Caffè Lena

Peak Jazz Series: Soggy Po' Boys
2025-02-08 20:00 - 21:30 (America/New_York) | Caffè Lena, 47 Phila Street, Saratoga Springs, NY, 12866, United States
Family Folk

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This New England band was an audience favorite at "Caffe Lena @ SPAC 2023" and we've been eager to bring them back to Saratoga ever since. With guitar, reeds, brass and drums, the Po' Boys get the walls shakin'! Their line-up of seven A-list players is spreading the good news of New Orleans music across the northeast and beyond, playing at concert halls, street corners, festivals and libraries alike. They go beyond NOLA jazz to include the myriad traditions that flow through that city, from traditional Caribbean tunes, to Meters funk, soul, and brass band / street beat music. Hard to imagine a more joyful way to spend a cold February night than with the Po' Boys at Lena's! Stream this show live at Caffè Lena TV. Enjoy two weeks of access with your live stream ticket. The Peak Jazz Series is made possible by the generous support of Joseph & Luann Conlon in memory of Corrine Simonds.

Price

Member
FREE

General
FREE

Child or Student
FREE

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Goodnight Moonshine feat. Molly of Red Molly
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This duo combines the evocative voice and songwriting of Molly Venter, known for her sublime singing in vocal trio Red Molly, with husband, Oberlin-trained guitarist Eben Pariser of New Orleans style jazz band Roosevelt Dime.

Venter’s voice, which can be called both “biker-chick smoky” (New Haven Register), and “like silk” (American Songwriter Magazine), pairs with trance-induced stream-of-consciousness writing in songs that probe the depths of inner experience.

Their show is punctuated by banter that openly explores the complexities of marriage, the Creator, birth, life, death and the roller coaster that is everyday life. For Venter and Pariser, it is the way they make space for each other while staying true to themselves that defines this music, and marriage.

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The Clements Brothers
2025-02-06 19:00 - 20:30
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Seamless vocal harmonies, instrumental virtuosity, and a genuine love of song by the Clements twins of Lonely Heartstring Band.

“Pitch perfect sibling harmonies and gossamer sounds.” (Americana UK)

Identical twins George and Charles Clements first played Lena's stage with the hugely popular Lonely Heartstring Band. Their breakout 2023 duo album, Dandelion Breeze, "staked its claim as one of the year’s best debuts." (Folk Radio UK) With roots, rock, bluegrass, jazz, and classical influences, George (on guitar) and Charles (on bass) make groovy, serene music that "unassumingly and softly seeps into your soul." They are joined by drummer Mike Harmon for a show of seamless vocal harmonies, instrumental virtuosity, and a genuine love of song.

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Poetry Open Mic Featuring Adonis Richards, aka Sincerely, Donnie
2025-02-05 19:00 - 21:00
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A featured poet(s) reads for 20 minutes. Featured poets are booked by host Carol Graser. Generally, our features are established, published poets and/or have made significant public contributions to the regional poetry scene.

FEBRUARY 2025 FEATURE: ADONIS RICHARDS, AKA SINCERELY, DONNIE

Adonis Richards, aka Sincerely, Donnie, an Afro-Latino poet, writer, DEIB advocate, and restorative practices advocate, is currently the program coordinator for the Office of Intercultural Affairs at Union College. Adonis has published three poetry collections, most recently Reflections of a Hopeless Creative, and established a media and writing company,

Lucid Writers. He also hosts a monthly poetry/spoken word open mic for the Schenectady community at Electric City Barn. His true passion is storytelling, mainly capturing the voices of the community and making sure they’re heard.

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Folk Club Kids
2025-02-05 10:30 - 11:00, 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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Storytelling Open Mic Featuring KENT BUSMAN
2025-02-04 19:00 - 21:00
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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!

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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.

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Momentum Series: The Suitcase Junket
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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.

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Irish Music Ensemble
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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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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.

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Open position chords and how they are related to each other
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Playing and performing with other musicians

Guitar 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.

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Open position chords and how they are related to each other, including more advanced voicings
Chord extensions (6, 7, 9, 13), inversions and advanced voicings
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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)

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Gareth Pearson
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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.

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Storytelling Open Mic Featuring Claire Nolan
2025-01-07 19:00 - 21:00
American Roots Bluegrass Workshop

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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.

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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
Folk Workshop

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Open Mic night

Sign up 6:30pm // Show starts 7:00pm

Play 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 Hosts

First 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 serve
You 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 us

If you have any questions you can give us a call at 518-583-0022 or email our Monday House Manager: Reese @caffelena.org.

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Online School of Music: Fiddle with Bruce Molsky
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