COC/Dead Pigeon (now Doc's Music Hall) - Muncie, IN

[Sean O'Neil]

In 1992 or so, an eclectic group of punks, indie rockers, hippies and related fringe types got together and convinced a local doctor named John Peterson to buy a building in downtown Muncie at 215 South Walnut, next to the not-so-old Heorot.
The building was a mess and needed severe cleaning and remodeling. We ran it as a collective, which is probably the hardest, slowest way to run anything. But the hippies outnumbered the rest of us, so there you go ... majority mob rule forced a collective government. The irony was not lost on the minority. But it didn't last too long, as certain smaller factions and individuals rose to the top and most people realized that the people who worked the hardest or had more knowledge deserved more voice than those who slept and got high in various nooks of the building most of the days. So the COC was not just an experiment in starting a venue, but also an experiment in socio-political structures. For the most part, everyone got along and worked hard and had a great time doing it. We gutted the downstairs and a group of Arch Dept. students came in and designed the main floor. It was pretty cool. A "restuarant" opened in the front, and the hippies insisted it be vegetarian only.

We hosted almost every local band in the area, most in the region and many touring acts including Shellac, Tar, Tortoise, The Sea and Cake, Fifteen, Samiam, Guzzard, Ne-er Do Wells, and tons of others I can't think of right now. Jeremy Pickett and I were into the SF area scene, so we tended to get many Lookout! Records-style bands. The Sea and Cake and Tortoise each released live albums recorded at the COC/Dead Pigeon. Tar released a song called "Muncie" on their "Over and Out" record in 1995. It originated during their sound check at our venue. (Luckily, Crankpin's song called "Muncie" was written prior to that.) Also, a band from New Zealand got stuck in Muncie once and ended up recording an album there (or as they called it, a ree-cord), assisted by Jeff Weiss. The band actually stuck around for the whole summer, eventually evaporating one by one, until just the bass player was left, living with a friend of mine and detassling corn as an illegal worker.

Most of us were never quite happy with the various names of the place. If it's hard for four people to agree on a band name, try 20 people agreeing on a venue name. Creative Opportunity Center (COC) was the name the hippie contingent came up with. Dead Pigeon was the name everyone came up with. When we were cleaning out the upstairs, which was haunted, as some claimed (What building in downtown Muncie isn't haunted?), there were about 10-20 dead pigeons and lots of old pigeon crap (histoplasmosis anyone?). The birds had gotten in through broken windows and were living ... and dying ... up there.

I never saw a ghost, but there was some kind of weird feeling I'd get in the pitch black areas on the second floor nearest the front of the building. Very creepy and dead quiet. The windows were covered completely with a god-awful metal facade from the '70s. Once we tore that off and let the light in, it really wasn't scary. Some reports of a woman and children in Victorian dress appearing and walking around upstairs, etc. The building supposedly hosted meetings of different political parties in its time, and like every building in the area, there were reports that Dillinger hung out there. I think it was finally a shoe store before it fell vacant years before we took it over.

This rag-tag group of kids ran the place like this for several years, and as most of us moved on or moved away, this organizational scheme died out and Dr. John was forced to reorganize the structure and appointed a management staff. Sometime after, he sold the club to a new owner, but still remains very involved. The club is now named after him (Doc's Music Hall) and continues to support the local music scene.

http://www.myspace.com/docsmusichall
www.docsmusichall.com

[Holly]

Wow, thanks for this. I only visited the COC once, but heard about it plenty. Nice to know the history.

[Sean O'Neil]

Sure! There's lots more to know. There were so many of us that lived and breathed it for a handful of years. I wish some of them would get on this site actually. The core 20 or so have scattered to the four winds. Charlie Shumar, Phil Vore, Ty (was working at Worm's Way in Bloomington), Shelby, Kristi, the whole gang.
It was a pretty cool thing for a long time, and never really went "bad" like a lot of things do, but just kind of went out with a whimper and came back as a more traditionally run nightclub.

[Steve Hayes]

Geez this place has loomed large in my personal music history. I'm pretty sure The Gloryhounds played there on opening weekend. I remember there was a side stage and the band that played right after us was a group of middle-aged dudes playing bluegrass and singing about the virtures of marijuana. I think we have a recording of us playing there another time when our goal was to play as fast as we possibly could. You can distinctly hear the three people who came to see us in that recording.

I think I've played at least 2-3 fundraisers to save the club over the years. One was in the middle of Walnut St., one in the lot across from the club. The one at the lot across from the club was kind of interesting because the sound bounceback off the building we were facing provided a kind of natural monitor setup. It might be the only time I've ever had a decent monitor. Some drunk dude also sang Louie Louie with us.

My first show with The Common was a Doc's show. We had a CD release show for our second record there. I wore a god awful shiny gold shirt with dragons on it and a cowboy hat. It was my "look" at the time. We did radio ads for the show. At the end we said the event was a "Col. Mark Kory production" in a joking homage to one of our good friends. His dad called him that week and asked when he joined the military and why he was putting on rock shows.

I think it was Holidaze for a hot minute...or Doc Holidaze. Lots of iterations over the years. Lots of well-intentioned people running the place. Unfortunately intentions never paid the rent.

It's kind of a miracle the place is still around when you count the many other venues that have come and gone since.

[Scottie]

Doc Peterson was my mom's doctor, so she'd always try to get me to go, early on. I remember driving past and seeing skinny rocknroll junkies hanging out in front, and was legitimately scared. "Let's keep driving, Dad." In the Retreads, I played a "Midwestern Punk Fest" put on by Stevie Ray Smith, probably around 96. As I recall, Furious George (NY), the Automatics (OR), and nobody else of note. However, I've heard on good authority that Anal Cunt played three songs, threw a stool into the audience, and was promptly kicked out. Also, in 94, Joe Queer lambasted the place and Muncie for not paying him enough. In 98, I saw the US Bombs there.

At present, there's a huge stage and decent sound. Unfortunately, bands I wanna see don't tour. You might catch me playing trivia there on Sunday nights or drinking penny PBR pitchers on Saturday afternoons, music aside...

[Kmart]

Thanks for the history Sean; I never knew any of the back story, or who was really involved with putting it all together, other than that the damn hippies were involved in setting it up (at least that appears to be partially true).

I know I saw at least 1-2 shows there, but since I had stopped focusing on creating original music pending my imminent move to Chicago, I ended up spending most of '92 well into '93 playing the Tomato, Headliners, that other place one block south of Headliners (whose name I can't think of now), frat parties and the occasional foray into Broadripple with The Lovejunkies while you were all getting the Dead Pigeon happening...
I figured the money we were pulling in was worth it (And at the time, it was).

It does hold a small space of significance in my personal musical life, though:
In Aug. '93, the day I graduated from BSU, I played my last gig with The Lovejunkies/last gig in Muncie there.

[Sean O'Neil]

That place one block south of Headliners (which is long gone now too), is called Dill Street. I think Dill Street is still there though. Headliners became an all-ages place for a while before dying its own death. I remember seeing Flock of Seagulls at Headliners. But you really couldn't beat an inch of beer on the floor and Birdmen of Alcatraz at Headliners, for the money.

[Jeremy Pickett]

I have so many memories of this place. Most of them are good. Dr. Peterson should be forever thanked as he was kind enough to bankroll such an experiment. It was my involvement with the venue that led to many other places and events in my life and for that I am thankful. A lot of great bands played there. As much as I can remember, here are some of them that we booked. Sunny Day Real Estate played there promoting their first album, Diary. As many now know, the drummer and bass player went on to play in the Foo Fighters and Diary is considered a cornerstone of the second emo era (first being DC '85). I think we paid them $120. Today Is the Day played there with Guzzard (who probably played there four or five times in total). I remember Steve Austin (lead singer of TITD) calling the MMR offices complaining about his band's record review that he just read at our house. Don's Ex-Girlfriend's and Highway 66 from Gainsville, FL played there and subsequently broke down and stayed in Muncie for a week. Highway 66's drummer previously played in Radon but that had no bearing on the turnout. Maybe ten people saw that show. Those guys were still in town when Youth Brigade, Face to Face and Godheadsilo played later that week. The Gainsville kids were all smark alecs and completely gave the Stren Bros. a hard time for all the silly things in the Another State of Mind movie. GodheadSilo completely blew everyone away. In a literal way as they were the loudest band I have heard until Sunn O)))). Nuisance came through town and played an amazing show with Lynyrd's Innards (acoustic). Later that year, Nuisance's drummer, Jessie, was back in town drumming for Fifteen. While Fifteen were staying at our house, the lead singer Jeff Ott decided to tattoo his toe knuckles with the phrase 'f*** shoes'. Warzone played there one summer. Those guys had a few days off and managed to watch the movie 'Goonies' seven times while staying in town. I was very apprehensive about booking them, but Ray Beez (RIP)turned out to be a really nice guy. Schlong played there and so did Spitboy. Neither band stuck around after the show and who could really blame them. Rodan and Crain played and absolutely amazed the ten people who showed up for that show. Many years later, I ended up on tour with Crain's drummer in Papa M. Laughing Hyenas played with the God Bullies. That show was freakishly awesome. Another show right up there was Ed Hall. Some great noise rock came through those doors. Also on the same bill as Tortoise and Sea and Cake was US Maple. The tortosie show was David Pajo's second show with them whom I would also tour with in Papa M. The guitarist of US Maple would eventually end up working for Walter Anderson as a painter in Chicago. The Shatners played there featuring the original drummer of Green Day. The Voodoo Glow Skulls show was probably one of the more successful shows there with a crowd topping out at just over a hundred people. I'm sure many more touring bands played there but my brain is stumped for now. If I remember anything else, I'll be sure to post those stories.

[Sean O'Neil]

Hey Jeremy. Glad you're on here. There's tons of stuff to check out on the site. You'd like the "wuss rock" blog on J. Strohm's page. it's gotten pretty mammoth by now.

[Ben Shine]

I just had a conversation about the COC last weekend. For not ever living in Muncie, I drove up for shows there a bunch.

Jeremy, you brought up a lot that make my favorites list, but here's mine: The Make up, the Warmers, Plaid Retina, Nuisance?, Fifteen, Face to Face, Avail, Sea and Cake/Tortoise/US Maple, LUNGFISH (I had a long conversations with Daniel on the sidewalk and I still don't think I understood what he was talking about), Youth Brigade, Godhead Silo, God Bullies, The Shatners, and I'm sure there's morere. Keep 'em coming.

As much fun as the shows were, I remember the fun on the late night drives home to Indy or Bloomington. Can we go back to then, just for like a week?

[Jeremy Pickett]

Hey Ben, I remember you and Dylan being quite the fixtures there. I had completely forgotten about the Lungfish show. I remember bonding with their guitarist, Asa, that night over our mutual love for all things Billy Childish.

[Scottie]

Yeah, I've been mopping floors and scrutinizing IDs at the latest incarnation of this venue for a few months and it blows me away the bands you guys got in the past. I'd love to book anything remotely rocknroll, but the climate in Muncie doesn't make that financially sound. Walter from Wrong Screwdriver was in town a month or so ago and posited that Muncie was still stuck on the Beatles and can't move past that. That said, nobody wants to pay cover and nary a band will drive more than a few hours for the paltry takings from the door. Punk or garage bands should get in touch immediately for free Pabst and high fives.

[Evan Finch]

The COC was a cool establishment—but when the Lovemeknots played up there, I have to admit that I was more struck by the Heorot next door. I wasn't necessarily expecting to run across a Viking mead hall in the middle of Muncie. It was one of the most bizarre bars I had ever been in, and definitely the darkest. So little light, in fact, that I was barely able to see the bartender across the bar. I woke up the next morning unsure as to whether I had dreamed it or not.