The Green Iguana: A Brighter Shade of the Blues in Tampa

by Gerald Northup (a throwback article from a few years ago, celebrating the people, the place, and the place in time from the past -- newly updated for the present)

“One, two … you know what to do.”

Chirps playfully through the house system as the sounds of drums, bass, guitar and keys join together in a perfect rhythmic stumble, subtly finding their place within the “pocket” at the start of another night of unapologetic patronage to the blues.

The chords don’t change all that much. They don’t have to.

This is the Monday night open blues jam at the Green Iguana, and for the last three decades, not all that much has changed.

It doesn’t have to.

Tonight’s crowd is filled with regulars and irregulars alike – fitting descriptions both for the customers who come here to listen, laugh and dance, and the people who make the music.

On any given evening, you’ll find the finest instrumentalists and vocalists from the Bay area and beyond pouring out their hearts and souls into every note. The blues may be a simple art form, but the expression – as heard on this evening, the ones before and the ones to come – is beautifully intricate.

“Everybody is gonna get a chance to play …”

Says Dean Germain (bandleader, keyboardist, vocalist and lead troublemaker for the jam’s legendary “House of Trouble” band) with a mischievous smirk that merely heightens the anticipation for the expected punch line … “for one dollar in the tip jar” … or whatever else might pop-in to his imagination.

Not all of which is appropriate for all ages.

But Monday night at the Green Iguana is for adults. It’s not entertainment for the masses, but that’s a good thing considering what the masses typically make of themselves.

“We don’t take ourselves too seriously, but that doesn’t mean we don’t have some serious, absolutely world-class players that make this jam a planned stop anytime they’re in or anywhere near town,” Germain said. “I can’t tell you how many times we’ve heard people come up to us and say, ‘I just spent $200 on tickets at some large blues festival and the music wasn’t half as good as what you guys do here.'”

He's right. Many of today’s big-name players, as well as those on their way to earning big-names (if not big paychecks), know the Green Iguana on Westshore in Tampa. It’s one of the country's longest running destinations for the blues on the way up, the way back and at every point in between.

Hopefully, it can and will be again ... sooner than later ... but only if "safer than ever" is part of the plan. It's become an overused cliche to say that now, living through the COVID-19 era in real-time, we are all in this together.

And yet, it's going to take everybody pulling in the same direction to bring it back.

It's going to have to.

You know what to do.