Amplify Decatur To Host Big Music Festival on Decatur Square This June
Decatur Metro | April 12, 2016 | 1:57 pmJohn sends along this release about a great big music festival, Amplify Decatur, coming to Decatur Square and Eddie’s Attic this summer…
The nonprofit group Amplify My Community announced today that the 2016 Amplify Decatur concert series will feature a June 18 outdoor music festival with room for 2,500 concert-goers on the downtown Decatur square, in addition to a three-night stand at Eddie’s Attic, June 17-19. All funds raised will be directed to Decatur Cooperative Ministry (DCM) to support its efforts to prevent and alleviate homelessness in Decatur and DeKalb County. The concert series is Presented by Lenz and produced in partnership with Eddie’s Attic.
Tickets are available at AmplifyDecatur.org.
The Grammy-nominated and highly acclaimed duo The Milk Carton Kids will co-headline the outdoor festival along with bluegrass upstarts Elephant Revival. NPR called The Milk Carton Kids, “Gillian Welch and David Rawlings-meet-Simon & Garfunkel with a splash of The Everly Brothers.” The New York Times said, “If Elephant Revival doesn’t make you smile, there’s something wrong with you.” They are supported by the soulful duo Penny & Sparrow. Decatur favorite Eliot Bronson also joins the bill; Paste Magazine called his most recent album “An Americana Gem.”
Since 2011, Amplify has raised and donated more than $80,000 to DCM, including $28,500 from its 2015 concert series. “Amplify exists to support and to shine a spotlight on the remarkable work of local heroes like the people at DCM,” Executive Director of Amplify My Community Spencer Smith said. “But our secondary goal is to give Decatur the music festival it deserves. We want this inaugural event to become a mainstay that adds to the fabric of the community, much like the book, arts and beer festivals have for years.”
The June 18 festival features both a free and a ticketed component. From noon to 3 p.m. the festival will showcase emerging and local bands and will be free to the public. From 5 to 11 p.m. the event will be ticketed, with admission restricted to ticket holders. Tickets cost $30 and are available via AmplifyDecatur.org. Premium seating is available for $45; VIP tickets are $100 and include preferred seating, complimentary beverages, and other benefits.
The festival will include food trucks, craft beer, and more. Re-entry will be permitted, allowing attendees to access Decatur’s award-winning bar and restaurant scene.
Amplify Decatur will also feature a three-night stand at historic Eddie’s Attic from June 17-19. Participating bands include The Roosevelts, Delta Moon, Dwayne Shivers with Anthony Aparo, and Abbie Gardner and Jesse Terry. Sunday, June 19, will include “Let’s Go Crazy,” a Prince cover night featuring 10 local and regional acts. Full information is available at EddiesAttic.com.
2016 is the 25th anniversary of the opening of Eddie’s Attic, which has helped launch the careers of The Indigo Girls, John Mayer, Shawn Mullins and dozens more. The Attic was founded by Eddie Owen and most recently owned by Alex Cooley, until his death in January.
“Amplify Decatur, and all things music-related in this town, stands on the shoulders of Eddie’s Attic, and the people who made it,” Smith said. “We are excited to partner with The Attic to produce this festival and will honor its role in building the Decatur music scene over the last 25 years.”
Lenz, the Presenting Sponsor, is a founding partner of Amplify Decatur. “A central part of Lenz’s mission is to aid and strengthen our local community,” said Richard Lenz, the president and CEO of Lenz who chairs Amplify Decatur’s advisory board. “I know of no better way to do that than to support Amplify and Decatur Cooperative Ministry.”
Amplify My Community is grateful for the support of the City of Decatur, Downtown Development Authority and the Decatur Business Association (DBA). The DBA’s Beach Party event returns Friday, June 17, the night before the Amplify Decatur outdoor festival.
The mission of Decatur Cooperative Ministry is to help families facing homelessness settle into safe, stable homes and build healthy lives filled with peace, hope and opportunity. A member of the City of Decatur community for more than 45 years, DCM provides families in crisis with 90-days of emergency shelter for women and children, six months of transitional housing for homeless families, permanent supportive housing for homeless families with disabilities, financial assistance for families facing eviction/utility disconnection and emergency assistance for low-income veteran households. More information is available at DecaturCooperativeMinistry.org.
Based in Decatur, Georgia, Lenz partners with its clients to grow together. For more than two decades, Lenz’s specialized expertise has helped our clients reach their goals. Lenz offers the full range of digital and traditional marketing expertise, including brand strategy, advertising, PR, website development, inbound marketing and more. More information is available at LenzMarketing.com.
Amplify My Community was founded in 2010 and is based in Decatur, Georgia. Its mission is to leverage the universal love of music to fight poverty at the local level. To date, Amplify has raised and donated more than $150,000 in unrestricted gifts to locally oriented anti-homelessness and poverty-focused organizations — including more than $80,000 in Decatur. Amplify has held concert series in Atlanta, Athens, Decatur, Suwanee and Duluth, Georgia; Asheville and Charlotte, North Carolina; Nashville, Tennessee; and Charlottesville, Virginia. Organizational sponsors that have sustained Amplify include MailChimp, Lenz, The Pinewood, Decatur Package Store, and The Feinberg Family.
I play in a local band and would be interested in performing. Who would we get in touch with for submissions?
Rock! Saw the Milk Carton Kids once before and they were terrific so I’ve got high hopes for this. Maybe it’ll involve putting the stage at the very end of the plaza, directly over the Church Street MARTA entrance, and then everyone will realize that it’s a way better way to do crowd-facing performances than the bandstand is. Then we can blow up the bandstand and restore the long view down McDonough of the Old Courthouse.
Rock really can change the world.
Amen to that. So long as they don’t bring back the glass pyramid.
Yes.
You didn’t care for having our own little Louvre?
“putting the stage at the very end of the plaza, directly over the Church Street MARTA entrance, and then everyone will realize that it’s a way better way to do crowd-facing performances than the bandstand is. Then we can blow up the bandstand and restore the long view down McDonough of the Old Courthouse.”
Yep. Yep. Yep.
The bandstand definitely served it’s purpose since it was completed in 1996. Kudos to all who helped make that happen because it was important. But it’s definitely time to revisit, particularly with the MARTA plaza redo that has been done, the imminent McDonough redo coming soon and, more than anything, the changing nature of live performances on the Square.
But more to the point here – Congrats Amplify Decatur. Great work!
Hey Scott – I’m one of the organizers of the event and until very recently a Decatur resident. You’re correct, the stage will be on the MARTA plaza near Church Street, facing back towards the bandstand. It’ll be a great show and we’re proud of the lineup. Thanks for the kind words and hope you can make it out!
If the bandstand is removed and the long view is restored, will we have to pay another million for a new grass/dirt patch to replace it?
Let’s start a petition to remove the monstrosity:
1. As Scott says, bandstand blocks the long view of the historical courthouse.
2. Totally non-functional as a performing venue (bad sightlines, obscures the performers, lighting, sound impossible)
3. Performers end up facing the courthouse while the bulk of audience is toward the plaza
4. Contributes to the ongoing lawn destruction
5. Conceptually, the bandstand is for a concert band which happens once per year on 7/4
Rather than a petition, how about organizing a group of people to help the City raise the funds, develop the plan to remove the structure and make it better?
I’m all for removing it too, but I suspect it’s easier said than done.
This is awesome! Hope the evening concert is more skewed to adults–we need more grown-up events & venues around here if we really want to fill all those new apartments with young single professionals & not PWKs.
Wait! When is the Beach Party?
June 17.
Never. Gonna have a big water slide again!
Surely you jest!
I don’t jest. And don’t call me Shirley!