Rising Stars: Meet Mara-Alina Robinson

Today we’d like to introduce you to Mara-Alina Robinson.

Hi Mara, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstories.
The bar opened in 1978 and has hosted live music. The bar was primarily known for Blues and Reggae with bands such as Band News Blues, Heather Hardy’s Lil Mama Band, Shell Shock, and the legendary Neon Prophet. With uncertain times due to the pandemic, the bar announced its closure.

In April 2021 the bar was bought and reopened its doors. We still feature live music Wednesday through Sunday every week and we are expanding our horizons. We feature a wider variety of local bands like ZeeCeeKeely, Desert Fish, Off the Record, Diluvio, and Faded Genes.

We have a larger variety of genres that include: rock, blues, reggae, jazz, Latin rock, soul, and funk. Additionally, we have touring bands that come through our doors like Dubbest, Synergy, Rebel Shakedown, and Tomorrow’s Bad Seeds, and want to reach all crowd ages possible.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It definitely has not been a smooth road. The pandemic caused a lot of turmoil and there is still uncertainty about the future. The largest obstacle was bringing crowds back in, but we have overcome that and are trying to reach out to other crowds and age groups.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
We are locally owned and run off a small crew of employees. Our bartender/manager Kerwyn is a legend at this bar and most people know him for his upbeat personality and his specialty cocktail, The Kersilk. My name is Mara and I am a bartender/manager. I handle most music bookings at the bar.

We have the lovely Heather that bartends and she is definitely the bubbly personality. The three of us have different personalities and aesthetics, but combined we are unstoppable. We are a team that wants nothing more than for the bar to be known and to create an experience people won’t forget about.

Contact Info:

• Website: chicagobar-tucson.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ChicagoBarTucson

Image Credits
Justin Nazari