by David Sutherland
Nuçi’s Space held its annual benefit event “Athens Uncovered: Revival” at The Foundry in Athens, Georgia. The fund-raising event kicked off their 25th Anniversary and featured a gathering on stage of the “who’s who” of “Athens Music Royalty” including members of REM, Cracker, Widespread Panic, Drive-By Truckers among others. The event was sponsored by Aubrey Entertainment and the 24-song show was sold out to a standing room only crowd.
Nuçi’s Space, founded in 2000 in Athens, GA, serves as both a sanctuary for local musicians and a mental health advocacy center. The organization was created by Linda Phillips in honor of her son Nuçi, a talented musician who died by suicide after a long battle with depression. The primary mission of Nuçi’s Space is to prevent suicide in the music and broader creative community, by providing accessible mental health resources and fighting the stigma associated with mental illness. The facility offers subsidized healthcare and education about brain illness and suicide prevention and provides low-cost rehearsal spaces.
This year’s show was emceed by Seth Hendershot and was kicked off by the Noodle Soup Group, a “Camp Amped” band (Camp Amped is Nuçi’s Space’s summer music program helps young musicians meet each other, form bands, and get gigs). The next set featured David Barbe of Sugar and Chase Park Transduction ending with a rousing version of “When I Laugh” backed by the “show band”, The Cut Outs, led by Seth Hendershot and made up of Dan Nettles and Robby Handley of Kenosha Kid, AJ Adams of Kinky Waikiki and Greg Hankin of Show Pony. Nettles was Music Director for the program.
Barbe noted, “Athens Uncovered brings people together to support Nuçi’s Space and its critical mission. It is very rewarding to me to see the generosity of my fellow Athenians.”
He was followed by David Lowery of Cracker and Camper Van Beethoven playing “Take the Skinheads Bowling” was joined by Bryan Howard and Carlton Owens of Cracker and then Randall Bramblett had the crowd dancing to his song “Throw the Cane Away”.
Each musician played two or three of their songs and numerous musicians switched on and off stage to play with each other. Jojo Glidewell, Jay Gulley and John Swint of Modern Skirts lead off their segment with a spirited rendering of “Pasadena”. Gulley said “Nuçi’s Space provides practice studios for musicians. While practice space becomes more expensive elsewhere, Nuçi’s enables artists to thrive and incubate”.
Other musicians included Thayer Sarrano of Of Montreal, Sunny Ortiz from Widespread Panic, Jay Gonzalez of Drive-By Truckers, and Dave Domizi and Geoff Melkonian of the Bad Ends. Rapper and Hip Hop artist Ishues relayed a story of how Nuçi’s Space helped him at a difficult time in his life, then totally engaged the crowd in a sing along to his hit “In This World”.
Then Mike Mantione of Five Eight played his super cerebral song “Weirdo”, which touches on the theme of being different, a central element dealt with at Nuçi’s Space with the creatives and artists it serves. While Mantione played guitar and sang, he was backed up by a haunting cello.
The evening was ended when 16 musicians, led by Bill Berry of REM, came on stage (with Michael Stipe in the crowd) and played a heartfelt version of REM’s “Everybody Hurts”. There was not a dry eye in the house. Then, to make sure everyone left the Foundry elevated, they got the crowd dancing to a super version of “(Don’t Go Back to) Rockville”.
In essence, Nuçi’s Space is more than just a place for musicians to gather and rehearse—it’s a vital part of the Athens music ecosystem that champions both the mental health and creative well-being of the community. As Teri Drake-Floyd, Community Engagement Coordinator at Nuçi’s Space and Co-Lead of this year’s Athens Uncovered; Revival put it “We’re here because we love this community and because we believe that everyone deserves the support they need, whether that’s in their music or their mental health journey, or both! That’s what Nuçi’s Space is all about: showing up for our people.”
Click here to learn more about Nuçi’s Space and to donate: https://www.nuci.org
