In the fall of 1973, amidst a mass expansion of the Memorial Union, the Student Union Board suggested turning what was the Union’s maintenance shop into a basement deli and music venue.

On January 4, 1974, the Maintenance Shop, hosting Chicago bluesman H.B. Hutto, opened the doors for the first time to what would become one of the most distinguished live music rooms in American history.

“The M-Shop is such an amazing place in the fact that it is quite possibly the worst space in which to try to do what we did,” explains former technical director Mike Noth. “It’s set up sideways, it’s brick, the depth of the room is too short to reproduce any low end, the main speakers are behind the front line of microphones, there are those stupid pillars, the roof leaks, etc., etc. …

“But for all of that, we did something that bordered on greatness. The very things that should have made it horrible make it beautiful.”

Greg Gantner, a member of SUB who helped give birth to the Shop, can be credited for giving the intimate venue its signature trademark.

He purchased a set of stained-glass windows at a church auction that became the backdrop for the Shop for the next 25 years.

The M-Shop, as the room is commonly known, is a mecca of musical variety, serving a taste of everything to those who enter its comfy confines.

If there is one thing to be said about the Maintenance Shop, it would be that it is next to impossible to say just one thing about.

High Note learned this the hard way when we asked employees, musicians and entertainment journalists of past and present to share their favorite Maintenance Shop memories.

Dan Rice

Maintenance Shop manager 1980-1984

It is kind of like the old saying, “If you remember the ’60s, you really didn’t experience them.” If you remember many details about the first 10 years of the Shop, you really weren’t on the inside.

They were wild times, but with an overriding push for excellence. Back in those days I ran the bar, the music, and we did three or four major theater productions during the school year.

Stuart Davis

Singer/songwriter

The M-Shop is the juxtaposition of the sacred and profane in a square dance of cosmic import. I will worship there as long as they let me.

I’m currently working on a book, kind of a “life as a traveling musician” type thing, and there is a whole chapter on the M-Shop, which is called “God is a drinker.”

M-Shop memories that resonate with me wherever I go:

The night the audience and I all laid down on the floor and made up our own lyrics to the song “Jack Gets Up” by Leo Kottke.

Playing the “Smoke Out.” There was a room full of carcinogens and most folks were buzzin’, but the whole room got really quiet when I played “Swim,” and I felt something soften in everyone, including me, and we shared an experience of my favorite phenomenon: anonymous intimacy.

Also, later that night, the whole crowd sang through a song I made up on the way to the show. It went something like this: “It was a tragic night in Ames in 1998/ We smoked the last cigarette/ Indoors at Iowa State/ In the name of public health/ They forced us all to quit/ They purified the M-Shop/ And turned our fun to shit.”

My other great memories of the M-Shop are the people who work there. I have never been treated with anything less than genuine kindness by every member (past and present) of the M-Shop staff.

As someone who has traveled all over the damn place, I can attest to the rarity of this sincerity (that rhymes!). It is a very special place, and that’s because of the people who work there, and the people who go there. Oh, and those stained-glass windows.

Brendan Greiner

Maintenance Shop promotions director

It’s hard for me to specify my favorite M-Shop moment, since in the short time that I’ve actually been affiliated with the room, I’ve had so many.

But I would have to say that one of my most memorable experiences was when I was asked to drive Leo Kottke from and back to the Des Moines airport.

I was a little intimidated at first, since I am a pretty big fan, but he helped ease my obvious tension by telling me, for no apparent reason, all the incorrect ways to kill a chicken.

Thanks to Leo Kottke, I now know that it is very bad to try to electrocute a chicken.

Both shows he played that evening were also a couple of the most enjoyable that I have ever attended. I will always treasure my autographed Live Leo Kottke CD saying, “Brendan, thanks for the ride.” Wow!

Kris Fettkether

Iowa State Daily Arts & Entertainment editor 1996

My favorite memories of the M-Shop never actually took place inside the Shop. On evenings when there was a concert, I loved the scene outside the M-Shop and in the Union.

The back door would be open with music blaring outside and concert-goers dripping with sweat would be catching their breath or taking a break to play some hacky on the sidewalk.

Complete strangers would strike up lively conversations sharing in the spirit of the evening. I think half the fun of an M-Shop concert took place outside.

Dave Deibler, Barb Schilf, Brent Hanson

House Of Large Sizes

Memories? Yeah, we have a few.

The good: The audience being so close you can practically smell ’em. The fact that the M-Shop is one of the only venues that truly is all-ages. The support they’ve shown Iowa bands through the years, and the national and international acts they bring our way (we’re still pissed off that we keep missing Richard Thompson!).

The bad: The bathrooms are too damn far away.

Happy 25th Birthday!

Mike Noth

Theatre director/Assistant Technical director 1993-1995

Lemming, lead singer

I remember when Uncle Tupelo played in March of ’94, and they were so excited to find the bowling alley, they cut their sound check short to get in some games before the show.

One of my best memories is of the Mighty Monkey Power Hour. These guys were amazing, and I still believe that they could have been very successful as a troupe. After every show, Matt McCarty would tell me that they would be ready for the next show, with scripts written, rehearsed and music and lighting cues selected before they came in the following Tuesday night.

They actually did it once; very ready, very professional, everything planned and written out. The show sucked. From that point on, I learned that the closer to show time they wrote the script, the funnier they were.

If memory holds, the best show included two or three skits that were totally ad-libbed from the stage, without even an outline as to where they were going. Jitters the Crack Monkey with the Dead Right Arm will unfortunately die with the 200 people who were lucky enough to know him.

The Drag Balls. Crazy fun. They still stick out as some of the best people I have ever worked with and some of the best-looking women I have ever had the pleasure to know. Although having to call Desiree Matthews at work to iron out some preproduction details and asking to speak to “Brad” was one of the more surreal moments of my life. Things were much better after we were able to continue the conversation as man and woman instead of man and man.

But, without a doubt, the best thing that came out of the Shop was my relationship with Cindie Mooney. She watched me from afar (across from the bar, that is) while I worked in the booth, referring to me as “the M-Shop Guy” to her friends, for a number of months before we finally met. We’re still together five years later, and I don’t see that ever changing.

Scott Andresen

Iowa State Daily Currents editor 1994-1995

Maybe this wasn’t the best show, but it was an experience, none the less. The Nadas playing at the M-Shop. Not memorable for the show, which was probably good, but because the Shop ran out of beer.

Why? ‘Cause all the freaking frat boys and girl groupies can’t enjoy a show without booze. (Another reason the M-Shop kicks ass: going to see a show, not getting drunk.)

Another one of my favorite moments was the Lord of Word and the Disciples of Bass show. One of the coolest, most under-appreciated (outside of Colorado) bands there is.

David Milberg

Maintenance Shop director 1976-1978, 1980-1982

I was fortunate to be a part of the Shop when it was new, and I am proud to see it still going strong after 25 years.

Perhaps one of my favorite memories is the time I booked the John Schofield Trio (1980 or ’81?). I found an album of his and liked it, so I called his manager, whose name was listed on the back.

She suggested I call him, as he had no agent at the time. I called John at his apartment in New York City and worked out the details of his performance.

When we signed contracts, his trio was to include Adam Nusbaum on drums and Steve Swallow on bass. Meanwhile, Gary Burton was planning a tour (also including Swallow) and when it came for the Shop performance, he was to play at Grinnell College the same night.

Because of my prior contract with Schofield, Swallow was dropped off by Burton for his Shop gig and another bass player was flown in from the East Coast just for the Grinnell date.

The woman who was booking the shows there protested and complained to me, but there was nothing they could do. Needless to say, the shows were outstanding and we had one up on the Grinnell program (which was a strong competitor of the Shop back then).

Matt McClurg

Grubby Ernie, guitarist

When All played at the M-Shop in the fall of ’98, they just rocked for their entire set and did their thing with no rockstar bullshit. No talking between songs, no wasted time tuning or anything else.

They knew what they were doing, and it didn’t matter if they were playing with three new-school bands who were in elementary school when they started out.

All killed the other bands. They played 45 minutes of the tightest punk rock I’ve ever seen.

Jen Schroeder

Maintenance Shop promotions assistant 1997

Before I was employed by the joint, my fondest memory was seeing legendary bluesman Taj Majal smoke it up on the piano. I always knew when Gregory Parks (Shop director) was really happy with a band, he’d swing from the rafters.

Dancing with Pete Jourdan and Boo Brown to Ekoostik Hookah was a joyful time. Seeing De La Soul turn a bunch of Midwestern folk into hip-hop fanatics was pretty cool, too, and Reggae Sunday brought out the rastafarian in all of us.

And I can’t forget lining up to see the Mighty Monkey Power Hour for a buck. Without the beloved M-Shop I never would’ve met my boyfriend of two years, Aaron, (Shop bartender) while playing darts. Sounds romantic, right?

Fans of the M-Shop are scattered everywhere. On my plane ride back to New York over the holidays, I found myself sitting next to an Iowa State alum who I discovered spent many afternoons at the M-Shop, until he was kicked out for heckling Tom Harkin one drunken winter afternoon.

Of course, I was there that day, too. What a small world!

Scott Morschhauser

The Kabalas, singer

The Kabalas have one very important and touching memory. When we were first starting out, right after we scored our record contract, we played the M-Shop for the second or third time.

We ran on stage, played the first number, and when we finished, we were astounded to hear deafening applause.

If that wasn’t enough, four or five people were in the front dancing, dressed like us, right down to the garter straps!

We’ll never forget it.

Heather McClure

Iowa State Daily Arts & Entertainment assistant editor 1997-1998

My best memory of the M-Shop happened in the spring of ’98 when Leo Kottke appeared. I had the awesome opportunity to interview him a couple of days before his show.

Out of all the interviews I have ever done, his is the most memorable and it may be sad to say, but I can remember it almost word for word.

Anyway, while I was floating on a Leo high, I was going off half-cocked about Leo to Brendan Greiner. He obviously saw my love for (or obsession with) Leo’s music, because when I walked into the show Brendan asked me if I wanted to meet him.

Not only did I get to meet Leo, but he gave me a cookie. He played an amazing show that night (as if that was even a question) and smiled at me once from stage. Aaaahhhhh yeahhhhh …

I think the M-Shop is one of the few venues I’ve been to where you can have the opportunity to meet some wonderful musicians in an intimate atmosphere. It makes you feel more connected to the music and to the people around you. You can’t get that sitting in the balcony of Hilton. Oh yeah, against my first idea of preserving the cookie and building a glass display case for it — I ate it. It was good.

Gregory Parks

Maintenance Shop director 1994-1996

I remember Tripping Daisy’s ’94 Veishea Gym Jam show where they said, “Forget what the police say, we want to play some more songs!”

Rusty then convinced the police to wait. Two hundred people in the gym in front of a highly energetic band immersing the stage in cut-and-paste visuals.

And I will never forget Ted Hawkins’ sparsely-attended entry show. As he sang “There Stands The Glass,” he held the first word and pointed somewhere off to his right.

THE best show I have EVER seen, and it was performed by a tall, humble man sitting on a milk crate with his guitar. He was inspired and had everyone holding their breath.

Unfortunately, he died the following January around the time I was gearing up to book him again. I have heard NOBODY create such an aura of sincerity and magnetism in as simple a manner as he.

Chad Johnson

Lunch Box, drummer

The Sauce Monkeys, drummer

I have to be honest and say, like every student here, I haven’t seen as many shows at the M-Shop as I should have. My sophomore year at school, my roommate asked me to go see “Toad The Wet Something or Other” at the Shop. I then asked him why I would want to see a band with a name that stupid.

The bottom line is I missed a lot of shows.

I have, however, seen greatness in front of the old stained glass.

My favorite show ever was a small show by someone nearly everyone on this campus has never heard of.

Being the nerdy drummer that I am, I dragged my girlfriend and a buddy to witness the best drummer in the world, Dave Weckl. I really can’t put the show into words, but like all the shows I’ve ever seen at the M-Shop, I left inspired.

Tyler Uetz

Maintenance Shop director

The M-Shop memory that stands out in my mind took place on April 26, ’96. I had just broken up with a girl and needed to cheer myself up.

I went to the M-Shop to see the Drovers and had a blast. While at the show, I met a couple young ladies that took it upon themselves to make sure that I had a good time. Needless to say, I had a blast.

Michael Faas

Iowa State Daily photographer 1994-1997

Aside from the daily pleasures of M-Shop conversation and interaction, the wonderful harmonies and life-giving rhythms, there is one night that sticks out in my mind.

It was the night of my 22nd birthday and I marched from the Iowa vs. Iowa State men’s basketball game at Hilton to the comfy confines of the Maintenance Shop, when I learned what indulgence is all about.

Every one of my friends was waiting to celebrate my birthday with me — even The Drovers. Amongst pumpkin ale and liquor ala flambe, there was that screaming Drover’s cover of “Sympathy For The Devil” that slowly faded into “Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds.

Or wait, was it Arlo Guthrie?

Aaron Hefley

Pookey Bleum, guitarist

Solover, bassist

I started going to the M-Shop in ’94. House of Large Sizes was the first show I saw there and to this day, I have only one word to say about a HOLS show at the M-Shop — magical.

I think that any local band would give their last donut to play there. Lucky me. I’ve played there twice. Both times … well, ya never wanna leave that stage.

Dave Gugliotta

KURE Blues/Metal director

The Campus Reader Arts & Entertainment editor

My M-Shop highlights include seeing Leo Kottke spin his wonderful stories, rocking out with the best surf band today — The Delstars, seeing the future of rock ‘n’ roll in Mary Cutrufello, getting to see Robin and Linda Williams play live after growing up hearing them on “A Prairie Home Companion,” tearing the roof off with the Dirty Dozen, having the opportunity to shake John Hammond’s hand and know that it shook the hand of Jimi Hendrix, finding out Dave Alvin is one of the coolest guys on the planet and rumbling with Link Wray!