CAFFE LENA

In 1960, burgeoning actress and defiant dreamer Lena Spencer opened asmall, grassroots coffeehouse in the quaint upstate New York town ofSaratoga Springs. Within her then-husband's plan to start the Caffè as ameans for the couple to artistically flourish while 'making enoughmoney to retire in Europe' lay the seed of a more impactful culturalcontribution that would change music history forever. It was a time inAmerica when a coffeehouse could be something more-a focal point for adifferent sort of people, radical new ideas, and notably, emergingartists. Caffè Lena's humble stage regularly welcomed musicians such as ayoung Bob Dylan in 1961, the singer activist Bernice Johnson Reagon in1962, and a pre-'American Pie' Don McLean in 1965. Quickly, Caffè Lenatook its place among the nation's foremost incubators of an Americanfolk movement that inspired a generation of musicians, artists, andthinkers and a country in need of a new vision of equality, freedom, andunderstanding. Fortunately for posterity, camera shutters were often snapping in timeto the music, and so an intimate visual record of Caffè Lena's earlyyears exists. Now, thanks to years of dedicated digging by the CaffèLena History Project-to unearth Lena's secret memoirs, collaboratingwith photographers to identify and rescue mysterious negatives, andcollecting stories from the original artists to highlight thesematerials-the time has come to share this treasure trove of authenticand rare Americana with the world. Caffè Lena: Inside America's Legendary Folk Music Coffeehouse brings more than 200 never before seen, evocative images and stories tothe public. Early 1960s photographs of Bob Dylan and Pete Seeger andmodern-day images of Rufus Wainwright and Patty Larkin blend with rarememorabilia and an oral history derived from more than 100 originalinterviews of artists who have graced Caffè Lena's stage over thedecades, including Ani DiFranco, Utah Phillips, Dave Van Ronk, SpaldingGray, and other luminaries of the folk, blues, jazz, and theater worlds. This exclusive time capsule chronicling the heyday of Caffè Lena-now the country's oldest continuously operational folk music coffeehouse-provides an insightful look at the many artists whose poetic lyrics cast a mesmerizing spell over a generation, and who remain beloved today.Alongside the release of Caffè Lena: Inside America's Legendary Folk Music Coffeehouse,San Francisco's Tompkins Square label will release the 3-CD box set,'Live at Caffè Lena: Music From America's Legendary Coffeehouse,1967-2013′ on September 24, 2013. 'Caffè Lena holds an important place in the folk and traditional music communities. For me it was the gateway to so many things I hold dear about music.' -Scott Goldman, The GRAMMY Foundation'The story of Caffè Lena is the secret history of the folk-music scene. Lena was a pioneering woman in a man's world and her story needs to be told.' -Holly George-Warren, The Road to Woodstock 'Lena Spencer was a rare person with a shining spirit who created a small world of her own. The magic of her Caffè cannot be analyzed, computerized, or explained.'-David Amram, Musician