Who have you seen in coffee houses, small clubs etc.

[reeve21]

Originally Posted by srick

Many years ago, Southern New England was home to multiple small venues. I suspect that these made a great “off-night” stops between New York and Boston. The venues were a little bigger than coffeehouses, generally seating 200 or so. The ones that spring to mind were: Shaboo (Willimantic, Ct); Toad’s Place (New Haven, CT); Music Inn (Western Mass), Agora Ballroom (West Hartford, CT) and the Oakdale (Wallingford, Ct).

Shaboo, in particular, had an incredible number of acts, so many that I’m sure that I saw, but the intoxicants erased from my mind! When I look at the Shaboo tribute page, there are faint glimmers of recognition (“hmmm... I think I saw David Crosby, I think I saw Taj Mahal, I think I saw BB King...”)

Some of the acts I do remember were Bonnie Raitt, Roger McGuinn, Jonathan Edwards, Dickie Betts, Alabama, George Carlin, Jay Leno, Billy Crystal, Pam Tillis, J. Geils, Emmy Lou Harris, Dick Dale, Duke Robillard, and many other first tier and second tier performers. And for the bigger shows, it was a quick road trip to New York or Boston. At all of these venues, you were generally no more than thirty to fifty feet away from the stage. I’m sure I would be amazed if I looked back at their showbills, but very few of us had the money to see all of the acts that were touring at any given time.

There were a slew of other acts who were both local and national who would play these venues, but they were not exactly what I was listening to at the time - the Aerosmiths and Bostons of the world.

The seventies and early eighties were an incredible time to experience music in Southern New England. Get a bunch of old guys together and they’ll talk your ears off about all of the acts that they have seen.


Rick

Hi Rick,

I resemble that remark!

Great post, thanks for the memories. I was at some of those shows (I think )

I would also add Little Feat and Lowell George (together and solo) as well as Nils Lofgren, Rod Stewart, Bruce Hornsby and Neil Young to acts I saw in those small venues you mentioned.

Tick the capacity up slightly more and you get out of the clubs and into small halls-- the Bushnell in Hartford, The Palace in Waterbury, Veterans Auditorium in Providence, the Warner in Torrington, The McCoy in Pawtucket, Symphony Hall in Springfield, and more recently the 2 Infinity Hall venues. And now I'm remembering shows where I saw Pure Prairie League, Syknyrd, Charlie Daniels, Roomful of Blues (with and without Duke Robillard) Jerry Garcia (solo and with the Dead), Dan Fogleberg, Springsteen (in a gym), Southside Johnny, Vince Gill, Jorma, Pat Metheny, George Thoroughgood, The Cars (not a fan but I saw them as a support act before they broke out)....

We sure were lucky to have all these great places within an hour or 2 of home. Maybe the ones that haven't been knocked down will reopen soon!

I'm pretty much done with stadiums and hockey rinks, too old for big crowds and bad sound.

[reeve21]

P. S. I forgot one of the best, certainly the best name. Lupo's Heartbreak Hotel in Providence. James Brown, Sun Ra, Bo Diddley, Dave Matthews, Robert Cray, John Mayer, Warren Zevon and a whole lot of other recognizable names all played there on their way up and or down!

[nightchef]

Well, Shindell at Passim comes to mind (as recently as a couple of years ago), though Passim is so iconic that it sort of doesn't count despite being so small. And I saw John Gorka in a coffeehouse setting many years ago, I forget where.

Back in the 70s I saw a bunch of semi-major artists in my college chapel, an acoustically lovely little church that seats 200 people. The Roches, Jonathan Edwards, Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee, Paul Winter Consort, Patti Smith (a bit of a mismatch of performer to space on that one!). The Roches were particularly amazing in that space -- just transcendent.

[hubcapsc]

I used to go see Todd Rundgren whenever he'd go to Atlanta.

Once he was wearing a granny dress and army boots, no band,
and the "stage" was some kind of carousel in the middle of the
room.

Another time he was wearing a grass skirt and a coconut shell
for a hat and all the songs were changed over to a bossa nova
style.

But I never thought he was "on the way down", just Todd...

-Mike

[Busdriver63]

The Music Inn in Lenox, great place to see music. Rusty Nail in Sunderland, Mass. Iron Horse in Northampton. Mountain Park in Holyoke. Red Barn in Belchertown, Mass. Plough & Stars, Cambridge. Paul’s Mall, Boston

[reeve21]

Originally Posted by Busdriver63

The Music Inn in Lenox, great place to see music. Rusty Nail in Sunderland, Mass. Iron Horse in Northampton. Mountain Park in Holyoke. Red Barn in Belchertown, Mass. Plough & Stars, Cambridge. Paul’s Mall, Boston

Good ones! The Iron Horse is still there. Their website isn't loading, I hope they survive the current situation.

I'll add the old Paradise Theater (not a theater, a bar or club at best) on Commonwealth Avenue near Boston University. LOUD!

[dougdnh]

Surprised no ones mentioned NRBQ - saw them many times here in New Hampshire, and once in Wellfleet Mass jamming with a local pick up band. One of the most fun bands of all time!

[Kyle215]

A couple years ago we caught Billy Strings at a tiny little hole in the wall in South Philly. I’m not sure how many people that place was rated for, but I can’t imagine those regulations were enforced that night. The next time they came through town, they were selling out full sized venues, many times larger than the old Boot & Saddle.

It’s weird to think about standing shoulder to shoulder with so many people now... hopefully we get back to that place soon.

[reeve21]

Originally Posted by dougdnh

Surprised no ones mentioned NRBQ - saw them many times here in New Hampshire, and once in Wellfleet Mass jamming with a local pick up band. One of the most fun bands of all time!

I’ll mention them! They warmed up many a cold winter’s night here in CT. Big Al grew up just north of my town and we loved that band!

[KevWind]

Not a coffeeshop BUT::

In the early 70's I had been on a late season Muzzelloader hunt in the mountains above Troy Oregon , in the far northeast corner of Oregon. Troy had a population of about 25

I had been successful in the hunt and decided to go down into Troy and have a Burger and Beer at the only real establishment which was the Wenaha Bar and Grill
While I was eating at the Bar (there were maybe two other guys at a table)
This guy comes in sits at the back of the place pulls out an acoustic guitar and starts playing and singing all acoustic .

After a while I happen to comment to the Bartender "That guy kinda sounds like Creedence Clearwater " he says "Ya he should, that's John Fogerty"

[Busdriver63]

Saw David Bromberg at Woodys in Washington, Mass. Nice guy, nice place. Pousette Dart Band, opened for NRBQ at Smith College. Hoyt Axton opened for Janis Ian, at the Garage in Harvard Square. Saw Billy Joel at Mount Holyoke College when he doing his college thing. He sang some, answered questions from the audience, spoke some.

[J Patrick]

...so many I cant remember em all...but one I definitely do remember was at the Cellar Door in DC....probably 1973...it was a Tom Rush show I think...the opening act was this wiry scruffy dude I had never heard of who sat down at the piano and proceeded to blow my mind...Tom Waits...5 or 6 years later after he’d made it I caught him at the Guthrie in Minneapolis with an incredible stage show....im still a big fan...

[Billew]

I was just seeing how many acts I have also seen with my fellow New Englanders. Mary Chapin Carpenter when she was still at Brown she was in a female duo called the Hair cuts. I live in Newport so I saw a bunch of folk scare characters as local players. Paul Gerimia is a friend and played my open mike many times through him I met Eric Von Schmidt and Ramblin Jack Elliot Van Ronk. Cheryl Wheeler when she was fresh off her first gigs. Of course Roomfull with Duke and Duke without Roomfull many times. Barry Cowsill on the way to ruin. Cliff Eberhard sat and watched me for two sets once. Lastly, many folk and roots acts at Stepping Stone Ranch In Escoheag RI 20' from the stage and hanging backstage in the staff/performer campground for 10 years of Labor Day Weekends. And my Jamie Brocket story: He heard one of my songs and learned it from me.

[elninobaby]

It wasn’t a small venue, but I heard Mary Chapin Carpenter at Symphony Space in NYC in a songwriters circle with Nanci Griffith and (I think) Matraca Berg. I went into that concert a big NG fan and came out a huge MCC fan. I had a long chat with her after the concert, and she gave me her address and invited me to send her some songs. (I’m a songwriter.) I did, and she responded, and nothing more came of that connection—because in a way, I’m shy.

I’ve heard Christine Lavin perform in my living room several times. She’s a friend and in this songwriter group I host.

I did a workshop with David Wilcox and Beth Nielsen Chapman and heard them perform several times in an intimate setting. Ditto Dar Williams and Jimmie Dale Gilmore.

I produced a tribute to Nanci Griffith last year in a small theater and had Pete and Maura Kennedy as my band. They performed several songs and backed up my other singers (including me) on other numbers.

The Grammy Award winning songwriter Julie Gold (“From a Distance”) is another friend. She was in the NG tribute and a few other shows I’ve produced. Julie and Chris Lavin were guest performers at a show I did of my songs at a club in NY a few years back.

I saw Anais Mitchell at a tiny club in Greenwich Village. It was the Cornelia Street Cafe and there were maybe 20 people there. We had a nice chat afterwards.

I saw Cyrille Aimee, one of my favorite jazz singers of all time, at a tiny club in Westchester. I bought several CDs and had a nice chat with her after.

I played the guitar for the cabaret singer Andrea Marcovicci at the Algonquin Hotel several times. She was doing a song of mine. When I could make it, I’d accompany her on guitar; when I couldn’t her pianist played my song. One Friday night, I played for her at her 7 o’clock show, but skipped the 9:30 show because I wanted to flirt with the young lady who sold her CDs. What a mistake on a lot of levels, but the main one was that Joni Mitchell attended the 9:30 show! If I had performed, I’m sure I would have met Joni. But as it was, I couldn’t bring myself to barge into the conversation she was having with Andrea, just to say, “Oh, I wrote one of the songs tonight.” Gotta pick your spots. And that’s how I didn’t meet Joni Mitchell.

[rwmct]

Originally Posted by srick

Many years ago, Southern New England was home to multiple small venues. I suspect that these made a great “off-night” stops between New York and Boston. The venues were a little bigger than coffeehouses, generally seating 200 or so. The ones that spring to mind were: Shaboo (Willimantic, Ct); Toad’s Place (New Haven, CT); Music Inn (Western Mass), Agora Ballroom (West Hartford, CT) and the Oakdale (Wallingford, Ct).

Shaboo, in particular, had an incredible number of acts, so many that I’m sure that I saw, but the intoxicants erased from my mind! When I look at the Shaboo tribute page, there are faint glimmers of recognition (“hmmm... I think I saw David Crosby, I think I saw Taj Mahal, I think I saw BB King...”)

Some of the acts I do remember were Bonnie Raitt, Roger McGuinn, Jonathan Edwards, Dickie Betts, Alabama, George Carlin, Jay Leno, Billy Crystal, Pam Tillis, J. Geils, Emmy Lou Harris, Dick Dale, Duke Robillard, and many other first tier and second tier performers. And for the bigger shows, it was a quick road trip to New York or Boston. At all of these venues, you were generally no more than thirty to fifty feet away from the stage. I’m sure I would be amazed if I looked back at their showbills, but very few of us had the money to see all of the acts that were touring at any given time.

There were a slew of other acts who were both local and national who would play these venues, but they were not exactly what I was listening to at the time - the Aerosmiths and Bostons of the world.

The seventies and early eighties were an incredible time to experience music in Southern New England. Get a bunch of old guys together and they’ll talk your ears off about all of the acts that they have seen.


Rick

I saw many shows at Shaboo, Toads Place, as well as Stage West , the Agora, and the other iterations of that club in West Hartford (Including Jerry Lee Lewis, Iggy Pop, Alvin Lee, the Talking Heads, the Tubes, Mick Ronson, and numerous NRBQ shows of course). Also the Iron Horse. But those are kind of a step up from the coffee house type of venue I was thinking off in the OP. Yes, you saw acts on the way up (and the way back to earth) at those clubs. But also legends like Muddy Waters. And when acts like the Stones or Billy Joel play a venue in between arena shows, its not really what I had in mind.