Picks 'n' Sticks...Music in Irvington
By: Stan Denski
Photo By: Stan Denski
This story starts in 1979 when Irvington native, Carol Danner, married Bill Shaefer. In the 1980s the gathering place for local musicians was the now-defunct Indiana Music at 54th & Keystone. It was there, from 1981 until 1989, that Bill made his living selling guitars, and spent his free time studying guitar with then-local teacher, John Herington (currently the guitarist in Steeley Dan). Since then Bill has been a figure in the local music scene as a guitarist in bands like American Flyer in the early 1980s, Blue Deville in the mid-1980s, and the legendary Shameless Wanks during the 1990s. Most recently, everyone enjoying a late dinner at Legends this past New Years Eve did so to the sound of Bill’s solo jazz guitar. The original Guitar Town was located at 5614 East Washington, the site now occupied by Legends, and operated there for the better part of the decade, from March of 1990 until March of 1999. Area drummers and percussionists joined the guitar and bass players on this block of East Washington when Evelyn Sosbe opened Sticks & Tones in May of 1992 in the former location of Malibu Trash Records at 5616 East Washington. Specializing in all things percussive (drums, cymbals, sticks, heads, bongos, congas, chimes, claves) as well as reeds, harmonicas, microphones, stands, cables and repairs, Sticks & Tones became known as the other shop on East Washington that didn’t kick out the musicians who mostly like to hang out and touch things. Things progressed this way through the mid-1990s when Evelyn opened a second Sticks & Tones in Shelbyville in December 1996. While the second store was successful, the regular commute between the two locations became tiring and Evelyn sold the Shelbyville store in June of 2001 to devote her attention full time to the Irvington location. After the Family Music Center and Indy’s Music House closed their doors, she added some guitars and basses to her inventory and, after a couple years working at the Pleasant Run Golf Course, Bill Shaefer came to manage the new section and worked for Evelyn for most of 2003. Tower Photography had been an Irvington institution as long as anyone I spoke with could remember. For the final ten years of its operations the photographic studios had occupied the large space at 5632 East Washington. Just as Bill Shaefer was deciding to look for a location to reopen Guitar Town, the 5632 space became available. Roughly twice the size of the old store and twice the size of Sticks & Tones, the idea of two stores in one space was born. Following some lengthy and extensive interior renovations, including the pouring of a new floor, the new stores opened their doors on April 20, 2004. Like many local music stores in the 1970s and 1980s, the original Guitar Town had an emphasis on used and vintage instruments. Today however, as Shaefer explains, “The ever-shrinking number of instruments out there yet to be found, and the internet in particular, have changed the vintage instrument market forever.” But, while those factors were making it impossible to re-enter the vintage guitar market, other new manufacturing technologies were making a different kind of shop possible. When he started looking at what was available, Shaefer found an international market that is producing instruments of higher quality at prices that were unimaginable ten years ago. He explains that “The variety and quality in electric and acoustic instruments available today in the $150-$600 price range is just phenomenal.” The new store includes a private teaching room where three instructors, Bill, Paul Holdman and James Aldrich work with students from the age of 10 and up. “We have kids who just got their first guitar for Christmas, and Ph.D.s in their 50s who finally have some time to get back the skills they picked up in college.” The “two stores in one space” idea has created a place where drummers and percussionists come for everything from full kits to sticks and cow bells, jazz players drop in to buy new reeds, heavy metal kids try out new distortion boxes, a guitar is set aside for a repair and some set up work, while a bass player picks up some strings and a couple folk singers try out some new acoustic guitars in the corner. If they had a wood burning stove in the middle of the floor and a pickle barrel you could be fooled into thinking you’d stepped back into another time (except for the heavy metal kids trying out the distortion boxes of course). There are many things that give a neighborhood its identity; the architectural style of the houses, variety of trees, look of the landscaping, layout of the streets, and so on. An essential element in the creation of a unique identity for any urban neighborhood is the diversity of the many independent shops and businesses that fill the main thoroughfares. Here at the front end of the new century, Irvington is blessed by a noticeable lack of faceless national and regional chain stores, and by a population of residents who seem to recognize the importance of patronizing local independent businesses. |
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