Apropos of nothing at all, I put up a video on my Facebook page this morning of Husker Du ripping through a live reading of "Divide and Conquer," which immediately sparked a conversation-of-sorts between some of my classmates from Denison University regarding the time we'd seen them perform with the Feelies at the Newport Music Hall in nearby Columbus, Ohio. I may have felt, at the time, that Central Ohio was the last place on earth any cool, hip, credible bands would ever actually come to play, but I was routinely blown away by the roster of acts that made a point to hit Columbus. Moreover, I often found that bands put on better shows in Columbus than they did in my native New York City, if only because no one in Ohio suffered from the chronic too-cool-for-school syndrome that still plagues my hometown to this day. If you were an up-&-coming band and came to a city like Columbus, audiences were hugely receptive. In New York, you were often met with folded arms, yawns and sneers.
In any case, between the years of 1985 and 1989, I was lucky enough to catch a slew of diverse bands at the afore-cited Newport, including X, Black Flag, the Circle Jerks, the Red Hot Chili Peppers (circa Freaky Styley, with Hillel Slovak on guitar), the Butthole Surfers, The Replacements, Husker Du, Suicidal Tendencies, Living Colour, The Mission, The Jesus & Mary Chain, Skinny Puppy, Flesh for Lulu, Gene Love Jezebel and even 10,000 Maniacs (with a then-still-unknown Tracy Chapman opening). The Newport welcomed all stripes of music.
My other favorite live venue in Columbus, however, was a divey little joint a few blocks up North High Street with a low ceiling called Stache's. Bands that played Stache's tended to be of the grimier variety, although I was fortunate enough to catch the Circle Jerks (again), Die Kreuzen, the Screaming Trees and fIREHOSE there, among others. Seeing a live performance at Stache's seemed comparable to watching a band play in your friend's basement. It was exceptionally low on frills, but some of the fondest memories of my college years involve nights in that cruddy little place -- and worrying about how in blazes I was going to get back to the campus, which was about 45 minutes by car.
I haven't been back to Columbus, Ohio since about 1990, but as I understand it, Stache's was torn down some years ago. A quick search on YouTube, however, brought up a few clips that brought back some memories of the place. Below is a video of, ironically enough, New York's own Sonic Youth rocking the wood panelling off the walls at Stache's (playing my favorite-ever song of theirs, "Death Valley `69"). This was recorded in August of 1985, a good month or so before I'd ever set foot in the place. Like Stache's itself, the clip is low on frills (and it's amusing to watch the scant few paying patrons blithely walk in front the "stage" whilst the `Youth are in throes of strumming their fingers bloody). Still, it gives you a quick taste of what it was like. Plus, it rocks. Enjoy. The shot above of Stache's' old sign, by the way, came from this Flickr page.
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