54.840 --> 00:52:57.639
past two years, it gives us much better data

00:52:57.639 --> 00:53:00.400
on who's actually buying what. And so we're able

00:53:00.400 --> 00:53:03.300
to look at who's buying VIP tickets. And a lot

00:53:03.300 --> 00:53:08.480
of those people are 45 plus. Like 45 to 60. And

00:53:08.480 --> 00:53:12.059
so thinking like, we need to think about actual

00:53:12.059 --> 00:53:15.460
set aside seating because they might not be able

00:53:15.460 --> 00:53:18.920
to hang out all day and then walk into the Georgia

00:53:18.920 --> 00:53:22.900
theater and stand. you for me like I was just

00:53:22.900 --> 00:53:26.739
a luxury yeah it was but yeah it can be a necessity

00:53:26.739 --> 00:53:29.880
for some people for sure can we talk for a second

00:53:29.880 --> 00:53:32.980
about I'm having another brain fart I was like

00:53:32.980 --> 00:53:35.019
had a question on the tip of my tongue and it

00:53:35.019 --> 00:53:37.340
disappeared on me give me one second it'll come

00:53:37.340 --> 00:53:41.219
back so I can't remember but that's fine it'll

00:53:41.219 --> 00:53:45.360
come back to me I am curious though about how

00:53:45.360 --> 00:53:52.760
you saw this as You slowed down your playing

00:53:52.760 --> 00:53:55.820
music, but it's always been like a passion of

00:53:55.820 --> 00:53:58.820
yours throughout your life. You've been a musician,

00:53:58.960 --> 00:54:02.099
you've played in a bunch of bands, but you scaled

00:54:02.099 --> 00:54:07.119
that back. And how much was taking a role like

00:54:07.119 --> 00:54:12.139
this, you think, vital to maintaining that balance

00:54:12.139 --> 00:54:15.000
that you, I think you, it almost seems like you

00:54:15.000 --> 00:54:17.960
were recovering. Like there was a time period

00:54:17.960 --> 00:54:21.829
there where you're a new mom and working in child

00:54:21.829 --> 00:54:25.309
welfare and you're not really getting to be involved

00:54:25.309 --> 00:54:29.510
in music or art very much at all. And I, was

00:54:29.510 --> 00:54:32.909
that a big motivator for you have bring that

00:54:32.909 --> 00:54:35.670
aspect of your life back into in a more like

00:54:35.670 --> 00:54:39.769
controlled way? Yeah, not really. I think I'm

00:54:39.769 --> 00:54:43.909
playing less music now than I was when I was

00:54:43.909 --> 00:54:47.309
just three years ago. Oh, okay. And, but a lot

00:54:47.309 --> 00:54:50.969
of that has to do with Like chronic health conditions

00:54:50.969 --> 00:54:55.570
and having three teenagers and an aging parent.

00:54:56.210 --> 00:55:02.469
But I am thankful that though I didn't picture

00:55:02.469 --> 00:55:04.650
myself stopping, I pictured myself playing more

00:55:04.650 --> 00:55:07.170
as I took on this role. And that's not what happened.

00:55:07.489 --> 00:55:11.289
I'm so thankful, though, because I end up like

00:55:11.289 --> 00:55:14.869
I get to see new music. Yeah. So every year we

00:55:14.869 --> 00:55:20.409
get over 500 applications. to play at the festival

00:55:20.409 --> 00:55:25.550
and somebody looks at every single youtube channel

00:55:25.550 --> 00:55:28.269
they link or everything so i go through a lot

00:55:28.269 --> 00:55:32.090
of them and going out to see somebody will let

00:55:32.090 --> 00:55:34.130
me know hey you really should check this out

00:55:34.130 --> 00:55:39.949
going to see that so i've gotten to learn more

00:55:39.949 --> 00:55:44.590
about the music scene in athens i think especially

00:55:44.590 --> 00:55:47.409
once you get past 40 it can be like harder to

00:55:48.219 --> 00:55:52.579
connect like even know where the new puck house

00:55:52.579 --> 00:55:55.940
on millage is it's having shows or you just don't

00:55:55.940 --> 00:55:58.639
find out about them and so being tapped in a

00:55:58.639 --> 00:56:01.639
little bit more that way is really nice i do

00:56:01.639 --> 00:56:03.260
remember what i was going to ask you a moment

00:56:03.260 --> 00:56:08.300
ago and it actually ties like how when you're

00:56:08.300 --> 00:56:11.079
looking at the data for ticket sales especially

00:56:11.079 --> 00:56:14.860
and not just vip but overall how much of the

00:56:15.530 --> 00:56:18.070
Of the sales are like out of town people coming

00:56:18.070 --> 00:56:20.829
into town and how much of it is local, like Athens

00:56:20.829 --> 00:56:25.949
locals. Yeah. So it's mostly Athens locals, Atlanta,

00:56:26.289 --> 00:56:31.530
some Augusta, but it varies year by year. I would

00:56:31.530 --> 00:56:34.570
imagine the lineup has. A little bit. Really?

00:56:34.889 --> 00:56:38.670
Yeah. It's hit and miss with that too. My first

00:56:38.670 --> 00:56:44.000
year. So 2023 was the 25th anniversary. And that

00:56:44.000 --> 00:56:47.039
one we had people flying in from Hawaii. We had

00:56:47.039 --> 00:56:49.900
people coming in from all over the country. And

00:56:49.900 --> 00:56:51.800
I think it'll probably be the same for the 30th.

00:56:51.880 --> 00:56:54.820
Like we're already like thinking of all the cool

00:56:54.820 --> 00:56:58.139
things we're going to do. And so I think then

00:56:58.139 --> 00:57:00.719
we'll be drawing more people from out of state.

00:57:01.460 --> 00:57:07.639
But it's mostly Athens, Atlanta, kind of Georgia.

00:57:08.360 --> 00:57:11.920
I know for me, like I, I used to come based on

00:57:11.920 --> 00:57:15.000
the lineup and now I just, I'm like, it's going

00:57:15.000 --> 00:57:17.699
to be awesome. Like, I just trust that it's going

00:57:17.699 --> 00:57:20.320
to, and I feel like that's, that's the kind of

00:57:20.320 --> 00:57:22.920
luxury that you're talking about that these people

00:57:22.920 --> 00:57:27.099
before you helped build where, where the reputation

00:57:27.099 --> 00:57:30.139
is there. The, everybody knows it's going to

00:57:30.139 --> 00:57:33.199
be a good time. Nobody's like waiting for the

00:57:33.199 --> 00:57:34.880
lineup to decide whether they're going to go

00:57:34.880 --> 00:57:38.030
or not. It's more like, who am I going to see?

00:57:38.070 --> 00:57:41.030
Yeah. And not if I'm going to go. Yeah, this

00:57:41.030 --> 00:57:45.369
year it was really cool. So just like some personal

00:57:45.369 --> 00:57:48.250
life stuff this year meant I wasn't as involved

00:57:48.250 --> 00:57:51.150
in the like booking or kind of knew where they

00:57:51.150 --> 00:57:53.389
were heading or what they were leaning towards.

00:57:54.030 --> 00:57:58.269
And this year at the festival, I feel like I

00:57:58.269 --> 00:58:03.829
knew like maybe 15 out of 150 performers. Yeah.

00:58:04.360 --> 00:58:08.900
And it was great. That's what it should be. I

00:58:08.900 --> 00:58:12.679
was so excited having Upchuck on Friday night,

00:58:12.820 --> 00:58:14.739
closing out Friday night. That was huge to me.

00:58:15.119 --> 00:58:19.179
I can't imagine 10 years ago taking that leap.

00:58:20.360 --> 00:58:26.139
Here's this punk band that is just starting to

00:58:26.139 --> 00:58:29.539
get really big. But let's put them on the main

00:58:29.539 --> 00:58:32.699
stage. On Friday night to close out. Like that

00:58:32.699 --> 00:58:34.239
would have been a leap then, you know what I

00:58:34.239 --> 00:58:36.820
mean? And now it's just yes. And it paid off.

00:58:37.019 --> 00:58:41.579
Yeah. So I just loved not knowing, but having

00:58:41.579 --> 00:58:44.980
absolute faith that no, it's going to be great.

00:58:45.539 --> 00:58:49.239
Getting to then look through all the folks that

00:58:49.239 --> 00:58:51.000
were booked and be like, oh yes, this is really

00:58:51.000 --> 00:58:54.340
great. Is there anything else about Affest or

00:58:54.340 --> 00:58:58.460
about the story that you've told that you feel

00:58:58.460 --> 00:59:01.119
like you. we missed or that we overlooked, or

00:59:01.119 --> 00:59:02.420
is there anything else you want to share about?

00:59:02.860 --> 00:59:04.719
I think the only thing I would say, like most

00:59:04.719 --> 00:59:06.300
of your folks are going to be tuning in about

00:59:06.300 --> 00:59:11.440
AthFest is next year, it's a week later. Okay.

00:59:11.539 --> 00:59:14.400
So it's June 26th to 28th. And that is because

00:59:14.400 --> 00:59:17.199
Juneteenth lands on the weekend before. Yeah.

00:59:17.280 --> 00:59:20.199
That's not our space. So it's one week later.

00:59:20.340 --> 00:59:24.139
It's going to be amazing. If you can, if you

00:59:24.139 --> 00:59:26.780
have extra, donate a little bit when you buy

00:59:26.780 --> 00:59:30.409
your passes. Like this year, We were approved

00:59:30.409 --> 00:59:33.050
for and completely thought we had like a $35

00:59:33.050 --> 00:59:36.610
,000 National Endowment of the Arts grant. And

00:59:36.610 --> 00:59:42.050
that was yanked by executive order. So, yeah,

00:59:42.130 --> 00:59:45.190
those kind of grants are probably not going to

00:59:45.190 --> 00:59:48.610
be available to us for the remainder of this

00:59:48.610 --> 00:59:52.590
administration. So the kind of individual donors

00:59:52.590 --> 00:59:55.690
or just popping in an extra five bucks when you

00:59:55.690 --> 00:59:57.610
buy your pass is going to be even more important

00:59:57.610 --> 01:00:00.969
for us to keep. nurturing the next generation

01:00:00.969 --> 01:00:04.829
of Athens artists. I hope that the folks out

01:00:04.829 --> 01:00:07.329
there help you all sail the seas of fascism a

01:00:07.329 --> 01:00:10.989
little bit smoother. There are real world implications

01:00:10.989 --> 01:00:12.989
to the things that are happening. And I just

01:00:12.989 --> 01:00:16.010
want everybody to understand that. And this is

01:00:16.010 --> 01:00:18.849
one of them. Yeah. Mary, thank you so much for

01:00:18.849 --> 01:00:22.349
being here. I really appreciate it. Yeah. Everybody

01:00:22.349 --> 01:00:25.530
go to AFFest. Yeah. Check out AFFesteducates

01:00:25.530 --> 01:00:28.329
.org. I will have. Thanks so much. Yeah. Thank

01:00:28.329 --> 01:00:30.969
you. All right, that was my interview with Mary

01:00:30.969 --> 01:00:34.090
Joyce. I had a great time talking to her. Stick

01:00:34.090 --> 01:00:37.670
around for next week's episode. We got Sam Lipkin.

01:00:38.170 --> 01:00:43.010
She is with Flagpole Magazine. Her story is really

01:00:43.010 --> 01:00:45.690
interesting. I hope you hit that subscribe button

01:00:45.690 --> 01:00:47.889
and stick around for it. Coming up later this

01:00:47.889 --> 01:00:52.389
season, we've got John Neff, Jim Kimo West, Tommy

01:00:52.389 --> 01:00:55.650
Simba. And next season, we got a whole lot of

01:00:55.650 --> 01:00:58.599
other things coming. Thanks for listening, y

01:00:58.599 --> 01:00:58.699
'all.