My roommate and I went to the Drumstick on a Saturday night in March,1983 to hear a band called Caribe. I met a young lady there that night and we danced the night away until closing.
Last October, we celebrated our 40th wedding anniversary. Thanks, Drumstick, we’ll never forget you!
photograph courtesy of Brian Barber
Shared by: Alan Cerveny
Back in the day, I was a hardcore almost every night, patron. I would come in early get the number seven chicken dinner and watch the band set up, talk to my buddy Tony that was the sound guy etc on occasion. One reason or another would find me in the Green room and I was always amazed at the signatures and artwork on the walls. After the club closed, a friend and I broke into the place before demolition and tore a good chunk of the drywall with all of the signatures and artwork out of there. I don’t know what we were thinking other than this can’t just go into a rubble pile and not be appreciated. There was talk of an art project, but unfortunately nothing ever became of it and over the years between the two of us we both lost track of those pieces of lost gold. I deeply regret that I didn’t do something with them or put them in the hands of somebody that would have been a better guardian. But I’m damn proud of myself that I had the balls to risk jail time in order to break in and rescue true American Art
Shared by: Mark Simpkins
My friends and I would go to the ‘Stick a lot for the bands and say to girlfriends, “Naaa, not tonight. I gotta see this band.” Well, my girlfriend at the time, who liked pop music said, “I want to go with you.” We were seeing a band similar to Black Flag, can’t remember the name. Her friend and my friend were dating. Sooo….we said, “ok.” We lived in the dorms and when we went by to pick them up they were dressed up and make-uped like going out for fine dining.
My friend and I looked at each other and said, “Don’t say a thing.”
Long story short they were with us in the pit, and by the time we left it, they looked like they had the shit beat out of them, lol. All sweaty, make up streaming down their faces, hair a sticky wet mess, clothes dirty as hell, beer thrown or spilled on them, down them, in the hair, shoes now look like they’re from good will. Shocked, they about fall down at the table. We were all moshing dancing. Basically, they smelled like a dump truck.
Us guys were like, “Hell yea, this is awesome!”
They said sobbing…”We need to leave.”
Shared by: Patrick Kassebaum
Endpoint live, Tune Inn (1994?) https://www.flickr.com/photos/pixofchangezine/
When Springsteen’s Born in the U.S.A. tour came to town in 1984, we waited four days in line on campus for tickets. One night in the line, we started dancing, and some girl saw the way I danced and said, “Oh, you must go to the Drumstick!”
Shared by: Tim Boughn
Photo courtesy of Brian Barber
I have two memories, one about a band and one about the club.
I know that many stories have been told about the night X played. I was literally right behind the guy who was flicking ice or his drink at Exene, who was the lead singer and the then wife of the bassist, John Doe. This was all occurring mid-song. John Doe kept shaking his head as if to say, “Don’t do that.” The guy right in front of me persisted, and John Doe jumped off stage and started wrestling the guy right at my feet. After John Doe returned to stage, he announced that he’d lost his bracelet when he jumped off stage, and the crowd then began to search the floor for him. I believe the guy who was flicking ice or water at Exene was escorted out of the Drumstick. A good fried, who was in front of the stage on the other side where Billy Zoom was playing, told me that Billy didn’t move when John Doe leapt off stage. All he did was say, “Uh oh.” Apart from all that, it was an incredible night of music, although extremely loud.
The other memory I have relates to how hot the Drumstick could get on summer night. One night, myself and two of my friends got into a discussion about who sweated the most that night. We decided the only way to know was to go outside at closing, take off our t-shirts, and wring them out. Whoever produced the biggest puddle on the pavement would be declared the winner. I can’t vouch for the scientific authenticity of this test or whether we controlled all the variables. I do recall that all of us produced pretty good puddles and that I sadly lost.
I would encourage people to see the movie. It’s really good, but bittersweet, movie. It brings back lots of great memories. I was so jazzed up after seeing the movie last Friday that I had a hard time getting to sleep, reliving all the wonderful times in my mind. My wife attended the movie too. While she does not share my taste in music and thought the Drumstick would have been too loud and too hot for her, she also liked the movie, finding it very sweet. Well done!
Shared by: Joe Loudon
As a naive freshman being talked into celebrating Halloween on a weeknight, Tuesday, October 31, 1978; cramming into a crowded car of new found friends (come with us, it will be fun!); squeezing into the ‘joint’ filled with happy goblins and assorted gouls, shoulder to shoulder pushing through the thick crowd, loud music pounding; my introduction to the Stick couldn’t have been more satisfying, eye opening and my new found happy place. I had the time of my life without even realizing we were making history!
So many memories of dancing all night til drenched in sweat. Listening to great music, scoping on the cute guy I had a crush on…oh, to be young again!
Shared by: Sherry Nichols-Belisle
Photo courtesy of Brian Barber
Twilight at the Stick by Jim Jacobi
Even though we were underage, still in high school, on weekday summer nights, Diane let us dance in the entryway to great bands. Thank you, Diane!
Shared by: Tim Boughn
I was from Sutton so Tim would let me in even though I was 17-18 before I turned of age. The place was so wild every time I went! You had to go to the bathroom outside cause the men’s room was always packed with ppl smoking herb hahaha. In the beer garden there was more room, but a lot of the same was going on. It was incredible. Sometimes, even ppl inside did it up when the crowd was over capacity, and no one cared.
Bands partied it up too and sometimes you could sure tell. The lead singer of the Replacements was not singing the right words, or not singing sometimes, and was way off until he finally just walked off stage and left. Another band member then said, “I guess we are done.”
I also remember girls came there all dressed up nice in makeup and styled hair. By the time they walked out they were trashed and looked like they had been through a back-alley brawl…but they had a good time getting like that.
I also remember once at the back bar some guy had a bong. We were drinking there, and he did a massive hit cause ppl were cheering him on. His eyes went to the back of his head after it and he just dropped…the other bartender went over, set him up and kept on pouring!
Everyone there was just having a great time. It was the end of an era.
Shared by: Patrick Kassebaum
You must really, truly know how special the Drumstick was to all of us. I have tears of happiness every time I think of “The Stick”! It was such a big part of my college experience and even though, in hindsight, that was only 4 years out of my life, they were the best memories of my life.
As a naïve freshman being talked into celebrating Halloween on a weeknight, Wednesday October 31, 1979, cramming into a crowded car of new found friends (come with us, it will be fun!); squeezing into the joint filled with happy goblins and assorted ghouls, shoulder to shoulder, pushing through the crowd, loud music pounding; my introduction to the Stick couldn’t have been more satisfying, eye opening and my new found happy place. I had the time of my life without even realizing we were making history!
So many memories of dancing all night, drenched in sweat. Listening to great music, scooping on the cute guy I had a crush on…oh, to be young again.
Thanks again for all your work on the documentary. Your efforts have not gone unnoticed or unappreciated!
Sherry Belisle, Phoenix, AZ
I really started to learn to run sound here 1984 with Tony. I did a lot of amazing shows. From this I went on to have a touring career
Shared by: David Summers