Mutiny Information Café, an iconic counter-culture bookstore and comedy venue at 2 S. Broadway, was seized by the city of Denver on Thursday for failure to pay back taxes totaling $35,000.

But a GoFundMe campaign started Friday morning raised more than $50,000 from 925 donors in one day, assuring that beleaguered owners Jim Norris and Matt Megyesi will meet their obligation to the city.

Norris said he believes Mutiny could re-open within a week.

“We are humbled and relieved,” Norris told The Denver Gazette late Friday night. “We know that we have our work cut out for us honoring all these good people who donated. We are excited to get back to work doing what we do. Thank you Denver.”

Mutiny’s problems started, as for so many, with the prolonged pandemic shutdown.

“Coming out of COVID  has been hard on all small businesses and humans across the world,” Norris said. But Mutiny’s problems were further compounded earlier this year when Megyesi suffered a near-fatal heart attack. He is now both on a kidney-transplant list and experiencing major vision loss. Norris calls his partner’s recovery to date “miraculous but slow.”

Norris takes full responsibility for Mutiny’s present tax predicament. Megyesi generally handles the finances of the business, and Norris said he was in a daze for the first three months of his illness and wasn’t paying attention to the city’s demand for payment. Still, he pointed out, the Colorado Department of Revenue web site lists 2,250 Colorado businesses that owe hundreds of millions in back taxes. But that’s the state. Norris said the city seized Mutiny after only two notices.

Mutiny is a defiantly independent new and used bookstore with a coffee bar, comic-book shop, records, posters and pinball machines. It hosts live music films, author events, magic shows and more. Norris calls Mutiny “a safe space for all people and communities we love and represent: LGBTQ+, anarchists, punks, hiphoppas, nerds, sex workers, writers, comedians, artists, oddballs, goofballs, etc.”

“We are absolutely floored with humility,” GoFundMe organizer Kyle Sutherland wrote to supporters today. It’s moments like this that remind all of us how necessary and special it is to create and share accessible spaces with and for all people and artists in our community.”

But Mutiny has been battling one setback after another since the COVID shutdown and Megyesi’s medical problems, including the murder of Denver tattoo artist and friend Alicia Cardenas of the nearby Sol Tribe Tattoo & Piercing. And twice in the past three months the store has been the target of separate acts of vandalism. One involved a stalker who bashed in the front door and was arrested, Norris said, then later someone else smashed in two windows. A GoFundMe campaign at that time raised $17,000. Norris also recently discovered a pattern of employee theft, both in product and payroll. Still, he said, his remaining staff of nine has been fully paid to date, and that the cafe is current on all other taxes, fees and insurance. 

“To say the last few months have been rough is an understatement,” added Norris’ wife, Jessica Halpine.

“Mutiny has hosted many iconic American authors and paid tribute to bygone artists like Neal Cassady,” Jack Kopp of Camp Elasticity Productions wrote in a blog post today. “Jim Morrison’s brother-in-law, author Alan Graham of Liverpool, England, called Mutiny ‘Bob Dylan’s Dream,’ and compared it to the shops on Penny Lane he knew as a kid.”

Norris and Megyesi and known by many as the countercultural stewards of Denver. Norris says that for nine years, he and Megyesi “have been lucky enough to do our own thing and fiercely stick to it with two middle fingers pointing straight up.”

The published GoFundMe goal was to raise a very specific $42,126 – of which $35,000 would cover the taxes and $7,000 would go toward GoFundMe fees. The additional $126 was purely an act of sentiment.

“Matt and I chose 126 as our random lucky number when we were teenagers,” Norris said. “You’ll notice it all over the store. It’s sort of like when people say Jesus appears to them on toast. If he can appear on toast, he can appear anywhere. It’s a good-karma thing.”

Asked for his reaction to the initial success of the campaign, Norris said: “My favorite movie is ‘It’s a Wonderful Life,’ and my favorite quote is, ‘No man is a failure who has friends.’ Matt and I are overwhelmed. We have so many friends.”