The Lounge Ax was a music venue in the Lincoln Park

Lincoln Park, Chicago

Lincoln Park, is one of the 77 community areas on Chicago, Illinois North Side, USA. Named after Lincoln Park, a vast park bordering Lake Michigan, the community area is anchored by the Lincoln Park Zoo and DePaul University...

 neighborhood of Chicago

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

. It was an important venue for live rock music

Rock music

Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...

 -- especially indie rock

Indie rock

Indie rock is a genre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom and the United States in the 1980s. Indie rock is extremely diverse, with sub-genres that include lo-fi, post-rock, math rock, indie pop, dream pop, noise rock, space rock, sadcore, riot grrrl and emo, among others...

. The club was opened in 1987 (Parnell, 2003) by Jennifer Fischer and Julia Adams, who were joined around September 1989 by Sue Miller, previously the booker at another Chicago rock club, the Cubby Bear

Cubby Bear

The Cubby Bear is a sports bar, eatery, and music venue located at Addison and Clark Streets across from Wrigley Field, home of the Chicago Cubs. It was established in 1953 and is formally known as the Cubs Pub and Cubs Grill...

. (Wyman, 1989) For most of the club's existence, it was owned by Adams and Miller. On Saturday night, January 15, 2000, the final show at Lounge Ax was headlined by the Coctails

Coctails

The Coctails were a Chicago music quartet, which formed while its members were attending the Kansas City Art Institute. The band was active from about 1988 to 1995 The Coctails were a Chicago music quartet, which formed while its members were attending the Kansas City Art Institute. The band was...

, who reunited for the show. Dianogah

Dianogah

Dianogah is a Chicago, Illinois based indie rock outfit formed in 1995, noted for their use of two bass guitars. Members include Kip McCabe, Jay Ryan and Jason Harvey. Dianogah's first full-length album, As Seen From Above, was recorded by Steve Albini, who also produced their second full-length...

 and M.O.T.O. opened. It was located across the street from Wax Trax Records.

Lounge Ax was featured prominently in the Chicago-based movie High Fidelity

High Fidelity (film)

High Fidelity is a 2000 American comedy-drama film directed by Stephen Frears and starring John Cusack and the Danish actress Iben Hjejle. The film is based on the 1995 British novel of the same name by Nick Hornby, with the setting moved from London to Chicago and the name of the lead character...

as the site where John Cusack

John Cusack

John Paul Cusack is an American film actor and screenwriter. He has appeared in more than 50 films, including The Journey of Natty Gann, Say Anything..., Grosse Point Blank, The Thin Red Line, Stand by Me, Con Air, Being John Malkovich, High Fidelity, Serendipity, Runaway Jury, The Ice Harvest,...

's character, Rob Gordon, and the staff from Championship Vinyl first encounter Marie DeSalle, played by Lisa Bonet

Lisa Bonet

Lisa Bonet , also known as Lilakoi Moon, is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Denise Huxtable Kendall on the long-running NBC sitcom The Cosby Show, and originally starring in its spinoff A Different World.-Early life:Bonet was born in San Francisco, California...

. Its location across from the Biograph Theater

Biograph Theater

The Biograph Theater, at 2433 North Lincoln Avenue, Lincoln Park in Chicago, Illinois, was originally a movie theater but now presents live productions. It is notable as the location where bank robber John Dillinger was shot by FBI agents after watching a gangster movie on July 22, 1934...

 plays an important part in the dialogue leading up to the Lounge Ax scenes.

The band Phish

Phish

Phish is an American rock band noted for its musical improvisation, extended jams, and exploration of music across genres. Formed at the University of Vermont in 1983 , the band's four members – Trey Anastasio , Mike Gordon , Jon Fishman , and Page McConnell Phish is an American rock band...

played their first performance ever in the State of Illinois at Lounge Ax on March 30, 1990.