User:PublisherCafeBeAt

Cafe' Be At Publishing was founded by Wanda Boudreaux in 1978 while on a tour of the Midwest in depths of a snowy winter. Trapped in a Best Western Motel during a blizzard in Fargo, North Dakota, Wanda decided to beat the cabin fever by practicing an acoustic set with organist/guitarist Armond Blackwater down in the empty motel lobby.

Before long, other guests at the motel started to congregate in the lobby to listen to the duo. The small bar off the lobby started doing gold rush business and was quickly running out of libations. Calls went out to neighbors. Before long snowmobiles began arriving with booze and pizza and more revelers. Other band mates staggered down to the lobby and joined the jam/concert that was materializing. More and more snowmobilers arrived providing a taxi service for the growing throng. More booze. More food. More people braved the howling North Dakota white-out. Snow drifted higher and higher. Undeterred, over 100 snowmobiles parked themselves near the motel. One snowmobile club trekked to Happy Harry's Liquor Store (with a sign that is the highest point in Eastern North Dakota) returning with a wagon-load of vodka, rum, gin, wine, and beer and more beer.

The club the band was performing at had already cancelled all activities and closed for the day. The venue had now become the Best Western Motel. Skaters slid across the frozen pool -- a hockey game broke out. Inside, the music never stopped. The party gained steam by the hour. At one point, Wanda Boudreaux announced over a make-shift PA, "We usually perform these songs at coffee houses and Cafe's... but, hell, it looks like the Cafe' has found us. I guess the Cafe' is wherever we Be At." Thus, was the origin of the Cafe' Be At!