Hawaii game cancelled

[orangetennis]

I was there from 02-06. I’m actually have trouble remembering some of these bars. Pour Richards closed after my freshman year, I believe. Sharkey’s was kind of a freshman bar where you could pretty easily drink underage. BoJingles was before my time. Suds was great and spent a lot of time there when I was 21+. OP of course was solid. The Library opened as I was leaving. Stein pizza was a mainstay but the bar itself wasn’t very good. The Reverb on Main Street was a mainstay for us, but that was the only reason to go down there. I think all of these bars except for Suds are gone now. They also banned homecoming on the Hill when I was there. Imagine walking onto campus as an 18 year old kid and going to a huge street party with women flashing their tits and whatnot. UNI had the best homecoming in the state then. The Hill seems way more sterile now and it saddens me when I go back.

I graduated in '04. I recall Tony's being the spot for underage activity. I spent a lot of time shooting pool at Sharkeys, and also the OP and Suds. Agree with you on the Stein. Homecoming on The Hill was lit when they blocked off college street! Good times!
I also spent a lot of Friday and Saturday nights downtown at Toads, Berks, Pump Haus and Back Alley Bar. And who could forget dime draws at Shags, (Nastys).

[SteinPizza]

Man, some great stuff here. I had several afternoons on the deck at Suds, but my main hangout was Pour Richard's...I still crave beer nuggets sometimes.

HoLS was the biggest band from CF, probably...they were even on Columbia/CBS for a while. (Dorr's Blue Band was pretty big regionally, and Greg Brown/Bo Ramsey are more Iowa City based). TripMaster Monkey and Fat Bertha & the Loveshakers were really fun as well.

I forgot about Trip Shakespeare playing at Steb's, we used to play them at the student radio station KGRK. A lot of (later known) artists came through there, it would be fun to find a list.

Tripmaster Monkey signed a national recording contract, if I remember correctly. They used to play a lot of rugby parties in the garage of the brown house.

[sevelev711]

Trip Shakespeare was out of Minneapolis.

Here is a fun site:

https://wayback.archive-it.org/10306/20180611162624/http://thesecrethistory.org/index.php/Main_Page

I still kick myself for missing Black Flag at the Boathouse. I was much more a blues fan, but, damn … Black Flag played Cedar Falls?!

I am absolutely shocked to find out that the Cedar Valley had an underground music scene in the first place.

[ronfitch]

I am absolutely shocked to find out that the Cedar Valley had an underground music scene in the first place.

In the early- and mid-‘80s, there were a few places that regularly had regional and/or national bands regularly. Stebs was one, the Barleycorn was one. Billie Joe’s/Shagnasty’s (didn’t it have a different name at one point?) was a big club, maybe 300-500?) that was part of a Midwest club circuit in which regional bands came in and played Tuesday or Wednesday night through Saturday each week, then shuffled off to the next town (Scott Stackhouse - whose band now plays a lot at Sturgis, Main Street stuff, etc. - did that for a few years between high school and college, traveling the Midwest and making a living as a working musician). For a 20-or-30 year period, those circuits existed.

That pulled the very good/serious musicians into the CV but also pulled some out of the CV. Which created opportunities for other local, less serious or beginning musicians and bands. They played at bars like The Apartment, The Paw, The Circle, Dean’s Parkade Lounge, Sally’s, something on Fletcher Avenue in Waterloo (several names, none coming to mind). Electric Park in Waterloo used to have regular shows with locals or regional acts opening for bigger acts.

It was also an era of stadium rock tours, so the UNI-Dome got the Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, the Grateful Dead, The Who, The Police … Fleetwood Mac played a show for a reported 25,000+ in the Dome in ‘79.

Just a different time.

[sevelev711]

Just a different time.

Dang, growing up in the area in the era that I did, it's just some of the worst rap of all time coming from Waterloo, a random Jason Aldean concert, and f***in' Arch Allies. Sounds like it would've been something to see, back in the day.

[01PantherFan]

In the early- and mid-‘80s, there were a few places that regularly had regional and/or national bands regularly. Stebs was one, the Barleycorn was one. Billie Joe’s/Shagnasty’s (didn’t it have a different name at one point?) was a big club, maybe 300-500?) that was part of a Midwest club circuit in which regional bands came in and played Tuesday or Wednesday night through Saturday each week, then shuffled off to the next town (Scott Stackhouse - whose band now plays a lot at Sturgis, Main Street stuff, etc. - did that for a few years between high school and college, traveling the Midwest and making a living as a working musician). For a 20-or-30 year period, those circuits existed.

That pulled the very good/serious musicians into the CV but also pulled some out of the CV. Which created opportunities for other local, less serious or beginning musicians and bands. They played at bars like The Apartment, The Paw, The Circle, Dean’s Parkade Lounge, Sally’s, something on Fletcher Avenue in Waterloo (several names, none coming to mind). Electric Park in Waterloo used to have regular shows with locals or regional acts opening for bigger acts.

It was also an era of stadium rock tours, so the UNI-Dome got the Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, the Grateful Dead, The Who, The Police … Fleetwood Mac played a show for a reported 25,000+ in the Dome in ‘79.

Just a different time.

Wow ya brought back some memories there ! was some great bands and some bands even that went on to be big bands in the 80's allot of little bars even had good bands like Macs overtime lounge ect....some fun times that's for sure !

[A Fan In Lean Years]

Lol. He's up to 3 alts.

My god we need a mod with the power to ban someone. Doing a hell of a job AmesPanther

At least sell someone the domain at a reasonable price so we can try to save this thing.

Yet, YOU don't read my posts.

Three alts, eh? My last count was seven. LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[A Fan In Lean Years]

Dave and Barb (the bass player) have run Mohair Pear on the Hill for about 25-30 years (now located in Pour Richards old spot). Octopus is next door, it Dr. Ceiley's old spot (I think it was Dr. Ceiley who was there). Octopus had a lot of live music pre-COVID and I know Dave is bringing it back (and live comedy) now.

Personal friends of mine.

[A Fan In Lean Years]

An infrequent poster here but I gotta say I'm enjoying this thread re-living the old UNI days on the hill ('79-'83 for me). Sorry to hear that it's gone downhill since then.

A few questions if ronfitch, bobcat, Stein Pizza, QCPanther (or anybody else in the know) wouldn't mind answering...

1. First of all, that HOLS video posted and a few others that I just watched as a result are awesome. Man, those guys are great. I never heard of them before now. Too bad they came after my time at UNI. I spent a lot of time at Steb's (Dave M, Sherm M, anyone?) and the Stein (Pizza Dave) and some OP too my Jr and Sr years; (The Paw (predecessor to Pour Richards & Mohair Pear) and BoJingles Fr and So years) mainly. Great memories. It sounds like HOLS played at Steb's a lot.

I'm curious on their background - are they from IA and met and formed as a group as students at UNI originally? Do they play anymore?

2. ronfitch, Is SR Turner that you reference painting the Steb's ceiling and walls, Steve Turner (we all just called him Turner, thin build, blonde hair)? I knew him casually and seem to recall that he was pretty artistic and sort of remember maybe him painting those murals.

3. QCPanther mentioned Suds & Sharkey's, is / was that above where the old BoJingles was? Went there maybe a few times as they spun up just as my rather mediocre academic career was ending...

Thanks for the trip down memory land and anyone that doesn't mind satisfying my curiosity...

I can answer one of them. Dave and the original drummer are from Cedar Falls, but Barb is from Illinois. Came here for school, I think.

[A Fan In Lean Years]

Another band that played Stebs frequently back then was Trip Shakespeare. If I remember correctly, a couple of guys from that group later joined up with some others to form another band that ended up hitting it big for a few years, with a couple of songs getting national radio play, etc. I can’t remember if Trip Shakespeare was local or not.

Minneapolis band.

[A Fan In Lean Years]

Dang, growing up in the area in the era that I did, it's just some of the worst rap of all time coming from Waterloo, a random Jason Aldean concert, and f***in' Arch Allies. Sounds like it would've been something to see, back in the day.

There were some occasional great shows in very recent years. Supersuckers, Robbie Fulks, William Elliott Whitmore, Martin Zellar, Telekinetic Yeti...

[A Fan In Lean Years]

Trip Shakespeare was out of Minneapolis.

Here is a fun site:

https://wayback.archive-it.org/10306....php/Main_Page

I still kick myself for missing Black Flag at the Boathouse. I was much more a blues fan, but, damn … Black Flag played Cedar Falls?!

One correction with that site (it's never allowed me to go in and edit it). DJ Drunk was NOTHING to ever take seriously, but it was Mark Schrad, NOT Aaron Curtis. I worked with Mark when he was making his DJ Drunk tapes in the middle of the night, complete with scratching on Sinatra songs.

See why it wasn't to be taken seriously?

[hoopfan]

Agreed. The remodel was a serious head scratcher and killed the old school vibe of the place. The Hill isn’t the Hill anymore. At least Suds and Sharkeys are still there (I think). I miss Pour Richards.

The OP remodel was desperately needed. Did it lose some of the "charm"? Sure. The labor shortage feels worse in the Cedar Valley than other areas and I think it directly correlates to UNI's enrollment being down a few thousand students. If 20% of the enrollment works a part-time job while on campus, we're missing about 600 employees in the local economy. There is also a percentage of those students who would frequent the hill and the OP.