From Berklee, a music cafe for young talent
You might see a local hip-hop head, or maybe a fan of the Grateful Dead. You might see a dorm mate or meet here with a weekend date. And you could very well see Marjorie O'Malley eating lunch.
"The food is so good," said O'Malley, assistant vice president for institutional advancement at the Berklee College of Music, in between mouthfuls of roasted veggie panini. "And you never know what kind of music you're going to hear."
Cafe 939 is Berklee's new student-run performance spot and coffeehouse, at 939 Boylston St., adjacent to the Cactus Club. The cafe will showcase Berklee's burgeoning student talent, local artists, and touring acts seeking a small, sleek place to perform.
Memorabilia from famous jazz musicians such as Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie, and Nat King Cole line the wall in one enclave of the jewel-toned cafe. In the hallway leading to the room, a placard explains the significance of a pattern covering the tabletops and floor mats in the building. (Apparently, an experiment in the 1780s involving sand, metal, and a violin bow produced oblique, symmetrical patterns that spawned a method for designing guitars and other instruments.)
The cafe, which has wireless Internet access and Ethernet outlets, began serving food in early December. The first show, on Valentine's Day, kicked off an ongoing lunchtime concert series, which is free and features student performers and Berklee staff on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 1 p.m. Evening performances are slated to start in early April.
In the summer, Berklee plans to offer a weekly jazz brunch.
Catering to the under-21 crowd, Cafe 939 will not serve alcohol. Nightlife options for the younger set were curbed by a citywide ordinance passed in January 2007, which resulted in Lansdowne Street clubs adopting a strict 21-plus admission policy.
