"Eli's Inspection Blues", Eli may have named it, but Troyce made it what it was You committed a grave injustice -- surely unwittingly -- when you wrote about Eli's Mile Hi Club and said that "after Thornton's death the club cycled through various owners" without ever mentioning blues guitarist and longtime Eli's owner Troyce Key, the man who was as important to Eli's for many years as Eli himself. No, Troyce didn't take one for the team by getting shot by a former lover -- unfortunately he died of cancer at the age of about 45 -- but he did run Eli's quite successfully as a local neighborhood institution for many happy years until his death. I never knew Eli's in its '70s heyday, but when I discovered it sometime in the '80s, it was still going strong, not only bringing in nationally known acts and local groups, but featuring one hell of a house band, with Troyce himself on guitar and vocals, usually backed up by J.J. Malone and other noted local players. And the nice thing about it was that it was never a yuppie joint, as it became in its last, sad incarnation before Mr. Klein. As a young -- and then not so young -- white man I always felt comfortable and at home there. But there was no mistaking the fact that even though Troyce was a white boy himself -- from Louisiana no less -- under his ownership and management, Eli's was a black club, a local club that attracted people from the neighborhood -- youngsters, middle-aged, grandmothers and grandfathers -- as well as blues fans from all over. The club was always packed and always swinging right up until the time Troyce died. It was only after his death, and not Eli Thornton's, that it's fair to say the club "cycled through various owners and trends." Troyce Key kept it authentic and successful for many happy years after Eli's unfortunate passing, and should be remembered in any history of the club, no matter how cursory or informal. Anything less would be an injustice. David Chodack, Berkeley BACK TO SOCIAL COMMENTARY PAGE HOME PAGE |