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Bam Bam's Big Fun
Topics: Bam Bams, Bakersfield, Bakotopia, Greg Goodsell, '90s, Decadence, music, LIVE, Korn, disco, Punk, CBGBs, blog
Posted by Bakontributor Wed Aug 22, 2007 12:30:44 PDT
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0 responses 5 comments Location: 1201 20th St., Bakersfield, CA 93301

Bam Bam’s big fun
The younger days of ‘90s decadence at the CBGBs of the central valley


By Greg Goodsell, Bakotopia.com Contributor
<<Hear music from back in the day! "Inside," by SEX ART, and "Eclipse / Dovefire," by Spike 1000! RARE TRACKS!

Your humble author is just a few years away from the half-century mark. Remarkably, there are few periods of my life that I am nostalgic for. I am at a point in my life where I can pursue my own destiny and interests unfettered, with a modicum of stability.

The one very notable exception to which I describe as the “good ol’ days” would be the early ‘90s — 1991 and the summer of 1992 in particular. For me personally, it was a time of wild, hedonistic excess, crazy parties peopled with an amazing cast of characters, and all of it hovered around a downtown Bakersfield nightclub by the name of Bam Bam’s, formerly located on the corner of 20th and M streets in downtown Bakersfield.

<Rare video of KORN's 2nd show ever at Bam Bam's!

Bam Bam’s was a nightclub ran by one John Bentley, a rather circumspect gentleman who oversaw a lot of wild times. Bentley is still around and kicking, but for my friends and myself the cavernous club on M Street served as a reliable place for music, dancing and all sorts of over-indulgence. Bam Bam’s was a large, ugly facility with very high ceilings. Its one bit of extravagant decor was a gigantic, faux-Keith Haring mural painted by a local artist that covered the west wall. The club was usually kitted out with cheap plastic garden furniture. Bentley was a restless spirit when it came to the layout of his environs. He would frequently knock down walls for unrealized projects, leaving many club goers to snag their fashionable outfits on bits of exposed plaster and drywall.

As was the case with all nightclubs, it was the people who went there and the music that was played there that forged its identity. How would one describe a typical Bam Bam’s patron? An article in The Bakersfield Californian tagged the place as a gathering spot for gay teens, but there was an awful lot of heterosexual activity to be had there, if you catch my drift. When the place was hopping, you would see death rockers, teenage couples out on dates, older people wandering in from other downtown bars … anybody and everything.
 
What I remember about Bam Bam’s was its highly hip selection of dance music. L.A. Style’s “James Brown Is Dead,” the Lords of Acid, the Utah Saints, My Life With the Thrill Kill Cult, Dead Or Alive, proto-trance, old school… no other local club before or since has had a more eclectic selection of tunes. Being dragged to other local dance clubs and being assaulted aurally by stale R&B hits has made me appreciate Bam Bam’s and its long-suffering deejays — I was quite a pest in the day! — all the more.

I remember that nights when the club offered live entertainment ended up being a mixed bag. I doubtlessly caught Korn there and its members under earlier incarnations. The one band that I remember seeing there that no one believes ever existed was Circus Bogus. This Fresno band was an incredible art-performance ensemble that blew all other comparable creations in the dust! Imagine 50 or more musicians and dancers crammed on one tiny stage, each member sporting the most elaborate clown outfits imaginable, playing atonal rock songs and using crucified dolls as props. The sensory overload was aided and abetted by giant inflatable toys that were thrown into the audience. Fischerspooner before there was such a thing as Fischerspooner — you never missed a Circus Bogus show!

On a more serious note, I saw Shadow Project, one of the last musical projects by Christian death singer Rozz Williams play there. That show was the last time I saw my friend Cathy Sullivan, who was not long for this world…

The fun all came to an end by 1993. My precarious grasp on the scene was shattered due to personal and financial problems, and at the age of 32, I was twice the age of the average Bam Bam’s patron. I grew more serious, and the shenanigans at Bentley’s club became of little interest to me. There were more fun times ahead — and I would be dancing with wild, carefree abandon again by 1995 and beyond, but it wasn’t the same.

Bentley would go on to open The Empire on G Street, a short-lived club that few remember. Not too long ago, Bentley tried to reopen Bam Bam’s at its original location, but it too quickly closed. The building now houses the rock club The Backstage.

My fun times at Bam Bam’s are perceived through a hazy blur. It belongs to a time when I could throw back a fifth of gin a night, dance until the wee hours and be up and running with a smile on my face in time for breakfast. Those days were not meant to last, and I wish some of my other friends back then could have wised up as quickly as I did!

In the meanwhile, when I get teary-eyed for those days of yore, I fire up my Lords of Acid CD, “Lust,” and mouth the words to Bam Bam’s unofficial anthem, “I Sit On Acid” … “Darling, come here …”

-Editor's Note: Bam Bam's was home to the very first of Bakersfield KORN concertss in the mid '90s during the band's inception.

**Writer Greg Goodsell is a life long resident of Bakersfield. He has contributed many articles to regional and national publications. He's recently contributed audio commentary to B-movie flicks: "The Forest," "Schoolgirls in Chains," and "Lovely Me Deadly." He has an abjectly lousy attitude towards life.

*Originally printed in Bakotopia Magazine issue #9 9/24/07

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Comment From: lostecho

This article brings back so many memories. During this time the Seattle scene was exploding(ironically this is where I reside now) but you had all of this experimental music like Sexart, Cradle of Thorns and Spike 1000. There were many others....but those times so influenced me as relates to the music I listen to now. Bravo and Bakotopia keep up the great work. Now if I could just get Bakotopia delivered to me up here in the northwest, that would be sweet. Comment From: PaladinGamesNHobbies

I was a regular at Bam Bams in 89-91. Those were the days! Cradle of Thorns, Spike 1000, Last Breath, Large Wooden Matches... it just didn't get any better!If only I could get my hands on a copy of Cultivation '92... Mine was stolen. Comment From: matt

I have a copy of Cultivation '92. Yes, those were the days...Let's see - bands: Smiling Days, Citrus Rose, Mento Buru, Let's Go Bowling, The Vandals, Rice & Beans, Hossbruten, Gelgod, Swamp Moose, Urban Scum, Paperhouse, Lily Cigar, 2 Lazy 2 Steal, Leisure Suit Larry & The Lounge Lizards From Hell...Any other names?? Comment From: Burnie

THe Realm...THe Lonely!!! Winterkills! Miss those days...man was life easier... Comment From: bakotunes

Grey Elf, Checkmate, The Mutilators, Bronski Beat...more names?