Indianapolis musicians will celebrate retirement of former Patio owner ’Chubby’ Wadsworth

Eight rock bands will perform Thursday at the Vogue to salute Arthur "Chubby" Wadsworth, former owner of the Patio and Club LaSalle who plans to retire next month after a 50-year career in concert production.

Wadsworth, 70, played in a teenage band known as the Lord Bryan Four that won a 1964 battle of the bands and free tickets to see the Beatles at the Indiana State Fair.

"I witnessed the power of music — that people never heard. ‘Hi, we’re the Beatles’ is the last thing you heard," Wadsworth said. "It was true Beatlemania. People in the nosebleed seats were screaming loud enough to be heard. When I saw that, I said, ‘You know, music changes the world.’ I need to get in that business."

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He owned the Patio, 6308 N. Guilford Ave., in the heart of Broad Ripple, from 1975 to 1987. Wadworth then owned Club LaSalle, 3224 E. Michigan St., until 2004. The Patio site is now home to the hookah-themed Lava Lounge, and Club LaSalle has been razed.

Sponsored by American Jeweler, 3837 N. High School Road, the Sept. 20 event at the Vogue is billed as the Chubbstock Music Festival Pre-Party. On Sept. 28-30, Chubbstock will be presented at 1255 E. Hornettown Road in Morgantown.

By retiring from Local 30 of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, Wadsworth will say goodbye to stage-building days that begin at 6 a.m. and end at midnight.

“I can’t thank the music scene enough for a 50-year career,' he said.

Following what he describes as "12 years of craziness" at the bygone Patio nightclub, Wadsworth saw business thrive at Club LaSalle within a block of the former RCA Manufacturing Facility.

"It was 8,000 employees working three shifts a day, seven days a week," Wadsworth said. "I thought, ‘Oh, my, I never had this in Broad Ripple.' "

Although the RCA plant's closing in 1995 drastically affected business at Club LaSalle, the venue maintained its reputation as the site of a popular weekly blues jam.

A heart attack brought an end to Wadsworth's club-owning career. He said he's been pronounced dead four times in his life, including two instances with signed death certificates.

Wadsworth is writing a memoir titled "Corpses Don't Cry," a reference to tears that alerted morgue staffers he was still alive.

The lineup of bands playing the Chubbstock Music Festival Pre-Party: Why On Earth, the Spirtles, Raven's Keep, Smoke Ring, Super Trouper, Tone Lab Society, the 'Rents and Tres Amigos.

The evening also is billed as a comedic roast of Wadsworth.

Raven's Keep guitarist Loren "Lo" Woods appeared on the Sept. 15 episode of WIBC-FM (90.1) program "Caregiver Crossing," talking about the Chubbstock Pre-Party as a rare chance for his 88-year-old mother to leave her nursing home and see him perform.

“She’s going to have more fans there than I will,” Woods told "Caregiver Crossing" host Terri Stacy.

Chubbstock Music Festival Pre-Party

>> WHEN: 6 p.m. Sept. 20.

>> WHERE: the Vogue, 6259 N. College Ave.

>> TICKETS: $20 to $25, 

>> INFO: Visit thevogue.com or call 317-259-7029.

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Call IndyStar reporter David Lindquist at 317-444-6404. Follow him on Twitter: @317Lindquist.

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