The Lounge Ax was a music venue in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, located across the street from

Wax Trax Wax Trax! Records is an American independent record label based in Chicago. It began as a record shop in Denver, Colorado, opened by life partners Jim Nash and Dannie Flesher, who sold the store in 1978 and moved to Chicago. In November of that y ...

. It was an important venue for live

rock music Rock music is a broad genre of popular music that originated as " rock and roll" in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of different styles in the mid-1960s and later, particularly in the United States an ...

, especially

indie rock Indie rock is a subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the music they produc ...

. The club was opened in 1987 by Jennifer Fischer and Julia Adams, who were joined around September 1989 by Sue Miller, previously the booker at two other Chicago clubs, West End and the Cubby Bear. For most of the club's existence, it was owned by Adams and Miller. The band Phish played their first performance ever in the state of Illinois at Lounge Ax on March 30, 1990. Miller married her husband, musician Jeff Tweedy, at the Lounge Ax in August 1995. The ceremony was conducted by a waitress at the club named Lana Levins, who was also an ordained minister. In 1996,

Touch & Go Records Touch and Go Records is an American independent record label based in Chicago, Illinois. After its genesis as a handmade fanzine in 1979, it grew into one of the key record labels in the American 1980s underground and alternative rock scenes. ...

released a compilation album to benefit the club, titled ''The Lounge Ax Defense & Relocation Compact Disc'', featuring artists such as Guided by Voices,

The Jesus Lizard The Jesus Lizard is an American rock band formed in 1987 in Austin, Texas and based in Chicago, Illinois. They were "a leading noise rock band in the American independent underground… hoturned out a series of independent records filled with ...

Sebadoh Sebadoh () is an American indie rock band formed in 1986 in Northampton, Massachusetts, by Eric Gaffney and Lou Barlow, with multi-instrumentalist Jason Loewenstein completing the line-up in 1989. Barlow co-created Sebadoh as an outlet for hi ...

Tortoise Tortoises () are reptiles of the family Testudinidae of the order Testudines (Latin: ''tortoise''). Like other turtles, tortoises have a shell to protect from predation and other threats. The shell in tortoises is generally hard, and like oth ...

The Coctails The Coctails were a musical group from Chicago, who formed while its members were attending the Kansas City Art Institute. The band was active from about 1988 to 1995, with reunions in 2000 as the last band to play on stage at Lounge Ax before t ...

and

Yo La Tengo Yo La Tengo (YLT; Spanish for "I have her") is an American indie rock band formed in Hoboken, New Jersey, in 1984. Since 1992, the lineup has consisted of Ira Kaplan (guitars, piano, vocals), Georgia Hubley (drums, piano, vocals), and James M ...

. Lounge Ax was featured prominently in the Chicago-based movie '' High Fidelity'', released in 2000. The club served as the site where

John Cusack John Paul Cusack (; born June 28, 1966)(28 June 1996)Today's birthdays ''Santa Cruz Sentinel'', ("Actors John Cusack is 30") is an American actor, producer, screenwriter and political activist. He is a son of filmmaker Dick Cusack, and his ol ...

's character, Rob Gordon, and the staff from Championship Vinyl first encounter Marie DeSalle, played by Lisa Bonet. Its location across from the

Biograph Theater The Biograph Theater on Lincoln Avenue in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois, was originally a movie theater but now presents live productions. It gained early notoriety as the location where bank robber John Dillinger was ...

plays an important part in the dialogue leading up to the Lounge Ax scenes. On January 15, 2000, the final show at Lounge Ax was headlined by

(who reunited for the occasion), with

Dianogah Dianogah (pronounced Dye-ah-NO-gah) is an American indie rock band formed in 1995, noted for their use of two bass guitars. Members include Kip McCabe, Jay Ryan, and Jason Harvey. History Dianogah's debut album, '' As Seen from Above'', wa ...

and

M.O.T.O. M.O.T.O. (Masters of the Obvious) is an American Garage punk (fusion genre), garage punk band currently based in New Hampshire. Formed in New Orleans in 1981 by Paul Caporino, the lineup of the band has seen many changes over the years, with Ca ...

opening.

References

Music venues in Chicago Nightclubs in Chicago Music venues completed in 1987 2000 disestablishments in Illinois Former music venues in the United States {{Chicago-struct-stub