Local bands flock to Cal's for unique gig
March 21, 2008 Chicago SUN TIMES
BY JAMIE MURNANE
The South Loop has been an "up and coming" neighborhood for a number
of years, aided by its influx of residents in new luxury condominium and townhouses
as well as college students attending the increasingly popular Columbia College
and School of the Art Institute. When the area got its own Target and Whole
Foods, that pretty much sealed the deal: the South Loop had credibility.
New businesses, bars and restaurants have arrived, too, catering to the young
urban professionals and families moving in. But among these new businesses,
one thing was missing: live music.
Or was it?
Lately, Reggie's Rock Club (2109 S. State) and Reggie's Music Joint (2105
S. State) have attracted attention from musicians and fans alike as a new
hot spot for live shows -- even all-ages ones at the Rock Club, filling the
void of the once-famed Fireside Bowl. But Reggie's isn't the only spot to
hear South Loop sounds.
Cal's Bar (400 S. Wells), around since 1947, has been featuring live music
every weekend for the past few years. According to Mike Feirstein (nephew
of the bar's namesake, and the club's booker of weekly lineups of local and
national acts ranging from rock to punk to experimental noise), Cal's is "sort
of like the city's CBGB."
He could be right: the place is dirty and small, beer is cheap and the sound
system consists of an amp set up at the end of the bar. On any given weekend
night, it's cranked up as loud as it can go, and a diverse crowd (from businessmen
to bike messengers to hipsters) is smashed together, slipping in puddles of
PBR, fists pumping in the air.
When it comes to Cal's newest competition from nearby Reggie's, the relocated
Bottom Lounge and even South Union Arts, Feirstein isn't concerned.
"It seems like Chicago has more bands than ever," he said. "And
those places can't duplicate what I have. We don't have a stage; the bands
play on the floor. On a good night, you've got people standing a foot away
from you and you get that feedback from the audience, so if you're having
a good show and the music's happening, it just explodes in front of you."
Cyndi Elliott of local indie rock band Fast Product, which played at Cal's
last Saturday night, is supportive of the venue and the newfound popularity
of live music in the South Loop.
"It's different in a good way," Elliott said. "The audience
is more diverse and something crazy always happens when you're right there
on the same level as everyone else and you can't hide -- no stage, no backstage,
no lights. So it's very communal and less homogeneous than your standard rock
show at some club where there are no surprises."
"As far as venues down there, there's nothing like it," says Matt
Harmon of local band Childsize Monster Pistol, which plays at Cal's this weekend.
"You got the sparks from the L overhead, there are messengers outside
drinking beer after their shift, and the place is connected to a liquor store.
I mean, you're playing in Chicago's shadow -- awesome. If I were to have gotten
a show at Cal's when I was younger [and living in rural Princeton], I can't
help but think that pulling up to the venue, I would have been like, 'Man,
we're in the city, man. We're going to be huge.'"
Jamie Murnane is a local free-lance writer.
" ...don't give a damn about a bad reputation..."
joan jett
Matt Morgan reviews Cal's Bar, Chicago Loop.
Cals Bar, Chicago Loop
Matt Morgan, our Illinois Beer Delegate.This rocking, rough and ready joint
is owned by Cal and Fred Smith, the heirs of the Cal Feirstein empire, who
allegedly shortened their names for the ease of receiving victoria's secret
catalogs.
if you're not too
fussy about the happiness of your serving staff.
This family-owned bar and liquor store is in the heart of the financial district,
in the south Chicago Loop.
The majority of their business derives from blue collar workers, messengers,
busted up traders, and travelers.
Cal's Bar used to close after office hours, until it was reinvented as a live
music venue.
The bar service is less than friendly, but it's the kind of bar that you have
to prove your material/spiritual worth to get surly service at best.
If you prove material AND spiritual worth at Cal's Bar in Chicago Loop, you
may be treated with surly respect.
The liquor store, run by Cal and Fred, is far more friendly, but overall,
just efficient. "Hey, how ya doin', ah good, six bucks, thanks, see ya,
NEXT."
You'll run into local music icons as well as your Mutual fund manager, and
that roughneck messenger that was on the elevator that you looked at funny
could kick your ass for fun.
http://www.united-nations-of-beer.com/cals-bar-chicago.html
nature
devil
Grungy Punk Bars
Monday Oct 02, 2006. By Michael Nagrant
There's something reassuring about a little bit of dirt and a whole lot of
darkness. In these Chicago lairs, the essence of punk that reigns is that
there is no essence, and wearing khakis might be the punkest move of all.
The important thing is that there's always cheap swill and you can come as
you are. So break out the Ramone's tee and your best Johnny Rotten sneer and
take a ride to the best drinking caves in town.
http://centerstagechicago.com/bars/articles/grungy-punk-bars.html
Big Buildings
"# 6. Cal’s (400 S. Wells, 312-922-6392) is a tiny beer-and-a-shot joint in the South Loop favored by punks, bike messengers, and traders who lost their asses in the market before noon. Cal’s Bukowski-esque charm gives way to an even nuttier atmosphere on the weekends, when live music brings an even more debauched crowd, but the prices are much better than any you’ll find at the restaurant bars in the neighborhood.
Yeah, you can still smoke. "
Chicago Reader "Chicago 101""The Neighborhood
Tavern"By Chip Dudley
September 22, 2006
the safes
Walk into Cal's Liquors at the corner of Wells and Van Buren Streets 'round about 11 p.m. on any given Friday night, and you'll find yourself in a lone out-post of crashing noise and youthful ardor amid the quiet desolation that overtakes the southern edge of the Loop after dark.
On weekday afternoons, Cal's is a comfortably shabby corner dive that caters to a wildly mixed clientele -- pungent bike messengers who ply the Loop's byways share the bar with clean-cut speculators from the nearby Chicago Board of Trade.
"It's very, very eclectic -- we've had the presidents of companies, and we have a lot of street people come in too," says co-owner Fred Feirstein, standing behind the counter of the liquor store that adjoins the bar, busily calculating sales tax on a brown paper bag as dozens of commuters file in to pick up a few cans of beer for the train ride back to the suburbs.
But on Friday and Saturday nights, the paupers and the princes make way for post-punk hipsters. For most of its 57 years -- Fred Feirstein's father, George, opened Cal's in 1947, naming it after his other son, Cal, who now co-owns it with his brother -- Cal's was closed on the weekends, owing to the lack of eager patrons in the Loop after hours.
Four years ago, Fred's son Mike, who manages the bar and plays bass guitar in a variety of local rock bands, began booking local bands on weekend nights, transforming what Mike de-scribes as having once been "an old man's bar -- the kind of place where a three martini lunch would turn into 'Marge, I'm not coming back to the office,'" -- into a thriving rock scene.
There's no stage, no sound system (just a PA system for vocals), and payment for bands comes in the form of whatever happens to collect in a beat-up tip bucket that gets passed around during shows, but with Mike's astute booking tastes -- you might find a local power-pop outfit such as Bleary, a country-rock band from Berkeley, Calif., or a neo-'80s synthesizer band from Vermont -- and the bar's raw, amps-on-the-floor vibe will reward a Saturday night foray into the Loop's deserted fringes.
The Bar Owners
By John Cook
Tribune staff reporter
Published July 30, 2004
UNAUTHORIZED
LOOP: An insider's guide to the heart of Chicago.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/features
our little baby ...click it for more!!!
voted "best comp 2005" by WXRT
Justin www.myspace.com/thatsawesomegary
"The lighting is terrible, the place smells like a giant ashtray and you can get PBR or Schlitz for $2...."
operation s ( france )
"As a general rule, liquor stores with bars attached to them are seedy places.
Such hovels usually stock the cheapest booze for a rough clientele, grizzled drunks who lurk from sun-up to closing time and then stagger out with a six-pack. This general rule does not apply to Cal's, a warm and inviting liquor store/bar. Cal, a gruff looking fellow with a thick, gray, old-timey moustache will likely be there, should you stop by. He seems to have quite a harem of regular customers, too. One out-of-breath guy burst in and gasped, "Cal, you wouldn't happen to have any plastic shot glasses, would ya?" Cal let out an ambiguous grunt. The small bar to the rear of the place boasts live music and, perplexingly, wireless Internet access. The liquor store is open 8 a.m.-7 p.m. Monday-Friday. The bar's hours are subject to change, so a quick call ahead is advised. "
(J. Tyson)
http://centerstage.net/bars/calsliquors.html
shellshocked
( nyc)
This Loop dive is a favorite among bike messengers and brokers who wander over from the nearby Board of Trade.
The booze is cheap and you can catch up-and-coming bands performing in the living room-size space.
http://metromix.chicagotribune.com
phenoms
foto by christian kelly
"...have
fun in Stockholm, i am on my way to cal's liquors to see a band play. yeah,
you heard me... Cal's mutha fuckin' liquors in downtown
Chicago. How's that for high class? I toss a bum a quarter in your memory.
good show. love."
http://www.mike-downey.com/blog
The Drapes: Whose Rock Is Right?
By Johnny, July 16, 2001
I realized something during The Drapes' ear-splitting set at Cal's Liquor
in Chicago Friday night. At that same moment, 30 miles to the south, Bon
Jovi was on stage doing their thing. As the group of rockers crowded into
Cal's to down Pabst and revel in The Drapes' sonic re-assessment of the
term "power trio," a sold-out crowd was gathered on the lawn of
the Tweeter Center, lighters aloft and swaying like it was 1986. The realization
begged the question: 30,000 nostalgic power-ballad lovers vs. 45 rockers
in the know. Who's Rock is right?
Cal's Liquor does not feature flash pots on stage. Cal's liquor does not
feature a stage. So obviously, the dynamics of The Drapes' show were a bit
different than those Bon Jovi's fans experienced at their shed show in Chicago's
south suburbs. And Drapes guitarist/vocalist Kevin Mcdonough didn't use
a talk box even once during his band's 45 minutes of frenetic punk and stockyard
blues. But you can bet that, as Mcdonough chopped at his aging Fender, Richie
Sambora stood in Tweeter's cavernous pavillion, lighting it up with the
opening notes of "Livin' on a Prayer." So pump your fist; raise
your glass. It's all Rock and Roll, whether it's played for beer money or
a down payment on a new mansion in Jersey.Don't get me wrong. The conch
goes to The Drapes. They're sweating it out, playing holes-in-the-wall like
Cal's, writing music that references the bootstraps history of Chicago's
South Side while nodding to Detroit City's chainsaw'd sludge-rock (The Stooges,
Laughing Hyenas). Conversely, Bon Jovi was pre-packaged pop-metal from the
beginning. Since their mid-80s heyday, the band has cranked out a collection
of weak rockers and sleep-inducing ballads that somehow manage to sound
amateurish and sad all at once (i.e. their latest LP of tripe, Crush). They
know it; their setlist Friday leaned heavily on their anthemic back catalog.
But those people out there on the lawn, the ones who (unfortunately) will
probably never have their eardrums split open by the electric mud of The
Drapes – what about their needs? If nostalgia and power chords combine
with Jon Bon Jovi's looks and showmanship to provide them with a little
bit of Rock and Roll heaven, then is that such a bad thing?
Different strokes for different folks, I guess. While some of us will always
have bands like The Drapes, White Stripes, The Immortal Lee County Killers,
or The Strokes to keep the Rock alive, some people out there still cry to
"Never Say Goodbye," and believe in their heart of hearts that
Jon Bon Jovi is their six-gun lover, their cowboy on a steel horse (he rides).
What can you do? We can't all get in on the bottom floor of the video revolution,
hire some professionals to write our songs, and end up marrying Heather
Locklear. But if Heather or anyone else not familiar with them had shouldered
their way into Cal's on Friday and listened to The Drapes, chances are Slippery
When Wet would become a coaster toot suite.
JTL
By Johnny, July 16, 2001
fans including dan the fan( off flickr )
http://www.gloriousnoise.com/arch/000201.php
" i remember that night...i walked in the next day and asked for a job..." - andrea
paper bullets
foto by christian kelly
Million Dollar Marxists/Headache City/Operation S/Camaro Rouge @ Cal's Liquors, Chicago, IL - 10/22/04
A very sober and tired me arrived at Cal's at about 9:15
p.m. or so and grabbed a beer. I quickly found Norah from Headache
City, who was gracious enough to introduce me to the rest of the band and
participate in a real short interview (see this ish) and make fun of me
for being "nervous" later on. Nice folks. Heard the Million Dollar
Marxists from outside. They sounded like the heaviest elements of FUCKIN'
RAWK mixed with the worst elements of FUCKIN' PUNK. They bored the FUCKIN'
SHIT outta me. I sipped at my Pabst like a girl and didn't venture inside
once during their set. Next up: Headache City. As always, they were fun
and good. The new drummer's working nicely. Could be my new favorite Chicago
band, if you're takin' notes, which you are. Anyway, after what seemed like
one helluva wait, highly-anticipated Operation S slinked onto the "stage"
(floor), and the nerdies were poppin' woodies as Cecilia writhed, kicked
and moaned her way through their set of future-wave keyboard punk -- cameras
were a-flashin', heads were a-bobbin', and everyone seemed muchly impressed.
They pulled out a few choice covers (The Avengers' "The Amerikan in
Me" and the No-Talents' "(We've Got A) Riot"), which were
killer, and their originals hit with even more force. Great set. Consider
me converted. Next were Camaro Rouge, whose sound escapes me, as I was pretty
much full-on soused at that point and don't remember a whole lot except
for making fried egg sandwiches after everyone left my house later that
eve.
Those sandwiches
were awesome! (EL)
http://www.terminal-boredom.com/livereviews4.html
reptoids
so we got to chicago. we ate a bunch of pretty good sushi
and pizza, got pretty drunk, weathered the weather. the first show sucked.
we played with shoegazer-alt-country bands, and their fans were not prepared
for loud asshole rock. sorry, martyrs bar. we cleared that room QUICK. the
second night in chicago was sweet though. like a little slice of detroit.
uh. shitty shitty detroit. it was called CAL's LIQUORS, and
it has the worst bathroom i've ever been in. i love it. it was a quarter
the size of the Belmont, and it was packed as shit and loud as hell. y.
BLECK faggs. love, jonathan dubs.
http://www.myspace.com/thedeadbodies
"Saturday night I finally got over to "Cal's," a dive bar located downtown practically in the shadows of the Sears Tower. I had been seeing local bands hyping up shows there lately on MySpace and one of my friend's bands, Pyrite, was playing Saturday so I had to check it out. As much as I always thought Big Horse was the ultimate local music dive in the area, my experience at Cal's may have actually changed my mind. Cal's is a total hole-in-the-wall bar that's connected to an equally as sketchy liquor store.
The
lighting is terrible, the place smells like a giant ashtray and you can
get PBR or Schlitz for $2. There's a million dive bar/liquor store
combos like this throughout Chicago, but it's amazing that a place like
this still exists in the heart of downtown amidst all of the posh office
buildings and corner fast-food joints. It's also amazing that they book
bands here on a regular basis. The bar is unbelievably small and there's
not even a small stage or platform for performances. The bands are just
crammed into the back corner with virtually no separation between them and
the patrons at the bar.
Despite the rather peculiar set-up, Pyrite still managed to put on a raucous
performance that pleased the PBR-drinking masses. Cal's may not be the best
place to see a band, but you like dive bars, you've got to check it out.
"
http://www.afterhourscity.com/chicago/2005/12/cals_bar_1.html
Peppers Sandwich Shop
211 W. Van Buren St.
312-922-5383
This hot dog joint located near the Chicago Board of Trade gives new meaning
to the expression "hole in the wall." Don't let the grubby exterior
fool you; the place packs 'em in at lunchtime for inexpensive fare like
burgers, Italian beef, tamales and chili boats. Before the lunch rush you
can order egg sandwiches, with your choice of ham, bacon or sausage. Peppers
runs occasional specials, like the pepper-and-egg sandwich during Lent.
There's limited seating at bar stools in the front window; most opt for
carryout instead. During the summer, head to lunch early so you can enjoy
an alfresco beer with your beef at one of the sidewalk tables at Cal's Bar
& Liquors next door.
Hours: 9:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m., Monday-Friday; closed Saturday and Sunday
www.metromix.com
UH HUH