On the flipside, I'll admit to eating more than a few of their bagel sammich concoctions in the past. Next time I'm in the C-bus, I think I'll go there for lunch. As far as the bar/show side is concerned, I've seen many many good shows there. Its kind of a shame that they seem to only book something that interests me enough to want to go maybe once a year nowadays.

whalrf u guys

I heart bernies b/c
1.nostalgic reasons
2.u can do drugs/have sex in the greatest soundbooth in cbus just ask ratboy. The soundbooth at bernies is for doing anything but sound. That PA never will work right and never should. Its a fucking basement, anything but vox and kick in the pa is retarted anyway. I put many mics in front of cabinets for your amusement. Chew on that whalrflatrons.
3.it's a rite of passage for young cbus up n comers.
4.U can knock ur head on that big ass pipe during load-in.
5.If u know which way the pool table leans u can win every game.
6.Rock and roll dive bars should be kind of dirty and rundown. Its neat.
7.The colorful clientele.
8.The cheap drinks that arent so cheap anymore.
9. I would never ever eat there, although close associates of mine say its fucking awesome.
10.I dont know why I love to stick up for bernies, Its a shithole, and u and I know that, but its a shithole that we're better off with than without. I'd be sad if it was gone. I still enjoy playin down there once a year or so. That is all and who cares what I think anyway.


PS Soundman Mike
11.Monitors, Shmonitors. I dont need to hear myself to know how to rock. I just turn the mains towards the stage. Turns the pa into a sidefill/frontfill. lol.

does anyone know at what point they stopped booking good shows and for what reason? i wasn't living here when bernie's was "good," but i know i drove down from toledo on several occasions to see a show there.

maybe i'm missing something, but if they consistently brought in quality bands there like they used to, i'd probably go there more often and i'll bet people would want to play there more often.

Bernies is not what it used to be regarding seeing bands, but it still has a wonderful art gallery.

I think we lived there from '93-'??, but constant over bookings, being ripped off and standing in sewage is only fun for so long, I haven't been back since 2001. I've often thought the city should just go Chernobyl and fill it with concrete.

I meet people everyday who know about or have played Bernies..



even I played Bernies

I'm with Snarky on this one..

I've lived here for 22 years and have still never been to Bernie's. What's wrong with me?

But the bagels are still good, right? Can a bagel be douchey?

Seemed lilke Don B. was at every Bernie's show we did in the early 90s and we played a sh#$load down there, then. Our bass player used to dodge him when he would come up and say, "Bat man? Bat man?.......You gonna play Batman, tonight?" and Don would get really angry. I'm still not sure why Smitty wanted to shoot him down like that. Who doesn't wanna rock some Batman? Of course, this was before Don became a star- a household name in Columbus- and I suspect that Smitty couldn't comprehend Don's art, let alone his Existential pain.

Don's memory is pretty damn sharp. I ran into him at the grocery store, once, and he immediately asked me when I was playing, again. Sure enough, Don was at the next gig ready to rock. Too bad he doesn't play percussion or sax. He's punctual and eager. A band could use a dude like that and who wouldn't love to see him play some percussion or sax? I'm pretty sure that Paul Gault has an old recording of him playing harmonica at his house with The Bravado, somewhere. Solid. Gold.

For better or worse, you'd be hard pressed to find any bar in any city with more lived-in, puked-in, fucked-in, who-gives-flying-fuck character than Bernie's. Never mind the clientele, the bar itself seems drunk and ready to pick a fight with you. If you're on stage, it might suck, or it might be just right. If you're in the audience for a band you really want to see, you can't beat the intimacy.

When Motorhead came to Newport last September and they couldn't play because the power went out, myself and a lot of other people just walked to Bernie's and had a few beers in the darkness. All the metalheads looked like barbarians by candle light, and the bar itself, with those pewter mugs hanging from the ceiling, made me feel like it was sometime around 1000 A.D. For some reason that's my favorite memory of the place.

Bernie's, I love you, I hate you, and I've actually taken a shit in your bathroom. Happy Valentine's day.

Hey Snarky! I pretty much agree with everything you said in that post. Actually we did okay w/ the monitors. Especially in there. We've had less luck at Hal & Als... But yeah actually the sound isn't really that bad in there, especially when they keep it simple. A lot of that just depends on the band. The real issue with the no monitor thing is the trepidation I feel when asking another band to play there. Like I know I can deal but you never know how somebody else is going to react you know?

And as far as the door guy goes, I wonder if they would let you bring your own? Like if you knew you could get like 150 peeps out to a show, have your girlfriend work the door, maybe put somebody on the back door too... there could be a lot of potential there.

The biggest thing is that it's kind of a shame that there isn't more going on in there. That's one bar that actually has some potential to bring in some OSU students just based on it's location. I'm really interested in trying to come up with a way to get students out to shows. I don't know... just one of those wheels that's always turning in my head.

most students will never care about your band

if you start doing something interesting, you can get some of the smart ones out. we've had a lot of luck drawing some student crowd to skylab. we also have CCAD kids on lock down.

but for the most part they don't give a FUCK about 'columbus music' unless it's their friends cover band




most students don't go to bernies, either, unless it's for one of those rented out frat parties!

bernies happy hour is probably the cheapest, quickest drunk in town

I'd rather go to a show at Bernies than the Treehouse.

That's a sweet Wham! reference. They'd pack Bernie's.