Stumpjack MySpace = Music Calendar

We've got a MySpace site now, which makes it a lot easier to post our live music and events calendar and keep it updated, I'm just getting imy feet wet with it now and will be adding some more stuff to it in the next week or so (audio, video, more pics). My daughter, Cheyenne, is helping me with it (thanks, honey!). The music calendar from Oct thru Dec is up now, but check back once in a while because we'll update it whenever something else gets added to the schedule. Check it out here and bookmark it: http://www.myspace.com/stumpjackcoffee.

Food Porn Goddess indeed!

This past Saturday night was a fun night. Kerry performed for a small but appreciative crowd, and played a couple of his new tunes (one he said he finished writing the day before). Bobbi, Lowell and Doug stopped in to play cards and celebrate Doug’s birthday with a couple of Doodah Hops Smoothies (our beer smoothie that was inspired by an off the cuff challenge Doug made). Pat staked out his spot, chatting with Cheryl, our new friend from upstairs and later Arlie, who dropped in after work. There were a few new faces in the house, which is always nice to see. And maybe the best surprise of the night was when Jin (Jennifer) from “Uniquely Yours Pastry Shoppe” stopped in with her husband, David…I say best surprise because even though we’ve cross-linked each others blogs and have known about each other for a while, this was her first visit to the Stump…and she came bearing gifts!

And not just any gifts, mind you, but gifts of éclairs she made herself and that were absolutely the most fantastically delicious and fulfilling cream filled creations I have ever had in my life. Ok, listen, I’m a foodie, and I have had a fair amount of exceptional food in my life thus far, and so I don’t want to sound overly gushing or goofy just because someone brought in some yummies for me…and so when I say that these éclairs were exceptional, I mean that they were really exceptional…as in so good that they honestly deserved the sex comparison I blurted out. You know when you have something that is really above average and you enjoy it so much that you don’t want to keep it to yourself? You have to share that thing, that experience, with someone else because it’s just too darn good to enjoy alone and sharing it makes it even better. Well, after the first mouthful, as much as I wanted to keep those three or four éclairs to myself, I had to share them with everyone so that everyone else could enjoy this moment with me (well, not everyone…but Kim and Pat anyway). These things were just freaking awesome! And I am now on a mission to acquire this Queen of Pastry’s wares for the Stump.

Jin and David hung around for an hour or so, had a couple of vanilla caps and listened to Kerry.

Jin with the goods!

Now this is funny…I wrote that bit above a little earlier and decided that a picture would be cool to go with the post…so, I checked Jin’s blog in the hope that maybe she might have an image somewhere in her archives of some éclairs…and lo and behold, she has a whole new how-to post on these very ones (the ones she brought me) complete with pics (including her eating one…Food Porn Goddess indeed!). Check this out and be prepared to drool.

The Latest Rock Star Fashion in Italy

NineDays frontman John Hampson in front of the Coliseum in Rome.

John Hampson would probably shake his head and tell me to shove off for calling him a "rock star." He's a down-to-earth, unassuming and working-class kind of guy, but as the leader of the band NineDays, who have indeed had top ten hit success, sold a ton of CDs and played before legions of fans, it's fair to call him a rock star (and even if he might scoff at it I'm going to call him that anyway if for no other selfish reason than because it's expedient to do so!).

While visiting his wife's family in Italy recently, John was nice enough to snap a few pics of himself in Rome wearing only the coolest T-shirt in the Mediterranean.

John looking the cool musician in front of the Pantheon in Rome.

A Stumpjack tee, worn by a helluva good guy, across the ocean in my favorite European country...how cool is that?! Thanks, John!

Ethnic Fest 2007

This past Saturday was the day of the annual Ethnic Fest event in downtown Two Rivers. I won't go into details of the actual event other than to say that it was and is a super-fun day and is something that our community can be proud of. From both a personal and business point of view it was an absolutely awesome day for us here at Stumpjack.

We opened for business one year ago on Ethnic Fest 2006. Given our newness and inexperience, we found that day to be a very busy one and full of miscues and uncertainties. Only one year later we found ourselves in an even more charged situation, where we did almost three times the business and traffic we did a year earlier, with a more expansive menu and live music in the store to boot. From around 9:30 to 4:30 it was nonstop...hundreds of people...counter to door, and yet we were, for the most part, smooth, efficient and having a great time. It didn't seem as busy this year as it did the year before when we were newbies.

For that entire seven hours Kim, Glen and I didn't stop, take a break, or really move from our spots. It was "crazy fun," as Glen said. What a ride...

We were so busy I forgot to snap some pics, so I lifted these from the Lester Library's Flickr site...even though they don't show what was going on at Stumpjack, specifically, they do give you an idea of what was going on in town. Thanks to Glen and Kim for being the Delta Force for the day, to Becky and Bill (and later, Pat) for the excellent live music (they played for 4 1/2 hours), to Allie and Heidi for helping to keep things rolling smoothly, to Russ for the excellent (as always) coffees that people raved about, and to the dozens and dozens of people who came in to share their day with us.

NineDays CDs at Stumpjack now

Jeremy Dean, keyboard and sax player for MetroJam headliners and top ten hit makers, NineDays, sent me a packet of goodies the other day, including a bunch of NineDays' new CD "Slow Motion Life (Part I)" for us to offer to folks here at the Stump. (Jeremy has a graphic design company that does some pretty cool stuff...check out his site here.)

NineDays at MetroJam this Summer. Image from Emily Thiessen's Flickr site.

So, we've got copies of NineDays most excellent CD here now! They're only $9 apiece (NineDays for $9), with $3 going to the Domestic Violence Center, courtesy of the band (very cool of them, don't you think). Stumpjack Coffee will toss some cash into the DVC kitty as well.

Swing by for an espresso or mocha and pick up a CD of great tunes, and help out the DVC in the process. It's a win-win for everyone...you get some great music, the DVC gets some help, and you get to feel good about contributing to a good cause. We'll keep track and post the tally sometime next month or so.

Going more green

In our continuing desire to be environmentally responsible we've begun using Eco-Products Corn Oil cold drink cups here at Stumpjack. These cups are fully compostable and are made entirely from the renewable resources of corn. Also, unlike regular plastics, these cups are not made from petroleum, and will return to the earth in as little as 45 days in a commercial composting facility (imagine if just every coffee shop in the country used these instead of plastic for their smoothies and iced drinks...there go several hundred thousand, if not millions, of plastic cups not taking up space in landfills each year, as well just one more reason not to depend on foreign oil).

The cups cost a little more than regular plastic cups, but we feel that the benefits to the environment and to our sense of purpose trump the cheaper cost of plastic cups. We can't say that we're completely green, as there are a number of other areas where we can yet improve but where the cost is still too much to overcome right now, but this is one more step in that direction.