Saturday we played catch-up — on work and sleep.

We spent most of the day blogging, decidedly taking it easy.

It’s not hard to get totally caught up in this work. We could run ourselves into the ground and still not cover all there is to see.

To stay on our game we have to schedule the rest and relaxation just like the meetings and events.

We thought a movie fit pretty well into our low-key theme for the day; and looking into independent movie houses could count as research. So we decided to check out Trinosophes, a coffee shop/movie theatre/performance space in Eastern Market that Ryan found somehow through some internet wormhole researching.

We were met at the door by Steve Trimboli who’d moved to Detroit just two years ago after spending most of his life in Brooklyn.

“Brooklyn was becoming claustrophobic.” Steve elaborated that people there were too busy vying for attention to really do anything meaningful; that’s why he moved to Detroit.

Come to find out later on, he was the owner of Scrap Bar in the West Village “a fabled metal bar and watering hole for a laundry list of New York City rockers” (Village Voice). Scrap Bar hosted the release party for a Ramones album…two months after it opened in 1986 (read Steve’s account of it here). Years later he opened Goodby Blue Monday — a place very much like Trinosophes — in Brooklyn where he grew up.

We arrived about ten minutes late…but no one seemed to mind. The show hadn’t even started, and wouldn’t yet for another 20 minutes. When we asked about it, Steve said something noncommittally chill.

So they charged a “6-10 dollar” suggested donation then entertained our questions. Both Steve and Joel Peterson, co-owner, were very open to talking about Detroit and its possibilities.

“New York is over” Joel said. “A few years agoI would say definitely certainly move to Detroit, but the big studio space is getting bought up…Detroit is one of the viable places, there’s a lot of attention here right now which is very good…Cleveland, Oakland, Gary could work, anywhere cheap could be viable for the arts… but this is a bigger scene, so something like Buffalo would be more insular” — essentially: it’s cheap, there’s attention on Detroit’s arts scene and we can break into it as outsiders.

He puts up a good argument.

Here’s Ryan’s take:

There was something really special about Trinosophes (I still can’t pronounce it) right when we walked in. The ceilings were high and the acoustics were perfect and there was SO much space. The walls were painted white and were somewhat barren. When I met the owner, Joel Peterson, my mind started racing. Joel told me a little about what brought him to this space.

About 4 years ago, he bought three connecting storefronts for $100,000. It took two years to renovate the place (it had been a warehouse before, storage for 100-pound bags of spices) and they’ve been in business ever since. The downpayment was supplied by the Kresge foundation, all the renovations out-of-pocket.

Trinosophes is a multi-form/multi-media/multi-medium venue. During the day they serve coffee, vegan baked goods and sandwiches. They take a few hours for a siesta because, why not? Then, in the evenings, they are a performance venue/art gallery/film theater.

Sound familiar? Maybe like Salt and Cedar? Well they’re the reason Salt and Cedar exists:

Co-owner Rebecca Mazzei, former assistant dean of the College of Creative Studies, hired Leon Johnson of Salt and Cedar as a professor at CCS. Rebecca and Joel helped Leon find his Salt and Cedar location and in return, Leon named their coffee shop: Trinosophes. Classic Leon.

Joel previously ran a similar mixed function place, the Bohemian National Home but eventually settled down at his current location which is about 5 times smaller than the previous one. We have not met Joel’s wife and co-owner, Rebeca Mazzei yet but she seems like an all-star as well. She has previously worked as as art editor for the Metro Times, Assistant Dean at the College for Creative Studies, and Deputy Director of MOCAD.

After leaving Trinosophes that night, I said to Rory, “That is what I want to do”. I have recently perceived my eclectic interest in different art mediums (filmmaking, playmaking, photography, graphic design, producing, kombucha and kefir brewing) as a distraction from one focus but this could be a way for me to pursue all of the things I love to do. Having a space that can facilitate all of my passions as well as facilitate other artists to showcase their work sounds like a great idea. Could we do this affordably in other cities? Will the art scene in those other cities compare to what is happening in Detroit right now? We’ll have to do some researching and number crunching to find out. Joel told us that there are more grant opportunities for young college educated people who want to start something here than older artists who have been here for a while. I cannot wait to go back and talk with Joel and Steve and Rebecca.

Here’s Rory’s take:

It’s heartening to see that a venue like this exists here, and that people came to an event of this nature. Not a lot, truth be told: only about 10, maybe 15. But even then, they’re selling more than just tickets: coffee, wine, beer, cake, cookies — and that’s just what we saw. They also have a fully-functioning kitchen which serves sandwiches and the like during the day.

This shows a very interesting business model, one that Ryan and I have talked about between us: sell kombucha and/or smoothies in addition to showcasing quality art; we have also discussed the aspect of doing more than just live performance in the space.

However I had not fully conceived what that might look like until we walked into Trinosophes. We were surrounded by the conversation of a coffee shop, then we indulged in a live music set before a series of non-narrative short films, (both by Laurence Bond Miller). At no point did it seem pretentious or howty-towty; just a bunch of people hanging out enjoying art. And it seemed that they all knew each other. It had the sense of community that we have noticed pretty much everywhere we’ve been here.

Steven Trimboli’s described Goodbye Blue Monday kind of encapsulates the experience:

“I call it “the store” most of the time. sometimes I guess I call it “the place.” I never call it “miracle on ice.” First, it’s “Goodbye Blue Monday.” Last, it’s “Goodbye Blue Monday.” In between it’s an internet cafe, gallery, venue, pop-culture emporium (you can’t get Mister Machine in a second-hand store), theater, cabaret, tavern and coffeehouse.”

Ryan said that if he could have a place like that in five years he’d be happy. I’m not sure if I’d be totally satisfied; I’m not sure exactly what my ideal situation is at this point.

But I’d be pretty proud of us if we could pull something like that together. It becomes even more exciting when I think about the possibility of giving other young artists a place to express themselves, no matter their medium or level of expertise.

Also, whether this could happen in other cities is up for debate. The interesting alchemy about Detroit is that it has a lot of hip art happening at a time when real estate is very affordable. Is Detroit the best option for this kind of scenario?

We shall see.

After the movie, we talked to two members of Casino, a local Detroit band (they’re the dudes in the cover photo). They filled our books with suggestions of sweet places for us to check out as well as other important artists. They invited us to an event at the Jam Handy in the morning called the Noise Brunch. Can’t wait to see what that’s about.

Thanks for taking a look.

All the best,

R&R