Lemonjello’s – January 4, 2010

January 20th, 2010 · 39 Comments

Lemonjello’s Birthday Bash VII

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By Terry Deboer | The Grand Rapids Press

HOLLAND – Lemonjello’s is a downtown Holland coffee shop celebrating its seventh anniversary Monday by staying true to its mission. The venue is hosting a concert featuring five local music artists.  Whether you pronounce it straightforwardly “LEM-un-JEL-ohs” or use the French-sounding “la-MON-juh-lohs” (either is correct), owner-manager Matt Scott said music has been a key for his business since day one.  “The whole concept for me came out of my former band playing a lot of coffeehouses,” Scott said.  “Some either had a great music set up but a bad product, or had a great coffee bar but were bad at the music part of it.”

The upstart business owner decided to himself try to fashion a coffee spot with sufficient income to stick around, yet consistency in supporting the local music scene.  True to his original plan, Lemonjello’s (in a building that formerly housed the bakery for the Til Midnight restaurant) is remaining in the black and continuing to host live music each week.  Scott, 29, has handpicked Monday’s birthday lineup, saluting those area artists who have “built into the place” over the last number of years.  And artists seem to appreciate the venue.

“There’s a real sense of community there, and it’s a place that has something going in a conservative town,” said Brandon Muske, guitarist of The Wallace Collective, an eclectic band on Monday’s bill. “It’s great to have live music that’s not in a bar setting so younger people can come and get exposed to good music,” he added.

Alex Karpicke of The Meadowlarks said Lemonjello’s patrons actually come to enjoy the music – not just to drink coffee.  “And Matt is a good guy to work with – really organized, which makes it easier for us to do things,” said Karpicke of his Grand Rapids-based indie-folk duo.

Also invited to perform at the birthday celebration is Valentiger (formerly Happy Hour), also from the Grand Rapids area.  “They are one of my favorite Americana bands, local or not,” said Scott of the Grand Rapids area trio. “They’ve become some of the best songwriters I know.

In the early days, the shop had a 15-seat capacity, making live music challenging. But a 2005 expansion allowed Lemonjello’s to accommodate 80-120 for music events.  Scott recalls the “biggest” artist ever to perform at the venue – Sufjan Stevens.  “He played back in the first year we were open,” Scott said of the former Hope College student who is now a nationally-acclaimed singer-songwriter. “He was an opening act, and it was right when his ‘Michigan’ record came out. In a few months he was all over the place.”

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