ALEKA’S ATTIC | RIVER PHOENIX 50 Podcast w/ Michael


Watch a very special episode of the LaunchLeft podcast as Rain Phoenix and special guests, Flea, Dermot Mulroney, and Michael Stipe celebrate and remember the life and music of River Phoenix who would have turned 50 on August 23rd.  

Watch Michael on ACC Gov YouTube Tonight, 6-7 PM


Tune in tonight as Michael speaks with Athens-Clarke County, GA Unified Government Mayor Kelly Girtz on a virtual Community Conversation chat between 6:00 – 7:00 p.m. to coincide with the launch of the Athens Music Walk of Fame.

1983 Shea Stadium Signed Prints Available


From our dear friend for many years, Michael Plen, radio promotion executive nonpareil and on the side an awesome photographer (he’s making his iconic print available for a limited time at the link below his recollection— and this time it is signed by Berry Buck Mills and Stipe): Aug. 18, 1983 “Shea Stadium. R.E.M. opening … Continued

Behind The Song: “(Don’t Go Back To) Rockville” with Mike Mills


“I remember sitting at the kitchen table on Little Oconee Street in Athens, (Georgia),” Mills explains. “There’s a turnaround in the song that’s inspired by part of a Simon & Garfunkel song (“Mrs. Robinson”) that I heard, and I started building the song around that. Sometimes the first line is the hardest line and once … Continued

Bonus Weeks of Our Touring Days


Back in the olden days, helping to plan a tour of Europe was always among the funnest endeavors of my role with the band: way ahead of time, a year or more, always with our agent Bob Gold, in London off in a room with lots of air, great lighting and old (hardcopy) maps.

Slane Reflections


Gazing at this photograph taken from above the grounds of #SlaneCastle and the epic R.E.M. concert 25 years ago Wednesday, I have a few memories flashing across my mind. It was the first show after the brief stoppage of the tour in central Europe

Listen: Mike & Michael Interview on “And The Writer Is” Podcast


Mike & Michael sat down for a chat with Ross Golan in NYC last year on @AndTheWriterIs on the occasion of the 25th anniversary release of Monster–they covered a lot of ground from the early Athens scene through Monster’s release. Listen here. #andthewriteris

A Stirling Performance Screens on YouTube, 7.19 – 7.21


On July 19th – 21st, 1999, R.E.M. played three nights of concerts at Stirling Castle, Scotland. No band this globally renowned had played Stirling Castle before. These concerts were documented in “A Stirling Performance.” As well as interviews with the band , the documentary offers an affectionate insight into the historic city & charming people … Continued

Michael “On: self”


Michael is featured on the cover of the latest issue of Masthead Magazine where he talks about a topic we can all relate to: “self.” “I believe the difficult but necessary changes we are in the midst of now will bring us closer to a version of ourselves as caring, community-based, empathetic creatures, with a … Continued