Post Django-Fest-Children's-Day Syndrome (Rosie)

It was a stellar weekend to be sure! Incredible weather, happy people and on Sunday, while about 30 musicians jammed in the front of the coffeehouse, approximately 10,000 motorcyclists were passing through the island for their annual Oyster Run. This is not to be confused with the Tour de Whidbey our own intrepid Justin rode the day before, but another thing altogether. So in addition to the gypsy music filling the town, we had about a gabillion (yes, it's a number, I just decided) leather clad cyclists enjoying the fine day. By the end of Sunday, we'd run out of just about everything and I couldn't form a sentence or remember my name. Mercifully, I was rescued by a kitten who might be the cutest thing I've ever seen and is now living with Justin, Molly and Caitlin.

Now a few days (daze?) later, we are all recovering and the weather has turned the corner into Autumn. Rain and gray skies. But lest you think we are resting on our laurels, think again! We've been busy with ordering new items, working on our menu and plenty of folks are coming in to find a cozy place to sit and read or write, sip a favorite coffee drink and enjoy the ambiance.

Oktoberfest is on the docket for this coming Saturday and it's sure to be another busy weekend. We plan to have some seasonal fare (pumpkin spice bread, spiced cookies, very berry scones, pumpkin lattes, hot apple cider, a rose and cardamom flavored hot milk...just to name a few) Lot's of new things on the horizon! We also have author, Suzanne Selfors, coming to read from her newest book "Coffeehouse Angel" (great title, don't you think?) this Saturday evening. I expect another crazy, mad, happy weekend. It just keeps getting better.

Djangofest, Tour de Whidbey, etc. (Justin)

This weekend was epic.  So epic, in fact, that the paper found it important enough to write about it.  This was my first Djangofest but it certainly won't be my last.  Business was great at the coffeehouse, there was consistent live music due to spontaneous and informal django jam sessions on the front lawn, and we actually stayed open late one night because Molly was having too good a time to shut it down.  The energy was intoxicating, so much so that I almost grabbed a guitar and jumped in.  Fortunately, I realized that trying to play with those guys would have been like trying to jump onto the Dean Dome court to scrimmage with the UNC basketball team (for the uninformed among you, UNC won the 2008-2009 NCAA basketball tournament and is widely considered the greatest program in the history of the NCAA (I also happen to be an alumnus but would like to assure you that this metaphor and the underlying analysis is the product of completely objective journalism)).  The musicians who were kind enough to play at our coffeehouse were extremely talented, and you can catch a short clip of them under the "Video"s section on the left of the page.

For those of you who don't know, Django Fest is a celebration of Gypsy Jazz and the music of Django Reinhardt.  Here is a short summary of Gypsy Jazz taken from the WICA (Whidbey Island Center for the Arts):

GYPSY JAZZ (also known as "Gypsy Swing") is an
idiom sometimes said to have been started by the Ferre
brothers in the late 1920s, which later became popular
due to the work of guitarist Django Reinhardt in the 1930s.
Because its origins are largely in France , it is often called
by the French name, "Jazz manouche," or alternatively,
"manouche jazz," even in English language sources. Django
was foremost among a group of guitarists working in and
around Paris in the late 1920s and 30s.

Many of the musicians in this style worked in Paris in
various popular Musette ensembles. The Musette style
waltz remains an important component in the Gypsy jazz
repertoire. Reinhardt was noted for combining a dark,
chromatic Gypsy flavor with the swing articulation of the
period. This combination is critical to this style of jazz.
In addition to this, his approach continues to form
the basis for contemporary Gypsy jazz guitar.
Reinhardt's most famous group, the Quintette du Hot Club
du France, also brought fame to jazz violinist Stéphane Grappelli.

Gypsy jazz, along with traditional Gypsy music, is learned
by the passing down of knowledge from older generations.
Many Gypsy musicians do not read notated music. It is
more common for beginners to spend hours learning
and memorizing songs from recordings and
gleaning techniques from more experienced players.

In Gypsy jazz, guitar and violin are the main solo
instruments, although clarinet and accordian are also
common. The rhythm guitar is played using a distinct
percussive technique, "la pompe”, which essentially
replaces the drums. An upright bass fills out the ensembles.
Although many instrumental lineups exist, a group
including one lead guitar, violin, two rhythm guitars,
and bass is often the norm.

I actually tried to write a blog post while drinking a cup of Mukilteo French roast (our current drip) and listening to the music on the lawn, but the chugga-chugga-chugga of the rhythm and the playful interplay of the soloists made it impossible.  I'd reach for a word and boppa-bah-dy! would come out instead; I'd hope for a lofty phrase of high art criticism and something like, "The lead guitarists fingers--bah-dah-bing!--dance up the neck--shick!--and seem to laugh at the persistent shuffle of the rhythm, the jokester musician laughing at the seriousness of life with a jazz flourish."  Actually, I just made that up on the spot to try to recreate my ridiculous attempts to transform the carnival into a Harold Bloom piece.  To be perfectly honest, my only attempt at writing a blog was in my own head; my hands were too busy tapping the table and the coffee buzz wouldn't let me do anything but appreciate the music.  I think many people felt the same way.  It was, as they say, an experience.

That's not all we did this weekend, though.  The Commons put on Children's Day, which was a huge success, with about 600 hundred kids passing through the maze.  I, unfortunately, could not help with Children's Day because I had masochistically undertaken the 100 mile Tour de Whidbey, which was spectacular.

What will doubtless be most interesting to those of you that think with your stomachs, Molly and I experimented with egg and cheese bagels today and came up with some excellent combinations.  Hopefully, we will begin selling them this coming Monday.  Imagine the scent of pesto wafting toward your nostrils as your teeth sink through the everything bagel and into the egg, your teeth meet and pull back and a string of melted cheddar cheese stretches across the void like the Golden Gate Bridge.  Or, imagine the startling presence of chili powder and nutmeg cooked within a savory mozzarella egg, a crunchy hint of sweetness from the cinnamon raisin bagel.  What do you think?  Comment and let us know.

Testing, Testing...Testing 1, 2, 3 (Justin)

As some of you may know, there are four AmeriCorps volunteers working at Island Coffeehouse and Books: Lissa, Molly, Caitlin, and myself. We all have specialized coffeehouse jobs in addition to general barista duties; my area is the vaguely defined task of "marketing."

Now, in school I wasn't a marketing major or any practical major at all, in fact. Instead, I studied English literature and Economics. Neither is exactly known for keeping its students grounded, for learning and acting in the job market, for developing projects and implementing them. You can go to Paul Krugman's blog for an authoritative (biased? politically motivated? accurate?) pontification on the extent to which economics has deviated from real world study and application.

I suppose it sounds like I'm explaining every reason why I'm not qualified for this position, but that's not it exactly. What I really mean to communicate is my excitement to get away from theorizing and reading and do some actual, honest, measurable work. In school, I noticed a strong and puzzling relationship between study hours and spontaneous sleepiness. Now, I find myself waking up when it comes time to work (is that because I work at a coffeehouse and thus drink about 7 shots of espresso a day?...nah) and thinking about ideas even when I'm off-duty, and one of those ideas was this very blog you are looking at.

Why a blog, you might wonder? Because everyone likes a good blog. Everyone also dislikes a bad blog, so I'll try to avoid the mindset that every thought I have is worthy of being communicated to the world; I know I find that annoying, and I imagine you do, too. Here is the purpose for this blog, as I see it: first and foremost, to entertain. I'm thinking an "overheard at the coffeehouse" section, videos/commercials that the kids will work up, maybe a series of videos on drink innovations, and a list of what I and other AmeriCorps and community volunteers are reading, listening to, and watching. Also, I see it as an excellent means of communicating to the public some of the plans ICB and the South Whidbey Commons (Susie and Rosie in particular, the Board of Directors, and AmeriCorps volunteers as well) have for the coming months. Because comments will be enabled and welcomed, it will be a great way for community members to discuss some of these things and share their own stories and ideas. So there you have it. Enjoy.