Description: Thanksgiving is bittersweet this year, but The Current Rewind presents a spoonful of sugar straight from Minnesota music history.

This is a bonus episode from The Current Rewind's "10 Pivotal Days at First Avenue" season. Catch up below.

• April 3, 1970 (The day it all began)
• Nov. 28-29, 1979 (The days that told the future)
• Sept. 27, 1982 (Bad Brains/Sweet Taste of Afrika/Hüsker Dü)
• Aug. 3, 1983 (The birth of "Purple Rain")
• Oct. 22, 1990 (Sonic Youth/Cows/Babes in Toyland)
• March 4, 1991 (Ice Cube/WC and the MAAD Circle)
• Nov. 2, 2004 (The day the doors closed)
• Aug. 12, 2015 (The day the sky fell)
• April 21, 2016 (The day the streets turned purple)

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts, NPR One, RSS, Spotify, Stitcher
The Current Rewind is made possible in part by the Minnesota Legacy Amendment's Arts and Culture Heritage Fund.

Transcript of The Current Rewind season 2, bonus episode: "First Avenue's Thanksgiving feasts"

Cecilia Johnson VO: Hi, this is Cecilia Johnson, host and producer of The Current Rewind, and...this is going to be a weird Thanksgiving. Your family's typical get-together may have included lots of food and lots of people. And with COVID-19 still out there, this year, many people will be staying home. As I was re-listening to my interview with Steve McClellan and LeeAnn Weimar recently, a particular section leapt out at me. Steve, First Avenue's former general manager, and LeeAnn, First Ave's former director of marketing, were talking about the Thanksgiving dinners they used to hold at First Ave. Through those dinners, they were able to offer staff and out-of-towners a place to go. We may not be able to pop into First Avenue this Thanksgiving, but this conversation, this little snippet, seems like a good reminder that even when we're feeling alone, away from family and away from home...people out there still care about us.

Steve McClellan: We had a lot of employees that didn't go home for Thanksgiving. This was very early in the '80s and I would go and order – this is why my family – I had to apologize. I didn't make it to a family Thanksgiving for 20 years.

LeeAnn Weimar: Oh, easily.

Steve McClellan: 20 years, maybe more. Well, it started out real simple. Why don't I run up – and I used to go to the Tom Thumb that was downtown, and they did Thanksgiving. They were open 365 days a year, and they had a little deli, and they would make Thanksgiving dinners. And so it started out – I think I only needed three turkeys and dressing. They make the whole thing: mashed potatoes, vegetables. And it was cheap. That was another thing. We didn't have that kind of money. It wasn't flaked potatoes, it was real mashed potatoes. It was a real Thanksgiving dinner. It just, toward the end, because then we started including all employees are invited, so –

LeeAnn Weimar: Or their families or people that didn't have places to go.

Steve McClellan: I had to apologize to some families, because their kids would not show up for the home one. It was like me. They would come and have it at First Avenue, because it was more fun. So it did get bigger, and then we started finding out that, bands from England that don't celebrate Thanksgiving would wonder, where would we go eat tonight. Well, the McDonald's isn't even open. You better join us. If we had a band in The Entry playing: "Come on up, get a plate. There's only six of ya."

LeeAnn Weimar: I remember Karl Mueller from Soul Asylum telling me he just wanted clean socks on the road. These guys were wearing socks inside out and stuff to try to – you know, underwear, everything. And a home-cooked meal is something that a band can really appreciate.

Steve McClellan: Well, it wasn't just that. It was really, simply, they would've been happy to take their $10 a head to go eat at the McDonald's – a lot of The Entry bands. That was fine.

LeeAnn Weimar: There was no place to go.

Steve McClellan: There was no place to go to eat, so the bands got added and then by the end – I wanna try to remember the last one we did. But it got to be –

LeeAnn Weimar: Bigger; a lot bigger.

Steve McClellan: I wanna say we were up to, like, 10-12 turkeys and then all the dressing, potatoes, vegetables that go along with it. And along with that is the pies and the –

LeeAnn Weimar: And we were always working. I mean it was always –

Steve McClellan: Oh, I remember getting help because the only transport was, actually, it was my father-in-law's old blue station wagon. I was married years ago. It got so big that my station wagon with the seats down, and you can't spill the gravy – you gotta be careful – so I had to drive slow – I remember filling it up and I needed somebody else to come and get the biscuits and the mashed potatoes because I'm loaded up with 10 turkeys. Well, think about it!

LeeAnn Weimar: And a bunch of gravy.

Steve McClellan: The gravy and the turkeys would fill the station wagon. [laughs] But I don't know who all helped, but then everybody's be down at the club waiting and we'd find out what time was it ready for pickup, and then the deal is – sometimes it got cold on Thanksgiving – you'd have to get the food there before it got cold.

LeeAnn Weimar: And it was cold – it was cold in the room.

Steve McClellan: Yeah, so you'd be bringing – well of course, I didn't – I had more problem getting it into the two cars, because it was just me and a couple other people, where when we got to the club it was easy, because everybody that was waiting to eat would all help bring it in. But the biggest problem was just getting it there when it's still warm, 'cause they'd keep it – I wanna say that Tom Thumb got used to me over the years, and they did a great job putting together –

LeeAnn Weimar: I mean that was – those are the memories that I have about the club just being so wonderful – the camaraderie, and the kids that didn't have another place to be. [They] had a safe place to be.

Cecilia Johnson VO: This bonus episode was hosted and produced by me, Cecilia Johnson, and it was mixed by Johnny Vince Evans. I'm grateful for every single person who has listened to this First Ave podcast, and those who are working to keep the club open. Next week, we've got another little bonus episode for you about, what else? The stars on First Avenue's wall.

Related

• The Current Rewind goes to First Avenue