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| Wednesday, Sept. 3 • 7 PM |
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Poetry Open Mic |
| $3 |
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With Featured Reader Phillip Levine |
Chronogram poetry editor since 2003, Levine has read and published widely, is president of the Woodstock Poetry Society, and co-director of Woodstock Poetry Festival. |
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 Rich-voiced folksinger Cindy Kallet and Irish flutist Grey Larsen, each well-known and loved for their decades of music making, have joined forces. The duo's repertoire, as heard on their debut CD, Cross the Water, includes traditional Irish music, Scandinavian fiddle duets, old-time fiddle and guitar tunes from southern Indiana, and new music that Cindy and Grey are inventing together.
Included are vocal duets, guitar, Irish flute, Irish alto flute, tin whistle, concertina, harmonium, and duet fiddling, and plenty of stories that put the music into a personal context.
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 One of our favorite songwriters, Michael Jerling, has been touring nationally since 1975 but happens to live right here in Saratoga. He is a keen student of the good and ghastly in American life, with a first-rate lyrical sense and impressive melody-making borrowed from blues, rock, country and R&B.
He weaves themes like a novelist, evoking our shortcomings and dreams without yielding to cynicism or sentimentality. An Iowa reviewer called Michael's newest CD, Crooked Path (2007), "Stronger than new rope. Especially recommended to fans of Gorka, Greg Brown, Dave Alvin or any other real smart people who make real good music."
Michael's delightfully melodic sound is accented by Teresina Huxtable on reed organ and accordion, and Tony Markellis on bass.
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 This versatile young Boston songwriter is known for having a great voice and clever way with lyrics. He's also known for having one of the most varied repertoires in modern roots music. He has done a political album (Hope & Other Casualties), a western swing album (Hillbilly Pilgrim), and plenty of gentle, New England folk ballads.
His songs are affecting and personal without straying into diary entries, with common themes ranging from love, politics, family, resignation, redemption and just plain fun.
Tonight Mark will be
debuting his brand new Signature Sounds album, Delivered. |
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Watch out! It's three against one as this trio of rollicking smart-alecks makes you snarf your coffee, screech out loud, and suffer a two-hour dose of rib-tickling side cramps.
Don't let Carla Ulbrich's diminutive size and cute looks fool you! She has frequently been in the "Funny 5" (top 5 most requested songs) on the Dr. Demento show and is heard world-wide on XM radio, Sirius Satellite, the BBC and the Howard Stern Channel. Her themes include Klingons, the Waffle House, and dating for food (autobiographical?).
George Wurzbach, known in these parts as one third of Modern Man, introduces himself: "I'm From Brooklyn, actually. Home of the scenic Gowanus Canal - a body of water so filled with bacteria and other living cells that scientists consider it a mammal." His laid-back, straight faced performance style leaves listeners slack-jawed with wonder at his twisted mind as he makes a playground of our collective human errors.
Mike Agranoff grounds the show with a firm anchor of folk roots. He's the guy who reminds us why folk music is so special to the soul, so able to make us laugh and cry and think. His easy, swinging guitar and cheeky concertina provide unadulterated delight for fans of hearty ballads, English drinking songs and Tin Pan Alley tunes, all selected for their magical ability to produce gales of laughter.
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 By the time Stevie Ray Vaughan pulled nineteen-year-old Siobhán Quinn up on stage to dance with him on 'Look at Little Sister,' she was already a music veteran. She had sung traditional Irish, English and American folk, art songs & medieval madrigals in five languages, as well as rock & roll for years. She is, without doubt, a born singer who belts and soothes her way through explosive performances, cutting straight to the heart of a song in a way that is at much theater as music.
Siobhan is now teamed up with guitarist and songwriter Michael Bowers. A 2005 Kerrville New Folk / 2006 South Florida Folk Finalist, Bowers delivers the songwriting goods. He's received significant radio airplay in Europe and Australia, as well as across the U.S., and toured nationally as a solo artist prior to joining with (and marrying) Siobhan.
Special guest Ben Murray will be adding his stellar lead guitar, dynamite blues harp, and completely random humor.
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 Named for the legendary rural songstress Ola Belle Reed, this New York quintet draws from a deep well of gospel, blues, bluegrass, and country influences, always honoring the source while remaining effortlessly contemporary.
It's a multitalented, democratic collective featuring Amy Helm (daughter of Levon) on mandola, Byron Isaacs on bass and dobro, Tony Leone on drums, Fiona McBain on acoustic and electric guitars, and Glenn Patscha on keyboards and accordion.
All members sing, often in luscious five-part harmony, creating an evocative palette of acoustic and electric textures that has landed them shows with Diana Krall, Buddy Miller, and Allison Krauss, and a home on T Bone Burnett's label.
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 Called "a cross between the Dixie Chicks and 'O Brother, Where Art Thou'' this hot NYC trio blends their voices on irresistible songs by Gillian Welch, Iris DeMent and Hank Williams, adding in bluegrass standards, old-time southern gospel, and classic American tunes. You simply can't hear them without falling in love.
Their latest album, Love and Other Tragedies, is currently in the top 15 of the Americana Chart, and number three on the Roots Music Report's Folk Top 50. Red Molly's show at Caffè Lena last March sold out more than a week in advance so don't wait until the last minute to buy your tickets!
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| Jon |
Pat |
When Jon and Pat made their first joint appearance at Caffè Lena last winter, we predicted it would be one of the stand-out shows of the season. We were not disappointed. Some who were here said it was their favorite show ever at Caffè Lena.
North Carolina's Jon Shain is an ace fingerstyle bluesman and harmonica player who can turn out fine versions of the genre's classics, but especially shines when playing his own poignant ballads.
Pat Wictor of NYC is a lap slide guitar player who will stop you in your mental tracks with deep lyrics and blues riffs perfectly suited to one another.
Both guys are quick-witted, brilliant improvisors and adept supporters of one another's material.
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 Patty is an incisive songwriter full of wordplay and detail, a richly textured singer, and hilarious performer all rolled into one. Her folk-pop songs have earned an unprecedented 11 Boston Music Awards and a place on America's most prominent folk stages.
Her new album, Watch the Sky (Vanguard, 2008), was picked as a Critic's Choice by the New York Times, called "Masterful" by Billboard, and "Gripping" by the Boston Globe. Her songs "pull listeners in with mantras and searching, Zen-inspired phrases, but (come) down to earth with moments of gentle ache and sweet joy." -Associated Press |
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 One fact cannot be disputed: Melissa Ferrick puts on one hell of a live show. She's fierce and funny, outspoken and vulnerable, passionate  and real. The emotional honesty of her first-person lyrics, the force of her vocal delivery, and the disciplined fury of her musicianship connects her to her audience with confidence and grace.
This special show will celebrate the release of her brand new album, Goodbye Youth.
New York City singer-songwriter and author Stewart Lewis will open the show with his folk-pop songs. His music has been featured on Ghost Whisperer, MTV¹s Laguna Beach, Dawson¹s Creek, and the 20th Century Fox feature film Firehouse Dog. |
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 Take folk songs new and old, great instrumentals with thoughtful arrangements, strong male vocals featuring three-part harmonies, then add to that a keen sense of fun and you have North Sea Gas.
This trio of Scotsmen has been performing for 26 years all over the U.K, Europe, Scandinavia, Canada and the USA. They've recorded 14 albums and have received numerous gold and silver discs from the Scottish Music Industry Association.
This will be their first appearance at Caffè Lena, and we're certain they'll soon become a house favorite.
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 Whether it's pulsing funk or a haunting ballad, this passionate and unrestrained duo will lift your spirits with "the fearlessness of a high wire act working without a net." Karen opts for the primal combination of voice and drum, putting her heart into a song the way a great actor throws herself into a role.
Her supple, soulful alto is "both sex and spirit, growling and whispering the listener into submission." Pete's "inspired and transcendent" guitar work mimics a cello, a pedal steel, a rutting elk, and some things only imagined. Folk fans will recognize Karen and Pete from their recordings and live appearances with Greg Brown, Bob Dylan, Ry Cooder, Bonnie Raitt, Lucinda Williams and many others.
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 Bill Miller is one of the most admired figures in Native American music. He has won two Grammy Awards and six Native American Music Awards. He began learning traditional songs at an early age in his native Wisconsin and has spent a lifetime mastering folk music, bluegrass and the Native American flute.
He has written songs with Nancy Griffith, Peter Rowan and Kim Carnes, and shared the stage with such diverse artists as Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder, the BoDeans, Richie Havens, Arlo Guthrie and Tori Amos.
His latest work blends Native American and western folk/blues traditions into something wholly new. He is currently recording a new album with John Carter Cash.
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