HW: Promo Collection / Thirsty Wale

[flossbac]

Ah yes, the Thirsty Whale.... what a dive!  The place was notorious as being
a venue for third-rate down-and-out classic rock and hair-metal bands, so it
was with horror that I found Hawkwind would be playing there in 1990.
Whoever booked them at the Whale wasn't doing them any favors.  I spoke to
Bridgett at the show and she even said, "Well, it's a bit of a dive isn't
it?"  The opening band, Sex Kittens, was a heavy metal act with a female
rock bitch for a lead singer.... they played two identical sets
consecutively because (as Alan and Bridgett later told me) apparently the
club people had been expecting Hawkwind to do two sets that night, but
everyone was afraid to go out to the bus and ask the band what they were
planning on doing.... so the Sex Kittens filled empty time by playing twice.
When Hawkwind finally entered the club, they were surprised to find out that
the place had actually been expecting them to play hours earlier as well as
a later show.  Alan had said they would have been perfectly happy to do
that, but nobody told them a thing, so it was pretty late when they got
their gear set up and went on.  Hawkwind were awesome that night, maybe
because it was such a tiny place and so incredibly informal and not like a
club at all.  The Thirsty Whale was more of a redneck/classic rocker pub,
and I'm not sorry to see it go out of business.  It was fantastic seeing
Chicago Hawkwind shows at better venues, such as Cabaret Metro
(unquestionably my favorite Chicago club with the finest sound system in
Chicago) or Park West or Lounge Ax.  I'm not that partial to Cubby Bear, but
it's a lot better than The Thirsty Whale.
John Majka


> Ben sed...
>
> >Yes, stupid name for a venue *thirsty whale* maybe they can get some
> >sanity into the place now that the red queen of deliria has been turfed
> >out pf it's palace in England!
>
> This is the place in the west Chicago suburbs?  I was at that show then.
I
> don't think the club is in business any longer, right?
>
> It was a crappy little place anyway, and you couldn't even see the dinky
> little stage from about 70% of the club's floor space.  The HW gig the
> previous night on the north side of Chicago (Cubby Bear, next to Wrigley
> Field) was much better.  Though it was extremely loud for some reason.
>
> The Thirsty Whale show was with the Sex Kittens and Freddy Jones Band as
> openers.  The former featured a female front person who was dressed as the
> band's name suggests, though the others were men IIRC.  Funny thing is
that
> she was at the show the previous night.  The latter later put out a couple
> albums that actually were distributed over a big portion of the country,
> 'cause I see them from time to time in stores around here.  Don't remember
a
> thing about them.
>
> >linuxchaos wrote:
> >
> >> Does anyone know the concerts at which footage was taken then used in
> >> the Promo Collection?
> >>
> >> Out of the Shadows                   Thirsty Whale 1990?
>
> I don't know what this 'Promo Collection' is, but since you say 'footage'
> I'm assuming it's video, right?  Well, then, if the stage is very small,
not
> exactly 'square' to the rest of the club (i.e., it faced *away* from the
> bulk of the club!), the camera is not very far away from the stage, solid
> wall to the left (stage right), and the sound is terrible....well, that's
it!
>
> It's been ten years, so my memory's a little suspect.  But I *think* this
is
> generally accurate.
>
> Grakkl (FAA)
>