It appears that Sat night was the final show for the Fireside, this of course has been rumored on and off for years, but this time it appears to be the real deal. The renovations in the last few weeks seem to indicate a move to full-time bowling and no more bands. This cryptic message was posted on the website:

http://www.mpshows.com/live/index.php?venue_id=1

A word from Hammer....

Fri. Dec. 31 - 12PM - 21+ -
HEY GUYS, JIMMY SAID GET THE FUCK OUT, BOWLING IS MAKING A BIG COMEBACK SO WE ARE GOING TO GO FOR IT, I WILL MISS YOU ALL, PLEASE MAKE SURE TO STOP BY AND SAY HELLO...JIMMY WANTED ME TO TELL YOU THAT YOUR ALL SATAN WORSHIPERS, AND THAT YOUR BANDS SUCK SO JOIN THE ARMY RESERVES WHERE YOU CAN BE ALL THAT YOU CAN BE, OK? NOW GET THE FUCK OUT.

http://www.livejournal.com/community/firesiderats/175612.html

Little more info...

Even though Fireside was mostly CRAP, the fact that it is closing is CRAP.

fireside was mostly crap? when the hell did that happen?

how many people here saw shellac at the fireside on new year's day, what year was that, a handful of years back? i'm one of the (i wonder how many) poor saps who bought tickets and then woke up hours after the show happened. who plays a show that early on new year's day? or, maybe the better question is WHY was it so early?

that was at the fireside.

fireside's where i saw unwound

where i first saw haymarket riot

where the awesome picture of my first real band, fakir, was taken

where i met some cool people in local bands and otherwise. where i hung out with Ninetynine the second time they were in town after i had met them. where i played pool and drank berrs.

shit, i would call fireside the second best club to happen to chicago in the 10 years i lived in the city. lounge ax was #1, obviously. fireside was #1 for all-ages shows, and #2 for 21+ shows. gross bathrooms, hell yeah, but a great venue. especially once elliot brought his soundsystem over.

very sad to see it go.

how many people here saw shellac at the fireside on new year's day, what year was that, a handful of years back? i'm one of the (i wonder how many) poor saps who bought tickets and then woke up hours after the show happened. who plays a show that early on new year's day? or, maybe the better question is WHY was it so early?

Dylan gave me his toaster that day, as he was one of the Pop Tart volunteers. It worked for a good while longer (and I even took it back to upstate NY, where I was living at the time), but then crapped out. Now I have a really nice toaster OVEN.

Memories.

I walked into the restroom once and saw Amedeo from Blonde Redhead brushing his teeth in the sink.



There really isn't much more to add, poor dude.



Faiz

...

toomanyhelicopters wrote:fireside was mostly crap? when the hell did that happen?

how many people here saw shellac at the fireside on new year's day, what year was that, a handful of years back? i'm one of the (i wonder how many) poor saps who bought tickets and then woke up hours after the show happened. who plays a show that early on new year's day? or, maybe the better question is WHY was it so early?

After laughing my ass off at the idea of a 10:30 show on new years day, I promptly bought tickets. Woke up(yeah, I did sleep) at 5 in the morning and drove down to Chicago from Lansing. It was worth it. Still got the poster and ticket. First and best time seeing shellac.

I bet you still don't have your Pop Tart.

hstencil wrote:Dylan gave me his toaster that day, as he was one of the Pop Tart volunteers. It worked for a good while longer (and I even took it back to upstate NY, where I was living at the time), but then crapped out. Now I have a really nice toaster OVEN.

Memories.

Um, I was about to ask for it back. Huh.

Nice.

I wonder who is really responsible for this. MP Shows (booker) is definitely making it look like the Fireside owner is a big ass (probably true).

But a friend who might have more inside info said the major problem was fireside didn't like mp with its hands in a bunch of other clubs (MP quite often books shows for the Abbey and to a lesser extent Schubas, not to mention the regular shit at the bottom lounge). But MP is spinning it as "bowling instead of rock, and they're all jerks". This just seems fishy to me.

I will be a little skeptical if MP Shows makes a seamless transition to another club (abbey??). This might leave some with the impression that MP abandoned the fireside for its own bottom line, not something that would be good for MP's rep.

sorry for the chicago insider politics of the scene shit.