Some people might not realize that besides the regular hardcore/punk shows there was a hell of a lot more going on at the Vort’n Vis. When there were no gigs, the bar was also open for the local ‘alternative’ crowd. And sometimes people (punx or other) who were travelling through Europe ended up there because they wanted to check out the place (not necessarily to see bands). They’d heard about it by hearsay or read about in publications like e.g. Book Your Own Fucking Life…
Brob
I stayed at the Vort’n Vis in 1996 on a bike-trip across Europe with a friend. We had only been biking for a few weeks at that point. A short stay in heaven! We were the only ones staying there at the time; there were dry beds (vs. rain), we ate hot food and met really generous/ cool/ interesting people. There was a radio powered by an onion and someone there [Jan Claus] worked at an observatory and took us at night to look through telescopes. I thought the horrible mattress someone mentioned earlier were great… and so was pretty much everything about the people and place.
I was just looking through an old sketchbook/ journal and read some things I wrote about my stay there…which was amazing. My friend knew of the space – I can’t remember how – we didn’t get to see anyone play.
My travel-partner was Adam. I knew him from Boston, where I lived at the time. But he was from Poland. We’re both from the punk-scene, I grew up in the punk-scene in Memphis (Tennessee). Nowadays I organise a small show-space (called Lalaland) in Fayetteville (Arkansas) where I live. I’m a painter…
Stephanie Pierce (stephanie-pierce.com)
excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:
Vort'n Vis in the 90s 