A little local Potsdam, N.Y. History

Periodically, I come across stories, pictures and reminiscences of my early business career in Potsdam NY when I opened a college tavern called The Wild Oat. I was just 23 when I opened the business in September of 1973.

 

I ran the place for four years, during which we cultivated musical talent sparked by SUNY Potsdam's World famous Crane School of Music. 

 

To my surprise, the day we opened for business, The Wild Oat was packed to the rafters with hundreds of college students and that standard was maintained every night for the entire school year. Reading the fond memories of people who loved the Wild Oat at that time brought back more of my own memories.

 

I took several trips to London in my twenties, where I stumbled upon a small but quite famous tavern called Ronnie Scott's. I spent many nights there listening to jazz and blues. It inspired me to bring music to the Wild Oat. I have written about Ronnie Scott's in another blog here.

 

Reading an article from the Potsdam Public Library recently, it mentioned something I hadn't known, that several musical individuals and groups who played the 'Oat' in the 70s went on to become quite famous, including, to my astonishment, the opera singer Renee Fleming.

 

I sold the tavern about 1977 to Andy Welch, who further expanded the musical ambitions of the tavern. That was more probably when Renee Fleming went there, for I have no memory of her, alas.

 

But it always amazes me how many people had such good memories of that small tavern.