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| Danny Kalb, 2009 |
Dave Ban Ronk, 1976 |
The Figgs, 2007 |
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PDF Downloads:
Full Calendar
(3 MB) Jun-Aug
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Fridge Calendar
(138 KB) Jun-Aug |
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
April 2010
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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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Gballoi is a traveling ensemble from Ghana with three decades of experience in the field of West African music and dance. Hailing from Accra, a city on the coast of Ghana known worldwide for its rich, intricate, and notoriously difficult musical traditions, Gballoi's mission is to promote Ghanaian culture in the United States and across the world.
Gballoi's four core members perform on bells, hand drums, shakers and flutes.
Heard features the New World jazz of composer and pianist Elizabeth Woodbury Kasius. Blending jazz, classical, and world music, along with the inspiration of the natural environment, Heard creates a captivating soundscape. Heard's members include Elizabeth on piano, Jonathan Greene on woodwinds, John Menegan on bass, Zorkie Nelson and Brian Mellick on percussion, and Rebecca Kleinman on flutes
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 The Virginia-based husband-and-wife duo of Siobhan Quinn and Michael Bowers offers gracious and gritty songs brimming with seamless harmonies.
Singer Siobhan brings the audience directly to the emotional center of each song with her worldclass singing.
Songwriter Michael brings fine lyrics, warm guitar, humor and wry observation. Pair these two with Albany's own stellar blues guitarist and harmonica player Ben Murray and you get a dynamic program of contemporary folk, rock, pop and blues.
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| Sunday, Apr. 4 |
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Closed for Easter |
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Jeanetta Calhoun Mish’s second poetry collection, Work Is Love Made Visible, was published by West End Press in March 2009.
She has participated in poetry readings and workshops for more than 20 years at acclaimed venues including the Woody Guthrie Free Folk Festival, Telluride Institute’s Native American Writers Program; The Taos Poetry Circus Invitational Reading; Red Dirt Book Festival; Scissortail Creative Writing Festival, and The Knitting Factory in New York City. Jeanetta’s chapbook, Tongue Tied Woman, won the Edda Poetry Chapbook Competition for Women in 2002.
She is currently the Visiting Poet-Scholar at World Literature Today. |
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  Tonight we celebrate the penultimate chapter in Caffè Lena's illustrious five-decade run. We welcome back to the stage two of the era's finest singer-songwriters, who just happen to be old friends and admirers of one another's work.
Bill Morrissey's lyrical gifts and graceful, understated melodies have won him two Grammy nominations and put him on stages across the world. With songs influenced by Mississippi John Hurt, Hank Williams and Bob Dylan, Morrissey captures the harshness and small sadnesses of his characters, but tempers it all with wry humor that often leaves his live audiences in stitches.
Cliff Eberhardt has been called "the missing link between Paul McCartney and Cole Porter." (Seth Rogovoy) His guitar and piano melodies range from pop to folk to old-style jazz, with lyrics that find fresh, incisive ways to address the familiar themes of life gone good and bad. From melancholy to sweet optimism, Cliff's songs are the product of a mature and tested performer with the highest level of craftsmanship.
As we have with our other Decade Concerts, we will open the evening with an onstage interview of the performers conducted by Michael Eck. A taped copy will be sent to the New England Folk Music Archives as part of their ongoing documentation of the Northeast's folk scene.
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| Saturday, Apr. 10 • 8 PM |
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Train of Fools |
$16 advance / $18 at the door
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Featuring Kevin & Katie McKrell, Brian Mellick, and Craig Thaler |
| www.kmckrell.com |
 Saratoga's own Kevin McKrell has been the leading force in the regional Celtic scene for the past three decades. He's a masterful entertainer and musician with a knack for assembling fine bands. He has travelled the world with Donnybrook Fair and The McKrells.
His songs are performed by Kingston Trio, Woods Tea Company, and Seamus Kennedy, among many others. In recent years Kevin has joined forces with his talented daughter Katie McKrell, a singer-songwiter who has put her own rock career on hold for now. She adds powerful harmony and lead vocals and lots of wicked stage banter. Brian Mellick joins in on joyful percussion and Craig Thaler plays fine violin.
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 Bienvenue! Wake up to the beauty and excitement of authentic Quebecois music! RèVeillons! (Wake Up!) brings to audiences across North America the percussive beats, hearty singing, and lively instrumentation that characterizes the fine traditional folk music of French Canada.
David Berthiaume plays the jaw harp and concertina; Jean-François Berthiaume adds stepdance, bodhran, and suitcase percussion; Richard Forest is the fiddler, and Marc Maziade fills out the sound with guitar and tenor banjo.
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| Monday, Apr. 12 • 7 PM |
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Storytelling Open Mic |
| $3 at the door |
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With Featured Storyteller Jeannine Laverty |
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 Jeannine Laverty has been telling international folk tales since 1979, and has been a sought-after teacher of the craft since 1980. She was honored in 1999 by the National Storytelling Network for her long commitment to the field of storytelling.
In the past few years Jeannine has returned to her farming roots and tonight she will tell stories connected to that theme, both from her own life and from the farming lives of others.
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| Wednesday, Apr. 14 • 7 PM |
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Emerging Artist Breakout |
| $5 at the door |
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Featuring Mark Stewart |
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 Mark Stewart, a favorite performer at Caffe Lena's weekly open mic, plays classical guitar, acoustic covers, and a few original songs. Full of jokes, tall tales, and impressive fretboard skills, Mark is a crowd pleaser for all ages and styles.
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Friday, Apr. 16
to Saturday, Apr. 17 |
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5th Annual Acoustic Blues Fest |
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Five years ago we hit upon the idea of dedicating a weekend to that most enduringly popular brand of folk music, acoustic blues. Down through the decades, the Caffè stage has been filled innumerable times with the mesmerizing, sweet and sad sounds of the Mississippi Delta.
From performances by Delta masters Mississippi John Hurt, Skip James, Honeyboy Edwards, and Reverend Gary Davis, to Dave Van Ronk, Roy Book Binder and Paul Geremia, there's no better place to hear acoustic blues than at the Caffè Lena.
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| Friday, Apr. 16 • 8 PM |
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Paul Geremia |
$18 advance / $20 at the door
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With Openers Mark Tolstrup and Dale Haskell |
| www.paulgeremia.org |
 We open our 5th Annual Acoustic Blues Fest with long-time Caffè Lena favorite Paul Geremia. Paul is your classic bluesman, reconteur, and road warrior. He has travelled the globe since 1966, during which time he has earned a rock solid reputation as a fingerpicker, songwriter, and scholar of early jazz and blues.
Playing six and twelve-string guitars, harmonica, piano, and singing in a husky, whiskey-and-heartbreak voice, Paul has an innate sense of the humor and drama of his songs. He mixes classics by Blind Lemon Jefferson, Robert Johnson, Blind Willie McTell, Scrapper Blackwell and Blind Blake with his original compositions to create a show that has received endless accolades in the U.S.A. and Europe.
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Saturday Workshops |
$25 each, or $60 for all three
Pay at the door |
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Paul Geremia, Phil Drum & Ray Giguere, Tas Cru |
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11 AM – Paul Geremia
Blues Guitar Techniques
Blues master Paul Geremia will teach his unique brand of traditional blues guitar through songs by the early masters. Paul will compare several different blues styles and show how each uses a different approach to arranging in the same key. He will teach tunes by such artists as Skip James, Blind Blake, Scrapper Blackwell, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Robert Johnson, and Bo Carter.
1:30 PM – Phil Drum & Ray Giguere
Collecting Vintage Guitars
 This workshop will explore the merits and pitfalls of collecting vintage acoustic guitars. Fine examples of important Gibsons and Martins from the 1930s-1960's will be displayed and discussed. Phil and Ray will focus on approaches and stategies to acquiring such instruments (e.g., Ebay, Craig's List, etc.), and the genuine benefits they provide for players of acoustic blues. The role of tone woods, body design, and scale length in affecting the overall sound and balance of an instrument will also be discussed. Rest assured that you'll have a chance to try out these beauties as well!
3:00 PM – Tas Cru
Building a Diddy-Bow
 Participants learn about the diddly bow, an early blues homemade instrument. You will then assemble your own, learn to play it a bit, and take it home with you! This workshop is a big hit with musicians and music fans alike.
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| Saturday, Apr. 17 • 8 PM |
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Blues In the Round with Mark Tolstrup & Dale |
$18 advance / $20 at the door
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Haskell, Tas Cru, and Phil Drum |
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Whether you like your blues straight from the true vine, or whether you hunger for fresh branches on the tree, you'll relish this high caliber in-the-round song swap by the area's finest practioners of acoustic blues.
With a solid beat of finger-picking, foot stomping, ringing slide-guitar, rock solid percussion, and a powerful vocal attack, Saratoga Springs duo Mark Tolstrup and Dale Haskell reprise the authentic sounds of the American landscape, from New Orleans to Tin Pan Alley.
Albany's Tas Cru does Mississippi Delta blues on resonator guitar. He's a master of the double entendre, adding dark sparkle to every song. He's a regular at the famed Ground Zero Blues Club in Clarksdale, Mississippi and has represented the Northeast Blues Society at the International Blues Challenge in Memphis. Tas is a smart and seasoned bluesman who knows how to entertain.
Phil Drum is a fingerpicking bluesman and founder of the Saratoga Acoustic Blues Society. Music has been a lifelong pursuit for him. From a tour with the Coasters in 1972, to more recent ventures with Bluesology and the Mojo Filters, Phil has kept his chops in good working order. Tonight he'll focus on the oldtime blues of Blind Blake and Robert Johnson.
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 Angel Band...you’ll hear an amazing mix of folk, roots, blues, country and gospel-tinged throw downs. Alone or singing with David Bromberg, this big voiced, good time gal band catches hold of you...and won't let go! Nancy Josephson, Kathleen Weber and Aly Page are the singing virtuosos, queens of the harmonies with super backup band, Nate Grower (of David Bromberg Quartet) on fiddle, Christie Lenee on guitar, Mark Moss drums and Bob Taylor, bass.
Angel Band is invited to play many of the great venues throughout US such as Grey Fox, Merlefest, Levon Helms Midnight Ramble, David Bromberg Big Noise in the Neighborhood, Cafe Lena. |
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| Wednesday, Apr. 21 • 7 PM |
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Emerging Artist Breakout |
| $5 at the door |
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Featuring Jason Domnarski Trio |
| www.jasondomnarski.com |
 Led by pianist/keyboardist Jason Domnarski, JDT formed out of a unique vision of how a piano trio can sound. Taking inspiration from the eclecticism of NYC, the trio combines rock, jazz and electronic styles with re-contextualized acoustic sounds and innovative production.
Hailed by Relix Magazine as "Jazz for the Future," JDT has played some of the top rooms in NYC, including Jazz Standard, Blue Note, Joe's Pub and NUBLU. Joined by bassist Aaron Nevezie and drummer David Mason, JDT utilizes strong song forms and melodic compositions as a springboard for group improvisation. “Jazz meets ambient electronic sounds and killer keyboard skills...” —Metroland |
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 Texas songwriter Eric Taylor is a sage musician, a lyrical genius, and a master of the guitar who learned his chops from Lightnin' Hopkins, Mance Lipscomb and Mississippi Fred McDowell. Through his long, steady career he has headlined the Newport Folk Festival, played NPR's "Mountain Stage," and appeared on "Late Night With David Letterman" and "Austin City Limits."
It's always hard to describe with only printed words the emotional impact of a great songwriter so you'll just have to come to the show tonight and discover for yourself the man Nanci Griffith has called "the William Faulkner of songwriting in our time."
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 George Drew and Allen Hoey have been friends and poetic allies for twenty-five years. In a special two-act program, Riding the Flood, these two poets blend their voices for an afternoon of dramatic monologues and narrative poetry that explore the human condition from the comic to the tragic and everything in between.
Allen Hoey of Bucks County, PA is the author six collections of poems and three novels. His 2008 release, Country Music, was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize.
Since the publication of his last two poetry collections, The Horse's Name Was Physics (2008) and American Cool (2009), Albany's George Drew has become an in-demand guest poet on college campuses throughout the United States. Drew is a natural teacher and storyteller who easily engages the audience with his powerful narrative poems.
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 Singer-songwriter Catie Curtis has an instantly recognizable voice and insightful, often humorous, lyrics, and an unflinching dedication to social causes. She rose through the ranks of the competitive Boston music scene and achieved national prominence by the late 90s.
 Her songs have appeared in Grey's Anatomy, Dawson's Creek, Felicity, and Alias, and films such as 500 Miles to Graceland and A Slipping Down Life. Over the years, Curtis' many fans have requested stripped down versions of her classic songs, capturing the spirit and intimacy of her live shows. With her latest album, Hello Stranger (Compass Records), named one of the top ten folk CDs of 2009 by the Boston Globe, Curtis achieves that career goal. |
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 “Honky-Tonk for the modern-day cowboy and girl!”
Like their pseudo-sister role models, the Davis Sisters, the Sweetback Sisters sing country songs in close harmony and matching dresses. Their repertoire combines several passions: country music from before they were born, and new interpretations of those traditions, to create a fresh take on what it means to "be country."
The Sweetback line-up features the lavish voices of Zara Bode and Emily Miller joined by an all-star cast of instrumentalists including: West Virginian triple threat Jesse Milnes; Stefan Amidon on drums; Philly's stringed slayer Ross Bellenoit on rippin' Telecaster, and a the newest Sweetback Sister Bridget Kearney on bass.
Their debut EP earned them a spot on A Prairie Home Companion's talent contest for twenty-somethings. Their first full-length album, Chicken Ain't Chicken, was released in 2009 on the prestigious Signature Sounds label. This is one of those great young bands that proves folk music has bright future!
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| Wednesday, Apr. 28 • 7 PM |
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Emerging Artist Breakout |
| $5 at the door |
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Featuring Amy Regan |
| amyregan.com |
 NYC singer-songwriter Amy Regan is often compared to artists such as Fiona Apple, Joni Mitchell, and Laura Nyro. Her music fuses lyrical integrity with a pop sensibility, creating a sound that is instantly accessible but resonates on a deeper level. She plays to packed rooms at NYC singer/songwriter hotspots including Rockwood Music Hall and The Living Room.
Amy graduated from Skidmore College with a music major in 2007, where she led a 5-part band, fell in love with the Beatles, and spent late nights holed up in the campus studio confirming what the rest of her life would be like.
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 “Accomplished and acclaimed as a musician, composer, actor, director and writer, Davis somehow makes the term multi-talented seem woefully inadequate.”
—Jim Musser, Icon Magazine
Of all the paths he might have pursued in life, Guy Davis has dedicated himself to reviving and sharing the traditions of acoustic blues. His shows and numerous albums combine classics of the genre with African American stories, and his own original songs and performance pieces. Like the best of the old-time players, Guy is at heart a storyteller—a master of transporting his audience to a creaking front porch in a forgotten southern swamp.
He stomps his way through songs that range from soulful and moaning to playful and bouncy as a hayride. He accompanies himself on guitar, mandolin, banjo, and accordion.
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Photo:
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© 2009, Joseph Deuel
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Photo:
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© 2009, Joseph Deuel
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Photo:
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© 2009, Joseph Deuel
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Photo:
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© 2009, Joseph Deuel |
Copyright © 1998-2010, Caffè Lena, Inc.
All Rights Reserved |
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