Caffè Lena

Storytelling Open Mic Featuring KENT BUSMAN
2025-02-04 19:00 - 21:00 (America/New_York) | Caffè Lena, 47 Phila Street, Saratoga Springs, NY, 12866, United States
Jazz

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EVERY FIRST TUESDAY DOORS AT 6:30 PM, STORIES AT 7 PM $5 ADULTS / STUDENTS FREE Storytellers of all styles and levels of experience are welcome! Enjoy an evening of true stories, traditional tales, myths, fables, family stories and more. We have just one rule: no notes! No pre-sale tickets. Seating is first come first serve. Caffe Lena’s full menu is available. Kent Busman Bio: After 38 years of directing Camp Fowler in the Adirondacks, Kent has come up with quite a few stories. Drawing from experiences and imagination his stories hope to bring you into a world of adventure, wonder, and hope.

Doors Open
Doors Open: 6:30 pm

Price

Member
$27.11

General
$30.37

Child or Student
$15.18

inclusive of fees

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Momentum Series: The Suitcase Junket
2025-01-31 20:00 - 21:30
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One of the defining features of The Suitcase Junket’s music is the use of unconventional instruments and repurposed materials. Matt Lorenz, who performs as The Suitcase Junket, is a homesteader currently living in rural Massachusetts. He often creates his instruments from salvaged items like old suitcases, gas cans, and other discarded objects, which adds a distinct and raw quality to the sound. Growing up in Cavendish, Vermont, Lorenz began playing piano at age five, and later took up violin, saxophone, and guitar. During his years at Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts, he studied music and adaptive instrument design, a pursuit that included building a prototype for a drummer who couldn’t use their legs, where they’d be able to play the bass drum and hi-hat through a system of pulleys. After college, he headed to Europe on a $150 plane ticket, ran out of money in Barcelona, and spent a year playing music in the streets. “That’s where I learned how to sing loud, which got me figuring out what my voice could do,” Lorenz notes. Once he’d returned to Amherst, he formed the band Rusty Belle with his sister Kate and, several years later, started The Suitcase Junket with the aid of a guitar he’d found in a dumpster. Lorenz chose the name as a nod to his longtime love of collecting old suitcases, including an antique that he’s refurbished into a bass drum, and to a secondary definition of junket, i.e. “a pleasure excursion.” Matt Lorenz’s vision, manifest in The Suitcase Junket, developed in the tension between the grand and the solitary. Grand in its imagery, sound, and staging. Solitary in its thrift and self-reliance. What instruments he requires, Lorenz builds from scratch and salvage. What parts five players would perform, he performs alone. The spectacle of his one-man set bears constant comparison to legends of showmanship, brilliance, madness, and invention. While audiences are captivated by his solitary form and the show itself, Lorenz, who homesteads with rescue dogs and chickens in rural Western Massachusetts, is most serious about the songs. He has been building a catalog, writing a world into existence. Solitary on stage and on the road, his mind is crowded with characters, narratives, voices, imagery, sounds as wide and varied as mountain throat singers and roadhouse juke boxes, plus newsreels of the planet’s destruction and salvage. With his latest project, The End is New, which he refers to as “doom-folk,” Lorenz’s grand vision for the song overrides the how of it. “The things I value are under attack,” he reflects. “And writing songs and making art are the methods I have for responding. I have tried to use my observations and reflections of the world bent through my fun-house-mirror mind to show what I see; a planet stressed. … There’s a heavy mix of hope and desperation in the sound and lyrically I was trying to be a mirror to society using truth, myth, confessions and stories.” In addition to his musical pursuits, Lorenz is passionate about coffee, gardening, bees, dogs, birds, mushrooms, tinctures, making his own wine and maple sugaring season. The Momentum Series is made possible by the generous support of Joseph and Luann Conlon in honor of Thom O'Neil.

Doors Open
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Musicians interested in playing Irish dance music and open to learning by ear are invited, melody and chord players alike. We will learn and arrange Irish dance melodies, experimenting with adding chordal and harmonic accompaniment. Instruments commonly used to play Irish traditional music such as fiddles, flutes, tin whistles, accordions, concertinas, tenor banjos, mandolins, guitars, bouzoukis, harps, etc., are encouraged. If you are interested, but unsure if this class is for you, please get in touch!

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Folk Club Kids
2025-01-29 10:30 - 11:00
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Folk Club Kids: Stories, Songs, and Sing-a-longs Wednesdays 10:30 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. https://www.caffelena.org/folk-club-kids/ Stream live and free on Facebook and Youtube! Join Dan Berggren and Drank the Gold’s Oona Grady and James Gascoyne for Folk Club Kids: a free weekly interactive concert series for preschoolers and their caregivers. Children are treated to 30 minutes of live music in a welcoming, inclusive environment. Inspire a love of music, community, and togetherness each week, learn, play, make friends and have fun! This program is made possible by the generous support of Kevin & Claudia Bright. #youthclass

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Guitar Workshops 10-12:15
2025-01-23 10:00 - 12:30, 2025-01-09 10:00 - 12:30
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Guitar Workshops: Thursdays, Jan. 9 through March 13 Max students per class 8, $175 for 10 classes Guitar I – Beginner/Intermediate (10- 11 AM) This class will focus on learning basic skills in order to play songs alone or with other players. Each week we will focus on learning specific skills that players can build on to gain confidence while playing. We will also work on playing different styles of music and transposing pieces into various keys. The goal is to provide players information and skills so they are comfortable in various musical environments. Topics Include: Open position chords and how they are related to each otherMoving from chord to chord smoothly and in timeRhythm and strumming techniquesSingle note play: Pentatonic scale, lead-ins and fillsMovable chord shapesLearning new songsPlaying and performing with other musiciansGuitar II – Intermediate/Advanced (11:15 AM – 12:15 PM) This class will focus on learning additional skills in order to play more advanced songs and arrangements alone or with other players. Each week we will focus on learning specific skills that players can build on to gain confidence while playing. We will also work on playing different styles of music and transposing pieces into various keys. The goal is to provide players information and skills so they are comfortable in various musical environments. Topics Include: Open position chords and how they are related to each other, including more advanced voicingsChord extensions (6, 7, 9, 13), inversions and advanced voicingsRhythm and strumming techniques, including syncopated rhythms, crosspicking and finger style rhythm playingSingle note play: utilizing various scales and phrasing to map out breaks/solosMovable chord shapes and voicings Learning and arranging new songsPlaying and performing with other musicians.

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Guitar Workshops: Thursdays, Jan. 9 through March 13 Max students per class 8, $175 for 10 classes Guitar I – Beginner/Intermediate (10- 11 AM) This class will focus on learning basic skills in order to play songs alone or with other players. Each week we will focus on learning specific skills that players can build on to gain confidence while playing. We will also work on playing different styles of music and transposing pieces into various keys. The goal is to provide players information and skills so they are comfortable in various musical environments. Topics Include: Open position chords and how they are related to each otherMoving from chord to chord smoothly and in timeRhythm and strumming techniquesSingle note play: Pentatonic scale, lead-ins and fillsMovable chord shapesLearning new songsPlaying and performing with other musiciansGuitar II – Intermediate/Advanced (11:15 AM – 12:15 PM) This class will focus on learning additional skills in order to play more advanced songs and arrangements alone or with other players. Each week we will focus on learning specific skills that players can build on to gain confidence while playing. We will also work on playing different styles of music and transposing pieces into various keys. The goal is to provide players information and skills so they are comfortable in various musical environments. Topics Include: Open position chords and how they are related to each other, including more advanced voicingsChord extensions (6, 7, 9, 13), inversions and advanced voicingsRhythm and strumming techniques, including syncopated rhythms, crosspicking and finger style rhythm playingSingle note play: utilizing various scales and phrasing to map out breaks/solosMovable chord shapes and voicings Learning and arranging new songsPlaying and performing with other musicians.

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Gareth Pearson
2025-01-09 19:00 - 21:00
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"Fast becoming one of the world's most renowned instrumental guitarists" (BBC Radio Wales), Welsh guitar virtuoso Gareth Pearson is a scion in the musical family tree that includes Tommy Emmanuel, Stefan Grossman, Chet Atkins and Merle Travis, as well as newcomers Christie Lenée and Daniel Champagne. Nicknamed "The Welsh Tornado" for his fretboard pyrotechnics, his original pieces draw from a rich palette of folk, classical, funk, pop and jazz. His fast-growing international reputation is built on phenomenal musicianship and charming, humorous stagecraft.

Doors Open
Doors Open: 6:00 pm

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2025-01-07 19:00 - 21:00
Instrumental Jazz

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EVERY FIRST TUESDAY DOORS AT 6:30 PM, STORIES AT 7 PM $5 ADULTS / STUDENTS FREE Storytellers of all styles and levels of experience are welcome! Enjoy an evening of true stories, traditional tales, myths, fables, family stories and more. We have just one rule: no notes! No pre-sale tickets. Seating is first come first serve. Caffe Lena’s full menu is available. Claire Nolan enjoys telling myths, literary tales, and folktales. As the seventh of ten children, she has a wealth of personal stories. Claire can be found telling tales locally at Caffè Lena in Saratoga, Proctor’s Theater in Schenectady, the Performing Arts Center at UAlbany, and Thacher Park. Claire’s love of history has sparked her interest in learning about women who have changed the world. She tells their stories in personae.

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Open Mic [Parent]
2025-01-06 19:00 - 21:00
Jazz

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Open Mic night Sign up 6:30pm // Show starts 7:00pmPlay your song on the Caffe’s famous stage! During the past three decades, Lena’s open mic has been recognized with “Best Of” awards from Metroland Magazine, The Alt Weekly, The Saratogian Reader’s Poll and Saratoga’s Fab Five. Just like at our weekend shows, all attention is focused on the stage. Our HostsFirst Monday – Rick Bolton Second Monday – Carolyn Shapiro Third Monday – Ray Pashoukos Fourth Monday – Kate Blain Here’s what to expect:Every Monday. All ages, all styles. Originals encouraged but not required.Please leave a $3-$5 donation for our non-profit organization if you’re able to.Sign-up is 6:30 PM to 7:00 PM / Show at 7:00 / 2 songs or 10 minutes /Sign up is first come first serveYou are welcome to use our Yamaha studio upright acoustic piano or acoustic Martin guitar. We can play your MP3 backing track through our sound system. You are welcome to bring amps and drums BUT set up and break down is part of your 10 minutes.Full table service (see menu). No alcohol! We like to keep our Monday nights family friendly.Play Nice! We foster a diverse community that has a great time making art and helping one another get better. Excessive profanity, explicit sexual themes, and “humor” that unkindly targets a specific group undermines this goal. It is up to the discretion of the host to enforce the house standards. Contact usIf you have any questions you can give us a call at 518-583-0022 or email our Monday House Manager: Reese @caffelena.org.

Doors Open
Doors Open: 6:00 pm

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Member
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Doors Open
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Price

Member
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General
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Child or Student
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