anyone live in Atlanta? thinkin' about moving there. tell me 'bout it plz.

[Charliemills]

I really like living in Atlanta. I like the weather and the food (I really like the south). It's very pretty, too. I actually live in Decatur. Which is technically not Atlanta, but it pretty much is. It's very spread out, so there are a bunch of like little areas of interest (east atlanta, oakhurst, downtown decatur, etc.)

There isn't much of a cohesive music scene in all honesty. Traffic is pretty bad, but you can get by with staying off the interstate. I actually work right next to GA tech. It's a cool area of town. Atlanta is very very diverse. I think it has one of the fastest growing GLBT populations.

You can't walk a block without someone asking you for money, and pretty much everyone I know has had their car broken into. Atlanta is kind of a quirky city.

[MalcolmTex]

One thing we should all agree on right now - THE hottest women in the country live in Atlanta, and that is an undisputed fact. Lots of gay men too, if that's your preference. Seriously, ATL is known for the tang quotient. Spring is here now, so lots of skin...

[diddlybo]

The traffic here is probably as bad as any city in the US. According to a study a couple of yerars ago, ATL drivers spend more time in their cars commuting than any other city in the US so yeah, the traffic can be horrible.

 

The city has too many people. According to a Frontline story from around 5 years ago, in the past few years ATL has been the fastest growing city in the history of recorded modern civilization. The city wasn't really ready for this, IMO, resulting in super traffic congestion and ongoing construction all over town.

 

Its hot as hell in the summer.

 

We have awesome restaurants, probably more than any other southeastern city.

 

Its the yuppie capital of the US. Yuppie types flock to this place like crazy from all over. Good luck trying to find a native Atlantan. Going hand in hand with this is the fact that ATL has more luxury cars than any city in the US, probably due to the fact that we have all the yuppies and no decent public transportation.

 

The city is a giant urban sprawl, in much the same way that LA is. You can't really walk anywhere.

 

The music scene sucks in my opinion, no offense to Grayeyes. There are lots of industry things happening, mainly in rap/hip-hop but the city doesn't support live music very well. You can go see killer bands with great musicians with crowds of less than 10 people. What music scene we have is pretty fragmented. The rock guys hate the indie bands, the blues guys hate the rockers and the indie bands, the metal guys hate the blues guys and the indie bands and the indie bands hate everyone. Cover bands are universally scorned, except for the the Metalsome crowd, which is live karaoke. There are a couple of decent country venues which always do pretty well but that's more about the line dancing than the music.

 

The city is plagued by corrupt politicians and bad planning. A good example is when they tore down one of the more happening areas in town (Buckhead) to rebuild it into something else. They leveled complete city blocks of buildings and got about halfway done with the project and ran out of money. Nice.

 

Real estate developers seem to run the city and we have little to concern for protecting our history. If we have to tear down a historic site to put up a condo, then so be it. The place is a cultural wasteland, IMO.

 

As far as the thugs and bad neighborhoods are concerned, I've never felt really threatened by that element here. Just stay out of the bad places and you'll be fine.

 

There are good people here and fun places to hang out. However, you have to wade thru the transplanted douche bags to get to them.

 

If you love hot weather, driving in your Lexus while talking on your cell phone, meeting with your friends at upscale restaurants, college sports, sports bars, playing golf and have an upscale corporate job to fund these activities, you'll think you've died and gone to heaven.

 

I have lived her so long its home now and I wouldn't want to leave. however, if I had my choice of cities to relocate to, Atlanta would be far down my list.

[mohowski]

Seems you fellas have pretty polarized opinions. I just booked a 2 day trip to go check it out for myself on Saturday. I'll be staying near the GA Tech campus.

 

Can some of y'all who LIKE teh ATL recommend me some places to check out? Kickass parts of town or good hangouts, as well as decent areas to live for a college student? KTHXBAI.

[pioneerprogress]

The city is plagued by corrupt politicians and bad planning. A good example is when they tore down one of the more happening areas in town (Buckhead) to rebuild it into something else. They leveled complete city blocks of buildings and got about halfway done with the project and ran out of money. Nice.

 

 

I don't know what parts of town are called what...but is this the new condos/stores/etc. in between IKEA and SCAD you speak of?

[Aibric]

The city is plagued by corrupt politicians and bad planning. A good example is when they tore down one of the more happening areas in town (Buckhead) to rebuild it into something else. They leveled complete city blocks of buildings and got about halfway done with the project and ran out of money. Nice.

 

 

Buckhead is better off being half finished business buildings then a strip of hip hop clubs where people get shot and police constantly roadblock the whole area.

[NaturalBornBoy]

Thank goodness I'll be moving to Athens.

 

Or is that a bad move too?

[Aibric]

HAHAHAHAHA. I love you :love:

Its true, man. I live in Sandy Springs and between here and East Cobb there are so many of these {censored}ing people. The people who go through life acting like everyone should serve them or get out of their way, make a stink everywhere they go because nothing is good enough for them and they're so damn important, stuck up pieces of {censored}. In reality, half of these assholes are probably inches from a short sale on their McMansions. that's the other thing. These people putting up these goddamn monstrosities that look like some absurd Mediterranean villa in the middle of Georgia. There's even some around here that look like middle eastern temples or some {censored}. Sense and taste do not follow money.



By the way, I see you around the ProgPower forum - you have a band going, man?

[RiffDaemon]

Thank goodness I'll be moving to Athens. Or is that a bad move too?

Haha, I'd say it's a good move overall.

The bad: There's a few ghetto neighborhoods throughout the whole of Athens, and the discrete division between "Athens townies" and college students can be annoying.

The good: Lots .. LOTS .. of restaurants. Eastside, Westside, Downtown - they're everywhere. Lots of women. Downtown will usually have something for you to do.

If you come to Athens, lookup Velvet Runway. We play 70's/80's covers at a few of the downtown locations. Come say hi

[NaturalBornBoy]

If you come to Athens, lookup Velvet Runway. We play 70's/80's covers at a few of the downtown locations. Come say hi

 

I'll be there visiting my sis from May 19th up till June 6th. She lives in Winterville.

 

Maybe we can meet up if time permits?

 

One of the first things I'll be doing when I finally move there in 2011 is to hook up with as many cover bands as possible and score some weekend gigs just to begin with. I eventually want to be playing at least 4 nights a week.

 

Is there a good market for cover bands in Athens?

[RiffDaemon]

By the way, I see you around the ProgPower forum - you have a band going, man?

Oh man, I haven't posted there since shortly after the last ProgPower I need to get back to the swing of things there.

As for a band, I'm in a 70's/80's coverband in Athens. Lots o' fun, free drinks, and a growing fanbase who love us I've been flirting with coming up with something original on the side. Girlfriend got in the way o' that

[Aibric]

Oh man, I haven't posted there since shortly after the last ProgPower I need to get back to the swing of things there. As for a band, I'm in a 70's/80's coverband in Athens. Lots o' fun, free drinks, and a growing fanbase who love us I've been flirting with coming up with something original on the side. Girlfriend got in the way o' that

Nothing wrong with any of that! The only real project I have going is with a pal from back home in KY so its not a full band as such. I think about starting up another type of band locally when the other one gets some {censored} done and I have more time...if any of those things ever actually happen.

[RiffDaemon]

I'll be there visiting my sis from May 19th up till June 6th. She lives in Winterville. Maybe we can meet up if timer permits? One of the first things I'll be doing when I finally move there in 2011 is to hook up with as many cover bands as possible and score some weekend gigs just to begin with. I eventually want to be playing at least 4 nights a week. Is there a good market for cover bands in Athens?

 

19th? Damn. We're playing on the 17th, and then I'm going back to Duluth (where I live currently).

 

As for coverbands having a market in Athens ... eh, it's slim. Most bars ditch the band-thing and just run hip/hop and other popular music through their systems. Also, those bars who do get bands usually won't have the same band but twice a month because they don't want to be "that place where that band plays." Most other places in Athens want originals only ... I mean, it's Athens: Sneeze in any direction and you'll hit someone who's in an original band and dreams of playing Athfest For instance, Tasty World, Georgia Theater, 40 Watt, etc. They won't take coverbands unless it's a national-touring cover/tribute band. You CAN, however, throw a benefit and score the headlining spot You can also get in touch with originals playing those places and see if you can open for them - we've done that a few times.

 

Anyway, paywise, it's not that great. We get $300 on average for a gig. We do it for fun and drinks, so we're never butthurt over it. If you're wanting to score cash on the coverband thing, your best bet is to go to an agency where the big fraternities/sororities can hire you. A bass player we auditioned mentioned that to us - cool advice, but we're fine being drink whores

 

EDIT: I missed the "up 'til June 6th" part. Next weekend we're playing Friday and Saturday for Twilight .. no, not the movie We start setting up around 8 o'clock, start at 10:30 or 11, and play 'til 2.

[NaturalBornBoy]

19th? Damn. We're playing on the 17th, and then I'm going back to Duluth (where I live currently). As for coverbands having a market in Athens ... eh, it's slim. Most bars ditch the band-thing and just run hip/hop and other popular music through their systems. Also, those bars who do get bands usually won't have the same band but twice a month because they don't want to be "that place where that band plays." Most other places in Athens want originals only ... I mean, it's Athens: Sneeze in any direction and you'll hit someone who's in an original band and dreams of playing Athfest For instance, Tasty World, Georgia Theater, 40 Watt, etc. They won't take coverbands unless it's a national-touring cover/tribute band. You CAN, however, throw a benefit and score the headlining spot You can also get in touch with originals playing those places and see if you can open for them - we've done that a few times. Anyway, paywise, it's not that great. We get $300 on average for a gig. We do it for fun and drinks, so we're never butthurt over it. If you're wanting to score cash on the coverband thing, your best bet is to go to an agency where the big fraternities/sororities can hire you. A bass player we auditioned mentioned that to us - cool advice, but we're fine being drink whores

 

Damn. Not what I wanted to hear.

[RiffDaemon]

Damn. Not what I wanted to hear.

I feel ya. But you should still check it out.

We've been around about 2 years now and we have two bars we regularly play. But in playing those places, you meet people .. and they know people .. and they get you more gigs .. which lead to more gigs. It's a cool scenario: One minute you're playing a gig at a watering hole in front of 70 people, then that leads you to playing a charity event in front of 2000 people, which in turn leads to you playing in front of 20000. That 20000 part is in the works .. omg, I'm praying for it

[Chippy]

traffic sucks (worse than any big city).QUOTE]

Fix'd.




I commuted to Atl for about a year & hate pretty much everything about the city's infrastructure & layout. The people are nice for the most part. The Varsity (famous fast food joint) sucks donkey asshole, I don't care what anybody says. {censored} that place (the old midtown one).

That's pretty much all I can say.

Oh, & the ASO kicks more ass than it gets credit for.

[Aibric]

Oh, & the ASO kicks more ass than it gets credit for.

 

 

Very true. I would go much more often if I weren't almost always trying to avoid going into the city proper.

[Ironhandjohn]

Its true, man. I live in Sandy Springs and between here and East Cobb there are so many of these {censored}ing people. The people who go through life acting like everyone should serve them or get out of their way, make a stink everywhere they go because nothing is good enough for them and they're so damn important, stuck up pieces of {censored}. In reality, half of these assholes are probably inches from a short sale on their McMansions. that's the other thing. These people putting up these goddamn monstrosities that look like some absurd Mediterranean villa in the middle of Georgia . There's even some around here that look like middle eastern temples or some {censored}. Sense and taste do not follow money. By the way, I see you around the ProgPower forum - you have a band going, man?

The rest of those yuppie {censored}-bags who didn't go there ended up in my old neighborhaad in Nashville!!!

[diddlybo]

Buckhead is better off being half finished business buildings then a strip of hip hop clubs where people get shot and police constantly roadblock the whole area.

 

 

Yeah, many people would agree with you. IMO, it would have been better off if the city would have left it alone and figured out a way to better police the area and keep it safe. I'm not a big fan of tearing down communities.

[diddlybo]

I don't know what parts of town are called what...but is this the new condos/stores/etc. in between IKEA and SCAD you speak of?

 

 

Buckhead is the community just north of Ikea on Peachtree ST. It was once the main place to go out but it got bad name when the hiphop crowd started going there in droves, clogging the streets and shooting people. Its the area where Ray Lewis famously didn't see the guy standing next to him get shot.

[BerkleeBill]

HORRIBLE TRAFFIC!!!
- Limits options when looking for a job, etc. What can be a few miles can mean and hour or more sitting in traffic

BROOTAL SUMMERS
- The heat index in July/August is not fun

Otherwise, it's not a bad city. But as someone already mentioned, I'd choose Nashville over it in a second.