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| Zack Cohen, 2011 |
Jean Rohe Trio, 2011 |
Chris Barron, 2011 |
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PDF Downloads:
Full Calendar
(2.8 MB) Mar-May |
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Fridge Calendar
(235 KB) Mar-May |
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. |
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Calendar
November 2011
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Members receive 20% discount on most shows. Tickets sold at door cost additional $2.
Doors open 30 min. before showtime. Please, no earlybirds! |
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 Carolee is a painter, mixed media artist, and poet living in Southern Rensselaer County. Her poetry is published locally and nationally and she is a freelance writer and a reviewer for Poets' Quarterly. For three years, she was part of the creative team that produced Read Write Poem, and she now co-manages the online poetry community called Big Tent Poetry. |
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 “I love Angel Band's wonderfully strong voices and beautiful songs!” —Linda Ronstadt
The three women of Angel Band deliver a raw, bluesy, uplifting Americana sound with breathtaking, soul-power impact. Boasting "distinct voices, gorgeous harmonies and extraordinary players" (Elmore Magazine) Angel Band has had a great year: they were Levon Helm's guests at his "Midnight Ramble," kicked off David Bromberg's "Big Noise in the Neighborhood Festival," and were voted one of the top 10 bands at Bonnaroo.
Angel Band's frontwoman Nancy Josephson leads her band the same way she lives her life: with abundant creativity and spirit. She has sung backup for Ronstadt, Bonnie Raitt, and Phoebe Snow and toured with Peter Rowan, Arlo Guthrie, and David Bromberg. She is also a successful "outsider" artist, best known for her extravagantly embellished prize-winning art cars. Her work is in the collections of museums worldwide, including the Smithsonian.
The core of the band is held by singers Josephson, Aly Paige, and Kathleen Weber. The crackerjack backup band is: Bobby Tangrea (mandolin, guitar, fiddle), Bob Taylor (bass), and Jeff Wisor (fiddle, mandolin). |
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 Capital Region singer-songwriter Bob Warren turned sixty in June, so this year his annual Caffe Lena show will be a retrospective of forty-four years of songwriting. His melodic, uplifting, soft rock and soul music has made him a perennial favorite. Along with recent hits such as "The Silver Fox" and "The Battenkill," expect to hear some older and obscure Bob Warren songs from years past.
Bob's back up band features bassist Tony Markellis, drummer Danny Whelchel, guitarist Don Warren, keyboardist Matt Donnelly, and cellist Monica Roach. And if we can fit anyone else on stage, you may see a guest or two! |
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  Children at the Well Youth Storytellers for Peace & Understanding have been telling stories, building bridges and making friends throughout the Capital Region since 2006. Through learning the art of storytelling and live performance, children of all faiths gain personal confidence and learn to appreciate diversity.
This afternoon Caffe Lena is happy to host a delightful fundraiser for this worthy program. The Interfaith Story Circle of the Tri-City Area invites you to be charmed by Peggy Lynn, "The First Lady of Adirondack Music," Cantor Glenn Groper and Micki Groper, guitarist Joe Hetko, Hindu dancer Amoha Ramanath, and select stories by fine area tellers. Desserts, teas and coffees will be served.
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 “They are players without borders… world music that transcends place and time with a heavy dose of playfulness added in.” —The Vancouver Province
- Three-time International Acoustic Music Awards Finalists
- 2010 JUNO Award Nominees for Instrumental Album of the Year
- 2010 Canadian Independent Music Awards Nominees
Canada's ambassadors of musical diversity, the Sultans of String, thrill audiences with a global tapestry of Spanish Flamenco, Arabic folk, Cuban rhythms, and Gypsy-jazz, celebrating musical fusion and human creativity with warmth and virtuosity. Fiery violin dances with rumba-flamenco guitar while a funk bass lays down unstoppable grooves. Acoustic strings meet with electronic wizardry to create layers and depth of sound.
The band is riding a wave of success across Canada and is now ready to take on the United States. Come see the band that sold out their entire 2010 CD release tour, hit #1 on Top Ten radio charts across Canada, and received prestigious national awards too numerous to list here! |
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| Wednesday, Nov. 9 • 7 PM |
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Emerging Artist Breakout |
| $5 at the door |
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Featuring Ken Gaines |
| www.kengaines.com |
 “He is incredible. I don't mean, 'gosh, he's pretty good'…I mean he's INCREDIBLE. When you hear his buttery voice slide through song after song of the most original stuff you've laid ears on, you'll thank us for the turn-on.” —Jinelle Boyd
founder, MyTexasMusic.com
Houston area singer, songwriter, guitarist, and producer Ken Gaines has the goal of writing great songs in just about every genre and style. You won't be able to put a finger on what he does from sweet lyrical ballads, to double entendre blues, to swingin' jazz, and redneck rock. "For all of the great songs that have been written I belong to a wonderful group of people who believe there are at least as many great ones still to be written."
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| Friday, Nov. 11 • 8 PM |
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Harmonious Wail |
$16 advance / $18 door
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 Benefit for Seeds for Peace
International, Inc. |
| www.wail.com |
 This eye-catching, high-voltage Madison, Wisconsin quartet offers an infectious blend of continental gypsy jazz and swing. If you're a die-hard folkie uncertain if jazz will please you, know that audiences of all ages and walks of life are delighted by the vibrant, warm personalities and exciting, melodious art of this very accessible ensemble.
Specializing in the style of Django Reinhardt, The Wail is made of mandolin, guitar, bass, and sublime female vocals with snare percussion. Harmonious Wail sells out their favorite venues weeks in advance. Once word gets out, we know the same will happen here in Saratoga.
Benefit for Irene victims in Schoharie
Seeds for Peace International, Inc., is a non-profit organization providing vegetable seeds, supplies and hope to war or weather-ravaged and impoverished people here and abroad Their current gardeners live in Saratoga Springs, Mississippi, Texas, California, Uganda, and Haiti. They are "changing the world, one garden at a time."
 In the wake of Irene, Seeds for Peace has stepped in to help flood victims in Schoharie, including with the purchase of gift cards and pet supplies. To donate a portion of your ticket sale to the cause, use discount code "Irene" when buying your ticket. Harmonious Wail will be donating a portion of their CD sales, so plan to shop up for the coming holidays! www.seedsforpeace.net |
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 “The first time I heard Cris' music, it was like hearing honey dripped on a cello.... Cris has been a whole lot of women's heroes—including mine.” —Bonnie Raitt
Cris Williamson's stellar vocals and compelling persona are regarded as legendary for good reason. In 1975, the twenty-something former schoolteacher recorded The Changer And The Changed, one of the best-selling independent releases of all time, and became the guiding voice for a movement striving to liberate women and create indie careers for musicians. She launched what would become known as "women's music," music which was created, performed, and marketed specifically to women and unabashedly fused politics with sensuality and wit.
Her latest album, Fringe, touches all with universal messages about returning home—in body, spirit and memory. The places we have left, by moving or maturing, abide in us still, and Cris takes us back to her beloved Wyoming with old songs and old-style songs that lovingly pay tribute to harsh prairies and to the virtues required to eke out a living on them. |
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 The cool breezes of Maine's northlands have flowed through the songs of David Mallett for nearly four decades. He has released fourteen albums of his own, and written songs for an eclectic list of artists that includes Pete Seeger, Alison Kraus, Emmylou Harris, Kathy Mattea, John Denver and the Muppets. His tune, "The Garden Song" ("inch by inch, row by row . . . "), is one of America's most popular folk songs, having been recorded more than 150 times and sung around the world.
 Mallett's songs are filled with passion, evocative imagery, and a sense of the inevitable passage of time. The struggle of the common man and the loss of small towns and landscapes is the subject of many of his songs. Although it is rooted in place, Mallett's music speaks to the essential things that move us all.
Former music row staff songwriter Claudia Nygaard is a born storyteller with a quick wit and a fearless emotional availability. Her affable connection with an audience has led reviewers to describe her as "Will Rogers without the Rope." Claudia delivers her vivid, heartfelt songs in a warm, mature southern voice.
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| Monday, Nov. 14 • 7 PM |
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Storytelling Open Mic |
| $3 at the door |
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With Featured Storyteller Kay Olan - Ionataiewas |
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 Kay Olan (Ionataiewas) is a Mohawk educator and storyteller. Upon retiring from teaching in the public schools, she moved to Kanatsiohareke, a traditional Mohawk Community located in central New York State where she lived and worked for almost three years. She appeared in the Iroquois segment of the Discovery Channel documentary "How the West Was Lost." In 2010, Kay recorded a "Mohawk Stories" CD which contains six traditional stories with music by Dennis Yerry.
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 Jonny Duennebier is a pianist/vocalist with a soft-rock/blues inspired sound. Originally from Connecticut, Jonny played around the state in high school with a great following and is now transitioning to a larger market within New England and on the East Coast. |
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| Friday, Nov. 18 • 8 PM |
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Bearfoot |
$20 advance / $22 door
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With openers Melody Walker & Jacob Groopman |
| www.bearfootband.com |
 “Old time, roots, Americana, folk, bluegrass—whatever...it's just plain old pleasure.”
—The Boston Globe
Call it "new-timey," call it "post-bluegrass," call it "string band music for the 21st century"—whatever the name, there's a revolution under way where string band traditions meet youthful creativity; look to its center, and that's where you'll find Bearfoot. The quintet, originally formed in Alaska, has already made a mark with four strong albums, including their 2009 Compass Records debut, Doors And Windows which instantly hit the top of Billboard Magazine's Bluegrass Album chart.
 As they enter their second decade, with a new Nashville home and a new lineup including lead singer Nora Jane Struthers, Bearfoot has taken their place among the best and brightest of a new generation of musicians reshaping American roots music.
Hailing from the San Francisco Bay Area and the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, Melody Walker & Jacob Groopman harmonize over intricate textures of banjo, guitar and mandolin, as they sing of ancient truths and futuristic myths, bringing their eclectic influences to life in traditional forms. |
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 Roy Book Binder has traveled the world as a "keeper of the flame" and ambassador of the blues since the late '60s. One of the finest fingerpickers working today, Roy has an eclectic repertoire that includes blues, country tunes, bluegrass and folk. Roy learned his craft directly from the great Reverend Gary Davis and has performed with bluesmen and  women such as Homesick James, Pink Anderson, and Bonnie Raitt. He is also a gifted storyteller and has been a featured performer at the National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough, TN.
Opener Phil Minissale represents the future for the acoustic finger-styling of the Piedmont. At just 24 years old, Phil has a cross generational appeal that has seasoned blues fans watching closely as he exposes his generation to the acoustic folk/blues sound. |
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| Sunday, Nov. 20 • 7 PM |
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Skidmore Small Jazz Ensembles |
| $5 at the door |
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Proceeds Benefit Caffe Lena |
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 Enjoy an evening of diverse jazz styles and inspiring talent as the jazz 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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 Carry The Tradition is an Alternative Rock band from Queensbury featuring Chris Cronin on guitar, Jesse Bolduc on bass, and Jon Cantiello on drums.
Their debut album, recorded at Creek Studio in Saratoga, contains "real magic in the writing." (WEQX radio) They have a sophisticated, subtle, bittersweet rock style that belies their standing as a teen band that literally practices in a garage. A love of live performance makes a Carry The Tradition show memorably enjoyable. |
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| Friday, Nov. 25 • 8 PM |
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Woods Tea Company |
$18 advance / $20 door
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| www.woodstea.net |
 This Vermont stringband performs a winning combination of Celtic tunes, bluegrass, sea shanties and folk songs, interspersed with plenty of down-home wit and camaraderie. Labeled "Vermont's hardest working folk group" by National Public Radio, the line-up features Howard Wooden on bass, guitar, and bodhran; Tom MacKenzie on hammered dulcimer, banjo, guitar, ukulele, and keyboard; and Patti Casey on guitar, flute, penny-whistle, and clogboard.
The trio is renowned for its rich vocal harmonies and delightful, warm humor. This is the perfect show to enjoy with the whole gang on the day after Thanksgiving! |
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 “Before Bob Dylan shook things up in the folk world with his celebrated originals, coffeehouse crooners sang previously owned ballads, blues, and labor songs. Led by chanteuse extraordinaire Annie Rosen, Annie and the Hedonists go back to those roots with skillfully arranged covers of timeless songs from many genres. No folk outfit around can match them.”
—Metroland 2010 "Best Traditional Folk"
This breezy, fun-loving band led by Annie and Jonny Rosen offers a wide-ranging repertoire. From the gospel-rock of Sister Rosetta Tharpe to the high-lonesome bluegrass of Claire Lynch and the irresistible swing of Fats Waller, the torchy, honey voice of Annie Rosen takes center stage, with super-tight, expert backing provided by husband Jonny Rosen on guitar, and special guests including multi-instrumentalist Peter Davis, vocalist Hannah Rosen, and guitarist Don Young. |
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| Wednesday, Nov. 30 • 7 PM |
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Emerging Artist Breakout |
| $8 at the door |
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Sam Whitehouse Studio Student Showcase |
| www.samwhitehouse.com |
 Sam Whitehouse Music is a contemporary studio in Saratoga Springs that helps singers of all levels to further their vocal goals with a supportive, open, but challenging program of voice training. In addition to private and group lessons, the studio coordinates local performances and workshops, with topics that include career development / promotion, recording, performance skills, songwriting and more.
Come support these talented students in this semi-annual showcase of their hard work and artistry.
Tonights performers are: Katie Baker, Gabrielle Barakat, Shalyn Barakat, Michele Derwin, Sara Donnellan, Ken Mossman, Travis Northrup, Ana Polito, Isabella Taylor, Jeff Taylor and Jamie Verrillo.
To buy advance tickets, please email: tickets samwhitehouse.com. |
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Photo:
Zack Cohen
© 2011, Joseph Deuel
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Photo:
Jean Rohe Trio
© 2011, Joseph Deuel
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Photo:
Chris Barron
© 2011, Joseph Deuel
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Copyright © 1998-2012, Caffè Lena, Inc.
All Rights Reserved |
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