Litchfield, OH around Noon . Came down here to Dark Star roastery with Jack Jackson to look at the goods. It's small, one 12 Lb roaster. Just Leslie, Danny & the two of us. Lots of paraphernalia. Grinders, tea pots, buckets, espresso machines. I'm describing to them Snow White Donuts, how good they are. Best glazed I've ever had, how nobody serves donuts. It's so simple, and people love them! Danny is pretty into it. Danny & Theo went out to Frisco late last year and did lots of shop scouting too.
Jack Jackson and I are left alone in shop while Leslie and Danny go to the bank. Jack thinks I should call the tape "Swallowed Whole". Angsty and sexual a bit. I guess that's okay. He had a point, the more you think about the title, the more pretentious it is going to sound. That could make sense. Now just to finish naming groups involved. Maybe just stick with "Idea" and the "modern", even though I hate the name, I used to think it was so "it".
Now Leslie is being interviewed by a journalist named Ashton. His history, etc. really anything. Ashton writes in a notebook. No tape recorder. A Moleskin, maybe a Leuchturm, not sure. That style college ruled lines, he writes fast and covers multiple lines thick. Train of thought style you'd say. He looks over at me. I wonder if he's nervous. Writing at the same time. I wonder if I'm pissing off Leslie. Not a good idea I suppose. Ashton switches hands. Maybe he's ambidextrous. Maybe he's worried I'm copying his notes. Oh Shit! Sounds like Leslie's wife is a black belt. Is that journalism sense of humour? "She's kind of a badass is what you're saying."
Jack Jackson busies himself packing 112 g sample bags of coffee. I enjoyed our ride down here. We had to stop at Bellini's in North Royalton to get some supplies. Filters, green coffee beans decaf. We got to take a little tour of their warehouse by chance, this guy, maybe the owner, named Steve. It took two people to bring john his can of purel caf and coffee bags. It made me feel a bit like I was in the Twilight Zone. Like, David Lynch's own coffee warehouse. I mean, besides the fact that I'm sure he does in fact have one. One of these messengers looks like a high school intern and the other looks somewhat handicap. In fact, is handicap. Funny two fairly light-weight items took two people to deliver. The one lady had a cane for heavens sake. She looked a bit like a really old Shelly Duvall. Lynchian again! As we walk through the warehouse past the towers of Monin syrups and instant smoothie mixes in and out of the rainforest of white boxes and industrial metal shelving, in and out with wheelie carts zoom very unhappy looking middle aged men that don't look like they get enough sunlight. Receding hairlines, tight sweatshirts, high - water pants. We're almost startling them it seems. Unfamiliar faces. Walking through. They are with backs hunched, stuffing bags with smelly coffee. The whole place reeks of chocolate covered cherry flavoring. Like Frankenstein's castle it seems by the time we get to the roasters, so tall some of them have custom built 4x4 staircases. We disrupt their world of sugary air waves, mug shot faces. Like the ones we see in the mail, and cubicle corners. Not to mention the coffee bean paintings that look like they belong in star wars. Exploding beans in space, a pile of eggs with one hatching a batch of roasted beans.
Jack makes a vacuum press for Ashton as they all have a laugh fest about Jack's ancestor explorer, some heavy Norwegian name. Maddy sends me a picture of some super thick americano from "Olympia Coffee Roastery". Ashton used to work at Thoughtstream. Danny knows his voice. "I love you", she says, non chalantly calls her short and cute as he refers to meeting Jack at Loco, Coffee shop in Playhouse Square. Tall Blonde guy instead of short cute girl. Laugh Laugh you know... I feel like a reporter writing on the inside of someone else's interview. Jerk yeah?
Now we're getting into talk of ESOP plans, employee ownership plans, to print or not to print. It's actually kind of awkward, busting in on this shining moment of print acknowledgment for them, saying as how I am not "a partner". Jack sends "write more of anything" as if he revels in this strange strange moment. But I see the magical proud looks on everybody's face and I get a little jealous in my lonely place. Did you know that coffee, more than wine, more than vanilla, is the most complex food in regards to the number of chemicals involved in the taste? About 700 chemicals.
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