I know I’ve written about it here a number of times in the past, but one of the films that influenced me the most as a young man was a little documentary by the name of Athens, GA: Inside/Out. I distinctly remember going and seeing it, by myself, three consecutive afternoons, at a little art house theater in Washington, DC. I think it was 1987. Among other things, it was directly responsible for my deciding to form a band, in spite of the fact that I didn’t know a damned thing about making music. Anyway, I was thinking about a particular song from the film today, and I wanted to share it with you. It’s a song called “His and Hearse” by the Bar-B-Q Killers. On a very sad note, the singer, a woman by the name of Laura Carter, died in 2002, at the age of 37.
And, yeah, before you start leaving comments, I know she doesn’t look like a woman in this video. I didn’t, in fact, know that she was a woman until years later, when I met some guys in South Carolina who knew her. I was walking down the beach, wearing my Pylon shit, when three shabby looking guys with long hair flagged me down. They’d just recorded in Athens and were big fans of Pylon. Anyway, one thing led to another, and one of the guys asked if I’d seen Athens GA: Inside/Out. I said that I had, to which he immediately responded, “That guy who sings for the B-B-Que killers is a woman.” I would wake up the next morning, to find myself in their motel room, surrounded by empty bottles, somehow wedged into their bathroom sink.
11 Comments
Funny how certain locations all of the sudden become happening places for music (Motown, San Francisco, Boston, the Bowery, Athens, Seattle). I was partial to the Minneapolis ‘scene’ around the same time with Husker Du, Prince, and my favorite garage band of all time – the Replacements.
I never got Athens at all.
I lived to close to it throughout the 80’s and pretty much couldn’t stand the people who were into it. In Mississippi, their fans were all rich college kids.
I saw REM once in Jackson and wanted to vomit.
I just watched this video without sound and imagined Monkey Power Trio playing, tough.
Great song. Wish I could have seen them live. Looks like a blast.
Playing “tough” Pete, or “though”?
In defense of REM, Murmer was a great record. Really lovely. Really unique. And hugely influential, for good reason.
Playing “tough,” of course.
I never got REM. I just never did.
You weren’t the only one confused.
From Chunklet:
http://www.chunklet.com/index.cfm?section=blogs&ID=106
Whoa weird–I love this video and I just watched it a few days ago. At the time I was looking for Timetoy but I couldn’t find any.
Pete doesn’t like the Beatles either, so, know that.
Thanks for showing me this movie, Mark, so long ago, and for spawning Love Jones and The Extra Toes. Quotes from the film pop into my head all the time. “It’s the best hash I evah put in mah mouth.”
This just reminds me how much I hate the soulless, overly-produced music kids are making these days.
Laura Carter was the best friend of my wife who was a huge part of that music scene. My wife was a bartender at the Georgia Bar and later finance manager at Harry Bissets.
Laura was an inspiration and good friend. Love that woman. The first day i met her she hit me in the face with a fish.