Claude Coleman remembers being a 9-year-old in Newark, N.J., and making one life-defining request. “For some reason, I told my mother if she couldn’t get me a drumset for Christmas, I didn’t want anything for Christmas,” he recalled. “That kinda threw my parents into a tizzy because they knew nothing about drums and music.”
“I believe that opportunity is everywhere at all times,” says J Hackett, who co-owns Grind Coffee Co. in the River Arts District with Gene Ettison. “We just have to recognize it.” Turning opportunity into business success, however, has historically been more difficult for Hackett and other Black entrepreneurs than for their white counterparts.
After decades of stillness, the historic site of Rabbit’s Motel and Cafe has been resurrected in a major way, thanks to the efforts of local musicians Claude Coleman Jr. ( the drummer of rock band Ween) and bassist Brett Spivey. In 2020, the duo launched SoundSpace @ Rabbit’s, an affordable music rehearsal studio.
Soon after it opened in late 2018, Benne on Eagle became the subject of laudatory profiles in national publications and nabbed the No. 6 spot in Esquire magazine’s list of 2019’s Best New American Restaurants.
What was very old gets new life, in the form of Asheville’s first music rehearsal facility. The grand opening of SoundSpace@Rabbit’s was celebrated Saturday, Dec. 5 — the site of what was once the Rabbit’s Motel and soul food cafe. Caption: SoundSpace, Asheville’s first public multi-use artist space, celebrates grand opening.
A three year revitalization project taking place inside of Asheville, North Carolina’s historic Southside neighborhood has come to fruition with the opening of SoundSpace @ Rabbit’s, the city’s first public access music rehearsal facility.
This past Saturday on December 5th, Asheville cut the ribbon to its first public access music rehearsal studio in the historic Rabbit’s Motel in the southside of the city. Leading the charge for this multi-use music and arts facility known as SoundSpace, is Asheville resident Claude Coleman Jr., widely known as the drummer for legendary New Hope, Pennsylvania, rock band Ween, along with fellow lifelong musician and arts proprietor Brett Spivey.
“Most of the landmarks are gone from the old neighborhood,” begins Henry Robinson’s 1992 eulogy for Asheville, North Carolina’s Southside. “They fell beneath the powerful blades of huge earthmoving equipment years ago.” When Robinson, the first African-American print reporter for the Asheville Citizen-Times, wrote this, Rabbit’s Café was one of the last Southside landmarks hanging on.
Claude Coleman Jr. (pictured) and partner Brett Spivey see future promise in Asheville’s historic Rabbit’s Motel building. As Asheville’s tourism economy continues to boom, so does its real estate market-making it harder for many musicians to find rehearsal space. But where most saw only a conundrum, Claude Coleman Jr.
Nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, Asheville may not be as famous as another similar-sounding city in Tennessee, but it still holds its own unique music history. The soil of Western North Carolina has long proven fertile for bluegrass music, with people like Bill Monroe and, later, Doc Watson cultivating the development of “mountain music.”
A three year revitalization project taking place inside of Asheville, North Carolina’s historic Southside neighborhood has come to fruition with the opening of SoundSpace @ Rabbit’s, the city’s first public access music rehearsal facility.
In the 1950s and ’60s, the Rabbit Motel in Asheville’s South Slope drew touring black musicians to the four tiny rooms out back and the soul food restaurant facing McDowell Street.
SoundSpace @ Rabbit’s, Asheville’s first public access music rehearsal studio is set to open its doors on Saturday, December 5th. The project, spearheaded by resident Asheville musicians Claude Coleman, Jr. of the rock outfit Ween, and Brett Spivey, will transform the historic Rabbit’s Motel into a multi-use facility and soul food kitchen for local and touring artists alike.
Since 2004, a property on McDowell Street in Asheville has been a drive-by source of curiosity. Judging from the appearance of the building, it might be hard to imagine what the Rabbit’s Motel meant to folks — especially, the Black community. Caption: WLOS.
Opened in 1948 in Asheville, North Carolina’s Southside neighborhood, Rabbit’s Motel was an essential respite during the segregated Green Book era. The Green Book guide, first published in 1936, provided Black travelers with listings of hotels, restaurants, and businesses that would be welcoming to them.
Church basements, Boy Scout troop huts, shipping containers, unheated warehouse spaces and buildings’ roofs are just a few of the spots where Asheville-based musicians Claude Coleman Jr. and Brett Spivey have rehearsed in the past.
An internationally beloved musician, Claude Coleman, Jr. would often find himself in Asheville while on tour drumming with his band, iconic rock juggernaut Ween. Each time wandering through, he would become more enamored with this region. So much so, Coleman relocated here from New Jersey in 2012.&n…
