January 29, 2025

Pasaquan, Columbus State University’s visionary art environment in Buena Vista, Georgia, will host an afternoon of post-punk and garage rock on Saturday, March 22. The concert will feature Georgia bands Pylon Reenactment Society, Subsonics, W8ING4UFOs and Token Hearts. 

“‘Keepin’ the Song’ will celebrate the intersection of music with the wondrous artistic creations of our beloved Southern saint and Pasaquan founder, Eddie Owens Martin,” said Annie Moye, who chairs the Pasaquan Preservation Society. “We are especially pleased to present Georgia rock bands with strong female presences.”

Mike McFalls, Pasaquan’s director and faculty member in the Department of Art, credits the Georgia Council of Arts, through its Vibrant Communities Grants, with making the concert possible. These grants aim to increase the arts’ reach throughout Georgia, especially in rural or underserved communities that lack such programs.

Known worldwide as a prolific visual artist, Owens—St. EOM to his devotees—was also an amateur musician. He often donned his colorful homemade costumes for ritual dancing in Pasaquan’s sandpit, led improvised music sessions with visiting friends and fans, and spoke in his own brand of spontaneous singsong spoken-word poetry.

“St. EOM even spoke of his philosophy at times in musical terms,” McFalls explained. “He would say: ‘Keep kindness in your heart, and go on along, keepin’ the rhythm and keepin’ the song.’ It seemed only fitting we’d borrow from that philosophy when naming this concert.”

“Keeping the Song” taps into Pasaquan’s long history of musician support. This includes the Tedeschi Trucks Band, which included a track titled “Pasaquan” on its 2022 “I Am the Moon I: Crescent” album. Pasaquan has been the site for performances by local musicians Col. Bruce Hampton and Jake Fussell, and R.E.M.’s Michael Stipe visited in the mid-80s. 

“Keepin’ the Song” performances begin at 3 p.m. Eastern time on March 22. Because of the GCA’s support, admission is free; donations to fund Pasaquan programs and maintenance will be accepted at the door.

ABOUT THE PERFORMERS

Pylon Reenactment Society (which also goes by PRS, pictured), which hails from Athens, Georgia, will headline the concert. Pylon—along with The B-52s and R.E.M.—helped define the Athens music scene with their invigorating dance-punk and art-rock attack. Led by iconic Pylon frontwoman and lead singer Vanessa Brisco Hay, PRS will play Pylon songs as well as songs from their own critically acclaimed debut album “Magnet Factory.” Uncut Magazine awarded the album an 8/10 rating, writing: “‘Magnet Factory’ finds the quartet in scintillating form, shifting smartly between angular noise-pop and nervy punk-funk, topped with Hay’s spiky vocals… a terrific debut from American post-punk veterans.” 

PRS also features Athens legends Kay Stanton on bass, Gregory Sanders on drums, and Jason NeSmith on guitar. In their own way, PRS embody the three time dimensions at the heart of St. EOM’s teachings: the past, present and future.

The other three bands on the “Keepin’ the Song” ticket come from a close-knit community of Atlanta musicians in Atlanta, with several of their players overlapping. For instance, Will Fratesi, percussionist for the intergalactic group W8ING4UFOs, also plays for the pop/vintage reboot Token Hearts. Multi-instrumentalist Buffi Aguero and vocalist/guitarist Clay Reed play in both Token Hearts and Subsonics.

W8ING4UFOs’ performance of their song “St. EOM,” a wonderful tribute to Pasaquan’s visionary founder, will be a special show highlight. A “shapeshifting music collective” with a history deeply entrenched in the heart of Atlanta’s Cabbagetown, W8ING4UFOs is led by Georgia underground legend Bill Taft. This mesmerizing frontman commands the stage with his trenchant and mysterious proclamations.

Meanwhile, Token Hearts brings both a cinematic twang and rock-and-roll grit and list influences such as The Kinks, Lee Hazelwood and Link Wray. Quartet Subsonics’ sound blends lo-fi glam rock with jangly psychedelia. The band brings back the same underground indie sounds that inspire them, like Velvet Underground and T. Rex.

ABOUT PASAQUAN

Eddie Owens Martin (pictured), later known as St. EOM (pronounced “ohm”) by his Pasaquoyan devotees, established the visionary art site Pasaquan in the 1950s—inspired to do so by a vision from the future that instructed him to leave New York and to “return to Georgia and do something.” That “something” became the immersive, internationally recognized, seven-acre visionary art environment in Buena Vista.

The Pasaquan artscape includes six buildings adorned inside and out with vibrant colors and bold patterns comprised of human figures and nature imagery. The remainder of the space includes painted concrete walls connecting the buildings, sculptural elements, and thousands of St. EOM’s other artistic artifacts.

Columbus State assumed ownership of Pasaquan in 2014, and Department of Art students and faculty have worked alongside the Pasaquan Preservation Society since then to restore the site. Pasaquan is on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.

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Media contacts:
Annie Moye, Chair, Pasaquan Preservation Society, anniesaysii@gmail.com 
Charles Fowler, Project Coordinator, Pasaquan, fowler_charles@columbusstate.edu