It’s 1999 and the crowd at the Maintenance Shop is being seduced by jazz vocalist Nnenna Freelon. In the audience sits Eric Yarwood, a program adviser for the Student Union Board. As the soulful singer croons and the uniqueness of the venue sinks in, Yarwood realizes he’s found his niche. Months later, he became the new coordinator of the M-Shop.

“That was the show I sat here, and went, ‘You know what? I need to take this job,” Yarwood says. “So I went to my boss and said, ‘I want it,’ [and] that’s where it kind of came from.”

And now, after six years as the eyes and ears of the Memorial Union’s Maintenance Shop, Yarwood is saying good-bye to the stained-glass windows, the large wall of performer photographs, the familiar faces of M-Shop volunteers and regular concert attendees. Today is his last day of work.

Yarwood will be moving to Omaha to fill the position of assistant director of the Skutt Student Center at Creighton University.

“I love the music and one of the toughest things I’m going to have to do is leave here, leave my friends and my co-workers,” he says, “but it’s a good opportunity. It will allow me to do some new things professionally and work toward some new professional goals.”

Yarwood, who completed his master’s degree in higher education last year at Iowa State, says he never had any intention of sticking around Ames as long as he has.

“Life takes some interesting paths for people at times,” he says.

This interesting path, however, has allowed Yarwood to hear and see some pretty amazing things over the years. One of his fondest memories was when bluegrass trio Nickel Creek performed its first show at the M-Shop.

“I had never heard of them,” Yarwood says. “Finally, when the third person said, ‘You guys should get Nickel Creek in here,’ I said, ‘All right, pardon my ignorance, but who in the heck is Nickel Creek?’ Two days later, their agent called and asked if we’d be interested in Nickel Creek.”

Although the band’s fee was a little pricey, Yarwood says he took a chance.

“I remember hanging up the phone and saying, ‘Well, there’s money we’re never going to see back,’” he says. “It sold out and we turned away about 50 people.”

During the past six years, there has also been bands Yarwood says he regrets not booking, such as Norah Jones, Ben Harper and the Blind Boys of Alabama. But there has also been those he’s thankful didn’t make the stage.

“Creed — but we’re happy we didn’t book that one,” Yarwood says. “We do have some taste.”

Although the M-Shop has produced a number of good memories for Yarwood, there has been some struggles along the way — such as the closing of the food service last spring. At the time, many students feared not only the closing of the restaurant, but the closing of the music venue as well. Yarwood says he wasn’t worried — last year was one of the venue’s most successful years financially. Even with that badge, he has no idea what spurred such an interest in shows, even with last fall’s low attendance.

“I swear to God, when the month of October hit — and I think it was actually the election that did us in last fall — I think the Rolling Stones could have played here on an off night and we would have still only had 50 percent [in attendance].”

Attendance picked up in January, however, with 15 or 16 shows selling out.

“People that had never played the state of Iowa before were selling out on their first time here and they were confused,” he says. “Something worked — I don’t know what it was. If I did know, I could write the book and make millions off of it.”

Yarwood says there have been many nights when he’s just sat down and stared at the wall full of photographs of bands who have played in the past.

“It’s pretty daunting to think about everyone who’s played this room over the last 30 years,” he says.

One group that has been playing the M-Shop every year for 30 years is Robin and Linda Williams. Robin says he remembers when Yarwood performed an especially kind gesture for the two.

“On the 25th straight year of playing there, Eric went to the trouble of getting an original brick out of the M-Shop and putting a plaque on it,” he says. “That was a very memorable night and that shows what a thoughtful guy he is.”

Williams also says something that sets Yarwood apart is his ability to pass on his knowledge of music.

“His real strength was to be able to teach young people — in an educational framework — so much about the music business,” he says. “We would come in and [the students] would just be real eager, and four years later, would have acquired all this knowledge they wouldn’t have gotten any other way.”

Allen Lundgren, junior in marketing and the co-director of the M-Shop, is one of those students.

“He’s definitely a great teacher and everything I’ve learned there has been from him,” Lundgren says. “He’ll be greatly missed — there’s no doubt about that.”

Susan Werner, an Iowa native and performer who also frequents the M-Shop, says Yarwood’s energy always amazed her.

“He is so lively and he kept the M-Shop so lively and vital all the years he was involved with it,” she says. “He brought in all kinds of performers, all kinds of acts — from roadhouse blues to drag shows to rock ’ n’ roll cellists.

“You could count on the M-Shop to be doing something interesting every night and that was a real gift to the ISU community, to Ames, to central Iowa and maybe even the whole state,” Werner says. “They really should give him a statue on the capitol grounds or something. Or make a butter Yarwood at next year’s State Fair. Now we’re talking.”