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VOLUME 147, ISSUE 28 | THURSDAY, MAY 23, 2024

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Watermelon Music announces closure after nearly 30 years

The store’s owners, employees share memories of the well-known community oriented space BY GRETA FOEHR features@theaggie.org On May 10, Watermelon Music, one of Davis’ local music stores, announced that it will be closing in the near future. Watermelon Music has been around since 1996 and has been a pillar in the local music community ever since. In addition to a storefront, Watermelon Music has lesson studios, a repair shop and a concert venue. Current owner Jeff Simmons described the goal of his familyowned business. “We try to capture the whole experience, you know what I mean? It’s not just enough to sell the instrument — we teach you how to play it, we’ll fix it for you, we’ll give you a place to perform, we’ll let you rent it ahead of time if you want to see how it goes,” Simmons said. “And you can also just come in and hang out and talk to people. That’s why I think the physical music store is important.” Simmons came to Davis in 1989 as a third-year at UC Davis. He started off working at a music store that was downtown at the time and where Fleet Feet is today. In 1996, he bought the store with a partner and has been the owner ever since. “My partner and I had a business plan,” Simmons said. “We were 20 years old or something like that. We knew we wanted to get involved with the schools. We knew we wanted to get involved with any kind of community organization that needed help. We knew we wanted to grow the rentals. We knew we wanted to be the sheet

Watermelon Music’s wide selection of instruments, amps, accessories and more. (Courtesy / Greta Foehr) music powerhouse in the area. We had all these ideas, and then we just sort of, over time, chipped away at them.” Simmons established a rent-to-own program, where people, mostly students in the Davis school district, are able to rent instruments for $15-25 a month until they have paid off the cost of the instrument. At that point, they get to keep it — making music more accessible to the Davis community. Koan Sato, a future UC Davis student, has been working at Watermelon for 10 months. He discussed the ways that the store has

kept its community in mind through the implementation of its practices. “We have a pay-to-rent-to-own [program], which is pretty friendly,” Sato said. “I don’t think it’s easy to get into music without that. There are also music services, like specialized labor that we do. Anyone can order however many packs of guitar strings on Amazon, and they’ll probably be pretty cheap too. But not everyone has the skill of restringing guitars so that they stay in tune or are set up well.” In 2000, the store moved to the spot where Raising Cane’s currently

lives, and they taught lessons out of the upstairs space. In 2016, their landlord announced that he wanted to sell his properties, and Watermelon was forced to find a new home. In the nick of time, Simmons found their current location and bought the building in 2017. They renovated the building, incorporating space for The Melon Ball concert venue and new teaching studios in addition to the storefront. Avery Snyder, a fourth-year music major, was a sales employee for three years and now hosts the monthly open mic nights in The Melon Ball. She

also shared an inside secret about Watermelon Music’s old location. “There’s an Easter egg: if you go to Raising Cane’s, there’s a metal tree on the right side of the door, and if you look up into the fake branches, you can see a metal watermelon,” Snyder said. “So Watermelon [music] will always live downtown.” Rentals and purchases quickly declined during the pandemic, and since then, sales have been steady but costs have increased. Shipping costs and employee health insurance now take up a larger portion of the store’s expenses, and with customers opting to order instruments and equipment directly online, the store was not making enough profit to justify staying open. “It was a mixture of recovering from [COVID-19] and the new location without foot traffic because we used to be downtown,” Snyder said. “Now our store is four times the size. We have a lot more space but less customers, and prices are just going up and up and Amazon sucks; everyone wants instant things for the cheapest price they can get.” They do not currently have a set date to close, as they are looking for a buyer for the building. They plan to stay open through the summer, with a 10% off sale this month, 20% off next month and will continue to increase the discounts until 50% off.

WATERMELONMUSIC on 8

Leah Jung resigns from Varsity Theater hosts ASUCD Senate effective early screening of ‘20 Days in Mariupol’ spring quarter 2024 The one-term former senator says professional duties negatively impacted her academic career

With the support of the Davis Rotary clubs and F Street Dispensary, the screening raised funds for Davis’ sister city, Uman BY MATTHEW MCELDOWNEY city@theaggie.org

The ASUCD Senate meets on the third floor of the Memorial Union every Thursday evening for their weekly meeting. (Aggie File) BY VINCE BASADA campus@theaggie.org Leah Jung, a previous ASUCD senator, resigned from her position earlier this quarter. The resignation was announced by Senate President Pro Tempore Trinity Chow on May 2. Jung, a third-year international relations major, ran as part of the Renaissance slate in fall 2023 and served for a little over one academic quarter. Jung initially ran on a campaign advocating increased ASUCD transparency, though she says she later shifted her focus to making students more comfortable with expressing their “vulnerabilities.” The large time commitment and Senate meetings that would last hours after their scheduled end times were the primary reasons behind the resignation, according to Jung. “The quarter system is really hard,” Jung said. “I was taking a lot of classes. I feel like because of my work [as a Senator], I couldn’t really focus on my

academic career.” Jung transferred to UC Davis from De Anza College in the fall and learned about ASUCD at a housing event. She says that an ASUCD official encouraged her to run for student office, despite never having been a part of student government before. She would win her election alongside current Senator Jonathan Ng on the Renaissance slate in November 2023. “I loved her passion for helping the community and being a strong voice for international students on the table,” Ng wrote in a statement to The Aggie. “It was the reason I ran with her and I hope she’s doing well.” At the May 2 Senate meeting where her departure was announced, Chow expressed her desire for ASUCD officials planning to resign in the future to give greater notice. Jung’s resignation was effective immediately. Jung also noted that her personal mental health had played a role in her decision to leave. Jung further discussed her resignation and overall time on the Senate.

“I think it was an experience,” Jung said. “I should not apologize for my weakness and my lack of proficiency. But I know there are people who are concerned about resignation, and I’m sorry for that.”

On May 11, former city of Davis Mayor Brett Lee organized a free-ofcharge film screening of the Academy Award-winning documentary, “20 Days in Mariupol.” The documentary takes on the perspective of an Associated Press team of reporters as Russian invasionary forces besieged the city of Mariupol, turning it into a battleground. The documentary discusses the RussiaUkraine war through its depictions of urban warfare. It is the onset of this war that prompted the city of Davis to attempt to rekindle their relationship with Uman for whom this screening was fundraising. They began coordinating fundraising efforts in March 2022 for charities like World Central Kitchen, but it was not until a Ukrainian refugee family had moved into Davis that the city was able to directly coordinate efforts with Uman, according to Lee. In December 2022, the Davis Odd Fellows and Davis Sunset Rotary Club worked together to fund and send generators for Uman. To this end, Lee traveled to the city itself in March 2023 to ensure that these generators had arrived safely while getting the chance to meet and connect with the mayor and the people of Uman. “Traveling on a bus with a bunch of people who don’t speak English, going somewhere where you’re not really sure about where you are going is an adventure,” Lee said. “But, the people are very kind, very appreciative and so

I feel like I’ve been very fortunate to be able to visit.” Uman, a city about the size of Davis, has a college called Pavlo Tychyna University. Lee spoke with his translator who was working at the university and said that in her department alone, there were two students that had lost parents in the war. This inspired Lee to create a scholarship fund of $20,000 for students who had been impacted by the war by the loss of a parent or displacement. This Davis-Uman sister city scholarship has provided financial aid for 28 students attending Pavlo Tychyna University. To continue funding for this scholarship, Lee reached out to the team behind “20 Days in Mariupol” to screen the documentary for free to the public. This screening received generous contributions from the Davis Rotary clubs, F Street Dispensary and from individual donations made by members of the Davis community. Davis Varsity Theater donated the venue for the screening itself. Sinisa Novakovic, the owner of Davis Varsity Theater along with Mishka’s and Icekrimski cafe, knew Lee before and had previously organized a similar fundraising event at Varsity last year. Novakovic opened Mishka’s cafe 29 years ago and acquired Varsity 11 years after. Novakovic stressed the importance of values in his businesses by using ethically sourced and providing his support for causes such as the RussiaUkraine war. VARSITY on 8

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Davis Rotary Club hosts a movie screening at the Varsity Theatre downtown. (Sacha Chickering / Aggie)