Vic Chesnutt, Flagpole Music Awards, Morton Theater, Athens, GA, 06/20/02

audience, very bad sound quality, talking

Bug

Gravity of the Situation

To understand this recording:

The evening's "Special Guest" performer turned out to be legendary Athens songwriter Vic Chesnutt... or was it? When the curtain rose, an unusually buff-looking "impostor Vic" greeted the crowd and asked for "a fatty" (in a dead-on Vic voice) and went into a version of "Maiden." halfway through the song, the "real" Vic rolled out from side stage, struggling to break free of ropes and duct tape used to restrain him as he shouted "You usurper! I'm the real Vic Chesnutt!!" Both were in on the joke... and the joke was on the audience. Vic's current guitarist, longtime Athens musician Curtiss Pernice, played the part of the bogus "Vic." Together, in character, they sang a hilariously exaggerated version of "Bug" and exited the stage to massive applause (thank goodness).