Coming soon to Wyoming: Ca phe da at 8,000 feet

Billboard for Wyoming's newest roadside attraction

An entrepreneur from a city named for a Southeast Asian revolutionary whose heroes were George Washington and Thomas Jefferson buys a tiny town and its convenience store at 8,000 feet in Wyoming's windswept Laramie Range with the plan of cornering the U.S. coffee market with healthy servings of ca phe da.

If this isn't an illustration of the American/Vietnamese Dream, I don't know what is.

Pham Dinh Nguyen of Ho Chi Minh City bought Buford (pop. 1) last year for $900,000. On Sept. 3, he will debut Buford PhinDeli Town. It will dispense coffee and gasoline, not necessarily in that order.

I am curious and plan on stopping by. How about you?

National Main Street rep Todd Barman speaks about Cheyenne's downtown on May 20

Local visionaries continue to drag Cheyenne's downtown kicking and screaming into the 21st century.

Hats off to those businesses with the chutzpah to inhabit downtown. You can see a list on the Downtown Development Association web site. Some of my faves are Ernie November for music, Freedom's Edge for handmade brews, The Albany for lunch and the Paramount Cafe for coffee, music and open mic nights. Alan O'Hashi and architect Glen Garrett have been trying to get the Hynds Building whipped into shape through the LightsOn! Project and Alan's effort to work with Laramie County Community College to bring student housing downtown.

I just write about it. I spend some of my money downtown, but it's just a drop in the bucket to my overall expenditures. Most of my food budget goes to King Soopers on Dell Range, Safeway on the South Greeley Highway and Albertson's on Yellowstone (and the Osco Pharmacy therein). There is no downtown grocery store since the closure of the old Safeway. The state owns the building. Hospital construction crews use the lot for parking.

This weekend, downtown is alive with a number of cool events. Railroad Days is being held at the Depot. I wandered in yesterday to see the massive model train set up in the lobby. The place was filled with vendors and train buffs and the merely curious such as myself. This is the only weekend when you can get a guided tour of the historic roundhouse. I bought my tomato plants yesterday at the Master Gardeners Sale. Chris and I attended the "Long Stories, Short Films' Session yesterday at at the Cheyenne International Film Festival at the Atlas Theatre. I'm always curious about the ways of storytellers since I am one. The CIFF continues through tonight. Today we're wandering over to the Yiddish Food Festival at Mt. Sinai Synagogue next to the old Safeway.

So there's lot to do. But downtown still has a lot of empty buildings and The Big Hole where Mary's Bake Shoppe once stood along Lincolnway. You could write a book on the many ideas generated to fill the hole. I may just do that....

This week, the DDA "invites you to come support downtown" with a presentation by Todd Barman, a representative from the national Main Street organization. Wyoming Main Street will be hosting a public meeting with Barman Monday, May 20, 5-7:30 p.m., at the Historic Plains Hotel. According to a display ad in this morning's Wyoming Tribune-Eagle:

"He will be preparing an analysis of the community, and will be meeting with community representatives and downtown stakeholders to discuss future economic development activities for downtown."

Sounds good to me. My notebook and I plan on attending Monday's meeting. I would expect a a fair number of visionaries along with some naysayers who think that "planning" is a dirty word. They also think that "creative placemaking" and "the future" are dirty words. They may have a point about "creative placemaking." Such a weird term. Maybe "creative economy" is better.

For previous posts on Cheyenne's downtown revitalization efforts, go here and here. 

Keith Coombes at Ernie November: "You have to make things happen"

Poster for the Friday show at Ernie November in Cheyenne. Here's the plug on the Facebook event page: "HORDE OF DRAUGAR's CD-Release Party (Killer Death Metal from Cheyenne) with INCINERATED (Brutal Death/War Metal from Cheyenne). All-Ages/Free Show/Bring Donation$$$/Buy Merch/Always Fun/Never Stop/Ernie's Shows Rule."

I am still low-tech when it comes to music. If I still had a turntable, I would probably be buying vinyl. And I wouldn't be alone. There is still a market for turntables and records. Local music store Ernie November is a case in point. Proprietor Keith Coombes still stocks vinyl and it sells.

I order all of my CDs from Keith and Jason, his right hand man. Last February, when I told Jason that Moby Grape founder Peter Lewis was coming to Cheyenne, his eyes grew wide and he said only one word, "Wow." When I mentioned that Peter would be performing with Detroit spoken word poet M.L Liebler who sometimes performed with Jon Sinclair, his eyes grew wide and he asked this simple question: "You mean Jon Sinclair of MC5?" "Yes," was all that I said. Jason dug out a documentary video of MC5, one that I hadn't heard about.

These guys know their music. And their music history.

During lunch today, I dropped by the store to pick up the Bodeans CD I ordered when I was downtown for the Zombiefest. Keith was there, as he usually is, and my CD was sitting in a stack of special orders. Keith's a heavy metal guy, with multiple tattoos and piercings, but he will order anything. And buyers such as me get the good feeling that we are patronizing a local business. Ernie November is a downtown staple. As Keith rang up the sale, we talked about downtown redevelopment. He's excited about Alan O'Hashi's plan to redevelop the Hynds Building and The Hole directly across 16th Street. He likes the idea that 100-some LCCC students might end up living in the redeveloped space. We both agreed that it will add some much-needed energy, not to mention lots of kids who like to buy their music locally. And go to concerts. Keith has sponsored almost 100 shows in his tiny downtown space. He says that it takes him about 20 minutes to move his T-shirts and tie-dye clothing items into the back room and put screens around the incense and candle section. And then he just packs the fans into the store. This Friday, Horde of Draugar is coming to the store. Not my cup of tea, exactly, but he's aiming for a much younger demographic.

Keith was profiled in the June issue of Liberty's Torch, the local Libertarian newspaper. Under the header "Interviews: Capitalists & Creators," editor Brad Harrington conducted an interesting Q&A with Keith. In it, Keith says that he was like a lot of Cheyenne kids, and couldn't wait to leave town after high school because there was nothing to do. But he eventually moved back and took over Ernie November. He soon discovered that there still wasn't a lot of things for kids to do in Cheyenne.

You've got to make your path instead of to wait for it to come along. So that's what we ultimately did. We throw shows in here and we started because there was a lack of venues in town. We've had almost 100 shows in here, with dozens of touring bands from all over the world. If there's a lack of something out there, you have to take charge and do it yourself. Cheyenne's supposed to be just a 'cowboy,' western town, but here I am, the most un-country thing imaginable -- and I'm thriving. You have to make things happen.

Amen, Keith.

Steam beer and bubble tea on tap next week in downtown Cheyenne

Grand openings are scheduled next week for two new beverage-oriented businesses in downtown Cheyenne.

The Freedom’s Edge Brewery opens on Wednesday, Feb. 22, in the Historic Tivoli Building. According to a recent article in the Casper Star-Tribune, Freedom’s Edge will open with eight beers on tap, from a stout to a pale ale. Owner Tim Moore has been a home brewer for a number of years. His favorite is his 844 “steam beer,” an ale brewed with lager yeast and named after a famous Union Pacific locomotive kept in Cheyenne. Read more: http://trib.com/business/cheyenne-s-new-brew-crew/article_21d5a27f-4e1c-5baa-bb44-616b18c7af87.html#ixzz1mVQhC7Xw

The Paramount Café, 1607 Capitol Ave., holds its grand opening on Thursday, Feb. 23, all day long. Here’s the plan:

We are having a Grand Opening celebration! We will have several local musicians playing all day long! We will have specialty drinks and door prizes! This will be an all-day event! Make sure you can swing by! Our performers include Devon Dvorak a local acoustic artist, Bret Herrick a local violinists (played at Carnegie Hall), Peat Bog Mysteries a local Bluegrass Band, and so many more! We will also have Bubble Tea! More info at http://www.facebook.com/events/245044685575977/

The Paramount had a "soft" opening in December. Never had its bubble tea but the baristas there brew some darn fine coffee. Let's hope that the hop-infused brews at Freedom's Edge are equally scintillating.

Denver Post blogs about Colorado craft beer

Colorado is the craft-brew capital of the western world (the West, at least), with Ft. Collins the epicenter. So it’s great news that The Denver Post has started its own beer blog. Today’s very seasonal post by Jessica Fender was all about pumpkin ales: 

Be on the lookout for the last drops of Upslope’s Pumpkin Ale, a clear standout this season, and it’s not just me who thinks so. The Boulder brew won a gold metal this year at the Great American Beer Fest. It’s a pumpkin beer for people who like their ales a little less spicy and a bit more refreshing. The brewery says they sold their last pint a week ago, but you never know whether some crafty bar owner has some squirreled away. 

Asheville's Joe Minicozzi speaks about downtown revival Dec. 1 in Cheyenne

Asheville, N.C., complete with downtown, sunset and mountains (Cheyenne has those, too).

You may only know Asheville, N.C., as the fictional Southern Gothic town of Altamont, Catawba, in Thomas Wolfe's famous novel "Look Homeward, Angel." That's how I met Asheville, as a young college student in the South reading my way through all of Wolfe's books. Interesting to note that the city's "favorite son" was not such a favorite after his thinly-veiled portrayal of some 200 Asheville residents in the 1929 novel. The hubbub caused Wolfe to stay away from his hometown for almost eight years.
 
These days, Thomas Wolfe's neighborhood and his mom's boarding house and his father's stone-carving workshop all are on the city's walking tour. But that's not the city's only claim to fame. It's been called one of the most livable cities in the U.S. by all of those magazines that track such things. Modern Maturity calls it one of “The 50 Most Alive Places To Be” while Rolling Stone names it the “New Freak Capital of the U.S.” Recently, the New Belgium Brewery in Fort Collins announced that Asheville is one of its top choices for expansion. This means that Asheville must be another one of those “bikes, (snow) boards and beers” destinations like Fort Collins, Burlington, VT, Flagstaff and Bend, OR. It is one of those “best outside towns” according to Outside Magazine.

One of the city’s many claims to fame is its thriving downtown. Most of its historic buildings did not fall to the wrecking ball during America’s urban renewal craze. They now are inhabited by small businesses, including some 30 art galleries and a slew of cafes and restaurants. This town of 83,000, only a bit larger than Cheyenne, keeps its downtown alive with a variety of performing arts events.

How do they do it? Glad you asked. On Thursday, Dec. 1, Joe Minicozzi will explain it all for you. He’s the executive director of the Asheville Downtown Association. You’re invited to hear him speak from 4-5:30 p.m. Thursday in the Cottonwood Room of the Laramie County Public Library, 2200 Pioneer Ave. His topic will focus on the return that taxpayers receive for investing in downtown. The State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO), City of Cheyenne and the Sonoran Institute brought Minicozzi to Cheyenne to analyze downtown’s property tax benefits.

My first question might be: what are the property tax benefits of a giant hole in your downtown?

In case you’re wondering, Thomas Wolfe did spend some time in Wyoming. In June and July 1938, Wolfe and Edward Miller, Sunday editor for the Portland Oregonian, trekked by car to 11 national parks. Yellowstone was one of them. The journal of Wolfe’s experiences were discovered with his belongings after he died in September 1938 of complications from tuberculosis and the flu. They were published by the University of Pittsburgh Press as “A Western Journey: a daily log of a great parks trip, June 20-July 2, 1938.” The Virginia Quarterly Review featured an article about Wolfe’s journey in its August 2009 issue. Here’s a sampling:

The text of “A Western Journey” is full of astute descriptions of dramatic western scenery—“the bay-bright gold of wooded big barks,” “a valley plain, flat as a floor and green as heaven and fertile and more ripe than the Promised Land,” “vast, pale, lemon-mystic plain,”—but the people of the American West fascinated Wolfe as much as the scenery. He describes women feeding deer outside the hotel, the Indian children begging for pennies, the diverse spectators at Old Faithful, the motorists who stop along the road to play with the bears, “a quaint old gal named Florence who imitates bird calls,” the man who pulls his son back from a geyser (“Don’t lean over that, I’ll have a parboiled boy”). Wolfe’s deep interest in people was also apparent to Miller, who later commented, “What stood out to me was the enormous kindliness of the man, his intense sympathy for the average, untalented, decent person."

Thomas Wolfe admiring "Old Faithful" in Yellowstone National Park, June 1938. (Thomas Wolfe Collection, Pack Memorial Public Library, Asheville, NC.

Wolfe is long gone. His books remain vital along with landmarks of his life in Asheville. Not sure what lessons Cheyenne can take from Asheville, but I’m going to be there Thursday to hear about the possibilities.

It's a great time to be working in the arts!

Me: It's a great time to be working in the arts.

You: The heck you say. Local, state and national arts budgets are on the chopping block. The Kansas governor eliminated its state arts agency. K-12 arts teachers are being laid off. Music and visual arts and poetry graduates can't find jobs. Arts orgs and galleries and museums and performance spaces everywhere are crashing and burning.

Me: As I said, it's a great time to be working in the arts.

You: No hope for a fool.

Me: Or is there?

I'm flying high on the arts after a two-day meeting in Fort Collins, Colo. Arts types from nine states came to town to brainstorm ideas for the Arts Incubator of the Rockies (AIR.). This multi state effort to turbo-charge the region's artists and arts orgs and was spearheaded by a triumvirate of Ft Collins entities: Beet Street, the City of Fort Collins and Colorado State University School of the Arts.

It's a great thing when an arts organization, a city government and a major land-grant university get together to forge a plan for the future. A rare thing, too. Together they applied to the National Endowment for the Arts and received a $100,000 Our Town grant. Another major step. And then they invited their neighbors from WY, CO, NM, UT, ID, MT, NE, NV, SD and ND to town to talk about next steps.

So we did.

Fort Collins can brag about its arts and culture scene. This city of 140,000 sprawls along the Poudre River Valley and butts up against the Front Range of the Rockies. There's a big "A" up on the mountain that gets a fresh coat of whitewash every year from CSU students. The "A" stands for the "Agricultural" in Colorado Agricultural College and later Colorado A&M. Ag continues to be a big deal on campus and in the community. It stands for both flora and fauna, such as the large fauna investigated and studied and treated each year in the CSU Veterinary Program, one of the best in the U.S. "A" and "M" prompt students from all over the world to study water hydrology in Fort Collins. Water ministers from many parched Middle Eastern, Asian and African countries learned their trade at CSU. The university is home to the Colorado Seed Laboratory, where the genomes of the West's native plants are explored and safeguarded.

CSU's "A" and "M" creds are well-established.

But these days the "A" up on the hill could stand for "Arts."

During our two days in Fort Collins, we toured arts facilities. One belongs to the U, the renovated Fort Collins High School ("Go Lambkins!") that now houses the University Center for the Arts, or UCA. When I attended CSU from 1988-91, my little family lived in a little house just down the street from FCHS. My wife and I and our young son played catch on the football field which was a half-block from the house. I dodged student drivers on my daily walks to campus. There was that one Saturday morning when we found a frat boy from Phi Zappa Krappa passed out on our lawn. Apparently he had become disoriented after a frat bash and had settled in for a rejuvenating nap on our not-so-lush lawn. Our son awakened him with a pointy stick.

The frat house is still there. The high school is now the arts school. Our tour guide on Thursday was Jennifer Clary, a graduate of both the old FCHS and the new CSU arts school. She now works at the UCA. So it goes.

We watched a faculty chamber group as they warmed up in the Organ Recital Theatre for an upcoming concert. We saw the student Symphonia rehearse for its performance of Beethoven's Seventh Symphony. Great acoustics in the 550-seat Edna Rizley Griffin Concert Hall. Great facilities overall for music and dance and theatre. Also a fine visual arts museum.

As I watched the tattooed woman violinist and the viola player in his black hoodie bow their way through various symphony movements, I couldn't help but wonder what they'll be doing in 10 years. Playing in a major symphony? Bloody unlikely. Playing in a smaller symphony or community band? Possibly. Teaching music at the K-12 level. That's probable, although too many students look at education as a "fall-back" occupation if music performance doesn't work out. While some of them will be good teachers, others will be second-rate or worse and resentful that they're not making money in their chosen pursuit of music.

During our meeting, CSU School of the Arts Co-Director Dr. Todd Queen quoted from a Julliard study that found that only 10 percent of music school students stay in the industry after graduation. It's tough out there for a musician -- we all know that. It's tough out there for a poet and a dancer and a painter. That's why so many parents (this one included) attempt (with limited success) to steer their children into more practical avenues.

But what if there were other ways to an artist to make a living as an artist? What if we could shift away from the paradigm of "starving artist?"

That is a major goal of AIR.

Arts students need help with the big "B" of "business." They need to find new ways to promote themselves as artists which then will free up time for them to do their art. This is nothing new. Van Gogh painted up a storm but couldn't make a living -- his brother Theo had to keep him in bread and cheese. As a student in the CSU creative writing program, my goal was to write and learn how to write better. I was a teaching assistant too -- a little teaching experience couldn't hurt, right?

But in my third year, after a series of unsuccessful interviews for teaching jobs, I realized that I needed to reassess my goals. I asked the following question: "Just what the hell am I going to do now?" So I looked at all of my career assets and found that I could run or work for an arts organizations. Plenty of those around. My writing and corporate skills would come in handy. My time heading up the writers' committee on the CSU Fine Arts Series would be useful. Teaching skills, too -- I'd already taught at CSU and several community college writing courses in Fort Collins and Greeley.

It all added up to something. And I parlayed that something into 20 years working as an arts administrator at the state and federal level. I'm an acknowledged expert in my field. I've worked as a panelist and arts consultant to Colorado, Utah, Nevada, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kentucky, the Western States Arts Federation in Denver, etc. I've mentored many writers and later, as my job came to encompass all arts disciplines, I've assisted pianists, dancers, sculptors, rock musicians, painters, and so on.

But I have this sorrowful part of me that wishes now that, 20-some years ago, I had asked this question instead: "How can I make a living as a fiction writer?" That should have been my focus because writing is what I love. In the arts, it is all about you pursuing your passion. It also can be about forging a career in the arts world. Not just as a fall-back strategy but as something that a student does on purpose. It may include teaching but it very well may not.

Arts and beers and bikes are all players in
the new creative placemaking economy.

This is what I like about AIR: It addresses both of these tracks through workshops, classes, networking, coaching, mentoring, outreach and internships. It seeks to enlist professionals to mentor those in their field. It will look at ways to provide shared professional services, investment capital and revolving loan funds. It may enlist celebrity actors and musicians and writers to promote AIR goals. It may sponsor local and regional conferences.

The discussion is only beginning. In my next post, I'll address some of the ways that AIR plans to incubate regional artists and arts orgs in the West. I'll also look at the role that Fort Collins itself is playing in the Rocky Mountain West's arts and cultural renaissance. It's not all about "beers, bikes and (snow)boards" -- but all of those "B" words feed "A" energy (as in "Arts").