When I moved into the city in the early 80s, the Cubby Bear was a grubby post-game bar like Sports Corner was over on Waveland (and neither one is grubby now). It seems to me that Ronnie "Woo Woo" Wickers, the professional Cubs fan known for his "CUBS WOO! (Insert name of current star Cub) WOO!" cries, used the Cubby Bear has his headquarters. Since this was before the lights were installed, the management decided to try to get a nighttime crowd and perhaps inspired by Tuts and Medusa's not too far away near Belmont and Sheffield and Metro up the street started booking punk bands and did somewhat well with it. It seems to me that there were more "authentic" punk places in Chicago (Neo, O'Banion's, other, divier places), but if that's where Dave Grohl heard Naked Raygun for the next time, OK.
The bar that I remember was the Ginger Man north of the Metro, which for years proudly had a sign in its window during baseball season saying "CLASSICAL MUSIC AFTER EVERY CUB HOME GAME," obviously to keep the suburban douchebags out. Last time I went by there, that sign has disappeared. Guess the neighborhood regulars either died, moved or started going to another bar. Mark Jeffries Saints Spotlight Editor [email protected] On Fri, Oct 24, 2014 at 9:04 AM, Joe Hass <[email protected]> wrote: > That's the part that throws me for a loop (no pun intended), Mark. Cubby > Bear has always been in my mind this horrible bro bar. When did that change > happen? > > Sidebar: they announced they'll play their first stadium show at Wrigley > next year to kick off their tour: > http://chicagoist.com/2014/10/23/local_bands_to_play_wrigley_field_n.php > > On Thu, Oct 23, 2014 at 8:17 PM, Mark Jeffries <[email protected]> > wrote: > >> Which is now an unreconstituted bro bar for the Cub fans coming in from >> the suburbs. >> >> Mark Jeffries >> Saints Spotlight Editor >> [email protected] >> >> On Thu, Oct 23, 2014 at 8:23 AM, Chris Neuman <[email protected]> wrote: >> >>> I second the recommendation. I felt close to the Chicago episode as I >>> spent some time there during grad school, and while I knew about the >>> history of R&B, Buddy Guy, and Chess Records, I was blissfully unaware >>> about the punk scene forming around the Cubby Bear. >>> >>> Chris >>> >>> -- > -- > TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google > Groups "TV or Not TV" group. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected] > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected] > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en > --- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "TVorNotTV" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > -- -- TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TVorNotTV" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
