Tim’s Picks: Your post-Christmas guide
Come for the post-Christmas/New Year’s Eve lead-up. Stay for one more round of LBC.
Thanks to Stuart & Branigin for continued support of the Based in Lafayette reporting project.
One more present to unwrap today …
By Tim Brouk / For Based in Lafayette
Sheeza, 8 p.m. Friday, Dec. 26, Digby’s Pub, 133 N. Fourth St., Lafayette — Sheeza is home for the holidays and has enlisted an all-star band to help her present sets of soulful rock covers and originals.
Random Band Challenge, 8:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 27, North End Pub, 2100 Elmwood Ave., Lafayette — Doom Room’s fourth annual Random Band Challenge will showcase Lafayette’s newest heavy metal bands this weekend. The bands featuring musicians new and seasoned were randomly placed together months ago, and these new acts were tasked with writing songs and coming up with sets. Did these musicians find a cohesive sound? Did musical preferences combine to form a fresh new sound, and will these bands stick around beyond this weekend? While only the fourth edition, previous Challenges saw some of those bands gig again and at least a few became regular players in the Lafayette metal scene. What will the 2025 event bring? Only one way to find out. $10.
The Pickin’ Pear, 6 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 30, People’s Brewing Company, 2006 N. Ninth St., Lafayette — The bluegrass duo of Tia Martini and Leon Elam return to Lafayette with a unique sound and energetic live show. Martini (ukulele) and Elam (banjo) have performed more than 1,000 gigs since the Pear’s formation in 2014. Along that time, the Colorado band grew in sound with a smattering of folk, rock ‘n’ roll and improvisation to go along with its bluegrass style. Their connection can’t be missed as every live performance is different than the previous. Tickets.
New Year’s Eve, Wednesday, Dec. 31 — Lafayette will be popping off next week as we say goodbye to the mostly wretched 2025 and say hello to a hopefully less wretched 2026.
Ebony and the Ruckus, 9 p.m., Digby’s, 133 N. Fourth St., Lafayette — Lafayette funk, R&B and soul from Ebony and the Ruckus will enrich this New Year’s Eve party.
Ebony and the Ruckus (Photo: Jimmy Ramos) Creekside Saints, 8 p.m., Aces Pub, 3215 S. 18th St., Lafayette.
Von, Getcomff and DJ Lilo, 9 p.m., The Spot Tavern, 409 S. Fourth St., Lafayette — A trio of DJs from Chicago’s Tiger Room collective will be spinning house, techno, hip-hop and more into 2026. Free champagne at midnight. $10 in advance, $15 at the door.
Getcomff (Photo provided) The Electric Martinis, 10 p.m., 648 Bourbon Lounge, 648 Main St., Lafayette — The Indianapolis duo of Jayne Bond and Chris Stone will bring their guitars and a hefty setlist full of pop, R&B and rock tunes to celebrate the new year.
DJ DSTNT, 10 p.m., The Black Sparrow, 223 Main St., Lafayette — Chicago dubstep DJ DSTNT will return to downtown Lafayette to get the party people moving for 2026. DSTNT recently performed at The Spot and even the short-lived DJ night at the Lafayette Brewing Company (RIP). There will be a champagne toast at midnight and tamales after the toast until 1 a.m.
Speaking of Lafayette Brewing Co. …
A eulogy for the LBC
By Tim Brouk
Like thousands in Greater Lafayette, I was stunned by the news of the Lafayette Brewing Company (LBC) closing its doors permanently. The downtown Lafayette brewery and restaurant served its last pint and order of Cheesy Potato Munchers (capitalized for respect) on Dec. 20.
I’m a little late in sharing my thoughts on this digital space but most would agree that the LBC was much more than a place for a handcrafted beer and bite. For decades it was a cultural institution. While it poured its first in 1993, it wasn’t until the 2000s that the LBC reached its peak.
But first, everyone remembers their first trip to the Brew Co. — the place was so good that it had multiple nicknames. Here’s mine: In December 1999, just 26 years ago (holy crap!), I was interviewing for a copy editor and homes and real estate reporter position at the Lafayette Journal & Courier — a perfect gig for a then 22-year-old straight out of an apartment that I rented for less than $200 with my college bandmates, our gear and a couple boxes of Pasta-Roni. During the day-long interview, I was taken to lunch at the LBC. I got their hamburger, which was one of the best around for a solid decade or two. No beer, unfortunately, but I was struck that the place started in 1993, at least a half decade before the Midwest started embracing microbreweries.
With the J&C around the corner, I probably had hundreds of burgers and Armenian Chickens (capitalized for respect) as a hungry reporter from 2000-2012. It was also about the only place to go on a Wednesday night for its popular Pint Night when pints were discounted. The nights were buzzing even though the only thing different about the setting from any other night was the price of beers.
But as downtown Lafyaette started to grow in those early 2000s, so did the LBC, namely with the opening of its second floor to the public. By then, the space had been used for private and beer events, but thanks to owners Greg and Nancy Emig having faith in their staff and one young man named Jason Gick, the night scene changed drastically. There was finally a live music venue worth hooting about in downtown Lafayette.
Yes, the Knickerbocker Saloon had been having blues and jazz bands every weekend for years, but they relied on the bands to bring the sound system or an outside vendor. Results were inconsistent. Same with Hunter’s Down Under, which started hosting bands around this time too. The cover band du jour had to supply its own PA. To me, you’re not a proper live music venue without your own sound system and dedicated sound engineers (especially if it’s a dude with a ponytail).
The LBC allowed Gick to house his impressive PA upstairs. Gick was part of a regionally successful jam band called Somebody that had recently ended things. Some simple staging was set up and suddenly, the almost 100-year-old space with gorgeous wood everywhere became Lafayette’s best spot for live music for a solid 15-year run. Gick was also gracious to run sound and train others to do it — even me!
Without Gick, those dozens of solid to spectacular shows in that space do not happen. He even lent some practice drums and an old bass amp to backline the Pint Night Live open mic series. More on that in a moment.
Another driving force for the LBC’s 21st century success was Friends of Bob, the longtime local music co-op that brought wonderful and eclectic national acts to Lafayette that otherwise would not bother for almost 30 years. While Friends of Bob used several venues throughout its history, it seemed its best bookings were held for the LBC, first downstairs in the dining room before moving the rest of its shows upstairs. The names they ushered in were phenomenal — Nick Lowe, The Sadies, Alejandro Escovedo and The Blasters, just to name a few. Friends of Bob proved that national acts of some volume can do well in downtown Lafayette. The successes allowed other bookings, including bands outside of the Friends’ tastes.
Pint Night open mics were another major driver in those early ’00s. While there were already a few open mics around downtown, the LBC’s was the only with full drums allowed and it was the only one through a proper sound system. And it did what good open mics are supposed to do — showcase and cultivate unknown talent while being entertaining for anyone just looking for a night out. The 20-minute slots were perfect for a new band testing out songs. My old band, The Jim-Jims, were regulars and one of the few punk bands that would sign up. Again, such music was almost never heard at open mics, but Gick and company were so instrumental in giving us a chance. Our first times there, we would just play our entire set. I’d test a lot of stage banter too, including my patented “anti-social” call where no one could drink but me. I’d yell at people would tip their pints with me. It was also where I went on my unfortunate Paul Stanley “People, Let Me Get This Off My Chest” phase. I also debuted my “rock opera” about Malaysian ghosts I got really jazzed on for a few months up there. I made folded, paper programs and everything. I miss the creative spark that room elicited.
The scene up there was so great, especially when it was more than half full. While the room held less than 300, if you could get about 150 in there, it felt and sounded so good. The dancefloor would practically buckle if you got people dancing enough. It was so topnotch and the upstairs had whisky when those fancy beers were feeling a little heavy on the tummy.
A good open mic always brought unique experiences too. Who remembers The Shredder and Chainsaw? Two guys, one young local and one perhaps from Mars, would set up their huge amps and pedal boards and treat the crowd to classic Pantera, Black Sabbath and Metallica riffs. Didn’t they challenge each other at one point? I hope I had my money on Chainsaw.
Like all good things, the open mic ended after Chris from The Mans puked on his drums and then sprayed the vomit all over like a Blue Man from hell while he hit the snare and floor tom. Hey, it happens.
But, instead of throwing in the towel – well, throwing out the towels needed to clean up the vomit — the LBC pivoted to Hoot Nights on Wednesday nights, inspired by Friends of Bob. Traditionally, Hoot Nights would gather local bands to riff on a theme. It was a lot of covers, creativity and bringing together acts that normally wouldn’t play with each other. Gick brought in Chris Voglund, who had done some booking and gigging at Hunter’s Down Under, and eventually I helped with the booking too. We kept with themes but loosened the reigns a bit with a metal night here or a singer-songwriter night there. Again, the mix of regular Wednesday night programming and weekend shows — The Toasters, Wanda Jackson, a Talking Heads tribute band from Chicago called This Must Be the Band, all vivid in my mind — made the LBC the place to catch a live show and to play.
As the ’10s continued, things seemed to slow down a bit and eventually that upstairs went back to its private party beginnings, but for a decade-plus, it was the best place to be in downtown. Cheers to the many great memories — and especially for the best spinach-artichoke did I’ve ever had and will have.
Tim Brouk is a longtime arts and entertainment reporter. He writes here (almost) weekly, tracking things to do for Based in Lafayette.
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