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Tickets are available online, or through a 24/7 call-in box office.
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| Saturday, Nov. 1 • 1 PM |
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Fundraiser for Kanatsiohareke: |
$15 |
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The Traditional Mohawk Community |
| www.mohawkcommunity.com |
With Guest Speaker Tom Porter, Mohawk Elder
Music by Roy Hurd, Frank Orsini and Meadow Merry
Stories by Joseph Bruchac, and Kay Olan of the Wolf Clan
 The Kanatsiohareke Community in Fonda, NY is a working farm and teaching center that combines traditional Mohawk culture with new earth-friendly practices.
Caffè Lena is contributing the room and Adirondack singer-songwriter Roy Hurd is contributing the music, all to raise money for the maintenance of Kanatsiohareke.
Mohawk Elder Tom Porter, founder and leader of the center will be on hand to speak about this important project that is reviving the Mohawk language and inspiring positive lifestyles. |
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 Singer-songwriter Bob Warren has a special genius for assembling crowd-pleasing bands and keeping them busy with a steady supply of immediately appealing, '60s influenced songs. His melodic, uplifting soft rock and soul music has made him a perennial favorite in the Capital District.
During the past few years he has started touring outside the area and has penned the score for two popular area musicals.
We always get the deluxe version of Bob's road show when he comes to Caffè Lena, with a full complement of bass (Tony Markellis), guitar (Don Warren), drums, cello and keyboard.
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 As Confucius said "If you choose a job that you love, you'll never work another day in your life." David Roth's response: "Why was he called 'Confucius'? He should have been called 'Clarity-boy'." Ah, David! He loves his "work" and lets it show.
Blend a whoosh of Will Rogers, a dash of David Letterman, a touch of James Taylor-meets-Jerry-Seinfeld and you've got a sense of what this veteran songwriter is like. His humor is brilliant, but his art has true power because it's about much more than easy laughs: he tackles subjects of genuine depth, touching and, above all, inspiring his listeners to feel good, share their joy, and do good things for the planet.
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| Wednesday, Nov. 5 • 7 PM |
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Poetry Open Mic |
| $3 |
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With Featured Reader Jay Rogoff |
Jay Rogoff's new book of poems, The Long Fault, was published by Louisiana State University Press in 2008. His earlier books include 1995's The Cutoff, set in the world of minor league baseball, and How We Came to Stand on That Shore, issued in 2003. He has also published a chapbook, First Hand (1997), about marriage and dairy farming. His poems have appeared in many journals and magazines, among them Agni, The Georgia Review, The Kenyon Review, Literary Imagination, Ploughshares, The Progressive, Salmagundi, Shenandoah, The Southern Review, and The Yale Review.
He teaches in the English Department at Skidmore College and lives in Saratoga Springs.
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 This Vermont stringband performs a winning combination of Celtic tunes, bluegrass, sea shanties and folk songs, interspersed with plenty of down-home wit and comeraderie. They've been dealt some serious blows in the last couple years, with the sad loss of two band members. But, they've come through like champs and have anounced the permanent addition of one of Vermont's finest singer-songwriters, Patti Casey.
Patti has been a guest on Prairie Home Companion, a songwriting winner at Kerrville and Merlefest, and brings to Woods Tea her skills on guitar, penny whistle, flute and French-Canadian clogging.
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 When Katherine Rhoda steps to the stage with her waist-length red hair, big open smile, and collection of fascinating instruments, she radiates joy and, without fail, it's not long before her listeners do, too!
Her choice of instruments is unique: marxophone, ukelin, violin-guitar, Lithuanian kanklés, and the more conventional autoharp, dulcimer, accordion, and guitar. Whether sharing a traditional ballad, a rollicking instrumental, or a piece of humorous social satire, she brings a lucid and refreshing quality of intelligent, respectful, open-hearted presence to her work.
In the face of so many forces that separate and isolate us, her goal is to be joyfully subversive, drawing her listeners into an experience of contact, ease, mutuality, gusto and Big Fun. This show is the perfect choice for the whole family.
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| Sunday, Nov. 9 • 2 PM |
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Skidmore Small Jazz Ensembles |
| $5 |
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Benefit for Caffè Lena |
 Come enjoy an afternoon of diverse jazz styles and inspiring talent as the
music students of Skidmore College take the stage with their guitars, brass,
reeds, keyboards, drums and vocals. They never fail to put on truly engaging
show of jazz standards and contemporary compositions. This is a great one to
bring your aspiring young music student to! |
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 David Jacobs-Strain is a consummate finger-style and slide guitarist radiating echoes of Skip James, Charlie Patton, and Tommy Johnson. But as young (24) and thoroughly modern artist, his influences stretch far and wide: Afro-pop, Indian classical, John Lennon, Neil Young.
Since his early appearances at the Philadelphia Folk Festival and Merlefest in his late teens, David has refined his youthful expression of raw energy, passion, and technique into powerful, nuanced performances that place him at the forefront of "the new guard coming on strong." —Jorma Kaukonen.
Northampton singer-songwriter-pianist Seth Glier will open the show. He has been called "the love child of Joni Mitchell and Jeff Buckley, with some mentoring from Al Green." Shamekia Copeland said of Seth's relaxed soul and blues originals, "This kid has got soul." |
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| Wednesday, Nov. 12 • 7 PM |
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Storytelling Open Mic |
| $3 |
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 For decades Roy Book Binder has traveled the world as a "keeper of the flame" and ambassador of the blues.
One of the finest fingerpickers working today, Roy has an eclectic repertoire that includes blues, country tunes, bluegrass and folk.
Roy learned his craft from the great Reverend Gary Davis and has performed with bluesmen and women like Homesick James, Pink Anderson, and Bonnie Raitt.
He is also a gifted storyteller and has been a featured performer at the the National Storytelling
Festival in Jonesborough, TN.
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 With the release of their third CD, Assisted Living, the musical trio known as Modern Man continues its assault on the out-moded idea that only those persons not yet manifesting symptoms of senile dementia should perform in public. If the sight of three seniors attempting a hip-hop song ("Assisted Living") or transparently trying to get a fatwa issued on themselves for the sake of notoriety ("Abdul, The Reluctant Martyr") doesn't bring up your lunch, you may well be Navy Seal material.
 Lest you take all this self-effacing humor at face value, Modern Man is actually a brilliant cross between Crosby, Stills & Nash and the Marx Brothers. David Buskin, Rob Carlson and George Wurzbach are celebrated singers and songwriters who have written for Judy Collins, Pat Benatar, Johnny Cash, etc, and they are "terrific instrumentalists with gorgeous voices and hilarious wits."
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 “Diana Jones writes songs which she sings in such a haunting high lonesome
that one can't help but wonder if she isn't the lost daughter of the Carter
Family.”
—Ann Patchett, New York Times
Elegant, gracious, passionate Diana Jones has written a beautiful collection of songs that explore the lifeways and dramas of the American South. With deeply flawed characters, sparse simple melodies, and a couple of chord changes, Jones creates haunting pictures of the people of Appalachia, and shares stories of her own remarkable life.
She has performed as a duo with Jonathan Byrd, is currently in a duo with Mary Gauthier, and recently completed three European tours as Richard Thompson's opening act.
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 Walt Michael is a virtuoso of tremendous influence in the revival of that complicated, heavenly instrument, the hammered dulcimer. His wide repertoire ranges from old-time Southern Appalachian, to Celtic, to breath-taking originals.
His career nearly forty-year career has taken him from the coal camps of Appalachia to the Closing Ceremonies of the 13th Olympic Winter Games, and to countless folk festivals and clubs of excellent repute in between.
The rest of Walt's Company are Evan Stover and Frank Orsini on fiddle, and Tom Wetmore on bass.
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| Larry |
Jud |
If you're a fan of the gentle humor and loving songs of Bill Staines, this show is definitely worth checking out.
Alaska songwriter Larry Zarella writes from the heart about love, friendships, community, and humorous situations that pervade life in rural Alaska. He homesteaded in the far north for 14 years, becoming a regional favorite with his band, The Denali Cooks.
Maine songwriter Jud Caswell's rural roots keep his new folk songs grounded in tradition and essential wisdom. His list of recently won competitions is too lengthy to print here, but includes top prize at Plowshares, Kerrville, Boston Folk Festival, Falcon Ridge, Suwannee Springfest, and more.
A Jud Caswell CD Coupon is available here. |
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 It has always seemed as if there were two Cheryl Wheelers tussling for control of the mic. There is poet-Cheryl, and there is her evil twin, comic-Cheryl, a militant trend defier and savagely funny social critic who comes on like Groucho-in-a-housecoat.
Poet-Cheryl writes achingly honest songs of love and loss. Contrasting the prosaic landscapes of her native small-town America with the hopelessly rootless life of the traveling performer, she creates common ground with all who long for simplicity.
In the words of Sing Out!, Cheryl is a "Rare artist...strong poetry, complex melodies, clever wit."
credit: Bill Pringle |
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 Paul Geremia is your classic bluesman, storyteller and road warrior. He has travelled the globe since 1966, during which time he has earned a rock solid reputation as a fingerpicker, songwriter, and scholar of early jazz and blues.
Playing six and twelve-string guitars, harmonica, piano and singing in a husky, whiskey-and-heartbreak voice, Paul has an innate sense of the humor and drama of his songs.
He mixes classics by Blind Lemon Jefferson, Robert Johnson, Blind Willie McTell, Scrapper Blackwell and Blind Blake with his original compositions to create a show that has received endless accolades in the U.S.A. and Europe.
His ten superb albums have made him a critical favorite and place him firmly among the very legends who inspired and influenced him over the past four decades.
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 This husband and wife duo, who just happen to share the same last name in pronunciation if not spelling, have been a long time part of the Capital District music scene. They are talented multi-instrumentalists (banjo, guitar, piano, mandolin, dulcimer, limberjack) who share a commitment to music as a way of life.
Much of their repertoire draws from the Irish and Southern Old Time tradition, which they share with warmth and humor in coffeehouses, schools, libraries and festivals. A perfect choice for the whole family.
Tonight Cavanaugh and Kavanaugh are celebrating the release of their brand new CD, Returning. Dave Danks will join in on mandolin, Ed Lowman on bass and fiddle, and Alifair Skebe will share a poem. |
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