{"product_id":"9781576876947","title":"Caffe Lena: Inside America's Legendary Folk Music Coffeehouse","description":"In 1960, burgeoning actress and defiant dreamer Lena Spencer opened a  small, grassroots coffeehouse in the quaint upstate New York town of  Saratoga Springs. Within her then-husband’s plan to start the Caffè as a  means for the couple to artistically flourish while “making enough  money to retire in Europe” lay the seed of a more impactful cultural  contribution that would change music history forever. It was a time in  America when a coffeehouse could be something more—a focal point for a  different sort of people, radical new ideas, and notably, emerging  artists. Caffè Lena’s humble stage regularly welcomed musicians such as a  young Bob Dylan in 1961, the singer\/activist Bernice Johnson Reagon in  1962, and a pre-”American Pie” Don McLean in 1965. Quickly, Caffè Lena  took its place among the nation’s foremost incubators of an American  folk movement that inspired a generation of musicians, artists, and  thinkers and a country in need of a new vision of equality, freedom, and  understanding.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Fortunately for posterity, camera shutters were often snapping in time  to the music, and so an intimate visual record of Caffè Lena’s early  years exists. Now, thanks to years of dedicated digging by the Caffè  Lena History Project—to unearth Lena’s secret memoirs, collaborating  with photographers to identify and rescue mysterious negatives, and  collecting stories from the original artists to highlight these  materials—the time has come to share this treasure trove of authentic  and rare Americana with the world. \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eCaffè Lena: Inside America’s Legendary Folk Music Coffeehouse\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e brings more than 200 never before seen, evocative images and stories to  the public. Early 1960s photographs of Bob Dylan and Pete Seeger and  modern-day images of Rufus Wainwright and Patty Larkin blend with rare  memorabilia and an oral history derived from more than 100 original  interviews of artists who have graced Caffè Lena’s stage over the  decades, including Ani DiFranco, Utah Phillips, Dave Van Ronk, Spalding  Gray, and other luminaries of the folk, blues, jazz, and theater worlds.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e 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.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003eAlongside the release of \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eCaffè Lena: Inside America’s Legendary Folk Music Coffeehouse\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e,  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.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “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.”\u003cbr\u003e —Scott Goldman, The GRAMMY Foundation\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  “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.”\u003cbr\u003e —Holly George-Warren, \u003ci\u003eThe Road to Woodstock\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e “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.” \u003cbr\u003e —David Amram, Musician","brand":"powerHouse Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47150253277424,"sku":"9781576876947","price":14.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9781576876947_p0.jpg?v=1763798379","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9781576876947","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}