Athens legends the B-52′s will be bringing it all back home tonight at the 40 Watt Club for their 25th anniversary bash, where the band will be headlining a charity event for local music wellness center and practice haven, Nuci’s Space.

Put together by Athens resident and Counting Crows drummer Ben Mize, the event is projected to raise approximately $10,000 for the local non-profit organization, Mize said.

The money will be used to cover operational costs, such as counseling fees and upkeep of the facility, said Bob Sleppy, executive director of Nuci’s Space.

“The support we get is incredible,” Sleppy said. “When bands like The B-52′s call and say they want to do a benefit for us, it makes it a lot easier to come to work in the morning.”

The B-52′s, one of the first bands from the Classic City to ever receive national attention, has been together since 1977.

Taco Stand manager and local music guru Kurt Wood recalls the early days of The B-52′s during a time when the Athens music scene was still in its nascent stage.

“The band’s first show in public was at The Last Resort, which actually used to be a folk club,” said Wood. “I was expecting it to sound like The Ramones or The Talking Heads, but it was totally different. They came out in their thrift store clothes, playing these Peter Gunn-type riffs. They weren’t the best musicians, but they still rocked.”

After the show, the impressed Wood contacted band-member Keith Strickland, who was working at the bus station downtown. Strickland gave Wood a primitive demo tape the band had made in its practice space in the back of the El Dorado, a restaurant where B-52′s frontman Fred Schneider was a waiter.

“The place used to be a mortuary before it was a restaurant,” Wood said. “The band practiced in the room where they used to do the blood-letting. It was a little morbid.”

While attending the University, Wood also worked at local station 90.5 FM. During the broadcast of his weekly New Wave show, he became the first DJ to ever play The B-52′s on the radio.

The band recorded its first hit “Rock Lobster” on label Wax ‘n’ Facts in Atlanta, not long after its college radio debut.

They began to pick up momentum and then moved to New York, taking the city by storm with their charming naivete, Wood said.

“The B-52′s were an inspiration for all the bands to follow,” Wood said. “Not only did they do it their own way, but they did it in the middle of nowhere in the South, and they’re still doing it.”

Also aiding the Nuci’s benefit tonight are local bands Squat and The Good Ship. Squat’s bassist, Carl Lindberg, is a regular volunteer at Nuci’s Space, where he does landscaping and teaches Tai Chi.

“It’s a real blessing to be able to help with the benefit and to be able open for The B-52′s at the same time,” he said.

Event organizer Ben Mize noted that every $25 raised makes it possible for Nuci’s Space to offer a full session of therapy at virtually no cost to the patient.

“This benefit is an easy and fun way to support a good cause. All you have to do is pay $25 and dance,” Mize said. “Then Nuci’s Space will still be there when people need it in the future.”