Colorful disc jockey turns entrepreneur

Published 12:00 am Wednesday, May 24, 2000

ERIK SANZENBACH / L’Observateur / May 24, 2000

So what do you do after you’ve been a successful rock-and-roll radio disc jockey, a death-defying skydiver and all-around fun guy? You go into the bar and restaurant business, of course.

Well, at least that is what Tommy Bienvenue decided to do. Bienvenue usedto be the famous Tommy B, that smokey-voiced DJ who spun those stacks of wax at WCKW radio station when the format was rock-and-roll.

Then the company that owned WCKW decided to change formats and play only country and western music. As a result, Tommy B. was laid off.He thought about applying for another disc jockey position, but then he came to a big decision.

“I didn’t want to work for anybody anymore,” Bienvenue said.

So he and his wife, Wanda, decided to start up a bar and restaurant.

A native of LaPlace, Bienvenue wanted to do something to build up the area on Main Street between Airline Highway and West Fifth Street. TheBienvenues took over a building formerly known as the LaPlace Lumber Co.

and transformed one side of the building into Tommy B’s bar and the other side into the Main Street Grill.

The bar has been open for several weeks, and Bienvenue has been very happy with business so far.

“We’ve had good crowds on Friday and Saturday,” said Bienvenue. “It’s beenmostly local crowd.”The opening of the grill is still about six weeks away, and Wanda, who will run the grill and is the chief cook, expects business to be just as good.

“I’ve turned away quite a few people who wanted to eat here,” said Wanda.

The Bienvenues say the grill will have a casual atmosphere and serve burgers, fries, ribeye steaks, chicken and appetizers.

“We want to become famous for our burgers,” said Wanda.

Over on the bar side the walls are covered with photos of Tommy B hob- nobbing with the greats of rock-and-roll plus photos of Bienvenue indulging in his hobby of sky diving and base jumping.

For the past 20 years Bienvenue has been satisfying his internal urge for thrills by jumping out of airplanes and off of high structures.

He said he got into it when he was 17 years old. He picked up a couple of sky-divers who were hitchhiking to St. John Airport to catch a plane. While onthe ride to the airport Bienvenue started a conversation with the jumpers and got interested in jumping out of a plane.

“They asked me if I wanted to do it, and I said OK,” Bienvenue said. “I’ve beendoing it ever since because it is a thrill.”And what a thrill it has been. Among his many sky-diving accomplishments,Bienvenue has jumped off the WCKW transmission tower, the thousand-foot Angel Falls in South America, the Sheraton Hotel in New Orleans, and probably his biggest jump of all, over the North Pole.

Bienvenue and 80 other dare devils became the first human beings to ever sky dive over the North Pole.

“We jumped out of a Russian cargo plane,” said Bienvenue, “and it was cold.”Braving 60-below-zero temperatures, Bienvenue and his cohorts had to wait 18 hours at the Pole after they had landed before they were picked up by Russian helicopters.

They were then flown to Moscow where he was finally able to get in touch with Wanda and tell her he was OK.

Wanda is tolerant of Tommy B’s aerial escapades. She even sky dived once ina tandem jump to see what it was like.

“My legs felt like rubber afterward,” recalled Wanda. “I don’t think I will everdo it again.”Tommy said he will keep jumping, but now he is looking forward to his new career as bar owner/restauranteur.

So, if you have a free evening and want to hear some good stories about the music business or be thrilled by some of Tommy’s derring-do, drop on by Tommy B’s, pull up a stool and sit awhile.

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