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## Tour
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tour.description = String Live Music
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tour.name = Strings Music
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STRINGS
Strings began in 1993 and is one of the longest running independent music rooms in Northern California.
Joey Lent bought a laundromat in 1993 in a tough neighborhood in Emeryville, Oakland, California. He and his friends then turned it into one of the most loved community music rooms in the Bay Area. It's an original music listening room.
Strings is Joey's home and his house concerts allow you to witness world class artists. Forget about finding where Strings is located unless you know someone who attends the shows. It's the best kept secret in town and only for those who truly appreciate good music.
Those who have graced Strings are Jason Mraz, Sean Mullins, Laurence Jubar, Mike Marshall, Steve Seskin, The Mammals, Pycho grass, the Westerlies, Joe Craven and Bill Bourne among many others. It's a music experience unlike any other.
To learn more about the history of Strings hover over various objects througout the tour. It's quite a story!
The vibes are gathering and will launch soon!
___
LIVESTREAM
Special performances livestream from Strings!
We know you really miss live music so we decided to bring the live show to you.
Engage with the artists through the chat. Our livestream team will make sure you can hang with the aritsts virtually.
Our shows are high quality audio engineered by Paul Tumolo. The multi-camera video is produced by Beth Cloutier of Local Music Channel and Alex Scammon of Soul Graffiti Studios. Strings livestreams are in realtime. Our shows are not pre-recorded.
We look forward to having you join us!
___
LIVESTREAM
Special performances livestream from Strings!
We know you really miss live music so we decided to bring the live show to you.
Watch the livestreams at strings.org!
Engage with the artists through the chat. Our livestream team will make sure you can hang with the aritsts virtually.
Our shows are high quality audio engineered by Paul Tumolo. The multi-camera video is produced by Beth Cloutier of Local Music Channel and Alex Scammon of Soul Graffiti Studios. Strings livestreams are in realtime. Our shows are not pre-recorded.
We look forward to having you join us!
___
STRINGS
Strings began in 1993 and is one of the longest running independent music rooms in Northern California.
Joey Lent bought a laundromat in 1993 in a tough neighborhood in Emeryville, Oakland, California. He and his friends then turned it into one of the most loved community music rooms in the Bay Area. It's an original music listening room.
Strings is Joey's home and his house concerts allow you to witness world class artists. Forget about finding where Strings is located unless you know someone who attends the shows. It's the best kept secret in town and only for those who truly appreciate good music.
Those who have graced Strings are Jason Mraz, Sean Mullins, Laurence Jubar, Mike Marshall, Steve Seskin, The Mammals, Pycho grass, the Westerlies, Joe Craven and Bill Bourne among many others. It's a music experience unlike any other.
To learn more about the history of Strings hover over various objects througout the tour. It's quite a story!
Welcome!
Move mouse or finger left to right to view 360 space.
Click images to learn stories.
Click circles and arrows to move to next area.
The green room is a special place. During our BBQ potluck jams often the singer songwriters will come back here and share their songs. During our jams there is always an extra guitar or two. We have a couple guitars for left handed folks. Many of the guitars and instruments just show up. Some of them I do not know how they got here.
These are called pot belly Mandolins. Like many instruments here, they just showed up.
Periodically we have big giveaways just to not have this place get overwhelmed.
In the 1990s this place was a Laundromat. I bought it and some friends helped me fix it up. Everything here is scrounged and re-built by me and my friends. This place is built on a Creek bed. Prior to the back courtyard being all brick you would choke to death on the dust in the summer and have your shoes sucked right off your feet from the mud in the winter. When it rained water used to flow through the main room and out the front doors. Now we have restored the creek bed and ultimately the water drains back to the Bay. This was an incredibly funky place.
I feel this is the most rewarding thing I've ever been involved with personally. And one of the most fulfilling things I've ever seen because of the people, because of the community. And most of all because of the music.
The three guitars hanging on the wall were donated gifts. Some of them are rare antiques.
The wall was all chipped up and I thought rather than restore the wall I would create a painting of an old scarab like it was the wall of a tomb or something.
Mountain man, Dave Johnson, made this sculpture. The scary thing is it looks like me. He is a man of many talents. -Joey Lent
Pipes and jewelry made by Joey Lent. "I don't ever really end up selling anything. It's nice to be able to give away gifts."
The skylights that you see up in the ceiling, well, those were the vents for the big commercial dryers when this place was a laundromat before I bought it and turned it into Strings.
The raised platform in the back was where the washing machines sat when this place was a laundromat before I turned it into Strings.
When 911 happened it shut down a lot of our international acts. We built back up again with top-notch national artists.
Volunteer staff around 2015.
"What do you want?" I said: "I want to play music with my friends and that's the bottom line.” Strings opened in 1993. The music in Strings is acoustic, accomplished and original except in the case of early Americana, Folklorica from around the world and classical. We discourage corporate music in every way possible.
We started out fixing the space with some friends. I had to come up with a logo so I drew it. This is the original.
We built the stage and had a few folding chairs set up. We started doing small gatherings and shows. It just kept building and building. Finally Strings got a reputation of being a place where people really listened to the music. Better and better musicians kept coming until we were getting world-class musicians coming from all over the world, then 911 happened.
String began in 1993. Before it was a Laundromat. This was a very marginal neighborhood 30 years ago in the 1990s. This place was stripped clean when we finally got it. It was in bad shape.
There were many nights and days that I would work 14 hours straight; times when it was a choice between buying sheet rock or eating lunch. Sheet rock won out. I had friends help me clean the place and fix it.
We had our first gathering after the first month. A couple of years into it, I realized I was involved in something bigger than myself. That's when I came to understand the intangible rewards of community, of being connected, of doing something together through music. We all agreed to serve something greater than ourselves. That's why Nietzsche’s quote is Strings' motto: "Without music, life would be a mistake".
–
Joyce Cogen gave this tapestry to us. She said this tapestry goes around the inside of a tent.
Hand made by Joey Lent, owner of Strings. The wood sculptures are made from small pieces of wood glued together and then then shaped.
Hand made by Joey Lent, owner of Strings. The wood sculptures are made from small pieces of wood glued together and shaped.
This beautiful Steinway piano is on loan to us from Mark Silber. This beautiful Steinway is on loan to us from him. This was his mother's piano, Mary Silbers. His mother was a socialite in Detroit and this beautiful large home. Visiting musicians and would come to their house and play the piano. And evidently very famous musicians of the time played this piano. So this piano has been played by top notch musicians for the last 60 years.
Laurence Jubar (Paul McCartney's Wings guitar player), Mike Marshall,Paul Geremia, Tom Rigney, Steve Seskin, The Mammals, Franco Maroni (guitar virtuoso), Pycho Grass, The Westerlies, Joe Craven, and Bill Bourne all performed here. We are honored to have presented these artists..This is just a few of the world class artists that have performed at Strings.
Funny Story: We had Sean Mullins book to play here. This was before he was famous and several hours before the show he calls and says: I am in Utah or someplace like that. He had a flat tire. He's still on his way. Then he called us from Tahoe . He had another flat tire. Still on his way.
The show must go on. So I and a few musicians from the audience did a couple of numbers on stage. The door opens up. Sean Mullins walks in, drops his guitar case on the bench, pulls out the guitar, walks right up on the stage and pulls off an amazing concert. He stayed here in the back room with his two dogs. It was great. I got to know him. He's truly a gentleman and a really great guy.
This was a generic harpsichord kit Molly Axtmann brought to Strings. Joey was excited by this very functional instrument and did the ornamentation, new legs and a music stand. We've had chamber music concerts using this instrument over the years.
This is Marc Silber's showcase. Marc Silber has been a patron of Strings for a very long time. He's a collector. He has one of the finest collections of early American stringed instruments. He is a recognized authority on stringed instruments made in the United States. He also is quite an accomplished Delta Blues musician.
This was actually a carriage house. And there was a little handwritten building permit, stamped and everything that said 1926. The roof was caving in so I had to double the rafter supports to keep it from collapsing. The light colored wood rafters are new and the dark ones are the originals.
Nicole Milner left this beautiful tapestry to us. She's no longer with us but her memory is with us here.
This beautiful folding screen was from Johnny G and he left it here many years ago. It was one of the first things that showed up. Then about five years later, or so he said, “I'm coming to get that screen.” I said, okay, cool. It's here. And he says, "Well, do you like it?" And I said, "Yeah, but it's your screen, man? You know, we were just holding it for you. Come get it anytime you want." And he says, "Okay, I'll be by maybe tomorrow." That was more than 20 years ago. I've never seen or, heard from him since. He's a good dude.
Nancy Rubin gave us the Egyptian tapestry. She and I bought that one together many, many years ago, back in the seventies when she got her new house. It was too tall for her house. We ended up bringing it to Strings because we have 13 foot ceilings here.
A woman was coming through the area and her accommodations fell through. My friend didn't have any place to put her up so she asked if we would house her. We told for sure. Her friend was a lovely person. She left this tapestry with us.
String began in 1993. Before it was a Laundromat. This was a very marginal neighborhood 30 years ago in the 1990s. This place was stripped clean when we finally got it. It was in bad shape.
There were many nights and days that I would work 14 hours straight; times when it was a choice between buying sheet rock or eating lunch. Sheet rock won out. I had friends help me clean the place and fix it.
We had our first gathering after the first month. A couple of years into it, I realized I was involved in something bigger than myself. That's when I came to understand the intangible rewards of community, of being connected, of doing something together through music. We all agreed to serve something greater than ourselves. That's why Nietzsche’s quote is Strings' motto: "Without music, life would be a mistake".
–
Joyce Cogen gave this tapestry to us. She said this tapestry goes around the inside of a tent.
This tapestry was given to us by our friends, Mike and Barb.
Laurence Jubar (Paul McCartney's Wings guitar player), Mike Marshall,Paul Geremia, Tom Rigney, Steve Seskin, The Mammals, Franco Maroni (guitar virtuoso), Pycho Grass, The Westerlies, Joe Craven, and Bill Bourne all performed here. We are honored to have presented these artists..This is just a few of the world class artists that have performed at Strings.
Funny Story: We had Sean Mullins book to play here. This was before he was famous and several hours before the show he calls and says: I am in Utah or someplace like that. He had a flat tire. He's still on his way. Then he called us from Tahoe . He had another flat tire. Still on his way.
The show must go on. So I and a few musicians from the audience did a couple of numbers on stage. The door opens up. Sean Mullins walks in, drops his guitar case on the bench, pulls out the guitar, walks right up on the stage and pulls off an amazing concert. He stayed here in the back room with his two dogs. It was great. I got to know him. He's truly a gentleman and a really great guy.
This beautiful Steinway piano is on loan to us from Marc Silber. This was his mother Mary Silber’s piano. His mother was a piano teacher and socialite in Detroit. Many well-known and talented musicians would come to their house and play this piano. This piano has been played by top notch musicians former than 60 years.
This was done by our artist friend Nancy Irish. She is an amazing, talented person. She has done the interiors of several restaurants and homes. She's really a top notch pro and came in here and did all this for us.
This is the meditation garden. It's a place where people can sit and be quiet.
This hole here is where the drug dealers used to pass the drugs to each other when this place was a Laundromat. People would come up along side the property next door up to this wall. It was a hole knocked in the wall and they would pass the money in and then the drugs out through the hole. After I bought this place I installed the glass block.
When people become members or renew their membership we give them a T-shirt.
All these beautiful lettered glass windows were once the bar in the Concord Hyatt. A friend, Jim Zwack, traded some computer time for these windows. He was going to build a bar and never did so he gave them to us.
When people leave or lose things from glasses, watches to earrings then we hang it in the tree. A guy lost his gold watch. We hung it up in the tree where it lived for more than a year. One night he returned to see a show and he looked up in the tree and just about freaked out. It turns out that was actually a real gold watch worth thousands. So he was a happy dude after finding his watch.
I met Michael Naramatsu many years ago. He's a lot younger than me but we were like brothers. We did a lot of things together. I said: “One day, we're going to start a music room for artists.” Fourteen years later he helped me start Strings. Unfortunately he died young. “The light that burns twice as bright burns half as long.” He was a truly beautiful dude.
The payphone was here when this was a Laundromat. It was the most expensive telephone. It costs $5 to get a dial tone!
Joey Lent, Strings Owner, 1973.
That's me as a Hippie". I lived in this van for four years. I traveled between Big Sur and Mendocino with my home base as Berkeley. For more than twenty years I supported myself with my guitar playing gigs. In 1985 I spent about six months in Amsterdam playing in little cafes and really enjoyed it. I came back to California and got a gig up in Tahoe playing in a place called Bon Vie Bon. It paid well with benefits but it was soul sucking. The song “The Piano Man” was popular at the time and people would request it. I realized: “Oh my God, this could be my future. This is not what I want. This is not why I'm doing music.” And so I said: “What do I really want in life”?
Bill Londagin with his little donkey Fuffy. Bill was the doorman here for well over 20 years.
When I was a stagehand we started a corporation manufacturing these guitar cases. It’s a story unto itself. The two major stockholders who were owners of the company got into a fight and one of them had professional arsonists come and torch the company. This is the only remaining freestanding guitar case that exists.
The windows above the front doors were made especially for Strings by our dear friend David Helfant.