Milk Boy

This is the unedited draft of a piece I did for Philadelphia Weekly I thought I would post. Rock On!


Along a narrow street that runs off of Lancaster Avenue into the heavily populated college neighborhoods of South Ardmore, a young woman yells “we love you, Tommy!” from an upstairs apartment. Tommy Joyner looks up at her and gives a wave. He is not walking the red carpet, he is just walking to work, but for some reason, there is nothing surprising about this interaction.
Maybe it’s his long, chestnut locks or his hipster cords, maybe it’s the soul patch, but something in his look, his general swagger, just screams rock and roll. Something within this dynamic entrepreneur seems to draw people in. From his adoring, passionate staff to his customers, everyone seems to idolize Joyner like they would a performer.
Joyner is the owner of Milkboy, a coffee bar/music venue/recording studio that has been making headlines in the past year, booking national acts and bringing music and a hot cup of joe to this reborn Main Line neighborhood.
What is amazing about Joyner is that this rock star persona does not seem like an act, it fits him like his favorite Milkboy t-shirt.
A performer himself, Joyner started re-mastering and recording his own band for friends and family, and eventually made a career out of it. This itch to discover, record and promote music has never gone away.
“I had my studio in Olney and had a record label. I never got tired of exposing artists and promoting new music. So when I moved the studio to Ardmore and stopped doing the label thing as much, I missed having something that the community could rally around.”
And the community has rallied. Joyner started Milkboy Coffee in early ‘06 and the coffeeshop now hosts several national and local acts a week, and with a new location and a residency program in place, they are set to corner the market on live music in the Western suburbs.
The new location, set under the marquee of the Bryn Mawr Film Institute is to be a local development venue where younger artists can get gig experience. Their cut will come from a tip jar and, depending on the response, they may get the opportunity to play the Ardmore stage. “We will immediately know if the band has a draw,” says Joyner.


Peppers Ghost, Halloween Show @ Milkboy

With the residency program, Joyner and company take their cues from bar and club owners, who often book bands for several shows consecutively to create loyalty out of routine. “We want to develop a built-in audience who hang out at Milkboy like someone else might a corner bar,” says Alex Stryer, Milkboy’s booking manager.
“Bands and club owners have always built relationships with artists in this way,” Joyner adds, “But a coffee shop doing it, I suppose is a little different. We just want to give talented artists a home.”
This music-focused approach to running a coffeeshop has not gone unnoticed. Since opening, Milkboy has received a number of write-ups from publications across the region. And more often than not, the press draws comparisons to former Bryn Mawr living-room-style java establishment The Point, which closed in 2005.
But Joyner and his partners have managed to set themselves apart in a town saturated by the double-half-caf-latte crowd. And their upcoming ventures show no signs of changing. With plans to record live performances and sponsoring larger acts in off-site locations, Joyner and company plan to stick with what they know. “We have always kept the focus on music. We book like a club, not like a coffeehouse. I was always a music guy. And now I am a restaurateur, hard to believe!”