Rose Polenzani: Friday, January 13

Rose Polenzani performs on Friday, Jan. 13. Please RSVP today.

"In their psychic intensity, Polenzani's compositions sometimes evoke the spirit of the late Velvet Underground chanteuse Nico, albeit without that singers icy aloofness. Indeed, Polenzani's breathy, tremulous voice has a beckoning power more akin to that of a child ghost in a graveyard."--Request Magazine

"Somewhere in-between the raw emotion of singer Patty Griffin and the poetry of Anne Sexton, you'll find Rose Polenzani."--Utne Reader

"One of the best songwriters around...Rose Polenzani actually has a chance to pick up the Mitchell mantle."--BUST Magazine

"[Rose has] an otherworldly quality that transcends musical categories, much like Rickie Lee Jones's early work. Anybody has me searching for Polenzani's self-released 1998 debut, Dragersville."--CMJ

Celebrate the Holidays
Hear Rose Polenzani and Catie Curtis singing "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear" together - free MP3 at Catie's website:

http://www.catiecurtis.com/index.php?page=cds&display=387

Reminder: Pamela Means performs on Saturday, Dec. 3

Check out Pamela Means' Myspace page at http://www.myspace.com/pamelameans.

There are four free songs to listen to, where you can hear why Ani DiFranco said about her music, "You've got a deep, deep groove, I can't get out. And I wouldn't want to."



"If Black warrior poet/feminist political activist Audre Lorde had taken up folk singing, she might have attacked her guitar and wrapped her lyrics around it the way Pamela Means does."
-Valley Advocate, Northampton MA

Pamela's latest release, Single Bullet Theory, confronts the USA Patriot Act, racial profiling, and the Bush Administration, while advocating for the rights of marginalized identities. Through the song "O.D.", "Means fires off what is easily one of the best musical summations of our current political situation.." (Bay Area Reporter, San Francisco, CA). Pamela also recorded a haunting version of "Strange Fruit". The album also showcases Pamela's innovative, expressive guitar style, evidentiary of her conservatory studies of classical and jazz guitar. The fruits of such discipline shine in her fleet-fingered fretwork, fluid phrasing, 'dizzying acoustic guitar riffs' (Boston Globe) and 'powerful songs' (Time Out NY) all of which place her at the vanguard of the new acoustic frontier. Spanning from Spanish-influenced rolling crescendos through the detuned growling guitar funk of an aggressive interrogation, Means is "redefin[ing acoustic] music.." (Washington Blade).

Don't miss Pamela Means as she brings her "kamikaze guitar style" (NY Times) to Baltimore for a rare, intimate house concert!

Please RSVP here or via e-mail. Tell your friends because we need to get people to this show!

Pamela Means performs Saturday, December 3

Who: Pamela Means, political and fiery folk-jazz performer
When: Saturday, Dec. 3. Doors open at 8pm.
Who is invited: Everyone. Please spread the word, tell your friends, and RSVP here or via e-mail.
Cost: $10 (all proceeds go to artist)



Pamela Means is a Boston-based Out (spoken), Biracial indie folk artist whose "kamikaze guitar style" and punchy provocative songs have worn a hole in her guitar. Armed with razor wit poetry and irresistable charm, Pamela Means' "stark, defiant songs" (New York Times Magazine) set the status quo and the stage afire.

Pamela Means' many honors include being named Falcon Ridge Folk Festival's #1 "Most Wanted New Artist", and both Wisconsin's "Folk Artist of the Year", and "Female Vocalist of the Year". Pamela has also been a Boston Music Award Nominee ("Outstanding Contemporary Folk Artist").

Currently, Pamela performs over 150 shows a year at clubs, coffeehouses, colleges, and festivals across the country, most notably the Newport Folk Festival, Falcon Ridge Folk Festival, South by Southwest Conference, Southern Womyn's Fest, and Michigan Womyn's Festival. Pamela is also a favorite at innumerable regional Gay Pride events, Take Back the Night rallies, and Black History Month celebrations. Pamela has shared the stage with artists including Ani DiFranco, Joan Baez, Neil Young, Shawn Colvin, Richie Havens, Patty Larkin, Melissa Ferrick, Violent Femmes, Pete Seeger, Janis Ian, and Holly Near.

Pamela's 2003 summer tour took her nationwide, promoting her fifth self-released album, Single Bullet Theory (Wirl Records, 2003), in which "...Means fires off what is easily one of the best musical summanations of our current political situation.." (Bay Area Reporter, San Francisco, CA)

Quoting her inspiration, Warrior Poet Audre Lorde, Pamela asks "I am myself- a Black woman warrior poet doing my work- come to ask you, are you doing yours?" With Truth as ammunition, a Pamela Means performance brings the fight for social justice and human dignity to the forefront of a new generation.

Urinal Ads

The recent Caleb Stine show featured Holden's Lair's first attempt at Urinal Ads. (No, we don't technically have a urinal; they were behind the toilet.)







Next show is Saturday, Dec. 3, with Pamela Means.

Caleb Stine show photos

Caleb Stine played to an audience almost 30 on Friday, Nov. 4. The show was a great one, one full of people sharing food, drink, and good independent music together.

Our next show is Saturday, Dec. 3, with Pamela Means.













Caleb was joined by Burke Sampson for the second set.


Celebwatch: Cher (left) and Sandy Duncan (in the blue) attended the show along with their entourages.

The Caleb Stine show is manana

This is going to be a good one. Be there, with bells on.

Doors open at 8pm, and the show will begin at around 9. Please bring a dish or drink to pass. Particularly the latter. Just kidding. Sort of. It has been one of those weeks.

WTMD Link - show in three days!

Check out the link from the WTMD page - http://events.publicbroadcasting.net/wtmd/events.eventsmain?action=showEvent&eventID=356715. Sixteen hits from there today - a new record!

Caleb's show is this Friday - just three days away. Spots still available. Leave a comment here or shoot us an e-mail to reserve your spot. Tell your friends. All invited! Why not try a house concert this Friday?

Caleb Stine performs Friday, Nov. 4

Caleb Stine performs on Friday, Nov. 4. Doors open at 8pm, and the show starts at around 9. Please RSVP today via e-mail or with a comment on this entry.

You are cordially invited to the 2nd show of the 2005-2006 Holden's Lair season. It's a landmark show, because it's the first time we've booked a Baltimore musician to play the Lair. Holden and I usually envision the Lair more as a tourstop in between larger cities for medium-range national acts like Sam Shaber and Patti Rothberg, but the last several months of seeing Caleb perform at Ze Mean Bean Cafe, Woodberry Crossing, and The Waterfront Hotel - sometimes alone, sometimes with his band The Brakemen - have convinced me to bring him aboard. He's really great.

What: Caleb Stine House Concert

When: Friday, Nov. 4 - Doors at 8pm, show begins at around 9.

Cost: $10 (all proceeds go to artist)

Please RSVP and bring a dish or drink to pass

All invited - rampant forwarding of this e-mail is strongly encouraged.

Check out http://holdenslair.blogspot.com or http://www.calebstine.com for more info.

Artist Description: People and music - both inexpressible wonders of life. And neither makes sense apart from the other. With guitar and voice, Caleb struggles towards honest, intimate music. Hopeful, aware of the deep truth, and the toxic lies. Music, like love, is too dear to be sipped. It hsould be drunk deeply, in the company of friends.

Caleb Stine's American homegrown music meshes elements of folk, blues, and country. In the same set, he'll veer from a moving and funny folk storysong to a rollicking rockabilly tune, then to a Lou Reed cover and then maybe to a song that will possibly remind you of Leadbelly or Johnny Cash or Michelle Shocked, but is distinctly Caleb Stine. His songs are songs of Americana, honest and forthwright, and this show will be a showcase to one of Baltimore's rising acoustic talents.

Exciting new bookings

Check out the upcoming shows link for exciting new bookings.

Boston-based fiery folky Pamela Means rocks the place with her afro and blazing guitar on Sat, Dec. 3; experimental folk artist Rose Polenzani will reel you in with her dark poetry and sublime vocals on Fri, Jan. 13; and throwback banjoist and guitarist Andru Bemis (who I went to high school with!) will have you making comparisons to Woodie Guthrie on Sat, April 29.

And don't forget Americana singer/songwriter Caleb Stine on Friday, Nov. 4. Scroll down for more info!

I'm still looking for one or two more artists, in February and March, but otherwise the 2005-2006 season looks pretty set!

Caleb Stine performs Friday, November 4

Caleb Stine performs on Friday, Nov. 4. Doors open at 8pm, and the show starts at 9pm.



People and music - both inexpressible wonders of life. And neither makes sense apart from the other. With guitar and voice, Caleb struggles towards honest, intimate music. Hopeful, aware of the deep truth, and the toxic lies. Music, like love, is too dear to be sipped. It hsould be drunk deeply, in the company of friends.

Caleb Stine's American homegrown music meshes elements of folk, blues, and country. In the same set, he'll veer from a moving and funny folk storysong to a rollicking rockabilly tune, then to a Lou Reed cover and then maybe to a song that will possibly remind you of Leadbelly or Johnny Cash or Michelle Shocked, but is distinctly Caleb Stine. His songs are songs of Americana, honest and forthwright, and this show will be a showcase to one of Baltimore's rising acoustic talents.

See him perform accompanied on some songs by guitarist Burke Sampson.

Sam Shaber Photos

Sam Shaber performed the opening show of the 2005-2006 Holden's Lair show on Friday, Sept. 23. About 25 people showed up for Sam's fourth performance at Holden's Lair. A great show, and you can bet we'll have her back again.















Blessed with a big, full, robust voice, Sam Shaber was among the more promising female singer/songwriters to come out of the New York folk circuit in the '90s. The artists Shaber inspires comparisons to include, among others, the Indigo Girls, Tracy Chapman, Ani DiFranco, and Phranc. The native New Yorker has also been compared to Joni Mitchell and even though there are traces of Mitchell in some of her writing, Shaber has a bigger voice. In fact, Shaber is enough of a belter to sing R&B and she would probably be quite convincing as a straight-up R&B singer. But Shaber (who has often accompanied herself on acoustic guitar) is very much a folk-pop artist and that approach has earned her a small but enthusiastic following (especially in the northeastern region of the United States). As the '90s progressed, she became increasingly active on the Manhattan club scene. Those who caught Shaber live -- whether she was playing in the Big Apple or touring the United States -- realized that she was never a waif-life singer à la Jewel or Suzanne Vega. Always sounding like a woman instead of a girl, she brought a full-bodied vocal style to the stage. Shaber released her debut album, In the Bunker, on her own label, Brown Chair Records, in 1997. That CD was followed by her sophomore album, perfecT, a collection of live performances that was recorded at various Manhattan clubs in 1998 and released on Brown Chair in 1999. Then, in 2000, Shaber released a five-song EP titled Sam*pler on her label. In 2002, Shaber signed with SMG Records, a small independent company based in the Atlanta suburb of Decatur, GA. Eighty Numbered Streets, Shaber's third full-length album and fourth CD overall, was released by SMG in July 2002.

And Sam Shaber through the ages at Holden's Lair...


Sam Shaber in Oct. 2002.


Sam Shaber in Nov. 2003.

What a great night for a house concert!

Sam Shaber is currently en route to Holden's Lair. Doors open at 7:30 and she'll begin performing between 8:30 and 9:00. The show is ten bucks.

There's still room, if you want to come. Feel like a laid-back evening listening to great music - come! All are invited. Bring a friend and spread the word.

Kids invited; there will be a few here tonight, including one little girl, Zoe, who apparently knows all the words to "All Of This." We'll see.

Bring a dish or drink to pass and come early for a good seat. You'll be glad you did.

Last minute reservations should give me a call at 410-254-3254.

Next show: Caleb Stine on Friday, Nov. 4.

Sam Shaber - the day after tomorrow!

For your Sam Shaber fix before the show, check out her Myspace page, located at http://www.myspace.com/samshaber. You can listen to her music for free there.

Doors open at 7:30 for the show on Friday. Sam will go on at around 8:30., and play two 45-minute sets. Please arrive early for a good seat, bring a dish or drink to pass, and a pillow if you need one. Otherwise, just sit back and enjoy the show!

If you haven't RSVP'd yet, please do so. The show is filling up quickly.




And thanks to the hundreds who e-mailed in to tell me that Caleb Stine's show was listed incorrectly. He's not playing on Friday, Nov. 9, because Nov. 9 is not a Friday. He's playing Friday, Nov. 4. So go ahead and change those vacation plans back. I hope you all are looking forward to this show as much as I am. Me, I'm especially excited to hearing him without the din of Ze Mean Bean making his insightful lyrics tough to hear.

Sam Shaber in six days, on Friday night (9/23)

Just a reminder, Sam Shaber performs in six days.

We promise, we'll have the house cleaned up by then.

See a notice for the concert on WTMD's Event page!

Space is filling up for this show in record proportions. Please leave a comment on this message if you want to come and we'll save you a spot.

Teddy Goldstein Photos

Teddy Goldstein played Holden's Lair on Feb. 18, 2005. It was my second time seeing him live, after seeing him open for Melissa Ferrick a couple years before at Ram's Head Annapolis. That same month, Andrew Kerr (who played in 2003) passed along Goldstein's live CD to me, and I knew I wanted to book him. Teddy was also once in a group with Sam Shaber, and they remain friends, so that was just one more reason to book him.

His show was great - he's a great storyteller whose lyrics alternate between funny and sad, and the first ever to cover Brittney Spears on acoustic guitar in my living room. He stayed a while afterwards, entertaining attendees deep into the night. Hopefully he'll come back someday.

Here are some photos from Teddy Goldstein's February show:

RSVPs - the Sam Shaber show is ten days away

Once called "the soul of the NYC folk scene," Sam Shaber is performing a special acoustic house concert at Holden's Lair on Friday, September 23. Anyone can come. The show is $10 and doors open at 7:30. She's a really great live performer and you'll be happy you came.

We ask that you RSVP. Please check around this website for plenty more info about Sam Shaber, Holden's Lair, and the upcoming schedule.

Reservations so far for Sam Shaber: 10

Still plenty of room! RSVP today! You can e-mail or just leave a comment here!

For a taste, click here to hear Sam's college radio hit "El Dorado"! This song got plenty of airplay on WTMD last year.

Sam Shaber performs Fri, September 23

Sam Shaber performs on Friday, September 23. This is her FOURTH time performing at Holden's Lair. We love her. You will too. RSVP to markmiazga@hotmail.com today. Doors open at 7:30; Sam will start playing at around 8:30. Come early to get a good seat.

(And set your calendars now for Caleb Stine on Friday, Nov. 9.)

Here's Sam:

Mailing List

Joining the mailing list is easy.

Just e-mail markmiazga@hotmail.com with the subject "mailing list" and let me know you want to be added.

I'll never give your addresses to anyone.

I send out one update about upcoming shows a couple weeks before the show, then another a couple days before the show. That's all.

Photos: Patti Rothberg

Patti Rothberg is probably the biggest name we've hosted at Holden's Lair. She's certainly the only singer we've had who enjoyed time on David Letterman's, Jay Leno's, and Conan O'Brien's stages, and the only one with a bonafide hit single ("Inside," back in 1996). She's since gone underground and independent, but is still releasing fine music even if record companies aren't trying to turn her into the next Alanis Morissette now. A fine, fine show and she and Freddy are genuinely great people.








Aubry and Holden enjoy a moment before the Patti Rothberg show.

Photos: Wally Pleasant

I've been booking Wally Pleasant in various capacities since 1998, and was a fan a few years before that. He was my first ever Holden's Lair show, as well as my first ever Common Grounds show way back in the day at MSU. Here, he performs with his wife as part of the Wally Pleasant Orchestra.




My oldest friend Danielle and her then fiance, now husband John enjoy the Wally Pleasant show.



And a vintage shot of Wally Pleasant from the first ever Holden's Lair show on April 19, 2002.


And here's a shot from the same night. In the middle is Michelle Risdon, who has made every show except one. She's super-fan!

Photos: Doria Roberts

Atlanta's Doria Roberts, who played Lilith Fair and founded Queerstock, has played two Holden's Lair house concerts. She opened up the 2004-2005 season in September '04 with another stunning performance.


Doria Roberts belts out another powerful song.

Photos: Lori Amey

Former Lilith Fair performer Lori Amey plays at her second Holden's Lair house concert in 2004.


Lori Amey again

Directions

Directions:

Holden's Lair is located in Bel-Air/Edison, a neighborhood in NE Baltimore City. The address is as follows:
3944 Kenyon Ave.
Baltimore, MD 21213

Out of town:
Take 95 to the Moravia Road exit (from South, this is exit 60 off of 95; from the North, this means you have to briefly get on 895 and get off on exit 14). Take Moravia to Sinclair Lane, turn left on Sinclair, and take a right on Dudley Ave. Take left on Ravenwood. House is on corner of Ravenwood and Kenyon, with a white picket fence.

From North Baltimore:
Get to Bel-Air Road, turn left on Moravia Rd., right on Mannasota, and left on Kenyon. The house is on the left, the last house on Kenyon Ave.

From South Baltimore and midtown:
Take North Ave to Bel-Air, turn left on Bel-Air, and right on Erdman. Take Erdman to Sinclair Lane, turn left on Dudley (after elementary school). Turn left on Ravenwood. House is on corner of Ravenwood and Kenyon, with a picket fence.

Upcoming shows - November, December, January

Upcoming Shows:

Friday, Nov. 4 - Caleb Stine



Blues, folk, and country. People and music - both inexpressible wonders of life. And neither makes sense apart from the other. With guitar and voice, Caleb struggles towards honest, intimate music. Hopeful, aware of the deep truth, and the toxic lies. Music, like love, is too dear to be sipped. It hsould be drunk deeply, in the company of friends.

Saturday, Dec. 3 - Pamela Means


Pamela Means is a Boston-based Out (spoken), Biracial indie folk artist whose "kamikaze guitar style" and punchy provocative songs have worn a hole in her guitar. Armed with razor wit poetry and irresistable charm, Pamela Means' "stark, defiant songs" (New York Times Magazine) set the status quo and the stage afire.

Friday, Jan. 13 - Rose Polenzani


In their psychic intensity, Polenzani's compositions sometimes evoke the spirit of the late Velvet Underground chanteuse Nico, albeit without that singers icy aloofness. Indeed, Polenzani's breathy, tremulous voice has a beckoning power more akin to that of a child ghost in a graveyard." --Request Magazine "Somewhere in-between the raw emotion of singer Patty Griffin and the poetry of Anne Sexton, you'll find Rose Polenzani." --Utne Reader

Saturday, April 29 - Andru Bemis

While Andru's travels and lifestyle earn him frequent comparisons to Carl Sandburg, John Steinbeck and Woody Guthrie, it's his unmistakeable voice, inventive self-taught banjo and guitar styles and exquisitely crafted tunes of travel, love and longing which have brought him rapid success and respect throughout the US and Canada. Upon hearing a 2002 performance in Door County, Wisconsin, noted humorist, author and radio host Garrison Keillor commented, "the ability to play such a beautiful song is a rare gift, and a power of which I can only dream." The Birmingham (AL) Weekly calls him a "modern-folk, Midwestern miracle of music ... (with a voice that) is pretty and ravaged, sounding as though 50 Appalachian winters have run him ragged." Critics and audiences alike comment on Bemis' remarkable ability to craft timeless-sounding lyrics and tunes and to perform the songs of others- including Don Gibson, Tom Paxton, Greg Brown and Stephen Foster- as if he'd written them himself.

Note: I went to high school with this guy in South Haven, MI, and haven't seen him in over ten years. Unbelievable!

About

Holden's Lair (now, it could be called "Holden and Norman's Lair") is a house concert venue doing monthly shows since May of 2002 in Baltimore, MD.

If you've never been to a House concert at Holden's Lair, they are a laid back affair. Everyone usually brings a dish to pass and everyone chats in between the breaks. If we know you're coming, we often wait until you get here until we begin. The artist mingles with the fans, signing CDs and schmoozing. A box is passed around and the money is collected, and all of it goes to the performer. Children are welcome, and don't be surprised if a friendly cat jumps in your lap or starts mewing to the music, or if a slightly overweight dog(s) gives you sad eyes, hoping for a treat off your plate.

If you have allergies to dogs and cats, please Allegra or Claritin. Two cats and two dogs are all over the place here.

A few rules:
Please RSVP by e-mailing before the show so I know the number to expect.
Please try to get here before the performer begins
Please bring food or drink to pass

If you want to sit on a piece of furniture and not the floor, come early to grab a seat. It never hurts to bring something - a pillow, a beanbag.

More than anything else, Holden's Lair is a community of people who appreciate the independent spirit in music coming together to support art and free expression. With our radios dominated by just a few corporations, this is a way for non-mainstream voices to be heard. It's also just a way to hear great music. And you'll hear it every time at Holden's Lair.

A Note to Performers:
I organize house concerts for the simple reason that I love music and this gives me a chance to give back to many independent performers that I have followed for years. Because I put on only 9-10 shows per year, and I generally reserve many of those for musicians whose music has inspired me, who are already a favorite of mine. In some rare cases, however, I book singer/songwriters that I have not known before, and if you would like to be considered, please send a press pack to Mark Miazga, 3208 Dudley Ave, Baltimore, MD, 21214.