 |
 |
 |
| Don McLean, early '70s |
U. Utah Phillips, G.V.G.S.W., early '80s |
Jack Landron, 2010 |
|
|
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
PDF Downloads:
Full Calendar
(2.8 MB) Sep-Nov |
|
Fridge Calendar
(207 KB) Sep-Nov |
All ticket sales are handled by our box office service, Brown Paper Tickets.
Tickets are available online, or through a 24/7 call-in box office.
See our Ticket Info page. |
|
|
|
|
Calendar
May 2010
|
Members receive 20% discount on most shows. Tickets sold at door cost additional $2.
Doors open 30 min. before showtime. Please, no earlybirds! |
| Top |
 Kansas native Freedy Johnston is often called a "songwriter's songwriter" for his brilliantly crafted, sometimes witty, often poignant folk-rock portraits of characters who seem unaware  of how their lives have gone wrong. Once named Rolling Stone's "Songwriter of the Year," Johnston will be focusing tonight on material from Rain on the City, his first album of new originals in eight years.
Recorded in Nashville with producer Richard McLaurin, it's one of the best song collections of Freedy's career, featuring a diverse array of rockers, heartbreaking twang, even hints of blue-eyed soul and bossa nova.
|
|
| Top |
|
|
|
| Sunday, May 2 • 7 PM |
|
Loon |
$14 advance / $16 door
 |
|
|
| |
 Banjoist and founding member of the Dry Bones Band, Dan Hubbs has joined forces with fiddle great Frank Orsini and Saratoga's own Jeff Walton to form a traditional acoustic music band—Loon. Loon kicks out high-energy string band jams, summons haunting Irish airs, weaves the blues into clawhammer/fiddle tunes, performs Native American flute music and delivers old-time literary originals.
|
|
| Top |
|
|
|
| Wednesday, May 5 • 7 PM |
|
Poetry Open Mic |
| $3 at the door |
|
With Featured Reader Jared Smith |
| www.jaredsmith.info |
 Jared Smith's seventh volume of poetry, The Graves Grow Bigger Between Generations, was released in the spring of 2008 and was nominated for a Tufts Award. He is a two-time Pulitzer Prize nominee (2007 and 2008). He has had hundreds of publications in literary journals across the nation over the past 30 years, in addition to several foreign countries.
|
|
| Top |
 The Austin Lounge Lizards have long been known for their Texas-sized twisted tales and humorous songs, charming their fans around the globe for more than twenty-five years. Singing in five-part harmonies with instrumentals that spoof the conventions of bluegrass, country, rock and pop music, it's no surprise that band members count among their influences Frank Zappa, George Jones, Spike Jones, Flatt & Scruggs, Tom Lehrer, and Steve Goodman.
The core band members, Hank Card and Conrad Deisler, met as history majors at Princeton in 1976. Both wound up at the University of Texas law school, where they hooked up with banjo and steel guitar player Tom Pittman, who had the right academic credentials (a degree in philosophy from the University of Georgia). While holding down day jobs as varied as bailiff, construction foreman and administrative law judge, the Lizards fine-tuned their talent for writing bizarro social and politically themed songs, overflowing with tongue-in-cheek twang.
|
|
| Top |
 Stony Creek Band is one of the Adirondack region's most enduringly popular bands. Since first forming in the early 1970s, Stony Creek has evolved from an acoustic trio playing traditional folk and country to an eclectic Americana outfit featuring exhuberant, superbly tight electric arrangements.
Their inspiring songs ring with the unsilenceable voices of everyday heroes. Never saccharine or self-absorbed, Stony Creek is a band of mature, seasoned artists who play with an intuition only possible among first-rate artists whose collaboration has spanned four decades.
|
|
| Top |
|
|
|
| Sunday, May 9 • 2 PM |
|
Uccello with Matt Haimovitz |
$20 advance / $22 door
|
|
|
| oxingale.com |
 Trailblazing cellist Matt Haimovitz and his eight-piece cello ensemble, Uccello, celebrate jazz. The eight cellists play Ornette Coleman, Charles Mingus, John McLaughlin (Mahavishnu), Miles Davis, Billy Strayhorn, and other jazz legends in new arrangements by Rome-Prize-winning composer David Sanford. The cellos wail, slide, and swing in an all-new big band sound. |
|
| Top |
|
|
|
| Sunday, May 9 • 7 PM |
|
Matthew Carefully |
$10 advance / $12 door
|
|
CD Release Concert |
| heartstack.org |
 Always inventive and seeking fresh collaborations, Matthew Carefully (known previously as Matthew Loiacono) brings us the fruits of his latest explorations. His new album is called "Community Balloon". It's all songs that were made from suggestions, ideas, challenges, words, feelings, and artwork by his fans and followers.
Matthew is best known to area audiences for his years as mandolinist with folk-rock band the Kamikaze Hearts. He has subsequently released two solo albums that feature rich, lush acoustic soundscapes with a feel of poignancy and thoughtfulness.
|
|
| Top |
|
|
|
| Wednesday, May 12 • 7 PM |
|
Emerging Artists Breakout |
| $5 at the door |
|
Featuring Aaron Butler |
| aaronbutlermusic.com |
 Salem, NY singer-songwriter Aaron Butler is a young talent with many original songs and strong skills on the piano and guitar. His songs explore the many emotions associated with love, loss, life and death.
His brother Stephen backs him on bass and backup vocals while his friend Dennis plays guitar, piano and bass throughout the show. Known for his strong vocals and instrumental abilities, Aaron promises to entertain and inspire. |
|
| Top |
 Canadian singer-songwriter Fred Eaglesmith is a prolific artist whose work explores spirituality, faith, life, love, labor and more within a full-blooded musical and lyrical experience that draws from folk, country, rock, gospel, old-time, bluegrass and even spoken word. "It is Tom Waits meets Pink Floyd meets Hank Williams." (Calgary Herald).
Eaglesmith is a fiercely independent and original artist who works amazingly hard. He hosts a number of music festivals across North America, feeds songs to fellow songwriters, puts out albums that reliably hit the top of the Americana music charts, and leads a devoted  band of fans who feed on the "fury and fun" of his concerts.
This will be his long-anticipated debut at Caffè Lena and he's bringing his full band for the event!
The Ginn Sisters, members of Eaglesmith's band, open the show with songs that are bleak yet poppy. Their singing is subtle and nuanced, and the music is a garage mix of reverb and mystery hum. |
|
| Top |
 
As we come to the eve of Caffè Lena's 50th anniversary weekend, we celebrate the most recent decade with two of the period's best-loved bands, both launched onto the Caffè stage in the last five years.
Playing a little folk, a tinge of rock, some country, and loads of gritty blues, northern New Jersey's Jeremy Wallace Trio pumps out "Americana with a Bite." The band (Jeremy on vocals, guitar and piano; Matt Gruenberg on upright bass, and Tom Costagliola on drums) has immediate appeal for fans of Bob Dylan, Tom Waits, Steve Earle, Lyle Lovett and Bruce Springsteen.
Pick a little banjo…Blow a little jug…Strum a little six-string…Scratch that 'board…Put it all together, and what do you get? The Ramblin Jug Stompers, the premier jug band of New York's Capital Region! This acoustic quartet takes their fun seriously, and they love the music they make. That's something that you just can't fake, and you can hear it in the frailing, high-mountain hoedown of "Fix Me a Pallet" or the poor-side-o'-town ballad "Down in the Boondocks" (done up in RJS' patented "Appalypso" style).
|
|
| Top |
 From her birthplace on a Vermont sheep farm to Beirut cafés, Cairo apartments and Austin recording studios, Anas Mitchell has been around. Her listeners hear the Virginia countryside, bathe in New Mexico moonlight, and hear the world whizzing by from inside a hobo's train car.
This remarkable young artist, who set out to do no more than indulge her love of language and truth, was catapulted into the national folk spotlight after capturing the prestigious Kerrville New Folk Award and being signed to Righteous Babe Records.
 Anais is looking forward the imminent release, on the Righteous Babe label, of an album of songs from her "folk opera" Hadestown, based on the Orpheus myth but set in a vaguely futuristic Depression Era-esque company town.
Boston singer-songwriter Anne Heaton will open the show with her organic vocals, pop melodies and piano-led arrangements. The music is lush and whimsical, urging the listener to both take risks and take comfort.
|
|
| Top |
|
|
|
| Friday, May 21 • 7 PM |
|
50th Anniversary Fundraiser |
| $75 |
|
Featuring Jim Kweskin & Geoff Muldaur |
|
|
With open beer and wine bar, hors d'oeuvres, desserts, silent auction & a preview of plans for Caffe Lena's renovation |
| www.geoffmuldaur.com |
 We open our 50th Anniversary Weekend with a delightful party! We are making available only 75 tickets for this intimate concert with folk legends Jim Kweskin and Geoff Muldaur, accompanied by the special treat of beer and wine and delicious edibles.
Jim Kweskin and Geoff Muldaur are founding members of the hugely popular 1960s group, Jim Kweskin & The Jug Band (also with Maria Muldaur, Fritz Richmond, and Mel Lyman) which is credited with setting the stage for Jerry Garcia’s first band, Mother McCree’s Uptown Jug Champions, and subsequently The Grateful Dead.
Jeff and Jim share a rare chemistry that was instantly renewed when they reunited as a duo in Tokyo in 2006. The distinctive qualities they brought to the Jug Band—Kweskin’s clean, rhythmic finger picking and Muldaur’s emotional, quavering voice—remain their signature. When it comes to acoustic folk, blues, and ragtime, Kweskin and Muldaur are unparalleled exponents of the best American music. It is a huge honor to have them perform tonight for the benefit of Caffe Lena.
* Caffe Lena thanks Saratoga Springboard for invaluable support in making this benefit concert and the 50th Anniversary Festival on May 22 possible. |
|
| Top |
|
|
|
| Saturday, May 22 |
|
FREE Public Music Festival |
| 10 AM to 4:00 PM |
|
|
| FREE |
Join us for a FREE public music festival on our 50th Anniversary Weekend! We'll have an outdoor stage on Phila Street and an indoor stage in the Caffe. Music will swap back and forth between the stages from 10 AM to 4:00 PM. Activities for kids will take place in the Black Box Theater and our neighborhood restaurants will have special food offerings.
Throughout the day you'll be able to vote for your Favorite Artist. The winner will be booked to perform a Headline Concert at WAMC radio's Linda Norris Auditorium, where the proceeds will be split between Caffe Lena and WAMC.
Thanks to WAMC for this wonderful opportunity!
| Outdoor Stage |
|
|
Indoor Stage |
|
|
| 10:00 to 10:30 |
Barefoot Boys |
|
10:35 to 11:05 |
Susan Trump |
| 11:10 to 11:40 |
Bob Warren Band |
|
11:45 to 12:15 |
Rosanne Raneri |
| 12:20 to 12:50 |
Jim Gaudet
and the Railroad Boys |
|
12:55 to 1:25 |
Steve Gillette
& Cindy Mangsen |
| 1:30 to 2:00 |
Don and Victoria Armstrong |
|
2:05 to 2:35 |
Alien Folklife |
| 2:40 to 3:10 |
Rick Rourke Band |
|
3:15 to 3:45 |
Torey Adler |
| 3:50 to 4:20 |
Jo Henley (duo) |
|
4:25 to 4:55 |
Frank Jaklitsch
& Michael Eck |
| |
|
|
|
|
| Family Events |
|
|
|
| 10:00 and on |
Mug Painting |
Creative Sparks |
| 10:30 to 11:00 |
Morris Dancing Demonstration |
Parking Lot |
| 11:45 |
Stone Soup Storytelling |
Green space |
| Noon and on |
Serving Soup |
Parking Lot |
| 12:55 to 1:10 |
Tai Chi Demonstration |
Parking Lot |
| 1:30 to 2:00 PM |
Percussion Workshop - Sam Zucchini |
Black Box Theater |
| 2:00 to 2:30 |
Moris Dancing Workshop |
Parking Lot |
| |
|
|
|
|
| Top |
|
|
|
| Saturday, May 22 |
|
50th Anniversary Celebration |
| |
|
Arlo Guthrie with Robin and Linda Williams |
| |
 Caffè Lena invites the community to enjoy a full day of free music and family activities in celebration of its 50th anniversary.
An outdoor stage and indoor stage will run all day, and fun activities for kids will be happening in the Caffè's Black Box theater.
Later that evening the party moves up to Skidmore's new Zankel Music Center as Caffè Lena and Skidmore team up to present Arlo Guthrie with Robin & Linda Williams and Their Fine Group in The Arthur Zankel Music Center, Filene Ladd Concert Hall.
Arlo Guthrie
A very young Arlo Guthrie rode into Saratoga Springs and came "stompin' up to Caffè Lena" where he "got took care of." Arlo and Lena Spencer became fast friends, and Arlo's loyalty to the little club that once extended a helping hand has endured down through the years. More than once, following his rise to national prominence with hits such as Alice's Restaurant Massacree and City of New Orleans, he came to the struggling venue's rescue with a benefit concert.
The ties between Caffè Lena and the Guthrie family have grown even deeper in recent years as son Abe and daughters Sarah Lee and Cathy Guthrie have joined the Caffè roster. Our 50th Anniversary Celebration wouldn't be complete without Arlo.
 Robin and Linda Williams and Their Fine Group
Coming up from Virginia to launch this magical evening are Robin and Linda Williams and Their Fine Group with country, bluegrass and gospel songs sung in spectacular harmony.
After years of touring clubs and the festival circuit, including numerous appearances at Caffè Lena where they camped out on the floor during weekend-long gigs, Robin and Linda gained a world-wide following through weekly appearances on A Prairie Home Companion. Robin and Linda will be joined by Jim Watson (formerly of the Red Clay Ramblers) on bass and harmony vocals, and bluegrass veteran Jimmy Gaudreau on mandolin.
|
|
| Top |
|
|
|
| Wednesday, May 26 • 7 PM |
|
Emerging Artists Breakout |
| $5 |
|
Falcon Ridge Preview Tour
Chuck E. Costa, Swing Caravan
and Brilliant Inventions |
|
|
| Top |
|
|
|
| May 28 and 29 |
|
Closed for a Rest!!! |
| |
|
|
|
|
| Top |
 This event is an annual tradition at Caffè Lena, each year bringing together poets, songwriters, storytellers, and speech-makers for a respectful and deep-hearted sharing of views about our soldiers, and conflicts past and present.
All styles and points of view are welcome. Excessive profanity is strongly discouraged.
No advance reservations will be accepted. Performer sign-up goes from 7 to 7:30. Performances will get underway at 7:30.
Time limits will be determined by the number of participants. This event is co-sponsored annually by the Saratoga Peace Alliance and Adirondack Veterans for Peace. |
|
| Top |
|
| |
|
|
|
Photo:
Don McLean
© Joseph Deuel
|
Photo:
U. Utah Phillips
© Joseph Deuel
|
Photo:
Jack Landron
© 2010, Joseph Deuel
|
Copyright © 1998-2011, Caffè Lena, Inc.
All Rights Reserved |
|
|
|
