In August, the Convertible Stage was installed for a revival of the last night of AV-Aerie, and for September’s Back of the Yards programming, it changed over to the dearly departed, and fittingly titled Union Rock Yards for one last go at it. Union Rock Yards is a particularly special place for me. It existed in the basement of a Payless Shoes store on the edge of Humboldt park for many years and was run by Rich Fessler and Mark Oster who used it as a rehearsal studio, as well as a (literally) underground venue. It was also the home of the first PRF BBQ, a benefit music festival that has been running at least yearly in Chicago since 2009. It’s a gathering of the tribes, so to speak, of a large number of independent bands and artist, and has even spilled over into other sister cities, such as NYC, Louisville, Denver, Austin, Gladstone, Milwaukee, Escanaba, and even Bristol, UK. I will lovingly refer to it as a bunch of underground rock knuckleheads raising money for a good cause or two. My “Musical Chairs” project also has its second install ever at the first BBQ, so hopefully the effect URY has had on me is clear.
As I’ve mentioned elsewhere, off-the-radar venues usually aren’t long for this world. Sometimes they get shut down, sometimes they get sold, sometimes the small communities that rally around the spaces aren’t enough to sustain their existence. Truth be told, even Nomadic Studio was the last exhibit in the DePaul Museum before it shut down and moved to a new location. With that in mind, the bands that played URY’s last show came on back for an encore performance. Mark Oster even entrusted me with the twinned Chicago flags that adorned the back brick wall of the original space for the setup at Nomadic. A quick shout-out goes out to my Spanish brother in music, Jose Roselló Cañones who helped me install the faux brick panels at the back while he was in town for a performance at the Chicago Cultural center. The final version of the fake brick looked a bit more like a comedy club than a rock venue, but all of the bands that played were adept at banter, so it wasn’t too far off the mark.
That night, Chicago bands Bottomless Pit (Andy Cohen, Chris Manfrin, Brian Orchard, and Tim Midyett) brought their New Order-via-Grand Funk blues to the stage first, and the pummeling Bear Claw (Rob Raspolich, Scott Picco, and Rich Fessler) razed the room with their twinned basses and drum attack. Right between both locals was Seattle, WA’s underdogs, the Bismarck (Eric Fundingsland, Nate Marshall, Dan Mohr, and Chris Jury) who have the dubious distinction of playing an inordinate number of venues the night they closed. They managed a hat-trick of playing the last live show at URY, the fake URY, and the DePaul Museum all in one fell swoop. Fun Fact: Eric Fundingsland “I just remembered that I took the re-creation to heart and even wore the same shirt as the URY show from the previous year.”
I distinctly remember getting emotional as I introduced the night, but then I also distinctly remember someone coming in from the library next door as Bear Claw walloped the room with sound and trying to shout over the bands asking me what the hell was going on. “It’s a rock show, isn’t it great?!” And it was. Salut, Union Rock Yards, you were one hell of a spot.
Music by Bear Claw, the Bismarck, and Bottomless Pit
URY stage by Faiz Razi and Jose Roselló Cañones
Flags courtesy of Mark Oster and Rich Fessler
Videos by Eric Fundingsland
Website: https://www.prfbbq.com/a-longwinded-retelling-of-the-story-of-union-rock-yards-502
Website: https://bearclaw.bandcamp.com/
Website: https://thebismarck.bandcamp.com/
Website: http://www.bottomlesspit.us/
Photos by Beth Wiedner
Live Sound by George Joseph Miller IV
