Brontë Fall’s new song honors The FunHouse bar

The year is 2007. Surrounded by beer kegs in a dimly lit basement, Teri Bracken, ’08, is tuning her violin. In a few minutes, she’ll walk upstairs to join her rock band, Kublai Khan, for her first gig at The FunHouse.

She doesn’t know it yet, but by the end of the night, she’ll have decided what to do for the rest of her life.

On Sept. 4, Bracken, now known by her artist name, Brontë Fall, released a song titled “Fun House,” inspired by the South Side bar that launched her music career nearly two decades ago.

It all started when Bracken met a student in her Spanish class who was a member of Kublai Khan. The group offered her to sing and play violin. 

She said she admired how Kublai Khan felt it was part of the South Bethlehem community because of how often they played in the area.

“The first time I played with them (at The FunHouse), it was like the best night of my life,” Bracken said. “It brought people together. It brought the whole school together.”

The bar, located at 5 E. Fourth St., has supported the local music scene for over 43 years.

Bracken said at a time when she was struggling to find a community on campus, The FunHouse provided a place for her to explore her passion for music and connect with others with similar interests.

“The FunHouse changed my life,” Bracken said. “It lit a fire in me that I’ve been chasing ever since.”

During Bracken’s senior year, Kublai Khan had a monthly residency at The FunHouse. She said by that time, it no longer mattered what club, sorority or fraternity anyone was in — The FunHouse brought people together regardless. 

Dion Kowalski took over as owner of The FunHouse from his parents eight years ago. He said the bar has remained rooted in South Bethlehem for so long because of the people who support it and the community it helps build.

“The people kind of construct the community themselves, we’re just here to be a part of it,” Kowalski said. “They’re the ones who put the fun in The FunHouse.”

He said more than 90% of the bands and DJs who play at The FunHouse are local, and it’s rare to book outside the Lehigh Valley.

Kowalski also said in an area with diverse musicians and performers, the goal of The FunHouse is to help build the community by providing a creative outlet.

“Our role is to have a local place where local artists can come and treat this place as essentially a canvas for their artistic expression, which comes through music,” he said.

Bracken’s former roommate, Kelsey Hunter, ’08G, M ’09, attended many of Kublai Khan’s FunHouse gigs. She said The FunHouse was always packed with an energetic crowd whenever they played.

“The FunHouse always had this great energy and that iconic, kind of hilarious, billboard sign out front,” Hunter said. “It just made for a really fun night out where we got to do something different by going to see your friends play.”

Hunter said the bar gets the community involved by showcasing local bands, especially student bands, and giving students a chance to put their talents on display. She remembers thinking Kublai Khan seemed “cool” and “grown-up” because they got to perform there.

For Bracken, the sense of belonging her band created pointed her toward a career in music. She started at Lehigh as a classical violinist, but was always interested in more popular music.

Where she grew up, music was celebrated, but wasn’t widely accepted as a stable career choice.

“It took a little rebelling against the norm as far as where I’m from,” Bracken said.

Bracken said she’s come to love venues like The FunHouse that feel like a relic in time. 

The walls are covered with memorabilia that have been collected over the span of four decades.

“I like local dive bars that are friendly to music and up-and-coming musicians,” Bracken said. “To give them a small platform, no matter how small it is.”

In 2020, Bracken returned to play at the FunHouse as part of her East Coast tour.

She said she wrote the song about experiences she had at The FunHouse while in college, including the chaos and high emotions that come with being in your early 20s.

“It’s a project of looking back and really appreciating what you go through,” Bracken said. “As I say in the song, ‘It’s gonna make you who you are now,’ on all levels.”

Kowalski said when he learned of Bracken’s new song, he was glad there was someone who felt so moved by their experience there, and that The FunHouse had such an impact on them, they wanted to dedicate a song to their experience there.

“The one line where she says, ‘You know, it’ll make you who you are now,’ really pulled on my heartstrings because I think anybody who’s a musician here, or an employee here, or just a customer hanging out, I think they can all relate to that that line,” Kowalski said.