18 March 21st-March 27th, 2024 phoenixnewtimes.com PHOENIX NEW TIMES | NEWS | FEATURE | FOOD & DRINK | ARTS & CULTURE | MUSIC | CONCERTS | CANNABIS | on a Friday night, and so that was a big night. He gave me notes afterward and stuff and we played there a bunch more and opened up for Gloritone. Wolfmeyer: I think it was Muddy Violets and Stone Bogart that helped us get our foot in the door at Long Wong’s. We were outsiders and we didn’t have anybody that was in for us, and so I felt like we earned our way in playing. Rhodes: The migration of how these bands evolved, and how the members and the lineups changed and whatnot, it’s very incestuous, but it always has been. I think it speaks to the pedigree. If you played Long Wong’s, there’s a really good chance that you’ve gone on to do really good things, even if it’s on a really local or regional scale. There’s a whole sort of roster of great musicians who went through those doors and did great things. The bigger picture Long Wong’s was more than great shows and oppor- tunities — it was the memories created by staff, performers and attendees. Zubia: There was a whole other community and friendships that were developed just by that place being around. My brother-in-law and sister-in-law met because of Long Wong’s. They have two children who exist because of Long Wong’s. There are people that exist because of that place, which is weird to me to think of. I actually met my ex-wife there. Carter: We played all these amazing shows and we released all these great records. We’re still friends 30, 40 years later. And I think that shows that that’s the mark of a healthy scene. Maybe it fizzled out, but the people still care. People are still very much a community around it, even if they’re not still doing stuff together. Wolfmeyer: My highlight was that we played a Tuesday night, opening for a Steve Larson band. But I had a daughter that I gave up for adoption, and they got a hold of me and came down for her 13th birthday. And so Sara let us set up a table and let her in to catch us there. People came out and packed the place, and I got to look like a rock star for that little bit. It was like winning the Super Bowl at Disneyland on the Fourth of July or something. But it’s not just about long-time friend- ships, either. Long Wong’s also had a larger impact from a cultural standpoint. Rhodes: You had Mink Rebellion and Chalmers Green, which became Black Moods. They were still creating (bands). There were still musicians that were inventive and it was still a venue that provided the milieu for those people to continue to thrive. That also raises ideas that Tempe could have been a greater musical “mecca” a la Chicago, Los Angeles and New York City. While that potential wasn’t entirely achieved — at least not for every band — there’s little denying that the sheer magic and potential were there. Hansen Orf: It’s like someone in your fraternity all of a sudden becoming a doctor or something. He’s living on Camelback Mountain, and you majored in English, so you’re in an apartment. It’s just the way the thing goes. Everybody I think would have loved to have had that shot in that opportu- nity. But there’s bands in Athens, Georgia, and Seattle who are wondering the same thing. With Seattle, they got good producers and they got major-label money and all that kind of thing and a big push. But I think it could have easily been us, it could have easily been Tempe. The wings And, of course, we can’t mention Long Wong’s without talking about their famous wings. Wolfmeyer: It smelled like chicken wings, raw sewage and rock ‘n’ roll. That’s just a thing that you can’t capture in an article, man. Beautiful and evil at the same time. But it’s Cina who has perhaps the best descriptor of Long Wing’s wings, not only as a tasty snack, but a genuinely poetic notion about what really made Long Wong’s so significant. More than bands or sound quality or iffy plumbing, it was the community that was forged for decades in this little corner on a street that’s long since outgrown it. Cina: There’s a secret where people don’t know: wings are so easy because the ingredients are pretty much all the same. And the way people do wings now is very different than they did before. So we would have the canisters of all the different sauces — mild, medium, blah blah. You’re putting in grease and the sauce would get flavored from the wings being dumped in it all. Now, most places do the opposite; they’ll swirl the wings around in it. So it doesn’t get any seasoning or flavor or whatever. And I feel like that is why Long Wong’s does have that mythical quality. Every band, the people that worked there, everyone that went there, all that stuff, just every single one of those things left flavor in that place. Long Gone from p 16 The Gin Blossoms were frequent performers at Long Wong’s. (Photo by David Rhodes)
