“I’m the general facilitator, if you will,” Wendell Rheinheimer explained with a chuckle as he tended bar at The Root Cellar in Greenfield last Tuesday, taking time between customers to field some questions.
Rheinheimer and partner Shana Totino co-own the new bar and music venue; their glossy full-color flier describes the atmosphere as “Sweaty dance party one night, mellow acoustic set the next.”
The Root Cellar has been open for business since July 14, but its grand opening celebration begins tonight, Thursday, Sept. 22, with Chilean singer/songwriter/guitarist Nano Stern and his trio at 9 p.m.
It’s the first of three festive evenings, to be followed by a “Valley Night” showcase — featuring The Addis Revolution, The HeadBand, Tawdry, the Hillary Chase Acoustic Duo and headlining act The Medicinal Purpose — Friday at 5 p.m.
The Root Cellar’s grand opening ends on a high note with a performance by Northampton’s popular reggae/hip-hop/soul band The Alchemystics Saturday at 9 p.m.
A friend and I paid our first visit to The Root Cellar last Tuesday. A chalkboard sign outside the basement venue (situated below the Mesa Verde restaurant) announced it was the weekly open mic night.
We arrived on the early side, with good-naturedly antsy musicians milling around, getting drinks, getting prepared. The venue’s capacity is 100, but on this quiet weeknight there were about 12 people relaxing at the tables and bar, the sound system playing James Brown, Grateful Dead, Elvis Presley and ska at just the right volume.
As we perused the drink menu — organic Strawberry Rhubarb Sour? that sounds good! — two women who’d just eaten at the restaurant upstairs came down looking for something sweet for dessert. The Root Cellar doesn’t offer that yet, but they liked the vibe and the drink options so much that they ordered something and kicked back in a booth for the music to begin.
A lit-up disco ball threw spangles all over the black-and-white checkerboard dance floor while the night’s first act took its place onstage, a trio featuring harmony vocals over a strummed acoustic 12-string and a heartbeat of bongos. As their original grooves filled the air, I chatted with Rheinheimer at the bar.
He’s had some experience with crowds and bands while producing his annual one-day Barn Bash festival at his farm in Charlemont. “But that was one day. It’s different when it’s five nights a week,” he said.
Rheinheimer told me he’s at The Root Cellar for 95 percent of its business hours, and that the two months between the opening and the grand opening have been a great “dialing-in” period, allowing him to learn “how to get bodies in the room, how to make their experience pleasant, seeing what we can change the menu to, based on what people like … learning how to make it a successful business. And I need to be here on the ground to successfully do that.”
Rheinheimer and Totino’s dedication is evident throughout. They hired Orange-based Simon Says Booking and Publicity to get musicians into the venue and word out into the world. They revamped the whole space, going for “a colorful and warm atmosphere” with black-and-white tiles on the bar and the roomy dance floor, plus rustic accents elsewhere (antique wheels and a mandolin are displayed on the log cabin-esque wall behind the bar).
They also have a new sound system, a patio where patrons can take along their beverages to smoke and chat, and drinks that feature local seasonal ingredients, like their herbal-infused liquors (with such names as Fire On the Mountain and Sunshine Daydream), prominently featured in large jars at the bar.
Rheinheimer also owns a screenprinting business (Moonlight Designs, situated on the upper floor of the same building) and his artistic vision shows up in The Root Cellar’s memorable business logo (an astronaut with an acoustic guitar serenading a viney flower) and on various fliers.
Rheinheimer is originally from Concord, New Hampshire, but he’s lived in Charlemont for five years (and Northampton for 12 before that). When the Greenfield building’s basement area opened up, he checked it out, immediately seeing its potential as a live-music space. He’s excited to make The Root Cellar another attraction in the ever-growing city.
“There have been really cool improvements made to the town in the last five years since I’ve been here, and I’d like to think I’m part of that,” he said.
The trio playing onstage while we spoke was led by Burrie Jenkins, who’s had plenty of first-hand experiences with venues and open mics: he hosts his own highly popular event down at Sam’s Pizza in Northampton every Friday.
Vocalist/guitarist Jenkins was joined by the bearded Bob Conga, seated like a guru at his namesake instrument, eyes down in concentration while he patted around the taut drum skins, along with Sulis Sunrise Sophia on harmonies, who eyed lyrics on a music stand and waved happily to latecomers taking seats while she sang a chorus.
Jenkins had a skillful guitar style; from afar it looked like basic strumming, yet his deft left hand somehow made it sound like two guitarists playing at once.
The room was mellow, so the trio was allowed a longer set than the typical open mic rule of three songs. At one point, unsure of how much time they had left, Jenkins made a casual aside to the roaming sound man. “Just throw a stick or a rock at us when we’re done,” he said.
“Or money!” one of the women from the back booth added helpfully.
“Money would be good!” Jenkins agreed.
They ended up playing for at least a half-hour. When they finally got the nod to stop, Jenkins got close to the microphone and whispered gleefully, “This place is awesome.”
“We love it here,” Sulis added.
The women sitting behind me had made up their minds, too. “Nice place!” they agreed.
Ken Maiuri can be reached at clublandcolumn@gmail.com
For more information and tickets for The Root Cellar’s grand opening (including a pass for all three shows at a discount rate), visit rootcellarbar.com.