***From Out In The 1960s Folk Minute Night- Live At Caffe Lena 

 

From The Pen Of Frank Jackman

DVD Review

Live at Caffe Lena: Music From America’s Legendary Coffeehouse, 1967-2013, various artists, three CD set plus booklet, Tompkins Square Records, 2013

Everybody, or almost everybody, from the Generation of ’68, the generation that grew up in the Cold War red scare 1950s and came of age in the turbulent 1960s has heard of the folk music minute that exploded onto the youth scene in the very early 1960s in places like Harvard Square in Cambridge, North Beach out in Frisco town and down in the Village in New York City. Maybe even other outposts in college towns like Ann Arbor, Old Town Chicago and Seattle. Less well known at least to the general youth public although very well- known to folk aficionados then and now is the out- of- the-way Caffe Lena in Saratoga Springs in winter-driven upstate New York. That spot, a haven for many of the artists featured on this three CD set, was run by the legendary and eccentric Lena Spenser for many years before her death.  The club still is running touted as the oldest continuing coffeehouse in America.       

In its heyday on any given night, the likes of the young (all those named here will be young and hungry looking for some venue to show their stuff) Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Tom Paxton, Rosalie Sorrels, Utah Phillips (Jesus, was he ever young), Ramblin’ Jack Eliott, and Dave Von Ronk could be seen gracing the stage of that small establishment. In those days between the struggle to keep the place afloat, the smallness of the room, the state of recording technology and just plain hubris not many thought to record the shows for posterior, at least not systematically. Therefore it took many years of effort and pluck to gather in the 47 tracks presented here which represent a historic treasure trove of folk music from that era to now.

Caffe Lena outlasted, survived the folk minute and Lena later opened her doors to many young talents that also grace this set; Patty Griffin, Woody’s son,  Arlo Guthrie, subsequently Arlo’s  daughter, Sarah, David Bromberg all the way up to those today who represent the folk tradition like Greg Brown, Rory Block, Chris Smither and Tom Chapin. For those who want a thumbnail sketch of what the folk lineage has been for the past half century or so and who have a sense of  the importance of archival musical history this is for you. Included is an informative booklet about the doings in this set and a plethora of rare photographs of Lena Spenser and her café from period covered by the set. Enough said.