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(posted 10/17/03)
Questions for Tuscaloosa musicians … answers from Robert "Rowbear" Huffman, Club Wig
These musicians have answered our local music questionairre about the closing of the Chukker.
If you'd like to submit your comments, click here.

Druid City Online ... What was your first experience with the Chukker as a patron? ... as a musician?

Robert "Rowbear" Huffman, guitar and vocals, Club Wig ... My first experience as a patron was in 1980. I went with this guy who sold his blood plasma beforehand for five dollars then went to the Chukker to drink as many draft PBR's as possible for two hours ... all this for a dollar. I wonder what happened to him. Anyway, as a musician my first band Club Wig played there sometime in 1984. I don't remember much about that first gig exept that our guitar player, Edwin, went back the week following and said that Bruce, the owner, had let him in for no cover and given him a pitcher of beer. I thought, wow we're stars!

Who is the first band you saw at the Chukker and what do you remember about that night?

I can't remember the name of that first band, but I do remember that they were from Auburn and they had a song called "See My F***ing Flag" during which the lead singer wrapped himself in an american flag and shouted obscenities while his bandmates chimed in, See my Flag See my F***ckin' Flag.

Who is the best and worst band you've seen at the Chukker and what do you remember?

I've seen so many fantastic bands at the Chukker that it's really hard to name them, but I'll try...The Lyres, The Replacements, Dick Dale, The Swinging Neckbreakers, and Ronnie Dawson just to name a few. As far as worst bands I can't really say because first of all I don't remember and second of all I'm too kind. I remember once that Dan Hall, legendary drummer of the Woggles and many other great bands, remarked about a particularly horrible band, "Hey, at least while they're around I know my band isn't the worst in town!"

Name as some of the best local bands you saw at the Chukker. Include any information you can remember about those bands.

I guess the best local bands that I ever saw at the Chukker would be Henry's Notions, Sweat Bee, Pain, Bentley Tock, DC Moon, Model Citizen, The Dexateens... I've been in some of the best local bands so it's pretty hard to be objective about this one.

Where will you go to see music once the Chukker is closed?

I don't know - maybe festivals, Birmingham, Atlanta. Will another place open up in Tuscaloosa that will have local music? Maybe the best is yet to come for Tuscaloosa.

What's the strangest sight or experience you can recall from the Chukker?

There are so many that maybe I think I've spent too much time in the Chukker, but once when Club Wig was playing this "little person" got up on stage and started singing with us. Then there was the "Magic Man" who held a picnic table in the air with his teeth - the thing up in the air above him. Is that stuff weird? I didn't see this one but I heard about this guy who took some LSD, got stopped by the cops, was naked, ran into the Chukker where people shielded him from the police then ran outside again and was caught, but like I say, I wasn't there.

How would you describe the Chukker under its latest ownership?

Unfortunately I haven't gotten to know them well at all since I've moved to Birmingham.

When you hear the name Ludovic Goubet, what comes to mind?

When he and Frannie first decided to buy the Chukker I threw in some money and became a partner. I got out as soon as they were able to make it without me, but my relationship with Ludovic goes back even further. I was in a band of his called The Indoor Samba Picnic. Basically, Ludovic was married to a very dear friend of mine for several years so I liked him a lot. While Ludovic was the owner of the Chukker, it was really a great place and all dealings I ever had with him were good. There have been rumors that I've heard that he short changed bands and skimmed money, but he never short changed any band that I was in. Then there was the series of emails sent back and forth last year about 9/11 which was unfortunate, but what problem did people really have with him but that he's French (i.e.
European...doesn't write English very well) and didn't buy into the whole Homeland Security and War on Terror? I don't know really. I wonder where he is now.

How about the earlier owners?

The best was Bruce Hopper. He was really approachable and ran a fine establishment. I remember him very fondly.

What will Tuscaloosa lose when the Chukker closes on Halloween?

Well, it will be a place where anyone can go and feel tolerated if not welcome, see some live music etc. I think that if it's important to people to hear live music than someplace else will accomodate it. As far as the attitude of tolerance goes, hopefully people will demand that wherever they go. In a way it will be sad to see the place torn down, because there is a long history associated with that block. It was a place from which bootleggers operated and on the corner, where those apartments are today, there was a theatre (Diamond Theatre) where the great opera singer Caruso once gave a recittal. Of course the destruction of history is something that has also had in Tuscaloosa, alas, a long history.

What do you plan on doing on the Chukker’s final night?

I have a gig that night ... so I'll be busy.

Robert Huffman is/was a member of these Tuscaloosa bands ...
Club Wig, Indoor Samba Picnic, Opus Dopus, The Copasetics, The Irascibles, The Corvairs, The High Beams, The Crying Jags

The Chukker closed forever Halloween weekend 2003. Music for the Last Stand of the Chukker was provided by the Woggles, Club Wig, Model Citizen, Sweat Bee, DC Moon and his Atomic Supermen, and The Last Gunslinger. Click here to read more about the history of the Chukker.

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