As music fans already know, the Georgia Theatre—an Athens icon for all types of music—almost burned down on Friday, June 19 (the exterior walls and sign remain intact).
At seven in the morning as the sun barely rose over the downtown skyline, flames tore through the center of the beloved building and shot into the air at a height of 40 to 50 feet. After an hour, firefighters had the fire under control, but the smoke and the smell lingered into the evening.
Hundreds of people gathered around the corner of Lumpkin and Clayton streets to see the gutting of this venue. And hundreds more, who knew the feeling of playing on that stage or being part of that crowd, understood what this loss meant.
The Incredible Sandwich achieved one of it’s dreams and celebrated the release of its self-titled debut EP on Mule Train Records at the Theatre in April of 2009.
“It’s kind of surreal that we’ll actually be playing there. The Georgia Theatre is such a great venue,” Matt told an Athens Banner Herald reporter before the release party.
The Corduroy Road also has fond memories at this venue.
From this fire, we at Mule Train hope something bright will emerge—a phoenix to demonstrate the power and community of music.
Mule Train Records supports the employees of The Georgia Theatre and a rebuilding of this structure.
To show our support, $1 of every Mule Train merchandise purchase, including cd’s, t-shirts, etc will go towards the rebuilding of the Theatre.
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