Photo Credit: Mike White

New Madrid

Everyone hangin’ in there? Sunscreen applied and adequately hydrated? Okay, good.

If you got plenty of rest Friday night and were brave enough to make your AthFest experience an all day affair Saturday, you had plenty of stuff to choose from. I missed the tacos, but a friend reported that Sr. Sol catered some pretty badass food to the New West Records party over at 399 Meigs. Buxton, New Madrid and Daniel Romano wound up playing some great sets over at Normaltown Hall. I’ve been to that place over on Meigs now a few times and I’m getting the feeling that it is the best-kept open secret in town. If you haven’t been, I highly recommend you check out the venue the next time they host a show.

I was in and out of the Caledonia Lounge Saturday evening for the non-AthFest sanctioned, but still-awesome Dirty Athens Day Party. Who can beat semi-cheap beer and great weather out on a patio? I caught New Madrid play their sonic homages to the reverb gods. Unsurprisingly, they were tight (this was, by my count, their third show in two days here at AthFest). I had to bounce before Maserati, but those math rockers always put on one hell of a show.

Based entirely upon my walking route, I wound up checking out Ghost Owl on the Pulaski Street Stage. Ghost Owl is a newer outfit that spawned out of the ashes of Perpetual Groove. While I am decidedly against jam bands (sorry, that kind of music just bores me), I was, well, sort of into it. While P-Groove might operate as more of a traditional jam band, Ghost Owl has some nice pop and dance elements to them thanks to the contributions of Adam Perry, Albert Suttle and Matt McDonald. There isn’t any gratuitous shredding going on with Ghost Owl, so if you’re into quality musicianship without hours-long solos, give them a shot.