The monthly HardLuckCafé concert series co-presented by the Folk Music Society of Huntington and the Cinema Arts Centre (423 Park Avenue, Huntington) in the Cinema’s Sky Room continues on Wednesday, March 19 with a multimedia Tribute to Those We’ve Lost. Two-dozen Long Island-based artists will perform songs by/popularized by notable songwriters and recording artists who left our world over the past year. The concert will extend from 7 to 10 p.m., with a short intermission.
LI-based artists slated to perform include Candice Baranello, Janice Buckner, Eric Eaton & Jennifer Grace, Gathering Time (Stuart Markus, Christine Sweeney & Gerry McKeveny), Ray Lambiase and Kate Corrigan, Bill Lauter, Stuart Markus, Larry Moser and Max Rowland, James O’Malley, Princess Peapod (Dave Cook & Michele Frimmer), Denise Romas, Gary Schoenberger, Terry Seidl, Hank Stone, Suffolk Shuffle (Richard Parr & Joe Roccanova), Bob Westcott, Jim Whiteman, and Lindsay Whiteman.
They’ll be performing songs by/popularized by such artists as Mike Brewer (Brewer & Shipley), Eric Carmen, Barbara Dane, Roberta Flack, Garth Hudson (The Band), Bernice Johnson Reagon, Kris Krisfofferson, Linda LaFlamme (It’s A Beautiful Day), Phil Lesh (The Grateful Dead), Dave Loggins, David Mallet, One Direction’s Liam Payne, Tom Prasada-Rao, John Roberts, JD Souther, Randy Sparks (The New Christy Minstrels), Libby Titus, and Peter Yarrow, among others.
Tickets are $20 ($15 for Cinema Arts Centre/FMSH members) and may be purchased online at cinemaartscentre.org or at the box office through the evening of the show.
Lou Reed and Paul Simon will be honored on March 9. Photos courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
By Rita J. Egan
Music lovers will experience two distinctive sounds during the Sunday Street Concert on March 9 at The Long Island Museum.
Local singers Gene Casey; Caroline Doctorow; Andrew, Andie Juliette and Cole Fortier; Bryan Gallo; Ray Lambiase; Russ Seeger; and Hank Stone will come together to commemorate the music of two legends — Lou Reed and Paul Simon. Both are inductees in the Long Island Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame.
Andrew Fortier said he finds Simon and Reed to be polar opposites.
“I also think they’re both geniuses and brilliant and really that’s the fun discovery of it all,” he said.
Producer Charlie Backfish said during the concert, titled Lou Reed & Paul Simon: Two Songwriters from Long Island, the artists will each perform one song from Simon’s catalog and one of Reed’s songs. Simon, 83, and Reed, who passed away in 2013 at the age of 71, both have ties to Long Island.
Born in Brooklyn, Reed graduated from Freeport High School in 1959 while Simon graduated from Forest Hills High School in Queens in 1958.
Reed played guitar and was a member of a doo-wop group in his younger days, while Simon, along with classmate Art Garfunkel, joined forces first as the group Tom and Jerry. The duo would go on to record simply as Simon and Garfunkel and recorded hits such as “I Am a Rock” and “Scarborough Fair” before Simon pursued a solo career. Reed also embarked on a solo path after being a member of the rock group Velvet Underground for five years.
The artistic paths of both accomplished singers and songwriters would cross in 1980 when Simon wrote and starred in One Trick Pony. Reed played a record executive in the same film.
Backfish said he chose the two artists for this show because of their ties to Long Island as well as their musical genres, which are “rather different, although they share some common roots.”
He added that the two, in addition to graduating from Long Island high schools and appearing in a movie together, both had an interest in Doo Wop. According to Backfish, their interests in the genre continued throughout their careers.
“Obviously not every recording, but there are elements of it in their music, and especially in their early years that kind of intrigued me,” he said.
Ray Lambiase, who chose Reed’s “Pale Blue Eyes” to perform, said as he was deciding on a song from the singer’s catalog, especially from Velvet Underground, “I was struck by how — as quirky as his recordings were — you can still pick up an acoustic guitar, and they still have the fundamental elements of a well-written song.”
Lambiase said finding a Simon song is as challenging as picking a Reed song. He added that many of Simon’s songs can be musically challenging.
“Paul Simon is such a terrific guitar player that a lot of his songs are difficult to play,” he said.
“There are some songs that are simpler than others, but he was a very sophisticated guitar player, and also his chord patterns were much more sophisticated than what we would think of as traditional folk singers.”
Lambiase will perform “Paranoia Blues” from Simon’s first solo album, which he feels will be a fun song compared to some of his more serious pieces.
“It might be a good idea to break things up and show that he had a humorous side, too,” the performer said.
Caroline Doctorow, who will sing Simon’s “The Dangling Conversation,” which she recorded on her “Dreaming in Vinyl” album, and Reed’s “Sunday Morning,” said it’s important for performers to try to sound different than the original artists.
“You want to add something to your interpretation,” Doctorow said, adding it can be “challenging in a really wonderful way.”
“I’m so happy that Charlie does these shows,” she said. “It’s a nice opportunity to just spread your wings a little bit in a way that you might not otherwise.
Andrew Fortier agreed that the concert series and Backfish’s WUSB-FM radio program “Sunday Street” take performers and listeners on a journey, introducing them to singers they may have never considered.
He added he feels the audience will enjoy hearing both artists’ music and that fans of one will find the other songwriter’s work fresh and new. Fortier and his children, Cole and Andie Juliette, were on a road trip listening to some of Simon’s and Reed’s work to look for songs that resonated with them.
“The truth of it is that it is really fun when you dive into an artist that you really aren’t that familiar with, because you really can dig deep, and you really get an appreciation for what they do,” Fortier said.
Andie Juliette Fortier added, “It’s always interesting. It gives you a chance to get to know each artist a little bit more and really explore parts of their catalog you maybe wouldn’t normally listen to.”
Singer/songwriters Lou Reed and Paul Simon, pictured here in their high school yearbooks, will be honored during the March 9 concert. Photos courtesy of Charlie Backfish
After listening to Simon’s and Reed’s work, Andrew Fortier decided to sing Simon’s “Still Crazy After All These Years” and Reed’s “Satellite of Love.” Andie Juliette Fortier will perform “Kathy’s Song” by Simon and “I’ll Be Your Mirror” by Reed. Cole Fortier has chosen Simon’s “Hearts and Bones” and “Going Down” by Reed.
The Fortiers are looking forward to hearing the other performers’ interpretations, too.
“There’s always surprises,” Andie Juliette Fortier said. “It’s always nice to hear how people interpret different songs and put their own style on it.
Lambiase said he enjoys the “insights from the different steps of the journey of their personal growth and journeys” when he performs an artist’s work at a Sunday Street concert.
“I think that’s a really big part of the show to humanize the artists by taking their songs and reducing them to their core essentials, and keeping some insight into their journey, because every musician, especially people with careers as long as Paul Simon and Lou Reed, there’s a beginning, a middle and the later part.”
Doctorow said older songs usually stir up a sense of nostalgia, and she hopes audience members will remember the music, and the songs will bring back memories while they connect with them in a new way.
“It’s like that Hugh Prestwood song — called ‘The Song Remembers When,’” she said. “You hear these songs from your youth, and you remember things that you might not normally remember. It just sort of washes over you, and in difficult times like we’re in now, the songs comfort people.”
Sunday Street Concert Lou Reed & Paul Simon: Two Songwriters from Long Island is produced by Charlie Backfish and is a not-for-profit collaboration with WUSB-FM, The Greater Port Jefferson Arts Council and The Long Island Museum.
The show takes place on Sunday, March 9 at 5 p.m. in The Gillespie Room at The Long Island Museum, 1200 Route 25A, Stony Brook. Advance sale tickets are $25, plus a service fee, through March 7. Tickets at the door are $30, cash only. For more information, visit www.sundaystreet.org.
Gordon Lightfoot performing in Interlochen, Michigan in 2009. Photo courtesy of Charles Backfish
By Rita J. Egan
WUSB’s Sunday Street Series at The Long Island Museum has a tradition of bringing artists together to celebrate musical legends. On March 24, they will be adding a bit of Canadian flair.
The series will present Long Island Celebrates Lightfoot — a celebration of the songs of Gordon Lightfoot, the renowned Canadian songwriter and singer who passed away on May 1, 2023 at the age of 84.
With a music catalog encompassing 20 studio and three live albums, more than a dozen musicians will perform hits such as “Early Morning Rain,” “If You Could Read My Mind,” “Sundown,” “Carefree Highway,” “Ribbon of Darkness,” “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” and some of his lesser-known tracks on March 24.
Producer Charles Backfish said Lightfoot had been recording and touring since the 1960s up until a year or so before he passed away. “I’m really excited about this one, because, first of all, he is a songwriter of major stature, and secondly, he’s someone from up north that I think needs to get a little bit more acknowledgement in the United States,” he said.
Backfish added that while the singer/songwriter is known to some degree in this country, people may not be familiar with the range of Lightfoot’s albums. One song, “Black Day in July,” is about the 1967 Detroit Riot. The single was banned from some U.S. radio stations because many thought it was too political.
Ray Lambiase, who will be performing during the show, said when he was younger, his friends would listen to groups such as The Beatles. He, however, was listening to artists such as country blues singer Missippi John Hurt and folk-blues duo Sunday Terry and Brownie McGhee. He learned how to play guitar listening to folk music, and Lightfoot’s “Early Morning Rain” was one of the songs he would play early in his career.
“I’ve been playing ‘Early Morning Rain’ since I was 18, and that was over 50 years ago,” he said.
Lambiase will perform the song with other artists on March 24. He will also play “Did She Mention My Name” and “Sundown.” He added the shows allow singers and songwriters of every age an opportunity to collaborate.
“It’s just nice having everybody together, and you don’t often get that kind of a chance where everybody’s in the same room,” Lambiase said. “You get to catch up a little bit, and it generates such a warm feeling. It’s always a wonderful night and hopefully that somehow translates to what the audience is picking up.”
Among those multigenerational artists will be Andrew Fortier and his son and daughter, Cole and Andie.
Andrew Fortier said it’s been interesting watching his children discover Lightfoot’s work. “They actually bring up stuff that I missed,” he said, adding both have eclectic tastes.
The singer, who has always been a fan of Lightfoot’s work, said digging into an artist’s music catalog for The Sunday Street Series is always a pleasant surprise.
“I’m 60 years old, so I grew up with Gordon Lightfoot in the 70s,” he said. “I’m a total fan, but you become more of a fan when you start backtracking and listening to cuts you’ve never heard before.”
Andrew’s son Cole said this will be the second Sunday Street show he has performed in. The musician said he’s enjoying studying Lightfoot’s music, describing the songs as fluid.
“What I’ve noticed about him particularly is his songs are very strophic, there’s not really any bridges, and they’re played through, which is kind of typical as a more traditional folk sound,” Cole said. “But, what’s interesting is just the long form vibes of these songs that go on and roam for a little while with these amazing lyrical narratives.”
Mary Lamont, who was raised in Canada, will also be among the performers at the Lightfoot event. The lead singer of the Mary Lamont Band said she was familiar with the singer/songwriter when she was younger but grew to appreciate his songwriting and singing more in later years.
The Sunday Street Series shows feature the artists performing two songs each. Lamont, whose husband Jim Marchese and bandmate Rich Lanahan will accompany her on acoustic guitars, said it can be challenging to narrow it down to two tracks when someone has such an extensive catalog. To choose, she listens to the artist’s albums until a song hits her. In this case, she chose two songs, “Cold on the Shoulder” and “Alberta Bound.” In the latter Lightfoot included references to Canada, including Toronto, which is about three hours from where Lamont grew up.
“That was the reason why I picked that song,” she said. “It had so many Canadian references.” She added she feels “every country has its own pride about people.”
“I feel a certain pride and really a newfound respect for Gordon Lightfoot’s music, too,” Lamont said. “I have to thank Charlie for that.”
Backfish and the performers hope the audience will leave the show with a deeper appreciation of Lightfoot’s music.
“They’re going to hear a lot of songs that they’re not familiar with, and for me, the best thing would be for them to walk away realizing what a career and what a lasting body of work Gordon Lightfoot really left us,” Lambiase said.
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Long Island Celebrates Lightfoot will take place in the Carriage Museum’s Gillespie Room at the Long Island Museum, 1200 Route 25A, Stony Brook on Sunday, March 24 at 5 p.m. and will feature local musicians Gene Casey, Caroline Doctorow, Mick Hargreaves, Ray Lambiase, Mary Lamont with Jim Marchese, Rich Lanahan, Russ Seeger, Hank Stone, Bob Westcott, and Andrew, Cole and Andie Fortier.
Advance sale tickets are available at www.sundaystreet.org for $25 with tickets at the door, if available, for $30 (cash only).
BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND: Called everything from ‘hillbilly-Pink Floyd’ to ‘folk-pop’ to ‘surreal Americana,’ the Slambovian Circus of Dreams returns to this year's festival. Photo by Tom Moore
By Julianne Mosher
If you have a love for folk music, head over to Benner’s Farm in East Setauket on Sunday, Sept. 10 from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. for the 11th annual Fiddle and Folk Festival. Just in time for fall, the event will have a little something for everyone.
Held on the grounds of the historic farm, that has been owned by Bob Benner and his family since 1977, festival-goers can always expect the best in traditional and contemporary folk music plus other fun-filled farm activities suitable for all ages.
Singer-songwriter Cassandra House
“Bob Benner has been instrumental in the Fiddle and Folk Festival for years,” said Amy Tuttle, program director for the Greater Port Jefferson-Northern Brookhaven Arts Council.
Tuttle added that the festival was held for many years at the Long Island Museum in Stony Brook. Unfortunately, it stopped for a bit, until Benner “resurrected it.”
“It’s always on the first Sunday after Labor Day,” said Tuttle, who said that the GPJAC has been involved every year at Benner’s since — except for one year which was during the COVID-19 pandemic. “We have an eclectic variety of music, so there’s something for everybody.”
This year’s performers include The Slambovian Circus of Dreams (back by popular demand), Cassandra House, BarbecueBruce and the Brisket Brothers, and last year’s “Pick of the Crop,” Stephen Robinson and Hank Stone. Bob Westcott will emcee and entertain between sets with stories and song.
With the exception of The Slambovian Circus of Dreams, who are popular regulars on the folk festival scene, the rest of the performers are all Long Island locals; Cassandra House is from the South Shore and BarbecueBruce and the Brisket Brothers (Bruce MacDonald, Dan Skabeikis and John Brisotti) hail from the North Fork.
Tuttle also mentioned the “Pick of the Crop,” a new contest that was implemented last year. The idea is for performers to virtually audition online before the festival with finalists performing in-person the day of the festival in front of a group of judges. Those judges then decide which of the finalists will perform on the main stage at next year’s festival.
Right now, there is an online submission page where musicians, singers and songwriters can submit their work. The first round of judges will then choose from those submissions who made it to the next round, performing on the Shady Grove Stage.
“It’s a really nice festival,” Tuttle said. “Everyone always has a great time.”
If the main stage and contest stages weren’t enough, there’s more. This year, an open mic stage will be presented on the back of Bob Benner’s old ’24 Model T Truck.
Benner said that other than the music and food that will be available to enjoy, there will be other fun things to do — especially for the little ones.
“We’ll have a kid’s corner and caricatures,” he said, adding Long Island’s largest swing will be available to play on. Visitors will also be available to visit with the farm’s many animals including sheep, goats and chickens.
“The Fiddle and Folk Festival is a perfect way to ease out of all the fun things we have been doing over the summer and head into the fall,” Tuttle said. “It’s relaxed and a great way to unwind before the start of the school year.”
Presented by Homestead Arts, the Greater Port Jefferson-Northern Brookhaven Arts Council and Benner’s Farm, the music festival will be held rain or shine.
Benner’s Farm is located at 56 Gnarled Hollow Road in East Setauket. Advance sale tickets for the Fiddle & Folk Festival are $20 for adults, $17 for seniors and $10 for children. Tickets on the day of the event are$23 adults, $20 seniors and $10 for children.
Audience members are encouraged to bring their own seating. A full schedule of performances and events along with applications for the “Pick of the Crop” contest are available at www.fiddleandfolk.com. For more information, call 631-689-8172.
