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La Cave reunion concerts celebrate legendary, short-lived folk club
Published: Wednesday, June 23, 2010, 12:45 PM Updated: Wednesday, June 23, 2010, 2:14 PM
Michael Sangiacomo, The Plain Dealer
Courtesy Douglas A. Yeager ProductionsJosh White Sr. performed at the original La Cave. Josh White Jr. will help celebrate the legendary venue's anniversary this weekend.
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- La Cave, Cleveland's legendary folk club, was open only for seven years, but it was a magnet for some of the biggest names in folk and rock.
Rather than wait until 2012 for the 50th anniversary of the club's opening, fans and friends will come together for a La Cave Reunion celebration Friday through Sunday. The weekend marks the 48th anniversary of the opening and the 41st anniversary of La Cave's closing.
Simon and Garfunkel, the Velvet Underground, Jimi Hendrix, Jefferson Airplane, Neil Young, Phil Ochs, Iron Butterfly, Gordon Lightfoot, Arlo Guthrie, Judy Collins, Tim Hardin, Linda Ronstadt, John Hammond, Tom Rush . . the list barely scratches the surface of the list of hundreds of performers who played there from 1962 to 1969.
Josh White Jr., Brewer and Shipley, Carolyn Hester and a host of local and regional performers will perform today and Saturday at Wilbert's.
Friday's headliner is Josh White Jr., whose father was the first performer to play at La Cave at 10615 Euclid Ave. He'll reprise his father's most famous song, "One Meatball."
Saturday night, Brewer and Shipley headline. They are best known for the classic 1971 single, "One Toke Over the Line," plus "Tarkio Road" and "Witchi Tai To."
Hester is an original folkie from the 1960s, a contemporary of Collins and Joan Baez. She's also the woman who introduced some punk kid named Dylan to her friends at Columbia Records.
There will be a lot of music at the celebration, but even more nostalgia.
Stan Kain has fond memories of his days running La Cave, but his favorite memory has little to do with music.
"I remember walking in on Linda Ronstadt, about 17 or 18, standing naked in my kitchen cooking breakfast," he said fondly. "That's not something I'll ever forget."
Kain, now 74, of North Royalton, turned a coffee shop owned by Lee Weiss and Nelson Karl into the legendary folk club.
"The guys were about to close La Cave after three months back in 1962," he said. "I always wanted to run a folk club ... and I asked Lee and Nelson if I could book folk acts at La Cave. They said I could give it a try."
Kain took a chance and paid White $400 to perform a weekend of concerts.
"They were upset because I paid him so much money," Kain recalled. "The opening night was a sellout, and we had a line around the block. They made me a partner and let me run the place after that."
He ran it until 1968, when he stepped down to allow Larry Bruner to take over.
Kain said La Cave was a magnet for music luminaries. Artists like Theo Bikel, Mary Travers and Mama Cass would just drop in if they were performing in the area.
He has some less pleasant memories of the club as well.
"James Cotton's drummer had a heart attack and died right on the stage one night," he said. "The band showed up the next night and played because they said that's what he would have wanted."
He remembered when folk legends Ian and Sylvia Tyson asked if they could bring their own opening act to a performance, an unknown Canadian named Gordon Lightfoot.
"I remember watching Gordon Lightfoot laboring with his guitar writing a song called 'Early Morning Rain' in my apartment," he said.
Even more memories like these should be on the bill for this weekend's events.
PREVIEW
La Cave Reunion Festival
Who: Josh White Jr. today; Brewer and Shipley Saturday; Carolyn Hester, Tom Evanchuck, Gusti, Charlie & Celia Lewis, Jim Glover, Victoria Parks and Alan Leatherwood will open the shows both nights.
When: 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday. From 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday, there will be numerous performers for a special appreciation show at Wilbert's.
Where: Wilbert's Food & Music, 812 Huron Road, Cleveland.
Tickets: Concerts Friday and Saturday are $18, advance; $20, day of show. Appreciation show Sunday is $5.
La Cave reunion
