JOINTS OF THE 70's

I'm not sure what drove me to chronicle the Orlando club rock era 1973-1987. Maybe because somebody had to do it. Anyway, the history as I recall it through the haze of time follows.

Before 1972, there was no real rock club scene in Orlando. The live entertainment scene was geared to either older people or rednecks. The earliest venues for rock bands were the municipally operated "youth centers". Of course, bands playing at these places had to mind their "p's and q's" and play sanitized versions of mainstream songs. Orlando's was on N. Lake Formosa Dr. off of Princeton Ave. and Winter Park had one on Mizell St. behind Winter Park hospital. Sanford had a laughable venue on the lakefront called the "Purple Banana". There was a privately operated one on 17-92 in Casselberry called the "Oasis".

Typical Orlando 1972 youth center band --->
(photo courtesy Orlando Rock Historical Society)

About 1972, the first real club for rock music opened at Hwy 50 and Mills Ave., called Gimme Shelter. It didn't last too long however; as I recall no alcohol was served and so there was no big profit potential as we all know how bars make their money. In 1973, the Back Door on Fairbanks Ave. in Winter Park opened, featuring local and Florida regional bands (including an as yet undiscovered Tom Petty from Gainesville, with his band "Mudcrutch").

The real impetus to the mushrooming rock club scene had occurred in 1972. This was the year the Florida Legislature lowered the legal age to 18. All of a sudden, the bars were being patronized by 18 to 21 year olds (OK - 16 year olds and up with fake IDs). These newfound customers had been steeped in Led Zeppelin, Stones, Santana, and other popular bands of the era and did NOT want to cut loose at bars with bands playing insipid versions of "Tie a Yellow Ribbon" or "Misty". (Note: for the best parody of this scene ever made, find and listen to a copy of Frank Zappa and the Mothers' 1967 recording of "America Drinks and Goes Home").

The success of the Back Door led to the establishment of other rock bars, such as the Stone Apple on Hwy. 50 in Union Park in 1974. The early bars were frequently raided by law enforcement looking for an excuse to close the places down. I remember playing at the Stone Apple one night in early 1975 when one such raid took place. As many uniformed officers roamed the inside of the bar, checking everyone's ID, a police helicopter outside hovered overhead, keeping a floodlight trained on the entrance and exit.

However much the powers that be fought it, the rock bars were in town to stay, because there was a demand for them and money to be made. Of course, as time went by and elected officials themselves came to be part of the "rock and roll generation", this kind of petty harrassment stopped.

In about 1987, the legislature, under pressure from the federal government, raised the legal age back to 21. This, I believe, caused a decline in the rock bar scene, although the club owners began instituting "wristband" schemes to hold onto their under 21 customers. But by then, the so called "classic rock" format was becoming established, meaning that there would be a demand for rock venues because most of the patrons were over 30!

Here is a list of the hot clubs, bars, etc from the era:
Pitcher House - Still in business. Hwy 17-92 Maitland
Sam's Woodshed Pub - Bit the dust about ten years ago. Former owner Billy Murphy shows up at our reunions. Was located 436 at Howell Branch Rd.
Joint in the Woods - now a wicker furniture factory. Once it was a happening spot that could hold 600 people. Next to Big Tree Park near Longwood.
Edgewater and Par - Long gone, was located at, well, Edgewater and Par.
Nobody's Business - Long gone; was in a strip mall at 436 and the East West
Friar Tuck's - Ditto; was on 436 in Casselberry.
Wreck Bar (Daytona Beach,Fla.) - When we played there in 1979, there were giant posters in the front windows bragging that "Molly Hatchet" and "Lynyrd Skynyrd" had played there. They canned us after four nights because we didn't look 'rough enough'.
Chart Room (Titusville,Fla.) - Attached to the Howard Johnsons motel. Gone.
Ramada Inn (Titusville,Fla.) - Another beach gig for us locals where we could get away with anything as we were from out of town.
Decades - Was THE hangout on Park Ave in Winter Park in 80's.
Point After - still in business, now called Headlights.
Crown Lounge - now it's a furniture store in Altamonte Springs.
Silver Dome Lounge - there was at least one good bar fight every night I was at this westside joint.
Big Daddy's/Level Three Lounge - was part of a chain of rock clubs in Florida that went broke years ago. Now it's Rachel's, a "club for sophisticated gentlemen".
Brassy's (Cocoa Beach,Fla.) - Gigantic beach club built out of an old supermarket. Held 800 people easy. Uncle Sam tore it down a few years ago to build a new post office.
Fern Park Station - Has had many incarnations, usually you will find "The Legendary" tacked on to the name in advertising.

Rating system for bars on the tour (under development):
Band quality - rating on the live entertainment's EV (Entertainment value), based on my highly opinionated viewpoint.
Ease of score ratio - self explanatory
Restroom disgust factor - measure of the overall filthiness of the "facilities", using the Quine-McCloskey method.
Fake ID quotient - Success rating for the usage of bogus or forged credentials.

Take the Joints '80 Tour

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