Everybody’s business

Not-so-cool beans
Chico music-lovers are mourning the closure of The Bean Scene, the coffeehouse and gallery located at 1387 East Eighth St.

No longer will the Bpopular venue catch touring musicians ranging from jam-rockers to jazz experimenters.

“Basically, the place cost quite a bit of money to run,” explained a distraught Azariah Reynolds of Bobolink Music, the music production company that bought into the coffee shop last May. “[The Bean Scene] was going to be closing on May 15,” he said, at which time he and business partner Larry Lemm added being café owners to the already challenging work of music promotion.

“The bottom line is, when you’re not charging much [at the door], it’s a long way from bringing in enough money.”

The Bean Scene may be out (Reynolds guessed that the business would be either sold or closed and the space rented out), but Reynolds was quick to assure that he and his music partners are not going away. “Bobolink music has always existed. We definitely plan on doing more concerts down the road.”

Those CDs had better be good
Butte County’s public libraries are still awaiting a shipment of 2,154 free compact discs—the result of a settlement state governments brokered with music companies after the settlement of a class action lawsuit on behalf of customers who accused them of price-fixing.

For the past couple of months, stories have been coming in from the East saying that libraries are getting the CDs, all right, but a lot of them are pretty crappy.

Some libraries have been sent multiple copies of the same CD—like 300 copies of monks’ Gregorian chants, 600 copies of Whitney Houston singing “The Star-Spangled Banner” and 48 copies of Spooky Scary Sounds by Martha Stewart (pictured). Some libraries are trying to sell the bottom-barrel stuff to make money.

Nancy Brower, director of libraries for Butte County, said she doesn’t expect to get chart-toppers but she does hope they’ll be desirable, with few duplicates.

A-1 goes electronic
Our bath/shower went kaput last week, and since we know absolutely nothing about how to fix such things, we went to A-1 Plumbing on 20th Street. It took a couple of trips to find it open, and soon we found out why: The longtime Chico shop has limited counter service leading up to its plans to go Internet-only in December.

Of course, the folks there nicely and patiently explained exactly how to fix our problem (busted diversion cartridge thingie), and now the shower and bath are flowing like a blissful river. We’ll miss A-1’s help and hope the online version does well.

Check A-1 out at www.plumbingsupply.com.

I’m outtie
Well, this is my last column before going out on disability/maternity leave. I’ve learned quite a few things being pregnant, the most business-related being that some stores that say they don’t have public restrooms can be persuaded to change their minds if you look pregnant and pitiful enough.

Taking over for a few months will be Mark Lore, a talented young journalist upon whom you should shower copious amounts of business tips. Then, when I’m back and insecure from having been out of the loop, turn the tip shower back on me.

Cheers.