ND

DECEMBER '07/ JANUARY '08

Harder Beat Magazine Online

By Shane Epting

Denton’s Kharma Cafe
The Kharma Cafe no longer exists. “Kharma,” as it is affectionately called, was a staple of Denton hipness. It served as a gathering place for all types of Dentonites: musicians, artists, writers, poets and playwrights. If you never had the pleasure of pounding coffee at Kharma, you missed an experience that was comparable to being in an early Tarantino flick.

It had more attitude than Johnny Rotten with a hangover. It was more than a coffee shop. For starters, Kharma was a makeshift rock and roll museum. The booths displayed rock memorabilia underneath scratched Plexiglas. Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, The Butthole Surfers and Kiss artifacts were showcased. Plus, there was a big-ass, autographed Morrissey poster, which all the cool chicks adored.

Kharma and its hipness are now simply memories and the subject of drunken diatribes regarding “The Man.” Word on the street indicates that the building’s new owners raised the rent considerably. A place that charged only a buck and a quarter for a quart of iced coffee could not swing the increase.

Dentonites suspected that Karma’s fate was closing in quickly after The Tomato met its maker. According to distraught patrons, “There is an evil capitalist buying up all the cool shops on Fry [street] and making a bunch of St*rbucks and sh*t.” And, “The EU [not the European Union, Equities United or something] is turning Denton into a place that will be as boring as Amarillo.”

Currently, the old Kharma Cafe is a used college bookstore, which must compete with Voertmans bookstore and UNT.

Is this really progress for Denton?