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Have you ever worked a rough Club (Page 1)
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The Steel Guitar Forum
Bar Chatter Archive
Have you ever worked a rough Club (Page 1)
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| This topic is 2 pages long: 1 2 This topic was originally posted in this forum: Wanted To Buy |
| Author | Topic: Have you ever worked a rough Club |
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Vern Kendrick Member Posts: 442 |
posted 15 April 2001 06:03 PM
I ain't talking Moose, Elks,Boy Scout conventions,I mean Rough!!as in steping over bodies on the way out,...And don't leave home without it,(you'r 9 mm,).......There's no biz like sho biz |
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Bobby Lee Sysop Posts: 14849 |
posted 15 April 2001 06:55 PM
I used to work at the Castle Club in San Francisco. I lived in the same block. The bar was owned by an alcoholic couple named Leo and Linda. One night they were fighting pretty bad, and they decided to let us off early. I saw her on the street later with her face all bruised up. The next morning the bar was closed and Linda was in jail for killing Leo. The bar stayed closed for 3 weeks while Linda proved self defense. Then she reopened the bar and took up with the bandleader. I went back to work there. Eventually I met the bandleader's step-daughter there. We fell in love and got married, so I guess that working in a "rough club" is a crucial link to where I am today. ------------------ |
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Fred Martin Member Posts: 299 |
posted 15 April 2001 07:02 PM
Played an Apache bar in Ft Thomas Arizona in the 70's with just me and a fiddle player named CM Petty. Friday night was pretty wild with lots of Buck Owens requests, folks writing on our shirts but a pretty good crazy time. We left our amps in a back room. When we went back for Sat. night we passed ambulances heading to Globe, Az. Got to the bar and the place had been set on fire, looted, gas pumps turned over. An apache fella had got killed and the riot was on. Figured our stuff was trashed but they never touched a thing of ours even though it was right in reach. Guess they liked our pickin. Never did let CM do the bookin after that ! |
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John Steele Member Posts: 2469 |
posted 15 April 2001 07:16 PM
Following a gig at a bar in my hometown last year, I was loading out in the back parking lot when a fight broke out. In less than a minute, one guy was dead... blunt trauma to the head. 22 years old. I have always been cognizant of the fragility of the human body and life in general, although it appears many people are not. It bothered me a great deal and still does. Two young men, acquaintances even, with too much time on their hands. And all over a stepped-on foot, or a spilled beer, or something equally as inconsequential.... (see SGHOF thread)  -John |
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Vern Kendrick Member Posts: 442 |
posted 15 April 2001 07:31 PM
I worked one place where we had 3 killings in a month,up the street a club owner started his car,and it blew him through the the top of the car,they found his body on the roof of the building,...this was one of the Major clubs in the country,Oh well ,thats sho biz..... |
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Bill Stafford Member Posts: 1347 |
posted 15 April 2001 07:46 PM
Port Sulfur, Louisiana. Time frame-1955 era. Reported in to the club late Sat. afternoon to begin our one month contract. After introducing myself to the bartender, I asked about that six foot long object under a white sheet on the dance floor and was told it used to be Pierre Boudreaux(not his real name). There were six or five patrons at the bar drinking and having a good time. One of which was Felix Whats-his name(also not his real name) who was the responsible patron for the accomplishment of this dastardly deed. All of us band members decided immediately, and also right away, that we would honor our contract. We left the club after getting our sound check, checked into the motel, had supper and then went to the club to start our job. Felix Whats-his-name and his five or four friends were still at the bar drinking and having a good time waiting for us to start. We did, and played every request in any key they wanted and exactly how fast they desired. If we did not know the song requested, we asked them to hum it and then we played it. Turned out to be one of the best jobs we had during that time. Those shrimp boat workers really took care of us and we did not mess with their girl friends at all. Most of us are still alive, and if anyone knows the where-abouts of a singer named Billy Ray, I would love to contact him again. (Billy sang like Wade Ray). Do not know if they were any kin. Thanks for the memories, Bill Stafford |
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Moon in Alaska Member Posts: 1155 |
posted 15 April 2001 08:44 PM
This has nothing to do with fact !!! I heard a George Strait joke, when asked if he ever had to work in "rough" joint, his reply --- I played in one place where they searched you at the door for guns !!! and then he said, if they did not find one on you, they give you one !!!!! ------------------ |
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Gary Lee Gimble Member Posts: 932 |
posted 16 April 2001 03:44 AM
The venue was bluegrass and I was pickin the banjo. The front of the stage had a chicken wire fence around it so the beer bottles and occasional tomato wouldn't deface my banjo. Having read this forum for a couple of years now I suspect the audience was comprised mostly of steel players.  Gary Lee |
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Bill Crook Member Posts: 1820 |
posted 16 April 2001 04:24 AM
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Bob Farlow Member Posts: 895 |
posted 16 April 2001 04:26 AM
Hmmm...., sounds like a music store in Kennesaw,GA to me. Hey Vern, remember the guy that came in one Sat for a first visit, and pulled out his .38 and laid it on top of his amplifier while he played? Pretty darned good player and a nice guy too. |
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John Lacey Member Posts: 1843 |
posted 16 April 2001 04:28 AM
I played places so rough that you'd have to show you're razor and puke twice before they'd let you in. (Compliments of Ronnie Hawkins). |
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Blake Hawkins Member Posts: 869 |
posted 16 April 2001 04:35 AM
Huntsville, Alabama...1956. Our band filled in for the regular group at a dance held at "The Labor Temple" which was a big hall, located over a movie theater. They would alternate a half hour of "round dancing" and a half hour of "square dancing." We were the round dance band. The city police had a squad car and two policemen parked outside on the street. They would not come into the hall. Security was maintained by a group of armed union members. If someone got into a fight or was drunk and obnoxious, two of them would pick up the offender and toss him down the long flight of stairs to the street. The policemen would pick up what was left and take him to the city jail. When I first arrived there, the fellow in charge took me around to each member of the security group and introduced me by saying " This's Blake, he's with the band, he's OK." Once was enough, didn't mess with the women there either. Blake |
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Gene Jones Member Posts: 5796 |
posted 16 April 2001 04:36 AM
Yes, I have worked some of those clubs.....my first goal after carrying in my equipment was to make friends with the bouncers! www.genejones.com |
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billy tam Member Posts: 330 |
posted 16 April 2001 05:01 AM
I worked an after hours club for 2 1/2 years in the mid 70's. Band started at midnite til 4 or 4:30 in the morning. We got all the well lubricated folks from other bars to start with. Fortunately no known fatalities but until have seen you've seen 350 - 400 people in a brawl you haven't lived. I put my steel against my amp against the wall grabbed a mike stand with a heavy bottom and managed to keep folks off myself and me gear. billy tam |
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Dave Van Allen Member Posts: 5369 |
posted 16 April 2001 06:41 AM
I played several places when I was getting started, that looking back were seriously rough, but I was so young and stupid at the time I didn't realize what danger I might have been in. My fave was a biker bar, and the 'chick singer ' in our band was the squeeze of the VP of the "motorcycle club". The band didn't have to worry about security, or beligerent patrons. |
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Bob Hayes Member Posts: 951 |
posted 16 April 2001 06:57 AM
I recall a few places where you had to wear armore or have a few stiff drinks before playing...and some of the fights..etc..carried out to the street or parking lot. One was Jimmy's Bar in the North end of Springfield,Mass..early to mid '60s. The Post Lounge, Ogdon Utah..'81, The Westener..Salt Lake City(West Vally City) Utah '81-'82..Seven Corners, Falls Church ,Va early'70s.A few places in the DC area in '70s & 80's..Jimmy's Club/Nashvile Club.Ramstien Germany (area)..plus a few GI bars in Okinawa....Music is a risky bussiness. sometime We should get hazardous duty pay!!!!!! |
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Fred Murphy Member Posts: 669 |
posted 16 April 2001 08:56 AM
I have played just about every dive in Indianapolis over 35 years. The worst one was called the Sherman Bar. I played there for three years. I saw three shootings, a lot of knifings, and hundreds of fights. One new years eve, the whole bar fought for about an hour, until no table was left standing, and only about five or six people left. One incident that comes to mind was when one regular girl and her friend was sitting at the table on my side of the bandstand. As I left on break, I passed her table, and she asked me if I had a pocket knife she could borrow for a minute. She said she had a hang nail she needed it for. I went to the bar to get coffee and looked around to see what the rukus was about and she had cut up another girl in the bar with my knife. They threw them both out and when I went out to retrieve my knife, the other girl and knocked her eyeball out of the socket and as she lay there she stomped her eyeball. It made me sick. Women can be vicious. |
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Donny Hinson Member Posts: 9192 |
posted 16 April 2001 09:06 AM
Many years ago, I worked in a place in downtown Baltimore known as "Elmer's". This was the roughest place in the city...back before the revitalization that took place there a couple of decades ago. The clientele consisted mostly of bikers and longshoremen. Needless to say, they all weren't totally "respectable". The guy who ran the place was Elmer Greenwald, and he was a prince of a guy...the kind who would give a friend the shirt off his back. But when he dealt with the customers who caused trouble, he was kinda "heavyhanded". He would chase bikers (who drove their Harleys through the place) with a baseball bat, often scoring "hits", and he would wake up the sleeping drunks at the end of each night with an electric cattle-prod. The rest rooms were an experience too. They had as many flys and gnats and other bugs as there were customers, sometimes more! (Inebriated people sometimes have "bad aim", if you get my drift.) There were always fights and stabbings, and once in awhile a shooting, but Elmer would always usher the wounded outside to the sidewalk..."I don't want 'ya dying in my place", he would say. People seldom bothered the band, though. (Elmer looked out for us.) Wednesday nights were "peanut night", and Elmer would supply free peanuts (which he bought by-the-bushel) to the customers. By closing time, there were two or three inches of the shells all over the floor. This was probably an asset, because it tended to hide the "other things" on the floor which might upset those with weak stomachs. Yeah, those were the good old days, for sure. The place had real "atmosphere and excitement", but it is long gone now. I'm sure there are some who still miss it! |
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George Mc Lellan Member Posts: 1282 |
posted 16 April 2001 09:41 AM
In 67 I was playing at the Belmont in St. Paul, MN, and some friends were at the Clover Club on the same block. The Belmont was pretty docile but the Clover Club could get rough(!). ------------------ |
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Paul Graupp Member Posts: 3199 |
posted 16 April 2001 09:56 AM
Donny: I played Baltimore for a couple of months "way back then" and it was as you have described it. Something I saw one night made me sick and I could never post it. Do you recall a black tap dancer who would make the rounds of clubs and do his dance routine for tips? He used to say: "If you can't git it, fergit it!" I can't for the life of me recall his handle and I once thought I never would forget it. We would play In The Mood and things like that to accomodate him. Regards, Paul  |
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RickRichtmyer Member Posts: 2522 |
posted 16 April 2001 10:14 AM
I've played in many, many rough places over the years. In fact, it seems unbelievable to me that anyone could play in the bars for very long without having played a couple tough joints. When I was in my teenage rock 'n roll, guitar playing phase, I used to play at a club in North Beach, Maryland called "Uncle Billy's." This was back in the 60's. The most memorable fight scene I remember was when a biker chick picked up a big round table, the type that can seat about ten people and must weigh near a hundred pounds, and hurl it about ten feet across the room. Awesome! After I started playing steel in the '70s, I often played at a place in Frederick, Maryland called "Top's Place." There were more fights there than I can remember. The most notable one I can recall was when the bouncer literally broke a beer bottle over a patron's head. Can you imagine the lawsuit if anyone did that these days? Of course, the net worth of "Top's Place" was probably not enough to pay for the stitches. ------------------ |
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Earl Erb Member Posts: 886 |
posted 16 April 2001 02:36 PM
In November of 1968 I was working in Mason City Iowa at a club called the Wisk-A-Go-Go.The front of the club had very large plate glass windows covered with heavy black curtains to keep the light out.There was a pool table at the entrance.One night two got into a fight over a pool game and the one guy threw the other guy through the glass onto the sidewalk.He was cut up pretty bad and had to be taken to the hospital.We were only on our first set and the cops closed the place down for the night.I guess I was pretty lucky but I never saw too much of that kind of stuff during my days on the road.I do remember playing some joints with the stage covered with chicken wire. |
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Frank Parish Member Posts: 2327 |
posted 16 April 2001 02:56 PM
It was Nicks Big Six in Louisville, Ky. in the summer of 1968. In the heart of downtown with all the whores and bikers and just every kind of character around. The bandstand was plywood on coke crates not nailed down so it had a wobble to it. the bandstand was surrounded by a 2X4 rail that had a gate you'd flip up to go in or out. There was a tin tray nailed to the gate for tips and everytime you'd open it the pennies would go everywhere. We got $12 a night, 7 nights a week, 5 1/2 hours a night. Girls regularly danced nude on each side of the bandstand on the tables. People would sit on each others shoulders it was so crowded. The owner, Harold Baines had a glass front door and threw people through the door on average about once a week. He kept spare glass in the stockroom so the next day they be out there replacing the glass. They had wooden booths with names carved in them and bullet holes too. It had a wooden blank floor. I don't remember a night without a fight or two. Some years after we'd left Harolds wife shot him dead in the bar. |
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Quesney Gibbs Member Posts: 186 |
posted 16 April 2001 03:00 PM
Vern...Ray Lee's Green Lantern....Nuff Said...Ques |
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Ben Lawson Member Posts: 421 |
posted 16 April 2001 06:42 PM
Hey Vern I never would go into that store in Kennesaw without my gun. There's a mess of fairly dangerous characters in there. |
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Vern Kendrick Member Posts: 442 |
posted 16 April 2001 06:52 PM
Ques,, I forgot about that one,that must have been about 110 yr.s,ago,I did'nt know you worked there.Me and ol'Wild Bill fought our way out of there several times.Although not a financial bonanza,it certainly had it's fringe benefits,I think I went to Miami after that,Worked some big rooms,but at that time they had a serious retirement program. |
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Vern Kendrick Member Posts: 442 |
posted 16 April 2001 07:06 PM
Ben, Yea, I think I know the joint you mean,a pretty bad bunch of cats used to hang there,I think the cat with the Cannon was from New Jersey,I never laid mine on the amp I always wore it,..Sin City Music,I wonder who started that place |
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Terry Wood Member Posts: 1205 |
posted 16 April 2001 07:11 PM
My first barroom gig was when I was 14 years old. I played rhythm guitar with my brother and a couple of other crazy pickers. We played a place in the Ozark Hills called Poverty Ridge it was a giant chicken house converted into a head thumpin' Honky Tonk. The woman who ran it, packed a 357 magnum in her apron, had a blood covered hammer under the counter. She used both. Her sons were pool sharks. She liked to fight better than any of the men. They all hauled the little square bales of hay during the day and drank and fought for relaxation in the evening. The Honky Tonk Queen thought I was a real cute kid and played the guitar good, so I was safe in this terrible place. True story, I saw her get a hardened criminal, a muderer, down on his hands and knees one night and made him crawl across the floor like a little whipped puppy. She told him, "You're gonna crawl out of this place on your all fours, like the dirty dog you are, or I'll blow your brains all over that wall.' Everybody knew he was a bad one, but he met his match, when he met the Poverty Ridge Honky Tonk Queen. I thank GOD everyday, that I no longer ever have to play in those kind of places, I thank HIM for sparing me and saving me, when I deserved to be nailed to the cross. HE will do the same for you, if you'll just ask HIM. GOD bless you according to HIS WORD! Terry J. Wood |
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Winnie Winston Member Posts: 542 |
posted 16 April 2001 07:30 PM
Happoily, most places I played were fairly mild. But there was one place which had two fights in the year I was there. What got me is that they swung in time to the music. Slow down and they'd slow down. Speed up, and they'd speed up. It was doing choreography for dancers. Problem is when you're playing steel, you're sitting down-- and miss it all if eneryone is standing. One evening, about the fourth set, the rhythm just fell apart. I looked over to the bass player, and he had stopped and was looking out at the crowd. I looked up-- just in time to see (over the heads of all) a chair being swung. Cops arrived shortly after. Not a lot of fights there-- township had heavy laws against bar brawls. Fines for the first. Lockup and fine for the second. The funniest I saw could not be seen as a "rough bar"-- the old guy was out dancing on the floor during a fast number and his false teeth came out and hit the floor. He reached down, picked them up, brushed them off on his shirt, and popped them back in. His wife came from the table, belted him on the side of the head, and dragged him off. We were laughing so hard it was almost impossible to play. Winnie |
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Vern Kendrick Member Posts: 442 |
posted 16 April 2001 07:44 PM
There's more than a few have tried to nail me to the cross,..must be my glowing personality [This message was edited by Vern Kendrick on 16 April 2001 at 07:48 PM.] |
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Paul Graupp Member Posts: 3199 |
posted 16 April 2001 08:33 PM
I was standing by the bandstand learning from a steel player in the Miller Brother's Band from Whichita Falls, TX. They were playing outside for a patio party at the Tinker Air Force Base NCO club. At a table on the edge of the dance floor, an argument started. Got louder and louder but the guys managed to play over it. Finally the table tipped up and all the drinks would up in the lap of the wife of the culprit. The band keeps playing, over her screaming. He gets up and while removing the ice etc from his wife's lap, comes across a cherry. He holds it up and hollers "I'll be a SOB! Here it is!!" She hit him with everything she could get her hands on all the way out through the parking lot. The band took a break. Regards, Paul  |
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Ken Lang Member Posts: 2467 |
posted 16 April 2001 08:34 PM
In the early 60's I played a bar in Buffalo, NY. that had only bikers. Three groups, one of whom claimed to be the Eastern Chapter of the Hell's Angels. We were college guys and needed the money. After a couple of nights we were accepted and fell under the protection of the home club. There were no "civilians" in the bar, as normal people were called. Those stupid enough to come in were sometimes allowed to finish a beer before being told to leave. If they didn't, three beer bottles over the head usually convinced them, or made them limp enough to be dragged out. The bikers never fought one on one. If someone started something it was over quickly with 3 or more jumping on him. Never knew the human body could stand such punishment. After a 6 month stand the place closed for 10 days on a serving a minor charge. We took the time to move on. Later the bikers made the mistake of whipping on a dude from the chevy plant who, with his buddies decended on the place with a vengence. The club was destroyed and didn't open again for two years, and then as a nice Italian supper club. Late 60's-a bar in Fredonia NY. Two topless dancers. One week, one was white, one was black. That led to a mixed audience. Guess what came next? Minature race riot. Only the band was exempt. The place re-opened a week later and we stayed on...minus the dancing girls. Late 80's. For many of you who have worked the San Franando valley, the bar was Pixies. After vehicles being set on fire and tires being slashed and drugs offered in the men's room, the last straw was the gun shot killing of a guy in the bar. I retreated to Simi Valley, my home, which is annually in the top 3 safest places in the country. The only danger here is the whippin by the police for a DUI. That...I've missed. |
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Donny Hinson Member Posts: 9192 |
posted 16 April 2001 09:08 PM
Paul...the tap dancer you are referring to was called "The Hawk". His real name escapes me now, but he made a living going from bar to bar. He looked a little like the black comedian/author Dick Gregory, and had a lot of "spirit" to go into the country music clubs decades ago. Back then, they were (almost) exclusively "white folks" territory. I always enjoyed him, and backed him countless nights, on and off, for over 30 years playing songs like "Down Yonder" and "Sweet Georgia Brown" while he danced. He would do a little 15 minute show, (usually on our break) a tap dance and a few jokes. Then he passed the hat, jumped in his old Cadillac, and headed for the next bar. He was a regular on the bar circuit until about 2 or 3 years ago, when he passed away. There was a nice article about him in the Baltimore Sun. Thanks for asking about him. |
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Al Marcus Member Posts: 7471 |
posted 16 April 2001 10:14 PM
Pretty gruesome stuff. Musicians should all get a medal for all they went through in those old clubs. All of us have shared some of those experiences. One real bad one I remember is in b0b Lee's area Sebastopol, CA. I went over there on my first night, guy dying at the bar, pool of blood all over the floor. Ambulance, cops coming in.Me bringing my steel in. Customers all flying out of there. Place empty. Owner says, You guys can go ahead and play. We said "forget it", BYE BYE....al |
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Chris Brooks Member Posts: 486 |
posted 17 April 2001 12:24 AM
You guys have really got me chuckling here with your war stories ...."Pappy" and his false teeth .... the cherry .... assorted characters .... Truth indeed IS stranger than fiction. In my 23 years of full time music I was lucky I guess. Never played a "chicken-wire gig", nor have I ever seen many fights. I notice no one mentioned any of those Wyoming mining towns though .... my most memorable "conflict" was in Rock Springs, when there was a fight out on the dance floor while we were on the stand and a customer came up to Steve Bivins, our guitarist /lead singer and asked him to please clean the blood off the floor cause he and his wife wanted to dance. Steve replied that this wasn't in his job description ... Sure enough, Terry, the fight was between two women. Stay away from those! Peace and love, Chris ------------------ |
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Vernon Hester Member Posts: 545 |
posted 17 April 2001 02:28 AM
Yep, Asheville NC, Had chicken wire in front of bandstand,Ask the bandleader about it,He says you'll see, at about 10:00,The owner came by and said play something fast,He had an axe handle in is hands,pretty soon the club was empty as everything moved outside. never went back. Vern |
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Gene Jones Member Posts: 5796 |
posted 17 April 2001 04:52 AM
I wont repeat 'em here, but there are a couple of these "tuff club" stories on the "Ruminations" section of my web-site! www.genejones.com |
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Bob Hayes Member Posts: 951 |
posted 17 April 2001 09:00 AM
Rick, I played Uncle Billy's with the remenince of Jimmy Deans old "Texas Wild Cats" a few time's inthe mid '70's before I went to Germany. The place had mellowed by then I guess or maybe it became rowdey after. If I remember correctly..the audiance didn't pay too much attention to the band..but at least we got paid. BH |
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Doug Jones Member Posts: 543 |
posted 17 April 2001 09:59 AM
It was October 1983. We were on a circuit in British Columbia. We hit our 3rd stop in Elkford, BC. (ratio of men to women 3:1). The previous 2 towns were not too exciting. After our 1st night of what was to be 5 nights straight, we finally thought we found a club that enjoyed our Hank Jr/country rock sound. There were fights, pool cues swingin' and the hollerin', at times, was louder than the band. We thought we finally hit a good town. The next morning, the club owner woke up our bandleader on the phone and advised us we were fired. He claimed for Halloween weekend he needed at least a "5 fight band" and we had only stirred up 3 the night before. Our booking agent advised us he had the right to let us go if he felt we were'nt fullfilling our conract. At any rate, that was the roughest spot I've ever been. -DJ- |
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Paul Graupp Member Posts: 3199 |
posted 17 April 2001 06:36 PM
I told this story to Jody Carver in an e-mail because I didn't deem it fit for the Forum. I think it will be OK in this thread. My first bass player was a guy named John, in England. One night, driving home he gave I remembered what John had told me and I cut Regards, Paul [This message was edited by Paul Graupp on 18 April 2001 at 06:30 AM.] |
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