REM

Yes, I'm back. I thought about posting the last few days, but figured today would be a better time to kick off 2008 with these two pieces of great news.…

Well, the news has started to surface about R.E.M.'s upcoming album. Michael Stipe - who declared the release a "great fucking album" - said recently that the band's 14th studio…

R.E.M. didn't just spring up out of nowhere. The four members of the band owe much of their inspiration to the thriving music scene in Athens, Ga., where they all…

I read the "Today in History" column in my local paper pretty much every day. My favorite part are the celebrity birthdays. I always had a rule that once a…

I can officially get excited. R.E.M. has announced its first concert for 2008. We don't know when they will release their next album. We don't even know what it might…

Last week marked three years since I have seen R.E.M. play live. On the "Around the Sun" tour, I headed up to New Jersey and caught them at The Borgata…

Less than a week ago, the Athens Historical Society hosted a program called "R.E.M. in Perspective: An Athens History." The event featured panelists with all kinds of connections, including Kathleen…

I didn't intend on rushing out to buy the new live R.E.M. CD/DVD. I wasn't impressed by the track listing and really didn't know when I would sit down and…

The new live CD/DVD from R.E.M. comes out next week, but that's not the big news coming out of Athens. The band lent a song from its planned 2008 release…

Fifteen years ago tomorrow, the history of R.E.M. took a major turn. "Automatic for the People" was released. The band's eighth album and the followup to the hugely successful "Out…