9 Cool Ass Things I [Will] Remember About Audie’s Olympic

audies-olympic-street-1024x678 9 Cool Ass Things I [Will] Remember About Audie's Olympic
Audie’s Olympic – photo by David Prasad

I dunno if you heard about this but Audie will soon no longer be running Audie’s Olympic club in the Tower District. Crazy, right?

Hey, don’t ask me what happened, I’m sure Josh over at Fresno Beehive has something up about it or soon will. Rumor has it that the Audie Camp is saying the owners of the building want to do their own thing there and are pushing him out. The Owners Camp (total rumor, bro, ok?) say they would like him to stay if he met with the obligations of the lease.

Totally not my business. All I know is I have spent a lot of time in Audie’s Olympic. Not as much as of late but I think maybe I’ve gone to… 90? 100 shows there? Yeah, sounds kinda right.

So with that, here are my Ten 9 Cool Ass Things [I Will Remember] About Audie’s Olympic:

  • The Tub Of Beer: Not every place in town has a horse water trough full of ice and cheap beer cans. Even if you are not hipster enough to like PBR (I apparently am not), you had to order one, just so you don’t stand out too much.
  • The Chalk Event Board: I am a real nerd about chalk boards. No self respecting craft beer tap room doesn’t have one. Audie’s has one. Checking out the board during band breaks is a classic past-time for me.
  • The Bathroom Door Sticker Art: I can only assume the girls bathroom is the same but I KNOW the boys has always been covered in band stickers. I really haven’t checked it out close enough to see if they are ever peeled off or if there are years and years of layers.
  • Audie Chilling In the Corner of the Bar: If you look real close, behind the soundboard, you just might catch a glimpse. Always felt like I was looking behind the curtain at the Wizard of Oz.
  • The Wall Carpet! Zanny I say (and probably helps with the sound). And all the stuff above the bar. ZANNY!
  • Pool Table/Merch Table: Of all the years going there, including when it was Club Fred, I think I saw the pool table actually functioning as a pool table, twice. Love picking up merch there so that is ok. Always bring cash for band merch, people, it seriously helps the bands survive.
  • The Sidewalk Scene: In between bands, more than half the club spills out onto the sidewalk in front of Audie’s. And most aren’t smoking, just getting some air and catching up with folks. Because have you tried having a conversation inside a rock club?
  • The Couches: It was super rare that I would get the couch in the center of the dance floor. I would occasionally get the one under the control booth. This was always a mistake because you never got up again.
  • Seeing Rising Bands: Whether it was a Fresno act or a touring act just trying to get noticed. There is no greater pretentious dude joy than to be able to say “I saw that band play at a small club in Fresno before they hit big.” Really this is [was] my favorite thing. And you get to talk to the bands outside during the sidewalk sessions.

Seriously, much love and respect to Audie and what he has done for the music scene in Fresno, it can’t be said enough. Safe travels on his next adventure.

Hopefully the space continues as a rock club. It just has too. Even if the wall carpet has to go.

[photo from David Prasad]

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Author: The Fresnan

Hey, Mikey Seay here. Local nerd. Longtime blogger and podcaster. I love talking local, Star Wars, beer and other junk. Find me on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat: @thefresnan CHEERS!

8 thoughts on “9 Cool Ass Things I [Will] Remember About Audie’s Olympic”

  1. good list, and i’d echo most of them.

    what are 10 things you won’t miss about audie’s?

    here’s some i was thinking:
    1. the filthy men’s room. the band stickers were cool, but that place was frequently a wreck, and can’t say i had particular fondness for the half doors on the stalls.
    2. the couches. i’m a guy, and never sat on those couches naked, but i sometimes wondered if they would get me pregnant.
    3. stories of local bands that bring in the majority of the door barely getting paid when out of town acts get fat cash.
    4. those times when it was so crowded it took 45 minutes to get a drink. that catch 22 of a full show.

    welcome back to the blogosphere, mike.

    1. Yeah those stall doors are the weirdest I’ve seen. I wonder if the women’s is the same because they are kind of worthless.

      Good list, Ed. And thank you.

  2. I left out a great many things. Things I’m sure you’re remembering. Please feel free to leave them in comments. Some pretty rad shows come to mind…

  3. Sad news. Another Fresno institution perhaps reduced to folk lore. So many great shows over the years, but I will put Cage the Elephant at the top of the list. Unreal atmosphere. What a huge loss.

    1. So many shows. I saw Helmet there and got to shake Page Hamilton’s hand and thank him for coming to Fresno.

      Word is the space will live on as a music venue. *fingers crossed*

  4. Although the stage is only a few feet from the front door, playing from it seemd like a different world. Which brings me tomy fav, (at least I think it’s here) is the creepy haunted-house-esq chandelier hanging directly above the stage!! Complete with flickering lights.

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