Alex is our August featured thumpista. Proud to be a native of Saginaw, MI (also the hometown of Stevie Wonder), Alex found his way to Bend recently after his parents moved here. Before coming to Bend, Alex lived in Seattle where he studied Sports Administration at Seattle University, where he was a graduate assistant, helping manage S.U.’s basketball team. He also worked at Diva Espresso, a café that was in Kent and Hazel’s neighborhood way back when we lived in Seattle in the ’90s.

If you’ve spent any time with Alex, you’ll notice he’s quick to smile and engage in conversation that often ends up going in a very entertaining and unanticipated direction. He describes himself as someone who is ” . . . always engaged in some creative endeavor . . . I’m always inspired with something new from one week to another.” Currently, he and our thumpista Mark are throwing around ideas for a TV sitcom about young artists in their late 20s to early 30s living in a ski town. His role is creative design, producer, and actor. “Hopefully Mark will cast me,” he quips.

When asked what else he enjoys, the conversation got interesting. His initial response: ” . . . Thinking about investing, and how to get rich quick . . . . I’m also interested in developing coffee skills,” he said. “Even though I spend 30-plus hours here, I still have interest outside of work in learning about coffee.”

“I’m also interested in writing as an avenue to express ideas . . . . More of a development of an idea than a completion of a project.” He spent 1-1/2 years completing a book titled, “The Cannery, A Story of Ensuing Maddness.” Alex describes this book as a young adult, adventure, humor story. He also wrote and produced a three-man musical titled, “Heartless, A Bjork Musical Tribute.” This is “a musical set to the style of Bjork when she was 12 years old. The performance was 30 minutes of jam packed humor!” he added. Alex is also one-third of the way through writing a memoir of his drive to Mexico with his brother and friend. And, he’s half way through completing a story about “the first coming of a soul singer messiah in Motown in the ’60s and ’70s,” he described.

Sometimes when we bring on new thumpistas, the interview only scratches the surface in exposing who these people are, their interests and the talents they possess. This has certainly been the case with Alex. We appreciate his dedication to continuing to learn about coffee and preparing quality drinks. And, we are amazed by the humor he creates at the shop as well as his ambitions for the future!