Milwaukee Rock History: Ten Memorable Clubs

from Shepherd Express - March 2021 Issue

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They weren’t just bars that booked bands or halls with stages. They were gathering places for devotees of particular genres or focal points for entire subcultures. Perhaps that’s why many of them were known as rock clubs, not rock bars, even though they served alcohol. 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. These are places of memory for many Milwaukeeans, and several are invisible today, erased by the wrecking ball.

THE BOARDWALK/THE GLOBE

There was a time when you could hear live music at several East North Avenue clubs. Bands played Vitucci’s back room, BBC’s upstairs and even atop Hooligan’s bar every Monday night. But the Boardwalk, along with its later incarnation, The Globe, was the East Side’s musical hub. The Boardwalk’s shotgun-shack layout, with the bar and stage facing each other, added that sense of rock and roll claustrophobia. The labyrinthian basement and green room was truly a scene from This is Spinal Tap. Thursdays through Sundays, the venue booked a healthy diet of locals; Voot Warnings’ Fresh Sounds held down a memorable Sunday residency. Evolving into The Globe, the club moved the stage to the far wall and elevated it for a more big-time feel. Under new management, it was successful in booking all-ages shows, as well as out-oftowners like Chicago’s Mighty Blue Kings. For a while, the location was open as Hotel Foster and most recently as Snack Boys.

CAFÉ VOLTAIRE/ODD ROCK CAFÉ

For 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. 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. 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.

CENTURY HALL

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. Management and focus kept changing. During the early ’80s, Century Hall was a popular restaurant (great fish fry!) where Snopek and other local bands performed. 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. In 1988, Century Hall exploded in a five alarm fire. A strip mall now occupies its Farwell Avenue location.

HUMPIN’ HANNAH’S

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. 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. No surprise that penny beer night was also an attraction. The building was torn down and is now a vacant lot.

THE PALMS

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. 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. The Residents staged the club’s memorable final musical performance. Afterward, it became a strip joint until a fire gutted the building, leaving it to resemble a set from The Third Man. In 2019, ambitious plans surfaced to rehab the empty shell as a neighborhood music and cultural center.

THE SCENE

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. Local acts such as Junior and The Classics played in the lounge (sometimes accompanying go-go dancers). The ballroom became the setting for a fully integrated lineup including Dick Gregory, Smokey Robinson, Little Richard, Sam and Dave, as well as new rock acts such as Jimi Hendrix and Cream (complete with an in-house psychedelic light show company). The Downtown building was razed in 1981, giving way to the construction of the Grand Avenue Mall.

THE STARSHIP

The Downtown club arrived in time to midwife the explosion of punk/post-punk in the ’80s. Shepherded by drummer Kenny Baldwin, the former disco (owned by his father) became ground zero for a revolving door of locals and touring acts. Today, it’s a parking lot, but The Starship hosted a who’s who of cult favorites including Pere Ubu, Captain Beefheart, the Ventures, D.O.A. and locals like the Oil Tasters and

the Stellas (who grew up to become Die Kreuzen). At times, the club even served as an off-hours practice room for local bands in need of a space. Can we start a petition to get Kenny Baldwin’s image on a postage stamp?

TEDDY’S

The New York Dolls played there on their 1975 tour, even though it was mostly a jazz and blues club. Fifteen years later, a mechanical bull was installed during the short-lived Urban Cowboy craze. And then, Teddy’s went through several phases of eclectic booking, with mainstream rock acts eventually giving way to newer music and edgier performances by groups such as Those X-Cleavers, Plasticland and Wild Kingdom. In 1989, the building was purchased by promoter Peter Jest and renamed Shank Hall in honor of the mythical Milwaukee concert venue in This is Spinal Tap.

UP & UNDER PUB

On September 27, 2020, the Up & Under Pub closed its doors. Long known as a music club, it initially got its blues rep when Steve Cohen and his group, Leroy Airmaster, moved their weekly Sunday jam session to the Brady Street pub. Owned by Peter Wolbersen (of Riverwest’s The Tracks), Up & Under welcomed national acts like Otis Rush and offered everything from comedy to jam bands to open mics during its run. The 1885 building currently sits vacant, but with plenty of prime pedestrian traffic, the smart money is this space will one day again be a vital business. Read music fans’ memories of the Up & Under Pub at shepherdexpress.com.

ZAK’S NORTH AVENUE

Strategically perched like a castle, complete with a watchtower, on the corner of Humboldt and North, Zak’s had been a venue for touring blues bands, bluegrass acts and whatever else came through until Jerome Brisch introduced himself to owner Damian Zak. The guitarist for The Haskels, a pioneering Milwaukee punk rock band, convinced Zak to give the new music a chance. As a result of the club owner’s open mind, Zak’s became the Cream City’s CBGB from 1978-1979, the hub of the emerging local scene and a tour stop for everyone from Pere Ubu to Magazine. The building now stands empty.

What is your favorite defunct Milwaukee rock club? Send your suggestions and memories to dav e@shepex.com. We will follow up with an article on our website, shepherdexpress.com.

Blaine Schultz is a Milwaukee musician and music writer. David Luhrssen has coauthored books on local music including Milwaukee Rock and Roll 1950-2000 and Brick Through the Window.