Open

Live Music

Being a new parent and home owner I end up missing (and don't have the time for) a lot of music shows. Domestication has it's benefits, but it comes with a price.

Fortunately, I made this show. The last night Dave Johnson played at the Java Hut he deviated from playing with his band to using his electric guitar to lay warm ambient layers of sound mesmerizing everyone in the audience. People listening were hooked enough that when he would stop a "song" the room just didn't feel right. In a matter of minutes, Dave had brought back a feeling, that had been previously pioneered by the Tangerine Dream during the 1970's, and gave it to those consumed in conversation and listening.

The Java Hut had a knack for musically mining the town of Worcester and hauling gems onto its stage on a consist basis. This night Dave played for my first exhibit at the Hut called 3. Dave and his wife are the elements in the group called Against The Green.

Annie and the Cowboy

The row of syrups in the top left are called Monin syrups. The problem with Dunkin' Donuts is they are too cheap to stock their shelves with the good stuff. Even Starbucks doesn't have that caliber syrup. But the Java Hut did.

Here are two stars that served up excellent espresso drinks and meals. I was really impressed when the Cowboy handed me a foamy hot espresso that was from a HAND PUMPED Rancilio espresso machine.

Java Hut Series: Portuguese Girl

Taken on a Sunday night. The poets that stood on the stage didn't realize the party I brought to poetry slam night would talk for weeks on end about the mastery of their delivery. It wasn't just their words (which were amazing in their own right) it was their swagger and life they brought to their lyric taking the poems to inspiring heights. There were too many names to remember and we using the poems to refer to the masters on stage. We referred to the girl (in a distant blur on stage in this pic) behind the mike as the Portuguese girl, because of her smooth skin and pleasant face.

Photographs are eerie in that they are the opposite of reality. They stay fixed as people and places change. So to say 'this image summarizes the Java Hut' is a lie. Even all the pictures I have of this cafe can't summon the experiences and the chance people took every day when walking in. Monthly art exhibits and friendly customers guaranteed one's way of life would be challenged by the images on the wall, random conversations that would shatter what you thought of life, or the crazy awesome music selection playing over the speakers.

This is the start of a new series on the Java Hut. It'll be discontinuous since I was only part of a fragment of the Hut's life, but I'll post links so Hut lovers can put the pieces together for themselves. I was a part of the music scene and the art scene for a brief moment and I can't imagine what the Hut devotees are going through now that the Hut is gone.

The Worcester community has been tossed a bone, and given the Q coffee house on Chandler Street, but it cannot replace the Java Hut.

I try not to post similar pictures, but for this story 'more will be more' for memory's sake.

Other links found round the web about The Java Hut:

http://www.poetsasylum.org/cgi-bin/photo2/index.cgi - thanks Cowboy! Pics span 2000-2008

http://kristiner.blogspot.com/2007_01_01_archive.html - scroll to the middle of the page.

http://www.edconley.com/JavaHutPhoto1.htm - pics of jazz jam session inside and outside the java hut

http://www.cahillmusic.com/journal_2006.html#feb_17_06 - go near the end of the page

http://johnpowers.livejournal.com/224447.html - pic from the last night at the Hut

http://superjill.livejournal.com/484101.html - poetry slammers mug

http://flickr.com/search/?q=java%20hut%20ma&w=all - flickr links to java hut pics (~90% accurate)

If you know of any more links to pics taken in the Hut, mention them in the comments and I'll post 'em here.