There are so many things about Athens, Ga that I love. Emily and I were very lucky to live in that town when we did. We were both early to mid 20’s, without kids, and without cares. I mean we had cares and concerns, but those have faded with time and all I’m left with are good happy memories of a wonderful little college town that a part of me still considers home. (Sorry mom and dad, middle Georgia is home too, but Athens holds a special place in my heart.) One of the great things about Athens is that it truly is one of the music cities. Everywhere else I’ve ever lived, if you went to go watch some band you’ve never heard of, you would hear covers of songs you knew well. Not in Athens. In Athens, you would pay $5 or $10 to go see a show, and it was probably a band you’ve never heard of, but that band played their original music. It was great. You never knew what you were going to get. Some shows you payed for weren’t worth the $5, the guitarist might be terrible, or drunk, or both, or the singer couldn’t carry a tune, or maybe the drummer just didn’t show up. But, some of those $5 shows were the best shows I’ve ever been too. I’m going to tell you about some of the more memorable concerts Emily and I saw in Athens.
1) This first story won’t be long, but it was memorable. Emily and I went to a heavy metal show at the recommendation of one of my friends. My friend was really into heavy metal and said that this band (I’ve forgotten the band’s name, so I’ll call them “The Band”) was the best in Athens. Emily and I had a free night and a couple of bucks, so we went to the show. It was fun and weird being in a crowd where you were definitely the oddball. We did not fit in with the heavy metal crowd, but we were having a great time, and then finally The Band took the stage. The first thing I (and I’m sure everyone else) noticed when the lights went down and the show began was that “The Band” used several flood lights at the back of the stage that showed through the band and into the crowd. The flood lights created a harsh contrast of bright light and black silhouettes. The concert itself was what a typical heavy metal concert is. A lot of screaming into the microphone, loud and fast guitar, and insanely hard driving drums. I enjoyed it, I think Emily hated it. It isn’t my favorite style of music, but I got into it. The music was primal and raw, the rage and energy from the band and crowd was palpable. And then there was the beer spraying. The Band would shake up beers and spray them into the crowd. To me, it was fun. And then the lead singer decided to crowd surf. There was no communication, no delivering of intention; the lead singer just spun his guitar onto his back and fell into the crowd. He stiffened up his body and fell like a board into whoever was at the edge of the stage. The people down there did what people do when caught of guard, they got out of the way. The lead singer smacked his head on the concert floor. The music stopped at once and the lights came up. A lesser man (or a more sober man) would have stayed down, but not this guy. The lead singer got to his feet, blood coming down his forehead, pulled his guitar around, and started playing again. It took the rest of the band a few seconds to get back on the same page, but within a minute, the band was going hard, the crowd had pushed this guy back on stage, the lights had gone back down, and the show was on
2) One of the great music venues in Athens is The 40 Watt. It was a great place to see a show, there was a big stage and plenty of room for the crowd. I saw a lot of my favorite bands there. One unique things that The 40 Watt did was host a show called Garage-a-Trois. For Garage-a-Trois, three musicians from three different bands would come together and form their own band. These new bands would put on a short 1-3 song show, and, of course, there would be a lot of interesting blending of genres. Because of how diverse Athens’ music scene is, it was common for a pop singer to be paired with a metal guitarist and a punk drummer. And that is exactly what happened for this particular story.
Emily and I went to Garage-a-Trois for two years (possibly the only two years the show was put on). Some of the acts were really good, you could tell that the band members took the challenge seriously and put on a good to great show. Some of the bands would lean into the silliness of the whole thing, one band made up of three very large guys did a ten minute jam session in which each member took a turn dancing their heart out (the song was rightfully called “The Dance.”) And, some of the acts really didn’t seem to care a whole lot. I enjoyed all three types of acts, obviously the first two kinds were super enjoyable, but there was also something interesting in watching people fail. I’m not sure what it says about our society that we enjoy watching others fail, but there is a ton of “fail” video content; so it is something a lot of us like to see. This one poorly matched band did not fall into any of the three normal groups; they did not try really hard and put on a great show, they didn’t embrace the absurdity, and they didn’t just fail. Instead, they seemed to really hate each other. I made up the bands whole back story in my mind, which I won’t bore you with, but it boils down to this; a pop singer does not mesh well with a metal guitarist and a punk drummer. While not the same thing, the metal and punk genres of music are a lot closer to each other than they are to pop, and the pop singer never had a chance with his bandmates.
This Garage-a-Trois band managed to slug through their first song, which was a weird crooning song mixed with some harsh electric guitar. The second song, however, is where the wheels really came off. The singer did the usual count the speed of the song, “1…2…1.2.3.4!” and the song started. But the drummer must not have been happy with the pacing, because he started speeding up. The guitarist seemed fine with it, he sped up as well, but the singer couldn’t handle it, and soon he was yelling the words of the song as quickly as he could. After a few really dirty looks back at the drummer, the singer went back to the drum set and took a stick out of the drummers hand. The drummer didn’t miss a beat, drummers come prepared, he produced another stick out of a bag and drove the pace faster. This was the last straw for the singer, he ran back to the drum set and kicked a hole in the bass drum. To which, the drummer promptly leapt over the rest of the set tackling the singer. Wrestling ensued. It might have gotten ugly, but The 40 Watt stage hands were quick to rush the stage. The show ended with 3-4 stage hands holding two grown men apart because they couldn’t play together and this metal guitarist doing his best impression of John Entwistle, and just kept playing the song while chaos broke out around him. For those who may not know, John Entwistle was the bassist for The Who. He was the guy how would keep the song going as long as possible while Pete Townsend and Keith Moon destroyed their instrument around him.
3) The last concert I’m going to tell you about was at Caledonia Lounge. For everything that The 40 Watt is, Caledonia is the opposite. Caledonia Lounge in tiny (though I bet they prefer intimate). If I had to guess, the Fire Marshall would only want 30-40 people in this small space. There was no place to sit except for three stools at the tiny bar, the lounge part of the name really was a joke. But for how small Caledonia Lounge is, Emily and I saw a lot of great bands there; some of my fondest concert memories happened at Caledonia. The particular show I’m telling you about was a Halloween show. There were several bands that played, but I only really remember one of them, and I don’t even remember them because they were great or super entertaining. I remember this Halloween show because of what Emily did.
Emily was in vet school (I don’t remember what year) and because of that she was constantly tired. Emily would put in long days at school and then longer nights studying. I would try to break her a way from the books from time to time. All work and no play, you know. It was hard to pry Emily away, she wanted (and still wants) to be the best veterinarian she could be, but I was able to convince her to go to this concert on Halloween. It was Halloween after all, we had to go on the town for all the people watching if nothing else. So, Emily and I go to Caledonia and we see a few shows. The acts were good, but I could tell Emily was starting to fade. Emily decided to stick it out for one more show, and this all female punk band takes the stage. I can’t say the band was good; what I can say is the band was loud and fast and fun. Emily and I were in the midst of the crowd, jumping and dancing. We were having a great time. One song ended, and I left Emily to go to the bar for a minute to get a PBR (the college kids’ beer of choice) and when I came back, I couldn’t find Emily in the crowd. I looked for her, pushing past people almost in a panic. And then I found her. She was sitting on some random instrument case with her body and head resting very comfortably on the bass drum case. Emily had fallen asleep in this tiny venue while a punk show was raging all around her. Needless to say, we didn’t stay much longer, but I also don’t know anyone else to fall asleep in quite so crazy a place.
I’m thinking about doing a blog where I answer some of your questions soon, so, if you have something you’d like to know, leave the question in the comments. I hope you liked this installment of Tony Takeover, and as always thanks for reading.
Your story was music to my ears! Thanks for sharing
Great story Tony.
I can relate to Emily falling asleep at a very loud place! I can do the same. Sleep wins all the time.
I’ve been wondering since I saw the episode where Emily was kicked by the cow as she attempted to repair a torn teat, if that had any bearing on leaving Dr. Pol vet clinic ? That would shake anyone to the core.
Fun stories Tony. Brings back the priceless memories while in college. Yep, drank a lot of PBR also.
Where did you move to …I miss her on the show
Exhaustion can cause someone to fall asleep anywhere.
My husband is one of those people who could sleep through an earthquake.
Reminiscing is always fun!
Isn’t it fun to think back on your pre-kid days? One day you’ll be thinking..uh oh….my kids are out at some rock goth heavy metal concert…what time is it anyway?😉 don’t they have studying to do? Maybe I should give them a call. 😂
Okay question….what are you up to these days Tony? We know Dr. Emily is a small animal vet at a private practice…right? We’d love to hear about you. Keep the stories coming.
Love this blog and getting to know you all better! This old gal is a big fan along with my family! ♥️
LOL! Tony, I hot a kick out of this one for sure. It reminded me of some concerts years ago. Thanks for the blog!
Great stories.
Good writing, fun memories! Enjoyed the read!
Athens is a great town. Go Dawgs. Great football too
What has been you’re favorite job? Do you enjoy working with animals as much as Emily? If so what animal is your favorite to work with? How do you like Virginia?
Great story Tony. Highly entertaining. I can’t believe Emily could actually fall asleep in the middle of a sound tornado. Talk about steady nerves. Wow.
I laughed when you described who John Entwistle was.. I’m old lady & in high school we listened to the Who and all the great bands of the 70’s. I got to see them perform & see them destroy all their interstrements at the end..
I wonder if they did that to avoid Encores ??
You definitely know how to spin a good story!
I like your lighthearted take on quirky happenings. If you start a blog, I’ll definitely follow!
That was great fun to read with my morning coffee. I wondered if you have a school degree in English Lit. Or something? You really have a way with words and to capture attention,(mine anyway).
I hope there will be more to come, Happy story telling. : )
Well done Tony!
Thanks Tony! I enjoyed this. We have lived in Atlanta about eleven years now and I have never been to Athens. The closest I came was when Steve Earle played, almost went then. Keep up the writing, love reading what you both have to share.
Love hearing about your early years. Your fun times make me laugh. Thanks for writing!!!
Great laughs!! Being very, very old (as my grandkids frequently remind us) this brings back memories of the “old days”!! Of course, “The Band” has an entirely different memory for me! Got out their record ( ask your grandparents if you don’t know what that is!!) and we danced and laughed for an hour. Thanks Tony for sharing your memories and dusting off our brains so could remember ours!
Great story, Tony! I get it about being a comatose sleeper – I actually slept through a tornado once! Curious about the kids. We all saw the episode when Calvin was born. Any stories about other pregnancies/ deliveries?
I just love Emily’s shorter hair in the second pic! She looks great in long hair, but the short hair is too cute!
Great stories and keep making great memories. Someday you will be taking your kids to their first concerts. I got to see *NSYNC with my daughter and Kid Rock with both sons and of the daughter. So keep making memories and age is not a factor.
I miss you on Dr. Pol and will continue…..I say a spin off with your own show on Nat Geo Wild…..it would be a hit !
Love your posts also❤️
I was wondering how Dr.Emily likes her new job?
How are the kids doing in their new home?
Thanks for the opportunity for the questions !
I was wondering how Dr.Emily likes her new job?
How are the kids doing in their new home?
Thanks for the opportunity for the questions !
Write about when you were working in the OR.
When Emily got pregnant or you being a Mister Mom.
Just a few suggestions.
Keep them coming, you two.
Great memories ! I suggested in another comment that y’all should think of having some kind of YouTube blog.
Precious memories Tony. I love seeing photos of you two and reading the wonderful memories you both made while dating and continue to make your young family today.
Awesome job Tony. Made me laugh when singer/musician jumped into crowd and landed on floor, guess that makes me a little weird.
I’m sure Dr Emily was exhausted for her to fall asleep with all that noise. Really enjoyed this blog, all the best to your Mrs. you and the children.
I would love to know why you guys chose to move to Virginia?
I know about Athens. My daughter was really into R.E.M. One day she randomly dialed numbers in that area code to hope to speak to Michael Stipe. This was 1995 and it was on our house phone. An $80 phone bill followed.
No punishment. Just a good talking to.
As of last Saturday you are still on the current season of Dr. Pol. I understand why you left. I don’t think I could handle the stress or Michigan winters either. Will we see good bye on the show? Or will you just disappear.
I hear you like to paint? So do I! Especially animals
Hi Emily & Tony
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=en-pJkdsh8I
This really goes w the vet posts but as I am a poet (tho not me reading this) and had a vet uncle, I thought this poem ,which is fabulous about veterinary life might be of interest to you and the DVMoms. It speaks to Emily’s earlier posts.
Love. Tony takeover. What is your degree in. ?
Just by reading your posts and Dr. Emily’s, I can tell you are perfectly matched! A shared sense of humor is key to a lengthy relationship, isn’t it? That’s how my husband and I have stayed together for almost five decades! Thanks for sharing your stories.
I love reading yours and Emily’s blogs! I think it’s awesome how she knew we would want to be able to keep up with you guys.
My question: has Emily ever regretted becoming a vet due to long hours, sporadic home life or missing out on her children’s milestones like what happened when she was working with Dr Pol? Did you ever regret her taking the position with Sr Pol?
I love Emily’s Blog and Tony, you do a really great job of keeping us all entertained! Love reading your takeovers! If you do start a blog, make sure you leave us a link!!
I also agree that you both should do live family talks on YouTube! That’s IF you can find any spare time! 😘
Love ya both❣
Thanks so much for the great blog and Takeover!
I am liking Tony take over, as we all love your incredible wife, it’s nice to get glimpses of how you two had fun, learned about each other and spent time together before the days of chaos of being working parents. Thank you for letting us into your lives, and thank you for sharing her with us 😊 well even just a part of her!!
Really enjoyed this. So nice of you to share. 😁
Great job Tony !!!
Tony, do you have a Most Favorite Band?
I enjoyed reading about the “concert” adventures, Tony!!! I learned very quickly in my college days to take a separate car, in order to escape from bands that were still working on their public presentations.
Tony, Thanks for sharing a new slice . GAT is sick! Thought you were a Deadhead.
Hi… if you’re still looking for questions…
I’ve wondered how different the workday was at Pol Clinic when the cameras were around vs. when they weren’t. Was it pretty much the same (but more crowded in the exam rooms) or was it a very different experience?
Also, Emily… have you ever considered teaching? It seems like you’d be a natural at it.
Thanks!
Great story; enjoying this blog! How do you all like living in Virginia? You’re just a few hours from me, and I have family in your area.
I lived in Athens for a few years and it is by far the most musical place I’ve lived. Your post brings back fond memories of nights at The 40 Watt and the Caledonia. There is such a different vibe in that town.
Athens truly is a wonderful town