The Story of IOTA Club & Cafe

9-9-2018
This virtual book advance campaign will fund my full-time work on the story of IOTA, the live music venue, including monthly living expenses of all kinds like rent and medical, and the writing work, space, storage, professional services, etc.

My name is Jane Negrey Inge and my co-owner and brother Stephen V. Negrey is going to help me. We have tons of material in storage to rescue from eviction: schedules, biz stuff, posters, CDs, hard drives, memorabilia, you name it, wonderful material to help pull the story together--all non-fiction.

I believe pulling together the story of IOTA and its shows will be a value to many music lovers because it will archive a twenty-three year arc of cultural musical history with many changes in technology and human behavior along the way.  It is my hope to involve many people via interviews and other methods to determine just how expansive and impact-ful one small business can be when so many touring musicians needed a club our size . This will be found out through the work and I hope will shed light on whether more small businesses in the arts can emerge in the future.

We are going to tell the truth about making a place for live music lovers, a place that was the least restrictive as possible so that fans and musicians could walk about the place and meet. About how we pushed for original new music.  About how we craved musical art performance experiences and celebrated all genres of music through awesome entertainment.  We weren't fooling around while we were having so much fun.

So then there are all the many people who came to IOTA and supported IOTA. This was about the most diverse group of people from all over the place night after night after night after night, all being on the same page no matter the show. Yes, a few hundred thousand people over time, all on the same page.  LIVE MUSIC FOREVER.

The third leg is the delivery device, the syringe, small business on main street. That's us and all the staff and all the scary problems and immense amount of crapola. So much hard work but the people were great, the food was yummy and fun, and the craft beer journey that started for me in about 2010, was over the top great. Stephen became a barista and his lattes and caps were to die for.  The space was great. The back alley, the vestibule and the people in it.  The wonderful people who helped us along the way. And there's Stephen on the floor who kept it together and remained calm, like when there was no electrical juice all of a sudden on stage, or when a customer was having a bad day. No problem! Yes, he has some stories.

This campaign will support me so that I can write book to sell along with any other related projects, any artifacts or art work, that comes out of all this. With those proceeds I will work to pay debts left over from IOTA. We never filed for bankruptcy and we did not buy houses or get rich.  We did help my offspring Burns with medical issues over the years and we grew more and more passionate about live music. Even though we were unable to carry out plans to make lots of IOTAs and make lots of money, it was still a triumph in many ways. I will work hard, make good, and do the absolute best I can.

We will be grateful if you pass the word to other music lovers and friends.

Please tell us one of your top favorite shows you saw at IOTA when you donate.
If you never had the opportunity to see a show with us, we'd love to hear about your favorite live show at another venue.  Live Music Forever.

If you were a musician on tour and performed at IOTA, we'd love to hear what you are up to now.

Thank you, thank you.  J&S



IOTA Club & Cafe was a live music venue, restaurant, and bar located on Wilson Blvd in Arlington Virginia from March 15, 1994 to September 30, 2017.