Latest / Buying Local Podcast / Episode 21: Sarah Craig (Caffé Lena)

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Episode 21: Sarah Craig (Caffé Lena) · Buying Local Podcast

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The superpower that every citizen has is the ability to
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control where they spend their time, money and attention by
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focusing. These on supporting local
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businesses who are having a profound impact on your friends,
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your family and your local community.
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So if you want to change the world, you can start with buying
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local. Welcome everyone.
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Welcome. Sarah, Craig.
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Thank you. Thank you.
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Thank you for joining us here, buying local, Saratoga.
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So, and your from Cafe Lena, which, you know, I, you know, it
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smells things, right? Like needs no introduction.
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I mean, I think everyone has at least heard of Cafe Lena, and
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some way, shape or form. But why don't real quick?
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Why don't you tell us a little bit about Cafe?
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Lean about what Cafe Lena is and does and and what your role is
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there, sure our mission. Is to bring music connection and
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learning to Saratoga Springs. And we have nightly events.
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We have music poetry storytelling a stage for the
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community to participate in lots of open mics and things like
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that midweek. And then come the weekend.
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We have world famous Headliners rolling into play in what is in
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very intimate. Exquisite sound really Is a
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venue with deep history. That's actually one of the
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best-known small venues in anywhere.
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And certainly in the United States, it's been in longer
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operation than any other small venue in the country open in
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1960 at the height of the folk, boom, and it's been going strong
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ever since well, sometimes not so strong, the 80s weren't too
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strong. The early 90s weren't too
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strong, but since then, we've really been picking up steam.
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So we do. Do between music lessons and
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community events and concerts about 900 different events, a
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year? That's crazy.
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It's totally crazy. I don't know how we do it.
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It sees only what 900. Yeah, that's like.
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Yeah. I don't even understand how you
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logistically make that happen. We touch a lot of people.
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We have things happening in person and our little space in
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downtown Saratoga Springs on phyla Street.
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We also have a lot It happens online.
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So we have group music lessons, for example, that meet online,
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we have things like this conversations that happen
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online, that we stream through our various platforms but really
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the heart and soul of what happens is those weekend
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concerts. So now you must have a huge
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staff. Wow.
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So Michael, you know, I was running a little bit late today.
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Yeah. I thought you were right on
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time. Actually, it does feel like a
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huge staff. I'll be honest with you because
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up until 2016, we just had one, two or three people doing
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everything. And now we have between
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part-time and full-time people about 10 on.
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So it's great now. Yeah, like, based on just 900
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events that even that doesn't sound like, you know, I can't
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imagine what it must be like day to day for everybody.
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Trying to handle all the details that goes into everything that
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you're doing. Yeah it is it takes a tremendous
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amount of coordination and it's really interesting because when
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you're moving from being a small business, run by one, or two
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people that are just kind of making it their lives 24/7 to
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being a responsible employer, And following conventional
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business practices and trying to coordinate a staff of 10.
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That's a whole different skill set, that has nothing to do with
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music, right? You know, has nothing to do with
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art has to do with business skills, and that was something
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that I wasn't sure why things were so hard for a couple of
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years there, until we got a new board president, Jim mastriani,
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he's a great businessman in Saratoga and he bought me that
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E-myth. Yeah, that's a great book.
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I love that. But I think it's sold something
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like five hundred quadrillion copies.
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Yeah. And basically anybody who wants
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to know anything about business has to start with the email?
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Yeah, it's a great book and it basically says that, you know,
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you get into a business because you have a passion for whatever
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it is and he uses the example of baking pies.
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So in our case it's, you know, putting on concerts And the
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point of running a business, though, is not to be the guy
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putting on the concerts or the guy baking, the pies, you know?
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The point is to create the the structure and the coordination
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for that to be able to happen. And so I realize that even
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though I had been working at Cafe Lena for decades, at that
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point about 20-something years, I didn't know the first thing
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about running a business with a staff.
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Sure. And so, He knew that I was an
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Avid Reader and I'm very eager to learn and he just kept
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sending me books in the mail. I get a little unmarked envelope
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and I'd open it up and this is what I'm going to learn next and
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and I learned a lot. I mean, now I still am kind of a
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newbie in that area, but I've learned a lot more about
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management. What it takes to coordinate
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people, how to just keep the lines of communication open and
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check all the boxes and be very Sized.
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So now you said it things kind of change 2016.
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What was the Catalyst to that change?
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Like? Yeah, The Catalyst actually had
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come a year or two before that, when the city of Saratoga
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Springs had gotten, increasingly concerned about the condition of
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our building. And finally said, if you don't
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make some very significant repairs to this building, we're
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going to have to condemn it. And so we had Dancing around
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doing a big renovation on the building for a long time, but
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it's an overwhelmingly large project especially when you have
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a couple of Staff people. Yeah.
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And so, and up to that point, you know, for us a really good
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successful. Fundraiser was wow, we've raised
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$1500 and we were looking at a price tag of we thought at the
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outset about 1.2 million. Oh wow!
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So how to get from where Are we were to an organization that
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could raise that kind of money. What we really needed to put the
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rocket boosters on. And frankly, there's nothing
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like being told that you're gonna lose the home of the
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longest-running folk music, Coffeehouse in the country, a
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legendary institution to like light fire under you.
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So we we did what we needed to do.
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We did raise the money, but the renovation happened through the
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course of 2016. And we reopen in 2017, Is the
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new facility that we have now which is the same four walls
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stage in the same Corner. Same bricks behind the stage.
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Like, we kind of hung onto as much of the historical look and
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feel as we could. But in a sense it's almost a
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completely reconstructed building.
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And now, are you a not-for-profit or are you a
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for-profit business know? We're nonprofit.
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And so, when Lena Spencer and her Husband Bill, open the venue
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back in 1960. They were opening it as a
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conventional small business and she was, you know, operating in
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the way that a lot of nonprofits operate.
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She had a lot of people just kind of helping her out and she
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really wasn't in it for the money, she was in it just to
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make the music. She was very resistant though,
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to becoming a nonprofit organization.
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So she ran it as a for-profit until she passed away in 1989
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and then the people who were kind of around her and helping
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her form, the not profit at that point.
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I got choked on so and maybe give me, you know, or give us
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really just a little. Give us a little bit more of the
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history on it, right? Because that's just what a great
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story that you have. So tell us tell us a little
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expand on what you just said, right?
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The origins. Sure, I'll tell you a little bit
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about it and I will also just say that if anybody kind of
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takes an interest in the history of the place, WM h t, made a
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documentary about Lena Spencer, two years ago, three years ago,
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something like that and are now it's if you just go to WM h, t
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dot org slash Lena you will find the documentary on their website
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and it's a wonderful piece but she was she was from the Boston
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area. Ria.
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She grew up in a very traditional Italian family.
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Her name is pasqualina Rosen RJ Spencer and she was the only
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female in her family her mother died when she was quite young
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her sister died. When she was young, her twin
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sister died. It was just a really rough spot
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of luck for the family, so she grew up is the only female in
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was expected to do a lot of only female traditional females.
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Of, you know, taking care of the household making sure people
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were fed and cleaned. And all of that.
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She took care of her father and brothers and uncle.
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And she just was one of those people who was born with art in
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her soul, and she loved poetry and literature.
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And particularly, she loves theater and she wanted to be an
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actress. She ran away from home and her
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early 20s, she went to New York, she tried to establish herself
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as an actress. She was discovered by uncle's
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was brought back to Massachusetts to get back to
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work. Didn't last too long and she
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found somebody to marry and his name was Bill Spencer.
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So he was a sculptor at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston at
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their Museum school. And they had this dream that
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they cooked up, you know they known each other.
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Just I think weeks. Get married came up to Saratoga
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Springs to visit a friend and bear in mind.
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This is 1959 and Saratoga was a very different place.
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It was kind of a Backwater, a little bit, you know, a little
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down at the heels at that point, a lot of boarded-up storefronts
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and as a lot of people know, those are the kinds of places
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where real estate is inexpensive.
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And it's possible to start interesting quirky, little
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Enterprises like a coffee house so They found this Loft space on
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FiOS tree and decided to set up this coffee house, which is kind
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of all the rage at the time. It was the middle of something
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called the folk Revival, which was really hot and New York
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City, and Greenwich Village. And they're all these folk clubs
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and that was the scene that spawned people like Bob Dylan
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and Joni Mitchell and Tom Paxton and lots of people who became
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household names. So some of which that I have I
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have been to caffeine and perform their which writes
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amazing to which will have to give us the rundown of the list.
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So they started this place and their plan had been that they
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would just run it for a couple of years and, you know, make a
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lot of money and then just go to Europe and live this Bohemian
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lifestyle in Europe and every entrepreneurs, rightly, the
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optimism that you have about how quickly you're going to make
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vast sums of money is, if we all have it, it's hilarious.
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It's is it. Enduring part of human nature.
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It's a beautiful thing. It is, it really is.
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So Bill, Bill didn't last too long.
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He stuck around for a couple of years and he was teaching up at
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Skidmore. He fell in love with one of his
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students and left and went back to Boston with one of his
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students and left Lena would this venue at that point.
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She had just been doing the baking in the kitchen and he was
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the one programming the music and kind of being on stage and
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introducing people. People.
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So, she had a big decision to make and She decided to go for
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it and, you know, as they say the rest is history.
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She she did everything she could to help her musicians.
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She put them up sometimes for weeks and months at a time at
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her apartment, she cooked for people.
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She she just welcomed them in like family.
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And I think that that whole circle of musicians really
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became like her family and she Loved deeply loved by the people
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who had been helped by her and the people in the audience to,
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they saw her devotion and really appreciated that.
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And so in the 80s, even though business was terrible.
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So bad, that she, she was living at the venue.
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She couldn't afford an apartment anymore.
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She got an honorary doctorate from Skidmore and Saratoga
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declared Alina Spencer day. They renamed a street after her.
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Okay, Molina Lane next to the cafe.
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So it's it's a it's a story of a lot of Joy, a lot of fun.
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A lot of struggle and just profound commitment to this
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institution that she created. That sounds amazing.
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And there's documentaries said, which I did not know that.
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Yeah. Wiht dot-org Lena.
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It's, you know, it's a great piece.
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They came up with all kinds of information and stories and
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Photographs, that none of us had seen before and we thought, we
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knew everything, we particularly thought we knew everything,
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because when the venue turned 50 in 2010, the Library of Congress
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took an interest in the cafe, Lena archives, and actually, we
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were able to give them loads and loads of just stuff that had
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been at the cafe. That would have been sitting
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over at the Saratoga History Museum since Lena died.
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They organized digitized it and made it available as an archive,
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through the Library of Congress, through the American Folklife
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Center for researchers to be able to go through.
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So that's online to that's history.
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Doc Cafe, Lena dot-org, okay? Yeah, that's great.
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So I so the list, right, give us, give us the rundown who had
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some Dylan played there, right? Yep, Dylan did play, he played
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so it used to be back back in the old days.
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People would Play not one show but they would play for a whole
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weekend. They do what we would think of
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as kind of a mini residency. So Dylan did a couple of
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weekends 1961 and 62. He played.
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There's some wonderful old black and white photos that are from
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the second visit in 62. But, yeah, I mean, basically,
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anybody who was part of the folks seeing through the 60s,
15:39
70s and 80s, has played a cat, if a Lena and me, you know, I
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think I'm going to, I'm going to just be a little bit modest and
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a little bit realistic here to say that, any venue who that is
15:55
geared toward emerging artists is going to have these stories.
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If they stick around long enough, there's somebody who's
16:04
going to break out and you never know who it's going to be.
16:06
And so if, for example a 12 year old kid, It shows up at your
16:12
open mic with long, blonde hair, and a little black hat, and he
16:16
gets on stage, and he doesn't amazing original song, and then
16:20
a nice cover song, and you give him an opening slot.
16:23
And you think that, you know, you've done him a favor, you
16:26
just might turn on the TV, a few months later and find him
16:30
winning the voice, right? Are you talking about anybody
16:34
specifically? Well for example, Sawyer
16:36
Fredericks would fit into that category.
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So you know it's you You. I think that the important point
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is that small venues are the building block of the whole
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Music World. They are the foundation of the
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music world. Nobody starts their career at
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SPAC. Nobody starts their career at
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Universal Preservation hall or Carnegie Hall or it.
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You know any of these other wonderful venues that everybody
17:05
has heard of, they start their careers at places like Cafe
17:09
Lena. If they're lucky or Or any
17:13
number of, you know, small stages out there that are run by
17:16
people who are really devoted to music.
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And so actually it was interesting because during the
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pandemic, there were people who love music who have Deep Pockets
17:29
who stepped out of the woodwork and said we need to save small
17:34
venues. Yeah there was a lot of help out
17:37
there for the large venues because they are anchors of
17:40
downtown. Economies they play it slightly.
17:42
Different role. But as far as the art form of
17:45
independent music goes, it was the small venues that some
17:49
people looked at. And so we've got some really
17:51
good assistance to get through the pandemic.
17:53
Yeah. Bogey's Pub & Grill at Bay
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Meadows, Golf Club not just for Hungry golfers.
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They have a little something for everyone.
18:00
The pub side offers a nice friendly atmosphere.
18:03
Televisions to watch your favorite sporting events.
18:05
Booths for a nice lunch, a pool table, PGA.
18:09
Golf simulators with over 80 courses, they also so have a
18:12
formal dining room, if you're looking for a more traditional
18:15
dining space, now, I'm, you know, that just makes me think
18:21
of two about all. I mean, we have a pretty vast,
18:24
our community here in Saratoga Springs, right?
18:26
I don't know that all of our listeners realize that or not,
18:28
but I mean, when you look around, there are a lot of
18:32
things happening all, you know, whether from Exit, 14 at yaddo
18:36
all the way across town into town.
18:38
I've so give us a little bit about you know what, it's like
18:42
for Cafe Lena to exist and I don't know if competes the right
18:47
word but I almost feel like maybe it is because There's only
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so much audience to go around, right?
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So how do you, how do you function in that kind of
18:55
environment when our is everywhere?
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Well, you know, I think that we see it as as an asset and you
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know, you might say there's only a certain number of ticket
19:08
buyers to go around and, you know, in a sense there is, there
19:13
is truth to that. But I think that if you talk to
19:16
Elizabeth Sobel over its back, she would say Many potential
19:20
ticket buyers are there. 7 billion?
19:23
You know? Sure.
19:25
And so I think that what we've seen is that we're really at the
19:31
point in Saratoga now where we have a critical mass of artistic
19:35
happenings to be able to become a destination for people who are
19:40
interested in either that way of life who might want to actually
19:45
move here or who are simply looking for a really special
19:49
Special weekend just reinvigorates their creativity.
19:52
And so they come and visit for a weekend and then, as far as you
19:57
know, people who live here year-round, it's it's fun to
20:02
talk to people in the audience to just walk up to a table.
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And, you know, they might be at the cafe Lena for the first time
20:08
and I always one of my first questions is so where else do
20:11
you go for music? You know, where else do you
20:13
like? And I love to hear about all the
20:15
different places people go to. I think what's important is Far
20:19
as, you know, creating a climate of cooperation rather than
20:25
competition is a couple of things.
20:27
One is, you need to know who you are.
20:30
You can't be everything for everyone and so you know, I
20:36
think that these days we would say you have to be true to your
20:40
brand. Okay?
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Well so that's one way of looking at it that you do Define
20:44
what your brand is and what you know who you want to be too.
20:49
Your customers but I think there's also just something in a
20:52
space that tells you if it's right or wrong for the space.
20:56
So we are rootsy, that's what we are.
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You know, we gear ourselves toward emerging artists or
21:05
people who are kind of Legends of singer-songwriter craft or
21:11
folkcraft who, you know, honor the legacy of the space and want
21:16
to come play there. That could be somebody like
21:18
Richard. Thompson who played with us last
21:21
summer, Judy Collins, who was there a couple of years ago?
21:25
You know, people who are known worldwide and never play small
21:29
clubs anymore, but because it's Cafe Lena, they want to come.
21:32
And then on the other hand, you just get bands.
21:36
That are just absolutely tearing it up and like, burning up the
21:38
airwaves and getting headline slots at all, the major
21:42
festivals and getting really well, reviewed in Rolling Stone
21:45
and all of this kind of stuff. And, but they're brand new.
21:49
New to the market. You know, they never played
21:50
around Upstate New York before. And so, we do a lot of that kind
21:53
of music. We gear our stage toward
21:59
primarily acoustic performances. So I don't mean on Amplified,
22:03
but, I mean fit, l.joe guitar. Not to say that we don't do
22:08
plenty of shows with drums and big bass amps and stuff like
22:11
that but I think you know, so there's the instrumentation and
22:19
Is one part of it but the other part of it is the way that
22:21
people interact with the audience.
22:23
And that's one of the things that I really look for is a band
22:26
that likes to tell stories likes to connect deeply with the
22:31
audience, is feeding off of the audience's energy, as much as
22:36
they are giving something to the audience.
22:39
There are a lot of people who play in the larger Halls, who
22:42
have gotten very used to being behind a wall of lights and not
22:46
really seeing who's out there and just kind of do Doing their
22:49
thing. And then you know maybe there
22:53
are no real introduction just to the songs.
22:55
It could be just one song flowing into the next flowing to
22:58
the next. There was silence in between.
23:00
That's not what I'm looking for. I'm looking for something that's
23:03
much. More, has a kitchen table, kind
23:05
of feel, you know, everybody's gathered around.
23:08
We're going to do a show together.
23:09
Yeah, yeah. And how many people can you fit?
23:12
110 110. So yeah, I mean that's, you
23:15
know, I've loved the word intimate as far as a because it
23:18
really does describe it right? Like 100 times.
23:20
A lot of people. Not like going to suspect show,
23:24
right? But again, like you said, like
23:26
it gives the interaction between audience and performer, which is
23:30
just. Yeah, amazing.
23:31
It's, it's it is intimate and it's, it's a Listening Room, you
23:37
know, we struggle sometimes like are we a folk club?
23:40
Like there are people who come to Cafe Lena, who say, I love
23:44
everything that you do but I don't think of myself as a folk
23:47
music fan. That's interesting.
23:49
You know and so there's there's a lot that we We do that, I
23:52
think that people would never consider to be folk music.
23:57
They would consider it to be pop or rock or Global or jazz, or
24:03
you know, whatever they would call it something else, they
24:05
wouldn't call it folk music singer-songwriter.
24:08
So, but what's, what's always, there is that it's a Listening
24:14
Room. So the audience is there to give
24:17
their undivided attention to the stage.
24:19
They might be hootin and hollerin.
24:21
They The singing along with us on if they're asked to do, they
24:26
might be, you know, laughing really loud.
24:29
So it's not like a library or anything like that, but all the
24:33
energy goes to the stage is not people talking to each other
24:36
watching across chatting. That's interesting.
24:42
So just think about that word, root, see?
24:45
I think that's such a great word, right?
24:47
And from a genre standpoint, right?
24:49
So you threw out a lot of stuff there.
24:51
But yours are you still mainly folk music or does it really
24:56
just change from show to show to show from day to day to day?
25:00
I think that there's always a lineage to be traced and our
25:04
music. So as I say, in one, I'm talking
25:09
to new bands and, you know, people are trying to decide if
25:13
the venues are a good fit for them.
25:16
I basically want to know if they're familiar with American
25:20
Roots Music. So Should old folk music or
25:24
traditional like Blues from the Mississippi, Delta.
25:27
You know, some of these musical styles that are inherently
25:30
American and the and have informed rock and roll and
25:34
everything that's come since. And so that, you know, American
25:40
Music are unique musical style is an amalgam of the music that
25:47
was brought by like scots-irish people and slaves.
25:52
ABS, you know, that's really what our music is.
25:55
It's an amalgam of those two. And how did that meet that
25:58
meant? Mostly in the South.
26:00
Those two, those two Traditions merged with each other and
26:04
created a unique sound and unique instrumentation that then
26:10
led to the blues that led to Bluegrass that led to rock and
26:15
roll that led to early jazz styles and New Orleans and and
26:19
then you know all of those Styles have become the pop music
26:23
that we have today, but it all traces.
26:26
Its lineage back to these styles of music.
26:31
They were brought by the people who who came here as immigrants,
26:36
you know, starting in 1620. so, The weekends are let's say
26:43
reserved for bigger acts, right more well-known stuff.
26:46
Is that fair or that? Yeah.
26:49
I mean we're those are, those are the nights when we're going
26:51
to be charging a ticket price that generally ranges anywhere
26:56
from you know at the very lowest occasional and $18 up to you
27:01
know it could be $75. It depends on who's playing and
27:07
all very reasonable by the way laughing you know like when you
27:11
look at it Ticket pricing right now.
27:12
For a lot of shows out there it is unbelievably expensive so
27:16
that is very reasonable for. Well that's you know that you
27:20
actually you bring up an interesting point.
27:23
I have tried really hard not to raise ticket prices but yet I
27:27
want to put more money into the pockets of our musicians because
27:31
they are facing increased travel costs entry, you know, morgue
27:35
cost more for gas. It costs more for hotels, it
27:38
cost more for me. Existing, is more expensive now.
27:40
Yeah. And And so to put that to put a
27:45
little perspective on that, sometimes these tours were
27:47
booked a year ago when the prices were a.
27:51
And now the prices are be, but all the deals are locked in and
27:56
they're not going to be walking out with any more money.
27:58
Just because the prices went up like there's a long lag time in,
28:04
you know, of trying to turn the ship and so you can't just Jack
28:08
ticket prices up, you know, all of a And so, one thing we've
28:13
tried to do is look for other ways to put revenue and their
28:16
pockets. And because bear in mind, we're
28:20
a nonprofit organization. And so our motivation is to
28:24
serve the music, right? And to serve the people who make
28:27
the music and the people who love the music.
28:29
So we have something called Cafe Lena dot TV which is our live
28:38
streaming platform, cool. And during the pandemic, Were
28:42
streaming nightly out on YouTube and Twitter and Facebook and it
28:46
was all free and there was a donation jar and, you know,
28:49
people through in donations and it was unbelievable.
28:52
And it kept a lot of people of float, was a beautiful thing.
28:57
After the pandemic we said this is an important.
29:02
It is important that we not be giving this away because it will
29:07
erode the value of people's music.
29:10
They people Need to pay for this and they need to understand that
29:14
artists are there as professionals to make a living
29:16
and they deserve compensation just like the guy who fixes your
29:19
car right think they gotta eat. And so we started Cafe Lena dot
29:26
TV which is a subscription-based platform where you can subscribe
29:29
for a nominal fee or you can buy a single show ticket and it's
29:35
again a nominal fee. It's like between five and ten
29:37
dollars generally to watch your show, but we give 100%.
29:41
Scent of that individual ticket money to the musicians and there
29:45
are musicians that have walked out with an extra thousand
29:48
dollars because of that. And that makes a huge difference
29:52
to them. We also do not take a cut of
29:56
their merchandise sales. Merchandise sales have become a
30:00
really important survival tactic for bands because you can't make
30:06
money selling records. The way that you used to.
30:09
So much music is out there on platforms like Spotify and
30:14
people don't buy records anymore.
30:15
They just listen on Spotify and musicians get virtually.
30:18
No compensation. Yeah, those streams.
30:21
So they have to sell stuff like, t-shirts and mugs and you know,
30:26
other chats Goods like that. So a lot of venues will take a
30:32
cut of that sometimes as much as 20% and Cafe Lena does not do
30:36
that. So you know, anything, That we
30:39
can do to support the artists. We do do and we are trying
30:44
really hard to keep ticket prices, you know, down
30:48
reasonable. We want people to be able to
30:51
come to the venue and not be squeezed out.
30:54
Are they going to go up some? They'll have to, you know,
30:57
there's kind of no way around it, but we'll keep it to a
30:59
minimum or not going to look at it as a great opportunity to
31:02
just like double, right? Which seems to be happening a
31:07
lot these days. The math is so Easy, I gotta do.
31:14
So I know that we're kind of running short on time but there
31:17
was One question that I had for you that before we get started,
31:22
you mention that post and I say post pandemic, but I guess we're
31:27
still kind of in it, but it's, you know, 2020 was the big shut
31:29
down here. Right?
31:30
And so for most people 2021 was kind of stepping back out
31:34
rebuilding 2022. I feel like it's still for a lot
31:37
of companies, a lot of businesses out there especially
31:40
locally that you know 2022 is still kind of rebuilding your.
31:44
But one thing you had said was that coming out of 20 Twenty
31:49
that things. Once you opened back up, that
31:51
things really picked up for you if I heard you correctly.
31:54
Um, Let me, let me change what I said that.
32:00
You might have said it differently.
32:01
I, that's what I heard. Well, let me correct.
32:03
Any Mission impression. I might have made.
32:07
So let me just back up just a minute.
32:10
So in 2020. Yes, we shut down like everybody
32:13
else did in March. And we At that point, we were
32:21
still allowed to have some bands in the space and we just live
32:25
stream them with no audience and the house.
32:28
We started calling it, The stay home sessions on March, 14 2020
32:32
and we had hundreds of people online watching these
32:35
livestreams. We had actually been live
32:38
streaming our concerts since 2012.
32:41
Okay. So we had the personnel and the
32:42
equipment and the experience to be able to do it at a very high
32:45
level to be able to do it. Well, So then we got the word
32:50
that workplaces, you know, we're only going to be allowed to have
32:53
one person in the space. So at that point, we had this
32:58
day where we just brought in Band After Band After band and
33:01
we and we like filmed all of these streams that we could then
33:04
show later and during that period when we couldn't have
33:08
anybody there and we just had these, you know, bunch of shows
33:11
in the can that we were unrolling each night.
33:14
We were applying to empire development to become An
33:19
essential business. Gotcha.
33:21
And so, they actually, after application number four, please,
33:26
please. We were saying, they actually
33:29
did allow us to be re-designated from being a live performance,
33:34
venue to being a broadcast studio.
33:36
So they call this a broadcast studio for the duration of the
33:39
shutdown and we had live music in there every night.
33:45
And our are people who are watching Then generated more
33:49
than 100,000 dollars in tip revenue for regional artists.
33:53
A lot of them from Saratoga, that's amazing from the
33:55
surrounding area. And so it was it was incredibly
34:00
exciting to be able to be of use and that moment.
34:03
And then when we reopened in April of 2021, with very 25
34:08
percent capacity, I think we're allowed to reopen.
34:13
We saw our our viewership on the livestream, just dropped
34:18
Separatists lie because people felt like, you know okay the
34:21
venues, okay, now they can reopen they can make some money
34:24
and so things got pretty Grim there for a little while and and
34:30
so it's a matter of just slowly rebuilding rebuilding in 2022
34:36
when things were still just bouncing back very, very slowly
34:39
for us. And in fact, that was the case
34:42
for many Performing Arts. Venues we decided to do a little
34:46
bit of surveying to see what was going on.
34:48
On and I thought, you know, I can think of probably to 300
34:53
people who used to come regularly 2019.
34:56
You haven't come back and we actually found that it was more
34:58
than two thousand people. Oh, wow, who had been regular
35:01
ticket buyers in 2019, who had not been back to the venue and
35:05
this is deep into 2022 and so then we tried to find out why?
35:10
And we got some good information about that, but the, the the
35:15
conclusion was that do Bother trying to win back.
35:20
The people who aren't going to come back.
35:22
There are some people who have made changes in their life, who
35:26
are no longer ever going to be comfortable with indoor
35:29
Performing Arts, who are just doing other things.
35:32
Now, forget about it, focus on new people.
35:35
Well, and once we started doing that, we started having some
35:39
success rebuilding and we focus all our energy on just getting
35:43
first time, people. So it's a beginning of this
35:45
conversation, you said Cafe, Lena needs no introduction.
35:48
Auction. Everybody's heard of it.
35:50
It's true that a lot of people have heard of the place, not
35:53
everybody, but a lot of people have.
35:55
It's amazing. How many of those people have
35:57
never been there. Yeah, people who like, music who
36:01
have lived in Saratoga for decades and don't realize that
36:03
one of the one of the most Exquisite irrevocable small
36:10
venues in the world is right here in their town and they
36:13
haven't shown up for a show. And so, we tried to change that.
36:17
We've had a lot. A lock of.
36:19
Now, not only do we have an unprecedented number of new
36:22
people in the seats, but an unprecedented number of new
36:26
members. New volunteers do just New Life
36:29
blood coming into the venue. So it's a beautiful thing and
36:32
and just, I would say, starting around December of 2022.
36:37
We finally started to feel like my gosh, it feels like 2019.
36:41
Again. Only nice and I chose are really
36:43
filling up again. So I was completely off.
36:47
Sky Zone trampoline park. Queensbury Sky, Zone can set you
36:51
up with a great birthday party for your kids and less hassle.
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For all you parents. They also offer general
36:57
admission tickets and memberships with exclusive
36:59
discounts and access to member only events.
37:03
Well, I'm glad that it's rebounding then.
37:05
And and but true to the fact that for just for so many
37:08
businesses locally that 2022 is still a rebuilding year totally.
37:12
Um and I know that it's interesting how everybody
37:16
experiences. Perience.
37:17
The last few years in different Realms like there's a people
37:21
that were shut down and then the people that have been spent the
37:24
last couple years rebuilding, and then there's other people
37:26
that they had so much success throughout the pandemic, that
37:29
they were just one of those industries that like, like I
37:31
have a couple friends own cleaning companies and they were
37:33
just, you know, or construction or anything, you know where I
37:36
was just like, oh yeah these guys, they just, there's so much
37:38
work, they didn't know what to do them.
37:39
So right. So it's it's interesting to hear
37:42
how it impacted you and you know, climbing out of it and
37:47
move. Forward what?
37:49
So now, I know that you. So you talked about what goes on
37:52
in the weekends. What's Monday through Sunday
37:55
through Thursday look like? Well, someday is part of the
37:58
weekend for us and, and Thursdays actually part of our
38:02
week. I love this Thursday through
38:04
Sunday weekend. That's something any that come
38:06
for no other reason. And so, Monday, Tuesday
38:11
Wednesday is a lot of, a lot of what I would call Community.
38:17
Ramming, so it ranges from things.
38:19
Like tonight, we have a storytelling Open Mic.
38:22
We have poetry Open, Mic every Monday.
38:24
We have just a regular Open Mic, but when I say regular, it's
38:29
actually the best open mic in the region.
38:32
It's it's a Listening Room environment.
38:35
It's a place, where original music is encouraged and it's all
38:39
ages, and there's no alcohol and so it's a pretty different kind
38:43
of atmosphere. And then we also have Like
38:48
tomorrow, the place is going to be filled morning and noon with
38:53
groups of people doing music lessons.
38:55
So we have music lessons for seniors and in the early daytime
39:00
hours where they can come in and learn to jam together and play
39:06
any kind of instrument, any kind of like string band instrument
39:09
that they want. But it's just really social and
39:11
get your hands moving and get your brain doing something fresh
39:14
and new and people form friendships, it's really
39:16
wonderful. Perfil and then after school, we
39:19
have groups of children, coming in doing the same thing and and
39:24
so it's a way of just taking that folk music tradition and
39:27
putting it into new hands and seeing what the Next Generation
39:31
does with it. And so, and then another
39:36
initiative, we have is basically serving as an amplifier of the
39:45
work that is being done by Organizations in Saratoga so we
39:50
have during the pandemic. One of the things that we did
39:54
with our live stream was we've reached out to different
39:56
nonprofits and said, you know, you guys have lost your annual
40:00
fundraiser. Your, you know, you've kind of
40:03
just like a lot of organizations just kind of like disappeared
40:08
because they couldn't do their public facing work that and are
40:10
normally known for. So we brought them in to sit
40:14
front of the mic, kind of like what you're doing right now.
40:16
We did a lunch time series where we just put different nonprofit
40:20
leaders on stage. They got to share their message.
40:22
We also produced livestream, fundraisers for a whole bunch of
40:26
different organizations, everything from the veterans and
40:29
Community Housing Coalition, to Gateway House of Peace, which
40:33
takes care of people when they're dying to bike a toga,
40:38
you know, which encourages bicycle riding.
40:42
And we did all kinds of really interesting livestream
40:45
fundraisers. And, you know, At all the
40:47
revenue from that. So, coming out of the pandemic
40:50
we just we've been having so much fun with that.
40:53
We didn't want to stop. And so I do something now called
40:58
The Art of community, which is a monthly series that I produce in
41:02
cooperation with a chamber of commerce, where we just bring,
41:06
usually the executive director of a local nonprofit on stage to
41:10
talk. Not so much about what their
41:12
organization is doing, but about, but about things It's
41:17
like, you know, you're doing really hard work.
41:19
You're facing Sometimes some really dark stuff out there in
41:23
the world. That could be homelessness.
41:25
It could be hunger. How do you stay inspired?
41:28
How do you learn what you need to learn to run your
41:32
organization? How do you prevent burnout?
41:36
What are your hopes for the community?
41:38
What do you think the community should know about the
41:40
population? You serve, you serve that, they
41:42
just don't get about them. And we have these great half
41:46
hour. Conversations and then we break
41:49
it up and it's just an in-person gathering for people from the
41:54
nonprofit sector. They could be board members,
41:56
volunteers staff people, whatever.
41:58
And we just have like a half hour or so, she'll hang and we
42:02
have coffee and cookies and that's on the first.
42:06
She's be the last Tuesday afternoon of each month.
42:10
So it's just, I guess the connection that I want to make,
42:14
like, why would Cafe Lena do that?
42:17
The reason the calf alien wants to do it is because the songs
42:20
that are on the stage and the folk music tradition is all
42:25
about people on the margins, right?
42:28
And it's about everyday life, it's about real life.
42:30
It's not about Glamour and fame and and romance and stuff like
42:34
that but it's about the stuff that we hope for and care about
42:38
and have been through and have to endure.
42:40
And and so we sing about it all the time and I won't and I want
42:47
Say like what's it really look like out there in the real
42:50
world? Like how does this live in our
42:51
communities today? And so that's kind of how we
42:53
started this connection and this this telling of the story of the
42:59
community in a slightly different way and and the the
43:03
big cap on it every year that we've been doing for about 3
43:07
years now is called true songs and true songs features.
43:12
Six different nonprofits and we go out to a non-profit.
43:16
We say is there somebody Buddy, who has really benefited from
43:18
your work. And the last year who would be
43:20
willing to share their story publicly, we take that person,
43:23
we pair them with a songwriter, they Co write a song and then
43:28
the performance consists of all these different people getting
43:31
up on stage and first person telling their story of what
43:34
they've been through. And then the songwriter sharing
43:37
the original song, they've written for the person is true
43:39
songs. It happens every November as a
43:41
really beautiful show, and the past shows are up on our YouTube
43:44
channel if you want to check them out.
43:46
Yeah, it sounds like Raising and Weldon speak.
43:49
Okay, so speaking of YouTube, so, where if people want to find
43:52
you, or they want more information, where can they find
43:54
that? So, I would start with Cafe Lena
43:57
dot org and Cafe. Lena is spelled with a double F,
44:02
which is the Italian spelling of Cafe, and so is Cafe Lena dot
44:07
org. And from there, you can jump off
44:09
to all of our social media channels, our YouTube channel or
44:12
Spotify playlist. You can see everything that's
44:15
coming up and In terms of shows and there are sample videos on
44:20
most of the pages. Don't worry, if you haven't
44:23
heard of somebody, you know, read about it, maybe listen to
44:27
the video. Maybe don't maybe just show up
44:29
and you don't even know who's playing and and take a chance on
44:33
it and you might discover something that's really special
44:36
to you. It's amazing.
44:38
Thank you so much for coming in and taking the time to chat with
44:41
us and yeah. Appreciate appreciate it.
44:44
Well, you're welcome. And thanks for doing the service
44:46
and Just letting people share what's happening in their town?
44:49
It's really cool. It's important.
44:51
Thanks again. Thank you.
44:53
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