Today, there are no physical remnants of Arlington’s famed music club—no lines out the door, no chalkboard signs, no ink splat logo. All that remains is the promise of a hip, new Middle Eastern restaurant soon to occupy the club’s former address, rounding out the restaurant offerings in Clarendon.
But from 1994 until 2017, IOTA Club & Cafe was a no-frills home base for regional bands, a stopping point for national touring acts like Jason Mraz and Brandi Carlisle, and a hometown gem for live music devotees across the DMV. The closing of the beloved venue located at 2832 Wilson Blvd. was deeply mourned and eulogized, a black armband around Arlington.
To honor what would have been IOTA’s 30th anniversary, we asked a few of the club’s seminal players to reminisce. The musings that follow have been lightly edited for clarity. (Stephen and Jane Negrey, the sibling owners and heartbeat of IOTA, did not respond to numerous requests for interviews.)
Begin the Begin
Kevin Johnson
Former frontman of the alt-country band Kevin Johnson and the Linemen; founder of Royal Books in Baltimore
“Before IOTA, the strip from the Clarendon Metro and down the big hill to the Wendy’s was kind of empty. There was a big Sears at the bottom of the hill that closed at 5 or 6 p.m., like most everything else on the strip. IOTA was this little Christmas tree that showed up at the top of the hill.
“In the mid-1990s I hosted a gig every Monday night called the Hong Kong Songwriters Showcase. This was pre-internet. I started getting in touch with musicians I knew who could be featured artists. When [folk artist] Richard Buckner played, the place was packed, but you could hear a pin drop. He was a perfect example of what IOTA could be—like church.”
Karl Straub
Songwriter, teacher and founder of The Karl Straub Combo; former frontman of The Graverobbers; author of The Song Factory, a Substack about songwriting
“From 1988 to 1989, there was almost nothing on that strip of Wilson Boulevard. Before IOTA opened, we’d play Roratonga Rodeo, one of the first places on Wilson to have bands. We were packing that place so full that the fire marshal would drop by. At the time, there was this tight circle of bands—Jumpin’ Jupiter, Kevin Johnson and the Linemen, The Grandsons—playing these hole-in-the-wall places. The venues were all just trying to make it.
“IOTA had been open for about a month when my band The Graverobbers played there. It immediately became my favorite place to play. We played a role in getting it off the ground. All of us in different bands embraced it as our place.”
Mary Battiata
Former reporter and foreign correspondent for The Washington Post; songwriter and bandleader of Mary Battiata and Little Pink
“I first came to IOTA in 1996 to see an artist I liked. I had been overseas for The Washington Post, covering the war in Bosnia, and I had to find a place to live. I knew Arlington because of IOTA.
“I saw so many great acts there for the first time—Robbie Fulks, Buddy and Julie Miller, Billy Joe Shaver—it was really inspiring. I mean, Neko Case was there! And they were right down the street from where I lived. Then you’d walk two blocks down the hill and go to Galaxy Hut. Those two music venues were the two poles of that world.”
Eric Brace
Former music columnist for The Washington Post; songwriter and frontman of the country-rock band Last Train Home
“Before Last Train Home existed, I was a regular at IOTA, from the time it opened in early 1994. Tons of my favorite local bands played there regularly. Last Train Home was just an idea in my head, but I knew that once I got it up and running, IOTA was where I wanted to play.
“I recruited Jim Gray from The Graverobbers to play bass. Our drummer, Martin Lynds, was a doorman at IOTA. I’d seen him play with El Quatro. One night, in a conversation at the door, I’d asked him if he’d like to be in this new band I was putting together. When we finally got a demo together, I called [IOTA co-owner] Steve Negrey and we got our first gig there.”
Justin Trawick
Wammie-winning singer-songwriter and founder of the Americana group Justin Trawick and the Common Good
“I moved from Leesburg to Arlington because I loved IOTA so much.”
Glory Days
Howard Rabach
Music producer, musician and founder of the Arlington recording studio Machine Room; bassist for the indie-folk band The Grey A; bassist and producer for Finster
“IOTA became the place, the mecca, to see live music in Northern Virginia. They hired some of the best sound people in the D.C. region, so the sound was always warm. The room was really balanced. You didn’t have to put in earbuds. You were there for the music. You were frowned at if you were talking.
“My favorite memory is listening to The Grandsons on my birthday. I still have the poster from that show. They all signed it. It was a whole evening of us dancing and singing along. They played ‘When the Saints Go Marching In.’ The lead singer, Alan MacEwen, was playing his trumpet and everyone was marching around.
Johnson: “I opened once for [Americana rocker] Freedy Johnston. It was a sold-out show, and a few people were talking in the back of the room. Because of the acoustics, the whole room might as well have been talking. Finally, Freedy stopped playing and said, ‘Hey jerkoffs!’ He asked the audience how much tickets had been to get in that night, which turned out to be $20, I think. He says, ‘Hang on a second,’ goes to his amp, gets his wallet and pulls out four twenties, then handed the wad to the audience to pass back to the talkers. It was a little tense until Freedy said, with perfect timing, ‘Man, I hate it when I have to do that.’ ”
Brace: “I once interviewed Noel ‘Paul’ Stookey [a member of the 1960s folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary] for a story in The Washington Post about protest songs, and we’d gotten along really well. I’d been a Peter, Paul and Mary fan as a kid, so he invited me to their show at Wolf Trap. I told him I couldn’t go because my band was playing IOTA. He said, ‘How late do you play?’
“I’m onstage around midnight when I look to the left and see Noel walking in with a smile on his face, holding his guitar over his head. He sang (if memory serves) Pete Seeger’s ‘Garden Song,’ and he, of course, also sang ‘Puff the Magic Dragon.’ That was surreal, to say the least—being there and singing along with him and the 200-plus people at IOTA. I’m shaking my head just thinking about it now!”
Trawick: “The first time I opened for Last Train Home was the first time I met Eric [Brace]. He came up and hugged me. I’m hugged by a big dude I don’t know, this big rock ’n’ roll star, and he is just so kind and affectionate. It kind of changed my outlook—how a guy could be so nice to someone he didn’t know. That really meant a lot to me.”
Scott McKnight
Guitarist, bassist and vocalist for The Graverobbers, Jelly Roll Mortals, Last Train Home and Dede & the Do-Rights
“When Jay Jenc [of Jumpin’ Jupiter] was at the microphone, he’d do this James Brown move where he’d kick the mic stand over the crowd and then kick it back up. One night, as he kicked it, the mic flipped out of its holder and flew up in the air and over toward where I was standing offstage. I grabbed it and brought it back to him. He just kept singing like nothing had happened.”
Jay Jenc
Chef at IOTA (1995-2000) and frontman of the local rockabilly band Jumpin’ Jupiter
“Of course, I tried a little showmanship here and there. I had forgotten about that one! Rarely did the James Brown thing work. Almost knocked my front teeth out the last time. Couldn’t risk that, so I stopped trying.”
Rabach: “There was a back deck attached to the parking lot. I don’t know if it was legal. One night Chris Difford [an original member of British pop band Squeeze] was playing an acoustic set. He was hot and said, ‘Come on everybody, follow me,’ and led the crowd out back, like the Pied Piper.”
Brace: “We helped Steve [Negrey] build a new stage—one that was almost twice as big. My brother Alan was in the band [Last Train Home], and he was a contractor, so he really helped, as did Jeff Nelson who ran the label we were on then, Adult Swim. Our record release show in December 1999 was our first show on the larger stage. It was also our first show with the horn section. We brought them on in the middle of the set, and I just remember the sound bringing tears to my eyes. We’d invited the band Cecilia to open, and at one point they came onstage to sing harmonies. We had 14 people on that stage. It sounded like nothing I could have ever imagined.”
Battiata: “There was a local community of musicians who played at IOTA, but Stephen and Jane Negrey had greater ambitions. IOTA was also the only place in Arlington where you could see touring bands and important acts. They all came because of Stephen and Jane. They booked people they were interested in. They knew what was good and that mattered. They booked women. They booked female acts. They set the tone.”
Straub: “We did a show with Eugene Chadbourne, who was part of the avant-garde improv scene. The Graverobbers were his backup band. Because The Graverobbers always packed the place, IOTA was crowded, with a line down the block to get in. It was so crazy. You couldn’t breathe in there. All of a sudden, there was this bizarre noise. Chadbourne had made this instrument where he took an electric pencil sharpener and attached a saxophone mouthpiece to it, along with a microphone. When he blew on it, it made this hideous noise. He took it over to the exposed bricks and started banging it on the wall and dragging and scraping it up and down. Then he said into the mic, ‘It’s related to house music.’
“I remember thinking at the time that Chadbourne was always playing these hipper, art-scene-y places, and IOTA wasn’t like that. That was the point. He was playing at a place he wouldn’t have normally played. IOTA was the only place where that could have happened exactly as it happened.”
Cheeseburger in Paradise
Rabach: “They had a dish called Band Pasta for $6. It was like going to your family’s house for dinner.”
Trawick: “Steve Negrey knew I didn’t drink too much, so instead of plying me with alcohol, he knew that eating meant a lot to me. Usually musicians got the Band Pasta, which I think was penne pasta and chicken in Alfredo sauce. But Steve allowed me to have the fried chicken meal, which was two pieces of chicken, mac ’n’ cheese and collard greens. To this day, those were the best collard greens I’ve ever had.”
McKnight: “For what was essentially a music venue with a bar, the food was always very good. When Jay Jenc was head chef, he made a shredded Asian beef that was one of the best things I’ve eaten. Great fries, too.”
Jenc: “The french fries were a frozen variety from a vendor called BrewCity. They had a light batter coating, which was perfect for catching the Montreal steak seasoning that I dusted them with.”
Johnson: “I fondly remember the veggie burger with bacon. Neel Lassiter was the ultimate relaxed and knowledgeable bartender. He had great élan and a super-mellow vibe. I’d be at the bar, and he’d say, ‘Shall I get you a veggie burger with bacon?’ The answer was always yes.”
Fade to Black
Brace: “Because I had become so close with Stephen and Jane, I knew almost a year ahead that the closing was going to happen. I knew the rent was going to become untenable. When the news was formally announced, Stephen called and invited Last Train Home to play two more shows on closing weekend. Those were two of our greatest nights there. And two of our saddest.”
Rabach: “A couple of weeks after they closed Steve had a garage sale. I bought the carpet from IOTA’s stage for $45. There’s got to be a lot of mojo in this carpet. It now lives in my studio, in the control room under my desk.”
Rachel Levitin
Singer, songwriter and producer
“I bought one of the café chairs for $5 at the IOTA garage sale. Soon after, I had an idea: I would ask local musicians who had performed at IOTA a set of questions and then have them sit in the IOTA chair and sing a song. I started doing it because I was sad and I missed my place. I wanted friends to open up about what they loved and still love about IOTA. In 2018, I recorded and edited the videos on my tiny little iPhone SE. [They are now archived on Instagram @iotachair.]
McKnight: “I had a solid-state Yamaha amp that had been the IOTA ‘loaner’ amp for years. The last time I was there, I brought it home with me. What I really wanted, though, were the glass bricks from the front of the building.”
Rabach: “When IOTA closed, it was like a gut punch. A lot of us signed a petition to keep it going. It was like one of those old movies where the characters band together and say stuff like, I’ll save the farm! I’ll make the costumes! I’ll sell the tickets.”
Battiata: “I remember everything. The way it looked. The way it smelled. The way you felt when you were there. It was really my world for 10 years. It formed me as a songwriter. It launched me as a songwriter.”
Brace: “IOTA was the most important place I’ve ever played in terms of learning how to put on a show. Every element of that: how to talk to an audience. How to be a bandleader. How to communicate with band members onstage. How to write a set list. How to open and close a show. How to thank people for coming. How to run a sound check. How to talk to a sound engineer. How to talk to a bartender. How to negotiate with a club owner.”
McKnight: “When I get to the end of my life and look back at all the highlights, at the top are the times I spent onstage at IOTA.”
Johnson: “IOTA was a spiritual place, and 100% the product of Steve and Jane Negrey’s enthusiasm and love for music. It was more than a club, and more than a bar. For all of us who played there, it was home.”
Cathy Alter is a writer and author based in Washington, D.C.