It’s a good-karma thing.”Īsked for his reaction to the initial success of the campaign, Norris said, “My favorite movie is ‘It’s a Wonderful Life,’ and my favorite quote is, ‘No man is a failure who has friends.’ Matt and I are overwhelmed. If he can appear on toast, he can appear anywhere. It’s sort of like when people say Jesus appears to them on toast. “Matt and I chose 126 as our random lucky number when we were teenagers,” Norris said. The additional $126 was purely an act of sentiment. The published GoFundMe goal was very specific – $42,126, of which $35,000 would cover the taxes and $7,000 would go toward GoFundMe fees. Norris says that, for nine years, he and Megyesi “have been lucky enough to do our own thing and fiercely stick to it with two middle fingers pointing straight up.” Norris and Megyesi and known by many as the countercultural stewards of Denver. “Jim Morrison’s brother-in-law, author Alan Graham of Liverpool, England, called Mutiny ‘Bob Dylan’s Dream,’ and compared it to the shops on Penny Lane he knew as a kid.” “Mutiny has hosted many iconic American authors and paid tribute to bygone artists like Neal Cassady,” Jack Kopp of Camp Elasticity Productions wrote in a blog post today. “To say the last few months have been rough is an understatement,” added Norris’ wife, Jessica Halpine. Still, he said, his remaining staff of nine has been fully paid to date, and that the cafe is current on all other taxes, fees and insurance. Norris also recently discovered a pattern of employee theft, both in product and payroll. A GoFundMe campaign at that time raised $17,000. Later, someone else smashed in two windows. One involved a stalker who bashed in the front door and was arrested, Norris said. And twice in the past three months, the store has been the target of separate acts of vandalism. Mutiny has battled one setback after another since the COVID shutdown and Megyesi’s medical problems, including the murder of Denver tattoo artist and friend Alicia Cardenas of the nearby Sol Tribe Tattoo & Piercing. Patrick Meese of Nathaniel Rateliffe and the Nightsweats and and Isaac Slade of The Fray appeared for a pop-up acoustic set during the 2007 Underground Music Showcase at what is now called Mutiny Information Café. It's moments like this that remind all of us how necessary and special it is to create and share accessible spaces with and for all people and artists in our community." "We are absolutely floored with humility," GoFundMe organizer Kyle Sutherland wrote to supporters. Norris calls Mutiny “a safe space for all people and communities we love and represent: LGBTQ+, anarchists, punks, hiphoppas, nerds, sex workers, writers, comedians, artists, oddballs, goofballs, etc.” It hosts live music films, author events, magic shows and more. Mutiny is a defiantly independent new and used bookstore with a coffee bar, comic-book shop, records, posters and pinball machines. Norris said the city seized Mutiny after only two notices. Still, he pointed out, the Colorado Department of Revenue website lists 2,250 Colorado businesses that owe hundreds of millions in back taxes. Megyesi generally handles the finances of the business, and Norris said he was in a daze for the first three months of his illness and wasn’t paying attention to the city’s demand for payment. Norris takes full responsibility for Mutiny’s present tax predicament. Norris calls his partner’s recovery to date “miraculous but slow.” He is now both on a kidney-transplant list and experiencing major vision loss. "Coming out of COVID has been hard on all small businesses and humans across the world,” Norris said.īut Mutiny’s problems were further compounded earlier this year, when co-owner Matt Megyesi suffered a near-fatal heart attack. Mutiny's problems started, as for so many, with the prolonged pandemic shutdown.
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