Carmine Street Guitars

Front Row at the Movies by Shirrel Rhoades

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I’ve walked past the shop. Once, out of curiosity, I even stuck my head inside and spotted owner Rick Kelly there in the tiny confines of Carmine Street Guitars.

Rick is a fabled guitar-maker whose shop in New York City is tucked away on a little side street in Greenwich Village. I used to have an office in Soho, only a short stroll away.

Eventually, I would discover him on my explorations of NYC’s odd and unknown spots – like Live Bait, the trendy restaurant masquerading as a bait shop, or Movie Star News where you could buy vintage photos of Bettie Page from Irvin Klaw’s sister, or that little diner where Jim Jarmusch and the Demme brothers sometimes hung out, or the restaurant in Little Italy where the mobster Crazy Joey Gallo was shot, or the secret bootleggers bar hidden deep in the basement of the famous 21 Club.

You just had to know where to look.

Carmine Street Guitars was a place like that, off the beaten path, but you’d find it if you were a musician looking for a handmade guitar.

Rick Kelly finds his wood for making guitars all over the city, from dead trees and torn down buildings, and even a historic tavern. Then he artfully crafts it into a guitar designed to make the angels listen.

Toronto filmmaker Ron Mann set up his camera and recorded a week in the life of Rick Martin’s little shop, capturing Rick and his apprentice at work, famous musicians dropping by, even a visit from Jim Jarmusch who owns a guitar made out of catalpa wood.

This documentary feels small and intimate, filmed in Rick Kelly’s cramped shop on Carmine Street. And it is. It’s as personal a look as you’ll get short of a visit.

“Carmine Street Guitars” is playing tonight at Tropic Cinema as part of its Cinematheque Series.

Mann’s camera captures visits to the shop by Dallas and Travis Good of the Sadies, the Roots’ Kirk Douglas, the Fiery Furnaces’ Eleanor Friedberger, jazz guitarists Bill Frisell and Marc Ribot, Lenny Kaye of the Patti Smith Group.

Mostly they are dropping by just to shoot the breeze. Sometimes they play music. The film takes on the aura of a jam session.

You’ll meet Cindy Hulej, the specialist who etches elaborate designs onto Rick’s guitars. You’ll see Rick’s 93-year-old mom dusting the place in the background. You can check out the specialty guitar he’s building for McSorley’s Old Ale House (one of my old hangouts). There are loads of photos on the walls depicting rock legends. And you’ll see guitars, lots of guitars.

As one visitor said, “You can smell the history in the air.”

Email Shirrel: srhoades@aol.com