Collegiate Times

After an hour, Campbell puts down his guitar to take a break. Ambling over, holding a glass of scotch on the rocks, he sits down to talk.

He takes a seat and eventually asks a waiter for a glass of water.

"Moving on to the hard stuff, agua," he said.

The interview is adjourned after 20 minutes because of a steaming calzone resting across from where his wife is sitting. He has to eat soon because the food will get cold and he has another improvised set to play.

Sidebar:

As far out as Staunton, musicians come to play to the laid-back crowds of couples and huddles of friends that assemble every Tuesday evening for The Cellar's jazz night.

"There's a very impressive wealth of jazz around in this area that people don't realize," said Thom Novario, a server at The Cellar who is responsible for booking bands for jazz nights. Novario would know - upon obtaining the booking position, he was given a long list of jazz performers. 

"You won't generally see the same act for two months," Novario said on the regular appearance of acts. At times, several musicians will band together to play a full-band show, which helps give more show time to solo performers who might only get limited chances to play.

 "I normally hire one guy, and it's up to him to hire the rest," said Novario.
"There's a group of them, a loose-knit group of them, that they all, if they need a guitar player, (ask) 'can you come?'" said John O'Connor, a graphic design professor at Radford who, with his two daughters, has been coming to The Cellar and other places that feature jazz music in Blacksburg for as long as he can remember.

"We had some bar babies," said Jessica O'Connor with a laugh. Jessica O'Connor is one of John's daughters, who, as a resident of Blacksburg, owns a place down Lee Street.
 The O'Connors have made a tradition out of The Cellar. To them it is the one meeting place where they can feel right at home.

"This is pretty much the only venue in town that I know that has jazz," O'Connor said. "We really enjoy coming here ... Jazz is hard to come by here, which is a shame, because there are very talented individuals that play. And a lot of times many of them get together and play together."

"The Cellar's the best place in town," O'Connor said. "I lived here since 1974, moved away three years ago up to Salem, but I still come back because both my daughters live in town... (T)his is the place we always come to."

Continue Reading:  « Previous12