Just a rest stop on the I-5, or an example for us to follow?
Weed, Calif Attracts Business
Recording Studio Brings Life to Downtown
by thereminman
February 5, 2008
February 5, 2008
Sylvia Massey has a great reputation for recording music. She has recorded
such people as Tool, Johnny Cash, Prince and many more. She grew tired of the
Los Angeles rat race and moved to…..Weed, California. Yup, the little roadstop
town on the I-5 near Mount Shasta if you’re jammin’ north up the Golden State.
Weed had what she wanted: better quality of life, that small town vibe and a
cheaper cost of living /real estate than SoCal. She set up a studio in an old
unused theater in Weed’s small downtown area. The city helped her get set
up cheap as part of trying to refurbish their downtown.
She now has 11 employees as well as several local youngsters as interns.
The ‘recording studio’ idea expanded. It is really a one-stop production
house. They do graphic arts. They make up t-shirts and other merch for
the bands. They do video shoots. The theater houses 4 distinct ‘studios’
and they’re talking about expanding.
Bands often live up there for the weeks it takes to complete their projects.
They eat at Weed’s restaurants, shop in Weed’s stores.
Folks have moved up there to work for her. They like it there. They
brought their families. They bought land.
Here is a town that knew it’s advantages: small town life, nearby to
Mount Shasta, less expensive real estate. With such advantages,
they attracted an entrepreneur who grew a business that continues to
benefit the whole community.
Folks are realizing that you must make a Place that people wish to be in.
You want to be attractive to these go-getters; be a place where things can
happen.
Investments in making our town more attractive, more livable, more interesting are
not just investments in things for their aesthetic value….it
makes good business sense. (It’s not that I don’t think aesthetic wonderfulness
isn’t great all by itself, but some folks need ‘practical’ [i.e.
economic bottom-line] reasons to motivate them.)
It’s not just about following the old school strategy of woo-ing big
already-established businesses to set up shop in your town anymore,
it’s about creating a place and environment that’s attractive to these
Creative New Business Inventors.
Massey’s Radiostar Studios is now even trying to figure out a way to
convert part of their building into a live venue and become a place for
bands to stop and play while touring that part of the state. Cool ideas.
Cool people. And some cool outcomes.
I realize these are not new-and-ground-shaking ideas for those of you
who’ve been talking about such things on here for awhile, but I think
it’s encouraging to see examples of
these ideas actually working—actually being practical and defendable to
those people who are not yet convinced that working to develop our town’s
uniqueness and best qualities makes good economic sense.
Check out RadioStar Studios at:
http://www.radiostarstudios.com
I wrote this after reading an article on Sylvia Massey
and her studio in one of my favorite magazines:
TapeOp
Check them out at: http://www.tapeop.com
»
Thanks Doc
Thanks for the comment Doc.
Yeah. For sure Weed and Fresno are two very different animals-----but I did have to laugh at this sentence:
"Fresno has long since passed the Weed stage in growth."
---and depending how I read it, I'm not sure I agree!(laughs)
I think what I was trying to bring out in that post was not that Fresno is so much like Weed,
but that, like Weed, we need to recognize, that bringing out our unique-ness-es(word?) and trying to be an attractive place for creative types to try out their ideas----to be a very receptive petri dish for creative folks to experiment
-----will help bring IN such innovators and it may go a long way to infuse our downtown with some more life.
theraminman-
Great story! The only problem is that Fresno IS a rat race, especially when compared to Weed. The greater Fresno metropolitan area has close to 800,000 people living here, along with all of the problems (crappy air, crime rate, property values on the rise, etc) that LA and other metopolitan areas have. I agree that it would be great to have businesses like Sylvia Massey's moving into and revitalizing cool old downtown Fresno buildings, but we would need to get our idiotic planning commision behind the idea. I'm not trying to be a pessimist, but having lived here 45 years, it's kinda hard not to be. Again, great idea, it's that Fresno has long since passed the Weed stage in growth.
What a great idea!
Blake,
I'm so glad you posted this article. This would be phenomenal in not only Fresno, but in Kingsburg as well! My in-laws house has transformed into a makeshift recording studio, and I know many people who would be really into something like that especially there. Talk about placemaking!
Next time we bump into each other, I've got lots to talk to you about!
Local Recording Co.
I think we are sitting on a volcano of young talent in this town. They are seething with a new sounds and attitude. Some of them are as good as anyone on the planet.
Collaborating with and playing with Patrick Contreras and the American Gypsy Experience has been the best musical experience of my career. The ethnic flavors of this music are completely organic to this community. Latin, Armenian and Native American music blended with European classical, American blues and country and, most of all ROCK MUSIC.
And there's Trey Tosh, Rob the Voice, Tommy Delgado and all the rest.
All they lack is a local business to record, publish, license, advertise, press and distribute what they create. They are going to write these songs anyway, whether anyone local records them and helps them make money at it is the issue. Don't make them leave town when we can make it happen here and keep the resulting revenue here.
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