Blues Travelers Congregate At O'Toole's

Linda and Phil Hinkle arrive early, as they have most Tuesday nights during the past 10 months.

To tarry means sacrificing a good seat or losing a close parking spot.

The couple have chased live music throughout Brandon for decades and can rattle off lists of bands and clubs where they heard them. None of the clubs still exists.

Their current venue of choice is the blues jam at O'Toole's Irish Pub and Restaurant, 1215 W. Brandon Blvd.

"It's good music," Linda Hinkle said. "Something old Brandon hippies can still relate to."

But the attraction isn't limited to the tie-dyed set.

Wearers of ponytails mix gladly with those with shaved heads. Polyester joins denim, and folks with pink frou-frou drinks mingle with those drinking bottles of beer.

The crowd drifts in as musicians are setting up. Familiar faces are greeted by name with hugs, pecks on the cheek, finger points and forearm bumps.

"It's a young, old, in-between mix," Hinkle said.

The appeal is the same for the musicians as for those who listen.

"Blues is a universal, everyone-get-together thing," said Mike Murray, a guitar player who lives in Apollo Beach and sat in at a jam session June 24.

The jams started about five years ago at the Smoking Dog, a now-defunct club in Riverview. They bounced around to different places before roosting at O'Toole's in September.

Murray was part of the founding band, but he was pulled away by the demands of his day job and gigs with his band, Ruby Tuesday.

But he was lured back, at least for the recent session at O'Toole's.

"I just missed everybody," he explained. "It is such a great group of people, just this warm and friendly atmosphere."

Music starts at 8:30 p.m. and continues to around midnight. There are no sets. The music runs continuously. The only breaks come when musicians switch out.

The organizer is Tommy Bell, a drummer who sings and plays guitar and piano. He is the leader of the five-piece house band, the Belecasters.

"You want it to be a seamless thing that everyone keeps flowing all night," he said.

Bell and his band start out playing four or five songs before calling up musicians waiting in the audience to sit in. "Before you know it, there is a whole new band up there," said George Felts, the Belecasters' bass player.

Bell serves as the evening's master of ceremonies, entertaining audiences with his banter and imitations while the musicians change or tune their instruments. His biggest laugh during a recent jam session came as he played Elvis as Darth Vader, complete with an oversized black helmet.

His biggest task is serving as a musical traffic cop, overseeing the changing of the musicians.

"You have to know who can play what, and what combinations might work," he said. "Every jam has its peaks and valleys. Sometimes, the chemistry doesn't work, and you have to pull the reins in."

Usually, that means sending in his band's members to salvage a performance. The assurance that a player will never be intentionally embarrassed appeals to newbies.

"It is nice to have someone keep an eye out and make sure no one is thrown to the wolves," Murray said. The jam gives young and new musicians a chance to play in public.

"They have all this music built up inside them that they can't get out playing by themselves," said John Dash Dixon, the Belecasters' keyboardist. "Everyone wants to come and jam and let the music loose."

Andrew Gohman started jamming with the Belecasters when he was 18.

"They let me play when they shouldn't have," he said.

It is difficult to envision Gohman as a bad musician, as he describes, when listening to him swap guitar licks with other players.

He joined a band, one of several that formed as a result of jam sessions. But he still likes to come back on Tuesday nights.

"These guys taught me how to play," he said. "I'm showing some appreciation when I play."

Bell said that's the experience the jam is meant to create.

"Most people who come here are hobbyists," he said. "You want to make sure everyone has fun."

The night starts out with music from the Belecasters and a three-saxophone horn section. That soon is replaced by a three-lead guitar set.

During the night, five drummers, three bassists and a half-dozen guitar pickers perform. A fiddler and conga drummer also join in.

"We average between 25 and 40 players a jam," Felts said. "Sometimes, they come out of the woodwork."

Bell said 76 musicians and 33 fans sent e-mails to his Web site last month.

"We've had people who have rearranged their work schedules so they can be here every week," he said.

Knowing the jams will be familiar but never the same appeals to listeners such as the Hinkles.

"It's the variety of the music and the players; they are always switching," Phil Hinkle said. "Everyone here becomes our friends. It's a great atmosphere."

Charles Dawson drives from Apollo Beach to be part of the audience.

"It is a good bunch of people, lots of musicians and good music," he said. "It is the best free show around."

CATCH THE RIFF

For information about Tuesday blues night, call O'Toole's Irish Pub and Restaurant at (813) 684-2600 or visit www.otoolesirishbar.com or www.tommybell.org.

MORE ONLINE

To view an audio slide show about blues night at O'Toole's Irish Pub and Restaurant, go to Brandon.TBO.com, keyword: Blues Jam.