ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, May 19, 1996 TAG: 9605170014
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MARK MORRISON STAFF WRITER
LET'S MAKE ONE thing clear: Shirley Thomas is no Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.
If anything, she's the polar opposite.
Jackie O, we all know, was beloved by a nation. She was rich and glamorous, an icon, an enigma and the high guardian of Camelot.
Shirley Thomas, on the other hand, would be the first to tell us that she isn't any of these things. She lives plain and talks direct and her renown stops at the door of the dark nightclub she runs on Salem Avenue in downtown Roanoke.
But Thomas, in her own smaller way, is just as beloved, at least among a circle of friends, customers, musicians, slam dancers and poetry slammers who know her well - and cherish her Iroquois Club in all of its unpretentious splendor.
Now, like her famous counterpart, Thomas hopes to cash in on some of that good will.
On a smaller scale, of course.
Much smaller.
Today, she will hold an auction of Iroquois memorabilia and other assorted collectibles and junk she has accumulated through her 15 years in business.
She says she needs the money, but not because the club is in trouble. Nor is this a sly bid to make a wealthy ex-president's wealthy children even wealthier.
Her purpose for the auction is to finance a lifelong dream, a curiously old-fashioned dream, in fact, coming from a 60-year-old bar owner who knows many of the town's punk rockers by their first name.
The money is for the dream home she has wanted ever since she was a girl.
Only we're not talking about a sprawling compound on the beach in Hyannis Port.
Her dream is a big, drafty barn of a house in need of major rehabilitation on Day Avenue in Old Southwest.
For four years, she and Ronald, her husband of 42 years, have labored to restore the house to its past grandeur. Their efforts suffered a devastating setback in September, however, when the house was gutted by fire. It was unoccupied and uninsured at the time.
They're back at it now, but progress has been slow. And a pair of benefit concerts staged at the Iroquois on their behalf netted only about $500.
So, Thomas is banking on today's auction. From a more practical standpoint, she says she also hopes to finally clean out the nightclub's basement after 15 years.
Not that she is anticipating the kind of frenzy the Jackie auction generated last month.
``Yeah, right,'' she says.
But who knows?
If three of Jackie's stained and tattered silk pillows can sell for $25,000, what might an autographed picture of Bo Diddley fetch?
Or an autographed picture of Vern Gosdin or Humble Pie or Roger McGuinn of the Byrds?
Or how about a John Lee Hooker T-shirt that Thomas calls ``the ugliest thing I've ever had. It wouldn't even make a good dishrag.''
Or a Jimmie Dale Gilmore T-shirt? Or a Romantics or Blackfoot or Black Elvis T-shirt? How much are they worth?
If a set of John F. Kennedy's golf woods can bring in $772,000, then how much for a used Pac-Man machine that might once have been played by Bill Monroe or Leon Russell?
This is the closest Roanoke might ever get to the cult of celebrity. Maybe the stakes will be more frenzied than we think.
Maybe, too, this will be an opportunity to say thanks in a way and lend a helping hand to someone who has brought such a diversity of talent and entertainment to our lives.
``A lot of people have told me they were coming,'' Thomas says of her friends and supporters, whose loyalty in many cases goes beyond mere appreciation.
There is a mutual affection there, like a mother and her children.
It is common, for example, to see customers pop in during the middle of the day - not for a beer or a sandwich, but just to say hello.
Or with some of the younger local bands she books, sometimes she'll wager $5 to keep the four-letter words out of their songs. She also lets them hand out fliers about gigs they are playing at competing clubs.
``They don't look at me as a superior,'' she explains. ``I don't think nobody's better than I am and I don't think I'm better than them.''
For his part, auctioneer Tim Hash doesn't know what to expect at the Iroquois, so unlike his more traditional estate sales or auctions.
``On these sorts of things, quite honestly, I'm clueless. I don't know if an autographed picture of Bo Diddley is worth 500 bucks or 25 cents.''
Along with the memorabilia, Hash will auction less-coveted items from the Iroquois, like coffee mugs, salt and pepper shakers, folding chairs, microphone stands - even a washer and dryer.
Overall, he expects the autographed pictures and some of the tapes and compact discs Thomas has collected through the years to bring the most competitive bidding.
Probably the most valuable item on the block will be an American Heritage concert projections system that was used only once. ``It was such a headache to set up. I never bothered again,'' Thomas says.
Of course, the bidding on the projections system won't come anywhere near the high bid at the Jackie auction - $2.6 million for the 40-carat diamond engagement ring given to her by Aristotle Onassis.
There won't be any telephone banks, either, to handle calls from absentee bidders like Arnold Schwarzenegger or Milton Berle or Joan Rivers or Jimmy Buffett. (Although, if they get a wild hair, there's nothing stopping Chuck Robb or Tai Collins or somebody from calling the club's pay phone.)
``And black tie is optional,'' Hash says.
Still, he likes the Jackie comparison. ``This is the Roanoke version, maybe. I don't know, the Fishburns or somebody might take offense to that, but hopefully they will see the humor in it.''
Thomas herself doesn't have any such lofty delusions.
Jackie's possessions took in $34.5 million. Thomas doesn't have a figure in mind.
``God, no,'' she says, ``I don't have no goals. Every dollar helps.''
LENGTH: Long : 119 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: 1. PAUL L. NEWBY II/Staff. All this can be yours ...by CNBShirley Thomas, owner of the Iroquois Club, will put 15 years' worth
of mementos and memorabilia on the auction block today. color. 2.-4.
Auctioneer Tim Hash expects Thomas' collection of autographed
pictures to be among the items that bring the most competitive
bidding.