“Jimmy was an extremely important part in our entire process over the years,” says Phelps. Though New Haven was seen as a secondary market, the level of acts became significantly more high-profile because of Koplik’s association with the music industry and its artists. Because record-keeping was not comprehensive over the decades, Phelps can only estimate that Beaver Brown and Tower of Power played at Toad’s more than any other act.Īnother reason for Toad’s success was its ability to book name bands, and that was due to the club’s association with rock promoter Jimmy Koplik, who was producing shows at the New Haven Coliseum and other arenas, stadiums, and festivals. (At the time, the drinking age was 18.) The following year, Spoerndle bought out his partners and Phelps, who ran a karate studio above Cutler’s Record Store on Broadway, came in as manager for the re-configured space.Įarly bookings featured such regional acts as the Simms Brothers, John Cafferty and Beaver Brown, the Scratch Band, the Helium Brothers, Roomful of Blues, Jake and the Family Jewels, Tower of Power, the Shaboo All-Stars, and folk singer Randy Burns. Spoerndle - a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, which was located in New Haven at the time - and two friends opened the new eatery in 1975.īut it wasn’t exactly packing them in, and that’s when Spoerndle figured what young people in this college town really wanted was a place to hang out, listen to music, dance - and drink. Toad’s (the “Place” in its name is usually dropped in conversation) began in 1975 not as a nightclub but as a casual restaurant in the building that once housed the burger joint, Hungry Charlie’s. “We became a full music spectrum type of club, playing all different genres of music.” He also says the club avoided being pigeon-holed as one particular type of nightspot. “We tried to adapt to what was going on in the music world,” says Phelps, as one of reasons for the club’s longevity. He began at Toad’s in his early 20s in the ‘70s as manager of the club, before becoming partners with its original owner Mike Spoerndle, until taking over as full owner in the mid-‘90s. “After telling friends stories over the years, people would say I should really write a book before I start forgetting everything that occurred at the club over the decades,” says the New Haven born-Phelps, 67. It has weathered management dramas, out-maneuvered Yale for ownership of the building, and adapted to a dramatically changing music industry as well as ever-new musical tastes. Written by the club’s long-time owner Brian Phelps and former New Haven Register columnist Randall Beach, the book is an affectionate look back at the colorful life of a venue that has survived the test of many musical times.Īs it enters its sixth decade, it has survived and flourished while other clubs have shuttered. It’s become as much a New Haven institution filled with tradition and memories as its next-door neighbor, Yale’s staid watering hole, Mory’s.Ī new book - The Legendary Toad’s Place (Globe Pequot Press) - chronicles the club’s nearly half century of entertainment and drama, on stage and off, including performances by Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones, and Billy Joel. Bands still rock, crowds still dance, and now multiple generations of music lovers can claim the club as a part of their forever-young history. Though its hand-painted poster boards promoting upcoming shows have been replaced with electronic signage and its interior has been expanded and spiffed up, the basic vibe remains the same. The two-story venue on York Street still has its long green awning, red brick walls, and iconic logo of a spats-wearing, monocled amphibian dandy strutting his stuff. New book chronicles New Haven club that drew Springsteen, Dylan, and the Rolling Stonesįrom the outside, little has changed at Toad’s Place over its 45 years as a downtown New Haven nightclub, presenting jazz, blues, reggae, pop, hip-hop, rap, and rock performers who range from those just starting out to Rock ’n’ Roll Hall of Famers.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |