Java Man Jam lends a beat to Hermosa Beach Holiday Stroll
Musicians gather inside Mike’s Guitar Parlor last week ahead of the Java Man Jam. Photo
Years ago, musician TJ Brinjak was using the stage at the former Suzy’s Bar and Grill on Aviation Boulevard to rehearse some classical guitar. Because he was just practicing, he would set the tip jar aside. But one day, he forgot to move the jar and, before he knew it, people began contributing. The episode inspired Brinjak’s “Liquid Lunch” series, in which he donates half his tips to a rotating array of charitable causes.
It was on his mind recently as Brinjak and other musicians prepare for the Java Man Jam this Saturday. The jam will provide people out browsing during the weekend’s sidewalk sale with a mixture of musicians all day long. Everyone in the lineup is a professional musician who will be paid to play, and the performers are excited at the prospect of making live music easier to hear in Hermosa’s downtown.
“We can learn from the surviving human cultures that don’t have music. Oh wait, there aren’t any,” Brinjak deadpanned.
The jam is the result of a collaboration between resident Adam Malovani, the Downtown Hermosa Business Association, the Hermosa Beach Chamber of Commerce and Visitors Bureau, which is putting on the Holiday Stroll throughout downtown this weekend, as one of its three annual sidewalk sales. Malovani, the creator of the Experience GPS walking tour of Hermosa’s music history, is constantly looking for ways to bring more sounds to his adopted hometown. He looked into doing an event on his own, but found that permit costs quickly escalated. Through his chats with various local businesses, he realized that the Chamber’s three annual sidewalk sales came with permits for outdoor performances with amplified sound.
As a music lover, Malovani wanted to make the event professional, and so he and several downtown businesses began soliciting donations to pay for performers and associated expenses. Their optimistic vision was rewarded: in less than a week, they were able to raise $2,500.
Jack Tracy, who will be the first performer at the Java Man Jam, recalled playing in downtown Hermosa years ago when Gumtree owner Lori Ford and others started “First Thursdays” to draw people to the area. Playing in public, Tracy said, is very different from playing inside a bar or club, and the experience reminded him of how a song can create a convivial atmosphere.
Andy Hill, of the duo Andy and Renee, agreed. The two have been playing inside homes around Hermosa and the South Bay for years, and said that detaching music from the stage on which it is often presented reinforces its power to get people to ignore their differences.
“Music, in some way, is like what church used to be,” Hill said.
Business owners are hopeful that the weekend will help them kickstart a holiday shopping season cut short by a relatively late Thanksgiving. Along with music, they pitched in to bring a horse-drawn carriage to town, which will take passengers on rides departing from the Comedy & Magic Club. Ford, of Gumtree, said past experiences with live performers in her store showed her that having music in unexpected places can transform people’s mood.
“It’s like the red bags on the parking meters: it just brings a feeling of joy,” Ford said.
Malovani is hopeful that the Java Man Jam can act as a proof-of-concept for further ways to better integrate music into the experience of being in Hermosa. His vision is influenced by events in which streets are closed off and live music is omnipresent, such as First Thursdays in San Pedro and First Fridays in Long Beach, which regularly bring high-grossing nights for nearby businesses.
An event of that scale is probably a ways away in Hermosa, but the city has been gradually making it easier for businesses to host live music, such as introducing limited live entertainment permits earlier this year. And Community Resources Director Kelly Orta said that staff was looking at ways to reduce permit fees even before the Java Man event came together.
“We have this incredible music history, why not live it?” Malovani said.