Jam Econo with Mike Watt

Mike Watt of Minutemen and fIREHOSE fame has a website. He's still jammin' econo after all these years.

Mike Watt visited Lawrence at least twice during my college radio days. In May 1985, The Minutemen played "Day on the Green Hill", in the union ballroom due to inclement weather. I missed my chance to hang out with the band when I was asked if they could come back to my place and use the shower. I lived in an Oread mansion at 1340 Tennessee and the shower was a rig job under the stairs in the basement. Too econo even for the minutemen, I thought. They may have ended up using the showers at Robinson Gymnasium, much as Mike Mills did during the R.E.M. show at Hoch the previous fall.

Following D. Boon's untimely death, Mike returned to Lawrence in the summer of 1986 with fIREHOSE. They toured with Sonic Youth and both bands played The Outhouse. It was a small crowd. I estimate 50 people saw a great show.