The Business, Art and Music of Hidden Treasures
by Helen Zhang, age 14
It was a bright and beautiful afternoon when fellow staff writers,
Antoneah Armour, Pallav Regmi, Victor Lien and I, went to visit Mahon
Antique Restorations. Located less than five minutes from our south side
newsroom, our editors told us this would be a good story. We weren’t
sure why. We were anticipating a lecture about furniture, but instead we
found something much more fascinating.
* * * *
When we arrived at our destination, the owners, John and Mark
Mahon, greeted us. They showed us around their workshop and told us
about their jobs. The two brothers started their restoration business in
1986. Since then, they have restored everything from trash found on the
roadside to priceless family heirlooms.
This antique restoration shop is a really interesting place. At
first glance, an untrained eye might see it as several rooms of stuff;
or even junk. But, as we soon learned, it is so much more. We soon
decided it was several rooms full of hidden treasures. The two brothers
told us they “like to save things, to keep them alive, and to renew
abused things instead of having them shoved into a landfill.”
They also introduced us to a new perspective about antique
restoration—restoration is like recycling. With their restoration
efforts, furniture that has been overused and worn down gains new life,
instead of being discarded like old socks. The Mahons work hard to keep
as much of the original furniture design as they can. They change as
little as possible in order to maintain the integrity of the original
piece.
Mark and John frequently surprise their customers by achieving the
seemingly impossible. For example, Mark shared a story about a project
to restore a music box. He was only required to restore the art on the
box, but in the process of tinkering with the box, he figured out how to
fix the gears of the functionless music box. The customer, who had
received the music box as a gift from her grandmother, never thought
she’d ever hear its music. When Mark showed her the completed box, and
the music it played, she was brought to tears.
But that’s not all the Mahon’s do. Besides running their own
business, the two of them also play in bands. That’s right—like in Rock
& Roll bands. Did I mention Mahon Antique Restorations is located in
a big warehouse-type building with a bunch of other businesses? Well,
it is. And soon we were winding our way through this huge warehouse, out
a back door, down a path that runs behind the building, up some stairs,
and in another back door. We are reporters and we do what we need to do
to get a story.
At the back of the warehouse is a music studio where John and Mark
can compose and play their music. The two brothers have played in bands
since the 80’s. Since then, they have gone on to make their own music
and even produce it themselves. Mark draws his inspiration from punk
rock and uses it to compose his scores. A variety of instruments such as
the bass, guitar, keyboard, and drums are involved in the finished
piece.
The music the Mahon brothers play has an Indie feel, combined with a
1980’s rock style. John even owns a Gibson SG from the 1960’s. This
guitar was found in rough condition, but after (you guessed it)
restoration, it is now almost as good as new.
During our tour, we were given the chance to try out the
instruments. As a violin player, it felt strange to hold such a big,
heavy instrument as the bass, but it was also very exciting. When the
bass was hooked up to the amplifier, the sound that came out was very
different from what I had expected – loud and electrifying. It was
especially fun to try a new instrument so different from what I usually
play.
This trip was very engaging and left our heads filled with much
more knowledge than when we entered. We learned about antique
restoration and also about music. On the way back to our newsroom we
decided this trip was about art, and the many interesting forms art can
take. Best of all, we got the chance to get to know and learn from some
really fascinating people.
* * * *
Later back at our newsroom, as we were working on our stories, our
editors told us this trip was also about business and the economy. At
first we weren’t quite sure what they meant, especially when they
referred to Mahon Antique Restoration as a “mom and pop.” After all,
they’re brothers. Now we get that mom and pops are small family-owned
businesses. And there are hundreds of these in south Madison. Our series
is called “
Stories from the South Side
.” Our area’s mom and pops will
provide some really fun stories.
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