FOLK
Among the spinoffs of the Fox housing proposal (for God's sake, don't stop reading now, there's a joke in the next clause of this sentence)--aside from the accidental relocation of the entire Harvard Square vixen population to North Cambridge by a well-lubricated Buildings and Grounds workman who misunderstood his foreman's instructions--is the Strange Brew Coffeehouse, which opened last Sunday night on the fourth floor of Hilles library.
The brainchild of Robin A. Charo '79 and James G. Kahn '79, Brew serves up heapin' helpings of coffee, tea, cider, lemonade, homebaked cake, bread and music every Sunday through Thursday night. The doors to the small, well-lit room open at 8:30 p.m. and close at 11:30 p.m., time enough to down an inexpensive (30 cents), generous (9 ounce) mug of coffee, wander onto the terrace overlooking the Hilles courtyard, or borrow a Monopoly, Backgammon or Chess set from the counter for a game with friends. Different performers appear every night--a show from 9:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday, and continuous entertainment Sunday nights--playing mainly folk and jazz. Performers are paid by passing the hat.
Tonight Drew Weinstein plays folk and country acoustic, Sunday Don Helverson folks around with Jeff Griffiths. Monday Jack Klebenow hammers out jazz piano for singer Stephen Hayes, Tuesday Peter Grand does magic, Wednesday Judy Kaplan plays folk guitar and next Thursday silent Elizabeth Kennell mimes. If you're interested in performing, chall Charo (498-6862) or Kahn (498-6198) for an audition.
Charo and Kahn want to see Brew become a social center for the Quad and a magnet for potential Quad residents. Charo said the idea for the coffeehouse came from her long-standing desire to convert Hilles into a student center, and her more recent dissatisfaction with the Fox housing plan. With the help of Susan W. Lewis, assistant Dean of Freshmen, Charo and Kahn obtained funds from the Quad houses and the University, bought mugs and supplies, and opened the non-profit Brew. Give it a try.
You really hard-core folkies might want to check out "In Praise of Folly," a satiric revue of English music written in the 16th century by Erasmus of Rotterdam. The Greenwood Consort, a six-member group of lute, tenor viol, recorder, krummerhorn and Flemish harp players, performs the revue Saturday at 8:30 p.m. at the Longy School, 1 Follyn St. in Cambridge. Tickets are $3.50 at the door $2 for students.
If your tastes run less to the classical than to carousing, check out John Roberts and Tony Barrand, who will perform April 23 at 8 p.m. at the Joy of Movement Center in Central Square. Roberts and Barrand, two madcap Englishmen who not surprisingly bill themselves as "two madcap Englishmen," play traditional English songs and ballads and tell traditional English stories and jokes. If you go, applaud and laugh at all the traditional pauses.
But don't stay out too late making merry with Falstaffian types. Because Sunday, April 24 at 2 p.m., Don Stover and the White Oak Mountain Boys will raise the roof at the First Congregational Church of Cambridge with straight, 100 per cent mainline bluegrass. Nancy Tallbot, who seems to singlehandedly run the Boston Area Friends of Bluegrass and Old Time Country Music, which is sponsoring Stover's appearance, calls Stover "one of the four or five best banjo players in the world. "According to Tallbot, Stover first came to Boston from Clear Creek, W. Va. in the early 50s. After getting in good with the locals, Stover maintained an 18 year run at Hillbilly Ranch, a somewhat seedy country-music Boston nightclub. Tiring of the cold winters, Stover moved to his wife's farm in Virginia, where he drinks water from the well on his property and warms himself with a wood-burning stove.
In this, Stover's first Boston concert since his trek south, be prepared for his lightning picking, a little banjo frailing and some rare Stover guitar-flatpicking. Tickets are $4, kids under 12 free; call 492-0415 for more info. Coffee and punch served free, bring some home-baked munchies and an instrument for the after-show pickin' party.
Upcoming concerts: Leo Kottke and Leon Redbone this Friday at Symphony Hall; Joan Baez and Jesse Winchester May 21 and 22 respectively at the Orpheum; and America and the Pousette-Dart Band May 23 at the Music Hall.
Tonight through Saturday at Jonathan Swift's (661-9887) you got the Estes Boys with country rock, who transmigrate into the bluesy Ellis Hall Group Sunday and Monday, who come out of the cocoon Tuesday and Wednesday as the Earl Scruggs Revue with Clean Living. Scruggs should be outstanding; I've never heard of the rest of these jokers.
Willie the Wheel starts things rolling tonight at Sword-in-the-Stone (523-9168) with bluegrass guitar, the second act is the Steve Moor--Bob Boucher guitar duo. Friday Chance Langton shows his 50s and 60s stuff along with Steve Saroni, who compares with Glenn Yarborough of the Limeliters. Saturday it's Jill and MoChing with folkal vocals and John Rollins with traditional and original folk. Sundays and Tuesdays are open hoots, call first if you want to play.
The managers of Back Room at the Idler (491-1551) are holding auditions Monday, call for a slot and ask for Harry if you think you've got the stuff. On the other hand, if you think you've got something, but it's not contagious, look for Peter C. Johnson, formerly of Peter C. Johnson and the Manic-Depressives, tonight and Friday, and Peter Bell next Tuesday. Johnson has an outstanding repertoire of folk-rock Cambridge bar songs; Bell, who up until a few months ago played with the James Montgomery Band, does folk-bluesy stuff.
Look. The sun's coming up, and bad things are gonna happen to me if I don't get this to my editor soon. Read the listings page for evenings and clubs not discussed here. If the evening weather is nice and you're bored or lonely, take a walk through the Square--it's spring and the street musicians are out in force.