IOTA, Ten Years Old and Counting
By Richard Harrington
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, March 19, 2004; Page WE05
THE IOTA Club & Cafe may have originally taken its name from its notable lack of space, but 10 years on, the intimate Arlington club has not only expanded considerably (twice, in fact), it's become a large part of the local club scene, with a nationwide reputation to boot.
"To me, it's a major room; it just is a small room," says Michael Jaworek, who books the Birchmere and has helped book national and regional acts at IOTA since 1997. "It's the first step on your way to the Birchmere, or the 9:30, and to theaters," he says, pointing to such acts as John Mayer, Jason Mraz, Jack Johnson, Great Big Sea and Norah Jones, all of whom played their first Washington area gigs at IOTA (2832 Wilson Blvd., Arlington; 703-522-8340).
"Having spent the last year touring the country and meeting up with other musicians, it amazes me how many of them have such fond feelings for IOTA," says Last Train Home leader Eric Brace, the longtime author of this column. Brace says that when musicians find out he's from Washington, "They go, 'Oh, do you play at IOTA?' And when I tell them it's practically my home base, they say, 'It's my favorite club in the whole country.' In its small-club way, IOTA straddles that line between a really comfortable neighborhood bar and a really great showcase club without sacrificing anything to be the best of both worlds."
Which is pretty much what co-owners Stephen Negrey and Jane Negrey Inge, envisioned when they dreamed up IOTA in 1993. At the time, Negrey had retired his band, ABC Horse (he describes it as "hardcore that slowly turned into songwriting"), and was working as road manager for guitarist Michael Hedges. Inge had recently left her job as executive director of a home health services trade association to do consulting and artwork when "a friend who'd sold a newsletter for a little bit of money -- and I mean not much money," she laughs, "came to me and said, 'You want to open a bar?' "
She did. So Inge drew up a business plan for an intimate restaurant-bar and called brother Stephen, who was on the road with Hedges, with an expanded proposition: " 'Do you want to open a bar with music?' He said, 'Yeah, I'm coming home.' " Literally. Negrey and Inge grew up in Arlington, where their parents operated a flower shop for more than three decades.
By August 1993, they'd found their own space on Wilson Boulevard, and though that space was tiny -- the club's original capacity was fewer than 60 -- they built a stage right away ("We were hellbent on having a stage," Inge says) and started booking local acts at IOTA (all caps because they liked the look of it as a logo). IOTA's first national act, Dwight Yoakam's producer and guitarist Pete Anderson, was booked in fall 1994.
"Our first goal way back when was creative music and fun and good food," Inge recalls. "We both hoped to start a business that would support our own goals, Stephen's in music and mine in visual art."
Inge's work enlivens IOTA, which doubled in size in 1996, when it expanded into space formerly occupied by the Strangeways brew pub, and expanded again in 1998, when Inge and Negrey opened the cafe. A common bar serves both club and cafe customers and provides a more open feeling to both rooms. The brick walls were covered with plaster, into which Inge chiseled whimsical shapes ("It was just brutal work with sledgehammer and chisel," says Negrey). She's responsible for pretty much all the art, including the starburst paper-applique piece over the main bar, though Negrey holds sway over the plentiful Christmas lights.
"We use them for different effects, including lighting our chalkboard out front,'" he says. "We have quite a stash because they come in handy for all sorts of things."
IOTA has been celebrating its anniversary all month -- there was a cake Monday -- and the lineup has provided an excellent overview of the club's strengths, including the kind of chock-full-of-local talent showcases that began in 1994 with Kevin Johnson's Hong Kong Songwriters' Showcase. One of Johnson's first out-of-town guests, folk rocker Richard Buckner, is hosting weekly songwriters sets (Freedy Johnston is the featured artist Tuesday, Dale Watson on March 30). Friday night, Jay Jenc hosts a local rockabilly "extravaganza," with Jumpin' Jupiter, Wendy LeBeau and Her Beaus, the Flea Bops and Martini Red. On Thursday, Hungry for Music celebrates baseball in song with J.P. McDermott and Western Bop, Ruthie and the Wranglers, Honky Tonk Confidential and the Grandsons (who host their own CD release party at IOTA on March 26). And the locally produced Harp, a terrific new magazine covering alternative music, is hosting two showcases, one with the Damnwells, Gingersoll and Martins Folly on March 28, and another with Thea Gilmore, Anne McCue and Garrison Starr on March 29.
While there has been an emphasis on homegrown talent this month, there are also plenty of regional and national acts in the offing; the celebration will feature Canyon and Fatales on Saturday; Deep Fried (a New Orleans funk supergroup featuring members of the Funky Meters, Neville Brothers, Gov't Mule and the Allman Brothers) on Sunday; the Tarbox Ramblers on March 27; and Bettie Serveert on March 28. Wednesdays remain open mike nights, and the IOTA Poetry Series, hosted by Miles David Moore and celebrating its own 10th anniversary in September, takes place from 6 to 8 on the second Sunday of each month.
About the only IOTA-ism missing this month are the club's family-oriented afternoon "all ages" shows and innovative children's matinees, which allow infants and toddlers to explain their crankiness by saying they've been out clubbing. Those began in 1999 with Ralph's World, whose frontman, Ralph Covert, remains a matinee idol with both the Pampers set and Negrey. "It's a great setting," Negrey says. "We put a carpet down in front of the stage and all the kids mosh . . . well, maybe that's a strong word, and the parents are in the back with a pint of beer, keeping an eye on the kid. And the parents are so thrilled to get the opportunity to show their kids where they like to go."
Another benefit: "There are so many of our customers I never knew were parents," Negrey says.
Brace, whose band plays weekend gigs at IOTA every other month, notes that "The people that work there are such a part of the equation. We go into other cities and think 'I wish they had an IOTA here.' A lot of clubs come close, but we come back and we realize there's nothing like it."
Negrey says he draws on his experience as a musician and road manager to create a welcoming and comfortable environment for traveling musicians. "One thing we've always said is we're home and they're not," Negrey notes. "So we have everything they need here. And we invited them to come. Someone did buy the talent, and to treat them horribly when they get there is kind of odd."
From the start, IOTA's bookings have been eclectic and broad, though the club may be best known for alt-country, alt-rock and jam bands such as Drive-By Truckers and Cast Iron Filter, and, indirectly, the beleaguered singer- songwriter community.
"I'm a person who enjoys a great cover band very much," Inge says, "but our goal is to hear musicians who are doing creative things. Frankly, 'singer-songwriters' is a large and boring genre. We learned more about it as a genre after opening. There are a gazillion creative people out there. But can they put on a good show? And are they singing about something interesting with an interesting angle? Often we much prefer bands where there's some action, some thump, et cetera, unless the singer-songwriter is accomplished at grabbing the audience. . . .
"Having said that, we are doing a lot of songwriters' showcases in March. The point, I guess, is that the 'song' is the basic building block on which the whole thing is based -- the artists, the performance, the club, the indie and commercial industries. Even jamming starts with a song!"
Inge says she and her brother had passionate discussions about what they wanted on the IOTA stage. "For example, whether to do alt-country. We didn't like country but decided to welcome alt-country performers because journalists and others were writing about it as an emerging genre combining American folk and rock and country. We were reluctant because we did not want to be pigeonholed genre-wise and wanted to have Mother May I, Melissa Ferrick, Sterling Moss, the Fugues, By Divine Right, Frank Black or John Doe . . ."
"We can't really put ourselves behind any one thing," adds Negrey, who's particularly happy with local pop bands such as Bicycle Thieves and Jonasay and Toronto's By Divine Right ("Pop is alive and well," he says). IOTA also has presented neo-soul acts such as Van Hunt, Lamia and the Soul of John Black, as well as alerting local audiences to such emerging rock bands as Black Rebel Motorcycle Club and Ireland's Thrills.
"The whole thing is intended to be fun, and when we talk about music, we get heavy and lose sight of that sometimes," Inge says. "It's all about being led away by Glenn Tilbrook as if he were the Pied Piper, or gasping when Norah Jones opens her mouth, or waiting with tingles to see how Alejandro Escovedo is going to orchestrate the first notes of a particular show. It is about having a place that some musicians will outgrow and play anyway. It is about making a place where people listen because they want to."
