In the May issue of Maximum Rocknroll we ran feature about Chris Johnston of Plan-It-X Records and his move to Cairo, IL, with some other punks, and the opening of their coffee shop called Ace of Cups. Interviewer Aaron Lake Smith also wrote a feature about this in TIME magazine, and appeared on Chicago Public Radio’s Eight Forty Eight, where the subjects of race (Cairo is about 60% black and about 35% white) and economics were again glossed over by Smith. The word “mission” was used often in the description of the project going on in Cairo, IL. It is no secret that punks are often guilty of aiding mass waves of gentrification in larger cities, but what does it mean when white punks move into an ailing, forgotten city with a majority African-American population? Is a coffee shop going to bring the town back or is it an attempt to gain the trust of its residents? What about involving the community and serving their expressed needs? What does it mean to “rescue” a town. It’s a complex question that goes beyond the realms of punk and idealism. Decide for yourselves… —Mariam, MRR magazine coordinator
Chris Johnston (photo by Aaron Lake Smith)
Cairo, IL (pronounced “Kay-ro”) sits on a narrow peninsula hemmed on both sides by the Mississippi River and protected from flooding by a set of rusted, vine-entangled levees. The land surrounding the little outpost of civilization looks like it would be untamed and lushly green in the summer. The town in some ways feels like a miniature cross between New Orleans and Detroit—reliant on the logic of dams and levees like New Orleans, but then vacant and possessing a rusted-out sense of lost splendor like Detroit.
Chris Johnston is the 36 year-old proprietor of Plan-it-X Records. After years of living in “cool” places like Bloomington, Olympia, and Gainesville and swirling through an endless kaleidoscope of punk shows, vegan restaurants, and community spaces, Johnston recently decided it was time to do something. Last summer, Johnston bought a building on Cairo’s main drag and has since opened Cairo’s first coffee shop-grocery store-community space, called Ace of Cups. Johnston and a number of others live upstairs of the massive building (it used to be a Knights of Columbus hall), though it has no heat in the winter. In going to Cairo, it seems that Johnson was actively pursuing what we all want after the mix-tape listening, rooftop-climbing, forty-drinking hangover wears off—a sense of purpose, a direction; a reason for existence, a town that could never be gentrified. And with Cairo, that’s what he got.
This interview was conducted in the dead of winter, in the warmest room in Ace of Cups: a room with maps tacked up on all the walls, and the space heater running at full blast.
Intro, interview and photos by Aaron Lake Smith
What brought you to Cairo, Illinois?
It’s been a plan of mine for a while to have a big building and do something productive and creative in it. For various reasons, we wanted a big place to do something and wanted to start a community center, but couldn’t afford to do so in places like Gainesville and Bloomington. Those places already have a lot going for them. The people who live there don’t even need the stuff people build for them. In Gainesville, at the community spaces, almost no one comes in anyway. Here in this tiny town that has almost nothing, we get almost the same amount of people. We wanted a little more freedom. Then I found Cairo. The more I read about the town, the more intrigued I got, how it has nothing and real estate was dirt cheap. I realized my plan could encompass not only making my life better, but increasing the quality of life for people that live here. Myself and various people discussed “The Plan.” Most of them aren’t here today. But we talked about how doing anything here would be productive. Just by opening this space, we’ve done something for the community.
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