Remembering Harry Dutcher August 1945-January 2012
W e are saddened this month by the loss of our dear friend Harry Dutcher, a long-time devotee to Lena’s and a quiet rock over the years. Harry knew Lena, helped bail her out many times, and was a strong supporter of the non-profit Lena’s, being on the board, a very supportive neighbor in his 25-year role as Director of The Saratoga Springs Public Library, an active committee member, patron, and folk music enthusiast. We are grateful for Harry’s steadfast belief in the history and mission of Caffè Lena. In 2005 he assisted the Caffè Lena History Project in the creation of Caffè Lena’s 45th Anniversary archival exhibition. This past fall, he remained dedicated to raising grant funding to support Caffè Lena’s...
Read MoreHappy Birthday Lena
L ena Spencer was born Pasqualina Rosa Nargi on January 4, 1923. She died at age 65. Today she would be 89 years old. Happy birthday, Lena. Your Caffè is now 52 years old and still going strong.
Read MoreCaffè Lena Recordings Travel to NYC for Preservation: Part Two
I n 2010 the Caffè Lena History Project uncovered a rare collection of live recordings made at the Caffè from 1960-1975. This at-risk collection includes over fifty reel-to-reel recordings of artists including Pete Seeger, Mike Seeger, Hedy West, Jean Ritchie, and Jerry Jeff Walker performing at Caffè Lena at the height of the folk music revival. The CLHP recognized signs of deterioration on the recordings and the urgent need to catalog and preserve them to ensure their survival. In 2011 a GRAMMY Foundation preservation grant enabled the successful physical transfer of the recordings from Saratoga Springs to Magic Shop Recording Studio in New York City and planning for the preservation of these rare materials. In June we posted a blog about...
Read MoreNewport Jazz and two sons on their jungle gym
H ere is a story from the CLHP archives about the power of community to inspire great art: In the spring of 1960 just before the opening of Caffè Lena, David Wasser was introduced to Bill & Lena Spencer. A local Saratogian with a deep love for folk music, he soon became a weekend regular and gave the couple a 10 watt amplifier to use for their sound system along with their first mic stand and what he describes as “a cheap Shure mic.” When Happy Traum’s wife proved allergic to Lena’s cat Pasha, David’s house became a guest house for performers including Happy, Dave Van Ronk, Hedy West, Barry Kornfeld, Jean Redpath, Molly Scott, Ralph Rinzler and many others featured in early photographs by Joe Alper, who himself housed performers...
Read MoreAnother Slice of American Pie – The Story’s Bigger than the Song
A merican Pie, the 1971 anthem inducted into the GRAMMY hall of fame and later covered by Eddie Vedder and Madonna, catapulted songwriter Don McLean from his humble beginnings at Caffè Lena to international stardom. For years the tune has been said to have its origins in Saratoga Springs. Legend has it that while drinking, McLean wrote the song’s lyrics on a napkin at the Tin and Lint bar just down the street from the Caffè where he’d performed earlier that night. According to the story retold by the bar’s owner, Saratoga community members, and storyteller Utah Phillips, McLean passed out and his buddies saved his napkin to return to him. For years, including in a 2005 interview recorded for the Caffè Lena History Project archives, Don McLean...
Read MoreCaffè Lena Recordings Travel to New York City for Preservation
D id you or someone you know make an audio or video recording at Caffè Lena? Do you have further background information or additional recordings related to the sources in this Blog? Please contact us so that we can continue to save Lena's recorded history. . .
Read MoreConnections
I ts been a whirlwind and exciting last few months since we launched the new Caffè Lena History Project website. Luckily thanks to the Splinter Group’s help to outfit us with the social media tools of the century, Facebook and Twitter have stayed up to speed, and you can visit there to catch up on the latest between then and now. As for now, this space will begin to become more active beginning with these introductory words about the next few posts to come: In a recent interview with his translator Momoko Gill, Jazz Loft Project Director Sam Stephenson asks Momoko to describe her interview experience with the JLP. She responds, “We were strangers from different ends of the globe, united by one man of the past, sharing for just one or two hours a...
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