List of local Venues throughout Indy music history.

[indyfitz]

Everyone has played in venues before, how about we get a listing of some old places that we've all played at. See how far back you can remember, and see if those places have been refurbished or renamed. Also welcome to add any favorites from the present tense. Any if you're feeling good, some places you'd like to see a venue put in.

Here's a good list that will be updated.

the arlington theater, later the ritz (my first big punk show and first movie ever, song of the south)
hoosier ballroom
the ritz (the one that was connected to a hotel on shadeland, might have the name wrong)
the patio
the avenue
the vogue
nypd
an old school on lafayette rd. (jot, heretic lunch)
the moose lodge near 52nd & keystone
the out back bar (used to be the bar connected to the broad ripple steak house)
india community center
mugwumps
modern times
rhino's
second story
bluebird
mars
oliver's
dharma emporium
fall creek park pavilion
melody inn
flying tomato (muncie)
33 steps
the fountain room
radio radio
the underground (on 16th street across from O.P.s)
the upper room
blue velvet ? (tufty's place on b.r ave., short lived saw steve kawolski there)
there was a place where chumly's is now and was once an italian restaurant on b.r. ave.
the wellington
sitcom
the super secret spot aka mike farmer's place
ct pepper's
locals only
bentley's (south side metal bar) there was a place on the west side too, next to indoor soccer!
birdy's
the emerson
no bar and grill
zanies too

[otis]

the hoosier ballroom was the first place that i saw the zero boys. i remember
seeing the members there also.

didn't nypd catch on fire after a too cool show?

i have a bootleg of john hiatt playing at crazy al's.

[otis]

i had some good times at the pizza castle. i remember seeing the beat boys
and also the future. i have no idea who was in the beat boys but i was later
told that tim brickley was in the future. maybe someone can help my memory?

[otis]

back before that building was called birdys, it was a dive called where friends
meet. go back even farther and it was called the hummingbird. i'm told that the hummingbird
was a pretty swell place. the strugglers (scott ballantine, stan smith) was the house band for
quite a while. they played jazzy rock and roll type stuff. it was before my time so maybe
someone can fill in the blanks.

[otis]

mugwumps - it was on mass ave and it featured a very young jeff sample bartending. i believe
greyson bar tended there also.

[John P. Strohm]

I played the health food store in Laffyette, wrote about it in my blog. Early 1984 I believe, with Dandelion Abortion headlining. It was actually a food co-op, like Bloomingfoods, and they moved the racks.

[otis]

the sherwood country club -it was on emerson ave. just north of southport road. when i was a kid
i loved going to all ages shows at this place. they had some good shows and some terrible shows but
it didn't matter. there were real people playing instruments right in front of my 16 year old eyes. i
remember seeing cover bands like henry lee summer, why on earth and roadmaster on monday
nights through the summer. i also remember seeing the occasional touring band like ace frehley. i saw
metallica there on the ride the lightening tour. wasp and armored saint opened up. it was 8 bucks and
i had no idea who metallica was. i'd never heard anything like them at that point. that night was the
first time i remember meeting zeps.

the monday shows were booked by kuan (i have no idea how to spell it but it's pronounced kwaun). he
later ran the outback in broadripple and the last i heard has a brewpub in greenwood?

the sherwood burnt down at some point and is now a subdivision.

[Evan Finch]

For those of us who couldn't get into Crazy Al's, Modern Times kinda qualified as a club. And I don't think anyone has yet listed Cosmo's Pizza (at 71st and Michigan Road).

In West Lafayette, I saw several shows in the basement of the University Church. There was also an empty garage with electricity (known as The Bungalow) that hosted West Lafayette shows regularly in the mid-to-late 1980s.

[jeff]

The staff also included Alec Budd, Lanny Boles, Freda, Zirque, and I. That was my favorite place that I've ever worked. I booked the bands, so The Datura Seeds, Jot, Right To Left/VB, Steve Kowalski, and The Gerunds were all in regular rotation there.

[jeff]

The Problematics played at the fireside with both the Rip Offs and Teengenerate. Having a place that was 18+ with a bar is just the best, the kids there absolutely went crazy. I never saw or played a bad show there.

[otis]

my old man memory is failing me these days. i remember meeting lanny for the first
time at mugwumps but i had no idea that he worked there. i knew him at that point as
the singer for the birdmen. i played there a few times with jot, too cool, zoo gods.

i have no memory of alec or freda there at all. the first time that i can remember meeting
alec was standing at the door of the patio. i was wearing a hank williams fan club t-shirt
that will stockwell bought me in alabama. alec walked up and said that he loved hank
williams. i can't describe how good it felt to hear someone under 21 say that. i don't
want to sound corny but it honestly made my week knowing that there were young
hank fans in indy.

[otis]

what year did mugwumps open and when did it close?

[Evan Finch]

Ed Johnson-Ott (who later had a radio show, and now writes movie reviews for Nuvo) was in The Future. God bless Pizza Castle. They also hosted the Zero Boys, the Positions and the Abstractions. Probably more, but that's all I remember seeing there.