 |
 |
| Mose Allison, 2009 |
Jeanne O'Connor (& Bob Warren), 2009 |
|
|
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
PDF Downloads:
Full Calendar
(2.6 MB) Dec-Feb |
|
Fridge Calendar
(156 KB) Dec-Feb |
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
December 2009
|
Members receive 20% discount on most shows. Tickets sold at door cost additional $2.
Doors open 30 min. before showtime. Please, no earlybirds! |
| Top |
|
|
|
| Wednesday, Dec. 2 • 7 PM |
|
Poetry Open Mic |
| $3 at the door |
|
With Featured Reader Meg Kearney |
| |
 Meg Kearney is the author of a novel-in-verse for teens, The Secret of Me (Persea Books, 2005) and two poetry collections, An Unkindness of Ravens (BOA Editions, 2001) and Home By Now (Four Way Books, fall 2009).
Her poems have been featured on A Writer's Almanac, and have appeared in Poetry, Agni, and Ploughshares. Former Associate Director of the National Book Foundation—sponsor of the National Book Awards—she has also taught poetry at the New School University. She is now Director of the Solstice Creative Writing Programs of Pine Manor College in Chestnut Hill, MA.
|
|
| Top |
 Danny Kalb's concerts are a feast for the ears, with legendary guitar stylings that leap from the incendiary to the deeply poignant on a wealth of new and familiar folk and blues songs. His rough singing is the sound of a long, rich life in music, full of pathos, gratitude, and respect.
Kalb established himself on New York's folk and blues scene in the '60s, where he was first known as a solo performer and session player with Phil Ochs, Judy Collins and Pete Seeger, and in 1965 founded Verve/Folkways recording group, The Blues Project.
His latest album, I'm Gonna Live the Life I Sing About reached #4 on The Roots Blues Chart. It contains songs by everyone from Little Richard to Thomas A. Dorsey. Tonight he'll be accompanied by drums and bass, and will be playing both acoustic and electric guitars.
Jonathan Kalb's opening set has been cancelled.
|
|
| Top |
  Once upon a time there were dozens of songs that everyone knew from beginning to end, and casual community singing was favorite pasttime. Tonight, under the skilled direction of Mike Agranoff and Jean Rohe, we invite you to rediscover the joy of blending your voice with strangers. Mike and Jean are life-long devotees of folk music with a vast catalogue of British and American sing-alongs on the tips of their tongues, as well as a wealth of songs they do just fine all by themselves! Tonight they'll offer a generous helping of both types.
Agranoff's prime instrument is the guitar, upon which he shines with intricate fingerstyle arrangements. He is also adept on the concertina, piano, and banjo. He can be uproariously funny, contempletive, and powerfully emotional in the space of a few minutes.
Jean Rohe is quickly becoming a gem of New York City's music scene. She's an award-winning jazz artist who grew up singing in her family folk band. She invites the listener to engage with body, heart, and mind. |
|
| Top |
 Long known as the mastermind behind the legendary British blues-rock band Savoy Brown, which he formed at the age of nineteen in 1966, Kim Simmonds is acknowledged as one of England's finest bluesmen. Many of his  recordings throughout the '60s and '70s landed in Billboard's top 100 making his group one of the few blues bands to penetrate the pop charts.
Forty years later Simmonds continues to grow artistically and has a ball doing it. On latest CD, Struck By Lightening, regales with a glorious combination of acoustic blues, jazz and folk.
|
|
| Top |
 This madcap a capella foursome celebrates the season with witty, tuneful, original material, and outrageous covers of classic songs. Their shows are part theater, part comedy, part performance art. Their "band without instruments" uses voices and body percussion to fill a room with an orchestra of  harmonious sounds so wonderous they've earned four Grammy nominations, legions of adoring fans, and just about every a cappella award there is to win.
Opener Brad Yoder's mix of humorous, poetic, political, funky and edgy original songs, covering a musical range from folk to indie rock, has earned him a loyal following ranging from kids in single digits through retirees. He's coming from Pittsburgh to open tonight's show. |
|
| Top |
 This trio was a regular feature at Lena's in the '80s until family and careers took them in separate directions. They sing popular music of five centuries; including British and American traditional music, catches and rounds, music of the Renaissance, hymns, American Songbook standards, doo-wop, and original songs.
Their tight vocal harmonies and lively, humor-filled performances have long made them favorites with audiences throughout the Northeast. They accompany themselves with some combination of piano, reed organ, recorders, accordion, spoons and other whimsical percussion instruments.
|
|
| Top |
 Each December this big, traditional klezmer ensemble squeezes onto the Caffè Lena stage to help Saratoga celebrate Hannukah with an emotionally uplifting performance of Yiddish music, comedy and lessons.
They perform their swinging, danceable songs in Yiddish and Ashkenazic Hebrew, making everything accessible to a mixed audience with translations, cue cards, and that universal language that makes your toes tap.
|
|
| Top |
 Tom Winslow is an old-school bluesman from North Carolina, picking and singing in a classic country style, mixing a few simple folk tunes and gospel favorites among his repertoire of Piedmont Blues classics. He moved north in the '60s and studied with Rev. Gary Davis, collaborated with Pete Seeger, and released an album on the Biograph label.
He first came to Saratoga to work with the horses and has for many years enjoyed playing gigs around the area, as well as touring up and down the East Coast and educating in schools with his family band.
|
|
| Top |
|
|
| Top |
 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).
Their ever-expanding repertoire includes selections from Woody Guthrie, Lead Belly, Jimmy Cliff, The Carter Family, Uncle Dave Macon, Flatt & Scruggs, Hank Williams, and more.
|
|
| Top |
|
|
|
| Saturday, Dec. 19 • 8 PM |
|
Annual Holiday Folk Show |
$15 advance / $17 at the door
 |
|
Featuring Trish Miller and John Kirk, Addie and Olin,
Linda Schrade and David Kiphuth |
| |
 Enjoy the region's (the world's??) only "Candlemas-Hanukkah-Ramadan-Solstice-Christmas-Kwanzaa-New Year-Boxing Day-Epiphany Event!" Three husband-and-wife teams join forces to bring us this annual holiday extravaganza complete with humor, swanky décor, audience participation, and loads of lovely songs.
We feature John on stunningly beautiful vocals backed by stellar fiddle, guitar, mandolin & banjo and exciting clog dancer Trish on claw-hammer banjo & guitar; cool Christmas crooners & swingin' tinsel tunes spiced with kooky, good humor by Addie & Olin backed by finger-picked guitar, sax, flute, concertina, piccolo & accordion; and simply exquisite vocalist Linda on emotive ballads and poignant seasonal songs and elegant banjo player David on charming cowboy Christmas tunes and top-notch bluegrass picking.
|
|
| Top |
|
|
|
| Sunday, Dec. 20 • 7 PM |
|
The Burns Sisters Holiday Show |
$18 advance / $20 at the door
|
|
|
| www.burnssisters.com |
 This trio of sisters offers a heartfelt celebration of the season done up in their famous bluegrass style. Marie, Annie and Jeannie are known far and wide for their sister harmonies and country pop-rock, as heard on several Rounder/Philo albums.
Their holiday show features traditional carols, African-American spirituals, and musical poems and prayers from around the globe. The gals will be joined by Larry Clyman on guitar, Kevin Maul on dobro, and Tony Markellis on bass.
|
|
| Top |
|
|
|
| Wednesday, Dec. 23 • 7 PM |
|
Emerging Artist Breakout Series |
| $5 |
|
Tristan Allen |
| |
|
|
| Top |
 Metroland Magazine's Best Acoustic Band, 2008
Times Union
Faves of 2008
After several years of laboring in obscurity (which was fine by them!), Annie & the Hedonists are finally getting the notice they richly deserve. This fun quartet's repertoire of acoustic folk, blues, jazz standards, bluegrass, gospel, labor ballads and early jazz sparkles with an “uncommon joy-de-vivre” (Don Wilcock).
The torchy, jazzy, spine-tingling vocals of Annie Rosen take center stage, with three and four part harmonies provided by husband Jonny Rosen (guitar), Steve Fry (mandolin, guitar & trumpet), and Betsy Fry (electric bass). Reed player extraordinaire Peter Davis will join the band on clarinet.
|
|
| Top |
 For more than twenty-five years these local favorites have performed the music of America with humor and taste. From Hank Williams and the Carter Family to Muddy Waters, Fats Waller and Elvis Presley, they cover all the bases with grace and style.
This contemporary string band combines the talents of John Kribs (Johnny & the Triumphs/McKrells) on guitar, banjo and mandolin; award-winning guitarist Danny Gotham on mandolin, electric slide guitar and acoustic guitar; and Orion Kribs on bass.
|
|
| Top |
 NYC songwriter Julia Ilowiecki combines light melody with soulful words to make you want to blast her music through your car radio, roll down your windows, and sing along. She plays straight from the heart, just like her musical heroes Carly Simon and Sheryl Crow.
|
|
| Top |
Featuring Seth Glier and Sean Rowe |
|
| Top |
|
| |
|
|
|
Photo:
Mose Allison
© 2009, Joseph Deuel
|
Photo:
Jeanne O'Connor (& Bob Warren)
© 2009, Joseph Deuel
|
Copyright © 1998-2010, Caffè Lena, Inc.
All Rights Reserved |
|
|
|
