List of local Venues throughout Indy music history.

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by matts1w on June 2, 2008 at 5:37am

Other venues I remember...

The first Birdmen show was out at some VFW way on the East Side.

Larry Demeyer's (spelling) record/guitar store on Mass Ave. right by Interstate 65. I clearly remember Life Sentence playing there....maybe Gang Green too.

Bill Levin booked a "ballroom" at the east side Howard Johnson's motel. Gwar, Slaughterhouse, and Raw Meat did a show there that probably ended Bill's welcome. It was pretty much straight up porn. I remember watching a member of Slaughterhouse shave certain parts of her body on stage which was really creepy, then noticed the kid next to me was all of 15 years old. Guess he grew up that night.

Finally, the Dharma Emporium Hippy shop at 36th and College did Sunday afternoon shows for a few...but I think we wrecked his mellow vibe.

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Evan Finch on June 2, 2008 at 7:18am

Hah! Dharma Emporium. Our band once opened a show there for Wavy Gravy, the hippie clown. Hopefully that fact will be etched on my tombstone when the time comes.

In the early '90s, there was an Indianapolis coffeehouse called Cafe Angst in a basement on Vermont (across the street from the O'Malia's loading dock, more or less). It generally hosted folk/acoustic acts, but I remember seeing a phenomenal Sardina show there. And Christ Almighty, could that place make a grilled cheese sandwich.

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Sean O'Neil on June 2, 2008 at 6:05pm

COC was at (if I can remember correctly) 410 S. Walnut, right next to the Heorot. It's now called Doc's and has different owners than at the start. At the time, we somehow convinced Dr. John Peterson to buy this old building and a bunch of us college kids, hippies and punks alike, cleaned it up, worked for free and booked all the shows. I believe after the mid-90s Dr. John sold it and now it's a regular club-type place, I think catering to the basic blues-type crowd. Dr. John was in a band in the 60s that opened for the Doors somewhere in Indiana (may have been Muncie...) and he was still into the music scene and decided to help out our collective. He's a great guy (an actual M.D.) and I hope that venture didn't set him back too bad before he sold it. It had to have been losing money on a regular basis.

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by indyfitz on June 2, 2008 at 6:26pm

Fountain Square Theater was a cool place to see shows!

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Spencer (Shecky) Sundell on June 4, 2008 at 1:27am

I only went once (during a visit back from Chicago), but yeah The Compound was an old school, and I vaguely remember it being on the eastside.

Donuts and Gravy played the night I went, but I can't remember who else did.

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Spencer (Shecky) Sundell on June 4, 2008 at 1:35am

The Herron (sic) building I was referring to was Herron School of Art at 16th and Pennsylvania. [...] And the Academy was...well...the Academy..short lived venue on Vermont.

Gotcha. I saw a bunch of shows at the Academy. Come to think, Tha Paranoidz opened for Naked Raygun there in '84/'85, impromptu-style cuz whoever was scheduled couldn't get their car started or something. It was the coldest day of the year, which was sayin' something. That whole winter was a brass monkey's nightmare. (Ask Whybark about the frozen toilet story.)

And what year was that Legal Weapon show? I only remember them playing in Indy in '86 (we opened, see the pics in my profile for the flier.)

That woulda been the summer of 1983, it seems. I remember they did "Equalizer", which was off the album they were supporting on the tour.

I found an interview with them done by Marvin and Carl Haynes after that show, originally published in ye olde Midwest Uprising -- http://www.pacificwebjournal.net/legal_weapon_2_004.htm

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Spencer (Shecky) Sundell on June 4, 2008 at 1:47am

Come to think, I believe you're right. I'd forgotten they'd done the Cosmo's show, too.

The Modern Times gig was the day before they went in to Hit City to record the album (Screams from the Gutter). They were touring with a Finnish band who had an unpronounceable name something like "Rystjstittk" or some shit. They kept picking fights with the Raw Power guys. They also sucked.

I think I may still have a cassette I semi-surreptitiously recorded on a Walkman in the booth while Paul was laying the instrumental tracks. That was an amazing session to watch -- the whole band was set up and played live to multitrack. Like two, maybe three takes of each song. Tight. I'm not even sure they overdubbed the lead breaks, but I guess they must've. (And the vox later, of course.)

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by suade99 on June 5, 2008 at 2:13pm

I got know (sorta) know Bob Stinson after I moved back to Minnesota... He was really nice but kinda sad and lost after the Replacements kicked him out.. Just before he died I was at the Uptown Bar and he sat next to me... I bought him a beer and we chatted a bit... When I mentioned Indiana he kinda perked up and asked about Bill Levin... He said a lot of nice things about Bill, but then he would do this chuckle and say "The Ghost." Finally I asked what was "The Ghost"??? He said Bill was great but would "dissapear when it came time to do the money" so the guys in The Replacements called him "The Ghost" after playing Indianapolis...

Only time I ever drank with Bob.

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by suade99 on June 5, 2008 at 4:00pm

Pizza Castle! in Castleton Square (well, next to it in a stripmall) - Didn't they have bands for a while?

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Stephen Lee Canner on June 5, 2008 at 4:26pm

See farther up the thread. They definitely did: The Future, Zero Boys, etc.

Also here's a 10 minute clip of the Zero Boys at the Pizza Castle from 1981.

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by indyfitz on June 5, 2008 at 7:06pm

Even though it's called Birdy's.. the whole hummingbird in the logo makes a lot of sense now.

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Spencer (Shecky) Sundell on June 13, 2008 at 12:07am

Re: Fortville Lions Club -- Yes! Line up included JOT, Pontius Pilate and the Naildrivers, and an early gig by Chainhead. I wanna say there was a fourth band, but I can't remember who and also can't seem to find the flier.

Scott Free (sorry, I forget his "real" last name) put the show together -- he was originally from Fortville. It was the first and last show there. The brethren there were convinced we were all Satanists because of the name "Pontius Pilate and the Naildrivers." Silly Lions. We weren't Satanists; we didn't even believe in their silly Christian god, so how could we possibly be Satanists? Duh!

▶ Reply to This

▶ Reply to This

• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5
• 6
• 7
• 8
• 9
• 10
• 11
• 12