He plans to continue offering live music, but not as frequently as before. Fireside Bowl has been in his family 40 years. “It’s time for me to do some changes,” said Lapinski, who started letting shows play there 10 years ago because the bowling business was getting slow. He was able to pick up some equipment–automatic scoring machines and ball lifts–when another bowling alley closed down. But once it was clear the expansion wasn’t happening, he moved forward with the rehab, he said. He wasn’t going to invest money in fixing the place up if it was going to be torn down. In fact, the park expansion plan kept owner Jim Lapinski from going back to bowling earlier. Several years ago, the Chicago Park District expressed an interest in using eminent domain to take over the building to expand nearby Haas Park. The change may have been abrupt for some–there were no big announcements about the switch–but rumors of Fireside’s demise have been swirling for years. Some of the better-known bands that have played there are Jimmy Eat World, the Mekons, Less than Jake, The Ataris, The Promise Ring and Alkaline Trio. “It’s sort of a legendary place–a lot of bands who played there have gone on to be mega-popular.” “It’s definitely too bad,” Carrillo said. Jeff Carrillo, who played at Fireside just two weeks ago with his band Mahjongg, said he first heard about the club in the mid-’90s when he was a student at the University of Missouri and was making friends from the Chicago area. “A stable, all-ages venue putting on independent music is a rare thing–you can count them on one hand,” Thomson said.
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