Sink Legacy, Chuck Morris Signs the Wall of Fame

From left to right: Owners, Chris Heinritz, Tell Jones, Chuck Morris, and owner, Mark Heinritz

CHUCK MORRIS SIGNS THE SINK WALL OF FAME

Chuck Morris looks at his new caricature. Photo Credit: Teresa Taylor

Chuck Morris signs the Wall of Fame. Photo Credit: Teresa Taylor

Chuck recalls booking many bands at The Sink. “Upstairs while I managed, it was The Alley ID. From 1968 to 1970, I booked a bunch of bands including Chris Daniels, Tommy Bolin, TK Little, and others except for the nights we had pool tables. Downstairs, we only had one band, which was the second appearance of CU dropouts, Flash Cadillac and The Continental Kids. Booked them after my bouncer/CU student, the great Kevin Fitzgerald, took me to a rehearsal and they blew me away. Broke the all-time record for 3.2 beer sales for Friday afternoon club. Paid them all they could drink. Never got that deal again.”

When The Sink went through life as Herbie’s Deli, the famous wall art was covered up with pine boards, patiently waiting for The Sink’s loyal patrons to demand its return. In 1989, at the urging of his sons, Kauvar “de-models” the deli and re-opens as The Sink. A former artist, Llloyd Kavich and his sidekick, Streamline the Rat Dog, were once again pressed into service to restore the counter-culture artwork which had come to define The Sink. Chuck’s caricature along with other esteemed “Sink Rats” from that time period are still on the wall in the famous “Rat Room”. Now 30 years later, Chuck received a new representation upfront on the Wall of Fame alongside signatures of all of the famous people that have graced us with their presence.

Other famed signatures on The Sink’s Wall of Fame include:

Guy Fieri of The Food Network’s “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives”, President Barack Obama, the late Chef Anthony Bourdain and Eric Ripert, André 3000 of Outkast, Bill Walton – retired basketball player and television sportscaster, Knowshon Moreno of the Denver Broncos and Miami Dolphins, and others.

On February 4th, 2019, former Sink Manager and Colorado Music Hall of Fame inductee, Chuck Morris came to The Sink to sign the Wall of Fame next to his newest caricature.

Morris, alongside KBCO, was celebrated for his achievements in the Colorado music scene by being inducted into the Colorado Music Hall of Fame presented by Comfort Dental on December 3, 2018.

Chuck got his first break after dropping out of graduate school. In 1968, Herbie Kauvar, then owner of The Sink and Herbie’s Deli, offered him a job booking local bands. “We had become friends when I used to have a beer with him after I left Norlin library studying until 11 pm or so as a Ph.D. student and T.A. He told me to quit and that I would make a great manager. I was stunned. I thought about it for one day and then took it. Changed my life. It was the heyday of The Sink. It’s funny how fate can change the whole direction of our lives.” Chuck tells us. “I really thought it would last six months and I’d go back and get my Ph.D., and that was 50 years ago,” recalls Morris in an interview with 303 Magazine.

Chuck Morris poses in front of his caricature on the Wall of Fame. Photo Credit: Teresa Taylor

Chuck poses with the artist, Sean Bailey. Photo Credit: Teresa Taylor

Chuck Morris and friends at The Sink for formal night. Circa 1968

ABOUT CHUCK MORRIS (from Colorado Music Hall of Fame)

Originally from Brooklyn, New York, Chuck Morris established himself as a Colorado music industry institution. After leaving the Ph.D. program in political science at the University of Colorado in Boulder, Morris was offered a job managing The Sink, a restaurant and bar on the Hill where he brought in acts as varied as Tommy Bolin and Flash Cadillac. With partner Herb Kauvar, they bought and re-opened Tulagi nightclub. At Tulagi, Morris brought Boulder the first real concert hall experience, bringing in Linda Ronstadt, the Eagles, ZZ Top, Bonnie Raitt, and The Doobie Brothers on their very first tours.

In 1974, he brought his prolific ear for music to Denver where he booked early tours of Richard Pryor, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Steve Martin, and Carole King at Ebbets Field Nightclub with his financial partner Barry Fey. Morris recently told The Daily Camera, “I thought I would be doing this music thing for six months and then go back to graduate school. That was 50 years ago.”

Since then, Morris has continued to drive the Colorado music community as a world-class promoter and an artist manager, and most recently in a bid to bring a 4,000-seat theater to downtown Denver called the Mission Ballroom opening in 2019.