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JAM PHOTOS -
SET #1
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SET #2 -
SET #3
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SET#4
OPEN JAM
HISTORY by Tom Gary
 The
Thursday Night Blues Jam at Blues on Grand has been going on
since March of 1992. From its first day to today it has been one of the
hottest places to play the Blues on a Thursday night. Who could have
imagined back in 1992 how big the Blues would get not only in Des
Moines, but also at the little bar back then known as the Grand
Avenue Lounge.
I had lived and worked in Kansas City from 1986-1991, and when I
returned to Des Moines I was interested in playing some Blues. At that
time there were various places to play the Blues, and I spent the better
part of the winter of 1992 going from bar to bar looking for a gig.
However, no one was interested in booking a Blues piano player from
Kansas City.1 I
was ready to give up until my Drummer; Ron Miller introduced me
to Dirk Newton at a Scott Hartung’s Tuesday night jam at
the Fish Bowl on Merle Hay Road. I told Dirk that I was
interested in a house gig on Thursday Nights, and he told me that he
knew Kim at the Grand Avenue Lounge and thought that if we hooked up we
could get the gig.
At the end of February 1992, Dirk, Ron, Dave Nesvet, Matt
Wetzel, and myself showed up at the bar to meet Kim. Kim was
a tough sell at first. She didn’t want a bunch of drunks climbing on
stage tearing up the bar, and she was worried about who was responsible
for the band’s equipment. However, after a few minutes of
sweet-talking by Dirk, we had us a house gig.2
The deal at first wasn’t so great. We played from 9 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.,
and we were paid 100 dollars, or 10 percent of the bar whichever was
greater. I also made the bonehead decision that we would play the first
month free!
The first month was rather rough on us. Both Matt, and Dirk left us to
go on to better things. We replaced Matt, with Scot Sutherland,
but Dirk was irreplaceable.3
After the first month what I thought was a bad deal began to look like a
great deal. In fact it was so great that Kim wanted to change to a flat
fee versus the door. It was also at this time the Gary Jenson
became the fifth member of the band. Gary worked the door for us on
Thursday nights. Which I always thought was kind of funny because of
Gary’s small stature, but in all the times we played down there no one
ever got out of line.4
One of the first things I did on Thursday Nights was call for a Blues
Society. Yet, most of the Musicians thought I was talking about a music
union. Since they weren’t interested in having a Blues society the
band and I [with considerable help from Gary Jenson] decided to take it
to the people. From late May through July we begged and pleaded for
people to sign our petition stating that they would like to be in a
Blues society. Of all the people involved Gary was the best. He refused
to let anyone pass into the bar unless they signed the petition, and who
could say no to Gary Jenson.
By the beginning of July the band had amassed over two hundred
signatures, and we presented them to Connie Derry owner of Connie’s
Lounge. We impressed her enough with the number of people interested
that she called up Bart Haynes at the Datebook, and the
rest is history....5
1 The
band consisted of Ron Miller, Dave Nesvette, Matt Wetzel, Tracy
Murphy, and myself, and was known as The Tom Gary Blues Band.
2 Dirk
Newton replaced Tracy Murphy in the band.
3 For
those keeping score at home the line up was at this point. Tom Gary, Ron
Miller, Dave Nevesette, and Scot Sutherland. Later on Bill Burch
would join up on Saxophone.
4
It also probably helped that Ron Miller was a huge guy and would have
torn anyone apart had they messed with Gary.
5
Many people know that I was not at the first meeting of the Blues
Society. I was in Kansas City preparing to start a new job. However,
after several sleepless nights I turned down the job and returned to Des
Moines hoping to get my old gigs back, but that’s another story.
as published in the
Central Iowa Blues Society Blues Crier
December 2001
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