Live outdoor music has been a staple of Tantra SMTX’s culture since its opening in 2005. When Tantra’s ability to continue hosting live music events was threatened, the San Marcos community came together to support the coffee shop.
On Sept. 24, Tantra’s renewed conditional use permit for their live music restricted the accepted decibel limit to 60 decibels. Its owners attended a city council hearing on Nov. 19 to modify its permit to a decibel limit of 85 decibels before 10 p.m. and 75 decibels after 10 p.m.
“We have been fully adhering to our conditional use permit,” Jack DeCiutiis, the general manager of Tantra, said. “We had a response from law enforcement, but every single time we were within our rights.”
According to DeCiutiis, a very small number of people were upset about Tantra’s noise levels. When the San Marcos Police Department addressed the community members’ concerns, Tantra was still within its decibel limit. Following the risk of Tantra’s live music possibly getting shut down, the community came together to show their support.
“We had at least 200 emails to the city, and I think we had at least 50 people speak at the public hearing,” DeCiutiis said. “So, we were there for about three and a half hours just voicing our love for Tantra.”
With the support of the community, Tantra’s conditional use permit was modified to support its outdoor live music with a 7-0 vote in the San Marcos City Council. Justin James Bridges, a musician who often performs at Tantra with his 7-year-old daughter, Kali Bridges, attended the city council meeting, where Kali stood in front of the council to speak.
“They voted unanimously to save [the live music],” Justin said. “And so after the vote, three of the councilmen came up to Kali and told her that they changed their vote because of her speech.”
In her speech, Kali played her harmonica for the council and followed her performance by explaining how Tantra is one of the few places where children can perform due to its family-friendly atmosphere.
“She [was] like, ‘I think that we should save Tantra in the music scene because we need to,'” Justin said when recalling Kali’s speech. “‘We need to bring the music back to San Marcos.'”
Tantra hosts live music anywhere between three to five times a week. Every Wednesday, it hosts a Bluegrass night, which DeCiutiis said is the best community event it has. Many of the bands who regularly play at Tantra voiced their concerns at the public hearing or emailed the city of San Marcos in opposition to the issue.
“There’s not a lot of sober spaces,” Justin said. “There’s not a lot of places where you can hang out and get food and drink and be sober, and we need more places like that.”
Samantha Radloff, a Tantra employee, said it was scary when Tantra’s live music was threatened because she could have lost her job. With the threat that Tantra could have lost its ability to host live music, it would have likely closed, and the community formed during the live music events would be lost. With the city council’s unanimous vote, Tantra’s live music can continue.
“I feel so much more in the community in San Marcos than I ever did before,” Radloff said. “I feel like I have a family around me all the time… Everybody knows everybody, and I feel like I have made so many friends from working [at Tantra.]”
Tantra’s live music was saved with the community’s support. Justin said building a good music scene is difficult, but Tantra maintained that despite its adversities.
“I’m just glad the music’s there,” Justin said. “So go support local music, make sure you go out, go pay the cover and go see some bands.”
To see Tantra’s next live music event, visit https://www.tantrasanmarcos.com/general-4
