Chuck Winans

10 Jan 2002

My name is Chuck Winans. I live in Chicago (and have since 1982). But in the mid-and-late 1970s, I lived intermittently in Saratoga and upstate New York, and spent a good deal of time at Caffè Lena— working in the kitchen alongside future luminaries such as Christine Lavin.
     I first came to Saratoga and Lena's in 1977. Outwardly, I came to the Caffè to audition to play there. it was the summer of '77. Lena gave me a "guest set" opening for Tom Mitchell (Tony Markellis and Chance Brown completed the trio that night, I remember well). But when she found out I was a theatre major taking a semester off from drama school at SUNY-New Paltz, she recruited me to work in her theatre next to the Caffè.
     Over the next 18 months, and then occasionally thereafter (after returning to college), I worked in both the Caffè and Lena's theatre. The black and white photo of Lena on your website, looking coyly up and to the left, was taken in her role as the investigator in our 1978 production of Agatha Christie's "The Mousetrap," for which I was the stage manager, lighting designer and overall go-fer.
     Later that year, I rewired the theatre. In the mid-1980s, the theatre underwent yet another renovation—I doubt that any of my rewiring work still exists. Um...mine wasn't exactly up to electrical code!
     I have a huge bundle of memories from Caffè Lena if you'd like to hear them, or even post them on your website. These memories include, but are not limited to: VIVID memories of Lena, John Wynne-Evans and the Caffè Lena Theatre of the 1970s.
     Many, many musicians—some of them no longer with us—who passed through Lena's door to perform and visit.
     Peripheral memories of people around the Caffè—including Logan English, who used to work occasionally in the theatre—this Saratoga poet-at-large used to come bounding up the stairs, drunk, and sit on the bench that (used to be on?) the front part of the stairs and hassle Bill Staines when he was performing (Bill wrote a song long ago using one of Logan's poems). I remember in the 1970s when Tony Markellis had a wonderful electric hand-carved bass guitar stolen. It wasn't taken from the Caffè—near as I can remember, it was "lost" by some airline. Tony, is that right?
     Performances by more musicians than I can remember...including Bruce Phillips and Rosalie Sorrells (together!), Paul Geremia, Roy Bookbinder, Archie Edwards, Kate Wolf, Dave Bromberg, Jay Unger, Nick Seeger, and even one very special evening in the early 1980s with Tom Paxton.
     The Caffè was in desperate financial trouble at the time of this Paxton concert. It was billed as a benefit. I had arranged with Paxton's manager for Tom to come play one night, about May of 1982 or so. And did he ever. Tom played two shows of two sets each to two packed houses and the (then exorbitant) cost of $10.00 per person. It saved Lena's ass, to put it bluntly.
     Two years before, in Schenectady, we'd held a BIG concert for the benefit of Caffè Lena at the then-newly renovated Proctor's Theatre. It was an all-day affair, turning into an indoor folk festival. I recall distinctly driving Lena to Schenectady one cold winter day to talk to the people in charge of Proctor's. They GAVE us the use of the theatre for one day, in celebration of Lena's 20th Anniversary.
     The lineup Lena put together for this event was unbelievable. It included (as much as I can recall) Bill Staines (I remember distinctly that he opened the event), Margaret MacArthur & Family, Dave Bromberg, Kate & Anna McGarrigle, Arlo Guthrie, Dave Van Ronk and a huge number of others.
     For many years I tried to convince Lena Spencer to take Caffè Lena to non-profit status. She steadfastly refused. She didn't want other people meddling with "her baby," I think, and she was deathly afraid the IRS would be watching over her shoulder every moment. Lena agonized every year at tax time. It was no coincidence that April 15 coincided roughly with the beginning of her tax year, since the Caffè opened in the spring of 1961. [1960—ed.]
     It was with pleasure (albeit from afar) that I observed Caffè Lena not only being carried on in Lena's name, but going non-profit the year after she passed away. I am good friends with Jackie Alper, who was a longtime friend of Lena's, and one of the first members of the new board of directors upon attaining non-profit status. As a musician, I performed on Jackie's show many times at WRPI.
     I also have a treasure trove of tales about Lena herself. She could be a difficult person to deal with. She was very single minded, very focused on her Caffè. She did fancy herself as an actress, which is why she kept a theatre running when she was alive. In some of the roles she did, she really was quite good. I recall a one-woman show that she adapted and acted in, from Eudora Welty's short story "Why I Live At The P.O.," about 1978-79.
     In that role, she was absolutely brilliant (albeit too old for the part— even in her 50s, Lena fancied herself as an enginue actress). lena and I acted in many plays together, including a wild version of Brendan Behan's "The Hostage," and a very moving production of "Spoon River Anthology," complete with music by folksinger Michael Smith. The music was actually written for a 1969 production at the University of Chicago, but Mike sent us a tape of a lot of the songs and allowed us to use them. Along with acting in the production, I was one of the two musicians supplying guitar accompaniment for the play.
     It was ironic that, a decade later, I finally met Mike in Chicago when he was asked to write music for "The Grapes Of Wrath," a Steppenwolf Theatre Production—where I was working and still work. Mike was nominated for a Tony Award later, for his music, when "Grapes" transferred to Broadway. The production won the Tony Awards for Best Play and Best Director in 1990. The lead role of Tom Joad was taken by Gary Sinise, one of the three founders of Steppenwolf, who later gained national fame and an Oscar nomination as Lieutenant Dan in the film Forrest Gump.
     I was not in Saratoga, nor was I on the east coast, on the fateful evening when Lena fell down the stairs. I was told that she was on her way out to see Spaulding Gray at The Egg in Albany when she fell. Gray was a longtime friend and Caffè Lena intimate.
     I know Lena hung on for quite a while in a coma, about a month, in the hospital after the fall. She never regained consciousness. You have some of her writing from her autobiography on the website, dated January 8, 1989. This was less than a month before the fall, and less than two months before she died.
     Lena wasn't big on living a healthy lifestyle. She did not drink alcohol much, and she never did drugs to my knowledge. But she literally lived on iced coffee and Pall Mall straights. With that knowledge, it is somewhat ironic to me that the Caffè Lena is now a non-smoking performance venue.
     I've looked at some of the interior photos on the website. The place looks different. Um...it looks CLEAN! In the 1970s, the Caffè was a mess. It was seedy. But that was part of its appeal. I understand that it's air-conditioned now. Twenty-five years ago, it wasn't. Summers could get stifling hot, especially in August when there was a full house. Lena "cooled" the Caffè with window fans, which were shut off before the show began. By intermission, everyone in the audience would be sweating their asses off.
     Lena Spencer was not big on "charity." She had a difficult time accepting help unless the Caffè was in dire straits (which it often was from 1970-85 or so). Other people would organize benefits for her. She would accept that help only as a way out of what was an otherwise desperate situation. The Paxton concert, held right at the Caffè, was one of those events. The 20th Anniversary show at Proctor's Theatre was another. The money she earned from these benefits always went for a specific purpose, and never lasted long. Within a few months—sometimes a few weeks—she'd be in dire straits again.
     I could spend the entire morning writing old Lena Spencer stories— detailing the characters of Caffè Lena from the 70s. But I've gone on long enough for now.
     if you all ever want to hear about some of the wild stuff that went of at
Caffè Lena in the 1970s from my perspective, I'll be happy to write more!

Sincerely,
Chuck Winans, President
Portraits In Performance Photography, Inc.
House Photographer - Buddy Guy's Legends - Chicago
www.pipphotography.com