Most days, either going to work or heading back home, I pass a boarded up building on 24th and Walnut that looks pretty unassuming but still vibrates with life for me.

I'm talking about the days when that building was alive with a jukebox pumping what the faithful called "rockers" and everyone else called reggae and with the sound of the devoted gamers slamming dominoes on the table tops with a flourish and a cry of victory.

I'm talking about the days of the Caribbean Inn, a neighborhood place that welcomed everyone with a cold Strip (Red Stripe) or Dragon Stout (now sadly out of the U.S. market).

Writing about The Congos and Nigel Scott and Tropical Records recently reminded me of the Caribbean Inn, although my commute reminds me of it pretty often, too.

Usually, a night there consisted of plugging the jukebox, watching the dominoes games -- novices like us would never dream of asking for a chair to participate -- or playing pool with the regulars and drinking a couple beers.

Occasionally there was a band playing. The groups didn't seem to have names but they were skillful players performing a range of Caribbean music, from reggae to soca, ska to calypso. One of those nights we chatted with a band of musicians considerably older than us, and they invited us to their after-gig gig.

We followed them through the night down a maze of anonymous residential streets until we stopped in front of a house. Helping them load the gear into the basement, we realized we were crashing -- sort of -- a wedding reception.

But you'd never have known it. We were welcomed with food and drink, smiles and handshakes. The band played into the night and the basement got steamier and steamier as everyone danced and had a blast.

Sadly, I think a string of violence led to the shuttering of the Caribbean Inn and we never knew where to find those bands that played there. The rockers scene in Milwaukee -- which had never been much to talk about anyway -- really dried up by then.

The Sunday night gigs at the C-Club that ran in '84 and '85 under the Wisconsin Hotel and brought the likes of Michael Rose -- with a young, bright-eyed Squiddy Cole on drums before he became Jamaica's top session sticksman -- The Meditations, Burning Spear and The Mighty Diamonds to town, had long since dried up and we counted on the rare gig like Pablo Moses at a corner tap on Center Street or Wailing Souls at the Ramada Inn (no kidding), Freddie McGregor and Michigan & Smiley at Century Hall, or Daddy Blue at the Caribbean Inn, or a package gig like the Taxi Connection Tour in '86 at UWM with Yellowman, Half Pint, Ini Kamoze and others.

I heard there was a Caribbean Inn reunion last fall at a club on Fond du Lac Avenue and the fact that the place isn't forgotten makes me happy.

Post a comment / write a review.

Recent blogs/briefs by Bobby Tanzilo

What's the best thing about Organ Piper Pizza? Thursday Twenty-five years into my life as a Milwaukeean, I made my debut at Organ Piper Pizza, ...

The ups and downs of weekday baseball Thursday Because my boss is cool, I went to see the Brewers take on the Mets yesterday for the ...

Il Mito brunch is both slick and satisfying Tuesday Who says a delicious, hearty breakfast can't be classy and well-presented, too? Always ...

I never thought I'd build a bear Aug. 30, 2008 Even with a toddler in the house, I never thought I'd enter a Build-A-Bear shop, much ...