Lookin’ back: Remembering Duck Soup
It seems that all the longtime Nippertown music scene-makers get all misty-eyed whenever someone mentions 288 Lark or QE2 – a pair of adventurous music clubs which were both helmed by the fabulous, charming, black-clad Charlene Shortsleeve.
But Shortsleeve also managed another club in between her long stints at those two Albany nightlife landmarks, and nobody seems to remember much about it.
The problem? Duck Soup – as the short-lived club was known – was across the river in Rensselaer, and for the downtown Albany punks, well, I guess that seemed like a world away.
But in doing a bit of de-pack-ratting recently, we came across a Duck Soup flier featuring the schedule for September 1985 – 24 years ago – and it still looks pretty interesting to us:
9/18: Beat Rodeo with Woofing Cookies
9/19: Who Likes What with the Distractions
9/20: The Broadcasters with Diversion Factor
9/21: The Reducers with Joypop
9/22: Agitpop with Due Process
9/25: 10,000 Maniacs with the Mole
9/26: The World Famous Blue Jays with the Last Roundup
9/27: Antic Hay with Diversion Factor
9/28: Bovine with Due Process
October’s slate of shows wasn’t too shabby either with bands like the Chesterfield Kings, the Bandables, Game Theory, Brian Brain, Dumptruck, Jeannie Smith & the Hurricanes, Lifeboat and Miracle Legion filling out the calendar.
Anybody else got any good old Duck Soup memories?
The Meat Puppets/Chefs of the Future double bill. Top 10 show of all time. Stood next to GG as she screamed at the Puppets all night.
This lil’ bit of punk albany is a bit of a blur. I remember only going there a couple of times, despite spending lots of time at 288 (not Club 288). I seem to recall that it was in a residential area, maybe they werent able to do the late night 4am thing? Dunno. I was working nights at the time and got off my shift around 11pm.
I remember seeing Clive Pig there. Back then the Spectrum was over there too right? What was it called back then?
Ah yes, indeed, Martyn. Before they jumped across the Hudson to Delaware Ave., the fine Spectrum folks ran the funky but chic 3rd Street Theatre in Rensselaer.
Duck Soup !!!
Jeez….. I actually played there in a bonafide disco band called “Pearl”. Oddly, more than 1 night.
I believe it was my first gig with that band who were already fairly established.
While I remember all the players, their last names fail me except for the incredibly talented guitarist, Burt Pagano. We actually had fans because we blew as a disco band and tended to emulate our musical heroes more than “turning the beat around”. We did have matching silk shirts which Burt was very serious about us
cleaning and wearing.
Hi Kevin,
I’m having a hard time picturing you playing disco.
If you want a real blast down memory lane, check out this Times Union Table Hopping blog thread, full of places I haven’t thought about in years and years.