At approximately 7:00 am, Athens music landmark The Georgia Theatre caught on fire. As of 8:00 am there were 4 ladder trucks on the scene according to the AJC. As of roughly 9:00 am, the front facade, which is the most identifiable part of the venue, was still intact.
Update: Banner Herald image of the front of the building. That part looks good. Although, the roof is clearly gone.
I talked to Bryan Harris who was on the scene earlier, and he said it looked like the blaze wasn't spreading to other buildings. If they have good insurance, my guess is they'll come back better than ever.
The Fire from what looks like Broad at Milledge (Image: Chris' Camera Phone)My thoughts are with the owners, but more so the firemen this morning. As Sully told me this morning, "if you have a pile of wood soaking in alcohol every night for decades (i.e. the floor of the Georgia Theatre), it's going to be pretty flammable."
If you see updated articles, feel free to post them below. Or if you want to discuss your best memories from the theatre. For me...the best concert I ever saw there was Paul Westerberg during the 14 Songs Tour. I also remember watching some of the Braves vs. Pirates games there in the '91 NLCS, and it was just total insanity in there during those games.
What's your best memory?
PWD
76 comments:
Great slide show of photos from helicopter
http://www.wsbtv.com/news/19798621/detail.html
One of my favorite "memories" was the Reel Big Fish concert sophomore year where I went into the concert, heard 2 songs, then magically woke up 10 hours later between my coffee table and sofa with a big ass scrape on my chin from the coffee table. The buddy I went to the show with woke up on his front porch, hopped on the bus to class, aced a statistics test, got back on the bus for home, got off at a stop, puked, got back on the bus, then went home.
Ahh, "memories"
Sad, sad news to start the morning. I saw lots of good shows there. To name a few:
David Byrne twice
Jerry Joseph and Friends with Barbara Cue, Bloodkin, and Mikey Houser in May 2002
Derek Trucks Band on multiple occasions
John Scofield
Gov't Mule
Several local bands
Another memory....
That shitbird Dawgnoxious not getting me a ticket to Midget Wrestling at the Theatre.
That's right up my alley.
Damn.
Just damn.
My best memory the Georgia Theatre was from a sorority pledge bash where, for the first time, I saw the Dave Matthews Band. I had never heard of them before that night. I walked in around ten thinking I'd say hey to a couple of ladies that had expressed mild interest in me, leave, and hit the Nowhere Bar, as usual. Instead, I stayed til three. That day, I was blown away by their music. I'll never forget it.
Great time.
Other classic good times at the Georgia Theatre: Looney Tunes Night, The Grapes, Kinchafoonee (sp?) Cowboys, Late Nite Disco, the scene out in front of the Theatre after the Braves won the World Series in 1995 - insane! The list goes on and on.
GO DAWGS!
Seeing a movie there as a freshman in the fall of 1969. It was old even then. Can't recall the movie, but old wooden seats, and a bizarre neon clock that kept drawing my eye to it instead of the screen. Went there a few years ago to see Lucinda Williams and barely recognized the place.
Paul Westerburg was a great show. I was there for that one, too.
Other notable shows I remember in the Theater: Follow For Now, Drivin 'N Cryin (countless times), The Connells...
There are more that I have no recollection of, but I'm sure they were great, too. Added to these memories are specific UGA games I watched on the big screen: UGA vs. Auburn, 1996 (Georgia 56 - Auburn 49, 4 OTs), UGA vs. LSU, 1998 (Georgia 28 - LSU 27). More often than not, these games were preceded the night before by catching a show at the Theater, as well...and catching a show at the Theater following the game on the big screen.
Lots of memories in that place. However, the Georgia Theater was indirectly responsible for me not having much of a memory of the 1998 Outback Bowl vs. Wisconsin. New Year's Eve was spent in that place with the Fuzzy Sprouts the night before the game...and it was a long, rough one. The next day was even worse...apart from the game itself, which was good.
At risk of looking like a douche for not getting PWD at ticket, seeing midget wrestling at the GA Theater is one of my all-time most-entertaining moments. For the pin, one midget busted through a table by jumping off the balcony onto another midget.
Seeing Merle Haggard and Maceo Parker (separate shows, although together would have been awesome too) was pretty unforgettable. Sullydawg & I saw Iggy Pop give a great concert there as well.
I saw the Westerberg show as well. Great one. I remember he stood outside the tour bus afterward and seemed happy to chat with fans all night. I figured I'd be doing well just to get an autograph and we wound up shooting the shit for several minutes. Other memory from that night was noticing halfway through the show that the two guys standing next to me were Michael Stipe and Mike Mills. Great night.
Saw too many great shows there to list 'em all, but am particularly fond of the Crowded House show there in '92 (met the band), the Church in '91, and being onstage with the Fleshtones in '90 or '91. Simply awesome times there. When I first reached the legal drinking age it was still a Cinema & Draft house ('87) - first experience buying pitchers whilst watching a movie.
Damn those Fleshtones shows were great....
Hope this place comes back strong, but it will never be the same. "The dank Moe... what about the dank?"
My favorite shows at the Theater were Dash Rip Rock and Johnny Quest. I'll always remember the 32 oz. beers and the fact that it was a nightmare to weave thru the crowd from the front after drinking a few of those to go to the john.
Sad day but hopefully they rebuild it into something even better/nicer for future generations of UGA students and Athens residents.
Agh that's a sucky way to begin the morning. I had a lot of fond memories there.
I saw the Pixies there (and experienced my first mosh pit AND smelled someone smoking pot for the first time) in '91 or so.
Favorite memory - watching the Braves win game 6 of the World Series in '95, then the impromptu 10,000 person march around downtown Athens afterwards.
Ahhh, yes, Maceo Parker. Saw him there in 2000(?). Great show!
I saw a lot of cool shows but the best show (which means music + vibe + sound quality + etc) was a Govt Mule show on a lazy Tuesday or Wednesday night. The Theatre was not that crowded and we got there early. We were right up front and the show was amazing. This was right after Allen Woody died so Dave Schools was playing bass. Jimmy Herring, John Scofield, and Chuck Leavell played with the Mule the entire show. It was amazing.
Loved drinking Purple Haze there are listening to a great show...
Jump Little Children, Drive By Truckers, Nickel Creek, Merle Haggard, Maceo Parker, The P-Funk Allstars, Iggy Pop (most of those with Dawgnoxious). A bunch of local bands whose names I can't remember.
Tommy,
Holy crap. My roommate at the time did exactly what you did after the show. He got Westerberg's autograph for me outside the Bus and ran into Mills and Stipe. I always figured he was lying about that part of the story. I was already at The Grill...I'll be damned.
(I looked at your pic in your profile and confirmed that you aren't him. He's probably 38 now)
PWD
Dash Rip Rock, hadn't heard that name in years . . .
drivin' and cryin' at the ga theatre in 89.
My funniest memory was watching the Mike Tyson-Frank Bruno fight on pay-per-view there after Tyson was released from prison. Before the third round a drunk guy in front of me who I'd been chatting with during the fight, turned around and said "Tyson's gonna knock 'em out this round. If he does, I'm buying everyone in this bar a drink." Tyson, of course, finished Bruno in the third and drunk guy may not have seen the ref waive his hands over Bruno. He sprinted to the door and was gone. Never got that drink.
PWD, let me know if you want to get one of the "Dawgnoxious bogarts midget wrestling" t-shirts I'm having made. I got left out of that one too.
PS - I don't get anyone's autograph. I don't believe in it. But Paul's was one I wanted.
Bono, Paul W. Bill Samuels, and Herschel were the only 4 I've ever wanted. I have Paul and Bill.
No real need to get Bono's now. You go 16 years with only 1 good album, and we can part ways on the autograph search. lol.
Sully - Done.
More pictures...
http://magic1021fm.com/blogs/morningshow
Also, in the last two years I've seen Perpetual Groove (countless times), Fishbone, Slightly Stoopid, Robert Randolph, Toubab Krewe (2x), and Ghostface Killah to name a few.
Great venue with a lot of history, hopefully they'll be able to bring it back.
My fondest memory turned into a nightmare. We were there to watch Georgia play South Carolina with out Heisman hopeful Quincy Cater. Some stupid Indiana team was the primary so we had to wait through their game and one of the teams was lined up for a field goal to go into overtime. The whole theater was chanting, "Hook! Hook! Hook!" That was really fun. I can't even remember if they made the field goal. I hear that you not only forget events during a massive trauma but you also forget what happened just before it.
"out" should be "our" in my above post.
Too many great shows to count, but one particularly memorable show was Vertical Horizon in 2004. They ran through hit after hit after hit and the crowd (GT was probably 70% full) was getting more jacked up with each song. It got to the point where you could tell the band was totally feeding off of the crowd and matt scannell led into a song by looking at his lead guitarist and saying "Damn, we need to come back to Athens more often!" This of course sent the place into even more of a frenzy.
Just a great show, great georgia theatre atmosphere. I'm fairly certain my ears rang for like three days straight after that concert.
Derek Trucks Band, David Byrne, Bloodkin, too many to name. But my favorite was the first night of the Drive By Truckers Dirt underneath Tour where they played accoustic and Patterson Hood told stories about all the songs
My favorite memory was probably in 2001 when I took my girlfriend who was from New Jersey to the GA Theater to hear David Allen Coe. We broke up that night.
I didn't think anything could top the midget wrestling story, but Carlton just did. Nice.
Carlton, I can understand why you broke up that nite as I saw Coe at the Theater in '98 and I thought he really phoned it in. Just pitiful.
Good Shows: The Samples, Uncle Mingo, Jump Little Children, Blue String
Not Good Shows: Memory Dean, Coe
Best of all: Late nite dicso.
Damn. Just, damn.
They Might Be Giants, Rev. Horton Heat (x3), Voodoo Glow Skulls, hanging out backstage with Nathan Shepard Band and Underwaterfall and drinking all their beer (thanks Tom and Ryan :D).
More importantly, the football games, Georgia-Florida '97, Georgia-LSU '98, both ending in a drunken sprint across Lumpkin and Broad to the chapel bell...
Carlton...LMAO! Man that is classic.
What a sad thing.
Best memory: Dollar movie night "Back to the Future." I ran into a hottie from my "Roman Culture" class I had been lusting after since the beginning of the quarter (back in the days of the quarter system.) We got busy later that evening. I think the $1.25 pitchers had alot to do with that.
I remember very little about my times at the Georgia Theatre so I know I had fun.
Some shows I do remember:
- Warren Zevon and Kevn Kinney
- Billy Pilgrim
- Josh Joplin Band
- G. Love and Special Sauce
- drivin' n' cryin'
- REM's Monster CD release (the band was not there and all they did was show the "What's The Frequency, Kenneth?" video on repeat ad nauseam)
Replacements on the All Shook Down tour. The band was falling apart, but they still brought the rock to the Theater. I talked to Slim Dunlap after the show and told him they blew me away. He thanked me and said that the night before, playing at Tech, they just plain blew.
I'll also never forget seeing DBT right before Dirty South came out. Local act Mother Jackson opened. By the time the Truckers came on, the place was so packed I thought I was gonna die.
Patterson Hood and Todd Snyder doing a storytellers type gig in July of 2002. There were maybe 20 people in the audience but the two guys on stage didn't care. They traded off songs as if they were hanging out in someone's living room.
Unfortunately, the show I'll remember most is one I didn't get into. REM's free, impromptu performance after a screening of a film Mr. Stipe produced in fall of 2001. My friends still call it one of the best shows they've ever seen.
One of my favorites was Mel and the Party Hats...the worlds best cover band!
Carlton - Nice story - I was actually working security that night. That is if you call working security wearing a GA Theatre security t-shirt and sitting at the end of the stage scoping the crowd for hawt drunk chicks.
Actually, I think that is what you call it.
A little piece of me just died :(
A few from the memory vaults:
Victor Wooten Band
Gran Torino a couple of times (so very funky...best time with them was after the UT win in 2000)
Mr. Bungle doing two sets and covering Jennifer Lopez in 1999
Reel Big Fish
Plus, catching a few episodes of The Damn! Show
And getting to see Bruce Campbell as Elvis fighting a mummy in Bubba Ho-Tep on the big screen.
Ahhhh the memories. Hope this place comes back better than ever.
Some of my fondest experiences include getting my groove on with WSP and Allgood, rockin out from the front row mezzanine with Live, and countless others.
Skydog destroyed the theatre that saturday night.
Nice pic!
Prob saw over 100 shows there. Hopefully we get a new and improved theatre in it's place.
I think we called it the Carafe and Draft. Its becoming a routine music venue was a later development. Most of my time at UGA, it was a place to see almost-new movies for $.99 but, unlike the similar venue at Alps Shopping Center, you could drink.
In 1991, I won an MTV contest ("Trip with the Doors on Sunset Boulevard") in connection with the release of the Oliver Stone film. The prize included a trip to LA and a special screening and after-party at the Whisky with the cast and their guests (just about the entire Twin Peaks cast was there, which was awesome for me at the time). Anyway, maybe it was from stressing over the bar exam (scheduled for a few days later) coupled with the excitement of the event (and, yeah, maybe some flashbacky feelings), but I started feeling strange during the movie and passed out on my way to get some water.
Here's the connection: Several months later, the movie was showing at the Georgia Theatre. I passed out at the exact same point in the movie. Awesome.
Best memories: Blue String, G Love, Les Claypool's Flying Frog Brigade, Mel/Party Hats, Kinchafoonee Cowboys.
Maybe now they'll fix those beer lines b/t the kegs and the taps.. GAWD ALMIGHTY that place could dish out some fierce hangovers.
http://jacksonville.com/sports/high_school/2009-06-19/story/georgia_grabs_another_first_coast_commitment
Thank you for reminding me of DASH RIP ROCK!
Until my last year and a half it was a suds and cinema. Although I had seen both many times, watching Blazing Saddles and History of the World there was a blast. Never caught a concert there, but would often stumble out of the Uptown Lounge and up the hill to watch the "talent" stream of the GATheatre. God, I love Athens!
Robert Earl Keen. Every time, but especially the second and last times I saw him there. The second time was rip-roaringly fun with one of my best friends, his wife and my gf (now wife). The beer was flowing and a time was had by all. The last time was just me and the same friend, not long before he finished his PhD and took off for PA: I copped a parking spot right in front of the GT and perfectly paralleled right into that bad boy with a F150 SuperCrew 4x4 (not to fit into any stereotypes or anything). And we drank PBR/High Life in the balcony all night long, saw a great show and stole glances at the UNC-KU national championship. So, I guess that was April 2008. I think that's the last time I was at GT as well.
The other best memory is Terry Allen. Alone with a keyboard with "his bare ass hangin' in the wind." Awesome show with the aforementioned friend, my wife, his brother and like 7 other people.
About the only good news out of this is that if the GT comes back, then at least we'll be able to drink the draft beer.
I worked doing the renovation during the mid 70's and found, and still have, some cool memorabilia from when it was a movie house.
When we opened I was an in-house roadie and I still have my T-shirt from opening night (Jan. 8, 1977 if I remember right) with Sea Level (Randall Bramblett w/Chuck Levall). Saw a lot of acts back then, Wild Cherry, BB King, and of course the B-52s, REM, Love Tractor, Widespread Panic...too many to name.
Hope they can save it and bring it back.
Normaltown Mike reminded me of something about the Theater I had completely forgotten about: the late-nite discos!
2:00 am - Last call!
2:30 am - "Seriously, you gotta go."
2:45 am - A hot, sweaty group of drunk people dancing at the Theater to some cheesy 80s tune.
4:00 am - "I'm starving. Let's go to the Grill."
4:45 am - Well, you know how it goes from this point on...
;-)
Lots of memories there. The 32oz plastic cups of course. Running upstairs to the balcony bar to get said cups because the line was smaller.
In the few rows of balcony seats, there was 1 doublewide seat over on the left for either a couple or a totally obese person to use- lots of neat quirks like that.
Lots of shows and sporting events- Braves games and NCAA Final Fours & title games.
We watched the Braves win the 95 World Series there after Florida hung 50 on us in Sanford that afternoon, then partied in the streets like drunken lunatics {for a change}.
RIP Ga Theatre, you will be missed.
"In 1966, I went down to Greenwich Village, New York City to a rock club called Electric Banana. Don't look for it; it's not there anymore."
Blues Traveler opening for Widespread Panic
Camper Van Beethoven
GWAR
whatever happened to Roosevelt?
After, the GA/fl game in gainesville; some clown in fl gear mouthing off to a friend only to get cracked in the head w/ a football helmet; a mouth full of pine straw down his throat while screamin' for the cops and running for it. Only to see the guy sucker punch my roomate by Peppino's and then get body slammed into the gumball machine and watching everyone slip and fall on the gumballs. Then he dukes it out in the Bank South parking lot w/ my roomate (to poor results) and the police arrest him and drive my roomate home laughing all the way. 'Hunerd percent true.
Also, sneaking in likker drinks during the Sunday Night Dollar Movie
Too many concerts to remember (literally), but how about movie nights?
Midnight show of Dazed and Confused at the Theatre? That ain't your mall cineplex, kids.
best show: Kinchafoonee Cowboys. I may have seen other more discerning musical acts there, but those guys always put on a fun show.
Blues Traveler on Halloween I believe 2000 when Popper came out minus 300 lbs. Coe falling off stage in 1998, Kinchafoonee was always fun and the MULE always rocked. They opened the 2nd set one year with Creep from Radiohead and would have thought the place was coming down then. And no I dont believe they ever cleaned the taps. We always loved the 32 oz from the Theater because the alcohol content was always much higher because it fermented just a bit more.
I saw a couple good P-Groove shows there, before I got tired of them. I saw an awesome late-era Blues Traveler Show, some great North Mississippi Allstars shows, some great Derek Trucks, and the best was the Funky Meters, with all 15 people that showed up. That show was epic. So was the Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra show!
And, anything by the Fuzzy Sprout guys. Abbey Road Live, Cosmic Charlie, all great shows. Can't wait for it to come back stronger than ever.
blackertai I could be wrong but I think P-Groove was supposed to be playing there tonight. Which brings to mind the fact that it's a good thing this happened at 7 a.m. rather than 2 a.m. What a catastrophe that could have been
Government Mule, do not remember the year. Schools played bass, Chuck Leavell on the keys. Greatest thing I have ever seen. Ever.
The Church, Toad the Wet Sprocket, Follow For Now, Dash Rip Rock, Widespread Panic, Paul Westerberg, Rev. Horton Heat, Dave Matthews, Jim Rose Circus Sideshow, Sid Bream sliding into home in '91, Braves finally winning a ring in '95, Blazing Saddles, Caddyshack, Natural Born Killers, Bela Fleck, Vic Chestnut, David Allen Coe, Dick Dale...the list goes on...it was allgood...oh yeah, them too
The Connells. Blues Traveler. Braves v. Toronto 1992, The Ocean Blue, The Replacements, Johnny Quest, Allgood... the list goes on and on.
As I posted earlier, the Theatre was not a music hotspot in my day, but the references above to Widespread, The (Dreadful) Grapes, Allgood, Gov't Mule, Love Tractor, etc., all have me questioning why I listen to so much talk radio.
1986 -1990 was a great time to be in Athens
check out the full interactive georgia theatre fire coverage here!
http://blog.studiomds.com/2009/06/georgia-theatre-fire-cubed/
Damn, just realized I used to know the current owner of the GT, Wil Green. He's a really good guy and the kind of person who "gets it" about the history of a place like that. Wil's associatiion with the GT started in the late 80's-early 90's when he worked there as a ticket taker. He was always someone who was very much into music.
I hope he gets enough money to rebuild. I'm sure he's going to have to go to war with his insurance company over the value of the place.
ROOSEVELT!!!
I have many fond memories of the GA Theatre and I never lived anywhere NEAR Athens. Many a road trip ended there, though so see Jump, Little Children; Will Hoge; Dayroom and many more. The most vivid memory I have there is Matt B. from J,LC crowd surfing during Pink Lemonade. When they went to put him back on stage, he slipped, landed on my head and smashed my face into the stage. Good times.
Easily the best show I ever saw at the GT - and the best show I've ever seen - was the 2001 free REM show. Was out on a random Wednesday night. A friend ran into the bar we were at and raised her arm to show a wrist band. She shouted, "I'm going to see REM." A friend and I shook our head and went on with our conversation. It registered a short time later what was happening and we dashed the the Theater. After some sweet talking of the door man by my friend Holly, we got in and saw most of the show. It was incredible.
Also remember taking a date to see City of God there. We didn't talk much after that movie. Probably not a wise move by me.
Aw, man...I was also there for the Braves' WS win over Cleveland, and that is hard to top. As far as music goes, I saw the Psychedelic Furs play on a Tuesday during Finals week in 1991, I think, and there were about 15 of us there in the audience, but Richard Butler was at his Glam-best anyway, and didn't care. The Sundays put on an incredible show there right after the release of their first album, also in '90 or '91. They had exhausted their entire song catalog during the set so that they had to play songs for a second time for encores. The BoDeans were another great show I haven't seen mentioned yet. The one band I'm thrilled hasn't been mentioned yet is the (Not) All (that) Good Music Company. Jeesh. They were like the house band there in my Junior and Senior years ('90-'91.) The sole reason to patronize that place for one of those shows was that, over-rated or not, they did draw some talent, and said talent was most often over-served.
Wasn't "Left of the Dial" written about on the Vega sisters? Veleena or ....can't remeber the other one. Anyway, they just showed movies when I was in school. Sure turned that into a good music venue.
FYI, Westerdawg, saw The Replacements at a old shack called Lunch Paper while they were on the road pushing "Hootenany" and "Let it Be". When they weren't too drunk to stand they could tear a club up. Many killer shows at the 40 Watt.
One that stands out was going to see Dark Side of the Moon set to Wizard of Oz (so Dark Side of Oz)and the folks at the door passing out some obscure brand of rolling papers. There was so much pot in that place, I do not know how that wasn't a set up to be a sting operation.
I also remember going to a Kinchafoonee Cowboys show (probably around January '01) with this really hot girl I was dating who had a tendency to get smashed a little too often and easily. She ended up passing out in the front row of the balcony...where somebody else had already puked up what appeared to be/smelled like Taco Stand. We had to take her home with her incoherent and covered in puke. I personally had drank almost a fifth of Jim Beam Black BEFORE we even went out so I was out of it the entire show. I sipped beer from their dirty taps and tried to take care of my date. I ended up puking as well and had to leave my car downtown (we went home in a friend's car, glad it was not mine, but he made me come over and clean the Taco Stand puke off his seat the next day). Next day I found one of those $3 tickets on it for being parked in a metered zone until 1:00or so when I went to pick it up. What a night.
Other shows that come to mind...Ween in '02 was amazing. They did a cover of Enter Sandman and I started a great pit up front by the stage. Dean looked at me personally like I was crazy (but I was just drunk).
The Damn Show! premieres were always awesome.
And DAC '98...oooooo boy.
Also remember seeing Soul Miner's Daughter there back before nettles became so twangy and sold out. Whatever makes the bucks I guess.
Gen Stoop, the taps were replaced by 2005 at the latest, so that BEER you had at that REK show in 2008 should have been just fine. In fact, that BEER was so good and cold, my brother decided he needed to pee outside the theatre after the show with the cops standing right behind him.
The DAC show in 2001 was one of the worst shows I have ever seen. He was rapping.
Anon asked about Roosevelt. Last I heard, he had been commited to an institution somewhere in south GA.
It's amazing to me how many of us commenters were either inside or just outside the Theatre when the Braves won it all in 95 - totally awesome.
May it be rebuilt with new tap lines.
The Connells, Jonny Quest, The Cowboy Junkies, Widespread and the night I took a waitress from Rockys who had beautiful eyes to see Social Distortion. Great place.
Saw Dread Zeppelin there back in the mid-80's. Fun show, played reggae-style Zeppelin tunes with a lead singer that was an Elvis impersonator.
That's too bad about Roosevelt, brought back memories...wonder how C.C. is doing.
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