They don't come much more classic than the Cavern Club in Liverpool, of course, the world famous music venue where a little known band known as The.
For Beatles fans – or at least this lifelong one – the thought of traveling back in time to see the band in its early days at The Star Club in Hamburg or, better yet, the legendary subterranean Cavern Club in Liverpool is alluring.The Star Club closed in 1969 and burned 18 years later. The Cavern – at which the Beatles played nearly 300 times, including their earliest appearance as the Quarrymen in 1957 – was demolished in 1973, its underground arches filled with the rubble from the building above. A on the site in 1984 using some of the bricks from its predecessor.Milwaukeeans might not realize it, but in an unassuming low-slung office building at 510 Hartbrook Dr., adjacent to a strip mall in Hartland, 25 miles west of Brew City, local technology entrepreneur and Dave Meister has built his own replica of The Cavern Club, using whatever specifications he could muster.(PHOTO: CavernClub.org)Meister owns Milwaukee-based ISC International, a software company.The result is quite astonishing.The process started when Meister had some empty first-floor office space in the building.' At that time we didn't have tenants coming in,' says Meister. 'It was a big mess, so we were going to white box it anyway. I kept saying, 'Well, you know what I should do? I should bring my pool table from home and bring it over here and then have a little stage for my son, who plays guitar.
I'll come over here and the staff can come watch the Packers game. Then, 'Maybe I should add a kitchen in here.
And maybe I should do this and that' and then all of a sudden, it got bigger.' Meister installed that beautiful kitchen, and then built a jazz club, called Blue Sky, that he hopes will be a venue where music teachers and musicologists can offer lessons and lectures to young people interested in learning to play an instrument and/or learning about the history of jazz and rock.He's created, a 501(c)(3) non-profit, as a means for making this all happen.The kitchen and jazz club have great modern features. The decor is lavish and so are the sound system in the club and the appliances in the kitchen. Big screen televisions are hidden behind remote-controlled panels. A similar system controls the window shades. Artwork salutes Ella Fitzgerald and the 1920 jazz era in New York City.' The Jazz Club is for charity events and for students,' says Meister.
'I want the students to learn about the history of music, and not lose the standards that we have from Rodgers and Hart, and Irving Berlin, and Duke Ellington, and Ella Fitzgerald. To know about that, to play (those) songs in that venue. The way they played them back then.' And then the same way with rock and roll downstairs,' Meister adds. 'I thought, 'Why not do the Cavern Club downstairs?
What the heck? It would be perfect.' Because it's right below. And that's what it evolved into. I got an architect to draw up the actual arches and vaults.' I got the guitars and I found this violin bass, a Hofner. McCartney played that.
(Then I learned about) The Cavern Club. Oh, it's in Liverpool. I started understanding about the history of where they came from and what they were doing. I just started researching more and more and hopefully I got the right specifications for the original Cavern Club that was torn down in the '70s. I found the brick that was close to it, and then I rebuilt it.'
A post shared by (@onmilwaukee) on Jan 16, 2018 at 5:52am PSTMeister tapped Chicago's Laurence Jones and Watertown-based to design the project, and the masonry was done by Dennis Grimm and his sons Barry and Casey.This Cavern Club is a little smaller than the original, Meister says, because of limitations presented by the building it was retrofitted into.' I researched the specifications available to me and I went by those specifications as true as I could,' he says. 'I couldn't get the height exactly right.
I was limited by the trusses in the basement. The width had to be proportioned to what the height is, so it's a little bit smaller.' There's a bar along one side, which has a fridge that looks like an old British phone booth, and bar tables fill the dance floor. There are lights nestled in the arches to create an evocative mood.Though Meister has never visited the Cavern recreation in Liverpool, he hopes to get there soon.' That's on my list,' he says. 'And hopefully next year, I think in August they have Beatles week out there. I'll take my sons along with me if they want to go.'
Another goal of Meister's is to get McCartney himself to visit. The former Beatle has visited and performed at the recreated Cavern Club in Liverpool.'
If he understands what we've got here, he might want to just come here. Not for a performance or anything.' To that end, Meister passed along photographs of the place when he met McCartney's guitarist and drummer Rusty Anderson and Abe Laboriel Jr.But, of course, Meister's bigger goal is to share the space with non-profits and raise money to fund programming for aspiring young musicians. Though he's clearly shown his commitment by creating these remarkable spaces, he says he can't do the rest alone.' I'll talk to local musicians, whether be it jazz or rock and roll, and get their feelings on how to participate in it, and talk to teachers both in the public sector, and private instruction teachers, (and say) 'how can we work this out?' 'I don't expect them to donate all their time and everything to do this, but if they have a passion for doing it, we can get people that want to support this, to come in and pay for that. Then scholarships come from that, too.
If you've got students that are really passionate and talented, they need scholarships.' In the end, Meister hopes that his Blue Sky Jazz Club and recreated Cavern Club will inspire young people and fuel their passion for music.' I hope that this is where people can just forget about the outside, maybe feel like they're part of movie set, or that they're coming in here and they're part of the performance. Hopefully they say, 'Yeah, this is kind of place that I want to perform in. I'd like to be a professional musician.' 'And even if their dad says, 'Be an electrician, be a plumber, be a doctor, be a lawyer,' but they've got a passion for music. Because you only live once in this life, and that's why (I) say, 'As long as you believe in yourself, you can go as far as your dreams.'
You have to believe in yourself to get going, but then you have to have people that believe in you, too.' Tags:, Talkbacks.Facebook CommentsDisclaimer: Please note that Facebook comments are posted through Facebook and cannot be approved, edited or declined by OnMilwaukee.com. The opinions expressed in Facebook comments do not necessarily reflect those of OnMilwaukee.com or its staff.
Image copyright Le Caveau de la Huchett Image captionThe Cavern was inspired by a Paris jazz clubPeter Morris was a friend of the club's first owner, Alan Sytner, who modelled the basement venue on Le Caveau de la Huchette - a jazz place he'd seen in Paris.He recalled how they were drinking at The Grapes pub in Mathew Street when the idea was formed.' Alan said, 'We should have a place like Le Caveau'.
He said, 'I'd love to find a place, like a basement or something'.' We came out of the pub and one of us said, 'Hey Alan, what about that place there?' And there was a sign that said 'Basement For Sale, Or Let'. 'The next day we met up again for a pint at lunch time and Alan said, 'Got that place. I've bought it'.' Peter recalled how Alan's vision for the club, which opened on 16 January 1957, involved some questionable manual labour.' It was actually three rooms, and Alan said, 'What we need is one big room, so these walls will have to come down'.
He said, 'I'll get the sledgehammers and a barrel of ale, and we'll all go down one night and knock these walls down'.' Just thinking about it afterwards, you know, the whole thing could have come down on top of us.' 'They're all leaving'.
Image copyright Getty Images Image captionRegulars at the club often did the Cavern Stomp, a jive which involved holding your hands lowColin Hanton was the drummer with John Lennon's skiffle group, The Quarrymen - a precursor to The Beatles.He remembered how the jazz club's owners were less than impressed with their set in 1958.' John had done a couple of rock and roll numbers and someone passed him a folded piece of paper. So John said over the microphone, 'Oh, we have a request from the audience'.'
He opened it up and it said, 'Do not do any more rock n' roll, signed the management'. Apparently we weren't the only band that got that kind of note.' But rock and roll was coming, you know? It was like King Canute trying to hold back the waves.' The more we played rock and roll the more people got up and left and John was quite beside himself.
He turned to me and said, 'They're all leaving, I can't believe it'.' Here's our Cilla'. Image copyright The Cavern Club/BBC Image captionGerry Marsden said the club used to be packedBy 1960, the - whose bankruptcy forced its temporary closure in 1966 - had abandoned the venue's jazz roots for rock 'n' roll.He would help launch the careers of many Merseybeat bands, including The Beatles, who played their first Cavern gig in 1961.Gerry Marsden, lead singer of Gerry and the Pacemakers, remembered the club as a popular spot which shone a spotlight on then-cloakroom attendant, Cilla Black.' We would play alternate days with The Beatles.
It used to be packed - all the girls would come from the offices and the lads would all come in at lunchtime.' Cilla asked, 'Can I sing?' 'Yep come on, get up. Here's our Cilla'.' And that was it.
She just got up and did it and a star was born.' Image copyright Getty Images Image captionDebbie Greenberg said there was so many people there condensation would run down the wallsFor Cavern regular Debbie Greenberg, the anticipation started above ground.' We would queue up in Mathew Street waiting to go in and you could hear the 'throb, throb, throb' of the beat inside.'
There was a small opening to get in and 18 stone steps to go down. And there'd be a guy sitting at a wooden table taking the money as you went in.' You'd pay your shilling to get in and then you'd be part of the excitement.' Image copyright Getty Images Image captionPeople used to queue along Mathew Street to get into the clubBut it wasn't just the thrill of the music and the bands that made an impression.'
It was a smelly place, because there were no drains, no main drains, just a cesspit under the toilets, and the cleaners used to top it up with disinfectant every day.' There would be condensation running down the walls, everybody would be perspiring because it was so hot in there, it was like a steam bath.'
But that was what made it The Cavern.' Image copyright Cavern Club - The Inside Story/BBC Image captionDebbie Greenberg saw life at the Cavern from both sides, as a regular and later as the daughter of the ownerThe Cavern would became an even bigger fixture in her life when her father Alf Geoghegan bought it in the late 1960s.' Dad came to me and said 'I've got a chance of buying the Cavern, what do you think?' Well, you offer a child a key to a sweet shop it's not going to say no.'
Paul McCartney turned up once and said: 'I've got my new girlfriend in the car outside, and I'd like to bring her back and show her where it all began'.' They came in and she took a photograph of me with Paul.'
'It changed my life'. Image copyright Getty Images Image captionThe Cavern put on countless Liverpool acts, including the MerseybeatsBilly Kinsey, lead singer of The Merseybeats, also recalled the cellar's strange aroma - 'horrible smell, very distinctive'.But despite its dungeon-like qualities, he credits the club with shaping the course of his life.' I knew the minute I saw The Beatles playing on the Cavern - that's what I wanted to be, a professional musician.' And three days later I left school. I became a professional musician, which I still am.'
It changed my life. It absolutely changed my life.'