All we needed Saturday night at the District in Sioux Falls was the sticky carpet, the big neon Pomp Room sign, and that certain 'odor' that the club had, and we would have been completely transported back to the 1970's through 1990s when the Pomp Room in Sioux Falls got its reputation as a great midwest music club.

Even though the doors closed December 31, 1998, there are still a LOT of people in the area that miss the Pomp Room, and local filmmakers Jesse Yost and Austin Kaus want to put those memories on film with a documentary. Saturday night, the pair helped organize a Pomp Room Reunion that would serve as the backdrop and hopefully financial kickstart the project needed with five bands from back in the day.

You can't have a Pomp Room reunion without including the Cartwright Brothers. Mark Nelson and Jeff Schwebach have been performing around the region for 26 years and they, along with their Split Pea Band kicked off the show with a too-short 30 minute set that included some fantastic covers, but instant Cartwright original classics like their set closing "Ebola" done to the tune of the Kinks "Lola"

Cartwright Brothers
Photo Courtesy of Duane Smith
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The great thing about the Pomp Room was that they didn't cater to one particular genre of music, so representing the metal scene at the Pomp was Jerkstore. The growing crowd pushed to the front to hear the band tear through a 40 minute set of mainly originals from their three CDs in the 1990s before closing with a metal version of Fleetwood Mac's "Rhiannon".

Jerkstore
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By the time Wakefield hit the stage, the crowd had grown to over 1000 music fans. Walking through the crowd, I saw so many smiles and hugs as people got reacquainted after 15, 20, or 30 years. And I've got to admit, when I walked into one of the rest rooms and had to avoid someone puking, it felt a little more like the old Pomp days!

Wakefield has started playing a few more gigs together over the past several years starting with a Hot Harley Nights gig we had them on. These talented musicians have fallen back in together extremely well and put on a tight set with a few originals mixed in with covers of Aldo Nova, Van Halen and Head East.

Wakefield 1
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Wakefield 2
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Wakefield 3
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Next was a bit of a surprise as the guys just started telling people on their Facebook pages Saturday afternoon, but Martin Dill, Pat McIntyre and Casey Gooby of Janitor Bob & The Armchair Cowboys came out for a three song acoustic set that included their classics "The Happy Song" and "Brother Michael"!

Janitor Bob 1
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Janitor Bob 2
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And last. but certainly not least, came what was billed as THE final performance of the disco revival band, The Glory Holes. It was always funny to me to see this band that was formed by a bunch of rockers to spoof a genre of music that we all in theory hated back in the 1990s, but became so popular, that there was actually three incarnations of the band over the years. The dozen musicians that came together for last night's performance included members from all three and started a Disco Inferno from the opening notes by ripping through classics like "Boogie Nights", "Kung Fu Fighting", "YMCA", "Hot Child In The City" and more! It was a disco extravaganza!

Glory Holes 2
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Glory Holes 3
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Glory Holes
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To say fun was had, would be an understatement. Jon and Ward Ertz who ran the family bar until the very end were both in attendance as were so many of us with fond (and sometimes fuzzy) memories of the Pomp Room days. It was a perfect way to kick off the filming of the documentary (which I can't wait to see when it's completed sometime in 2015) but a fitting final chapter in The Glory Holes career.

But it also brings up the question since last night was so successful, should organizers attempt to do another Pomp reunion show with all different bands? Maybe a full Janitor Bob reunion show? Closet Monster, Mad Chapter, on and on and on? Maybe get Cheap Trick to headline since they played the old Pomp a few times? Something to consider while I go for my third cup of coffee and reach for the ibuprofen. Yep, the morning after is the same as it was back then too. Wow was that a great time!

Pomp Room Reunion
Photo Courtesy of Deanna Koopman
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