Icons, Legendary Venues, and Learning something while on different path.

chilipeppermaniac

chilipeppermaniac

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www.baltimoresun.com

Hammerjacks history: What to know about the past, present and future of the storied Baltimore music venue

Hammerjacks, Baltimore’s storied rock-music venue, is getting closer to making its return. On Wednesday, the business partners behind the relaunch said demolition at the site begins in April, and they expect construction to take just…
www.baltimoresun.com www.baltimoresun.com

Oh and the unexpected part I learned while on this path. THIS is the WOW part, due to me frequenting this place in the 80's and finding out how Iron Maiden thought of it. Apparently,Maiden even has Hammerjacks on their Album cover on Somewhere In Time, according to the article.

Here is the photographic proof if you can find it.


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Damn, that brings it back man. There was a period of time, probably between 1985-1987, that I was in that place 3 or 4 nights a week. Basically any night I didn’t have a gig (and we weren’t playing there ourselves).

I saw countless great bands there. It was the greatest rock club ever and it’s Baltimore’s endless shame that they razed it for a fu@king parking lot.
 
Gball, I knew you might be the first local to post a reply. WOW MAN, you actually played there, huh. I wasn't able to get there till around '87 when I actually had access to a car. Yup a parking lot and $3mill. I am glad you agree with me that it was the greatest Rock club ever. The dancing club part wasn't so bad either for fun with females action. I still remember being there one week before Valentine's day and among a thousand people, this girl comes up to me and asks, " would you dance with a bride to be?" I replied, " When is she getting married, Valentine's day?" She said yes, so I agreed and got to dance with the bride to be and the bridal party. They were all from Towson and it was a blast.
 
Nah, I meant we were not playing there. That was a tough ticket back in the day and there were always so many national acts it was tough for anyone to get on the bill.

As for the bar side, hell yeah, it could be rad! I usually hung in the downstairs room in the far back where it was relatively calm (for the uninitiated, the bar side alone was 2 floors and 6 different rooms/full size bars, then there was the huge concert hall side) but do you remember that alcove in the very front upstairs that had a couch and some pinball machines? I had, ehem ‘intimate relations’ with this regular named Erin up there and nobody cared!

I’ve searched out rock clubs in every city I have ever been to, and I live in a town with several of the most famous ones in the World, but there has never been a place that even came close to Hammerjack’s.
 
Gball, I have not been to a great number of clubs, but here in B'more, we had Hammers. I am sure some pretty major places have good hotspots, but the venue and experience at Hammers was second to none. I did manage to wind up at The Whisky in LA, and the Roxy Theater while visiting a lady friend in Rancho Santa Margarita. The door man at Roxy let me in free since he saw my ID was from MD and so was he. I think my lady enjoyed it there, but for me the most enjoyable part was watching the local LA folk as an OUTSIDER. There seemed to be some VIP type tables if I remember right. And the most memorable of fellas at one with his ladies. IIRC he wore a fur jacket and possibly no shirt. The best part was he seemed to just stand there as his women danced for him.

The Whisky seemed to have a few bands playing, but it was almost like a younger crowd but small in number and the bands were not memorable at all. The biggest memory from there was seeing Joplin's signature on a closet door or something along with sigs of other players over the years. Needless to say, it was no Hammerjacks.
 
gball said:
Damn, that brings it back man. There was a period of time, probably between 1985-1987, that I was in that place 3 or 4 nights a week. Basically any night I didn’t have a gig (and we weren’t playing there ourselves).

I saw countless great bands there. It was the greatest rock club ever and it’s Baltimore’s endless shame that they razed it for a fu@king parking lot.
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That's what happened to The Channel in Boston. Great club, with probably the best stage and monitor system I've ever heard. I've seen so many good bands there, and played there myself.

Then, there's The Rat(hskeller) which Boston University bought the entire block, and put up a hotel. There's even a Rat room with rock memorabilia in the vein of a Hard Rock. I asked on their website if the room was in the cellar, had an inch of standing piss and beer on the floor, and smelled like a cesspool. It got a few chuckles before being removed.
 
SG John said:
That's what happened to The Channel in Boston. Great club, with probably the best stage and monitor system I've ever heard. I've seen so many good bands there, and played there myself.

Then, there's The Rat(hskeller) which Boston University bought the entire block, and put up a hotel. There's even a Rat room with rock memorabilia in the vein of a Hard Rock. I asked on their website if the room was in the cellar, had an inch of standing piss and beer on the floor, and smelled like a cesspool. It got a few chuckles before being removed.
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HAHA we all know places like that cesspool.
 
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