Daniel Arthur Jacobson's Chatterbox is the kind of short film you'd expect to find in an "Indiana Spotlight" block of short films, a 16-minute journey through a familiar slice of downtown Indianapolis history in the form of Mass Avenue's beloved Chatterbox Tavern. The "box," as it is oft referred to throughout the film, is the kind of retro-styled, never been updated dive joint where jazz lovers and hep cats hang out with Indy's movers-and-shakers with jazz music featured every night of the week and soul-changing conversations almost guaranteed to happen. 

Truth be told, the Chatterbox has always been the type of club I've avoided, a 35-year-old joint in a much older building that couldn't possibly be described as wheelchair friendly unless you'd smoked a little weed and were able to convince yourself that you were floating over the joint's, pun intended, intimate yet casual and friendly interior. For someone like me, a wheelchair user, the Chatterbox is the kind of club you go to if you want to stay for awhile because there's a pretty good chance it's going to be hard as hell to get out of it anytime soon.

Despite the challenge, the Chatterbox is the kind of club that you still go to once in awhile because that's how longtime owner David Andrichik designed it. It's a pain in the ass to go back, but you gotta' go back because the music is so damn good and the people are so damn friendly. 

Damn. I want to go back now. 

Chatterbox is the kind of short film that makes you want to leave your office, get in your car and head on down to the box for some jazzy conversations and music from Indy's jazz beginners and elites all jammin' together to make it happen. From Rob Dixon, a Chatterbox regular, to a host of others whom you've likely seen on stages around Indy and even nationally, the Chatterbox isn't so much a place you go to be seen but it's a place to go where you will be seen. 

Daniel Arthur Jacobson's Chatterbox is, indeed, a love note to the kind of bar that doesn't so much exist anymore with its older interiors, decided lack of cutesie drinks and extreme devotion to the welfare of the musicians. The short film is screening as part of the 2017 Heartland Film Festival's "Indiana Spotlight Program Shorts 1" and it should be immediately followed by a visit to downtown Indy's Mass Avenue. 

© Written by Richard Propes
The Independent Critic