Alias R.E.M.

From their early days on the Athens, Georgia club scene through their more recent adventures as honest to goodness rock stars, the members of R.E.M. - both individually and collectively- have always found time to engage in a variety of extracurricular activities and pseudonymous projects of varying degrees of seriousness. This and future entries will take a look at them. Here's the first one:

1066 Gaggle O' Sound. In May 1981 frontman Michael Stipe used this name for a one-off one-man show he performed in Athens' 40 Watt Club. The set consisted of nonmusician Stipe making improvised sounds on an ols farfisa organ against prerecorded backing tracks, while photo slides were projected on stage. The show, incidentally, also marked the debut preformance of Athen' Oh-OK, which included stipe's sister, Linda and future Magnapop leader Linda Hopper.