Pie and Coffee 
Coffee
Bruce and I went to a show at The Q, 362 Chandler St in Worcester. The time has come to talk about it.
Bruce: . . . I already was elected.
Pie and Coffee: Elected to what?
B: Elected to make a difference in the world and in people’s lives. And I’ve already succeeded.
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It’s time for our annual conversation from and about the Mid-Ohio Valley. This year, Mark and Sarah talk about the Aeropress coffee maker, the Golden Girls, Yakov Smirnoff, “Black Pete,” and “Bubble.”
But not Barry Switzer.
Pie and Coffee: Are we going to talk about coffee first, or Barry Switzer first?
Mark: Whatever you want. I don’t care.
P: I’m drinking this cup of coffee. This is not the greatest cup of coffee I’ve ever had.
M: Yeah, it’s okay coffee, but it’s not–
Sarah: I’d say it’s solid.
M: I’d say it’s fine. I mean, that’s the thing, it’s perfectly acceptable.
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This week, we talk about the downtown Honey Dew Donuts, and the end of Java Hut.
Bruce: I’m Bruce Russell, aka The Snow Ghost, and we’re doing a coffee interview about the new Honey Dew Donuts, formerly a Dunkin Donuts. And my experience was that it’s not like the other Honey Dew Donuts. It’s a small place as opposed to the other ones I’ve gone to. This one wasn’t as busy.
Pie and Coffee: Well, we went there on a Saturday morning. I have to say, I thought it was a pretty comparable experience to Dunkin Donuts, except that I got a positive vibe from the staff.
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This week Bruce and I grabbed some free coffee at the Artichoke food co-op, 800 Main Street, Worcester, MA.
PIEANDCOFFEE: It’s time for the hammer of judgement to smite the co-op.
BRUCE: This episode . . . gonna introduce this episode, it’s called Pie and Coffee. And we’re here to interview about the Artichoke and the experience that went on there yesterday.
PIE: So they had free coffee yesterday.
BRUCE: They did.
PIE: They usually don’t have pre-made coffee. I think they just have the beans.
What did you think of the coffee?
BRUCE: It was very good, but it was very strong.
PIE: You don’t like it so strong?
BRUCE: I love it strong.
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Are you able to help the South Bend Catholic Worker with a donation?
They need the following items:
I think they could also use a copy of the Joy of Cooking.
You can bring donations to their drop-in center, “Our Lady of the Road,” 744 South Main Street in South Bend, Indiana, Friday and Saturday mornings. If you’d like to volunteer at Our Lady of the Road, please stop by and say hello.
Your generous donation will keep Al fully caffeinated.
Bruce and I talked to Brenna Cussen about South Bend’s Chicory Cafe for the Snow Ghost Community Podcast. You can listen to the complete podcast, or just read this transcription of the interview.
Pie and Coffee: On our last Community Show, we were complaining that it’s hard to get Fair Trade coffee at a coffee shop in Worcester. In South Bend, though, it’s gotten a lot easier.
Brenna, how’s it going?
Brenna Cussen: Great, thanks. How are you, Mike?
P: Pretty good. Thanks for sitting through all this nonsense so that you could be on the show.
Brenna: I’m happy, I’m very flattered that I got invited to be on the Bruce Russell show . . . Snow Ghost show.
Bruce: If we’re going to do this, let’s get things right!
P: So Brenna, I wanted to ask you about the Chicory Cafe in downtown South Bend.
Brenna: Sure.
P: They have Fair Trade coffee!
Brenna: They do! They made the transition slowly. Well, they had both options of Fair Trade and non-Fair Trade. And the Fair Trade was a little bit more expensive. I’d say maybe 15 cents more a cup. But just the other day, they made the complete switchover. And now they only serve Fair Trade coffee.
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Bruce recently held a record release party for the new Snow Ghost album at the Pizza Hut in Worcester’s Webster Square. There was no beer, but people drank a fair amount of coffee.
In this interview, we also complain about the local press and discuss mastery.
This week we discuss coffee with caffeine-powered bicyclist Gray Harrison and Catholic Worker Claire Schaeffer-Duffy, as part of the Snow Ghost Community Show.
Pie and Coffee: Courtyard Cafe. We’ve been talking about going there for a long, long time.
Bruce: And we finally did it.
P: And you feel a sense of accomplishment?
B: Oh yeah. The first thing I noticed when I walked in there, the funny thing about it is like, and this goes back way before, it’s like every time I used to do errands for Joe, Elwood Adams and stuff like that—
P: —back when you used to run errands at Java Joe’s?
B: Yeah. And I would go by there or, it goes back even farther than that. I have to back up a little bit. I used to go to Al Bum’s a lot, up on Highland Street, and I used to go by that coffee place a lot, the Courtyard. And I never found an apparition to go in there until . . . .
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The cover story of this week’s InCity Times is a hagiography of WCCA’s Mauro DePasquale, a guy who deserves all the praise he can get. I’m a WCCA volunteer, and Bruce is an intern, so this week’s review is of the WCCA office coffee.
Pie and Coffee: Did you take a look at the article? What did you think?
Bruce: Definitely him. One small problem—I’m not in any of the photos.
P: Maybe we should put a photo of you at WCCA in this article.
I love the introduction (written by Rosalie Tirella):
We’ll say it loud and we’ll say it proud: We love WCCA TV 13 and its Executive Director Mauro DePasquale! From the political shows to the kids news programs, from the exotic and highly capable Zara Dedi at the front desk to no-nonsense community leader turned TV producer Judy Langlois. From the esoteric to the mundane. From the political to the spiritual, TV-13 rocks! Located in the heart of downtown at 415 Main St., in an old bank practically a stone’s throw from City Hall—
[Patrick, a member of the WCCA youth program, walks into the room, takes the paper, looks at the photos, and comments—]
Patrick: Everyone’s there except me.
P: Patrick, why is everyone concerned about their photo being in here?
WCCA practices its own brand of politics: a refreshingly inclusive and progressive kind we’d like to see more of in ‘ol City Hall.
WCCA’s community producers and guests are black, white and brown. They’re old, young and middle-aged. They’re political insiders like City Manager Mike O’Brien; they’re political ousiders (like me!). They’re conservative and liberal; religious and questioning. To tune in to TV 13 is to feast at some funky urban banquet. DePasquale likes to call his station “the electronic park.”
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