Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (March 3, 2000)
>: i y-v ? following is a Brief list ofevents ibis weekend. For more information, call the venue. CONCERTS: Duffy’s Tavern, 1412 0St. (402) 4?4-3543 isf ■ > Sunday: Ruth Buzzi, Drive By Honky, The 45 ' Duggan’s Pub, 440 S. 11th St. (477-3513) Friday and Saturday: The Wrex Sunday: Dexter Groves First Plymouth, 20th and D streets (402) 476-9933 Sunday: “Revelation - 1000 to 2000” Kimball Hall, 11th and R streets (402) 472-4747 Sunday: Clark Potter Knickerbocker’s, 901 OSt. (402)476-6865 Friday: Sunjack Saturday: The Mediums, Miss Ogyny, W.T. Lied Center for Performing Arts, 310 N. 12th St. (402)472-4747 Saturday: “Broadway Classics” O’Donnell Auditorium, 50th and Huntington streets (402)465-2319 Sunday: Symphonic Band Concert (after noon performance), All-City High School Orchestra Night (evening performance) The Ranch Bowl Entertainment Center, 1600 S. 72nd St., Omaha (402) 393-0900 Saturday: Afta Lyfe, Lo-Key, Cristyles, Angel, Lady Rosha, M.O. Caiaus, the Mayhem family, Trump Thight, DJ Tirlskillz, James Flames Royal Grove, 340 W. Comhusker Highway (402)474-2332 Friday: Maniacal Saturday: Black Light Sunshine The Zoo Bar, 136 N. 14th St. (402) 435-8754 All weekend: Lil’ Slim and the Back Alley Blues Band danCeW Auld Pavilion, in Antelope Park, 3140 Sumner St. Saturday: Irish Ceili Dance with Paddywhack Trio THEATER: Lincoln Community Playhouse, 2500 S. 56th St. (402) 489-7529 All weekend: “Three Little Pigs Out West” Mary Riepma Ross Film Theater, 12th and R streets (402) 472-2461 Friday and Saturday: “Tumbleweeds” Sunday: “Same Old Song” McDonald Theatre, 51st and Huntington streets (402) 465-2384 Friday: “Dona Rosita’s Jalapeno Kitchen” GALLERIES: Burkholder Project, 719 P St. (402) 477-3305 All weekend: John Nollendorfs, Avery Woods, Richard Terrell Haydon Gallery, 335 N. Eighth St. (402) 475-5421 All weekend: Nancy Palmeri Noyes Gallery, 119 S. Ninth St. (402) 475-1061 All weekend: Nebraska Mothers Association Annual Creative Arts Exhibition, Tony Guido, Jeanette Nakada Rotunda Gallery, Nebraska Union, 14th and R streets (402) 472-2631 All weekend: Undergraduate Studio Art Survey Exhibition The Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery, 12th and R streets (402) 472-2461 All weekend: UNL MFA Faculty Biennial, MFA Portfolio: “Past and Present,” “Parallel Perspectives: Early 20th Century American Art” The Venue, 1247 S. 11th St. (402) 475-8368 All weekend: “Taste of Kansas City:” Barb Wishnow Jacobs, Jane Booth, Tera Dawley Duffy’s Fishbowls, Shithook keep students coming back DUFFY’S from page 9 group of older people who came in dur ing the afternoons but turned into a col lege hangout in the evenings. “Thursday night was tremendous for us,” she said. She said the bartenders consisted of a lot of college students, mainly frater nity guys. ‘ “It was a great place for the time,” she said. “We had a bunch of younger waitresses, and Hank.” Henrietta Ogg, nicknamed “Hank,” worked at%b^$pm l^ljmtflj&bput a year ago. During Cole’s ownership, there was a pizza place next door, where Duffy’s band room is now. Cole bought out the lease from the pizza place - he wanted people to be able to eat pizza and also to have drinks if they so chose. Eventually, the pizza place was turned into a restaurant that served truck-stop food. In 1985, Cole decided to sell Duffy’s. Reg McMeen and his partner were bartenders at the time. The bar they worked at, Alexandria 2112, was strug gling, which gave them the motivation to get out and start their own business. Not being familiar with the bar, McMeen said he and his partner went to check it out one day. cally in love with the place,” McMeen said. “It was filthy and dark and half the lights didn’t work.” The two made their decision when they sat down at the bar. “We had a couple of Hank’s Kamikazes and decided that we had to do it,” he said. “It’s going to be a great time.” The two scraped up some money and a few business partners, and their liquor license was obtained on Nov. 1, 1986. It was then that Duffy’s began to be molded into what it is today. McMeen said one of the new own ers’ inspirations came from a bar he hung out at when he was a graduate stu dent at the University of Nebraska Lincoln called Horse Feathers. “It was kind of a hole in the wall you could get lost in for a couple of hours and really enjoy yourself,” he said. “The experiences in that bar led me to believe that a little tavern like this is perfect for the kind of clientele that doesn’t want to be at a dance club or trendy place. “I wanted the kind of place that challenges one a little bit intellectually in the arts, yet at the same time is a nice, quiet place to kind of get away from the world for a while.” Shortly after McMeen and his part ners purchased the bar, the restaurant serving truck-stop food next door ^ I wanted the kind of place that challenges one a little bit intellectually in the arts, yet at the same time is a nice quiet place to kind of get away from the world for a while.” Reg McMeen owner, Duffy’s Tavern closed. The Duffy’s owners decided to turn that area into an entertainment room, and still have a kitchen. The kitchen didn’t go over well, but McMeen said the weekend bar crowd was exploding, and they needed the extra space for the overflow of people. The special then was an $.85 Corona Special on Thursdays, which was a crowd-pleaser, McMeen said. The Fishbowl also was bom around this time. He said they got the idea from some friends who had seen it on an air force base in North or South Dakota. The Fishbowl is any mixed drink a person may want served in a fishbowl with a bunch of straws sticking out. Duffy’s has invented a few recipes, the Red Snapper being one of the crowd favorites. Aside from the intoxicants, McMeen said the bar began to work to promote local performers, as well as to bring in bands passing through town to play in their new entertainment room. The bar has featured many artists who were unknown at the time but went on to stardom. Nirvana, the Mighty Mighty Bosstones, the Flaming Lips, Henry Rollins, the Screaming Trees, Helmet and many others have graced the stage at Duffyk McMeen said in looking for acts, he tries to stay one step ahead of what is popular. He brought in groups like Nirvana before grunge exploded on the national scene, and the Mighty Mighty Bosstones played before ska music hit it big. “You bend and change with the changing alternative scene,” McMeen said. Duffy’s comedy workshop has fea tured such comedians as Tim Allen, star of “Home Improvement,” and Pat Hazell, who wrote for and made appearances on “Seinfeld.” “Duffy’s comedy workshop came into play because we knew there was local talent, and it gave the people an opportunity to have a stage,” he said. Memories McMeen recalled from the past 14 years include a doorman turning down R.E.M. at the door because they were accompanied by underage friends. He also tells the story of being fea tured in USA Today after capturing a police officer on tape robbing money from the bar’s safe. He also remembers being pushed and pushed to call and book an unknown group called Pearl Jam. When he finally contacted the band, they had already scheduled a tour. The agent told him maybe next time around. “Well, the next time they came around, they were huge!” McMeen said. “We just missed them.” Amidst the stories and claims to fame, Duffy’s still remains a low-key, alternative bar that thrives on its regu lars. Brad Boyd, who has tended bar at Duffy’s for four years, said overall, the bar has a comfortable, neighborhood feel where the bartenders and patrons don’t need to put up a front when talk ing to one another. “You can go to Applebee’s where everyone will kiss your butt, but that’s not what we do,” Boyd said. Kris Scott, who also has worked at Duffy’s for about four years, said the bar does have its regular crowd, yet on the weekends gets a ton of new faces. “The glaring thing is, you can be anybody in the world and have a great time at Duffy’s,” she said. “There’s great music, cheap drinks and you couldn’t feel anymore comfortable at home.” Dan Kaspari, whose band, Broken Crown, has performed at Duffy’s, said he hangs out at the bar because of the atmosphere. “It has always been a musician’s bar with a lot of regulars,” he said. “It’s a cozy place.” Despite the many changes and adjustments through four owners and changing times spanning more than half a decade, Duffy’s Tavern has retained one characteristic: It’s cozy. If one hasn’t been inside the fluo rescent beer-sign-filled windows of Duffy’s Tavern, the people inside can’t fathom why. Scott summed it up in one sentence. “People are missing out if they Ve not coming to Duffy’s.” FREE BIOLAGE WITH ANY COLOR OR PERM Get a FREE 8 oz. Biolage Detangiing Solution with any Color or Perm Service when you come in by April 22, 2000. Good only with coupon. 474-4244 Call for an appointment. Great Location • 5 Blocks South of UNL Campus • Plenty of Street Parking • Free Parking w/ Park n' Shop next door In the Carriage Park Garage Students, under direct supervision of licensed Instructors, perform all services. Haircuts $5.25 to $5.75 I College, of Hair Design IITH&MST. * BAKBtRhSC • COSMtIOLOCY * 474-4244 r \\i^ ,o\ipon and with any purchase...We>' v -i *' OFF OUR VS$ Limit one coupon per person-per day.*** Limit is $3.99 Value. Expires:-4-15-00-1’•-* * V.>» V™ Will HM.iffTOi 4690 Leighton Ave. • 467-1991 \ * * * ~ — -•»* *»♦*»«* NO LIMITS Conference Nebraska East Campus Union 3rd Floor, UNL East Campus March 3-4, 2000 Free and open to the public Feminist Visioning: Re-Imagining, Re-Creating, and Re-Telling Larry Kirkwood, 11:45 a.m. -1:45 p.m. March 3 “Beauty as a Relative Concept” Nomy Lamm, 9:00-10:15 a.m. March 4 “New Directions for the Feminist Movement” For more information, call 472-9392 Peruse the progress of A&E’s O Street bar history series. dailyneb.com