Happy Seventh Birthday Ear Coffee! Come Celebrate at the Cedar
Review by: Emily D. Schmidt, Writer @emwritesaboutmusic
Edited by: Andrew Perrizo, Owner/Editor @PlaylistTC
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Ear Coffee turns seven this year! To celebrate their birthday and to raise money for two housing-focused community aid groups, Joe and Aly are throwing a kick-ass show at the Cedar Cultural Center Friday, September 6 at 8 p.m. Four local artists will perform, including bugsy (who recently opened for the Red Hot Chili Peppers) and Kate Malanaphy of Keep for Cheap. Tickets are $18 in advance or $23 at the door.
Ear Coffee
Started by two college friends who met in the symphonic band, Aly and Joe created Ear Coffee because they shared a passion for DIY music and multimedia content. Since it started in 2017, the project has taken many forms, including a blog, a newsletter, a podcast, and a live show. This birthday celebration is the fourth of its kind, the second of which has featured a benefit.
The Beneficiaries
Happy with the turnout from last year’s show, Joe and Aly decided to continue adding a benefit aspect to their birthday show in the spirit of keeping community aid flowing.
“We wanted to keep that going, to move things beyond ourselves and let our work have some sort of tangible benefit, even if it’s just raising money for artists who are taking the time to perform,” Aly said.
This year, Ear Coffee will give 50% of the show’s proceeds to the performing artists, and the other 50% to the Autonomous Yurt Union (AYU) and Gertrude Brown Community Land Trust (GBCLT). These organizations are dedicated to providing direct support to our unhoused neighbors in the Twin Cities.
“A big part of the DIY scene is mutual aid and community support for each other, and the only reason this can work is because we’re all working as a group,” Joe said. “We’re lucky enough that we have the ability to put something like this together, and why not have it support some people who need it. Given the discussion around the current state of our failing imperialist politics in the United States, community aid and mutual support is going to be very important in the near future, so building those in-roads through our avenue is something that’s really important to us.”
The Artists
Three bands - bugsy, Malamiko, Melanerpes - and a solo act - Kate Malanaphy - will perform at the Cedar, all of which Ear Coffee has collaborated with in some form. Joe and Aly could not emphasize enough how excited they are for these artists to perform.
“This year, bugsy put out their first new music in forever, and those are some of my dearest friends. They’ve always been a favorite of ours,” Aly said. “Kate Malanaphy as well. Keep for Cheap is huge, and Kate’s solo stuff: they’re just one of my all-time favorite songwriters, local or otherwise. The record they put out last year was so huge to me.”
While all the artists are of similar genres (to provide a cohesive show that you’ll want to attend from start to finish), they have varied experience in the Twin Cities scene. Malamiko and Melanerpes haven’t been around long, but they've already created some great music.
“We’re trying to have a mix of slightly more established artists who have been on our minds for a while, as well as newer bands who have only just in the last year or so put out their first project and are blowing us away,” Joe said. “Both of those bands (Malamiko and Melanerpes) have done that and really implemented themselves in their corners of the local scene and local community.”
“Like Joe said, I’m just super excited for bands,” added Aly. “At the end of the day, we just want to put together a bill that would be a rockin’ time to go to on a Friday night.”
You don’t want to miss Ear Coffee’s seventh birthday show! In addition to four great artists performing for two great housing groups, Aly and Joe will also have Ear Coffee merch and a new zine featuring new artist interviews with Aly and photography and collage work from Joe. Their first priority of the show is raising money for the other great people involved, but Joe and Aly also need a new PA system to keep their work going after theirs was damaged due to a leaky basement! If interested, you can support them directly on Patreon.
