poster ten- that really blows

feb 22, originally uploaded by rebecca ann rakstad.

Pat
Anytime Hoboken played was awesome. The one show were Todd was in the hospital or something and Pete Oblivion sang, that was memorable. My favorite show though had to be Pegboy sometime around 2000. My buddies and me took a shit load of mushrooms before the show and the place was fucking packed solid. It was close to a religious experience. Before the show I saw John Haggerty eating a hotdog and it tripped me out.
The all ages aspect was huge. I don't think Chicago has really recovered from the loss in that aspect. Coming from the south side we usually alternated between the Fireside and Off the Alley and then later Sputnik. Still the Fireside was more notable. More touring bands came through there than anywhere else. There used to be this box or something on the counter in the back where people would leave mix tapes for anyone to pickup. First time I heard Fugazi was from a tape someone had left there. That place had a huge effect on people. It changed lives.
Back in the day none of the bands I was in were ever good enough to play there. Thanks to Marc Ruvalo and Das Kapital we got the chance to play there like a year ago. It wasn't the same, by any means, but it was nice to kind come full circle ten years later. The website for the place is hysterical. It's almost more frustrating that the place has survived in some capacity, but at the same time stripped of all that is was. Torn down, turned into a park, you can deal with that. The fact that it's still there with the same bartenders and the stage is still up...that really blows.