Crib Notes

From CL Fresh Loaf

On Saturday, July 4, 2009, 529 in East Atlanta hosted a funeral benefit for B Jay Womack, aka Bobby Ubangi. The benefit, planned while Womack was still alive, helped raise funds for his funeral. Womack died of cancer on Wednesday, July 1. This image is from the performance by Carbonas, of which B Jay was a founding member. Womack’s funeral was held this afternoon in Conyers.

More photos from B Jay Womack funeral benefit

(Photo by Joeff Davis)

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The funeral for B Jay Womack will be held on Mon., July 6, at the Honeycreek Woodlands near the Monastery of the Holy Spirit in Conyers.

The funereal starts at 2 p.m. sharp and will be held on a nature preserve down the road from the monastery. Please be prepared to follow signs for parking and burial site. Parking is very limited, so carpooling is required. The burial site is a half-mile hike on a gravel path through a densely wooded area, so please wear proper attire (high heels are not a good idea), and be prepared with sunscreen and bug spray.

Memorial service to follow at Manuel’s Tavern at 6 p.m. Please check websites for details, maps, and info at Vacation, which will also be a shuttle and central meeting point for the trek out to Conyers. Be at Vacation by no later than 1 p.m. to catch a ride.

B Jay will be dearly missed and all friends are welcome to come and pay their respects.

Click below for directions to the Honeycreek Woodlands at the Monastery of the Holy Spirit.

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Last night at 9 p.m., Atlanta’s garage rock mascot and the subject of this week’s CL cover story, Benjamin Jay Womack aka Bobby Ubangi, lost his year-long battle with cancer.

A previously scheduled benefit show to cover B Jay’s funeral expenses takes place on Sat., July 4.

Anyone interested in donating to the Bobby Ubangi Funeral Fund can do so via a Paypal account set up by friend and CL music writer Chad Radford.

Link disabled. Thanks to everyone who contributed to the Bobby Ubangi Funeral Fund. All financial goals were met.

Funeral benefit for B Jay Womack with Carbonas, Predator, Customers and Barreracudas. $7. 4 p.m. Sat., July 4. 529 Flat Shoals Ave. 404-228-6769. www.529atl.com.

(Photo by Joeff Davis)

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Before they were Black Lips they were the Renegades, and they revert to their early former hooligan selves very rarely these days. Tonight is one such occasion as the Renegades return to play a benefit show at the Drunken Unicorn to raise money to cover the funeral expenses for the subject of CL’s cover story this week, Bobby Ubangi.

Baby Dinosaur Vs. Extinction, Pizza Party, and Trip Hop Cowboy are also performing. All proceeds are being donated to the funeral fund.

Anyone interested in donating to the Bobby Ubangi Funeral Fund can do so via send Paypal.

Link disabled.

Note: Funeral donations are no longer being accepted. Thank you to everyone who has contributed.

Cost for the show is $5 for 21+, $7 for under 21. Doors open at 9 p.m. and the show starts promptly at 9:15 p.m. The Drunken Unicorn, 736 Ponce de Leon Place.

FULL DISCLOSURE: Since I have Power of Attorney responsibilities I am using my personal Paypal account to transfer all of funds received directly to cover the costs of funeral expenses.

(Photo by Chad Radford)

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This week’s CL cover story, “The Life & Times of Bobby Ubangi: How Atlanta’s garage rock mascot saved himself before dying,” chronicles local music fixture B Jay Womack’s battle with cancer. The video montage was created by We Fun director Matthew Robison and Zack Wilson.

The following mp3s cover musical output from the Lids on up to some of his most recent songs that appear on Inside the Mind of Bobby Ubangi.

The Gaye Blades “Bobby is a Lover”

The Lids “Something to do”

Bobby Ubangi “That’s Alright”

Bobby Ubangi “Not My fault”

The Soft Spots “Can’t Get her Off”

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The phone call interrupts dinner around 6 p.m. on a Thursday. It’s my girlfriend’s birthday and our meals have just been served up at her favorite Italian restaurant. Normally, I wouldn’t answer at a time like this, not even for my own mother. But the picture of B Jay pops up on my phone’s screen, his arms outstretched like Mr. Bill when he’s about to get squashed. I have to answer.

For the last nine months, Benjamin Jay Womack has been soldiering through terminal lung cancer that has spread to his brain, liver and God knows where else — at the age of 34. I answer, expecting to hear his voice on the other end asking for a ride to get something to eat or a pack of cigarettes. But it’s his roommate Jessica. “I had to put B Jay into hospice care today,” she deadpans. “His hips gave out and he’s having a hard time walking. We’re filling out paperwork with a social worker right now and B Jay wants to know if he can put you down for power of attorney.” I answer yes, envisioning the worst-case scenario as a wave of denial sweeps over me.

One year ago, the man best known by his stage name Bobby Ubangi was a rebel without a pause, partying like a rock star and working as the grouchy door guy at the Drunken Unicorn off Ponce de Leon Avenue. Long considered a mascot of sorts for the Atlanta music scene that nurtured such bands as Deerhunter, Black Lips and Gentleman Jesse, B Jay was a founding member of Carbonas before he got kicked out because he didn’t like to practice. He went on to play guitar and sing in such local garage-punk outfits as the Lids, the Gaye Blades, and Bobby and the Soft Spots. “B Jay is omnipresent around here,” says Jared Swilley of the Black Lips. “He’s been around forever.”

Continue reading “The life and times of Bobby Ubangi”

(Photo by Chad Radford)

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It’s official, both the Black Lips and Deerhunter are playing at 529 Thurs., April 2. Doors open at 9 p.m. Cover is $20. The show is a benefit for Bobby Ubangi, a.k.a. B Jay Womack, who was diagnosed last year with stage IV small cell lung cancer.

There will be no pre-sale tickets for this show. Admission will be granted on a first come, first serve basis. Barreracudas open the show.

Black Lips “Short Fuse”

Black Lips “Starting over”

Black Lips “I’ll Be With You”

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Day 1 in the Redneck Riviera (A.K.A. Destin, Florida) was a success despite the less than summery weather. At the beginning of the trip B Jay had suggested that I call these blog posts “Endless Summer,” but it was apparent upon arrival that summer had not yet begun. But why let that ruin the trip?

After checking into our hotel and scoping out the view from our room over Destin Harbor, we spied a derelict, half-sunken boat that appeared to have been abandoned. The water in the harbor was calm and an occasional dolphin fin or jumping fish flashed across the surface from time to time.

Our room was on the fourth floor of a five story building and our balcony was under constant bombardment from a flock of seagulls who were hungry and demanding. Their barking visits turned out to be among the most high-energy moments of the trip. We fed them peanuts, tortilla chips, onion rings from Burger King and bread and bagels from the hotel’s free continental breakfast stand. Everyone including the hotel concierge gave me dirty looks when they saw me cramming bagels into my pockets and heading back to the room. After the first few rounds we even started recognizing the repeat visitors by their distinctive markings and squawks.

… There is something both surreal and incredibly hilarious about looking into a seagull’s eye as it snatches an entire onion ring out of the sky and flies away with it dangling in its beak.

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Six months ago Bobby Ubangi (B. Jay Womack) of local punk/garage rock/shit-fi bands the Gaye Blades and the Soft Spots was diagnosed with stage IV small cell lung cancer that had spread to his brain. The prognosis was terminal. Chemo and radiation treatments would slow down the cancer, but he was given a life expectancy of about six more months. The time came and went without incident, and when everything seemed to be working, Womack learned that the cancer had spread to his liver, and when that goes, he goes.

At the time he was initially diagnosed, I asked B. Jay if there was anything that he wanted to do; something that he had always wanted to but never had the time, and without hesitation he said, “I want to go to the beach.”

Plans were made and put off a couple of times, but when the latest round of bad news came down the pike it seemed that a trip to the beach was in order sooner than later.

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For today’s installment of Roll Call we call out Bobby Ubangi.

Who are you?
Bobby Ubangi of the Gaye Blades and the Soft Spots

Describe yourself in three words.
Knowing, growing and showing

Who — dead or alive — would you most like to meet?
B. Kliban.

Who would you most like to slap in the face?
Sarah Palin

What song do you wish you had written?
“Little Red Book” by Love

Elvis Costello or Elvis Presley?
Fucking… the Pres.

LP, CD or MP3?
Laser disc.

If you could start one trend, what would it be?
Utilikilts

If you could end one trend, what would it be?
UtiliKilts

With whom would you most like to play a game of spin the bottle?
9 to 5-era Dolly Parton with Jane Fonda watching.

Bobby Ubangi M.C.’s the Atlanta Mess-Around Festival at The Earl this weekend (Fri., Nov. 14th-Sat., Nov. 15th). Two day passes are available for $20. Tickets are $12 at the door.

(Photo by King Khan)

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This Friday night (Sept. 26th) Eyedrum hosts the Atlanta premiere of Michael Tully and Matthew Robison’s (We Fun: ATL Inside Out) documentary film Silver Jew. The film follows Silver Jews main man David Berman on a spiritual quest to the Western Wall (A.K.A. the Wailing Wall) in the Old City of Jerusalem to embrace his Jewish roots … And play a few shows. Doors at Eyedrum open at 9 p.m. and the film starts at 10 p.m. Admission is $5.

Proceeds from door sales are being donated to B Jay Womack (a.k.a. Bobby Ubangi) of local bands the Gaye Blades and the Soft Spots, who was recently diagnosed with terminal cancer.

Chad Radford: How did you you come to be involved with making Silver Jew?

Matthew Robison: David and I met in a club where I was playing, and he humbly introduced himself and his (then) girlfriend Cassie. I had read one of his poems in Mean Magazine, but didn’t know much about Silver Jews. I always understood him as an artist, but admittedly never played his records over and over. I do know most of them very well, and for a few months put together a band to be called Walnut Falcons to play Silver Jews covers. So I like the songs very much. The attachment to the music increased when I used some studio tracks in the doc and began to associate them with the work.

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Tonight (Tues., Aug. 26th) James Jackson Toth of Wooden Wand headlines a show at The Earl, with openers the Dutchess & the Duke and the Good Graces.

James Jackson Toth’s slow trek from the outer limits of folk music into full-blown country songs was inevitable. But no one expected that his transition into a more accessible sound would be so flawless while maintaining the darkness of his more esoteric years. Waiting in Vain does just that. A low and lonesome boom underscores the album’s brightest moments, and song titles such as “The Banquet Styx” and “Becoming Faust” say it all. Toth has a sense of humor that gives depth to his solo debut. But with its subtle sheen of fuzz and slow, waltzing melodies in closing cut “The Dome” makes plain that he wholeheartedly embraces the music without losing sight of his own psychedelic roots.

Seattle duo the Dutchess & the Duke (Jesse Lortz and Kimberly Morrison) open the show.

On Monday night D&D played a short-notice in-store performance over at Vacation Gallery & Boutique on North Highland. For this most recent round of touring they’ve been playing shows as a two-piece. The in-store at Vacation was set up as a test run with their temporary addition to the line-up, Atlanta’s one and only B Jay Womack, (A.K.A. Bobby Ubangi.)

Now before the rumors get started, it’s important to note that B Jay is only playing a couple of shows in Georgia (Athens and Atlanta). He’s being brought on board to be the band’s tambourine man, which leaves one hand free for continual consumption of alcohol during the show.

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