Ed Said: The Chameleon Club’s Last Stand

Ed Said:
Occasional Ramblings About Arts and Entertainment

The Chameleon Club’s Last Stand

by Ed Yashinsky

It’s official. The Chameleon Club, Central Pennsylvania’s best live music venue for the past fifteen years, is for sale, and my life may never be the same.

If you’ve never been to The Chameleon, then you’ve never really enjoyed live music in a “pure” club setting. Yes, I know there are more intimate venues, like (the temporarily closed) Wire, and venues that try to bring in as many bands, like Gullifty’s, but The Chameleon was the perfect blend of intimacy — great site lines and vantage points — and rock concert bravado — a killer sound system with great lights — that might never be matched in Central Pennsylvania. The Chameleon belonged in a metropolitan area, but somehow it ended up here. And for that I am grateful.

The signs of The Chameleon’s demise were there — there were lots of rumors about a sale and the band bookings were getting very predictable — but when a full-page article appeared late last year in the Lancaster Sunday News, it was the first public acknowledgement that the end of The Chameleon was at hand. Owner Rich Ruoff admitted that after 15 years he was burned out and that he needed a change in his life. So starting in 2000, The Chameleon will be opened weekends only for dancing with occasional national bands.

The Chameleon served as my live music hangout. Some of the most memorable shows I saw include, in alphabetical order: Almighty Senators, Bad Brains, Blue Moon Boys, Blue Rodeo, Brave Combo, The Breeders, Junior Brown, Buckwheat Zydeco, Buffalo Tom, Burning Bus, The Call, Dick Dale, The Daves, Drivin’ & Cryin’, Francis Dunnery, Dumptruck, Dynagroove, Eureka Bone, Faith No More, G. Love and Special Sauce, Jeffrey Gaines, Tino Gonzales, Greenbury Woods, John Wesley Harding, Reverend Horton Heat, The Innocence Mission, The Judybats, Nils Lofgren, L7, Live (Public Affection), Los Lobos, The Low Road, Mary’s Danish, Meat Puppets, Mecca Bodega, The Mighty Lemon Drops, The Neilds, The Ocean Blue, Joan Osborne, Maceo Parker, Pere Ubu, The Pixies, Poi Dog Pondering, The Proclaimers, Queen Bee and the Blue Hornets, The Radiators, The Ramones, Satan & Adam, The Skatalites, The Smithereens, Social Distortion, Son Volt, Soul Coughing, Soundgarden, Soul Asylum, The Specials, Suddenly Tammy, They Might Be Giants, Richard Thompson, Throwing Muses, The Toasters, and Young Fresh Fellows.

If I had to pick a favorite, it would be a toss-up between the first time Los Lobos played and The Pixies jaw-dropping performance. Los Lobos has been hired to play a wedding at Hershey Country Club on a Saturday night and decided last-minute to book a Sunday night show. The crowd was manageable and the band was into the crowd. It was a great night. The Pixies came to Lancaster just as Doolittle was getting a lot of notice, and while the majority of the crowd was disappointed The Pixies passed over the MTV-friendly hit, “Here Comes Your Man,” they still blew everyone away.
(It also gave me a chance to watch a friend of mine attempt to pick up Kim Deal. I had a good laugh watching his face when she walked out on stage to play bass.)

If I had to pick a most memorable appearance it would have to be Pere Ubu. Rich Ruoff would probably want to forget this show since there were about fifteen people in the club that night (including bartenders), but Pere Ubu played as if they were playing in front of a thousand adoring fans. Afterward they invited everyone to come back stage and drink the band’s beer. Talk about a love of music. Pere Ubu could have mailed in a 45 minute set, packed up their bags never to return, but instead they played almost two hours and enjoyed hanging out with hardcore fans.

While I never met Rich Ruoff in person, I feel that he is a very good friend. We talked on the phone so frequently when ordering tickets that eventually I didn’t have to spell my last name for him — a rare moment indeed. I never really felt the need to introduce myself to him. Yes, I wrote about bands that played in his club and I’m grateful for what he’s done for music in Central Pennsylvania, but I just don’t like these, “Gee, I love your club and it’s the coolest place in the world” conversations.

For now, I want to hold onto my great memories of the Chameleon Club. Just walking onto the main floor you felt how much Rich Ruoff loves live music. Entering the space was like seeing a show in a living room — a very large living room — that was comfortable and relaxed. I will keep in mind my favorite intimate viewing spot — directly above the band in the balcony. And I hope and pray that new owners can bring the same magic to a musical nirvana.