Below is my column for this week's METRO SPIRIT...enjoy and be edified....
Several years back, Augusta got much less weird with the relocation of a single native to Asheville. ANDREW BENJAMIN had previously spent years crafting a sphere of artistic influence that held a gravitational pull over many of Augusta's more open-minded(and sorta bent) citizens. Pre-dating SECTOR 7G, Benjamin's HANGNAIL GALLERY was a fearless DIY endeavor on a shoestring budget that brought music and art from all over the country to the punk rockers,goths,art weirdos and noise fanatics that generally did not play in the more conventional venues in town. Pair that with his shape-shifting collab HELLBLINKI SEXTET and you probably had third eyes opening all over the CSRA as a spooky menagerie of well-patina'd and antiqued art paraded past their eyes and ears....
Alas(for Augusta anyway), the love of a beautiful girl and the promise of a new family lured Mr. Benjamin away....I think it not hyperbole to say that our music and art scene was at least for a time much less rich for it.
They say you can't go back home. Who in the world is "they" anyhow?...you CAN come back home...and that is indeed what ANDREW BENJAMIN and Co. will be doing Saturday August 13th.
HELLBLINKI returns to Augusta on that date at SKY CITY and if you ask Andrew, they'll make ya famous. Not only can you expect an evening of some fine tunes that evoke the dark underbelly of the South mixed with a twisted black circus of Bacchanalia, but the evening will be set down upon the permanent record for all of posterity. In other words, the band will be shooting a live video. And should you deem yourself a soul hearty enough, your image will be captured indelibly for the world to see. At which point, you can tell "they" to suck it. I suggest you dress the part for suggesting that sentiment to "they." I suspect that this show will be a bit of hot ticket on that particular Saturday evening. Do not be frightened by the drag queens in attendance. They are mostly harmless and enjoy a good backwoods stomp covered in runny mascara now and again too. Up and comers MANN RAY will open the show along with whiskey-soaked chanteuse ALLISON FOSTER. You really should refrain from missing it. Here's the most recent vid from HELLBLINKI...we've come a long way,baby!
On a side note, I'd like to invite you to come along and listen to me ramble along with my co-host John "Stoney" Cannon as we host the weekly music podcast CONFEDERATION OF LOUDNESS. Go to confederationofloudness.com to get some. I'd also like to put out there the fact that we are currently seeking new material by local Augusta artists and artists of the Southeast at large. Tracks can be e-mailed to neatodrum@gmail.com for inclusion. 15,000 subscribers cannot be wrong. Until next week, adieu.
See y'all at the rock show....
Stak
Note: In the interest of full disclosure, I was indeed a member of HELLBLINKI SEXTET for a period of time, joining just prior to the release of "A Pirate Broadcast" and leaving well after the relocation of the band to Asheville,NC. I haven't seen Andrew Benjamin in years.
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