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By Julie Phillips Jordan
jphillips@onlineathens.com

   Incumbent state Sen. Doug Haines (D) saw a club full of musical support for his campaign on Thursday night by way of a ''funraiser'' held in his honor at the 40 Watt Club. The event, co-organized by Community Connection board member Tony Eubanks and Kathy Kirbo of Athens band Jackpot City, saw a slew of musicians take the stage to cover songs with a political theme. Among the musicians on the roster were R.E.M.'s Michael Stipe and Mike Mills -- and with them came the biggest surprise appearance of the evening from former R.E.M. drummer Bill Berry.
   Berry, who hasn't played a live show since 1997, shortly after he left the band, said he agreed to do the show because ''It's a good cause.'' Berry joined the headlining act for the night, which was billed as Mills and William Tonks. Berry played drums intermittently, with Curtis Crowe (formerly of legendary Athens band Pylon) taking over the duties on several songs, when Berry played tambourine and keyboards. Tonks (of Hot Burritos and Barbara Cue) played lead guitar while Mills played rhythm guitar and Paul ''Crumpy'' Edwards (Bloodkin, Barbara Cue) played bass.
   ''It was more fun than I remember it being,'' Berry said following the show, all smiles. ''That's why I used to do it. And this was definitely worth it.''
   The ''good cause'' was what brought the musicians to the stage; many made statements between songs, or simply let the lyrics do the talking. Jackpot City covered the Rolling Stones' ''Gimme Shelter'' and Neil Young's ''Southern Man,'' among others.
   ''Music makes a big difference,'' said Jackpot City's Kirbo after the show. ''That's especially the case in Third World countries, where censorship keeps so much from people. But music has a way of getting into the underground and keeping people together.''
   Keeping people together was certainly on Mills' mind. ''This is protest music,'' he said of the songs he played when he first took the stage. ''I'm pissed off about this war against Iraq. I don't believe in it ...'' he added. Before several songs he also noted that ''just change a few words,'' and many of the songs could have been written yesterday.
   Mills first took the stage with and the Possibilities (the Athens band which opened for R.E.M. at a surprise hometown show last October) and played, among others, R.E.M.'s ''Texarkana'' from 1990's ''Out of Time'' and Neil Young's ''Keep on Rockin' in the Free World.''
   After several songs, the Possibilities left, and Mills was joined by the lineup of Berry, Crowe, Tonks and Edwards, who played R.E.M.'s 1986 hit ''Superman'' (from ''Lifes Rich Pageant'') as well as ''Ohio,'' Neil Young's 1974 outcry against the shootings at Kent State in 1970. The lyrics refer to President Nixon, but in this version, Mills replaced Nixon with ''Bush.''
   Michael Stipe joined the band for one song, The Turtles' sweet 1967 jingle ''Happy Together.'' That was followed by a more somber moment in which Mills dedicated the next song ''to Warren,'' referring to influential rocker Warren Zevon, whom he and bandmates Berry and Peter Buck joined in 1990 for a side project, Hindu Love Gods. The band played Zevon's ''Lawyers, Guns and Money,'' a spirited song for a sad moment, as Zevon was recently diagnosed with cancer.
   Other musicians taking the stage were beloved hometown heroes David Barbe and Jack Logan (who also joined the Possibilities), Paul Lombard and Sexaholics' Jeff Walls (formerly of Guadalcanal Diary and Hillbilly Frankenstein). Paul Trudeau (formerly of National Anthem and Harvey Milk), Nick Bielli (Hayride, Japancakes), Larry Tenner and Jason Slatton (both of the Lures), and Ted Hafer (owner of The Grit) formed a band especially for the occasion called The Run-Offs, treating the audience to 1980s hits by the likes of Journey and Boston.
   Also on hand for the event was Athens-Clarke Mayor-Elect Heidi Davison (who was celebrating her birthday and was sung the birthday song by the entire club). And Jason Carter, grandson of President Jimmy Carter, who's currently in law school at the University of Georgia and saw his book ''Power Lines'' about his work in South Africa, recently published by National Geographic. Carter encouraged the crowd to vote for Haines with a brief but rousing speech about America's historic visionaries.
   But Mills and Stipe seemed to sum up the feelings of the evening best.
   ''Speaking as a world traveler, it's an incredible privilege to be able to vote,'' said Stipe.
   Added Mills, ''Democracy is a beautiful thing. Don't waste it.''
   

Published in the Athens Banner-Herald on Saturday, October 5, 2002.