23 April 2008

Nineties nostalgia: The Boardroom Belconnen

23 April 2008 | By Bam Bam

Off the back of the recent “Best and Worst canberra bands” post, here’s a couple of bits of footage of the Boardroom in Belco March 6th 1999. The bands featured are Load and Headvendormachine and there’s members of Retroflex jumping around in the crowd too. Garry Peadon of the Greenroom is also in there sporting his sleek short back and sides hairdo. The venue is now long gone having been part of the Cameron Offices which were torn down. many crazy nights were had here. It was sad to see it go.

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niftydog8:44 am 28 Apr 08

Hey Niftydog.. your name reminds me of another band… Niftykeentypedog. Was that your aforementioned band? if so, I remember seeing you guys play at Mooseheads.

Yup, that was us. I think we only did one gig there – upstairs from memory – might have even been for a friends birthday actually. Must have made a good impression for you to have remembered the name all this time!

peter@home1:31 am 25 Apr 08

MelonHead said :

Nostalgia…who remembers the amazing Belconnen Bar Scene on the aptly named Weedon Close? Blind Beggars, The Leather Bottle/Hungry Horse, The Pot Belly, and lastly for those who had possibly not quite reached the legal age for a bar, Captain Kiddies?
And those salubrious watering holes, the suburban taverns. Page,Fraser,Giralang,Kippax,to remember a few. Ahh the good ol’ days in the North. Then there was the Carasello.
Lastly how could we forget the Hunters Tavern?

Oh, I remember, you got kicked out of the labor club at closing after “friday singles party night”, staggered up to the beggars and stayed there till it closed, crawled to the hungry horse, had a roast pork roll (how did I manage it) and stayed there till they closed and the sun was coming up. I never could remember how I got home, but I think I was walking….

MelonHead10:18 pm 24 Apr 08

The Carasello and The Piano Bar and the IronBar Bar were among the highlights of a night out in Colbee Court and surrounding streets. I can’t remember the others.

The Hunters Tavern was next to the roundabout at the intersection of Wentworth Ave and Canberra Ave. There is a block of units on the site now. It was next to another well known dump, the Captain Cook Hotel. Also long since gone.

Darcy’s Den is now known as the Basement. Darcy’s used to specialise in skimpy/topless wait staff (then known as “barmaids”)

Yes, who could forget Wednesday nights at the Parachute Club?

One of the last places I really enjoyed a night out was Dorettes upstairs in Civic. Alas old age has set in and now it is an event to do this sort of thing.

Lastly there was The Subway. Not a six inch roll to be seen, but lots of people well short of a picnic. It was down stairs in Garema Place under CDP. That is all from me.

Felix the Cat8:48 pm 24 Apr 08

Not a pub but a place I spent most of my mispent youth – Hyperspace. Along with Pot Black and Pot Jap (the name was made up by a bunch of my mates, a pisstake on Pot Black. It was an amusement centre in Page run by Asian guy called Johnny.

Felix the Cat8:42 pm 24 Apr 08

MelonHead said :

Nostalgia…who remembers the amazing Belconnen Bar Scene on the aptly named Weedon Close? Blind Beggars, The Leather Bottle/Hungry Horse, The Pot Belly, and lastly for those who had possibly not quite reached the legal age for a bar, Captain Kiddies?
And those salubrious watering holes, the suburban taverns. Page,Fraser,Giralang,Kippax,to remember a few. Ahh the good ol’ days in the North. Then there was the Carasello.
Lastly how could we forget the Hunters Tavern?

Some memories there! I used to love Captain Kiddies! Where was the Carasello, I’ve forgotten? Never heard of Hunters Tavern.

What about Darcys Den up the road in Belconnen (can’t remember what it’s called now?). You forgot to mention the Parachute (Labour) Club. So called because mostly every guy that went there got a “jump”!

Another good one was Civic Hotel (?) that was in Civic in what is now the bus interchange. And the Ethos Hotel in Dickson. Then there was the Workies Club in Civic, used to have good bands upstairs (drinks cost twice as much though).

And who could forget The (Private) Bin.

Danman2:22 pm 24 Apr 08

Las vegas in Belco

astrojax1:07 pm 24 Apr 08

damn you all – i played at nearly all these places – used to sometimes sit in at the blues jam at the boardroom; played asylum a few times and the terminus before f**kin’ crappucino place terminated it.

what about the iron bar in woden – still there?

MelonHead7:42 am 24 Apr 08

Nostalgia…who remembers the amazing Belconnen Bar Scene on the aptly named Weedon Close? Blind Beggars, The Leather Bottle/Hungry Horse, The Pot Belly, and lastly for those who had possibly not quite reached the legal age for a bar, Captain Kiddies?
And those salubrious watering holes, the suburban taverns. Page,Fraser,Giralang,Kippax,to remember a few. Ahh the good ol’ days in the North. Then there was the Carasello.
Lastly how could we forget the Hunters Tavern?

Bam Bam5:29 pm 23 Apr 08

… I was at that Cartoon gig at the Asylum too. I’ve still got my “Bendy Wendy the Man” single that I bought there.

Bam Bam5:18 pm 23 Apr 08

Hey Niftydog.. your name reminds me of another band… Niftykeentypedog. Was that your aforementioned band? if so, I remember seeing you guys play at Mooseheads.

niftydog5:06 pm 23 Apr 08

Jebus, way to make me feel old, guys!

Boardie: had a birthday there – might have been my 21st actually, my band played while my family watched awkwardly from amongst the wierdos. We cleverly bought a big bottle of Galiano one night – my mate spent about 3 hours dry retching in the bushes outside. Good times…

Terrace bar: First ever gig my first band played was there. With Gup, anyone remember Gup Sound. Dude was as deaf as a post! I’m sure a few friends almost lost an arm to his dog if they strayed too close to his truck.

Asylum: THIS PLACE WAS THE BOMB! Man we had some awesome gigs there! We supported Cartoon there, anyone remember them? We kicked their butts actually. One vivid memory of unloading the cars in the alley out the back – a couple spilled out of the private bin and started having sex right on the stair case in front of us! One of my earliest gig-memories was getting snuck in to see my brothers band play at the Asylum. Appropriate name too – I’m sure the carpet was made of bubblegum and the walls were made of grime and hair glued together with sweat.

Gypsy bar: First thing that springs to mind was scoring pot for Skunkhour! Then there was that chick behind the bar that got hit on by every second dude in the place – man she was tough as they come and damn cute too boot! Me and a mate fed the juke box about $30 one night and put on three CD’s worth of utter shite like Brittany Spears and then left them to it. Must’ve been piss-funny at the time. Ah kids…

Finnigans/Rock ape: HA! My first bands LAST gig was there! That was a funny old place, especially in the early days of the Rock Ape where the bar staff would be sent out with cash from the till to buy a few cases of beer! Some nights all you could buy was VB! But in the early days some of the tradies and other regulars hung around when the bands started. I almost pissed myself laughing watching this old couple dancing to our band one night. And Tony was the best god damned sound man we ever had with the shittiest gear we ever saw! Bloody legend.

Terminus: Oh… Alchemist… oh… what a gig! What a wasted space, eh? That place had it going on, but the bloody new tenants upstairs put an end to it. Same with the Asylum. Such a shame.