Thanks for the memories

by | May 1, 2018 | Editor's Blog | 7 comments

The Cave closed for the last time last night. I wasn’t there when they locked the doors and I haven’t spent much time there for the past decade or so, but it was a place that had a huge influence in my life. The people I met there and the scene they created are a large part of the reason I still live around Chapel Hill.

I first started hanging out in the Cave in the fall of 1984 when I arrived in Chapel Hill as a 21 year old freshmen for another attempt at college. I’d spent much of the previous three years in honkytonks and beer joints with people who were more blue collar than buttoned-down. I wasn’t initially too comfortable around students and I found refuge in the working class bar with pool tables.

The Cave had a Cheers feel with a more eclectic clientele . In the afternoon, a crowd of regulars, mainly carpenters and construction workers, came in to shoot pool in the back room and in the bar area up front, kids would wander in after school to meet their parents and do their homework. You could regularly hear vehement arguments about politics or sports, but people usually left as friends. I was there almost every afternoon and worked the door for a short stint when the drinking age went from 18 to 19 and then to 21.

Not long after I discovered the Cave, one owner, Meg, started booking bands. While the Cave sporadically had music before then, Meg turned it into a destination. It was quite a ride.

At first musicians lugged their gear and sound systems down the stairs or through the backroom. Then, in the age of Live Aid and Farm Aid, Meg had Cave Aid, a weekend of benefit concerts to buy a sound system for the budding music venue. After that, the bands started to roll in and musicians playing larger venues in the Triangle stopped by for a drink after their gigs. It gained a regional, if not national, reputation.

The Indigo Girls made it a regular stop before they got big. One Sunday afternoon, I sat at the bar with about dozen other people and watched Lyle Lovett play an entire set as he did a sound check for a show he played later that evening. Blues acts like Big Boy Henry and Steady Rollin’ Bob Margolin made the Cave a stop on their tours.

Jerry Jeff Walker came in after a concert to do an interview with a local reporter. Michael Stipe sat in the back of the bar and watched some act I don’t remember. Jorma Kaukonen came in after a gig in Durham and hung around playing guitar while his crew shot pool until about 3:30 in the morning.

The Cave didn’t just attract big names, though. It nurtured a music and artistic scene. Southern Culture on the Skids performed there back when current front man Rick Miller played guitar with his back to the audience. I roomed with fiddle player named Barney Pilgrim (RIP, Barney) who introduced me to the Red Clay Ramblers whose members played under various names like the Park Bench Bums. Talented acts like Taz Halloween, the Chicken Wire Gang, and Dexter Romweber kept the place jumping throughout the week.

The music scene attracted other artists. Writers like Daniel Wallace frequented the Cave for years. Noted photographer John Rosenthal hung around for a while. The Cave was a hotbed of creative energy.

The people I met there are what kept me here. Many of my closest friends I either met at the Cave or through some connection to the Cave. I’m clearly not the only one. The final week was like a reunion. People came from all over to visit the Cave one last time to see old friends and tell stories about their glory days.

Till the very end, the Cave inspired and supported musicians. Former Cave bartenders like John Howie and Sarah Shook are shaking up the music scene today. The creative spirit that Meg captured and nurtured in the mid 1980s survived at the Cave until now. That’s quite run. Thanks, Meg. Thanks, Mouse. Thanks to all the musicians and patrons who kept me entertained.

7 Comments

  1. Scott

    My wife & I covered the other aspect of creatives during the Mouse years. I still think the radio show we made flies as a one off. It was from coming to read my writings that I met Nancy Alex who Mouse had invited to move her Literary Evening from the Nightlight to the Cave.
    The Airport is closing by final degrees at the same time as the Cave. Same day all the based aircraft were run off & on the 15th the runway will be Xed. I used to run into one of the pilots with a plane at Horace Williams.
    So two places where my life in the community mattered, are gone.
    Jim Dennis closed the Carrboro Music Loft.
    Places change. While my orbits are restricted it can’t be so for those younger. Just feels like transience is more pronounced.

  2. Bonner

    I came to UNC in 1979 and have been drinking at the Cave ever since. It may well turn out to be the longest committed relationship of my life. While breaking up is hard to do the Cave will always be remembered fondly.

    Au revoir mon cher!

  3. Diane M Robertson

    Sorry to see this iconic venue close. Chapel Hill is a changin’.

  4. John Sauls

    Thanks for the remembrance. No more than I went there, it was clearly a special place as you remembered. So, thanks, Meg,for giving it to all of us.

  5. Churchill Hornstein

    The Cave was a great refuge for the crew at the old Breadman’s. Many wonderful memories from early ‘80’s. My best to you, Meg- thanks for fun times!

  6. Sam Kittner

    That’s pretty great Thomas! I have clear, yet foggy remembrances of seeing you there many, many times. Great, cozy times down in that Cave!

  7. Norma Munn

    What a wonderful tribute. Reminded me to say “thank you” more often!

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