The last word on last weekend’s Corndogorama: squelching heat, phallic food, hot beer, mustache contests, tricycle racing, watermelon tequila shots and fifty indie rock bands.
Check out even more photos.
(Photo by Alan Friedman)
Athens band Modern Skirts headlined day 1 of the Corndogorama on Saturday night. The heat was brutal during the day and didn’t let off much after the sun went down, and a brief spell of rain made everything soggy, then humid. Still, the vibe was mellow, and the chunk of real estate upon which this year’s Cornodog landed is spacious. Although it never felt crowded, it wasn’t empty by any means, at least by the end of the night.
The new location feels right, but needs more places to hide from the heat. It is June in Georgia after all. Sitting in the summer heat and sweating for the sake of a good time and good music is one thing, but when you add the grease and girth of a steady intake of corndogs staggered throughout the day, washed down by however many hot PBRs it takes to get the job done, the body moves in slow motion. Such was the case for many who were willing to suffer for their music at Corndogorama XII.
At the end of the night, best estimates put it at somewhere just over 1,000 people had attended from beginning to end. When asked if it was success? David Railey laughed, “I think so, but I don’t know. Ask me tomorrow.”
CL’s Chanté LaGon and Chad Radford chat about Corndogorama. This year’s event will be lucky number 13 for founder David Railey and the lineup features Dead Confederate, the Howlies, Modern Skirts, Noot d’ Noot, Western Civ, Cordero and more.
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By Chris Parker
It’s been an eventful year for Dead Confederate. Since last September’s release of the debut LP Wrecking Ball, they’ve appeared on “Late Night with Conan O’Brien” and recently finished a tour with childhood heroes Dinosaur Jr. This weekend, the Athens quintet pulls double-duty closer to home, performing at both AthFest and Corndogorama.
Dead Confederate’s sultry psych rumble evokes a range of acts including Pink Floyd’s spacey atmospherics, the Black Angels’ primal drone, and My Morning Jacket’s Southern-fried guitar rawk. They came into existence in the late ’90s as the jam-oriented act Red Belly Band. After graduating from college, they set about pursuing music in earnest, embarking on a new sound, name and outlook.
“We fell in love with creating music all over again,” says singer/guitarist Hardy Morris. “We were floundering as a college band that didn’t take themselves too seriously. Then we started writing some songs that really mattered to us and it took on a whole ’nother level.”
Continue reading “Dead Confederate feeling festive in preparation for new album”
(Photo by Pamela Littky)
Corndogorama. $15-$20. Noon to 11 p.m. Sat.-Sun., June 27-28. 470 Flat Shoals Ave. Visit www.corndogorama.com for the full show line-up.
For 12 years, the annual Corndogorama music festival served as ground zero for the Atlanta/Athens indie-rock scenes. But last year, the fest took a heavy blow when attendance fell by about 1,000 due to higher ticket prices and a lineup that failed to pack the punch of the previous year’s headliner, Mastodon. Immediately, banter on blogs and bar stools began to ring the death knell for the homegrown institution. But Corndogorama founder David Railey was having none of it.
“If I called myself a strict businessman and my vision was governed by money, then yes, last year’s Corndogorama was a failure,” he says. “But that’s not me, and truth be told 2,000 happy people showed up. We pulled it off, but unfortunately it wasn’t perceived that way. I lost a lot of money and when the dust settled I felt a little beaten up.”
Rather than calling it quits, Railey has retooled his approach to Atlanta’s quintessential summer music fest. He’s learned from his mistakes, he says, and he’s ready to adopt the same back-to-basics approach that turned corn dogs into the city’s phallic symbol of pride in the first place.
Continue reading “After biting off a mouthful, David Railey reheats Corndogorama”
(Photo by Joeff Davis)
No metal band that’s worth its salt is scared of a little rain. So when talk of moving Corndogorama’s headlining act Zoroaster to the inside stage at Lenny’s spread throughout the crowd Sunday night, the natives became restless. Black clouds rumbled overhead and icy fingers of lighting stretched across the nighttime sky. But rather than tuck tails and seek shelter, Zoroaster raised its fists to the heavens and called down the thunder into a career defining performance.
The Zoroaster experience is not as defined by songs, as it is by the low, gut-pummeling rumble and head-nod rhythms that emanate from the wall of Orange and Sunn amps that wrap around the stage.
In the battle between Zoroaster and nature’s fury, Zoroaster emerged victorious on this night. And in their wake, a battlefield littered with half-eaten corndog sticks and bleeding eardrums were all that remained of “The Year of the Mustard King.”
Not a single drop of rain fell during Zoroaster’s show, and even though the band braved the elements, sadly, not many Corndogorama goers braved it out with them. Last year, Mastodon held down the same closing spot on the bill. It was a historic performance and the place was packed. Homeless people gathered around on the sidewalk across the street to throw their fists in the air and there was hardly enough room in the whole parking lot to accommodate the masses. But this year was different.
Today’s Air Loaf features CL’s Chanté LaGon and Chad Radford discussing Corndogorama as well as other music shows happening this weekend including Brothers Unconnected.
Air Loaf is broadcast weekdays on 1690 WMLB-AM at approximately 8:10 a.m., 12:20 p.m. and 6:20 p.m.
Athens’ acclaimed experimental/ psych-rock quartet Maserati is gearing up for a brief and increasingly rare summer mini-tour in their home state of Georgia as well as a few nights in Florida. Joining Maserati on the road for this trek will be Florida’s Summerbirds in the Cellar.
Tour dates are as follows:
June 25 Gainesville, FL @ Common Grounds
June 26 Ybor City, FL @ Crowbar
June 27 Orlando, FL @ Backbooth
June 28 Athens, GA @ The Fabulous 40 Watt Club
June 29 Atlanta, GA @ Lenny’s Bar for the Corndogorama
The good folks at Lenny’s Bar have posted the dates for Corndogorama, the annual blowout of rock bands, hot dogs and random shenanigans.
CORNDOG-O-RAMA : 2008- The Year of the Mustard King!
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June 26,27,28.29 @ Lenny’s Bar*Now with 100 bands, over 4 days, on 4 main stages, 2 indoor and 2 amazing outdoor stage in the shadow of historic Cabbage Town at the legendary Lenny’s. This year’s signature back-to-back format is a line up only Atlanta’s mainstay Corndog-o-rama mastermind and founder David Railey can deliver: Artists: Independent music artists and fans will reap the benefits of the festival’s outdoor stage experience with pro-level sound, lighting, and staging music festival lovers expect, we think the local artists deserve, and the Corndogorama now delivers to America’s breakout independent music
scene.
Costume-wearing pranksters should start raiding their favorite thrift stores now. If you don’t know what Corndogorama is all about, read Chad Radford’s story in CL’s July 11, 2007 issue.
Just as I thought I’d be plastered by guilt for not attending Corndogorama, I can truly say I enjoyed the show, even if I wasn’t actually there.
Around 10:35 p.m. last night, Mastodon’s “Colony of Birchmen” breezed into my open bedroom window — more than a mile away from Lenny’s.
The guys in the band can officially brag, “You could hear us all the way on Moreland!”
(Photo by Mike White, www.deadlydesigns.com)
