It is currently Thu Mar 28, 2024 4:59 pm




Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 2 posts ] 
 DeLand, Florida 
Author Message
Member
Member

Joined: Sat Dec 22, 2007 2:13 pm
Posts: 52
Location: DeLand, FL
Post DeLand, Florida
OK, I'll admit it. I live in the boondocks. Specifically, I live in Central Florida, in the "city" of DeLand, which is located half way between Daytona and Orlando. As such, there are very few stickists who wander through for me to see them play live.

One local venue is the Caffe da Vinci (http://www.myspace.com/caffedavinci). Why am I mentioning this now? Because if anyone is touring and would like a venue in this area, it would be real convienient for me if you played there.

Also:

Cafe da Vinci just posted two article from local papers saying how wonderful the venue was.

Bao le Huu of the Orlando Weekly - selection wrote:
If you haven't been out to Caffe da Vinci yet, I simply cannot recommend it enough. A congress of bohemian and Cracker, it's a bar, coffeehouse, art gallery and antique shop that happens to boast an outdoor show space that's awfully difficult to match in terms of atmosphere. Take a courtyard that radiates the Southern charm of a place like Savannah, turn it into a beer garden, book bands to play under the Spanish moss and I'm sooo there. Totally worth the drive.


Rick de Yampert of the Daytona Beach News Journal wrote:
Art house, coffee shop, jam spot -- the 'Greenwich Village of DeLand'
By RICK de YAMPERT
Entertainment Writer

DELAND -- What do you do if you're a musician in a cardinal mask and you want to jam on your homemade cookie-tin guitar? What if you're hot R&B/hip-hop artist T-Pain and you need a place to hang while filming a video?

You head to Caffe da Vinci.

"Last week we had an impromptu art piece here," says 30-year-old singer/guitarist/ukulele player Lauris Vidal, who hosts the weekly open mic on Thursdays at the coffeehouse-style venue. A jam session included "the guys from Dish (a local rock duo) and two other singer/songwriters, a guy wearing a cardinal mask playing a homemade instrument that consisted of six strings and a cookie tin, and a guy on a flute. They improv-ed it on the spot. It was beautiful, just amazing."

Da Vinci co-owner Rusty Hamil says the venue was conceived as "an artist coffeehouse in the European tradition."

Jaii Hein, a 57-year-old DeLand resident and a da Vinci patron at a recent open mic, has his own take: "I never was at Haight-Ashbury (the famous hippie epicenter of 1960s San Francisco). But this probably would be it. Or Greenwich Village (the arty, bohemian epicenter of New York City). This probably would be the Greenwich Village of DeLand."

With stages inside and outdoors in its courtyard (called the Beer Garden), da Vinci features live music on Friday and Saturday nights, and sometimes on other days.

The eclectic music menu includes folk, rock, bluegrass, alternative and indie rock bands, "gypsy guitar jazz" and more. The late R&B sax player Noble "Thin Man" Watts was a regular. The rock band Matchbox 20 played da Vinci just before they hit the big time.

The open mic on Thursdays features area professional musicians such as Dan Walters, singer-guitarists venturing onto a stage for the first time, and even a guy who combines spoken word and drumming. Other nights feature deejays spinning modern lounge tracks and electronica.

Inside the venue is home to the Tongue and Groove Gallery, which features painting, photography and other visual art exhibits by area artists. The bar serves beer, wine, coffee and light food.

It's all nestled in the side of the building that's home to Florida Victorian Architectural Antiques, whose artifacts -- Roman-esque stone columns, ironwork furniture -- spill into da Vinci's courtyard, giving the space the feel of an Italian villa.

Da Vinci is also available for rental, whether for weddings or other events. T-Pain and his crew rented the space three months ago while shooting a video at the nearby old jail.

Caffe da Vinci was founded by Florida Victorian owner Mark Shuttleworth and his artist wife, Anna Tomczak, in the early 1990s. It closed in 1997 because, Hamil says, "the scene in DeLand wasn't really supportive." Hamil and co-owner Joe Valente re-opened da Vinci in November 2004.

The scene is flowering these days, says Sarahrose Ministeri, 26, who does da Vinci's marketing and promotion and works the bar.

"It's a catalytic space," Ministeri says. "A lot of things happen, positive things. People meet each other here. People have gotten married here after meeting here. People start playing in bands with other people they've met here."

"Part of its charm is that it's so unaware of how cool it is," Vidal says. "There's pretense and there's honest expression, I guess. There's no pretense here -- there's just expression.

"There's a reverend who comes and sings, and it just slays every one with this amazing gospel voice. We can start at hymns and end at electronic jams. It could be five people, it could be two hundred people.

"There's no clique here. It's about people expressing. To try to box this is a dangerous thing. To box something that's organic -- you can't."

rick.deyampert@news-jrnl.com

Caffe da Vinci

"An artist coffeehouse in the European tradition"

WHERE: 112 W. Georgia Ave., DeLand

HOURS: 5 p.m.-midnight Monday and Tuesday;

5 p.m.-2 a.m. Wednesday-Friday; noon-2 a.m. Saturday

UPCOMING EVENTS: Dish (rock), 9 p.m. today. 4Fourths (a deejay collective) Xmas, 8 p.m. Saturday. Open mic with Lauris Vidal, 9 p.m. Thursday. Cook Trio ("gypsy jazz guitar"), 9 p.m. Dec. 28. New Year's Eve Ball with the A-Team ('80s rock), 8 p.m. Dec. 31

INFORMATION: 386-736-4646 or caffedavinci.net

About This Series

This is the fifth in an occasional series that takes a closer look at where locals spend their free time.


I promise that if you come to DeLand and play, there will be at least one paying customer in the audience.

_________________
Fredrik V Coulter

Had an ironwood Stick in the late 80s, but I sold it. (One of my two big regrets in life.)


Sun Dec 23, 2007 8:31 pm
Profile
Site Donor
Site Donor

Joined: Mon Dec 24, 2007 10:06 am
Posts: 3226
Post Re: DeLand, Florida
Is this anywhere near St. Pete? I'll down there recording in mid-April and may be seeking a side gig. May also have time for some private lessons.

Steve A


Mon Mar 10, 2008 10:15 pm
Profile My Photo Gallery
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  
Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 2 posts ] 


Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 3 guests


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot post attachments in this forum

Search for:
Jump to:  

board3 Portal - based on phpBB3 Portal Powered by phpBB © phpBB Group. Designed by Vjacheslav Trushkin for Free Forums/DivisionCore.
Heavily modified by Stickist.com. Stickist.com is an authorized Chapman Stick® site. The Chapman Stick® and NS/Stick™ and their marks are federally registered trademarks exclusively licensed to Stick Enterprises, Inc., and are used on Stickist.com and NSstickist.com with SEI's permission.
Click here for more information.