If you are trying to place Dan Bern on a map, AllMusic offers one landmark: “acerbic wit and surprising poignancy.” NPR offers another: “rapidly becoming the voice of a new generation of folk music.” Neither description quite tells you the whole story, which is probably the point. Bern has written thousands of songs, performed from coffee shops to Carnegie Hall, opened for The Who and Roger Daltrey, and made records specifically for children. On Saturday afternoon, Nov. 7, he brings that whole range to Caffe Lena for the Little Folks Series — a 3 p.m. show designed for the youngest listeners in the Capital Region and the adults who carry them in.
About the Show
The Little Folks Series is Caffe Lena’s program for young children and their caregivers, built around what the venue describes as “a relaxed, joyful atmosphere where wiggles, dancing, and singing are always welcome.” Bern is described as “undefinable by genre, crossing over and through folk, rock, singer-songwriter, and kids music,” and his recent album 4 Feet Tall and Rising places his children’s work at the center of that range.
Beyond music, Bern is an author of several books, a prolific painter, a podcast host, and the operator of his own internet radio station, Radio Free Bernsteinn. During the pandemic, his “Hunkered in the Bunker” online shows built a dedicated community of listeners. His compositions have appeared in films including Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, Get Him to the Greek, and Zero Effect, and in Amazon Prime’s children’s program The Stinky & Dirty Show. The Saratoga stop falls in the middle of a November Northeast run; Bern plays Morristown, N.J. on Nov. 6 and Beverly, Mass. on Nov. 8, with Portsmouth, N.H. following on Nov. 10.
Venue & Logistics
Caffe Lena, on Phila Street in Saratoga Springs, is one of the most enduring folk listening rooms in the Capital Region, with 110 seats close enough in every corner to hear the breath behind a line. For the Little Folks Series, that intimacy is the whole point; there is nowhere in a room that size for a child to feel lost in the music. Doors open at 2:30 p.m.; the show runs 3 to 4 p.m.
Tickets
Admission is free. Registration is requested so Caffe Lena can plan attendance. The Little Folks Series is made possible by the support of Kevin & Claudia Bright. Buy tickets