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Sing In The Streets

A neighborhood music festival to celebrate
63 years of Caffe Lena!

sunday, may 21 | 12:00pm – 3:00pm

Enjoy an afternoon of live music at 6 stages located around the Caffe Lena neighborhood.

Angelina Valente • Bill & Finnegan Ackerbauer • Blue Ranger • Jimi W. • Keanen Stark & Orion Kribs • Margo Macero Duo • Novus Cantus
Rees Shad & The Conversations • Reese Fulmer & The Carriage House Band • Rick Bolton • Steve Candlen • Travis Gray

locations and performers:

IMPRESSIONS OF SARATOGA
12:15pm – 1:05pm: Steve Candlen
1:40pm – 2:30pm: Travis Gray

LIBRARY TERRACE
12:30pm – 1:20pm: Rick Bolton
1:50pm – 2:40pm: Rees Shad & the Conversations

FROG GARDEN
12noon – 12:50pm: Bill & Finnegan Ackerbauer
2:00pm – 2:50pm: Novus Cantus 

CAFFÈ LENA COURTYARD
12noon – 12:50pm: Jimi W.
1:30pm – 2:20pm: Keanen Stark & Orion Kribs

CAFFÈ LENA UPSTAIRS 
12:30pm – 1:20pm: Angelina Valente
2:10pm – 3:00pm: Reese Fulmer & The Carriage House Band

BEN & JERRY’S
12:15pm – 1:05pm: Margo Macero Duo
1:50pm – 2:40pm: Blue Ranger

Sing in the streets is made possible by our generous sponsors

About the Artists

Angelina Valente

Angelina Valente’s singer/songwriter style strips music down to its bare bones with a folk/pop sound. Her soft piano and strong voice, along with honest lyrics, create an exceptional, emotional experience – a travelogue through folk, bluegrass and indie pop-rock. Valente grew up in Galway, New York developing a deep love for nature and quiet, both of which feed and inspire her and her music. She began writing as a way of working through the trials life throws at you, and still does so, in a self-informed and introspective way. She has since gone on to release two EPs and four singles. Valente has played a sold-out performance at The Cock ‘n Bull restaurant this past January and has recorded at the esteemed Village Studios in L.A., as well as the Atlantic Records Studio in New York. She is the 2023 champion of Nippertown’s March Madness, a local voting-based competition in the Capital region of New York. Sample song

Bill & Finnegan Ackerbauer

While hunkered down at the start of the pandemic, Johnstown musician Bill Ackerbauer started writing silly tunes with his son Finnegan. Together they wrote “Chicken Milk” a funny folk tune that eventually ended up on Chicken Milk & Other Mysteries, an album filled to the brim with lighthearted kids’ songs. For more than 15 years, the former Gazette copy editor has performed around the Capital Region, sometimes solo and often with The Insolent Willies, with which he released “Mostly Harmless Acoustic Mayhem” last year. While working on the album, Ackerbauer and Finnegan performed a few virtual concerts through the Johnstown Public Library in a series called Singin’ in the Kitchen. “We made a little TV show out of it with Finn and I telling jokes and we would go to different locations to film the performances of the songs and things,” Ackerbauer said. The video series and the making of “Chicken Milk & Other Mysteries” became a positive thing to focus on during an otherwise uncertain time. Sample song

blue ranger

Here to remind us that there are small moments of magic in the everyday, Albany’s Blue Ranger create subtle, melodious stories that ruminate on universal introspection. Saving a Beauty – their follow-up to 2016’s Actual Food – is a collection of soft-focused folk that celebrates the beauty in our uncertainties with an existential flair. Written while on the road, there’s an ever-evolving, thoughtful prose that is akin to frontman Joshua F. Marré’s insatiable appetite for stories bigger than himself. A keen reader and record collector, Marré will often be found elbow deep in a used bookstore or flipping through the racks of a local music shop, no matter what unfamiliar town he finds himself in. This obsession with fictitious prose seeps through to Saving a Beauty, where candid, autobiographical tales dance among a wealth of imaginary characters. The band includes Kenna Hynes on vocals, fiddle, and piano; Matt Griffin on drums and guitar; Mike Doherty on vocals and Joshua’s twin brother, Evan Marré on percussion bass and vocals. Sample song

Jimi W.

Jimi W. is a singer songwriter based out of the capital region of Upstate NY. His sound combines influences from songwriting legends such as James Taylor and Tom Waits with a modern eclectic indie-folk twist. His captivating voice, unforgettable lyrics and deft guitar playing make him an act not to be missed! Sample song

Keanen Stark & Orion Kribs

The Adirondack duo have brought their blend of modern yet classically old-timey sounds to many appreciative audiences in the Northeast and beyond. Keanen Stark (guitar, harmonica, banjo) “is becoming a master of the old-time folk styles of Woody Guthrie. A folk singer in the truest sense, with a knack for cross-harp, his stripped down minimalist take on traditional folk music is sure to please.” Orion Kribs (mandolin, guitar) “is a world class mandolin player capable of breakneck speed and nuanced solo work. Orion has also played in the Celtic bluegrass band The McKrells, among others, and is an endorsee of Godin-Seagull guitars.” Each a capable lead vocalist, Stark and Kribs swap old-timey folk, blues, bluegrass, and classic americana tunes, and dabble at entertaining endless other influences and flights of fancy. Sample song

Margo Macero Duo

As the niece of Teo Macero, a revolutionary producer for Columbia Records, Margo Macero carries music in her blood. After attending Berklee College of Music at an early age, she went on to release a five song EP at 19 years old titled, “Colors In The Sky.” Macero is known to deliver unforgettable performances with passionate powerhouse vocals and impressive guitar solos. With the ability to impact a wide audience, Macero is not only a genuine artist, but an inspiring and relatable person. Her uncompromising determination has been characterized as boundless. Sample song

Novus Cantus

With a flair for storytelling and theatricality, these brothers have created a show for kids that draws on their love of world music, rock and classical. Parents will recognize nods to Jethro Tull, Rusted Root, Gypsy Kings and Metallica. Sample song

Rees Shad & The Conversations

Rees Shad & The Conversations refer to their sound as ‘Swinging Americana Done Right.” Those who know Shad’s catalog have come to refer to him as a wordsmith and a songwriter’s songwriter. Graham Parker has remarked that “a rare class inhabits the man’s songwriting that’s rarely found today.” The Boston Herald described his songs as “loamy as 10 yards of Midwestern topsoil and as complex as a nest of small-town relationships … Unexpectedly literate & moving. ”The Conversations are drummer Bobby Kay and bassist Jeff Link. Kay has recorded with jazz pianist Cole Broderick and toured with the likes of R&B singer Ellen Macilwaine. Link joined the discourse three years ago after spending two decades honing his musical fluency as a pit musician on Broadway and touring with rock luminaries such as Robben Ford and Albert Cummings. Sample song

Reese Fulmer & The Carriage House Band

If you ask Reese about himself, he’ll tell you he’s a brand new soul. But his songs tell a different story, with a clear eye and poetic touch, of a conduit to something much older and deeper. With a fluid lineup of versatile and talented players in his Carriage House Band, Reese’s music is reminiscent of the early work of Josh Ritter or Iron & Wine. His music really is so thoughtful and interesting and insightful. I really appreciate his fun and joyful spirit when he performs. He’s got a great openness with the audience and draws you in. Not only with the music but with the discussions he has onstage that allow the audience to really get to know him as a person first, then a performer.” – Kim Cirillo Wickham

Sample song

Rick Bolton

“I’m polite. I have manners and resqect my audiences,” Bolton says. ” I respect the other people I’m playing with, and I’m forever grateful – grateful to still be playing and to the people who come out and listen.” It’s a concept that doesn’t get a lot of attention in the world of music, with its Amy Winehouses and Eminems. Then again, Bolton, 57, realizes he isn’t living in the same world as they are.His music world can be mapped out within a five-block radius of downtown Saratoga Springs from Gaffney’s to The Parting Glass to The Olde Bryan Inn or a blocked-off Caroline Street during the Hats Off celebration that kicks off the thoroughbred racing season. Sample song

Steve Candlen

“Songs can present themselves anywhere from conversation to contemplation in every aspect of experience one might encounter on any given day. Recognizing such moments as inspiration and the ammunition to write something poignant and cohesive is half the battle. I write simple yet vulnerable melodies about the experiences of life, love, and perspective in the 21st century. I enjoy writing from a title that hands me a topic allowing me to color in the blanks. Other than that I’m just an average minded goofball.” Candlen was the winner of the 2005 Music For Miracles Songwriting Contest with “All Over The World.” He was voted Metroland magazine’s Best Male Vocalist 2006, and Best Drummer 2007. Sample song

Travis Gray

After a decade touring with award-winning Capital Region rockers Wild Adriatic, Travis Gray finds himself once again getting comfortable with just his powerful voice and acoustic guitar playing. A virtuosic musician and songwriter, Travis continues to write and perform for audiences craving a beautifully soulful voice and masterful guitar work. In his 20+ years writing, recording and performing around the world, Gray’s work has ranged from contemplative singer-songwriter to fronting powerhouse 6 piece bands and back again.  Sample song