I definitely judge people based on their tastes in music. You know when it's done right: the poetry of beautiful lyrics melding to the rhythms and melodies of instruments I so wish my parents had forced me to take lessons in as a child. I just don't understand people who can be indifferent to good music, or worse still, people who actually enjoy country music.
I went to Hope College, a small liberal arts institution of the Reformed Church of America persuasion, nestled in the charming town of Holland, MI. Remember Stars Hollow? That disgustingly cute, fictional town from Gilmore Girls? Well, if you've never had the privilege of visiting Holland, MI: home of the Annual Tulip Time Festival, Captain Sundae, and 149 years of fine liberal arts education, then just think 'Stars Hollow' and you're on the right track.
Needless to say, the Holland, MI folk don't really take kindly to franchises where local can do it so much more endearingly, and let's face it, better. No Starbucks or Caribou for us, sir! If you want coffee in Holland, MI you have two options: JP's or Lemonjellos. The two shops sell coffee, and that's about where the similarity ends. Atmosphere, patronage, music, employees and artwork could not be more different. As a student, I frequented both shops with regularity (some people were loyal JP-ists and others die-hard Lemonjellos fans, but I saw no problem with soaking up the unique coffeehouse-goodness each shop had to offer).
Where Lemonjellos had JP's beat, however, was definitely in the music scene. If we were to draw some sort of line of demarcation, then Lemonjellos, I suppose, would be the more ostensible choice for the college students, while JP's would probably be the coffeehouse-of-choice for your typical Holland townie. As such, Lemonjellos was way more into hopping on the fair trade-bubble tea-vegan pastry-pretentious music-train than it's counterpart, JP's. Lemonjellos also doubled as a small concert-venue a few nights a week, bringing in some of the college's talent as well as other local and even a couple larger-name groups to perform.
Coffeehouses provide soundtracks for their patrons' meetings, study-sessions and first dates. I work for one of the big, franchisey coffee conglomerates, not one of the local and full-of-character little guys like JP's or Lemonjellos. We have this established set of music we play on repeat all day until the 'music specialists' down at corporate give us their next installment to slap on. While it pains me to admit that some of the stuff they have us play is pretty darn acceptable, for a while there we were selling the Beatles Number 1 Hits compilation cd in our stores, and it was all-Beatles-all-the-time for like 3 straight weeks. I don't care how great the Beatles are. Not okay. (Oh, and I'm so looking forward to November 15th when the round-the-clock Christmas music begins..)
As someone who secretly strives to be one of those super-cool pretentious music snobs like Julie (friend from college, die-hard Lemonjello's fan, and associate editor at this super-cool blog [check out her stuff if you, like me, are interested in increasing your music-snobbery]) I really miss the non-contrived soundtracks of the local shops. And how cool would it be if the big coffee shops started hosting open-mic night - just once a month or something?
Anyway, till next time,
Lise
(p.s. - maybe if you're lucky, I'll impart upon you my own 'coffee house playlist' next time).
I went to Hope College, a small liberal arts institution of the Reformed Church of America persuasion, nestled in the charming town of Holland, MI. Remember Stars Hollow? That disgustingly cute, fictional town from Gilmore Girls? Well, if you've never had the privilege of visiting Holland, MI: home of the Annual Tulip Time Festival, Captain Sundae, and 149 years of fine liberal arts education, then just think 'Stars Hollow' and you're on the right track.
Needless to say, the Holland, MI folk don't really take kindly to franchises where local can do it so much more endearingly, and let's face it, better. No Starbucks or Caribou for us, sir! If you want coffee in Holland, MI you have two options: JP's or Lemonjellos. The two shops sell coffee, and that's about where the similarity ends. Atmosphere, patronage, music, employees and artwork could not be more different. As a student, I frequented both shops with regularity (some people were loyal JP-ists and others die-hard Lemonjellos fans, but I saw no problem with soaking up the unique coffeehouse-goodness each shop had to offer).
Where Lemonjellos had JP's beat, however, was definitely in the music scene. If we were to draw some sort of line of demarcation, then Lemonjellos, I suppose, would be the more ostensible choice for the college students, while JP's would probably be the coffeehouse-of-choice for your typical Holland townie. As such, Lemonjellos was way more into hopping on the fair trade-bubble tea-vegan pastry-pretentious music-train than it's counterpart, JP's. Lemonjellos also doubled as a small concert-venue a few nights a week, bringing in some of the college's talent as well as other local and even a couple larger-name groups to perform.
Coffeehouses provide soundtracks for their patrons' meetings, study-sessions and first dates. I work for one of the big, franchisey coffee conglomerates, not one of the local and full-of-character little guys like JP's or Lemonjellos. We have this established set of music we play on repeat all day until the 'music specialists' down at corporate give us their next installment to slap on. While it pains me to admit that some of the stuff they have us play is pretty darn acceptable, for a while there we were selling the Beatles Number 1 Hits compilation cd in our stores, and it was all-Beatles-all-the-time for like 3 straight weeks. I don't care how great the Beatles are. Not okay. (Oh, and I'm so looking forward to November 15th when the round-the-clock Christmas music begins..)
As someone who secretly strives to be one of those super-cool pretentious music snobs like Julie (friend from college, die-hard Lemonjello's fan, and associate editor at this super-cool blog [check out her stuff if you, like me, are interested in increasing your music-snobbery]) I really miss the non-contrived soundtracks of the local shops. And how cool would it be if the big coffee shops started hosting open-mic night - just once a month or something?
Anyway, till next time,
Lise
(p.s. - maybe if you're lucky, I'll impart upon you my own 'coffee house playlist' next time).
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