Prison
The Prison was located on Highway 13 between Cedar and Lyndale Avenues, or “one mile east of the Lucky Twin Drive-in on Highway 13” in Burnsville.
It opened in 1968 and had two stages at opposite end of the floor. The owner was Pat Raines, who later moved to Los Angeles and became the manager of Al Jarreau.
It appears that the audience sat on the floor for performances.
Arlo Hennings says there was a soda fountain with table and chairs. “Pat Raines built an area surrounded by wooden bars and I painted them purple to apparently resemble a prison!”
LOCAL ACTS
The Blues Cube, formerly Marcia and the Lynchmen, played their final gig at the Prison on August 24, 1968.
Big Daddy Wags Night was at the Prison on July 19th, 1969. He brought the Voxmobile. Bands participating included
- The 19th Amendment
- Bananas
- Pure Honey
- Pride & Joy
- Olivers
- Pepper Fog
- CA Quintet
- Stone Hedge
- Boiling Point
Photo of Voxmobile courtesy Dennis Libby
Bruce Glewwe:
I went to the Prison a number of times. There was a band there I think called Show Time. Their sets would start with the white guys playing probably a Temptations song and then the “cool” black guys would stroll in and join the band and sing a dance song that would fill the floor.
WHITE LIGHTNING
White Lightning appeared on March 7, 1970, and the performance was caught by photographer Mike Barich. The photos show a rather bleak, truly prison-like room, with the audience sitting on the floor.
White Lightning. Photo copyright Mike Barich, St. Paul
Underneath all of the flowing locks are Woody Woodrich, bass; Bernie Pershey, drums; Mickey Stanhope, vocals; Zippy Caplan, guitar; Ronn Roberts; Guitar. (Thank you, Janet Deane!)
NATIONAL ACTS
The Prison hosted some big time national acts during its lifetime, including:
Three Dog Night on July 9, 1969.
The Buckinghams on August 9, 1969.
Lee Michaels and the Mystics on August 30, 1969.
Buddy Miles Express on October 10 and 11, 1969.
JOE COCKER
Joe Cocker braved a snowstorm to perform on December 14, 1969, his last appearance in the US before returning to England. Danny’s Reasons opened the show.
Tom Barbeau reports:
There couldn’t have been more than 200 – 300 hundred people there. That was a small crowd in that room, as I recall a lot of empty space. My group of 6 or 7 guys who made the trip (packed into a ’53 Ford coming from St. Paul, through a snow storm), had no trouble getting to within 20 to 30 feet of the stage with lots and lots of empty space behind us. Everything he had at Woodstock the previous August, he showed us there, that night, and the crowd was totally blown away.
At that time Cocker had four singles on the charts, none in the top 20. Tom indicated that he was relatively unknown at the time. Although he had made a star-making appearance at Woodstock, the film Woodstock wouldn’t be released until 1970.
Turtles on January 24, 1970.
Mark of Zorro on March 7, 1970. Local group?
An unknown Norman Greenbaum appeared to a small crowd on April 25, 1970. There were conflicting accounts of the venue for this appearance, so I took a chance and emailed Mr. Greenbaum, and he responded! He did remember making an appearance in the Twin Cities, but unfortunately didn’t remember where he performed. I must have found further evidence that he was at the Prison.
The Hollies appeared on April 26, 1970.
A 1970 ad said “Break into the Prison – Home of the Most Exciting Bands in the Twin Cities. Dance up a Storm with No Guards in Towers. Action every Friday – Saturday.”