7/1/2023 0 Comments Howling wolf express![]() The Milwaukee Journal called it the place “where the action is.” From 1965 through 1971, Frank Balistrieri ran the Scene in the old Antlers Hotel, transforming the big-band ballroom into the city’s hottest rock venue. In 2019, ambitious plans surfaced to rehab the empty shell as a neighborhood music and cultural center. Afterward, it became a strip joint until a fire gutted the building, leaving it to resemble a set from The Third Man. The Residents staged the club’s memorable final musical performance. From 1979 through 1986, the big hall on State Street was Milwaukee’s place to go for emerging new music-The Boomtown Rats, The Police, U2 and XTC (on their only North American tour) played The Palms, along with Yipes and other regionally popular bands. Originally a cinema, it was called The Electric Ballroom in the ’70s-an ideal name for a rock club, but for some reason, the owners changed it to The Palms. The building was torn down and is now a vacant lot. No surprise that penny beer night was also an attraction. As Humpin’Hannah’s, the joint became was a destination for once or future legends: Cheap Trick (before they were signed) were practically the house band, and the rafters shook to shows by the MC5 and Lou Reed as well as Milwaukee proto-punk band In a Hot Coma. What better location for an underground rock club than a basement? Under the name O’Brad’s, the Riverwest dive had been the home for the city’s best-remembered psychedelic garage band, The Shag, in the ’60s. A strip mall now occupies its Farwell Avenue location. In 1988, Century Hall exploded in a five alarm fire. In its final incarnation, it was a popular East Side tavern and-up the stairway-a venue for touring acts ranging from Johnny Thunders to Jonathan Richman, as well as popular locals such as The R&B Cadets and Those X-Cleavers. During the early ’80s, Century Hall was a popular restaurant (great fish fry!) where Snopek and other local bands performed. The 1890 building had a long history (it had been a bowling alley) before becoming a performance space in the ’70s-a place where musicians and avant-garde theater found a home. The Odd Rock closed in 1990, and the old frame building (a sailor’s brothel in the early 20th century) stood empty for years before being torn down to make way for the Milwaukee Road townhouses. In 1987, Schanke handed the keys of the Bay View location to concert promoter Jack Koshick, who turned it into the Odd Rock Café, a bar for beer and bands, including some notable out-of-towners such as Hawkwind and Bo Diddley. ![]() For a while, the location was open as Hotel Foster and most recently as Snack Boys.įor performance artist Scott Schanke, Café Voltaire was an art project-an ongoing and evolving installation with patrons, videos and cutting-edge local and national bands in a setting of DIY Bauhaus with a dash of Russian Constructivism. Under new management, it was successful in booking all-ages shows, as well as out-of-towners like Chicago’s Mighty Blue Kings. Evolving into The Globe, the club moved the stage to the far wall and elevated it for a more big-time feel. Thursdays through Sundays, the venue booked a healthy diet of locals Voot Warnings’ Fresh Sounds held down a memorable Sunday residency. The labyrinthian basement and green room was truly a scene from This is Spinal Tap. The Boardwalk’s shotgun-shack layout, with the bar and stage facing each other, added that sense of rock and roll claustrophobia. But the Boardwalk, along with its later incarnation, The Globe, was the East Side’s musical hub. Bands played Vitucci’s back room, BBC’s upstairs and even atop Hooligan’s bar every Monday night. There was a time when you could hear live music at several East North Avenue clubs. The Avant Garde was saluted with an exhibition at UW-Milwaukee’s INOVA in 2013. Before it closed in 1968, the club became seminal for its role in exposing local audiences to authentic Black blues performers including such legends as Skip James, Buka White and Magic Sam. The Coffeehouse was a gathering spot for the city’s small Beat subculture and a supportive venue for Milwaukee poets, jazz combos, folk singers, filmmakers and experimental artists. When it opened in 1962 on Prospect Avenue, the Avant Garde brought an espresso-fueled splash of Greenwich Village to the East Side. These are places of memory for many Milwaukeeans, and several are invisible today, erased by the wrecking ball. The Milwaukee area was home to many vital rock clubs over the past 50 years, so many that we limited ourselves to 10 clubs within the Milwaukee city limits. Perhaps that’s why many of them were known as rock clubs, not rock bars, even though they served alcohol. They were gathering places for devotees of particular genres or focal points for entire subcultures. They weren’t just bars that booked bands or halls with stages. Al Kooper on 12-29-1972 at Humpin' Hannah's
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