UNCLE SAM’S: 1972 - 1980

Here’s a Big One:: Colla was a band made up of former members of Crow, plus the mighty Gregg Inhofer from Pepper Fog.

April 1 & 2: Rock ‘n’ Roll Revival with Truc

May 28, 1973:  Zulu
Attendance was given a boost on June 1, 1973, when the drinking age in Minnesota was lowered from 21 to 18. The Tribune reported that at midnight on June 1, about 75 new drinkers appeared at the door at Uncle Sam’s, IDs in hand.  (Minneapolis Tribune, June 2, 1973)
On July 3, 1973, an 18-year-old male was stabbed in the abdomen by a 22-year-old male as he was leaving the club after a dust-up over a girl.  (Minneapolis Star, July 3, 1973)

August 13, 1973:  Cain
September 2-3, 1973:  Sterling
September 9 – 10, 1973:  Jesse Brady
November 5, 1973:  Sterling
November 11, 1973:  Sinaloa
December 3, 1973:  Volcano
December 10, 1973:  Sinaloa

This is the first mention I have found of many appearances that Cain made to Uncle Sam’s stage.

Cain was led by consummate showman Jiggs Lee.

January, 1974:  A calendar of sorts printed in the Skyway News indicates that live bands only played on Fridays and Saturdays.

February 7 & 8:  Cain

February 9, 1974:  Straight Up.  The January/February Insider reported that “lead singer Mark Gallagher is back (are hot pants still in?)  The show includes fire, smoke and outlandish costumes (Ex-Litter turns glitter)…”   Straight Up’s act required a lot of space, so they mostly performed in outstate ballrooms.  In addition to Gallagher, ex-Litter drummer Tom Murray was in this crazy group.  See a Dave Moore special report on Straight Up Here.

February 14:  Open Rode

February 15-16:  Jesse Brady

February 22-23:  Everett James Band

Tuesdays:  Oldies Night with Rudy’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Review

November 18, 1974:  Prodigy
November 19-22, 1974:  Cain
December 7, 1974:  Prodigy
December 16-21, 1974:  Sterling
December 22, 1974:  Cain
December 30-31, 1974:  Sterling

April 9, 1975:  Chubby Checker.  Why didn’t I go to this show?  I was a fifties freak in the seventies!

Dix Steele remembered:

I worked there this night. It was unusual as we didn’t regularly do live music in those days. What I do remember was that Chubby Checker did two shows that night. Both for the same audience… It was a bit confusing to people…

The poster below flummoxes me.  It has no year, but has been tentatively identified as from 1975.  As you can see, the dates are listed as the week of October 13 – 18, which entails six days.  However, the days listed are Sunday through Saturday, which count out to be seven days.  If you look at the 1974 calendar, the 13th through the 19th travel right through a week from Sunday to Saturday, so it makes more sense that this is in 1974.  The lineup would probably have been:
October 13, 1974:  Cain
October 14, 1974:  Straight Up
October 15, 1974:  Case
October 16, 1974:  Sterling
October 17, 1974:  Teen King
October 18, 1974:  Pulse

 On July 20, 1976, Uncle Sam’s hosted Brian Auger and the Oblivion Express.  Skip Jones’s review described the scene as “half price drinks, thick smoke, and loud, loud music.”
At 11:00 Auger appeared and the crowd ate up the British organ and keyboard God’s performance.  Jones ended his review with “Hats off to Uncle Sam’s for some good live music and let’s all hope for more of the same.”
In the review, much was made of the difficulty Jones had in locating manager Steve McClellan in the huge building.  McClellan was quoted as saying he had only been manager there for six months.
Local heroes Jesse Brady opened the show.  Jesse Brady was moving into something called “sophistarock,” or maybe “half-baked,” although it made no difference to the girls in front.
+(Review:  Insider, August 1976)

On September 1, 1976, the drinking age in Minnesota was raised from 18 to 19, with previously enfranchised 18-year-olds grandfathered in.

Mystery Mondays:

October 10, 1976:  Berlin and Raggs54
October 24, 1976:  Visage
October 25, 1976:  Jesse Brady

One good hint of when disco came to Uncle Sam’s Is Jon Bream’s article, “Discos: ‘Dancing Madness’ – It Goes Bump in the Nightlife,” Published in Two Parts in the Minneapolis Star on October 13, 1976.

On October 13, 1976, Bream wrote an analysis and history of the music. He wrote that the phenomenon started on the east coast two years earlier, had finally made it to the Twin Cities, and that over a dozen full-time discos were prospering locally. He traced the first disco music to the summer of 1974.

CR also cites 1974 as the advent of the “first big wave of disco hits,” with songs such as:

• “Kung Fu Fighting” by Carl Douglas
• “Don’t Rock the Boat” by the Hues Corporation
• “Waterloo,” by ABBA
• “Rock Your Baby” by George McCrae
• “Never Can Say Goodbye,” by Gloria Gaynor

On October 14, 1976, Bream profiled 11 full-time local discos, including Uncle Sam’s:

Admission:  $1
Drinks:  About $1

Uncle Sam’s is a sensory experience.  Patrons are blitzed by thunderous music, slide shows, films, a revolving, mirrored ball, a panoply of blinking lights, colored lights shining underneath an elevated, translucent dance floor and a drummer who plays along with the music.

Uncle Sam’s downtown’s biggest bar, is easily the largest disco in town. It’s where the action is for the white, under-25, blue-jean crowd. The huge place, which is a converted bus depot, is usually packed on weekends. People come to dance, play in the game-room (Foosball, pinball and pool are available), drink or talk in the plexiglass-enclosed, almost soundproof balcony.

Uncle Sam’s musical selection seems more dance-oriented than disco-chart oriented. Included are top 40 disco hits by such performers as K.C. and the Sunshine Band and Silver Convention as well as rock classics by the likes of Led Zeppelin and Aerosmith.

Brian Auger and Oblivion Express made a repeat performance, opened by Lamont Cranston.

A review by Harvey Ginsberg (December 3, 1976) complained that Lamont Cranston’s opening set was “overextended” and that Auger was delayed by an hour due to sound difficulties:  “both the beer and music were becoming flat and the pack’em-to-the rafters policy of the club was causing more aggravation than excitement.”

But when things were straightened out, the band gave out with a 90-minute set starting with “Brain Damage,” that those kids are probably feeling today.  Or at least eardrum damage.  The band included Jack Mills on guitar, Clive Sharmer on bass,  Auger on Hammond organ and electric piano, Mike Clark on drums, and Lenox Langton on congas, with Alex Ligertwood on vocals.

In November 1976, Minneapolis police were allowed to moonlight as bouncers at clubs but not at the Flame, Moby Dick’s, or Uncle Sam’s.  “They cater to kind of a wild crowd,” the Deputy Police Chief was quoted as saying.  (Minneapolis Star, November 29, 1976).

The Dangers of Naming Your Band After Its Members Is Demonstrated Here – What Happened to Reynolds? Wikipedia: “the Group First Hit the Charts in 1971 With ‘Don’t Pull Your Love.’ Reynolds Left the Group in Late 1972, and Was Replaced by Keyboardist Alan Dennison, but the Band Kept the Name ‘Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds’ Until 1976. This Revised Line-up Performed the Group’s Biggest Hit, 1975’s ‘Fallin’ in Love.’ the Headliners Played Two 45-minute Sets, Reported the Insider. the Show Was Opened by Stone Ground.

W.H.I.M. Was a Telephone Service Where You Could Call and Find Something to Do.

Revolver performed at Uncle Sam’s on January 30, 1977

Tornader was apparently a group from spain that specialized in “jazz-funk, soul, disco” on their 1977 lp “hit it again,” according to discogs. Laura fissinger of the insider reviewed the show and was deeply disappointed in tornader, although apparently not as much as in opener vissage, which she called “local purveyors of metal ineptitude.” ouch.

Uncle Sam’s went all out to promote its theme. Corporate in Ohio even sent an Uncle Sam’s costume, which was usually worn by Stan Himes. Here’s Stan in 1977:

Laura Fissinger’s review had a fair amount of criticism of the band and its current LP, but high praise for lead singer Steve McLoone, “who looks more like a state U fraternity boy than the laudable pop singer he is.”  Both his stage presence and vocal delivery had “sparkly exuberance,” she noted, and she said that “If this guy doesn’t get a chance to croon over America’s car radios it will really be a shame.  His is the perfect pop-rock voice.”   (Insider, January/February 1978)

Disco got a kick in the hot pants with the release of the film “Saturday Night Fever” on December 16, 1977. The movie was originally shown in just a few theaters as shown in the ad below.

Thanks to Johnny Rey, who posted this ticket that tells us of this fabulous event starring four ** count ’em ** four bands! For $1!!

• Star-Flight
• Sterling
• Flamingo (Johnny’s band)
• Visage

A group called Mind and Matter performed at Uncle Sam’s in about October 1978. Members of the group include Turhan Bey (not the movie star from the ’40s) and Ira “Smitty” Smith. A 19-year-old Jimmy Jam was in the band.  The performance was taped and shown on the first episode of a KSTP program called “Steamroller,” hosted by Marc Goldstein and Molly Lynch.  The episode was aired on December 22, 1978, and can be seen Here.  Thank you to show producer Ossian Or for the information on the show!  I found a few other performances of Mind and Matter ranging from 1976 to 1979.

Jesse Brady
Steve McClellan remembered booking Nick Glider and Starbuck in 1978, but nothing came up in the Strib database.  (Matos)

Things were apparently getting weird; in an article about Hennepin ave., Uncle Sam’s was described as “the kind of place where you might have thought the girl in the giant bunny ears was strange until you realized that she was dancing with a guy in a diaper.” it was Halloween, after all! (Minneapolis Star, October 30, 1978)

On March 17, 1979, DJ Kevin Cole refused to beat a tambourine and blow a whistle while he spun records, so he was fired. He was replaced by Roy Freedom (nee Freid), from the Rickshaw room at Howard Wong’s on 494. Freedom immediately hired Cole as his backup. (30th)

These were the days when the DJ booth was front and center on the stage.

The Easter Hop Was a Big Enough Affair to Merit These Cool Invitations!

To further the “Disco Sucks” Movement, It was announced that Wednesdays would be set aside for live bands. Those listed in the ad below were:

June 13, 1979:  Flamingo, Hypstrz, and Fingerprints
June 20, 1979:  Judd, Chameleon, Dare Force
June 27:  Willie & the Bees, Shangoya, and the Radio Rangers
Other promised bands included Daisy Dillman, the Wolverines, Rio Nido, Lamont Cranston, and Brainiac.

Featuring a Laser Light Show

September 12, 1979:  Jesse Brady with Fairchild
September 19, 1979:  Daisy Dillman with Special Blend
September 26, 1979:  Mission Mountain Wood Band, and introducing Tune

October 31, 1979:  Daisy Dillman

November 27, 1979:  Daisy Dillman with Caribou

KMOJ and KFAI held a benefit to “cure the winter blahs” and raise money for the two non-profit radio stations.

Performers were Willie and the Bees, Vicky Mountain, and the John Einweck Band.

November 28, 1979 was the first of three times the Ramones came to the venue before it became First Avenue, although it was not the band’s first appearance in Minneapolis.  Jon Bream found the first 30 minutes fun, but after that the show got boring.  (Review December 4, 1979).   The Hypsterz opened the show.
Although it wasn’t a planned or cut-and-dried transformation, Chris Riemenschneider pinpointed this night as the one that began the end of Disco’s hold on Uncle Sam’s (Star Tribune, October 28, 2017):

[A] pivotal turning point came Nov. 28, 1979, when four black-leathered punk rockers from Queens broke through the flashy red-white-and-blue Uncle Sam’s sheen and destroyed the disco era at the club.

. . .

Longtime house DJ Kevin Cole also considers the Ramones gig the big-bang moment for the club’s post-disco existence. “It meant a lot,” recalled Cole, one of the hip record-store clerks helping McClellan steer the club into its new incarnation. “To have them in our venue was remarkable, and it sold out! We were onto something.”

November 29, 1979:  Pat Benatar, opened by Curtiss A

Disc jockeys Roy Freedom and Kevin Cole Were encouraging the transition to what was then being called “New Wave” music, as evidenced by these special shows they hosted on November 30 and December 1, 1979.

December 1979: Tuesdays Were Ladies Nights, With Fashion Shows and Male Dancers.

December 5, 1979:  Whiskey River with the North Country Band
December 26, 1979:  Whiskey River with Daisy Dillman

January 21, 1980:  Overtones, New Psychenauts, Hypsterz
January 23, 1980:  Dare Force, with Jiggs Lee and Fragile, Dame

Perhaps as a Retaliation for the Wet T-shirt Contests and Other Mysoginist Goings on at the Club, Someone Though to Bring in an All-male Revue on Tuesdays to Give the Ladies Some Fun. Imagine the Situation at 9:30 When the Guys Were Let in and the Women Were All Loosened Up on 50 Cent Drinks. Uh Oh.

January 30, 1980:  Johnny Holm, with Gadband and Home Free
February 6, 1980:  Tommy James   Postponed to May 29, 1980
Mid-March, 1980:  Mud Wrestling came to Uncle Sam’s

Gang War Included Johnny Thunders of the New York Dolls and Wayne Kramer of the Mc5. Gang War Would Return in October.

April 16 and 18, 1980

(Minneapolis Star): Disco Was Dying, and Clubs Were Trying New Things.

Sam’s Schedule of Events:

• Mondays:  Women mud wrestling
• Tuesdays:  Male dancers
• Wednesdays:  Rock ‘n’ Roll Revival
• Weekends:  Two-for-one drinks/Disco

May 14, 1980:  Angel City
May 25, 1980:  The Romantics
May 28, 1980:  Shakers

Don Engebretson on trombone; Roger ? on sax; Garrison White; Scott Brooks; Paul ? on drums; David Foley on bass.