Chris Johnston talks to Time about starting business in Cairo, IL

Contributed by tonynoidea. Posted by bryne on Wednesday, February 24, 2010 at 5:00 PM (EST)

Time Magazine recently spoke to Chris Johnston of Plan-It-X Records and Ghost Mice about his new non-profit coffee shop/bookstore in the depressed and poverty-stricken town of Cairo, IL.

Check it out here.

Bands in this story

Ghost Mice

Plan-It-X Records (30 comments)

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Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not respon sible for them in any way. Seriously.

SpAgetttt (February 24, 2010)

ohhh you wrong

banal242 (February 24, 2010)

Apparently, there is a rest stop with a plaque commemorating the Trail of Tears in Cairo, IL, if the band One Reason is to be believed.

bastard_squad (February 24, 2010)

I see a lot of numbers and limericks in rest stops. I'm not following up on any of them.

TheMike (February 24, 2010)

I feel somewhat depressed after reading this.

the_other_scott (February 24, 2010)

i'm confused - is the coffee free? also, why would a coffee shop not open until 10am?

i guess i admire the goal but don't really understand the means.

Chris - if you're reading this, what exactly is/was the goal of this? To help the town? To create jobs? Community? Usually Time does a better job at delving into things!

TheMike (February 24, 2010)

Yeah, I'm not getting it either.

MonsterLobster (February 24, 2010)

To add to that, is he trying to nurture what little, if any, local music scene might be there by offering a venue? I find it strange that the story didn't cover that, particularly since this is a guy well known for being part of highly active music scenes.

chadreligion (February 24, 2010)

Shit, and I thought Kankakee was fucking depressing.... Momence,Ill too.
For as much as I love Chicago, there is really nothing else in that state for me.

banal242 (February 24, 2010)

Chester has the Popeye statue.

returnofdebs (February 24, 2010)

rockford is by far the worst of illinois.

also, why non profit? does he hate america?

eyepatchguy (February 25, 2010)

How do you even know where Kankakee is? Or Momence? It's my hometown and, yes, it is horrible.

red_eye_inc (February 24, 2010)

A luxury item business in a town with no money and population of 3,600? THIS CAN'T FAIL.

88fingerstonytherevenge (February 24, 2010)

Maybe I could get a hold of this dude and play a show out there or something

red_eye_inc (February 24, 2010)

I'm sure you could just show up with your accordian or whatever

88fingerstonytherevenge (February 25, 2010)

ouch

flamebaitnickloving (February 24, 2010)

Chris Johnson the football player would have been bigger news.

MonsterLobster (February 24, 2010)

Guys like that make news when they blow off towns like this and make it big, not for doing something noteworthy and then moving to Backwoods, U.S.A.

kevgren (February 24, 2010)

This was in Time like three weeks ago.

banal242 (February 24, 2010)

You should have submitted it three weeks ago. YOU WOULD HAVE BEEN A HERO!

kevgren (February 25, 2010)

I blew it!

Misanthropee (February 24, 2010)

The intentions behind the shop are obviously good, but the picture the article paints is hardly surprising. It doesn't seem like they're offering the town anything the people want or need. Chris is a resourceful guy. There must be things easier to hawk in an impoverished, abandoned town than fair-trade coffee and books. You're not in Gainesville anymore, bro.

IanIsSuperRad (February 24, 2010)

If I'm every traveling west and I plan on going anywhere through the area I will make it a point to stop here.

nphilthy91 (February 24, 2010)

According to Neil Gaiman, Anubis and Thoth own a funeral home there.

eran_zombis (February 24, 2010)

Dear Time,
Anarchists aren't working towards economic development.

SATAN_THE_KOREAN_DINOSAUR (February 24, 2010)

i think one thing is clear from this article...the town died because of black people.

kidstardust (February 24, 2010)

Back in the day I delivered furniture several times to Cairo. It never struck me as a place to open a non for profit coffeehouse, but whatever, good luck to them.

By the way, the capital of the USA was almost moved to a small town near Cairo back in the 1800's. If I remember local lore, there was an issue with the swamps being drained and the plan was scrapped. It would have made sense. Middle of the country and two major rivers coming together. You can actually see the point where the Ohio and Mississippi meet. It is pretty interesting.

mill83 (February 25, 2010)

Sounds like a terrible idea, now or then. I don't want to have to learn new capitals!

Ghoti34 (February 24, 2010)

Just legalize pot and this town has a whole new economic outlook....

The most popular article on Time is "the case against a college education." which could be one of the worst articles ever written as it makes all the wrong inferences from the available data.

And since when did Anti-Flag sign on with Paper + Plastik?