![]() It wasn’t until November 2018, after rumors had been swirling for months, that Mroz announced the permanent closure of The Mutiny. During that period, he had a new catch phrase: “If I had a good day, it would be my last,” Roll and others said. He tried to sell the bar, but those plans never materialized, she said. The diagnosis came around the same time he started to struggle financially, Roll said. Mroz was diagnosed with prostate cancer about five years ago. Roll said he sometimes struggled to connect with new patrons. He would talk your ear off about how Chicago’s smoking ban ruined the bar industry. Despite the city mandate, he didn’t get a public place of amusement license and instead asked for donations at the door. He just wanted to make sure everyone was having a good time.” Credit: Courtesy of Jenny Peanut Butter Ed Mroz (gray shirt) ran Logan Square dive bar The Mutiny for 30 years.Īs the years went on, and as Logan Square started attracting more luxury apartments and cocktail bars, Mroz became sentimental for the way things used to be, regulars and employees said. “I always got the impression from Ed that he loved what he did and he loved the fact that musicians were playing there,” Nudd said. He said Mroz paid him three times as much as he was making at other venues. Nudd said he remembers playing a relatively packed show there in the mid-2000s because it was the first time he got paid “serious money” to play a show. Most often, though, the bar was home to local musicians who struggled to “get into the Bottom Lounges and The Metros of the world,” Nudd said. “There were nights where I’d have our friend Charlie, a crossing guard who lived across the street, doing standup and then three standups later it’d be Hannibal Buress - before Hannibal made it.” “The Mutiny was a place where every walk of life was in that bar at the same time,” Kelly said. Mroz didn’t book the acts himself, but his hospitality - any musician or artist was welcome - became the bar’s defining philosophy. He allowed a lot of people to be themselves.”Ĭountless bands, comedians and other artists graced The Mutiny’s stage during its 30-year run, some that went on to make it big or some that were already well established like British punk band The Mekons. “I’m going to miss the person who really allowed me to be me. “I’m going to miss his booming voice, that man who would let me laugh at the top of my lungs, that I could scream at, fight with and laugh with two minutes later,” Roll said. “He would say, ‘You know what: f*** ’em, you don’t have to live up to this standard … he would remind me of that. Roll said whenever she was having personal issues, Mroz was always there. When you opened the door, he’d give a big smile and say, ‘Sweetheart!'”Īimee Roll, longtime bartender and booking agent at The Mutiny, considered Mroz a father figure. “The Mutiny was probably one of the first bars I went to legally,” Kelly said. The bar had a familial atmosphere because of Mroz, regulars and employees said. Over the years, Mroz formed close relationships with regulars and employees, greeting them with a big smile and surprising them with cake on their birthdays. In her tribute to Mroz on Facebook, Kelly wrote, “The Mutiny was Ed’s party, and everyone was invited.” Credit: Courtesy of Clare Kelly Ed Mroz with Clare Kelly, a regular who produced a comedy show at The Mutiny. “The bar did get trashed quite a bit by all of us, but it was all in good fun,” said Clare Kelly, a regular who produced a long-running comedy show at the bar. Within two hours of firefighters putting out the blaze, the bar was open again, even with Mroz’s office charred. One night, Mroz’s office went up in flames as a band was playing. The dive bar had a reputation for rowdy shows musicians would tear down the ceiling or run around naked as they played - and Mroz would look the other way. The bar’s owner, Ed Mroz, who many credited with building the bar’s tight-knit community and for giving countless local bands and artists a stage, died this week after a long battle with prostate cancer.įormer employees, regulars and musicians said Mroz was an old-school Chicago guy who wanted the people around him to have fun - even if that resulted in debauchery, which, at The Mutiny, it often did until its closure in 2018. ![]() “The vibe of generosity as a young musician was more than any other place in Chicago,” said musician Edd Nudd, who played at The Mutiny several times over the years. But for years, there was The Mutiny, an unassuming dive bar and punk rock club tucked into a brick building on bustling Western Avenue that would welcome just about anybody who wanted to play. LOGAN SQUARE - For many musicians just starting out, booking a gig at one of the city’s premiere venues is daunting, if not impossible.
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