Local music hub moves to old ‘May King’

By Jennifer Jacob / staff writer

October 05, 2008 12:58 am

— For Wayne Williams, moving his music store into the old May King building is a manifestation of destiny.
He said he's looked for the right place for years, and now that he's finally found it, everything seems to be falling into place.
"It was meant to be," he said. "It was destiny because of the way it lined up."
Meridian Underground Music has been located on 22nd Ave for 12 years, and Wayne compares the move to a coming of age.
"You can look at Meridian Underground and being born and growing up into a 12 year old. Now with moving it's becoming a teenager and kind of finding more direction."
Meridian Underground has been the main venue for the original music scene in Meridian since its inception in 1996. Williams regularly hosts admission-free all-ages shows featuring original bands, both local and touring.
The store nurtures the local original music community like nowhere else, provides a drug-free, alcohol-free place for local kids to hang out, and was a downtown business before being a downtown business was cool. Williams' dedication to the local music community is so strong that he even provides free space for music teachers to give lessons.
Meridian Underground's importance to downtown, to local youth, and to Meridian's music community is immeasurable.
Now that the store's moving, Williams hopes he will be able to provide an even greater benefit to his patrons and the community. The 22nd Avenue location will be more conveniently located, more user friendly, and kinder to the environment.
"Being a good mentor for the youth. Giving you a good positive place to shop in a well-lighted new downtown location," Williams said, will be the main focus of the new location.

What will change,
what will stay the same

Initially, the new store will expand to carry a broader range of musical equipment as well as all the merchandise it carries now. Williams will continue to provide free space for music lessons and for artists to play their music, but the indoor musical performances will be more toned down.
"More intimately small shows," he said, "more of an in-store type situation than shows."
As always, Meridian Underground will buy, sell, and trade CD's, DVD's, musical equipment and video games, but will only buy or trade items related to music or media. "We don't want to become a pawn shop," he said.
With the new location, Williams wants to expand his branding campaign with Meridian Underground Music t-shirts, posters, and jewelry, and make greater use of the slogan "MUM's the word."

Greener business

Williams has bought in to Meridian's "greening" campaign, and has made his first commitment to running a "green" business buy installing a "green" roof, which is actually a very bright white.
The roof, installed by Wallace Dearing Roofing solutions, is made of TPO single ply membrane, a non-petroleum roofing material that stays cool by reflecting light rather than absorbing it. Where a tar roof would burn to the touch in the summer heat, the new roof at Meridian Underground would be perfectly comfortable to walk on barefoot in August, Dearing said.
The white roof and its reflective properties will keep the inside of the building dramatically cooler, thus dramatically reducing its carbon footprint as well as it's power bill.

What's in store

The new location will be a vast improvement for Meridian Underground in terms of convenience, aesthetics, location, and environmental friendliness as soon as it opens, but Williams has even bigger plans for the store's future.
Among his hopes for further-down-the-road improvements to the store are the conversion of the old May King kitchen into a recording studio where local and regional artists can rent session time.
He also hopes to eventually provide coffee and internet access to his patrons, utilizing what was once May King's waiter station.
The current location of Meridian Underground Music will go out with a bang - they plan to hold their last Halloween show and costume contest in the old building after all the merchandise has been moved to the new one.
Williams and his wife, Stacey, hope to have the move completed in the next two weeks. Meridian Underground Music carries CD's, DVD's, vinyl records, musical equipment, posters, incense, skateboarding equipment, lighting and party supplies, sheet music and instructional books, novelty decorations, and a variety of other merchandise.

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