Amidst Corny Chaos — Corndogorama 2009

The Judies at Athfest

The clocked says 8 a.m. when Warren, the lead singer from the Judies, positioned my 1000 feet per second air rifle to my ear and squeezed the trigger. It was a god forsaken time for a 21 year old to wake up wild eyed with ringing ear drums. With a vile cackle I could overhear: “Get up…get up sound-check at 11.”

I was following Warren and The Judies to the mistakenly revered Athfest in the sweaty, drunken college playground that is Athens, Georgia. The drive that followed brought me to a place called Little Kings, a hipsters dream bar filled with antique furniture and old ironic photos.

I stood outside as The Judies drummer, Dave, answers a stranger who wonders what sound his band brings: “It’s sort of like a gay polka band…imagine if The Beatles covered gay polka bands.” Now remember that this implies that there are heterosexual polka bands.

But when The Judies went on stage shortly after you would hear The Beatles pop arrangements with David Bowie-esque vocals. It was the kind of music that would get stuck in your head in the best way possible. If it wasn’t 1 p.m. in a town where no one slips from their sheets until 2, it would have been appreciated by a larger crowd. The smaller crowd he showed themselves early in the festival seemed to enjoy it intensely, for good reason.

They ended after 4 songs and as I walk behind stage I drag the drummer over to the cooler filled with PBR. He was packing up his symbol case as I direct him to shove what came to be 9 or so beers into the bag. Those who booked the show had no idea two budding alcoholics would show themselves. A small price for Little Kings to pay for being situated in Athens.

And so we made for the drive back in a sedan with a broken A/C that smelled like a few baby pigs were shot inside of it a few weeks beforehand. The 5 of us must have shared more sweat than we wanted to. The rest of the tired day that ensued was marked in my memory as a typical fun-filled festival at Corndogorama.

Corndogorama Day 1

I arrived back in Atlanta. I took a quick cold shower. There was a intense moment of anticipation as I arrived to Corndogorama. I just so happened to come right as a band come on that I had never hear of before. They are called Whores. If you don’t like heavy metal, you’ll definitely feel delight in the performance of their drummer who proved his stage presence with drumstick tricks and middle fingers directed towards the crowd.

Next up was dropsonic. They played a traditional rock set with an extremely accomplished drummer. I remember reading a Flagpole article stating that Black Lips are the last “real” rock back. Dropsonic (among others at Corndogorama) dispelled this inane summation of modern music.

We then had Noot d’Noot, the Howlies, The Judies (again) and the Modern Skirts run their way on stage to attempt to wow the crowd. Their attempts proved more than correct. The last four bands played incredibly solid sets. Noot d’Noot got the crowd going with their soul sister singers and everything the followed only amplified the energy of the already energized.

The Modern Skirts are officially the most solid live band I’ve ever seen to date. I even had a blond drunkard of a floozy of a girl tore me shirt off and threw it on stage. The lead singer of the Skirts wear it like a headdress in front of me a two shirtless Judies band members.

The after party at 529 made every tired dance in drunken heat worth it, sponsored by the party proletariats at Whynatte. Judi Chicago played 529 like no one else has seen. Their synth-based ultra dance rock kept every tired eyed music lover moving in the afterglow. And once again, they secretly stole a show in an intimate enclave. We might have traded more sweat then we wanted to, but no one cared. I didn’t.

Corndogorama Day 2

When it’s a Sunday and you wake up with a crippling hangover headache you don’t want to do much except watch cartoons and drink copious amounts of water. I, however, went to Corndogorama. It wasn’t Saturday Corndogarama, but it was still worth delving into every instance of musical marvel of that is the Atlanta local scene.

I would just like to give a strong sincere shout out to certain bands for their performance. This Piano Plays Itself who permeated the small field with their psychedelic hallway rock best appreciated on mushrooms. Today the Moon, Tomorrow the Sun who always annihilate a crowd with a solid rock-synth performance.

The Soulphonics and Ruby Velle for reminding me of the beauty of funk and the instrumentation that comes with it. Ruby Velle couldn’t have been a better candidate to cover James Brown. Abby Go-Go combined the best parts of rock and lyricism to damage my ear drums in the best way possible. Judi Chicago played again in front of a smaller crowd, and even though it was strange in contrast to such an intense group at 529, they still charmed me with their 8-bit sound accompanied by a multi-instrumentalist attitude that never fails.

And of course, the headliner. Dead Confederate creates a Nirvana sound that comes out more developed. Ending their set with a cover of Sonic Youth’s “The Diamond Sea” was more than fitting.

Having been a person who had an inkling of doubt towards the quality of Atlanta bands, Corndogarama hosted bands that shattered any supercilious presumption that had fell on my brain in the past. I give a 4th Ward Heroes fedora-hats-off to everyone that played and attended. Thank you Whynatte for making me coherent enough to be able to remember this. Your latte infused energy drinks exercised my wild young brain more than you’ll know.