Fun at Mickey's

Mickey's Tavern has been around a lot longer than I have. Sitting adjacent to the Yahara at Willy St., it quietly serves as a comfortable place to stop, relax chat with friends and listen to live music.

We moved to Madison in 1991 and didn't "discover" Mickey's until around 1995. At that time, Mickey's was a place that you'd enter and the 3 or 4 guys at the bar would look up at you, stare for a while, and then go back to the business of discussing their day with Mickey himself. Mickey was a very sweet man that would "hold court" at the end of the bar, talking with all comers to make them feel welcome. He was already in his 90's when I met him and I still remember his stories about hunting and how he could legally hunt from his pick-up because he could no longer "get around so good."
They had live Celtic music jams on Wednesday night that we loved to attend when I was still in school and didn't have to get up at 5:30 the next day. Then there was the Isthmus article just before St. Pat's day one year and the place became super popular and probably one of the most smoke filled rooms in the city.

Then there was the night that some drunk woman got mad at Mike for talking during the Celtic music "concert" and tossed her drink on him. I think she thought that she was at the civic center or something. I never saw a crowd scatter that quickly. It was just like a scene from an old western. The music stopped, musician scurried to prevent their expensive acoustic instruments from getting wet and I was waiting for Clint Eastwood to come swaggering through the door. No such luck. Mike kept his cool, the bartender took the woman's glass and refused to serve her for the rest of the evening. Despite this, she refused to leave and so did we. She just stood and stared at us. The bartender asked us if we wanted him to call the cops to throw her out. We said no and he proceeded to give us free drinks the rest of the evening. She finally left and as she was leaving, the crowed hurled insults at her. We still see her around the neighborhood sometimes. She stares at us.

Then Mickey passed on and the tavern came under new management. Extra rooms were opened up to expand the bar. And the decor changed from taxidermized fawns & small rodent-like creatures to mod lamps and couches. It was an instant hit amongst the hipsters in town and it somehow managed to get even more smoke filled. We stopped going for a long time because, well, we're not very hip. Actually, we're not very cool either. I'd be in there for about five minutes and start whining about how my eyes were burning.

Somewhere after that time, Mickey's started hosting more local live music. We tried to go to a few shows but it was hard for me to enjoy the scene because of the smoke.

Then the smoking ban hit. I know there's a lot of bad feelings about the ban but for me and a large number of my friends, it's a big plus. I'm going out more AND I'm having fewer "hang overs." I'm not drinking any less. The smoke simply amplified the retribution for the over-indulgence.

Well, I've just experienced Mickey's Tavern in a whole new way. This time, as a musician. Playing Mickey's last night was fantastic. I love the proximity to the fans (no dang stage to get in the way). There were familiar faces and new ones that just seemed to be enjoying themselves. The staff were super friendly and accommodating. Ellie's new band, Spoonbender, opened for us and they were appropriately unpolished and weird!

Mickey's is a treasure!