Cellar Door Coffee
Start-up small business in Madison Ohio
Owner/Booking/Design/Promotions
2003-2005

Cellar Door Records
Cleveland Record Label
Owner/Producer/Marketing/Design
2007-Present

In 2002, my good friend Rick Fike and I opened a coffee shop in small town Madison Ohio called Cellar Door Coffee & Music. The 135 capacity room served as a catalyst for the arts, an organic space taking many shapes and forms. Sometimes it was an art gallery, showing the work of a local painter, sometimes a comedy club during an amateur open mic, but mostly it was a music venue. Bands were booked on a weekly basis. Everything from acoustic singer-songwriters to four band hardcore shows. Dozens of nationally touring bands came through Cellar Door, opening the eyes of it’s clientel to a world of music they had never experienced before. We wanted tangible evidence of this creative music scene that had sprung up in  rural Madison, thus Cellar Door Records was born.

Cellar Door Records Volume I had a run of 125 copies. Printed and put together by hand, the compilation contained two tracks from six of our favorite artists. A CD release show was thrown, the artists performed and the CD was given out for free. We sold the coffee shop and went back to our normal lives.

In 2007, Rick and I regrouped with partner Adam Butcher to officially re-launch Cellar Door Records. The label was reborn at the Beachland Ballroom on March 3, 2007, with the official release of Cellar Door Records Volume II. We got lots of press, had a run of 1000 CDs professionally printed and drew a very large crowd in one of the most respected venues in town. Since then we’ve had 5 official releases and many Cellar Door Records sponsored shows. After putting out a number of individual artist’s albums, Cellar Door returned to form with the release of Cellar Door Records Volume III.

Cellar Door Records Volume III is a collections of 15 of Cleveland’s best and brightest bands. Through a strong promotional effort, the release got extensive press coverage including articles published in Cleveland Magazine, The Plain Dealer and The Cleveland Scene. It also got strong coverage in the local music blog scene by being featured on Cool Cleveland, The Rhythm Report, Ohio Authority, Cleveland Magazine Blog, Patch.com, Cleveland.com, Cleveland Scene’s Music Blog, the Radio 92.3 website, The Zender Agenda, Buzzbin Magazine and more. I also did an hour interview on Radio 92.3 to promote the label and the album.

As a result of the release of Cellar Door Records Volume III and all the surrounding buzz, Cellar Door Records was recently named “Best Record Label” in Cleveland Scene’s “Best of Cleveland 2011.”