It is said that change is a good thing. For better or for worse, downtown Eau Claire’s music scene has seen plenty of change over the last few decades. Eau Claire has been fortunate to attract world-class musical acts through the popularity of jazz and blues in the 1980s to the emergence of alternative rock in the early 1990s, and the booming popularity of hip-hop and electronic music in the 2000s.

In 30 years the music establishment most commonly known as The Stone’s Throw has weathered changes beyond music trends; it has had more than nine owners or operators, each experiencing successes and failures before ultimately closing the doors. After the closure this June, another tally will be added to that count, leaving live music lovers to wonder what constant, besides the beverages, they can expect from the bar.

An exploration of the club’s dynamic past reveals that live, original music has consistently been synonymous with the name Stone’s Throw, but so are the phrases “hard work” and “labor of love.”

Frank Stone, a stained glass artist, purchased the building on the corner of Barstow and Eau Claire streets in 1979. Stone was in the process of “rehabbing” several antiquated structures downtown, and became smitten with the one with the stone turret.

“I think I had an insane streak hit me. I was doing fine with the rehab and I decided I wanted to have a restaurant there,” Stone recalled.

Stone modeled the interior of the building into what it is today, with a large main room and balcony on the upper level and a kitchen and dining room on the lower. The stained glass windows were also lovingly installed by Stone. Hoping an upscale restaurant would draw people to a sleepy downtown Eau Claire, Stone’s Throw opened in 1980, and earned its name because Stone knew it was “a throw of the dice.”

    Indeed, just one year later, Stone’s Throw was in financial peril, but Stone had a new strategy. James Solberg, a blues musician of both local and national renown reportedly approached Stone with the idea to have live music in the space. Booking the likes of The Nighthawks, John Hammond, and Claudia Schmidt, The Stone’s Throw’s infancy was rich with the blues. On nights when it was full and busy, Stone recalled, “the floors upstairs would just shake!”

By 1984, however, the live shows could not sustain Stone’s dice throw, and he was forced to turn the building over to the bank, where Fred Kappus was hired to manage the property. Kappus explained that after a year-and-a-half of management by the bank, it became clear that Stone’s Throw should be back under private ownership, so he and a partner bought the building a few years later.

Meanwhile, around 1986, James Solberg took over Stone’s Throw’s lease and began what some have called its “heyday.” The popularity of blues and Solberg’s notoriety in the national music scene drew throngs to see nationally touring acts, as well as Solberg’s own house band on Wednesday evenings. The owner’s son, Justin Solberg, who now plays with the Drunk Drivers, worked to put together the monthly calendars for the club.

“The biggest strategy was to line up acts as they’re coming from Chicago to Minneapolis,” the younger Solberg explained. Using this method, Eau Claire was treated to performances by Little Anthony and the Imperials, Koko Taylor, John Lee Hooker, Rick Danger, Lonnie Brooks, and of course, Solberg’s musical partner, Luther Allison.

“When we’d have national acts, it was weird ‘cause we’d have people come from a 200-mile radius. More of them than people from the Eau Claire area,” Solberg senior recalled.

Dedication on the part of Solberg certainly fortified the efforts of his employees and patrons. Mike Schlenker, owner of Speed of Sound in Eau Claire and a local musician who has shared the stage with Solberg senior recalled, “The one thing I always remember is that [Solberg] was always there. From open to close, he was always there.”

Solberg attributed the success of his club not just to the music, but to the people involved. “Everyone that worked for me was always outstanding and you know they were into the goals we were trying to achieve,” he credited. “We had a good loyal following,” he said of his local patrons.

Chris Jackson was one of those patrons. Now the proprietor of Jackson CD Duplication in Eau Claire and former member of bands Another Carnival and Venison, he was once an aspiring musician who found inspiration at Stone’s Throw.

“When Solberg had the Stone’s Throw, he would play every Wednesday night with his James Solberg Band ... and I would go down just as a musician, just to watch him play and learn,” Jackson explained.

Jackson described Solberg as a “catalyst” for Eau Claire’s budding music scene at that time, which revolved around a downtown music store called Side by Side Pro Audio and Stone’s Throw. During the Solberg era, his club was one of the only places in town to feature live music that did not come in the form of a cover band.

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Perhaps inspired in turn by the upshot of local music, Solberg sold Stone’s Throw in 1993 to begin touring anew. As if to predict the queue of owners that would file through the club over the next decade, it took three sales attempts before another musician, Leigh Carey, became the operator.

As the club entered its pre-teen years, Eau Claire’s alternative rock scene was in full swing. Brent Kuechenmeister, local musician and the current sound engineer for the House of Rock, recalled that, “after ‘91, people were a little bit more willing to go out and hear local ... songwriters.”

Carey was sensitive to this and made a point to welcome still more local acts. “I opened it up to anybody that would want to come in and try to draw a crowd,” Carey explained.  These included Kuechenmeister’s own band, Three Liter Hit, as well as Venison and Touch is Automatic. Regional acts like Tina and the B-Sides also graced the stage.

Carey and Solberg shared a knack for finding dedicated help. Lisa Genke began the first of three employments at the music bar working as a bartender for Carey. She worked as a bartender for later owner Chuck Wilke in the mid 90s and again as bar manager for Fred Kappus in 2002.

“At that point, downtown was where it was at, really, because the House of Rock wasn’t open yet,” Genke said. “Most of the other venues in town were like cover bands.”

While the alternative music scene thrived in Eau Claire, the restaurant that Carey tried to revive did not. Like Stone, Carey “sunk a lot of money” into renovations in the downstairs dining area. Unable to make ends meet financially, Carey sold the business to Wayne Marek, currently the director of the Eau Claire Children’s Theatre, in 1995.

    Marek had a plan for the club that did not involve live music, or the name that had previously been associated with it. He called his club “The Trading Company.”

“It was basically an alternative bar,” Marek explained. With a house DJ, and a dance club feel, Marek catered to Eau Claire’s gay population. Marek’s effort was well received, and he compared The Trading Company to previous business attempts. “It was as successful, although it certainly has ... a reputation as a [live] music bar.”

That reputation was upheld in 1997, when Chuck Wilke bought the bar from Marek and restored it to its former self, save for the name. Wilke, who had run Mr. Heavy’s in Menomonie for about eight years when he purchased Stones Throw, dubbed the club the “Cornerstone.” Brice Lyons managed the club, where the rock scene picked up right where it had left off. Lisa Genke returned for her second stay as a bartender.

After witnessing Minneapolis’ music scene while working at First Avenue and relocating to Colorado, Genke recently commented that “the music scene in Eau Claire always amazes me, because its just so fertile and beautiful. ... It’s just really open. ... Everybody plays in five bands, everybody knows each other, everybody comes to support each other. It’s kind of a really beautiful, unique thing.”

Eau Claire’s rock scene was now studded by new groups, like the Drunk Drivers, Jimmy’s Comet, and the Embellishment, who all played the Cornerstone. Kuechenmeister frequented shows and practiced in the basement with fellow musician Joseph Gunderson. Lyons was experienced and savvy in the live music business and kept cover charges very low to entice the mobs. Kuechenmeister, however, alluded to Wilke’s impending financial difficulties.

“Even back then the rent was expensive. ... That’s always been the curse of that room; for as much square footage you get, you have to pay pretty hefty rent,” he explained.

Wilke agreed, “It didn’t make any money as the Cornerstone. The rent was too high, the bills were too expensive.” Other expenses of a live music venue that aren’t shared by their fellow drinking establishments are sound system operation and maintenance, liability insurance, advertising, a cabaret license, fees to the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) and Broadcast Music Incorporated (BMI), security, and countless others.

And for a club with a reputation for live music, “if you didn’t have a band, you’d be bringing in an average of 50 or 60 bucks [a night],” Wilke revealed. With one year left on his lease, Wilke decided he was tired of losing money, and that he would give the club another try at drawing a gay customer base. Wilke stated that he “turned it into CJ’s Great Escape to compete with Scooter’s.” Wilke did away with live music and met a mediocre success. He sold the business to his landlord, Fred Kappus, at the end of his lease in 2001.

Kappus and several business partners sought to return the club to its original niche. Kappus hired Genke back as bar manager, and in 2002 they “brought back the Stone’s Throw, brought back the live music, started with a great big bang,” Kappus explained.

Not four months went by when it became clear that business disagreements would prevent the four partners from working together. Kappus sold his share of the Stone’s Throw to Joseph LaPoint and Steve and Lorrie Anderson, who shouldered the responsibility of upholding the club’s legacy as it entered adulthood.

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LaPoint and the Andersons brought back the live music with vigor, and Lisa Genke, now in her third role there, helped pioneer an aggressive new direction. “We did (music) seven nights a week,” LaPoint said. Sunday nights were karaoke, Mondays were jazz nights, run by famed trumpet player Andrew Neesley, Tuesdays featured hip-hop, Wednesdays open mic, and Thursday through Saturday were filled with a variety of local, regional, or national acts.

 Under Genke’s management, familiar names like Pat McCurdy, Jim Pullman, Howard Luedtke, the Kissers, and Easy Chair played. Stone’s Throw paid homage to its blues days when Bernard Allison, son of the late Luther Allison, took the stage. When Genke left her role in late 2002, Steve Anderson sought out Volume One editor Nick Meyer to take the reigns on booking and promotion.

 Adding to Genke’s success, Meyer ramped up promotions for the club, dramatically increasing the presence of posters, monthly calendars, and print advertising, as well as launching a new website. This era saw the rise of several local bands including Amateur Love, DeYarmond Edison, Day Old Bread and more playing to consistent crowds of more than 200 people. Meyer also leaned heavily on the Minneapolis music scene and introduced many acts in Eau Claire including Cloud Cult, Halloween Alaska, Happy Apple, The Black-Eyed Snakes, Wookiefoot, and many others.

 National acts also started to return when Meyer brought the likes of Reverend Horton Heat, Junior Brown, Ike Reilly, Southern Culture on the Skids, Califone, and Umphrey’s McGee. After three-and-a-half years of seven-nights-a-week entertainment, often with big crowds but little financial gain, LaPoint and the Andersons sold the otherwise healthy business to a mother and son who had a nine-year business plan for the venue.

 Ryan O’Connor and his mother, Sue, began their stint as first-time bar operators with a mind to “keep going with the tradition that had been there since the early 80s,” Ryan explained. Picking up right where LaPoint had left off, they booked local bands such as Amateur Love. The fledgling bar operators soon learned that “one of the things about running a bar is it’s actually quite stressful.” The O’Connors were forced to abandon their lease after just a year-and-a-half, due to health complications in the family.

 At that time, Jon Marlier and Andrew Pernsteiner of the MarSteiner Hospitality LLC saw opportunity nod its head. “When Stones Throw became an option, I thought it could be an exciting experience that I could really put my heart into,” Marlier explained.

 The MarSteiner attempt shook up the live music tradition with a weekly Ladies Night, featuring local DJ Beze, and unique events like midget wrestling and suspension demonstrations. They continued to book regional favorites like Pat McCurdy, while responding to the popularity of hip-hop by booking acts like Doomtree, Heiruspecs, Afroman, Heatbox, and The Crest. Marlier and Pernsteiner even resurrected full food service in the venue, offering pub fare like hot wings and burgers.

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Despite their energies and an ambitious three-year run, the gentlemen were forced to give up The Stones Throw this year when, according to Pernsteiner, “unfortunately, our landlord raised our lease rate significantly and unexpectedly at our renewal period. ... The new adjustment would have been at least two-and-a-half to three times what we were previously paying.”

 This rental fee did not jive with the MarSteiner business plan, and for that matter, Pernsteiner was “not sure how anyone could operate a music venue in the space at that rate using a business model similar to ours.” According to the building owner, John Mogensen, who bought the property in the early 2000s, the rent was “scheduled to go up,” and the new rate, $5,500 a month, is reflective of rising utility costs.

 As 2010 looms, Stones Throw bar, restaurant, and music venue once again faces new prospects for the future. Mogensen feels past owners didn’t “realize that it costs a lot to operate a bar and restaurant. ... It’s fun when you go down there and listen to music, but once they get in the business they realize that it’s a lot of work.” Mogensen would like to see the bar reopened as soon as possible, and is currently making $25,000 worth of updates.

    The venue will enter its thirtieth year with brand new bar back equipment and a brand new floor in the main room. Mogensen explained that the two groups of tenants that are interested in taking over the legendary business will bring back live music. And, in the event that neither potential party is able to raise the estimated $25,000 starting cost, then Mogensen himself will take the responsibility. “If we get done with the remodeling and there’s nobody stepping up to the plate, then we’ll continue to look, but we’ll open it,” he said.

 The next Stone’s Throw operator to step up to the plate will have a huge legacy to uphold, and a challenging musical future ahead. Eau Claire bar owners, patrons, and musicians commented on how Stone’s Throw fits into the future of the city’s music scene and beyond.

 As a musician who tours the Midwest, Justin Solberg said the bar is “one of the nicest clubs throughout the Midwest to play, as far as being a musician and playing a club, there are few and far between that have the facilities that the Stone’s Throw does.” Despite these advantages, Solberg lamented, “it’s probably the same old battle; to get people to go from Water Street to Barstow is like pulling teeth.”

 Bill Nolte owns The Joynt on Water Street, where he hosted live jazz and blues from 1974 to 1991, and reportedly never saved a dime from these shows. Nolte found that it’s not the street the venue is located on, but the size of the town it’s located in. “In order to make a venue work you need a huge population to draw on,” Nolte said.

 Steven Geitz, owner of the House of Rock and the Grand Illusion on Water Street, pointed out that the two constants of Stone’s Throw, business and music, go together as well as oil and water. “The biggest drawback of having live entertainment is you’re breaking the cardinal rule of business and that’s providing consistency,” Geitz remarked. “In this size of a market, you can’t just have one style of music. ... You have to provide different things. That’s … the Achilles heel.”

 Joseph Gunderson, local musician and booking manager for both House of Rock and The Mousetrap, feels that venues today have an added challenge. As music trends come and go, so do the mediums of how they’re circulated. Insinuating that the heyday of live music seems to have been winding down over the last five to eight years, Gunderson stated, “I don’t think going to a show is as cool as it used to be. I don’t think the public is supporting it right now, for whatever reason.”

 Rob Rule, former manager of the Turf Club in St. Paul and co-founder and owner of Bar Chord Music Club near Menomonie agreed that in this age of technology, “there’s no music stores anymore, no record stores. Smoky rock bars are going away.”

 A look at Stone’s Throw’s 30 years in the live music scene have revealed one consistency: music is a hard business, a labor of love. Past owner O’Connor shared some words of wisdom that seem to ring true for Stone’s Throw. “You’re not going to make a ton of money runnin’ that place, you’re not going to strike it rich. ... The people that have run that business most successfully have put 100 percent of their being into it. It was their life; it was what they did.”