Chris Jeffers, the subject of this week's music feature story, is a quote machine. It's tough to translate his enthusiasm to written word. Raspy sentences pour out of him like grand statements.
I asked if I could follow him around for a day a few weeks back, and he politely obliged. We went to his other restaurants, starting with Smoke, Bolsa, Bolsa Mercado and then, finally, The Foundry. Over the course of the day, he dropped many choice word bombs. Many made it to print, but the following did not.
"My wife and Chris Zielke, my partner, the way we control it is like the
mob. South of 30 is Zielke and my wife. Then north of 30 is me and Tim
Byres." - Jeffers on the family business.
"That's the coolest stage I've ever seen!" -- on the stage and backdrop at The Foundry.
"Another problem I have with midnight shows is that when the
band's done at like 1:40 a.m., you gotta kick everyone the fuck out,
which is hard because everyone's all riding this high." -- on why late
shows suck. (All shows at The Foundry will be over by 11 p.m.)
"Centro-matic is like a four-man assassin team, like Kill Bill."
"It's pretty much the only contribution I've ever made." -- on putting Dirk Fowler posters all over Bolsa, Bolsa Mercado and Smoke.
"The whole patio cleared in 15 minutes." -- on Bolsa's early attempts at hosting live music.
"It's very cool when you hear a Pavement song. It makes you feel good." - when Pavement played over The Foundry's stereo at lunch.
"You know what there's a good comparison to? Like, Foundry or Smoke? It's like How I Met Your Mother, that show on CBS. It's a show for everybody, and it's really funny and it's not great but it's not bad. Once every couple of episodes, they'll play a Guided by Voices song."
"I wanna have a great place for bands to get paid well, let their friends come and think it's a cool venue and go put the word out to other bands. It's like that little kid in me. I still want to be
cool." -- on wanting to have his favorite Dallas bands play The Foundry.