The Athens Popfest 2006 looks to be a bang-up time, with about a gazillion bands playing at two venues over the span of 5 days. And hey — the first day is free! Among the many highlights: Vietnam, Summer Hymns, Oh OK, The Maybellines, 8-Track Gorilla, and Apples In Stereo. All this for 40 bucks? What’s not to like?! The Athens Popfest runs August 8th thru 12th. In Athens, naturally.

In a recent interview with Newsday, the always wise and wonderful Joan Jett discusses what it means to be punk rock:

“I never subscribed to the idea that punk rock means you have to play fast and scream. To me, it means being a rebel, being an underdog, being outside and doing it yourself.”

We couldn’t agree more, Joan.

Meanwhile, half a world away (in more ways than one), Donny Osmond discusses the kind-of-disturbing fact that ladies still throw their underwear at him when he performs, telling a New Zealand publication:

“I don’t know! I had some last night (in Sydney). Panties and all kinds of stuff.”

Pre-Sale Tickets for The Decemberists’ upcoming “The Rout of the Patagons Tour 2006″ go on sale tomorrow, August 1st, at 4 pm EST/ 1 pm PST, on their tour dates page. These tickets are limited in number and $1.00 of the proceeds will go to Ethos, a Portland organization devoted to providing music education programs to kids. General ticket sales will start August 12th, presumably through TicketBastard.

(Director) Ninn “is like a Spielberg” of the “sensual,” Van Halen said.

Van Halen said that he thinks the songs are some of the best work he’s ever done.

I guess that seems about right.

[Link]

Hard to believe nobody has started a band named Bullion Museum yet, but there it is on the list of Ten Thousand Statistically Grammar-Average Fake Band Names.

[via kottke]

Drunkards and pirates rejoice! Anti Records has announced the August 22nd release date for Rogue’s Gallery: Pirate Ballads, Sea Songs & Chanteys, a two disc collection of contemporary re-interpretations of traditional sea songs. A whopping 43 of ‘em! Among the shipmates: Nick Cave, Brian Ferry, Bono, Stan Ridgway, Richard Thompson, Lou Reed, and Lucinda Williams. Arrr!

Click here for more info and the full tracklist.

[Thanks Leigh]

September 12th will see the release of And I Feel Fine — two CDs and one DVD of IRS-era R.E.M. goodness! The first CD is just a bunch of stuff you already have, but the second CD has tons of live stuff, outtakes, b-sides, and whatnot that should make it a must-have. Plus the DVD (entitled When The Light Is Mine) has lots of old TV appearances and early shakey-cam “videos” and other fun stuff, so you can re-live the days when Michael Stipe had hair.

Click here for more info via Urban Pollution, including track lists for all three discs.

Due to popular demand, we’ve decided to extend the 15/15 sale that we’ve been having in conjunction with our pals at Cable and Tweed! That’s 15% off any order over 15 bucks! Claiming your savings couldn’t be easier, just head over to JoeRockhead.com, pick out some CDs from our fine selection of Indie, Pop, Americana, and other Alt.Goodness, then when you’re checking out, enter the coupon code available at Cable and Tweed. That’s it! Simple!

Don’t forget, to keep up with the latest dirt from the Atlanta Music Scene (heck, the music world in general!) visit Cable and Tweed!

Cable and Tweed and JoeRockhead.com… BFF!!

Commune with your inner guitar god. Quite possibly the single greatest usage of Flash that I have ever seen. Be prepared to spend 15 interactive minutes with this page and go all the way to the final jam. Thank me later.