Kevin Joiner at the Main Street Coffee House

So last Saturday, Vince, Anna, and I went to Main Street Coffee House to listen to Kevin Joiner perform. If you've never heard Kevin Joiner or if you've never been to MSCH, then you need to snap to it! Both are fantastic.

Truth be told, I've known Kevin since he had his band Kevin Joiner and the Expedition and he performed a lot at Fiddler's Hearth. But these days, he's been doing a lot of his own thing as Kevin Scott Joiner and floating around between Chicago and the South Bend area. Kevin's music falls in line with some of my favorite styles as an acoustic guitar driven, modern folk/Americana, with some blues-ish roots as well.



Look at this man in his go-to-hell pants and jacket. So stylish! And such a great musician. I love him. He's also been working on a web based series called "A Conversation While." They're video shorts that center around a crime comedy that get to some of the deep philosophical questions in life. The videos are released on YouTube with the intent of having an interactive discussion based on the video topics over at the series' Facebook page.




Main Street Coffee House, the venue that hosted Kevin, is a fairly new addition to South Bend. As per its name, it is right in the heart of DTSB on Main St. across from Chase Bank. I've been here a few times, and I'm really glad that they've opened up! Other coffee shops have had this location and failed, but I think the setup and atmosphere of MSCH will be successful. It's always great to see local endeavors in the city, and I tend to have a bias towards supporting them.




Main St. makes some delicious mochas, let me tell you that! They serve all of your typical coffee shop drink varieties, along with sandwiches, soups, and a decent array of desserts. I feel like MSCH is a great example of a local business making good use of social media because if you follow their Twitter account or their Facebook page, you'll have a great idea of what their specials or food rotations are. It's awesome!



I've always seen a decent handful of people every time I've gone into MSCH, and it is normally either college students or business professionals that frequent the venue. I know I've become a big fan of their leather couch seating area. It's a great place to take your laptop and your work, grab a mocha, and get lost in your studies or proposals. Plus, I feel like the seating arrangements and decor of the location are more inviting and warm than your run-of-the-mill Starbucks.



Kevin did a great job performing, and I think the music he selected suited the venue well. It was definitely a joy to hear some of his new material while catching up with friends and enjoying cheesecake and coffee. MSCH has live music fairly often. You can check out what's on their schedule here. And if you're interested in seeing Kevin Scott Joiner, his Facebook fan page is probably the way to go for seeing his performance dates.

Some more pictures from the evening:

My girl, Anna, excited to check out the cafe for the first time!

Vince and Kevin chatting about music between sets. I think this would be a great "create a caption" photo. So how about it. Write a caption to go with this photo for me!

Kevin performing some of his more recent music.

Vince, becoming in tune with his four-shots-of-espresso mocha. Oh, and see that checkers table cloth? If you visit the cafe with a study buddy, be sure to try and snag that table, because it can be a lot of fun to play a game of giant checkers when you're starting to go cross eyed from studying your exam questions over and over again. Just sayin'.



Me and Anna -- complete opposites! Blonde hair and black hair with just as vastly different personalities too. :-) But we've been friends since we were about 10 years old! Love her!



Also, I can't forget to tell you that if you're a student of one of our fantastic area colleges, be sure to bring your ID card to get 10% off your food and drink at Main Street Coffee House! That's definitely a nice perk. Oh! And want to know another cool fact about this cafe? All of their coffee is roasted in-house. Yeah. Pretty sweet, huh?

So go check them out and support one of our local businesses. And don't forget to scope out Kevin Scott Joiner as well. These are two fantastic elements to South Bend, and you definitely want to be in the know.

Scout!