“I find it interesting that James Taylor had just come out at that time with his first album on Apple Records (he was, I think, the first artist the Beatles signed for their new record company, and almost the last because Apple didn’t last very long) and I was taken by such songs as “Something in the Way She Moves” and “Carolina on My Mind.” Yet Don thought James would be a flash in the pan and that Tim Hardin was an artist of real substance. Ironic considering how things unfolded . . .

[After Caffè Lena] I went on to a career as a professional musician that lasted more than twenty years. While still in NY I got to play with Pete Seeger, and later was a studio musician in Los Angeles during the 80s. During that time I played on recordings and at live gigs for some great musicians including Luther van Dross, David Benoit, and Holly Near. One of the perks of the job was meeting, talking to, and sometimes even informally singing with some  all-time greats including  George Harrison, James Taylor, Joni Mitchell, Diana Ross, and Ritchie Havens. Though Don became more reclusive after “American Pie” I saw him once in a while and he was always very gracious.”

“I’m so pleased that this archive work is being done.  At the time I was producing the show, I felt that more recognition of Caffè Lena was due and that hopefully, it would come in time. Thanks again for your support and work on this important piece of history.”

We’ll strive to continue our preservation work with Robert’s encouragement.

“I just stumbled across this Gazette page (“The Schenectady Gazette” in those days) on Google. Interesting that the Greenbriar Boys were also in the neighborhood that weekend. Not beyond Ralph Rinzler to have hustled Tom a Lena gig, especially if they were touring somewhat together. The second volume of ‘Old Time Music at Clarence Ashleys’ was either just out or just coming out, and the world (thanks to Harry Smith,  Ralph and others) had discovered Doc Watson and his world by then. Those were Doc’s first recorded appearances. I believe. ”

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 future.

Harry’s obituary, which details his dedication to Caffè Lena, mentioning that this historic venue was one of the principal reasons he chose to come to Saratoga, can be found here.

A tribute article in the Saratogian Newspaper can be found here.

Those wishing to honor Harry’s memory can do so through a contribution to the Saratoga Springs Public Library, 49 Henry St., Saratoga Springs, NY 12866.

ZBS Media Caffè Lena tapes- Photo by JArem 2011

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 this exciting trip. In the process, thanks to successful outreach work by CLHP intern Ian Murphy, who launched a nationwide search in collaboration with radio stations, cultural organizations, music blogs, schools and other venues from the New York Folklore Society in New York state to The Bluebird Cafe in Tennessee, we began to uncover additional existing Caffè Lena recordings around the country in need of preservation.

These efforts resulted in the location of hundreds of new recordings. This October, the CLHP cataloged: two major collections of live performances recorded off the Caffè Lena sound board by Joe Deuel and Dick Kavanaugh in the 1980s featuring music by Dave Van Ronk, Townes Van Zandt, Christine Lavin, Utah Phillips, Ramblin Jack Elliott, and Tom Chapin, the master tape from the 1989 Caffè Lena PBS/BBC documentary produced by Stephen Trombley, and the complete unedited audio reel collection from the ZBS Media “Caffè Lena” show donated by engineer Bob Bielecki. (We previously received a donation of the edited tapes and did not think the original unedited tapes still existed.) The recordings are now poised to be cleaned, stored, and digitally transferred by our friends at the Magic Shop Studio for long term preservation at the Library of Congress.

Here are some pictures of the recordings’ journey from their original storage containers and owners in Saratoga Springs to the Magic Shop Studio in New York City.

Dick Kavanaugh sports an army bag filled to the brim with Caffè Lena cassettes - Photo by JArem 2011

Joe Deuel organizes his Caffè Lena tape collection - Photo by JArem 2011

Kabir Hermon at the Magic Shop Studio displays humorously titled Utah Phillips tape - Photo by JArem 2011

Did you or someone you know make an audio or video recording at Caffè Lena? Do you have information or additional recordings related to the sources in this blog? Please contact us and help us save Lena’s recorded history.

David Wasser with Joe Alper Photograph - Photo by JArem 2011

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 like Bob Dylan during their stays in Saratoga Springs. David remembers Dylan’s gig in 1961:

“My favorite memory is that of Bob Dylan’s first night there. He was the first (and best) of the composer-performer genre and the audience was more restless than polite (we were always polite.) Bill Spencer took the stage and chided the crowd on their unsophistication and began to “explain” Dylan to us. Dylan came on and announced that he was going to sing “He Was a Friend of Mine.” He said, ‘This is about a guy who worked in a carnival. A carnival is a traveling troupe who run shows and rides and games’ at which point we all laughed and applauded and relaxed.”

David’s daughter Rachel worked as a Caffè waitress in her teens and acted in the cast of “The Corn is Green” alongside Spalding Gray. David stayed involved with Lena’s through the 1990s, serving as an original Caffè Lena Inc. Board member following Lena’s death in 1989.

A few months ago, David wrote an email to the CLHP:

“In return for $15 dollars I gave him so he could buy 35mm film for a photo-shoot at the Newport Jazz Festival, Joe Alper took a picture of my two sons on their jungle gym in our backyard. It’s somewhere in my house. Those two little boys are now 54 & 52!”

David surfaced the photo (above), which bears a striking resemblance in tone and quality to the images Joe Alper made at Caffè Lena during this same time. Connected through the Caffè, David and Joe aided Lena on her quest to support American folk music, and in the process enabled documentation of those folk artists to take place. This photograph is a testament to the power of those connections, with Lena the common thread.

American Pie plaque - Photo by Kelsey Thorn, 2011

Still the legend persists. The landmark T&L bar is now marked with a plaque that visitors rub for good luck. Don McLean’s name is still scribbled on the Caffè Lena bathroom walls, where a new generation of songwriters are writing their own legendary tunes. This week the Glens Falls PostStar revisited the story at McLean’s stomping grounds in Saratoga:

Bye, bye local legend: Don McLean refutes tale of song’s origin

The tale of American Pie is certainly persistent, but like so many Caffè Lena legends the story goes deeper. What is perhaps as inspiring as the American Pie story itself is that Don McLean, indebted to Lena Spencer for urging him on as a young songwriter, returned to the 80-seat Caffè Lena venue through the early ‘70s when American Pie was a hit record all over the world. He performed multiple benefits for Lena, where he recalls meeting Bob Dylan who was there in attendance. A megastar who earned top dollar from large scale venues, he recalled “I used to come and just sing for nothing. I never took any money from Lena.” In 1973, McLean gave Lena the ultimate gift: he invited her to be his special guest at the GRAMMY awards.

Don McLean at Caffè Lena - Photo by Joseph Deuel, 1970s

McLean spent a great deal of time hanging out at Caffè Lena in the 1960s and 1970s, absorbing the variety of musical styles he heard there. He said that of all the places he played in those formative years, Caffè Lena was by far his favorite place, and Lena was the best club owner that he ever worked for. He described the way the legendary venue answered a young songwriter’s great need for a place to learn and grow: “We need a lot of those places around the country for people to learn how to perform. It’s kind of like Vaudeville. It takes years and years of being out there on the end of the diving board.” The PostStar article ends with the statement: “Unfortunately for Caffè Lena or Saratoga Springs – neither of those places can lay claim to anything with regard to ‘American Pie.” But McLean’s love for Lena begs the question, what if he had never set foot in Caffè Lena in Saratoga, never been nurtured by Lena Spencer as a young songwriter? Does the song make the songwriter, or does the songwriter make the song? The Caffè Lena book project will expand on these questions with never-before-seen images and interview material. Caffè Lena’s current programming answers these questions each week on the same stage where Don McLean performed over four decades ago.

Recently, five boxes of archival recordings traveled 182 miles and fifty years towards digitization.

Caffè Lena Recordings at Magic Shop Studio.Photo by Jocelyn Arem 2011

The boxes contained Caffè Recordings from these sources:

Andy and Bill Spence

WAMC Northeast Public Radio

John Nazarenko

Alan Bartenhagen

ZBS Foundation

The Caffè Lena History Project

Thanks to help from our friends at The GRAMMY Foundation, and Lena audio donors in New York and as far away as Panama and China, these unassuming boxes, containing a treasure trove of songs, stories, introductory remarks, (and likely mystery sounds yet to be revealed) recorded at Caffè Lena will be cataloged and saved from deterioration, with listening copies made for the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress. The GRAMMY grant allowed for this important trip to take place, and to begin a relationship with a renowned producer that will enable us to preserve Lena’s complete recorded history.

Steve Rosenthal with Caffè Lena Recording.Photo by JArem 2011

Three-time GRAMMY-winning sound preservationist Steve Rosenthal and his Magic Shop Studio came forward at just the right moment, partnering with the Caffè Lena History Project to preserve never-before-heard recordings by Mississippi John Hurt, Kate McGarrigle, Don McLean, Jean Ritchie, Pete Seeger, and others. This wonderful connection, like most in the course of this project, is fittingly profound.

Steve’s passion for preserving American folk and roots music includes audio work on The Alan Lomax in Haiti Box set and The Live Wire by Woody Guthrie. But it goes beyond admiration for the voices of the past. As co-owner of The Living Room- a unique New York City listening space that he cites as a club inspired by Caffè Lena, he shares Lena’s dedication to providing a space for a young generation of artists to hone their craft.

From The New York Times: “I’ve never played solo here, ever,” Norah Jones said just after midnight Monday on the Lower East Side, surveying a capacity crowd with a flicker of a smile. “Much less on guitar,” she added, fiddling with the strap of her cherry-red Fender Mustang. “But I figured in the spirit of the Living Room, I’d try something new.”

Sound familiar, Lena fans?

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 small space within the present-day world.”

Reading this interview, I couldn’t help but think of the many Caffè Lena History Project interviews recorded over the past ten years and feel a kinship with Momoko. I’m continually amazed by the myriad threads that connect people all over the world to one stubborn, endlessly kind woman and her tiny Caffè in Saratoga Springs, New York. In the last few months, Lena’s admirers from as far away as Japan and Panama have come forward, donating archival materials and sending encouraging words to show their support for this documentary effort. It’s heartening to witness the love she shared with her community being returned through these channels.

This space will serve as a platform for sharing updates on the meeting of past and present worlds through this project. Thanks so much for your continued good wishes and support.