R.E.M., Neutral Milk Hotel, the B-52's, Of Montreal Team With Nuçi's Space to Restore Athens Steeple

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Photo via Nuçi's Space on Facebook

St. Mary's Steeple in Athens, Georgia belonged to the church where R.E.M. played their first show on April 5, 1980. It's a landmark in music history, and while the church itself was demolished in 1990s (and replaced by condos), the steeple remained and is now owned by Nuçi's Space—a non-profit health and music resource center for musicians. Now, Nuçi's Space is hoping to restore the steeple into a meditation space for their clients, and have turned to several prominent local bands to raise funds through an Indiegogo campaign.

R.E.M., Neutral Milk Hotel, the B-52's, of Montreal, Drive-By Truckers, Danger Mouse, Olivia Tremor Control/Circulatory System, Pylon, Widespread Panic, and others have contributed music and memorabilia. Here are some available items:

• Bricks from the steeple (which had to be removed during stabilization)
• Autographed Rickenbacker guitars from R.E.M., Widespread Panic, Drive-By Truckers, and Of Montreal
• A smashed SG from of Montreal
• a dress worn by the B-52's Kate Pierson during the With the Wild Crowd live album
• Limited edition steeple logo poster by R.E.M.'s long-time art director Chris Bilheimer
• Limited edition Wes Freed steeple poster from Drive-By Truckers
• Original artwork from Widespread Panic
• Stage props designed by Pylon's Michael Lachowski

You can check out all the information and full list of memorabilia at the Indiegogo page.

Below, watch a trailer for the campaign that features a number of the participating bands:

[url=http://pitchfork.com/news/57290-rem-neutral-milk-hotel-the-b-52s-of-montreal-team-with-nucis-space-to-restore-athens-steeple/]View the full article[/url]