Lubbock’s Best Things Ever: Fat Dawgs

Let's take a look at a legendary Lubbock club.

Back in the day, you were probably a Fat Dawgs guy/gal, or a Rox guy/gal. The Rox specialized in harder rock and new wave while Fat Dawgs tended to lean towards blues and later started booking comedy.

Myself, I was a Rox guy, but Fat Dawgs was home to a good handful of the best shows I've ever seen in my life. I was/am a huge fan of a band called The Lords of the New Church, which was a new wave/goth band led by punk rocker Stiv Bators. One of the highlights was Bators giving communion to the audience by giving out pieces of his chewing gum to people in the front row -- yeah, it was gross and cool at the same time.

I also got to spend a ton of time with comedian Bill Hicks during his visits to Fat Dawgs. Hicks, believe it or not, was very personable and would come over to the table and we'd have talks about how his set went.

Lastly, one of my all-time favorite groups played their two or three times. The band was called The Unforgiven, and not only was seeing them a dream come true, we ended up playing one-handed basketball at the rim out back. (Our other hand was full of long-neck beers and before you knew if we were dribbling in glass, spit, beer and whatever.)

Fat Dawgs was also notable for being the place where Stevie Ray Vaughan, Joe "King Carrasco," The Fabulous Thunderbirds, and regional stars The Planets played.

(Note: The above video features Lubbock legend Junior Medlow. It's my firm belief that he needs to be entered into the West Texas Walk of Fame immediately. Not having him there at this point damages the credibility of the project and is a disserve to the music community at large.)