FSU Garage
From The Secret History of the Cedar Valley
Contents |
History
The FSU (Fuck Shit Up) Garage is a small garage next to a house at 109 N. Ellen St (off of 1st Street) in Cedar Falls which hosted punk, hardcore, and indie rock shows from 2001-2006. The house itself was known as the FUK House (For Us Kids) and also hosted shows in the basement.
It was founded in 2001 by Josh Otten and Jeff Eaton, who had both come to Cedar Falls from Marshalltown to attend UNI and wanted to host DIY punk/hardcore shows in a non-commercial venue. They did not set out to make money on the venue, but instead, just wanted a place of their own to hang out, have fun, and listen to great music.
After initially renting the house with a few other musicians and music fans, they set to work on soundproofing the walls of the garage. In dumpsters at UNI and the mattress factory they found enough mattresses, cushions, pads, and pillows to line the walls of the garage in a thick layer of padding. This also served as padding during concerts, when crowds inside the garage would dance, bouncing off the walls and one another.
The landlord, local police, and neighbors did not seem to mind the venue during the first few years of operation, but slowly baseless rumors began to circulate in the community that the house was associated with Satanism and underage drinking. Eventually, these concerns, and the response to them by local authorities, caused the venue to close down. The mattresses were removed from the garage and it was torn down in 2006.
Flyers
 Nov. 9, 2002 |
 Feb. 28, 2003 |
 April 22, 2004 |
 Aug. 5, 2005 |
 Aug. 27, 2005 |
Memories, Anecdotes
- I was at a Beat Strings show in April of 2006. At that time, the mattresses had been removed. The police showed up 10 seconds after the first song started and cleared the whole place out. The show then continued undaunted at a different location.
External Links
List of Shows
Article about FSU Garage in CVEA in 2003
Photo of FSU Garage Door
