The Lost Coin-Op: The Chi-Town Coin-Op Caper
(Photo by Senor Codo)
So my dad and I spent two days doing interviews and researching old newspapers, trying to piece together what happened. And I’m still not sure I know.
Take a look. We tracked the Mr. Do! machine to a band called Dangling Eye, who bought it in L.A. and then took it on tour with them. We’ve learned that the game got as far as Chicago, and then the trail goes cold. So where did it go? I started out with one pretty obvious theory, but after talking with my dad some more, I’m willing to admit that something in the band’s story is not adding up.
I’ve posted our three interviews - my dad did one, I took the other two - and some concert listings from the newspaper, from the weekend they were in town:
Interview with Al Haig (guitar/vox)
Interview with Jesus H. (bass)
Feel free to use the comments to swap notes and trade theories. And if you think you’ve got the answer - and you can explain it - drop me a line at snarl.pixel.vixen [ at ] gmail.com.
15/05/2009 at 11:28 am Permalink
According to the clippings you pulled, they probably didn’t get into town until Friday. So where was the van while they were drinking at the Lounge Ax? Especially since that’s when the kids were told to unload it.
15/05/2009 at 11:35 am Permalink
if it got towed. then it sat in an impound lot, till the van got sold at auction
i would look for auctions in a 3 to 4 moth period for chicago
15/05/2009 at 3:29 pm Permalink
It amazes me, reading those interviews. There’s 3 of them, and none of them get either their gear, or the Van with their only other asset in it back. Is it a requirement to have no life skills when you’re in a band?
15/05/2009 at 4:34 pm Permalink
There seems to be a time discrepancy, although it may simply be missing info in the interview.
Al says they got in on Thursday. They go to the apartment, tell the guys to drop off their equipment by 5PM on Friday, which is the next night. According to the clipping, Triple Fast Action, Satchel, and M.O.T.O were playing Friday night.
Anyway, they head on over to the Lounge Ax on Thursday night. Combustible Edison and John Sinatra Connors [found only one interesting bit I'll mention about him later] are playing, although unclear what time. He gets a tip from the bartender that The Fall is playing at The Metro that night, so they head over.
Thing is, The Fall’s not playing until Friday night. So by his description, this all had to have happened on Friday, not Thursday. In which case they must have seen at least part of the act that was playing at the Lounge Ax, which was Jakwacker [only references I found were the "Jackwacker"] with Flying Luttenbachers, and Frontier [too generic a name to track down easily, any ideas anyone?]. Anyway, they go to The Metro, and they’ve missed The Fall. Instead they see “some horrible art fuck metal thing with a really whiny singer.” Booked after The Fall are Cynthia Plaster Caster and Magnapop. Now Cynthia Plaster Caster, best I can tell, is NOT a performer. She was a well-known groupie who took, well, plaster casts of famous musicians genitalia. There are two sites for her, one being her wackier site and store here, and the other being for her charitable foundation. Interestingly enough, the thanks page contains one of the few references I found to John Sinatra Connors. Magnapop, on the other hand, appears to be a punk pop/alternative band both by their description, and by what my ears suggest from listening to their clips. So either Al’s definition of “art fuck metal” is different from mine, or this was NOT the band they heard.
Either way, after this Jesus hooks up with the girl he meets, and they head back to the apartment and crash. Assuming Al was just confused, that means they wake up on Saturday, which is when their gig is scheduled, not Friday like they told the kids.
They get to Double Door and find out they’ve got no gig. Instead, Rollover and Cherry Poppin Daddies are playing, which is apparently what Jesus and Elise went to see after everything went to hell. Now, Jesus doesn’t mention Fuck (the simple names are the greatest, aren’t they?) at all, but according to Fuck, he tagged along with them that night. He eventually went back to the apartment, and the next day, a Sunday (I assume Chicago’s not dry on Sundays?), he bought the kids beer and took a bus to see his mom who took him to see Art Garfunkel (Barenaked Ladies were The Metro the next weekend, which is a coincidence worth a chuckle) at the Star Plaza Theatre. This reconfirms that Al’s timeline is off, and that they had to have gotten in on a Friday. That, or a day’s missing from the story.
So, anyone got some further ideas on what went wrong, here? It seems to me like after all these years he could simply get the day wrong, although out of all of them, he’s the only one to be so specific about the days. The other guys seem to be tracking more based on events.
My only question is why include the second image? I’m having a hard time finding how it connects to their stories. Does it just line up with one of the other pages, or is there something on it I’m not seeing that’s relevant?
15/05/2009 at 4:53 pm Permalink
One extra note. Fuck describes a mouse with two heads on the same body in a depressing comic book. From what I can tell, this pretty accurately describes Quimby the Mouse, by Chris Ware, whose head does appear a tad potatoey. And sure enough, there’s a Chicago-based bookstore named “Quimby’s” which uses his character as the logo, although the name was originally a coincidence.
Anyone in the area familiar with this place?
15/05/2009 at 5:26 pm Permalink
Sorry for three in a row, but I’m obsessing over this.
So Al says they left the van for the kids to take to the club and drop off the equipment by 5PM on Friday (or was it Saturday?). Then on the day the gig was supposed to be, he arrives, Fuck’s already there, Jesus shows up, and the equipment, which he says was supposed to be dropped off two hours earlier, isn’t there.
Meanwhile, though, Fuck apparently had the van all day. He took it to get gas, cruised around, and mentions that it was nice to drive the van without all the stuff banging around in the back. That means their gear was already out of the van at this point. If the kids delivered it anywhere, they did so before Fuck took the van out that day. Which makes sense, since the kids couldn’t have dropped off the gear if Fuck had the van. They had to have delivered the gear, or done something with it, the night before, since they were gone when the band got up, and the stuff was already out of the Van when Al sent Fuck to gas it up.
But the night before the guys went out to the Indiana Dunes in the middle of the night for the weekend. So they either dropped it on the way (would the club be open at that hour?), or did it earlier. Since what Al thinks was Thursday was actually Friday, and if he really left a note telling them to deliver it on Friday, that means the kids would have dropped it off while they were at the Lounge Ax and The Metro.
Now it’s possible since the van’s such a POS anyway, that someone broke in and sold the stuff that was in it. But the kids were expecting their beer on Sunday, which suggests they believe they did what they were supposed to do.
So I’m leaning on them having possibly dropped the gear off at the wrong club (or the Double Doors was run by crooks), and I bet you they dropped off the arcade machine with it. Might have thought it was part of the act.
The only other thing I’m finding a little iffy is part of Fuck’s story. I know he was full of pauses, but the extra long pause after you asked him if that’s when he got the van towed. His responses was “Yeah. The van got towed.” Not confirming he got it towed, but that it got towed. Either he didn’t feel like accepting blame, or he was trying to reconfirm a story that wasn’t entirely on the up and up. Maybe it didn’t get towed? Maybe it got stolen while he was hanging out at the comic book store and he couldn’t own up to it? The other thing is the fact that he managed to buy the kids a case of beer for their troubles. Considering they wasted all their money on the arcade machine, AND didn’t make anything off the gig that never happened, could he really afford to buy a whole case of beer for the kids? He didn’t sound like he was incredibly invested in the band, or happy with their talent. Any possibility he could have sold the piece of crap as a way to just cut his losses and end things?
15/05/2009 at 5:48 pm Permalink
Jason M - Whatcha gonna do? It’s rock and roll.
Turbofool - When I spoke with Fuck about the van getting towed, the long pause sounded like a sad pause. I really think he felt bad about screwing up.
One other note. When you read the club listings, they go in reverse order from last band (headliner) to first (opener). For the first set Friday night, the Fall headlined, meaning they came on after Magnapop and Cynthia Plaster Caster opened for them. So if Al was there Friday night and he missed the Fall, then he probably saw Shudder to Think, and I can tell you they’re just as awful as he says.
The rest of this is intriguing …
15/05/2009 at 6:30 pm Permalink
Okay, that makes more sense. I have ZERO time for concerts or anything much fun these days, so I don’t read a lot of concert listings.
Also realized that the photo you chose for the article is of the Empty Bottle, which is referenced on that clipping I couldn’t find a purpose for. Ties that together for me.
Anyway, I’m still feeling like there’s significance in Quimby’s. It sure seemed to stand out in Fuck’s memory (although, from the sound of it, the place and the experience sound pretty darn cool).
15/05/2009 at 11:28 pm Permalink
Accepting that the band got in on Friday, it seems like the band’s stuff went missing between Friday when they dropped the van at the kids’ apartment and Saturday when F*ck went cruising in the now-empty van.
It’s possible that the address listed for Double Door on the fax was wrong…if the information came from the booking agent (who messed up on simple things like the venue’s phone number) it’s even likely.
Even if the venue sent the fax, transpositions happen. Double Door was a fairly new venue back then (it opened June 12, 1994) so if the listed address was near another club, the kids might have dumped the stuff there — Al’s note didn’t specify the name of the club, it relied on the fax.
16/05/2009 at 9:33 am Permalink
Hot House appears to be right across the street from Double Door. Hmmm…
16/05/2009 at 10:12 am Permalink
This is interesting Rachael! Seems like there are few possibilities for where it ended up at that time - one of the venues, stolen by an ass, stolen by the kids or towed and sold.
Its really interesting reading this story from the start to end and to see what the simple little Mr. Do! machine has been through. Hope it goes well.
16/05/2009 at 11:31 am Permalink
There’s a club at 1575 N Milwaukee called the Debonair Club - is it possible the guy who booked the gig said Debonair on N. Milwaukee and they thought it was Double Door at 1572 Milwaukee???
17/05/2009 at 12:47 pm Permalink
SlappyBag - Thanks for reading and for the kind words! I hope it goes well too!
So TurboFool has figured it out - I’ve checked over the solution he sent me, and everything adds up. I’m still taking ideas (and alternate theories)! But I’ll post what he sent me shortly.
And naturally, I’m following up on the new lead he gave me right now …