The Trunk Space is an all-ages music venue in

Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Arizona#List of cities and towns, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona. With over 1.6 million residents at the 2020 census, it is the ...

, United States. It was located at 1124 N 3rd Street since 2016, but announced a need to move after May 2024 due to cost pressures.

Background

Originally a coffee cart called ''The Paper Cup'' in the later-defunct Paper Heart Gallery, in its original location on Van Buren Rd., co-owners JRC and Stephanie Carrico split from the Paper Heart Gallery to form The Trunk Space. The Trunk Space is an

art gallery An art gallery is a room or a building in which visual art is displayed. In Western cultures from the mid-15th century, a gallery was any long, narrow covered passage along a wall, first used in the sense of a place for art in the 1590s. The long ...

, coffee bar, and performance space. There are gallery shows twice a month, for Phoenix's First Friday and Third Friday art walks, with randomly occurring private events. The coffee bar features a full-service

espresso machine An espresso machine brews coffee by forcing pressurized water near boiling point through a "puck" of ground coffee and a filter in order to produce a thick, concentrated coffee called espresso. Multiple machine designs have been created to produ ...

which uses Xanadu coffee beans. The performance space is used for

improv Improv may refer to: *Improvisation, an act of spontaneous invention **Improvisational theatre (includes improvisational comedy) **Musical improvisation Musical improvisation (also known as musical extemporization) is the creative activity of im ...

comedy, MST3K-styled movie showings and particularly, musical performances. Performers vary in genre, degree of experimentation and experience level. The featured mural on the brick wall at the front entrance of The Trunk Space was painted by Luster Kaboom.

Music

The Trunk Space is a venue for touring acts that are on the rise. Some acts that have come through include; Matt and Kim, Nobunny, Japanther,

Mark Sultan Mark Sultan (born Mark Antonio Pepe) is a Canadian musician and entrepreneur from Montreal, Quebec. He was a member of a number of Canadian garage bands including the Spaceshits, Les Sexareenos, and Mind Controls. He has also spent time perfo ...

(of The King Khan and BBQ Show fame), Julian Koster, Kimya Dawson,

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, Quintron and Lightning Bolt. Some notable acts have gotten their starts and have come to prominence through frequent appearances at the venue, including opening for some of the prominent touring acts. Andrew Jackson Jihad, Michelle Blades, and TreasurE MammaL are a few bands that fall under that category.

Performance Art

On top of monthly Improv and a Late-Night Talk Show, there are performance arts pieces of varying types, such as roasts of those living and deceased.

Community

Over the years, The Trunk Space has a developed a close and personal group of volunteers and regulars, who consider the venue and its involved members as family. These regulars can be found helping run the door, running the espresso machine, setting up bands and running the sound board. Sean Bonnette of Andrew Jackson Jihad got a tattoo of The Trunk Space's street numbers, backwards, after noting them from frequently while performing on the stage, where the street numbers can be seen reversed above the door facing Grand Avenue. Since he has gotten the tattoo, numerous other family members have received the tattoo, including Carrico and JRC. At last count, at least a dozen presently have the tattoo. In April 2014, the community celebrated The Trunk Space's 10th anniversary with a multiple-day concert festival, ''Indie 500'', which featured dozens of bands, performing over the course of 10 days, with some 500 songs played in total.

References

External links