photograph gallery from 1999 | the story is below
photograph gallery from 2000

date: november 12-13, 1999. place: atlanta, athens, ga.

i had not seen stereolab in concert before. when i heard they were going to play two shows on consecutive nights in atlanta and athens, ga i knew i had to go.... to both. i had a blast. this is what happened.

i drove up six hours by myself to atlanta on friday november 12. it did not take me long to find the variety playhouse. it was in little five points, an area i am familiar with. i got a good parking spot, too. i went walking because i was early. before i knew what happened i hear my name being called out "jeffreeeeeeeeeeee". i turn around and sitting on a bench is my friend andrew and adrienne. i did not know adrienne before. they invited me to hang out with them so i accepted. we sat and walked around the neighborhood looking at houses. we passed where my car was parked and it turned out they were parked right behind me. after trying on leaf muffs, the new fashion fad, it was time to enter the sold out variety playhouse.

i was afraid they would not let me take my camera in. they were doing pat downs at the entrance. after all, stereolab brings out the gun/knife community (sic). i got to keep it so i was excited. the playhouse is like a high school theater. there was the stage down front with rows of mounted seats in the middle areas. along the sides were standing areas.

there were a lot of cutie girls. we were faciniated by this one girl sitting next to us who had the cutest glasses and a dancing in the stars ballerina tattoo on her arm. there seemed to be a lot of long haired rockers. hmmmm.

the first band was dymaxion. they were boring. they did the same song every song. it went dink dink weeeeer dink dink. and the drums went dunt chee dunt chee dunt chee. seriously, that how they sounded.

for stereolab i tried to make myself to the front. it took some time but i got a good view. i hope to find a setlist somewhere of what they played. i remember some off the new album cobra and phases groop like "the free design" and "infinity girl". "Infinity girl" was awesome. i like the dancey songs.

also they did my favorite song "metronomic underground" off emperor tomato ketchup. however, they played it way too fast. they even did some really old stuff. pre transient even if i remember right.

someone yelled out "i have sex to your music" to which laetitia replied "that is actually a compliment".

it was a very good stereolab experience. i danced to the moog. and it was good. teehee.

i stayed with jack and jessica. they were nice enough to let me stay the night on short notice. even with directions and a map i got lost on the way to their apartment. at one point i went through a traffic light straight into a recreation park. it scared me to death. it was like the dukes of hazard.

the next morning i woke up and hung out with jack. i was a bit worried about going to athens. i had neither a ticket or a place to stay.

i decided to go anyway.

athens is about an hour away so the drive was quick. it was about 4 or 5 pm. it was also game day at the university of georgia. people were everywhere. great, i thought, parking will be hell. i parked far away and walked towards downtown. i stopped at the 40 watt club to see if they were selling tickets. nope. either were the record stores. not good. i went to little italy and had a calzone. little italy rocks.

i walked back to the 40 watt and sat outside the doors so i could be first in line to get tickets. stereolab was doing sound check. i would get to hear that at least.

now this is the cool part.

as i was sitting this cutie girl comes around the corner and comes up to me asking if i was in line for tickets. i was so she sat down next to me for company. and we started talking and she turned out it was my email pal nina. we had been emailing for almost three years. what a random encounter. ninas the coolest i kid you not.

then this guy comes out of the 40 watt and gave some tickets to the record store. he told us this so we ran inside and got them. the nina and i went back to her dorm to hang out. we watched who wants to be a millionaire. ninas sister sonya eventually showed up and we all went to eat at the grit. and you'd never guess who was sitting next to us.... it was stereolab. as soon as i noticed i grabbed nina close, told her, looked and we squealed.

then we went over to the club. dymaxion was playing so we stayed outside until they were done.

i saw a bunch of florida folks inside... dan & heather and josh from brittle stars were there. so were nathan & beth. andrew and adrienne were there as well as steve (also brittle stars) and mike (from maybe drowning soon) were there but i didn't see them.

stereolab did almost the same set as the night before minus the old material. laetitia wore a powder puff girls t-shirt. how cute.

i was saddened because the merchandise table was out of small/medium shirts. i wanted one. they were sold out both shows. they had hand towels for sale. i just got the tour single.

we went back to ninas and went to sleep.

the next day consisted of eating breakfast and walking around downtown athens. shoe shopping, record looking (i got the first UT CD). the gainesville/jacksonville crew was spotted once again. we said hi. heather got a talking watch.

i was having such a wonderful time i lost track of time. i ended up leaving athens late. evidently, i took the long way back (i went through atlanta). i think i made it home just after 4 am. gosh, what a drive. then i went to work at 8 am. i was a zombie the whole day. photographs of stereolab -->