Ziggy’s: A WFU musical tradition

Deacon Blog

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Any Demon Deacon who loves roots, rock and reggae knows about Ziggy’s, the famous music venue where bands touring the Southeast felt compelled to crank it up in Winston-Salem. From the start a hangout with Wake Forest alumni running the show, Ziggy’s attracted crowds to its doors just off Deacon Boulevard near BB&T Field for 27 years until it closed after Thanksgiving in 2007.

Eclectic doesn’t even begin to describe the scene. Consider a few of the bands in Ziggy’s history: Ben Folds Five, Phish, The Black Crowes, Dave Matthews Band, Rusted Root, George Clinton, Bo Diddley, Tenacious D, Burning Spear, Hootie and the Blowfish, Bill Monroe and Ziggy Marley, who, by the way, was not the music hall’s namesake.

Learn about the true namesake, the Deacs link and the opening tonight of the new Ziggy’s in the arts district at Trade Street and Martin Luther King Drive in an interview on WFDD.

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About the Author

Maria Henson (’82), a Pulitzer Prize winner and a 1994 Nieman Fellow at Harvard, worked at newspapers until 2009. After living in Botswana, she returned to the Reynolda Campus to oversee the Wake Forest Magazine, teach and share the notable tales of Demon Deacons.


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