Twelve Years of Dancin' and Drinkin'

By Tankboy in Arts & Entertainment on Jan 19, 2007 6:49PM

We heart Club Foot. We might be a little biased since, years and years ago, you could find us checking IDs and slinging the occasional drink there, but we’re reasonably sure that the bar is pretty easy for anyone to fall in love with. We don’t know if it’s the walls festooned with equal parts toys and rock and/or roll memorabilia, or the crowds hungry to have fun, or the kick ass tunes the rotating cast of DJs always seem to sling, that make the place such a personal hit, but we do know there’s no other place like it in the city.

Owner Chuck Uchida is well known as a respected local recording engineer (having recorded albums by everyone from The Old 97's to The Bollweevils) and his partner Lauree was a prominent figure in the city’s burgeoning punk rock scene way back when there was a burgeoning punk rock scene. They originally opened the club to give folks a destination filled with cheap beer and no pretension. Their lonely outpost at Augusta and Honore wasn’t really near anything – this being before Wicker Park began to explode – so for a while the bar just barely held on. The communal spirit of both the staff and the patrons pulled them through the lean years, and with the rediscovery of both mod and danceable rock and/or roll (and, to be honest, the gentrification of Wicker Park certainly didn’t hurt their end-of-evening sales tallies) Club Foot was finally rewarded with a new found popularity.

Club Foot continues their community spirit by celebrating a number of events each year – everything from KISSmas to reunions of legendary local punk rock DJs – but tomorrow night they celebrate a real milestone; Saturday night will be the club’s 12th anniversary party. Twelve years. Wow, we feel kinda old. Anyway, we’ve been forewarned that there will be LOTS of giveaways (and their giveaways never disappoint) as well as a tag-team series of DJs connected to the bar. So show up, buy Uchida a shot of Jagermeister, and celebrate a rare case of the good guys actually coming out on top for once.