Appendix E-J

Well hello.

First things- apologies for the 6 days of silence. It has been a week full of recovery from an exciting and exhausting first half of 2009 and a week full of the beginning stages of special surprises that are no less exciting than the first half of 2009. Plus, we covered the skylights with some burlap to help keep the room cool during those days of hotness…and it works. You will no longer sweat while sitting in Everyday Joe’s. Unless you just sweat a lot, in which case I can’t help you but I will give you a hug.

Back to the first half of 2009…

At Everyday Joe’s, we tend to operate on semesters. This is the result of being in a college town. When I look at a calendar, I see semesters and breaks…though I have been a college graduate for 5 years now.

This past semester (January – May 2009) has been a special one to me & I believe probably most folks at Everyday Joe’s. Our volunteer base (love them) continues to grow and improve as they continue to take more and more and more ownership of the place. Diana Sitzman (EJ’s assistant director whom I call Boss) is due most if not all of the credit for this. She loves the volunteers like lion cubs…and as a result they make superb drinks but more importantly they believe in 144 S. Mason and what happens here.

Our board/leadership team/synergy directive ambassadors (we’re not sure what to call it) has also taken ahold of things like the things had horns. A bar redesign is in the works (shhhh….it’s a secret) among other special surprises all aimed at being able to serve our community – that we hope to become our family – better.

Really, I am lacking proper words right now. Perhaps you should just believe me when I say that you – our peoples – have made the first half of 2009 mighty fine. Thank you.

We love you so much.

love.

chris & everyone at Everyday Joe’s

Popularity: 58% [?]

This installment of “Other People’s Coffee” holds a special place in our heart…and the reason is two-fold:

1) It is written by Nick Hamilton – a good friend/man and former Everyday Joe’s regular whose job took him & his family to Knoxville, TN.

2) Remedy Coffee is a shop managed by David Teten – another former Everyday Joe’s regular that called a few months ago and said, “A shop with the same heart as Everyday Joe’s is opening in Knoxville and I’m going to run it. Here are a lot of questions.” They even made the choice to buy beans from Intelligentsia.

We get a lot of phone calls like Dave’s, and rarely does a shop open after the conversation. It is good to see it happen, and having the man at the helm be a part of the Everyday Joe’s family is even more exciting. Things are happening and Remedy is making a difference. Please support them.

Coffee Shop: Remedy Coffee

Location: Knoxville, TN

Drink: Double Americano

Drinker: Nick Hamilton

I’m not accustomed to early mornings. Five months of fatherhood under my belt and I still cringe at 7 a.m.  I meant to get to Remedy Coffee at the crack of opening.  Crack of grand opening I suppose.  Missed it.  Rolled into The Old City at 7.45, parked, paid for parking, walked from parking to door.

The first time I stood at this door was January of this year. I heard about Remedy Coffee through the power of the interwebs.  Being a recent transplant to Knoxville I had been looking for good coffee.  My friend David and I headed to The Old City to give it a whirl only to find it closed.  Disappointed we began to head down the street to see what else was around when a woman from inside Remedy asked if we’d like to check the place out.  We said sure and she proceeded to give us the “grand tour.”  Turns out that Remedy is the brainchild of a local church called Knoxlife Church.  The church met there on Sundays but the hope was to open up the space to the surrounding community during the rest of the week.

It’s quite a space.  Set in The Old City the feel as you walk in is industrial.  From the outside you might expect Rocky Balboa to be tenderizing a half slab of beef just inside.  Fortunately for all involved this is not the case. Their motto is “coffee and conversation” and this atmosphere is successfully achieved.  The staff is friendly and knowledgeable about their product without making the untrained palette such as my own feel inferior.

I am mostly a black coffee kind of guy, but enjoy the occasional espresso.  So, I decided to give an Americano a go.  Four delicious shots later I was quite satisfied. I was told my Black Cat espresso had a “chocolate covered cherry taste,” which was easily discernable. Maybe just because it was mentioned, maybe because they pulled some good shots, whatever the case it was still delicious.

Remedy has chosen to use Intelligensia Coffee as their go to and ‘tis a delightful choice.

Hand made mugs from a local artist cover the brick walls.  An acceptable music mix tickled my multiplying ear hairs (comes with fatherhood, I think…).  The various tables and chairs set about make for comfortable, uncramped atmosphere.

All in all I’m grateful to find a place that serves a mean Americano, a comfortable environment, and a welcoming feel where one might even become a regular.

FURTHER:

• Remedy Coffee Official Site

Popularity: 100% [?]

Todd Fadel is a good fellow. He makes music with Agents of Future (loud, beautiful) and is friends with friends (Aaron Strumpel, The Blackthorn Project, Kate Hurley etc.).

A little while back, I received an e-mail from Mr. Fadel concerning a thing he was building called Love Is Concrete. When he first explained it to me, I thought it sounded magnificent. Now that it is around, I know it is magnificent. I speaks so clearly of truly Good things and things I hope Everyday Joe’s can accomplish that it about makes me overly-emotional. I’d try to explain it, but I think the following video does a better job. Watch it, and then follow the links to the web site.

Further:

• Love Is Concrete Official Site
• Agents Of Future Myspace

Popularity: 39% [?]