One year of coffee and jazz

Nonprofit Rohs Street Café celebrates anniversary with local sounds

KARI WETHINGTON | CIN WEEKLY

Misty Boyce on keyboard, Dylan Charles on guitar, Ariel de la Potilla on bass and Dan Dorff on drums play jazz music at the Rohs Street Café. (Photo by David Sorcher/CiN Weekly Contributor)

JUST THE FACTS

WHAT: Rohs Street Café, live music venue and coffee shop

WHEN: Open 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday-Friday and 8 p.m. to 1 a.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

WHERE: 245 W. McMillan St., Clifton Heights (entrance on Rohs Street, first floor of the Clifton Christian Church)

PARKING: Street parking is available along Rohs Street or other side streets off McMillan.

CONTACT: (513) 328-ROHS (7647) or www.rohsstreetcafe.com

ETC.: Rohs Street Café features 100 percent fair-trade and organic coffees, teas and chocolate.

UPCOMING EVENTS

EVERY THURSDAY: Jazz and Spoken Word, 8 p.m., $2

FRIDAY, APRIL 16: Brooke Trisler, 9 p.m., $2

SATURDAY, APRIL 17: Chicks Rock At Rohs, 9 p.m., $2

FRIDAY, APRIL 23: Dorff Jazz Quartet, 9 p.m., $2

SATURDAY, APRIL 24: Michael John Mollo, 9 p.m., $1

FRIDAY, APRIL 30: Dividing The Plunder, 9 p.m., $2

Rohs Street Café is the newest of Clifton's many artistically-infused coffee hangouts, but managers claim they are not in the business of competition. The nonprofit café is operated by volunteers working to better the Clifton Heights community - artistically, socially and politically.

Starting small by offering a menu of quality, free-trade coffee and snacks, the café has perhaps been most successful with its live music offerings - it's now one of the best places in the university area to see local performers.

Coffeehouse manager Les Stoneham and booking manager Matthew "Matto" Orewiler recently put together a one-year anniversary celebration to thank loyal customers and welcome new ones.

CREATIVE ALTRUISM

Born out of creativity and goodwill, the nonprofit coffeehouse idea came from a handful of locals in response to what they saw as a dearth of social action in the Clifton Heights area.

"There's a lot of different ethnicities, cultural backgrounds, classes and perspectives (in the neighborhood)," Stoneham, 23, says. "So we wanted to make a place that would be open for people to come and share their views and art and selves in a relaxing, non-confrontational kind of environment."

In 2001, Stoneham and a group of friends worked on a plan for a nonprofit coffeehouse and a space in the University Christian Church was suggested. The church was supportive and with a capital campaign underway, Stoneham and cohorts began building the business plan for the coffeehouse.

With renovations completed in March 2003, the coffeehouse officially opened for the first weekend of April 2003 with live music and lots of coffee. Despite a lack of advertising, 100 people came to the first show, Stoneham says.

COMMUNITY GIVING

While the café uses church space and is technically under the same nonprofit status as the church, Stoneham, Orewiler and company operate autonomously from the church as far as programming and revenue decisions are concerned.

"Money generated by the café is used for the café and goes directly back to the community," Stoneham says, explaining that the church trusts him to make those decisions.

The café is finally breaking even financially and will soon be expanding its hours to further increase revenue - money that will be given to local charities.

"We'll evaluate what needs are out there, what places need money, or needs out there that no one's doing anything about," Stoneham says, giving the example of the power of art and music to break barriers and bring communities together.

FOR THE LOVE OF MUSIC

The café's altruistic aims go beyond community service - the space fills every weekend with locals coming out to see live music. "We cater to promoting the local artist and are not here to make any money off the artist," Orewiler says. All of a night's door money goes straight to the performers. The café has a diverse lineup, with performers including Greg Mahan, Moonlight Graham, Emily Strand, Ashley Peacock and many others.

Orewiler, 28, a Mariemont pharmacist by day, takes his booking responsibilities for Rohs Street seriously.

"I think that everybody enjoys music, no matter who they are, what background they come from, what their life experiences are, what their life stories are - music is a common thread," he says. "And when you have a community as diverse as Clifton - politically, racially - music becomes a common thread. It pretty much helps form the unity we're striving for."

While people stopping in Rohs Street for the first time will inevitably enjoy the welcoming ambiance and friendly volunteers, it may be the café's artistic activities that keep people coming back for more. "When people come in for their morning coffee they see that this is a place they can hang out, that there's something to do on the weekends here, too," Orewiler says.