Untimely Death
Buck’s Club/Other Side Owner Tom Reed Dead of Apparent Heart Attack
The death of Tom Reed, the owner of Buck's Club and The Other Side, leaves fans and family bereft, and creates a void in Missoula's music sceneBy Amy Linn, 5-19-09
Tom Reed, owner of Buck’s Club and The Other Side, died yesterday of an apparent heart attack, leaving friends, family, and the Missoula music scene in mourning. He was 55, and would have celebrated his 56th birthday today.
Cheryl Fullerton, owner of Demonlily Entertainment, who says she has worked with Reed since the 1980s, said she spoke with Reed yesterday by phone at about 4 p.m., then left messages for him and didn’t hear back. “It must have happened right around then,” Fullerton said, distraught.
There were no indications that he was ill in any way, Fullerton said. “He was healthy as an ox.”
In the wake of Reed’s death, his popular Missoula businesses, Buck’s Club and its adjacent music venue The Other Side, were closed today. Fullerton, the booking manager for The Other Side, said both businesses would likely remain closed for one month, if not indefinitely.
The news of Reed’s death was met by shock and sadness, in the music world and beyond.
“Not only was he a client of mine, but we developed a close friendship,” said realtor Mark McQuirk, who was working with Reed in a pending sale of Buck’s Club. The legal process of selling a commercial property with a liquor license can take months, McQuirk said, and he and Reed had been meeting regularly to go over the details.
“I was absolutely shocked,” McQuirk said about the news. “I talked to him yesterday at 3:30, and I was scheduled to meet him tomorrow at 11 a.m.”
Friends and colleagues said they feared for Missoula’s music scene, and expressed dismay that Reed’s death comes only about three months after the Feb. 6 death of another local music mainstay, Top Hat owner Steve Garr, 62. Garr’s children have since reopened the Top Hat. According to a recent KPAX report, however, the Top Hat is also listed for sale, for $2.3 million (to see the listing, click here).
Buyers of either club will potentially continue to offer live music, but there’s no certainty that will be the case. And Missoula can’t afford to lose any more venues, observers say. Recent years have brought the closure of Jay’s Upstairs and the Blue Heron, among others, leaving a dwindling number of stages for local, regional and big-ticket bands.
The Other Side, for one, offered room for 400-plus revelers and was a centerpiece of the local bar-and-music scene—a showcase for newbies and the nationally-known alike.
This month alone, the club had booked such diverse events as Psychostick with Universal Choke Sign (May 21); the White Wolf Media Spring Party (May 23); Her Space Holiday (May 29); and Devil Makes 3 (May 30). Later this month, Heavyweight Dub Champion was also slated to appear.
“It’s unbelievable” to think that Reed is gone, said Fullerton.
“He’s been a friend for years,” she said. “He gave me my start, he gave my whole company a start. He gave my fiance’s band a start. He could handle anything.”
Funeral services for Reed will be held Friday, May 22, at 1 p.m., at Garden City Funeral Home and Crematory, 1705 W. Broadway. A reception will follow in Garden City’s community room.
This story has been updated.
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My condolences go to his Mother and family as well as the many friends Tom made over the many years of being a transplanted Chicagoian. If Tom has the same determination in heaven as he did here on Earth, I'm sure he'll be having a talk with the powers that be to see if he can't do something about that world series drought.
RIP Tom!
R.I.P Tom