Stanhope House, Stanhope, NJ
an interview with Rob Ortiz, jambands booking manager

As jambands.com approaches it's second birthday, I decided to try a new format for "venue of the month". While it's always great to read the music fan's perspective on our favorite venues, owners, managers, and booking agents can tell a different story, bringing us insight to their views, challenges, and hopefully some fun stories. This month, we did a Q&A with Rob Ortiz, who books the jamband nights at Stanhope House, in Stanhope, New Jersey.

Let me know what you think of this new format. We still want reader submissions. Send them to venue@jambands.com. Next month, a DBB fan from Florida will tell us about the Gothic Theater in CO.

DS: According to the history on your website, Stanhope House is an historic building dating back to 1790. Fill us in on the history of the building.

RO: This is one of the oldest blues clubs in the country. They have been hosting blues for about 35 years. Before that the building was a hotel, a brothel, a general store, and even a post office. Since it became a blues club there have only been two owners. The family that started it, started with the help of Willie Dixon. I'm told that Willie used to come stay at their farm. He would come to the club often and play with the whoever was on-stage at the time. Many great bluesman came and played over the years, including Muddy Waters (whose picture is hanging in the lobby playing on the same stage), Johnny Lee Hooker, Snooky Pryor, and Johnny "Clyde" Copeland. The Meyer's bought the club about seven years ago. The club had been neglected and they cleaned it up. They kept the atmosphere pretty much the same. Even going to the great lengths of chopping up the old stage, laying it back down, and building the new stage over it, to keep the mojo in the room.

DS: Describe Stanhope House as a music club.

RO: The Stanhope House looks like an old roadhouse that you would see in the movies. It has the same bar from 35 years ago. The ceiling is low and the main room is narrow. It has a tin ceiling and there is lots of old wood. There is also a lot of stained glass. Since is was built so long ago, there is not a nail holding the place up. Behind the bar is pictures of some of the great players that has graced the stage. One that stands out for me is a picture of Warren Haynes from his show in '97. That was the first show that I put on at the club.

The lobby is something else to behold. After a band plays there, they sign their promotional picture. The lobby is full of framed pictures of great performers. The jam-bands we have done over the last year have started to take a place on the wall.

Food is no longer available at the club. Sometimes we hold special events and serve food. Like the BBQ we held a few weeks ago with Uncle Sammy & Addison Groove Project. One thing I have been able to do over the last years is convince the owner to put in some new beer. The serve the normals like Bud and Coors, but we also serve Otter Creek Copper Ale, Brooklyn Pennant Pale Ale, Abita Turbo Dog & Amber, and Rogue Dead Guy Ale.

The room fits about 300. If we know a crowd is coming we pull out the tables and chairs. Nice neighborhood. Stanhope is only a couple of miles long. I understand some people move there to be close to the club. The sound system may seem outdated, but you must keep in mind that it is a narrow room, with a low ceiling, and a live stage. It's a 16 channel board with one monitor mix. A simple light system to fit the club. When a band allows taping, I set up tables next to the board. We also hang a set of mics from the ceiling in the sweet spot. I will supply power as well. I try to convince people to plug into the mics, only because when crowded it's hard to run a mic stand. I have a nice collection of tapes from the last year at the club.

Most weekend nights are blues. Jam-bands get the occasional Wednesdays, Thursdays, and some Sundays. When a band leaves a big impression, I'm able to get a weekend night on occasion.

DS: "We'd like to know a little bit about you for our files.." We hear you're in charge of the bookings for the jambands evenings. What's your background? and the history of jamband nights at Stanhope House?

RO: I'm a fan more than anything. I'm a huge fan of the Grateful Dead and The Allman Brothers. About 5 years ago I booked a few shows at a theatre in Morristown, NJ. They were just starting out and I didn't know what the hell I was doing. One of the shows I did was Gov't Mule 12-30-95. I'm told it was one of the biggest shows they did that year. It is pictured on the back cover of their "Live At Roseland" disc. It was more of a hobby than anything. It's still like that for me. I usually do a show because I dig the band and want to turn other people on to them. My first show with the Stanhope House was Warren Haynes. I had to explain to the owners who he was.

I did maybe 2 or 3 a year until '99. I brought Derek Trucks in and he blew the place apart. They asked me to do some more, so I brought Derek back in and also booked Zen Tricksters, KVHW, and Deep Banana Blackout. They were successful, so they asked me to get serious this year.

DS: What's some of the challenges booking jambands in suburban NJ? Competition? Drawing fans?

RO: Competing is not a problem. There are not many other places to go and as far the reputation of the club, people want to play there. Drawing fans has been a problem at times. We seem to be building a nice following, but Stanhope is not a city, it's a destination point. Getting the press to jump on it is big. Jam fans are hard to track down. You don't find them listening to commercial radio much. They trade tapes and listen to them in their car or on their stereo. That's why your site has been great. We also have had to be consistent with our booking. Until this year the Stanhope House was only blues. Usually only open Fridays and Saturdays. I think in the past when a jam-band got booked people showed up, but thought it was a fluke that it happened. So, we needed to have it happen every week. The hardest part is getting the kids that are into this music to know that they should check out the Stanhope House

DS: At this point, you must have advice for young bands trying to get bookings. Can you share some do's and don'ts?

RO: Keep trying. Send out your music. Most of the bands that I book that I might not know send me something live. That's huge, hey I'm into live music. I need it to hit me. It doesn't have to move me like when Jerry would hit that note, it just needs to make me want to sway.

One thing that most of the newer bands don't get it to have good press material and lots of it. Some people will come and see them because the paper put a picture in or wrote it up as a hot ticket. Good press releases are key.

DS: What are your goals for jambands at Stanhope House? What's your dream band to book?

RO: My goal is to have cultivated a scene at Stanhope. Have a place for us to gather. I'm seeing some friendships blossoming from the groups that have been coming out all the time. I want people to get turned on to this venue. It has a great vibe and a great history. I think the musicians in this scene are blazing a new trail. There is a tremendous amount of talent out there. People just need to get turned on.

As for a dream band, I fulfilled it with Warren Haynes Acoustic and with KVHW. I'm a huge Steve Kimock fan. I would love to have Dickey Betts come someday. Maybe Phil Lesh could stop by. I have had a few bands that have really blown me away in the last few months though. I had a great deal of satisfaction with the Uncle Sammy/Addison Groove Project show. It turned out to be a great day of jamming. Foxtrot Zulu was a highlight as well. Looking at my schedule, I have plenty more to be looking forward to.

http://www.stanhopehouse.com