History of the Tuesday Night Jam
The following is a concise compilation of and comentary on recent Tuesday Jam history. Bill Richardson is a primary organizing force for NROT and has (or is) the inside scoop.
Timeline
January 2003 - present - Gillie's
early 2000? - December 2002 - Bailey's
July, 1999 - early 2000? - Top of the Stairs
May, June, 1999 - Preston and Company
March, April 1999 - The Warehouse
May, 1997 - February, 1999 - South Main Cafe
January, 1995 - May, 1997 - Champs Cafe
1993, 1994 - Pedros, The Greeks, Dundrum Bay
1992, 1993 - Ronis
From the Beginning
No Strings Attached
The jam started in the fall of 1992 when I organized a weekly Tuesday gig for the Bow Shakers (BR, Bill Blevins, Tina Liza Jones & Becky Barlow) at a little pizza place called Ronis on South Main in downtown Blacksburg, about one block from South Main Cafe.
Tina landed a gig in a Woody Guthrie play in Roanoke and I took the opportunity to end the Bow Shakers gig and turn in into a weekly jam. The jam piddled along until Bill Blevins decided to promote a Saint Patricks Day fiddle contest in 1993. This was a big night and event (won by Paul Herling). Freshly inspired, the jam continued that year and into the fall, and then one night we came to Ronis and Ronis was dark. Never to reopen.
So I hustled around Blacksburg for a new place and the first place he found was a basement live music dive called Pedros, on College Ave. This didn't last very long though, but found up another place, The Greeks restaurant. It was a lousy place for a jam, with carpeted floors in a funky space but they were giving the musicians free beer! The jam stayed at the Greeks for quite a while, until the owner sold out to a strange couple from Northern Va, freshly retired from the CIA, who reopened the place and called it Dundrum Bay. They liked the jam and let us stay the few months they were open, which was the fall of 1994. But the writing was on the wall and Dundrum Bay was gone by the end of the year. This was the third establishment that the Old-Time Jam closed down.
The next happy home for the Old-Time Jam was Champs Cafe. This was a pretty good location for the growth of the jam. Phil Loure started coming out, and Cindy Cook also rekindled her interest in the fiddle. Ben Lieb first appeared when the jam was at Champs. The free beer continued and the dance energy finally had a place to express. I was plenty content there until Frances Little got me realizing that Champs was really a horrible venue for live music and dancing. I convinced the Bad Livers to come there on a monday in February of 1997. The turnout was huge but that's when it became obvious to me that the layout was so bad. It was holding back the jam. We had been at Champs for quite a while. The owners had been good to us, and a lot of people were pretty fond of the place and feeling a commitment to the owners. But I went and talked to Kirsten at South Main Cafe about moving the jam there.
Kirsten said sure, bring it over. So I had a dilemma. How to move the jam? I told her it would start in April of that year (1997). Frances said, you're the organizer, just move it. Rare bad advice. Russ Boyd spilled the beans to the listserv and that made the move a LOT harder, and I was fighting fires from then on. When the next Tuesday came around to the jam at Champs, there was energy in the air, let me tell you. It wasn't the best way to make an announcement. But it passed with only verbal violence, and the first Tuesday in April rolled around, and enough musicians and dancers showed up at South Main Cafe to make it a fun time. Too late, it became obvious that the solution to the move was to let the two jams continue simultaneously. I finally addressed it to the listserv in that fashion, but the damage was done.
A lot of people were very happy with Champs, and were very upset with the move and with the way it happened. Other people, like Phil and Cindy, recognized the potential and were behind the move to South Main 100%. Well, we never looked back. We made it through the month of April. For May we had several old-time bands come out and play at the beginning of the jam. For the summer these gigs turned into cover gigs. Some of the groups that played the first band performances at the South Main Old-Time Jam were the Jug Busters, the Wolfe Brothers, and Mountain Fling. Meanwhile, the jam at Champs held out for a month or two but it was gone by the end of May. By the end of the summer, nearly everybody was back at the jam at South Main Cafe. The free beer for the musicians kept flowing, and the dancing was starting to take off.
The event that really kicked the South Main jam to a higher level was when the Freight Hoppers opened the jam in September of 1997. The place was full, the music and dancing were just incredible. Jones and Leva played another opening date at the jam around the same time. I don't remember when the Konnarock Critters played at South Main the first time, but it was nearly as big as the Freight Hoppers. Mac Traynham and Shay Garriock also played an opening gig in December of that year that was sadly under attended.
I haven't kept a good schedule of all the bands that played at the old-time jam at South Main during the last year before it closed. The list included the Jug Busters again, the Konnarock Critters, Wayne Henderson & Friends, Jones and Leva, The Reed Island Rounders, Billy Hurt, Rattlesnake Chili, Paul Herling and Jay Griffin, Roaring Jello, and No Strings Attached on the final night. And that's just the bands. The jam was awesome nearly every week, with great music and intense dancing- square dancing and flat footing. The only real problem with South Main was the smallness of the stage and dance floor, but that was balanced by the nearly perfect warm ambiance and vibes of the place. Unlike Champs and every other place we had the jam, there were no TVs!
Good things often come to an end all too quickly. South Main Cafe was sold and closed at the end of February in 1999. The final night was perfect, with two bands performing, the Konnarock Critters and No Strings Attached. There was such a large crowd there for NSA that the dancers didn't have room to dance!
I fished around Blacksburg for a new jam location. Top of the Stairs, the first choice, wasn't available. So we ended up at the Warehouse, which happened to be the upstairs of the place formerly known as the Greeks. Upstairs was a large room and bar set up as a disco, with mirrors, colored lights and a parquet floor that was like dancing on a snare drum. The jam energy continued at a high level, and the Celtibillies (formerly Roaring Jello) played a successful St. Patricks Day gig. But something was evil in the attitude of the people working at the Warehouse towards us, and it became obvious that was not the place for us to be.
Next on the itinerary was Prestons and Company, a nice large bar with a super hardwood floor and large windows right on the corner of College and Main in Blacksburg. We were happy there but a distinction between the fraternity-oriented clientele and our easygoing bunch of students and townies was obvious. The dancing was good, and jams were springing up all over the restaurant every Tuesday. But on the last Tuesday in June the manager informed me that the owners (PKs) had decided they were losing too much money and they weren't going to be open on Tuesdays any more. This turned out to be a lie- they were open the next Tuesday, but they got rid of us.
Luckily, Top of the Stairs was ready for us this time, and welcomed the jam on the first Tuesday in July, where it continues. The jam spread and filled the outdoor decks at TOTS, and grew far larger than it ever could be at South Main, our much missed Mother venue. The TOTS jam has attracted a larger younger attendance than we ever had before. The contrast with the frat/sorority types is still there, but there is no clash, and the jam draws far more people than TOTS does it's regulars for a Tuesday. The management is supportive, and the free beer for the musicians keeps flowing. We held every jam outside in the fresh air and open space until the end of October, when the Celtibillies played again for a CD release event indoors in the main room of the pub.
The jam has found a new home for now. It may last for only a month or two, or it may the ongoing catalyst for a renaissance of old-time music and dancing for Blacksburg and the surrounding region in the year 2000. The potential is there, and we the actors will play it out. For now, the week begins and ends on tuesdays, at the Old-Time Jam at TOTS. Keep the fire burning!
Addendum: Since this was written, the jam has moved to Bailey's restaurant and most recently to Gillie's.