Happy Friday evening, Rockville!

The weekend’s here! And it’s another wet one! (Oh well, we can’t have it all.)

Yesterday, I indulged my inner hipster rock journalist and took the last chance I may ever have to tell the story of R.E.M. and what many fans regards as one of their favorite R.E.M. songs. The song also happens to name-check our fair city.

A footnote to that “footnote in rock history”: To mark R.E.M.’s passing, “Here & Now” on WBUR-FM in Boston produced a segment in which host Robin Young interviewed Athens, Ga.-based music critic Jordan Stepp and former Rockville resident Ingrid Schorr, the muse for “(Don’t Go Back To) Rockville.” Click here to hear the interviews.

Stepp says that Athens, Ga. is known for “ Georgia Bulldog football and R.E.M.” As a Penn State alumnus, this is my point of reference for Bulldog football. My point of reference for Athens (though I’ve never been there—much like I’m pretty sure Mike Mills has never been to Rockville) comes from Penn State as well, where I was a college radio geek, er, disc jockey.

While at a collegiate broadcasters conference in Providence, R.I. in 1998, I discovered just how much people revere WUOG, the student station at the University of Georgia. (If you had a hand in breaking such Athens bands as R.E.M., The B-52s, Widespread Panic and—my personal favorite—Drive-By Truckers, you’d be revered by college radio geeks, er, DJs too.)

And now the “college music” edition of “The Rundown”:

• Tonight’s concert at Rockville Town Square has been rained out. Why not head indoors for free entertainment? It’s Open Mike Night at American Legion Post 86 in Twinbrook.
• Planning musical entertainment into your fall schedule? The Boxcar Lillies bring their “heavenly harmonies” from the Pioneer Valley of Western Massachusetts to the Moore residence in Rockville at 8 p.m. on Oct. 1. Call 301-309-0983. Click here for more on Moore Music (In the House).
• Rockville Patch featured family memories of Officer Jelani Prather today. Prather, a Richard Montgomery High School graduate, was killed in a crash on Interstate 270 last Friday. Details of Prather’s funeral are at the bottom of the article.
• Details for the funeral of George R. Snowden, Sr. are available here. (A viewing will be held on Monday, with a final viewing and funeral on Tuesday.) Snowden, the owner of the Snowden Funeral Home, died Saturday. We’ll have an extended obituary in the coming days.
• The Rockville Rams Football Club will hold its 6^th annual silent auction fundraiser from 3 to 5 p.m. tomorrow in the Rockville High School cafeteria. Support Rockville cluster football programs by bidding on tickets to sporting events, summer pool memberships, driving lessons, vacation rentals, restaurant gift certificates, jewelry and more—including an autographed Stephen Strasburg baseball (watch him on the mound tonight against the Braves and (Ben Goessling at MASN reported that there was a tarp on the field about 5:15 p.m., but that there’s a weather “window” between 7 and 10 p.m. Fingers—and ligaments—crossed.)
• The Gazette’s Alison Bryant reports that Kickin’ Chicken has lost its head again.
• Just down the Pike, Taste of Bethesda will be held Oct. 1. Organizers are looking for volunteers, Bethesda Patch reports.
• Maybe at this year’s “Taste” Ben & Jerry’s will offer samples of this new “SNL”-inspired flavor? Apparently there are a few million moms who would not be lining up for a taste. We could only hope to see this guy there giving us “the scoop.” Here’s what it’s all about.
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