Keeping Boca’s nightlife going is Mike Goodwin’s mission. So, he had mixed emotions about the state letting Crazy Uncle Mike’s open an hour later until midnight.
“More than 65% of our business happens after 9,” he said after his regular noontime opening. In fact, two famous bass players were lunching at a table in front of the bar.
“This is the music spot in Boca Raton,” said Brad Miller, sitting with Oteil Burbridge. “He plays stadiums,” Goodwin noted about Burbridge, known for Dead & Co. with Grateful Dead players and the Allman Brothers Band revival.
In fact, the music never stopped at Goodwin’s brewery, restaurant and live music venue on Federal Highway, even after the March shutdown. He livestreamed concerts through May. “They were free and donations went to the bands,” he said.
Now the bands are back on stage with two 90-minute sets four nights a week. https://crazyunclemikes.com/entertainment/
“We have some of the best local talent,” Goodwin said about regulars like The Flyers, Sons of a Tradesman and Spred the Dub, a reggae group. Their music features all genres, including rock, folk, country and covers, he said. There was even a hootenanny Friday night.
The cover is $10 inside, but free to listen from the covered porch or watch on Facebook or YouTube, he noted.
Goodwin has added incentives like Movie Night Mondays and Taco and Tequila Tuesdays.
To keep the place socially distanced, he moved half the furniture outside with umbrellas on the front driveway. He anticipates more takers as the weather cools down. But some customers sit there now after sundown, he noted.
The Goodwins are a Boca family with two daughters. They lost their vivacious daughter Myla to cancer in January after a valiant fight. She was 8.
A video on their Facebook page asks for donations for Childhood Cancer Awareness Month in September. There’s a pink bracelet in Myla’s memory, her favorite color.
“So compared to that, Covid is no big deal,” Goodwin said.
By Marci Shatzman
