Mind your manors

By: Leila Mattimore

A recent music venue is offering an alternative to the downtown Athens scene for local residents and students who want to enjoy the summer evenings outdoors while listening to great bands.

Ashford Manor, a bed and breakfast in downtown Watkinsville, Ga., is just over 20 minutes from the University of Georgia campus. This summer Ashford Manor will present their 2009 “Concert on the Lawn” series including bands such as Lazy B & The Recliners, Randall Bramblett, Grogus and The Highballs.

The Concert series was inspired by the Ravinia Festival of Chicago, where Mario Castro, one of the owners of the Manor, moved from. “People brought their sterling silver and china and ate their picnic suppers by candelabra,” Castro said. “The idea has really caught on here at Ashford Manor.”

According to Castro, the concerts began with about 50 people attending, and it has now grown to an average of 700.

For every concert the gates open at 5:30 p.m. The support act plays from 6:00 until 6:45 p.m., and the main act plays from 7 to 9 p.m. The time and space allows families to see some of the great music that they can’t bring their children to in downtown Athens.

“It also allows neighbors and friends to see each other during the summer, when they otherwise might not be able to.” Castro said. People can come and enjoy each other’s company without having to entertain at their own homes.

Monday June 8, 2009 will be the venue’s first concert. They will begin their “Concert on the Lawn” series with Sons of Sailors, a band known for playing Jimmy Buffett classics. Ashford Manor’s concerts are scheduled every other Monday evening until Sept. 21, 2009.

Recently, the Manor has teamed up with the University of Georgia Music Business Certificate Program to offer students an opportunity to gain valuable experience by working with a newer music venue.

“Ashford Manor is such a unique place, and we’re lucky to have it,” said Alexandra Irvin, a junior romance languages major who is also getting her certificate in music business and working for Ashford Manor this summer. “The closest outdoor venue before would have been in Atlanta.”

Irvin is one of many students who are interning with the Lawn series this summer. “I’d really like to see more students come out and notice this place,” she said. “It’s beautiful.”

“The only downside is the weather in Athens right now” India Waters, a junior speech communications major from Atlanta said. “We planned on going to the kick off with Packway Handle [Band] on Monday, but unfortunately it got rained out.”

Ashford Manor had to reschedule their first concert for later in the summer.

Tickets are $15 for adults, and tables are also available for purchase for 2-4 guests for a single night. A table for two is $125, and a table for four is $160 per night. Both include tickets, table, chairs and linens.

You can contact the venue by calling the Concert Hotline at 706-769-2633 or by e-mailing ashfordmanor@charter.net. Tickets are also available online.

Edited by Jordan Stover

Coffee shop gets creative

Red Eye Coffee owner Gregg Carey prepares a shot of espresso to show how espresso and milk are added together to make latte art.
Photo by Courtney Smith/Edited by Jordan Stover

By: Courtney Smith

What: Thursday Night Throwdown
When: Tonight, 7:30 p.m.
Where: Red Eye Coffee, located in the Bottleworks building on Prince Avenue.
Cost: $5

Coffee, competition and chess. Bottleworks-area coffee shop Red Eye Coffee is bringing together these three ingredients to create what he hopes is the perfect recipe for cash and community.

In an effort to muster up business and give customers a different kind of coffee shop experience, Red Eye Coffee owner Gregg Carey holds weekly barista throwdown competitions and chess nights to help his customers get to know one another in a comfortable and inviting environment.

“I want to create the kind of coffee shop that I would want to go to,” Carey said. “Most places around town are kind of get 'em in and get 'em out. They have this 'take your espresso and get out of here' attitude or everyone has their computer out typing away and no one talks to each other.”

Carey says he wanted to smash the idea of the quiet and isolated coffee shop and model his business after the bustling espresso bars in Europe where coffee is not just a drink, it is an art.

“I wanted my coffee shop to be a social hub where people can come and meet each other and talk or play games together,” he said. “A coffee shop should be based on customers and coffee as the most important things and the barista throwdown is about not only making the coffee good to drink but also nice to look at like a piece of art.”

According to Carey, the object of the barista competition is to mix the espresso and milk in such a way so that it creates a picture out of the different colors of foam.

“I am actually not very good at latte art myself because it takes a lot of practice but its kind of a fun thing for people to learn how to do and play with because, to my knowledge, no coffee shop in Athens does it so it is new for most people,” he said.

Depending on how the cup is swirled and turned when mixing the espresso with the foamed milk, the picture created can be anything from a heart to a palm leaf or intricate flower, he explained while showing pictures of expertly designed lattes on his computer.

“I think I would actually feel bad drinking that,” Daniel Grace, a psychology major from Macon and the sole customer in the otherwise empty building, said. “I really dont know if I could, I would feel guilty that the counter girl went through all that trouble to design it and then my first sip destroys it.”

According to Jittery Joes' employee Sean Lovell, such a community mentality coupled with group events is exactly what keeps customers coming back to the same coffee shop everyday and what has made Jittery Joes such a success.

"It [holding events] definitely helps business;" he said, "it builds a sense of community and gives the customer a distinct memory of a place so they're more likely to come back."

It is Carey's hope that students returning to Athens for summer session will want to participate in these events with their friends and that the events will build his customer base so that his business will be able to survive and reach the potential he dreamed about when he first opened 6 months ago.

Edited by Jordan Stover

Mind your manors

By Leila Mattimore

A summer music venue is offering an alternative to downtown Athens for students and local residents who want to enjoy the outdoors and listen to great bands.

Ashford Manor, a bed and breakfast in downtown Watskinsville, is just over 20 minutes from the University of Georgia campus.

This summer Ashford Manor will present their 2009 Summer on the Lawn Series including bands such as Lazy B & The Recliners, Randall Bramblett, Grogus and The Highballs.

“Ashford Manor is such a unique place, and we’re lucky to have it,” Alexandra Irvin said, a junior romance languages major who is also getting her certificate in music business and working for Ashford Manor this summer. “The closest outdoor venue before would have been in Atlanta.”

Irvin is one of many students who are interning with the Lawn Series this summer. “We are really trying to get more students to come out and notice this place,” she said.

Edited by Jordan Stover

Correction: Ashford Manor was originally mispelled in the original posting.