Blendable Notes

The floor is almost finished. Just a couple of areas of unfinished oak awaiting green and blue stain. Now the sound system has become the focus of attention. Will brought in his friend Mike West, with his years of experience setting up road sound for artists like Jerry Reed and Kathy Mattea, and they, along with Scott, have been sounding out the room, testing the equipment we have on hand, and choosing equipment we will need to get. Pictures in our Gallery.

Mike is a coffee lover as well as a sound system artist, and when Scott offered to make him something, Mike asked for a macchiato. Naturally, this lead to a brief interrogatory regarding the exact meaning to Mike of that word, a conversation necessitated by Starbucks’ offering of a so-called (and popular) “caramel macchiato” as part of their menu.

“A stained espresso,” came the welcomed response from Mike. Several minutes later, after his first sip, came the second welcomed response – the pleasant recollection of his fondest coffee experience, at Bean Central many years back – memories of driving downtown during a blackout and finding the roaster open and electrified, of having some special beans roasted on the spot and brewed as fresh as it gets, and of tasting what, until maybe this evocative sip in the Blending Room, had been the peak of his coffee-drinking days.

Experiences like that, delicious memories awakened…that’s the idea.

Things are moving faster each day at Noteable Blends. The Blending Room at Chestnut Street Crossing in the Noho District is blossoming before our very eyes. The Happy Hypomaniacs have been busy building walls and painting them, designing patterns of wood for the floor, and installing cabinets and shelves. The building inspector is due “soon”, and meanwhile Rob Chidester has loaned us some brick and glass block walls from his set design inventory.

Thanks to Marvin Rowland, our master carpenter and all-around construction wizard, the stage is finished – at least for now. The black paint looks great but will soon get covered with a beautiful layer of purple heart wood. Chuck Glass (Midnight Riders’ organ player and lead vocalist) helped set up the 1951 Hammond B3 with matched Leslie. Will Rhodarmer, when he hasn’t been using the walls and floors as canvases for his artistic visions, has been finding the right spots for the Mapex drum kit, the numerous guitars (mostly hanging on walls and dangling from beams – an Herculean effort), and the many other musical instruments that have made their home with us, all the while designing the sound, light, and video infrastructure.

Meanwhile, Scott’s been designing the cabinetry for the “coffee lab” section of the Blending Room, including some beautiful new specialty coffee-and-tea-service cabinets that we will also make available for purchase. The Marzocco’s been humming, of course, and not just for the staff and workers. Jeff Thornhill, coordinator for Events Nashville, the managers of Houston Station, the 350-person event room across the hall from us, has been busy showing prospective clients how Noteable Blends coffee catering can compliment their weddings, photo shoots, company parties, and other gatherings. We’ve parked one of our espresso carts in “the big room” for such occasions, but many of Jeff’s prospective clients are getting excited about using the Blending Room as a very special addition to their plans, or even as a separate venue.

What a busy and exciting time!

Check out some pictures at our Gallery.