Photo Of The Week: Gary Smith

This weeks photo is a picture of Gary Smith (dressed in black) taken at the Hull Ave. The Hull Ave in Des Moines advertised itself as Des Moines oldest legal bar. The legend has it that when prohibition was repealed in the 1930s the owner of the Hull Ave were the first to get their liquer license so that in turn made them the oldest bar in Des Moines. Of course other establishments could argue that they had been around longer, but they would be breaking the law if they did:-) In later years the Hull Ave use to have a great blues jam session. Back in 1999 and running to around 2007, every Sunday night was jam night. Originally started by Me and Jimmy Pryor it grew to be a pretty big show. Eventually my good friend Gary Smith took it over and ran it for several years until he became to sick to keep the show running. Unfortunately the Hull Ave is no longer playing blues on the weekend, the last time I was in there it had become a biker bar. Nothing wrong with a Biker bar, because I have played in quite a few, but I do know that the Jam is no longer there on Sunday.

Photo Of The Week: Jimmy Pryor Plays Piano

This weeks picture was taken back in 1999 when me and Jimmy were running the jam at the Hull Ave Lounge. Sometimes between sets Jimmy would go up and play piano and sing. Mostly he did simple chords and sang older country tunes. We had a lot of fun at the Hull Ave, and thanks to Jimmy a lot of the older blues cats came out of retirement to play with him. I remember Willis Dobbins showing up at the Hull Ave one night. Willis was a brilliant man. He had previously worked for the State Of Iowa setting up GED exams. Unfortunately when I first met him he was just starting to go downhill with the ravages of Alzheimer's. However, Jimmy had seen him come into the Hull, and encouraged us to get him on stage. Willis who at that time was rather shy, and quite sang a couple of beautiful blues ballads and brought down the house. Willis performed with us a few times over the next year, and was inducted in the first class of the Iowa Hall of Fame. However, his health has declined over the years.

Photo of the Week

The Photo of the week is one of Jimmy with his first Kazoo. He had two the one that he played with originally was held together with duct tape! It looked like a cross between some plumbing and a trumpet. He found it in his kids toy box years ago. It was part of a Fisher Price set. During the first year or so of the jam Jimmy tried different kazoos, but none of them were as loud or had the tone of the original. Then someone found an identical Kazoo in mint condition and Jimmy retired the old horn. He donated it to the State Historical Society of Iowa.