Remembering Lounge Ax: Ten Years After
October 1st, 2009Filed under: Collections, History
Loved by rock fans and a favorite hang out of local musicians, Lounge Ax emerged as a leading Chicago nightclub during the height of Chicago’s post-punk rock and alt-country scene between 1987 and 2000, becoming legendary as one of the best places to hear alternative and indie rock. Located across the street from the Biograph Theater, where John Dillinger was gunned down, the small club often drew crowds at night that spilled out onto the sidewalk along Lincoln Avenue.
Known for their fresh and varied musical tastes, owners Julia Adams and Sue Miller lit up the Lounge Ax stage for big and small acts alike; including the alt-country bands Uncle Tupelo and the Old 97’s; Hoboken, New Jersey natives and indie rock elders, Yo La Tengo; and many, many Chicago acts including Liz Phair, Urge Overkill, and Eleventh Dream Day. Lounge Ax not only served as a rock club, it also featured Brigid Murphy’s sketch comedy production, “Milly’s Orchid Show,” which featured acts such as The Blue Man Group, David Sedaris, Nora Dunn, and Robbie and Donna Fulks.
Despite its cramped space, the bar retained its appeal—hosting hundreds and hundreds of indie rock acts during its 12-year stint. However, as with many other neighborhood bars, pressure from real estate expansion and the Liquor Commission as well as noise complaints from neighbors, legal fees, and the poor building conditions forced Lounge Ax to close after a new landlord purchased the building and gave the club 6 weeks to vacate. But Lounge Ax did not go down without a fight. Stories in the Chicago Tribune by rock critic Greg Kot and a compilation CD produced by Touch & Go records entitled “The Lounge Ax Defense and Relocation Compilation Disc,” the proceeds of which went to help defray legal costs, tried to save the club from closing.
In early January 2000, Lounge Ax kicked off a two-week-long finale before its doors finally shut on Saturday, January 15, 2000. The last few days attracted a huge number of fans and musicians to mark the end of this legendary music venue in Chicago.
In later incarnations, the building became a hybrid bar/club called Gramercy. Currently, it is home to the Soiree Bar Bistro. Lounge Ax was also featured in the movie High Fidelity (2000). Shot in the interior of the bar, Lounge Ax is where Rob Gordon (John Cusack) first encounters singer/songwriter Marie De Salle (Lisa Bonet).
The Chicago History Museum wants to document the history of Lounge Ax. If you have objects or images to donate to the museum please fill out our donation form. If, like me, you’re left with only memories, please share them with us by writing a comment below. Or just tell us why you think Lounge Ax is worth remembering, even if the memories are a bit hazy.
> Chicago History Museum artifact donation form
Tags: Alt Country, Artifact Donation, Bar, Collections, High Fidelity, Indie, John Russick, Lincoln Avenue, Lounge Ax, Music, Performance
October 1st, 2009 at 4:25 pm
A Lounge Ax ad in the Chicago Reader listed a band playing on June 12, 1998 as “Rhymes With Bilco.”
October 2nd, 2009 at 12:32 pm
Hands down, it was my favorite place to see music in Chicago. I made a lot of friends there.
October 2nd, 2009 at 4:22 pm
I met most of my friends there. Even married one of them. Every time I think about Lounge Ax not being there anymore, it feels like getting punched in the gut. It was like losing a friend.
October 2nd, 2009 at 4:36 pm
I miss it every single day.
October 2nd, 2009 at 5:18 pm
Weren’t the Coctails the house band for a spell? I’d reach out to Archer, Mark, etc. to see whether they have any solid leads.
October 2nd, 2009 at 6:59 pm
I remember standing next to the front door and the photo machine, watching a Chicago band with skepticism and a furrowed brow. After two songs, I walked up to the stage to hear their thrid song, then immediately headed back to my position by the front door, thinking, \this band is brutal.\ The band: The Smashing Pumpkins. Other great memories were seeing Uncle Tupelo come out and \frisbee\ a Dominoes Pizza box lid down on the stage with their songs listed and proceed to rip my head off with their whiskey ladened punk rock songs. Also the much under rated Velvet Crush in their prime delivering sun drenched harmonies like I had never heard before. Great place. Cool and passionate employees. Insticts for booking. A crap location with uptight neighbors and alderman. Thanks for the memories.
October 2nd, 2009 at 7:57 pm
I saw a lot of great shows there, but a night that jumps to mind was the White Stripes first Chicago gig, probably in 1998. The Waco Bros. were headlining and I spent the entire White Stripes set explaining Jon Langford’s place in history of rock to some friends. While I was dwelling on the past, I missed a great chance to hear one of the future’s important voices…I do remember those great matching outfits they had, though.
October 6th, 2009 at 1:20 pm
Drove from Philadelphia to the Lounge Ax in Aug of 1992 to see the Gear Daddies final shows before they called it quits….
October 13th, 2009 at 5:40 pm
Tremendous place. Don’t forget that WaxTrax! was across the street. I wish I had known at the time just how special Lounge Ax was. I was too busy being rocked and taking it for granted.
October 13th, 2009 at 8:15 pm
I awoke cranky this morning from a Lounge Ax dream. I have about 2 per week and usually they are happy, but this morning’s was fraught with angst. I had the privilege of working in that incredibly creative and familial community for nearly a decade. I have a photo-booth book of fame containing pics listed in chronological order of me and many of the bands that played there throughout the 90’s. I cherish this book as I would any family photo album. I miss Lounge Ax and my Lounge Ax friends and family. Luckily, some of us have recently reunited in Los Angeles! God it was such a great place! I think the scene has changed too much to ever have another place like it, but I hope I’m wrong.
October 14th, 2009 at 8:43 am
I remember going to Lounge Ax to jam with Betsy and the Boneshakers..Many good times
October 14th, 2009 at 10:59 am
If you really want to know about the origins on how Lounge Ax was started, you need to seek out the person who conceptulized and incubated the place, whos brother gave the seed money to start it. That would be Jennifer Fischer, a former cocktail waitress at the Vic Theatre who’s first music venue was a short-lived blues bar on Michigan ave., a few steps north of Roosevelt rd.. After that place failed to catch on, Jennifer’s brother Dean, a partner at Arthur Andersen at the time, financed her latest idea the Lounge Ax. If it wasn’t for these two people, Lounge Ax would of never existed. When Susie Miller was brought in to the Lounge Ax after the late great West End Club (located at Racine and Armitage and was a much better sounding and cozier music club then Lounge Ax ever was, that hosted many remarkable bands of the 80’s independent movement, including first time appearances by Red Hot Chili Peppers and The Replacements to name a few) died out to neighborhood pressure and owner neglect, something happened between the 3 partners, and Jennifer left.
I always thought the Lounge Ax was a harsh sounding room that was reconfigured a few times to accommadate bigger crowds. Though it was next to impossible to park there sometimes, Lounge Ax in my opinion succeeded on it’s location more then anything eise.
October 14th, 2009 at 12:07 pm
I’ve still got second-hand smoke in my lungs from going there.
October 14th, 2009 at 7:40 pm
[...] is, in the minds of many. Ten years after hosting its last show, the Chicago History Museum’s blog is a good trip down memory lane. Known for their fresh and varied musical tastes, owners Julia [...]
October 15th, 2009 at 10:46 am
To the poster Carl’s post:
Though yes, Jennifer Fisher WAS there at the beginning (the first two years), it was the partnership of Sue Miller and Julia Adams that MADE Lounge Ax what we all know and miss. Sue and Julia turned what was prety much a local club into one of the best regarded rock clubs/stages in the country for small to mid-sized touring rock bands. I also beg to differ that the location was the ’success’ of the club and in fact I will say that it was the single biggest issue that hurt the club due to lack of parking and a general disconnect from the yuppie neighborhood in the latter days. Lounge Ax was built on specific audiences who made the trek for specific shows. It had very little to do with street traffic walking in to see what was going on (like that of its many TV blaring/hot wing serving neighbors)… therefore it could have been in Berwyn or Pilson or freaking Downers Grover and it would have still been as great as it was. It was a destination, not just some bar trying to scoop in passerby’s. What made the club great was its booking, it’s defining presence as a provider of great lesser know talent, and the shows… not the configuration of the room or the provider of the original seed money. People saw life-changing shows there and that is why it is missed..
October 19th, 2009 at 3:20 pm
When you’re on the road with a band, it’s nice (and very rare), to be treated like human beings, instead of
just another band on the booking conveyer belt. Lounge Ax was great at making you feel like a part of their family, even if you were just passing through.
October 19th, 2009 at 6:32 pm
My first local band, Slummingbirds, played a couple of shows at Lounge Ax, which was always an honor, even if we only got Tuesday night slots. I still have a big crack in the front of my bass from the time I smashed it onto the Lounge Ax stage to end our last-ever show together. Only time I’ve ever done that…
I saw too many great shows there to count. Jim Carroll (RIP) was a highlight. I saw my first of many Calexico shows. Our friends the Baldwin Brothers opened for this new Welsh band Super Furry Animals - I’ve been a big SFA fan ever since. Hearing them sample Steely Dan at Lounge Ax was deliciously unexpected, to say the least. Wesley Willis said he was going to kill himself on stage once (he later recanted).
Godspeed You Black Emperor was by far the most packed LAX show I ever saw (among many a full house), during the final two week blowout, which was the saddest, greatest two weeks of live music I can recall.
My hands-down favorite Lounge Ax factoid is that my wife Alisa and I were both at the same King Kong show, months before we even met, among no more than 20 people in the audience that night. Traveling back in time has never been big on my wishlist, but if I could go back to Lounge Ax and meet Alisa a few months earlier at that King Kong show, I’d do it in a second.
October 19th, 2009 at 10:45 pm
Lounge Ax is what made me move to Chicago.
I was listening to Jesus lizard and big black and
by early 1991 when alex chilton was playing a lot
I just said F it and moved here.
Legendary shows–Jesus lizards 3 night stint in 95,
Nick cave coming to see palace brothers, red krayola,
Faust, hasil adkins…
October 19th, 2009 at 11:09 pm
I drove down Lincoln Avenue and saw the brand spanking new Lincoln Hall opening just down the block from where Lounge Ax used to be. Which makes me wonder about the claim of the Lounge Ax owners that the neighborhood was inherently hostile to a rock club. Notably, the City did not shut them down; they closed as a result of a new landlord. And I have always wondered just what happened to all of the money in the Lounge Ax “Relocation” Fund since the owners obviously never made any serious effort to re-open elsewhere. A lot of artists donated their time and work to benefit concerts and a CD. A lot of fans donated money. I would hope that this history project sparks a public accounting of those funds.
October 20th, 2009 at 9:43 am
My favorite memory of Lounge Ax, aside from the great music, was the “NO HIGH FIVE” sign above the bar closer to the door. I only cthulu high five to this day in memory of Lounge Ax.
October 20th, 2009 at 11:03 am
My wife was at a West Town warehouse a couple of years ago and the owner had the bar from Lounge Ax there. It would be awesome to see the added to the museum.
October 20th, 2009 at 11:07 am
Hands down, the greatest music venue in Chicago. When I was still in college I’d come to visit and there was always at least one show worth seeing the week I was home. Sooooo many greats shows and great bands that were just finger lengths away. Early the Sea & Cake. Shellac playing a Valentine’s Day show where $2 bills were handed out as a door prize and Steve Albini and Bob Weston played while wearing pink fur bunny costumes! They were dying in the heat. It was also one of the hottest (temperature wise) clubsI have ever been to. But it was also one of the most intimate. That long narrow space brought out into personal and eye contact with everyone in that club, which was either intimidating or homey. But like all great music spaces, there were never any airs of smug superiority from the performers or the patrons. During those last two weeks of shows (that was a survey of the best music in the country at during the late 90s!), where people were spilling and falling out the door, you really felt the end of something special. The location blew, unless you lived in Lincoln Park or went to DePaul… but the Coctails! The effing Coctails!
October 20th, 2009 at 11:26 am
Yes, it is interesting how some of the young and hip moved into the Lincoln Park neighboorhood, and then became grouchy farts complaining about noise.
I frequented The Cellar in Arlington Heights in the 60s, and thus Lounge Ax was always a nostalgic venue to me.
I still miss it.
October 20th, 2009 at 12:18 pm
I’ve seen hundreds and hundreds of concerts at dozens of venues, and Lounge Ax is definitely my all-time favorite.
Some personal highlights: Robyn Hitchcock/Jody Grind, Uncle Tupelo, Mekons, Yo La Tengo, Olivia Tremor Control, Sleater-Kinney, Wilco, The Magnetic Fields, Freakwater, Paul K and the Weathermen, Grant Lee Buffalo, Eleventh Dream Day with Ira Kaplan, Palace Brothers, Waco Brothers, Jeff Tweedy, Brainiac, Old 97s, Jonboy Langford and the Pine Valley Cosmonauts, Red Red Meat, Rex, Golden Smog, Kelly Hogan, Come, Polvo, Wake Ooloo, Run On, and – of course – The Coctails.
Other random thoughts/memories:
– Any visual history of Lounge Ax needs to include their arresting Reader ads and plenty of vintage Screwball press posters
– At super-packed shows, the waitresses would often stop taking orders and instead walk through the crowd with an assortment of beers for sale. This should be the norm at all venues!
– The waitstaff were all super cool and down-to-earth. I was a regular there and received many on-the-house beers over the years; that’s never happened anywhere else. Dan the Doorman, on the other hand, was notoriously unfriendly. Eventually, though, he became as much a part of Lounge Ax as the ivy is a part of Wrigley Field
– Art exhibits were often featured on the wall above the ratty yet comfy couch. The bar was festooned with red-chili-pepper lights
There really was something magical about Lounge Ax. I can’t explain it, but it was like a haven for me – even when a band was bad, whenever I walked through the door I felt comfortable, at ease, and happy. The world needs more places like that.
October 20th, 2009 at 12:53 pm
Yes, it is interesting how some of the young and hip moved into the Lincoln Park neighboorhood, and then became grouchy farts complaining about noise.
I frequented The Cellar in Arlington Heights in the 60s, and thus Lounge Ax was always a nostalgic venue to me. Both were intimate places to hear very fine local and not so local bands, many of who were on their way up.
Even though The Cellar was a teen club whose owner sometimes had to discourage patronage by people over the age of 18, it featured countless Chicago area bands, some of who became known nationally (The Shadows of Knight, The Cryan Shames Mason Proffit). Of course The Cellar also featured not so local bands that went on to become superstars (Buffalo Springfield, The Who, Cream, The Yardbirds, Sly and the Family Stone and a whole lot of others).
I still miss both places.
October 20th, 2009 at 2:42 pm
So many shows…I remember trying to get in before I was “of age” and then when i hit 21, it was basically the only place we went to to see shows. I remember driving around the block over and over to look for parking, worrying that we were going to miss the first few minutes of the band we wanted to see. We usually found parking on Montana St., if we were lucky. I remember the rude doorman, who never made small talk and never remembered you no matter how many times he’d seen you and looked at your ID. I remember seeing the same damn people over and over again at shows, but never really knowing who they were because it was against the hipster code of ethics to be friendly. I remember the crowded shows, where it was so hot you couldn’t breathe and you were basically trapped in a huge mass of people with no room to move.
I can’t quite believe the place has been closed over 9 years now and I can remember it like it was yesterday. I haven’t gone to shows much since it’s been closed.
October 20th, 2009 at 8:09 pm
Someone’s always going to drop by and pee in the pool. Eileen, you may want to, um, Google Lounge Ax before opining about something you don’t know anything about. Long before their landlord booted them, Lounge Ax was dogged by the City of Chicago, mainly due to one condo owner’s complaints. Fines and legal fees ensued.
Here ya go, Eileen — some informative links that took about thirty seconds to find:
http://lmgtfy.com/?q=lounge+ax
http://archive.salon.com/ent/log/2000/01/19/loungeax/
http://www.chibarproject.com/Memoriam/LoungeAx/LoungeAx.htm
October 21st, 2009 at 4:26 pm
I am the Jennifer Fischer referred to in one of the above posts and my brother Dean did not help finance the bar, but my very forward thinking father Bill was the main financier behind Lounge Ax. Another investor, Dorn Dean also helped finance the club until Julia and Sue paid him back sometime in the early 90’s. My father was never paid back, nor did he ask for any return of investment. In addition, nothing happened \between the three partners\. What happened was that I got a full paid scholarship to attend law school which I did = then went on to litigate civil rights cases (plaintiff side) for a number of years. I agree with Mark that Julia and Sue \made\ the later Lounge Ax, but Carl is right in that I was the founder of the club, had the idea for it and the drove the passion behind it. After my club on Michigan Avenue, I approached Julia about joining me in the Lounge Ax venture. Julia and I created its eccentric interior and reputation and had solid bookings during the first several years. Under our direction, Millie’s Orchid Show was born there, Pat McCurdy’s infamous Monday night runs began, and we hosted many excellent acts from all over the country. To be clear, I am happy that Julia and Sue had the tenacity to put up with the all of the hard work and terrible air quality to keep the place alive. They truly were a great partnership and I am proud to be part of the place’s history.
October 22nd, 2009 at 8:35 pm
John Olsen brought up some good old memories about the Cellar in Arlington Hgts. I have many good memories regarding the Cellar, as I was the first bass player for the Shadows of Knight. It was one of only a few places where a teen could go in 1964 when it opened. It was intimate. There was room for only a few hundred people and because space was limited, the kids would line up well in advance of the opening of the doors to insure that they would get in. I have a few old photos of the place. I wish I could post them. The rhythm guitar player, Norm Gothch, for the Shadows still lives in that area as far as I know. The former drummer Tom lives in Texas, the singer Jim Sohns is living in Florida. No one seems to know what happened to the original lead guitar player Warren Rogers. He just vanished. My best memory of the Cellar is that is was a place to see, hear and meet quality band members that earned their fame. Many famous rock groups from the 60’s played there.
November 3rd, 2009 at 10:49 pm
I saw too many great shows there to even remember… probably because I had way to many cocktails there, that I never had to pay for, and saw the lights come on at the end of the night way to often. Mekons, the Jesus Lizard, Uncle Tupelo, Wilco, Yola Tengo w’Rick from Eleventh Dream Day sitting in, Tortoise, Sea and Cake…It’s all a beautiful blur. I miss it… and I miss Sue and Julia and all the rest of the crew. I miss the dry professionalism of D.Orman the Doorman. One night Billy Corgan came to the door and Dan said, as he always did, “We have a $5 cover charge tonight” to which an incredulous Billy Corgan said, “Phsft….I’M BILLY CORGAN.” Without pause, Dan very politely said, “Hello Billy, we have a $5 cover charge tonight.”… priceless.
Lounge Ax was home. I had a card that said “We love you” that meant I never had to pay to get in. I’m not sure I ever returned the sentiment, in words at least… I love you too.