Mixed feelings
I keep seeing previews for the Dark Knight and am simultaneously excited and sad about the movie and I am guessing that a lot of other people are feeling the same way. Excited because Batman Begins was great and the previews for the sequel look equally as good. But I wonder how it will feel to watch Heath Ledger's last completed film. When A Knight's Tale was on TV the other day, I'll admit I was a little sad. I'm not sure if it's because Ledger died or because I was remembering that my college newspaper got invited to the press junket when A Knight's Tale came out and I could have met him (and had a free trip to L.A.) if I had only answered the phone that day. So anyway, how is everyone else feeling about Dark Knight coming out? Will you see it? And if you do, do you think you might be a little sad?

Sorry this recap is a day late, but I had to spend most of yesterday recovering and sitting at my computer and typing wasn't on the agenda.

Like a said on Saturday, I skipped most of the outdoor stuff until about 6 p.m. I figured that is might not be as hot after 6 (it wasn't) and I knew that Saturday would be a long night (and it was). I saw a few of the outdoor shows, but spent time with our photographer Tricia Spaulding to help her snag an interview with one of the Modern Skirts for her audio slideshow on the ABH's AthFest page. John, if you are reading this you guys have been a band since 2004, according your MySpace page, so that would be four years.

Yes Friday was a very long day and I am actually shocked I made it until 1:30 a.m. A couple of friends from college came down for the festivities, but they are going to miss out on today because they are going to see that other Athens band that is playing at Lakewood tonight.

Anyway, we spent much of the day at the outdoor stages but we parted way when Dark Meat performed. I've seen them once and well that was enough. And that is how it is with that band. You either love them or you hate them. I headed over to Caledonia Lounge to see Producto and The Golden Gates, the latter featuring my friends from The Empties (who are playing tonight at midnight at Tasty World) Peter Alvanos on drums and Chris Giddens on guitar.

William Miller: “So Russell... what do you love about music?”
Russell Hammond: “To begin with … everything.”
— Almost Famous

And so it begins. Three days of the best local (and regional) music is coming to downtown Athens asAthFest officially starts today. Although the music doesn’t start until Friday night, there are plenty of other things to do. Some of those things are featured on the ABH’s AthFest page. That site will be updated throughout the festival with pictures and stories.

One of the things I love about living in Athens is the plethora of local music. We live in a fairly small town, yet we can go out pretty much any night of the week and see live bands. It’s a rare gift and we don’t even realize how spoiled we are.

I’m going to take a break from our regularly scheduled griping about franking and speed limits and talk about something positive today. Honestly, it’s actually proving fairly difficult to talk about something positive. Guess being negative just comes easier to a journalist.

In a day and age when people seem to care more about a college football game than their fellow man, it's nice to see a group of students who are trying to help the larger world around them.

This group of University of Georgia students called Global Endeavors is going to Ghana this summer to try and help bring modern medical facilities to the people.

Well with the announcement of the AthFest headliners — Dark Meat (Friday), Modern Skirts (Saturday) and Dubconscious (Sunday) — it seems that the organizers are planning a little bit better this year.

Last year, Dark Meat played at Tasty World (to what I heard was a super-packed house) and Modern Skirts played a Little Kings, which I later found out has a fire code of something like 83. Hence the reason why scores of people who had to watch the band from the sidewalk and the fire marshal almost didn’t let the band’s drummer, John Swint, into the venue.