The Java Barn

The Java Barn is a notable student-run venue on campus located in an annex off of Brown Hall. The Java Barn is run by twelve undergraduate students who live in a theme house called The Coffeehouse (5 University Ave). The twelve students book FREE weekly concerts, run sound and lights, provide hospitality for the bands, as well as monitor, publicize, set-up and clean up every show. Also, all the students are TIPS certified and provide three monitors for every event. The Java Barn also hosts Open Mics and a space for students to hold music events like Woodystock 2012 (Protest Music FYS), SLU Funk, DJ Night, TEAL Week Open Jam Against Sexual Violence, and many other events upon request.

History of the Barn:

In the early-mid 1980s, there was a popular folk music scene, especially in northern New York state, known as "the North Country". At SLU, group of students, interested in having live music at the school, petitioned and established a coffeehouse in Payson Hall, one of the school's buildings. A dormitory 3 University Avenue, and thus the Theme House was created. While shows typically took place on Friday and Saturday nights, and the tenants routinely made the 10 minute "trek" between their residence and Payson to facilitate the shows. In 1992, Payson Hall was renovated into SLU's admissions building. A new venue had to be established, and the chosen candidate was an old barn located behind 5 University Avenue. This would prove convenient, as the new residence and venue was one house up from where the current students were living. The house was named the Coffee House, and the barn was christened the Java Barn. Operating between Fall 1993 to Spring 2006, the Barn's location was popular due to its proximity of being on the border of the SLU campus, near the town center. This brought about some interaction with the community, and students enjoyed the distance from the main campus and their studies. Towards the end of the 90s, the nature of shows at Java began to change: louder, amplified rock gigs replaced the quieter acoustic folk concerts. After much deliberation between the members and the administration, it was decided that Java would have to be moved. This new location would be the Winning Health Center, about 50 feet from the Payson Coffeehouse. To commemorate its closing, Java's annual festival, "Java Jam" would be the Barn's last show. On May 6, 2006, the Ryan Montbleau Band was the final artist to play in the venue, and the Barn was closed forever. After brainstorming the possibilities of Java's future home, it was realized that the vacant Winning Health Center seemed a natural choice for its relocation. In an interesting return to the days of the Payson Coffeehouse, students would continue to live at 5 University Ave., and would make "the trek" to the Health Center temporarily for shows. The Health Center or the "temporary Java" was demolished in 2010 to create green space now known as "the Old Java Quad" and finally relocated for the last time to an annex behind Brown Hall which was invested in by Grace Potter and the Nocturnals and the Potter family. The Java Barn is currently trying to expand its influence on campus by collaborating with other organizations like the Outing Club, The Women's Resource Center, Ray Ross, Thelmo, The Advocates, ACE on Springfest and other concerts, and classes.

Notable Bands Who Have Played at Java:

Dave Matthews, Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, Guster, Derek Trucks, Aqueous, Pete Francis (of Dispatch), Gym Class Heroes, Ani Difranco, Rubblebucket, EOTO, Roots of Creation, The Heavy Pets, Garaj Mahal, Ryan Montbleau, Assembly of Dust, Tea Leaf Green, Donna the Buffalo, Higher Organix, Zach Deputy, Giant Panda Guerilla Dub Squad, Eliot Lipp, Mr. Charlie and Blues for Breakfast, RAQ, The Macpodz, John Brown's Body, Lucid, U-Melt and DJ Logic.

For booking or more information, e-mail javabarn@gmail.com

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Help keep the Java Barn alive! If you would like to donate, please e-mail Meg Flaherty.