Art, Music, magic
Mixed media mosaic upright bass created for Consumer Music located in Vallejo California. This bass was created to help promote the new location of Consumer Music and make it even more beautiful. It can be viewed during normal store hours. The bass stands 6 feet tall.
Old instruments become art at new Consumer Music
Written by Richard Freedman
Vallejo Times-Herald
No, Brad Sears didn’t get his jaw wired into a permanent smile. It just looks like it. After 26 years of stepping over gear and, admittedly, qualifying for a 12-step program for hoarders, Sears was like a kid strolling through Willie Wonka’s Chocolate Factory with the opening of the new, improved Consumer Music. “It’s a blessing. It really is,” said Sears, happily hosting a “Thank You” party Thursday night and Grand Opening on Friday night at 1017 Tennessee St.
The 6,400-square foot location is a mere block from the former Consumer Music 927 Tennessee St., or, as Sears said smiling, “140 steps.”
When Sears couldn’t purchase the former site, he walked up the street and perused what was the former Youth and Family Services. “Shabby,” is how he described the interior. Yet, he and Keller saw the potential. “It’s what I envisioned and more,” Keller said. Six lesson rooms that are next to each and not “spread all over, with parents having to step over equipment” at the old store, Sears said. A state-of-the-art recording studio. And two massage chairs for parents waiting for their young student to finish a lesson. “It’s a nice, spacious, comfortable environment,” Sears said. “The community now has a stellar place to call their own. It’s relaxing.”
Sure, Sears agreed, there were frustrating moments. A Sept. 30 target date came and went “because I really wanted it to be ready,” he said. Switching phone lines over was one nightmare. Yet, slowly, “you start seeing it come together,” Sears, 52, said. “How a nasty floor became a beautiful floor. It’s really overwhelming to see it all come together. It wasn’t just me. It was an incredible team.” Sears, ably assisted by manager Shaana Keller, managed to turn a challenge of a 20-foot ceiling into a possible tourist destination thanks to the talent of 15 Vallejo artists.
Instead of an echo chamber, the entry of the shop features various instruments that have been resurrected into artistic endeavors, painted, tiled, feathered and hung from the ceiling. Aleta Gorie, paying homage to her mother’s favorite song, Stevie Wonder’s “Ribbon in the Sky,” turned material in a cloud around some of the instruments. “Phenomenal,” she said, looking around. “It feels like Shangri-la. It’s a peaceful place that inspires.” The art-on-instruments “says something about the energy of the store,” added artist Kerry Hargraves, who painted butterflies on a saxophone and decorated a ukulele with shells. “I love working with unusual shapes and objects and hate to repeat myself and it’s hard to repeat yourself on a project like this,” Hargraves said. Darcie O’Brien got her paws on a few drums and guitar and praised the efforts of her fellow artists and Sears and Keller for offering a blank canvas. “I like the idea of art and music. They go hand-in-hand,” O’Brien said. Sherry Tobin handled perhaps the heaviest of challenges — doing her trademark mosaic on the front of an upright bass. It took a week and a full-time effort, but was worth it, she said. “It was a lot of fun and nice for all the artists who came together to do this,” Tobin said.
Other artists included: Verlannia Manchester; Lorraine Curtis Eleccion; Richard Bryan; Lorri Marie Jenkins; Cheryl Mitchell; Sal Garcia; Eric Carlstrom; Melanie Ellis; and Michael Ainsworth. It was an idea from both Keller and Sears. The owner had aging instruments “sitting around waiting for a rainy day” and Keller put the call to artists on Facebook.
“What an incredible statement of community,” said Sears, particularly fond of the artwork of a Phoenix by Justin Pryor.
It reminds Sears of Consumer Music’s start in a Concord strip mall 32 years ago that burned to the ground “and rose from the ashes” into the successful Vallejo venture. And 26 years later, Sears has become reenergized with room to breathe.
“Where else can you go to work and have an incredible art exhibit,” he said.
Written by Richard Freedman
Vallejo Times-Herald
No, Brad Sears didn’t get his jaw wired into a permanent smile. It just looks like it. After 26 years of stepping over gear and, admittedly, qualifying for a 12-step program for hoarders, Sears was like a kid strolling through Willie Wonka’s Chocolate Factory with the opening of the new, improved Consumer Music. “It’s a blessing. It really is,” said Sears, happily hosting a “Thank You” party Thursday night and Grand Opening on Friday night at 1017 Tennessee St.
The 6,400-square foot location is a mere block from the former Consumer Music 927 Tennessee St., or, as Sears said smiling, “140 steps.”
When Sears couldn’t purchase the former site, he walked up the street and perused what was the former Youth and Family Services. “Shabby,” is how he described the interior. Yet, he and Keller saw the potential. “It’s what I envisioned and more,” Keller said. Six lesson rooms that are next to each and not “spread all over, with parents having to step over equipment” at the old store, Sears said. A state-of-the-art recording studio. And two massage chairs for parents waiting for their young student to finish a lesson. “It’s a nice, spacious, comfortable environment,” Sears said. “The community now has a stellar place to call their own. It’s relaxing.”
Sure, Sears agreed, there were frustrating moments. A Sept. 30 target date came and went “because I really wanted it to be ready,” he said. Switching phone lines over was one nightmare. Yet, slowly, “you start seeing it come together,” Sears, 52, said. “How a nasty floor became a beautiful floor. It’s really overwhelming to see it all come together. It wasn’t just me. It was an incredible team.” Sears, ably assisted by manager Shaana Keller, managed to turn a challenge of a 20-foot ceiling into a possible tourist destination thanks to the talent of 15 Vallejo artists.
Instead of an echo chamber, the entry of the shop features various instruments that have been resurrected into artistic endeavors, painted, tiled, feathered and hung from the ceiling. Aleta Gorie, paying homage to her mother’s favorite song, Stevie Wonder’s “Ribbon in the Sky,” turned material in a cloud around some of the instruments. “Phenomenal,” she said, looking around. “It feels like Shangri-la. It’s a peaceful place that inspires.” The art-on-instruments “says something about the energy of the store,” added artist Kerry Hargraves, who painted butterflies on a saxophone and decorated a ukulele with shells. “I love working with unusual shapes and objects and hate to repeat myself and it’s hard to repeat yourself on a project like this,” Hargraves said. Darcie O’Brien got her paws on a few drums and guitar and praised the efforts of her fellow artists and Sears and Keller for offering a blank canvas. “I like the idea of art and music. They go hand-in-hand,” O’Brien said. Sherry Tobin handled perhaps the heaviest of challenges — doing her trademark mosaic on the front of an upright bass. It took a week and a full-time effort, but was worth it, she said. “It was a lot of fun and nice for all the artists who came together to do this,” Tobin said.
Other artists included: Verlannia Manchester; Lorraine Curtis Eleccion; Richard Bryan; Lorri Marie Jenkins; Cheryl Mitchell; Sal Garcia; Eric Carlstrom; Melanie Ellis; and Michael Ainsworth. It was an idea from both Keller and Sears. The owner had aging instruments “sitting around waiting for a rainy day” and Keller put the call to artists on Facebook.
“What an incredible statement of community,” said Sears, particularly fond of the artwork of a Phoenix by Justin Pryor.
It reminds Sears of Consumer Music’s start in a Concord strip mall 32 years ago that burned to the ground “and rose from the ashes” into the successful Vallejo venture. And 26 years later, Sears has become reenergized with room to breathe.
“Where else can you go to work and have an incredible art exhibit,” he said.