S.J. coffee shop gets a snappy new jingle
Some people sidelined during shelter-in-place baked bread or brewed beer. Others volunteered at nonprofits or learned to garden. San Jose native Justin Keyes wrote a jingle to draw attention to Roy’s Station, the popular coffee shop in San Jose’s Japantown.
The snappy ditty, co-created by Keyes and another musically inclined actor, John Campione, is featured in the first episode of their new podcast, “Pod Help the Outcasts,” which is aimed at celebrating the advertising jingle and helping out small businesses that have suffered during the coronavirus pandemic.
“We basically find small businesses and try to help you not forget about them during the quarantine because they’re all struggling, and we write original jingles for them,” Keyes said in the podcast.
And Roy’s has a special place in Keyes’ heart. Although he lives in New York, Keyes has been sheltering in place at the home of his mother, Claire Keyes, near Japantown. He has been a big fan of Roy’s for years and wanted to do something to help it.
“They’ve got to be taking a major hit,” he said on the podcast.
“I think they’ll definitely make it through this because for everyone in the neighborhood there, that’s their go-to. It hurt my heart because they’re so wonderful.”
The snappy ditty is done in barbershop quartet style, though it features only two singers, Keyes and Campione (who recorded their pieces separately in San Jose and New York). The lyrics celebrate both Roy’s history as a gas station/garage and its barbecued pork buns, an amazing feat of songwriting that Stephen Sondheim would be proud of. You can listen to “Pod Help the Outcasts” on iTunes or Spotify, and you can watch a video for the Roy’s Station jingle at youtu.be/RIX60_5rMg8.
TRANSITION AT UNITED WAY BAY AREA, HOUSING TRUST
>> Kevin Zwick is stepping down as CEO of the Housing Trust Silicon Valley after 12 years as its
CEO to take the top job at United Way Bay Area next month. He takes over for Anne Wilson, who retired from United Way Bay Area in February after 20 years and oversaw the agency’s 2016 merger with United Way Silicon Valley.
“I am extremely excited and humbled by the opportunity to serve as CEO of United Way Bay Area at this critical juncture for our region,” Zwick said in a statement. “The current COVID-19 pandemic has laid bare the inequity in our communities and the lack of a strong safety net for those who need it most.”
During Zwick’s tenure at the Housing Trust, he championed affordable housing policies and helped lead efforts to pass housing ballot proposals including Measure A in Santa Clara County, Measure E in San Jose and statewide Propositions 1 and 2. Housing Trust CFO Julie Mahowald will assume interim CEO duties June 26.
FEEDING THE FRONT LINE >>
The staff of the Palo Alto Medical Foundation in Sunnyvale got a lunchtime treat Tuesday, courtesy of the nonprofit group Meal to Heal, which has been raising money to provide meals to frontline medical workers in the Bay Area. South Bay coordinator Steve Hartman says the effort has the added bonus of supporting local restaurants.
For Tuesday’s lunch, the group raised $1,300 and bought 70 meals from Five Guys Burgers and Fries nearby off El Camino Real and Sunnyvale-Saratoga Road. About a dozen volunteers shows up and greeted the medical workers who came out to get their lunch. You can get more information about Meal to Heal’s work at mealtoheal.org.