Happy Birthday To Us! Again!

Yes, ladies and gentlefolk, today marks the 2nd anniversary of the founding of this here site we call AthensMusicJunkie. And I just thought that the first year of AMJ was crazy! Our second year went places that I think none of us expected but we all enjoyed.

Let’s talk about some of our R.E.M. adventures. There was the surprise appearance from Bill Berry at the Baseball Project show, the incredible release party for Olympia, and the ever-amusing AMJ/REMHQ mutual fawning fest which led to me finally acquiring the domain name Athensmusicjunkie.com!

Heck, in honor of the boys’ thirtieth anniversary, we redid the site’s banner and got to announce the official REM30 party! And while at WUOG, we got the very incredible honor of coordinating five hours of R.E.M. music on April 5th where we got to introduce the world to “Throw Those Trolls Away.”  We’re still a bit mind-boggled to say the very least.

Year 2 was an adventure in the non-REM realm too. I had the pleasure of introducing Widespread Panic’s John Bell on the first day of Music Business classes. Our Athfest coverage was done mostly by YOU thanks to the many emails and photos that were sent in. I got roped into presenting at the Flagpole awards, a very humorous story in itself.

We saw a ton of shows and heard many records. Our good friends Ziona Kocher (bless your overworked heart) and Sofia Perea (best. intern. ever) gave their opinions and views. You guys got involved too, joining our Twitter feeds, Facebook page, and warring it out in the comments section. We started updating five days a week like a real site and your support has meant a lot.

We had some rough times too. We lost the Theatre and I had to write far too many obituaries for dear friends and fellow Athenians. I hope and pray that I can get through this year without having to write any…

I had a lot of personal growth as a writer/editor as well. I learned a few hard lessons about sources and trustworthy info, I battled off what seems to be my own personal heckler, and I learned to just let some things go. They don’t teach this stuff in J-school. You have to get knocked around a bit. It helps to remember that AMJ is a couple of part-time writers and a host of characters that do this for the love (cause I sure can’t live on this money!!).

We bid farewell to a lot of major places in my life. I’ve had to move on from my beloved Sound of the City at WUOG and the grind at UGA. And for now, I’ve temporarily moved from Athens. But I hope to be back soon.

Yeah, it’s been a wild and crazy year. Thank you. I love what I do and I speak for all the AMJ staff when I say that we could not have done any of it without you. Your love, support, random comments, and emails keep us going. I don’t know what this next year holds but I expect that when May 25th, 2011 rolls around, that birthday post will be spectacular indeed.

Have a slice of birthday cake for us!

Jordan Stepp
Editor/Creator/Narrator
ATHENSMUSICJUNKIE