The only things that move quickly in the world of acoustic music are fingers over strings.
When the folks behind the reincarnation of Charlottesville’s beloved Prism Coffeehouse announced they were raising money for a comeback last November, no one thought it would be nearly a year before the first show hit the stage.
“We had hoped to get started a little earlier in the year,” admitted Peter Jones, the WTJU folk director who’s been involved with the Prism since nearly the beginning. Jones said the Prism’s crowdsourcing campaign was successful; what slowed the team down was missing out on a few grants they’d hoped to get.
Now, with enough money in hand for an initial show, slated for October 25 at The Haven, and more dough trickling in, the only question is whether the revived Prism will be worth the wait.
Jones certainly thinks so. He said that since the Prism shut down in 2006, world-class acoustic musicians have been bypassing Charlottesville in favor of larger nearby markets like Richmond and Northern Virginia. The talent, he’s convinced, is ripe for the booking.
“There is still a great need for acoustic traditional music and world music [acts] that don’t have that place to play here,” he said.
There are some who doubt the Prism’s ability to regain its rightful place in the acoustic music scene—it may not have the instruments to hit all the right notes. For one, C’ville has grown as a music town in the last decade, and new venues now dot the streetscape. For another, Prism is now without two of its key components: Fred Boyce, the artistic director who’s credited with pushing the coffeehouse to national prominence, and the physical space at the corner of Gordon Avenue and Rugby Road that was once the concert series’ permanent home.
Originally launched in 1966, the Prism gave intimate audiences of about 100 a chance to see acts like Emmylou Harris, Doc Watson, Bela Fleck, Gillian Welch, and David Rawlings. Boyce joined the outfit in 1990 and booked musicians for the venue for the next 15 years, before what has been described as a “public feud” broke the team up and bottomed out the venture. Boyce has since become difficult to find, other than a bizarre alligator-wrestling Internet phenomenon and a saucy Facebook presence.
“Some people in Charlottesville are attempting to ‘Bring Back the Prism,’” he wrote on his Facebook page last November. “I wish them luck. The Prism was a lot more than just a room full of chairs—in some ways it really became my instrument…In other ways, it was more like something I was married to. How would you like the idea of some people trying to bring your dead wife back to life?”
The loss of Boyce is a double-edged bow. Some seem content to move on without his strong personality in the mix, but the top-level acts he played such an important part in bringing in will be difficult to replace. Jones said that caliber of musician will eventually be back at the Prism, but the opening show is intended to celebrate local acoustic music. To wit, the lineup will include Take Two, the Michael Clem Trio, and the Buzzard Hollow Boys.
Up-and-coming Take Two is composed of the offspring of members of old-time string band Mando Mafia: Ben Perdue (mandolin), Scott and Ian Friend (mandolin and guitar), Ryan Grant (upright bass), Sam Stallings (banjo), and Colby Pegg-Joplin (fiddle). Michael Clem of Eddie From Ohio, Thomas Gunn, and Rusty Speidel make up the front man’s trio, and Tim Anderson (lead vocals and rhythm guitar), Sonny Layne (upright and electric bass), Jeff Saine (lap steel and accordion), and Kurt Dressel (guitar) comprise the folk country blues sound of the Buzzard Hollow Boys.
“It should be a good, varied night,” Anderson said. “I’m hoping they can get a good number of people in there.”
The one drawback Anderson hinted at is the lack of a permanent home for the Prism. It’s that old Rugby Road location that he remembers first when reminiscing about the coffeehouse—not only seeing world-class musicians in that “intimate space,” but getting together with like-minded musicians for impromptu jam sessions.
“It was a great place for folk music,” Anderson said. “There was one fella who worked there, and he would help us get in there in the afternoons and use it.”
Plans for the future of the concert series are nebulous but hopeful. The Haven has stepped up to provide something like the Prism’s signature cathedral-of-music-type setting for the first event, and Jones said several other venues have expressed interest in hosting shows. There’s even a chance the old location may become available soon.
Jones said he hopes to be able to announce the details for the second Prism installment on opening night. The bill will “continue to highlight the local acts and also look at some of the national touring acts,” he said.
Whatever the lineup, Prism’s new booking agent, Chris Munson, said the idea is to start fresh.
“This is the reincarnation, the Phoenix rising from the ashes,” Munson said. “We’re still looking for help, financial support, and volunteers. We are just beginning here.”
Will the Prism Coffeehouse regain its former popularity?