Venue notes: Voltaire's Basement, AustinDefunct punk club in the basement of an Austin bookstore. Was located at 407 Lavaca (corner of 4th), beneath what is now the Ruta Maya coffeehouse. Founder Hedwig Gorski writes (Aug 2001):"I named the 'make-believe' bookstore 'Voltaire's Basement' along with the basement venue; and ran the bookstore with my poet friends. We did poetry, etc., events upstairs and the bands played in the basement. Poets and others also lived in the basement and in other nooks and crannies of the building. Our consortium of instigators that got it all started includes Craig Underwood, who is in Birmingham, AL; Joy Cole passed away; Hedwig Gorski, that's me, teaching lit at the University of Louisiana; Bruce Fitch, who started booking bands and theater productions with his friends is up north, I think. [...] I remember many of the band members, and the final blow-out when Voltaire's died was a blast. I wrote a play about the venue." [Do you have more information about this venue? Please email me.] Return to Hüsker Dü dates page |