Lulu's Roadhouse

I'll tell you right off that these pages are almost purely editorial, based on my experiences at the club.  While I'll supply some facts and figures that I've gleaned from the 5th Anniversary book, my main objective is to help people, who have also experienced it, relive a few memories and maybe enlighten those from other parts of the world as to just how special the place was.

There's not a doubt in my mind that some of my comments are going to be biased.  They're my opinions, right?....and opinions are like belly-buttons, everybody's got one.

First a little history.......

I came on the Lulu's scene a few years after the owner had opened his first restaurant/bar called "Lulu's Dine & Dance" in the town of Belleville, Ontario.  Belleville is a resort town on the north shore of Lake Ontario that has a ton of stuff to do in almost any season.

I was still pretty green as far as road experience was concerned and had been off the road for a few months when I got a call from a trio based out of Kitchener.  We played the lounge circuit from Thunder Bay, Ont. to St. John, New Brunswick as the Randy Stewart Trio for a couple of years till the bars realized that "lounge lizards" were another form of dinosaur and the jobs petered out.  The line-up was Randy Stewart (Rollo) on keys and lead vocals, Pat Bourdon on bass and back-up, and me on drums and back-up.

Among these lounges were the first four editions of Lulu's Dine & Dance.  We were fixtures in the three Kitchener/Waterloo locations and had played the Belleville restaurant a few times.  These were about the only places where a band that did "Feelings", "The Way We Were" and other schlocky stuff could get work. The thing about Lulu's was, the patrons not only listened to that, but would let us knock out a little good, old Rock n Roll, too.  We definitely catered to the Baby Boomer crowd.

Karl built his second spot in the Pioneer Park Plaza, just off Hwy. 401, in Kitchener.  If I recall, it's capacity was only about 75 people, but it was packed every weekend.  His second K/W location was in Forest Glen Plaza in Kitchener, with maybe double the room.  Third came Weber St. in Waterloo, (twin city with Kitchener), in 1983.  All 4 locations remained open, until he sold off the Waterloo site, after opening the Roadhouse.

It didn't seem to matter where Karl opened, it quickly became the place to be in the K/W area.  If it was Thursday, Friday or Saturday night, you had to be there early to not only get a seat, but to get in!  Even Sundays would find a nearly full house.

It was March '84,  with the odd weekend job and driving cab, the leader called me and told me that Karl was opening a newer, bigger, better location in April  and he'd asked if we'd be the house band.  He also said it would be a "grittier, rockier" sound coming out of us.  Personally, I thought this was a HOOT considering the fact that we'd just finished 2 years of wearing suits and tuxes on stage.

The Gig.....

I walked into what was to become Lulu's Roadhouse during the 3rd week of March '84.  It wasn't finished yet but the only word that could describe the place was "awesome".  Karl got the idea for the Roadhouse in late Dec. '83 when he found out the K-mart was closing. 100 days after he first toured the place and mapped out a basic design on a napkin, the door opened on April 3, 1984.

Imagine North America's biggest K-mart store. (for those too young, imagine a darn good sized Walmart).  Now gut it.  Paint it, carpet it, build not one but TWO huge bars out of oak and brick and another 12 smaller bars.  By smaller, I'm meaning smaller than the 333 foot long oval that was the main bar and the 303 feet that was the "small" bar. Yes I mean Three Hundred and Thirty-three and Three Hundred and Three feet of laminated oak top, on a brick faced base with oak accents and trimming.

I'll only give you a brief rundown of the club's attributes, here.  To see them in more detail, click here to see a basic layout of the club and to view some amazing facts that give an good idea of the scope of the club's size.

Lulu's was on the outside of Kitchener's water service and so, used well water. The problem with that is, no fire hydrants.  In order to meet the codes, Karl had to put in a water reservoir.......and that he did.  It was built in the back, where the former K-mart would have had it's stock racks.  It was about 13' high and held enough water to fill two Olympic sized pools. (There's a rumor about someone planting trout in it, but of course, I know nothing about that. heh!)

Lulu's was comprised of 5 main "areas", each with it's own bar(s).  Unlike Billy Bob's or Gillie's in Texas, these were all under one ceiling separated by brick walls.  There was the main floor, which had the two big bars and 4 others, The Zombie Bar, Pina Colada Bar, Shooter Bar, and Schnapps Bar, on the outer edges of the main floor.  The P/C bar was actually right below the sound/lighting platform, on the edge of the dance floor.

There were 4 raised areas. The barbecue pit was an in-house, open pit barbeque with the best ribs and steaks that I'd ever tasted.  Then there was the Video lounge, with the latest in video games.  Pacman, Ms. Pacman (the newest, HA!) and Asteroids.  Across the walkway was the "fine" dining room, with ala carte menu.  Above this area was the Library.  This was a quiet spot, probably 300 feet from the stage. It had a stage, sound feed, but was kept quieter.  Within 3 years, Karl had decided to enclose the Library and rent it out on a per night basis to special parties.

Aside from these "specialized" areas, there was also a souvenir booth which offered everything from T-shirts to pantyhose, post cards to breath mints and cigarettes. There was a coat check just inside the front door that was big enough to hold 2,000 coats or...the entire Pioneer Park location of Lulu's Dine & Dance.  There was a leased deli which offered nachos and sandwiches and a pizza outlet. (A later owner closed down the two dining rooms and leased out space to a person who had a burger and fries walk-up booth.)

Pre-party. Huge stage, eh?	A "usual" view of the 6,000 sq. ft dancefloor
P.A. and lighting specs for all you techies.	Front of house: ~12 bass bins in front of the stage with 8/4-speaker bins, flown above stage front All driven by 12 amps totalling 7200 watts. A 32 channel, studio mixing console, with 2 equalizers, 3 compressor limiters, 2 frequency dividers, 1 noise gate, 2 delays, 1 digital reverb and 1 digital effects processor. On stage: ~14 monitors driven by 5 amps, mixed on a 32 channel console, and 32 mics. Lighting: ~104 Par-64's, 32 ACL's (aircraft landing lights) and 12 Macspots, all mixed through a 36 channel console with 8 dimmer packs and a 200 scene controller for the Macs. Oh, and a follow spot or two.

Lulu's opening night acts were us, (Randy Stewart and the Roadhouse Band), the late Mary Wells, "My Guy" and Martha Reeves and the Vandellas, "Dancin' in the Streets".

During my year-plus at Lulu's, I had the great fortune to not only see, but to work with some 100 of the greatest artists from the 50's to the 70's. I won't try to give a synopsis on every act, but instead, I'll just offer some highlights, or lowlights, depending on your view.

Click here for a complete list of artists who played at the club during the first year and some.

Firstly, with very few exceptions, virtually every artist or act was more than willing to answer questions for the 24 yr. old house drummer. Whether it was about a specific song, drum fill or whatever. Almost everyone took some time to talk to me.  Some, especially Brooke Benton who passed away a few years ago, would just sit and talk about whatever topic would cross our minds. I just thought that was SO cool.  I was never turned down for a picture, as long as I got the chance to ask.  I have about 50 of them posted to this page.

Now the highlights...or lowlights.  These are from my days at the club, though I'll also mention a couple of acts I went back to see, years later.

Biggest act:  The Glenn Miller Orchestra. Some 35-40 big band players absolutely mesmerized a sell-out crowd. (We opened for them and it was quite the trip trying to play rock n roll on an oversized Slingerland kit with NO dampening.)

Biggest "contemporary" act: James Brown and His Famous Flames.  J.B. came in with a 12 piece band that was so tight, it squeaked. You've NEVER heard such amazing arrangements.  He played 5 nights and the joint was full to bursting, each night. (J.B. also likes to play cribbage.)

Smoothest Act:  This HAS to be the Platters.  I know there are about 15 acts out there calling themselves "the" Platters, but the last original, Paul Robi, came in with 3 other vocalists and dazzled everyone in the audience. It didn't matter if they were 19 or 90, everybody loved the show. Paul Robi was also Sugar Ray Leonard's father-in-law.  (Paul also sat and talked with me a lot. The one story that really stuck with me was how they'd just returned from playing for ALL the crowned heads of Europe and had to use the rear, staff entrances at the hotels in Las Vegas, because they were black. A shame.)
*(Second place would go to The Stylistics.  Excellent show with music more from the 70's.)

Best Voice:  Arguably, Gary Puckett, of the Union Gap.  Incredible control and talent.

Least "Sparky" Acts: This is a tie between The Fleetwoods ("Mr. Blue" and others) and Jack Scott, ("What in the World's Come Over You" and "Burning Bridges").  Jack Scott is proported to be Canada's first "rocker".  I say this in all respect because they really are talented and nice people, but definitely not suited to the general "want" of the crowd at the Roadhouse which was rock n roll.

Biggest Off-Stage Ego Award: goes to Wilson Pickett.  He kept the house, sound guys in a sound check for over 3 hours when it takes most anyone else about 1 hour. Then, after his first show, he chewed the butt off the on-stage sound guy.  Our M.C. who really "was" Mr. Non-Confrontational, busted into W.P.'s dressing room and chewed HIM a new one.  The rest of the week went smoothly enough, with W.P. asking for a rebooking.

Biggest On-Stage Ego: goes to Tommy James, of the Shondells.  After playing two songs, he stood on-stage, not doing a thing, for maybe 10 mins. then yelled at the nearly full house, "Why aren't you flocking around the F'ing stage??  I'm a F'ing STAR DAMMIT!!!!"  T.J. wasn't offered a re-booking that I know of.

Edgiest Concert:  Jerry Lee Lewis and Chubby Checker.  Chub made a couple of return appearances, but rumor has it that he insisted that Jerry Lee not be on the same bill.  Rumor also has it that there was a rider on Jerry Lee's contract that called for 2 bottles of Canadian Club.

The Biggest Surprise:  This was a tie.  The Commodores came in, touring to support their album Night Shift. At first, everyone was saying, "they'll be nothing without Lionel Richie".  About 2 songs in, everyone was saying, "Lionel WHO?!"  Next thing we knew, they'd won the Grammy for the single "Night Shift".
The tying act would have to be Donnie and Marie Osmond, purple socks and all. Karl made this an "all ages" event and the two nights' worth of shows drew almost 3500 people, each night.    Donny and Marie had a top notch band and, with tongues firmly in cheeks, they put on a hell of an entertaining show.  They took a lot of shots at themselves and had everyone laughing while they strolled down Memory Lane.  I met the two of them before their opening show, when I almost walked over her baby, who was crawling around the seating area, stage right, and in dodging her, almost ran over his son.

Most Honest Show:  Otis Blackwell. He's a little, non-descript kind of guy who was probably pushing 50 when he hit the club's stage, in '84.  Otis walked out, with the other house-backup band playing the opening licks of "Don't Be Cruel".   He stopped them and looked at the crowd through pop bottle bottom glasses.  He said, "y'all don't know me and I don't sing so good.  Thing is, every song I'm going to sing, I wrote.  I just figure that maybe it's time I start singing my own songs.  Thank you".  From the opening strains of his first song, he had the crowd ROCKING and in the palm of his hand for the whole week.  He was right, he didn't sing so good, but damn, we had FUN while he was on stage! Otis' writing credits include  Little Willie John's "Fever," Elvis Presley's "Don't Be Cruel" and "All Shook Up," Jerry Lee Lewis's "Great Balls of Fire" and "Breathless," and Jimmy Jones's "Handy Man", among others.

Saddest Show:  This has to go to Ronnie Specter (of the Ronnettes).  She came into town with a lot of hype and the club was looking forward to her show.  Unfortunately, by the second set around midnight, she was so messed up that the mic stand was the only thing keeping her from falling down.  The club sent her home the next day.  This leads us to the.....

Funniest Entrance:  We got a call the next morning, to come to the club for an emergency rehearsal for the replacement act.  In mid-tune, in comes Johnny Tillotson, "Poetry in Motion", who vaulted the stage, did a few twirls and proclaimed, " I LOVE this place!!"  John put on a great show for the balance of the week and did 3 or 4 return engagements.  I had John and his arranger over to my apartment for dinner one night and, when we were leaving for the club, we had to make a mad dash for the car because he'd been recognized by some folks in the parking lot who had decided to wait him out.  Ha Ha!!  The price of fame.

Best lip-synching or...the Millie Vanillie Award: goes to Gary Lewis (of the Playboys). Through no fault of Gary's, and we laughed our butts off about it a couple of years later, our leader, Randy, had to sit in with his backup band and sing almost all of the tunes for the first couple of nights because Gary'd come down with laryngitis.  He got a shot at the hospital and it cleared up before the weekend.

Rockiest Act:  This has to go to Rare Earth.  They absolutely rocked.  Little factoid here.  Rare Earth, from Flint, Mich. was the first "white" act signed by Motown Records.

Show with the Most Energy:  I'm tempted to say James Brown, but....I have to give this one to Billy Preston.  From day one, Billy had the crowd riveted to the stage. Throwing out tunes of his own, mixed with a couple of R&B standards and two or three Beatles tunes that he recorded with the Fab Four, he had NObody going to the bathroom while he was onstage, during either of his two, one hour sets. (On the Saturday night, Billy had a personal problem that had the management wondering if he'd even make it on stage for his first show or if they'd be relying on the other two acts to fill in.  Billy hit the stage around 10:30 pm, almost 2 hours late and didn't get off until he and the crowd were all but exhausted, around 1:30.

Hardest Sell to Appear:  Kris Kristofferson.  Management and agents had been trying to get K.K. to appear, for years.  We kept hearing that his management didn't want him "playing some bar in Canada".

After leaving in '85, I had an extra's role in the tv mini-series "Amerika", starring K.K. and Robert Urich, while we were filming in London, Ontario.  Getting a chance to meet and talk to him, I'd mentioned the non-booking of him at the club.  A month or two later, he played Lulu's and was blown away at the quality of the gig.  He sent me an invitation to join them at the show, but due to other commitments, I couldn't make it. It's because of K.K., that a lot of other acts decided to track Lulu's down and do a show or two there.
 

My Most Precious Memory:  This is where I get to gush a bit.  I've shared the stage with some amazing talent, both known and unknown, but this night blew me away and still does. I'll set it up.  As a lounge trio, we'd been playing Billy Preston's "I'm Never Going to Say Goodbye" for a couple of years, and decided to resurrect it while he was there, since he wasn't currently doing it in his shows. On the Thurs. night, Billy came to me and asked if I knew where his road mgr. could get a small color tv because the monitor on their video camera had died.  They were taping his live shows for his management to review. On the Fri., I brought in a little 13" tv from home and they hooked it up to the vid-cam.  A little bit later on, Billy asked if we were going to do his tune again and I replied, "well, as long as you don't mind".  Billy told me that he loved us doing it (it was an album cut and not released as a single).  Then he said, "I'm going to join you on-stage when you do it. Don't tell Randy". (Randy being the keyboardist/leader of our band who absolutely idolized B.P.).  I kept the secret until we were just going into the break before the second verse when, with Randy at the piano, Billy appeared from behind the black backdrop and launched into the tune on the B-3 organ.  Randy basically melted and my chest positively pounded with pride.  Even though it was a ballad, we POUNDED that sucker with dynamics and floored the crowd. Back to the vid-cam.  In appreciation for the loan of the tv, Billy had told his road manager to tape our shows for us and now I have in my possession, one of the very few existing bits of video tape of Billy Preston performing live.  He'd asked me to never give it or sell it to anyone and, despite some really lucrative offers, I've not let it out of my hands.  Though we haven't seen each other in a lot of years, I still consider him a friend and ya just don't sell out your friends.

Concerts:  I returned to the Roadhouse for 4 concerts between '85 and '99.

The 5th Anniversary was a major party. Karl invited me and my guests up to his office where we whiled away the hours and enjoyed Karl's hospitality.

I went back in '95 to see The Five Man Electrical Band, "Signs", "I'm a Stranger Here", "Absolutely Right".  No pun intended, but these 5 original Canadian Rockers had the crowd charged from beginning to end. I spent a great time, backstage, talking with Les Emerson of F.M.E.B. about how we'd followed each other around western Canada in 1981, leaving notes to each other. It only took us 14 years to finally meet in person. haha!

In Sept. '99, my best bud Paco Danesi was bringing in a show on which he's the Music Director. Paco is one of the best bass players in the country.  The show is/was Legends in Concert which consists of some of the best impersonators in North America.  The place was packed and I finally got to see Paco do his thing, in an atmosphere befitting his talent.

One month later Natalie, my fiancee, was up visiting from Kansas.  I took her to "my" club to see one of our favorite bands, Styx.  It was a night to remember, to say the least.  We were joined by some great, online friends.

I left Lulu's under questionable circumstances.  In a word, I was fired. In Jan. '85, we'd expanded Randy Stewart and the Roadhouse Band into a 5 piece act, adding guitar, saxophone and two vocals. We then became The Roadhouse band.  A few months later, Randy had been told that we needed to change our show a bit.  What Karl had meant was, replace some of the tunes we'd been playing for a year.  Randy convinced himself that, in order to save his job, he needed another player.
 
 

Randy Stewart & the Roadhouse Band Me, Randy & Pat Bourdon (Lounge lizards to ...rockers in one easy step)	The Roadhouse Band Peter Padillino, left (guitar and vocals) and  Dave Gooding, 2nd left (sax and vocals) both played with Major Hoople's Boarding House  and joined us in Jan. '85

In came Mike Oberle on drums and vocals.  About a year later, Randy fired Pat, and replaced him with another friend of the Peter, Dave and Mike.

About a year after that, Randy went to the owner for more money and, when told he'd have to work it out with the other four guys, he walked out.  Last I'd heard, he was trying to sell life insurance.

I like to think I've grown out of my bitterness but...I guess it still creeps up on me once in a while.  I used to think that I'd convinced myself that it was "only a job" but, as I've matured and played another 15 years or so, I realize that it was probably the GREATEST job I've ever had.  It wasn't work, it was a love for playing music, being seen by thousands of people every night, and being appreciated for what I did.  That's a very rare commodity in live-music starved Canada, these days.

These pages only give a brief rundown of some of the aspects of the greatest gig I've ever had the joy to experience.  Words and a few pictures can't possibly do it justice.  As I can, I'll add a few more bits n bites and pictures as they come available.  Speaking of which, if you happen to have any inside shots of the club, please email them to me at tuneman59@hotmail.com.

Karl sold Lulu's to John Ireland, Toronto based brother of actress Jill Ireland, a year or two after the 5th Anniversary. In a nutshell, John got greedy, boosted the prices and dropped the entertainment budget.  He lost the club to receivership within 2 or 3 years and it was bought out by Ben Speigel, of Kitchener.

Ben renamed it Lulu's Concert Club and ran it very much in the style of it's original owner, lowering the prices, upgrading the acts and keeping a good eye on the books.

It saddens me to relay this 'news' but, Lulu's closed it's doors permanently on Apr. 15th, 2,000.  This was due, in no small part, to politics and what I call "the stupids".  To read two newspaper announcments about the closure, click here.

The club had been having problems in the parking lot after all-ages dances that were held once a month or so.  The kids were going outside, fighting and destroying property. Hence, "the stupids".

The political part came with the enactment of Kitchener/Waterloo's bylaw which banned smoking in ANY public place.

Combining these two factors with the high costs of running any kind of bar (cost of liquor and taxes), Ben figured that the time had come.

Within 2 weeks, the entire contents had been auctioned off. This included the big bar, which was broken into pieces of wood and brick, and sold by the piece. I'm not sure what was done with the revenue from the sale so I'll not post anything till I know for sure.

I have a lot of memories from Lulu's, almost all good, with a few, well........  Without memories, we have no lives.  I had a HELL of a good life in that joint.

More later.

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Thanks! L.D.