Five or six years ago, I was trying to get into the Clubhouse bathroom, and I was pretty sure the door was locked. There was a dude waiting in the hallway and he was all like, "Naw bro, it ain't locked, naw, naw, naw, you just gotta push it real hard 'coz it gets stuck."
So I kicked the door as hard as I could, and the door frame splintered, and the guy in the bathroom who had locked the door was all like, "what the fuck?" and i was like "what the fuck?" and the guy who told me to push it hard was laughing real hard.
other than that, this place is pretty dependably average. in my experience, the sound guys are always competent, and the bar-tenders are usually pretty generous with the liquor.
a lot of the mid-range touring punk shows get booked here - and i wouldn't call it a "local" venue, per se. it sort of occupies the strata where a band is not big enough for the marquee but would have too many folks show up for the art-gallery spaces downtown.
also, re: amber w - one of only two venues in the metro area?! there's a bunch more. i'm not sure if you mean just cities besides phoenix, but, yeah, there's lots of others - the marquee, chyro arts, people mover, just to name a few.
the best show i saw here was probably explosions in the sky, four years ago.