The Peoples' Voice Cafe
239 Thompson St, New York, NY 10012 / 212-787-3903

An alternative coffeehouse offering live entertainment in New York City,
presenting folk, blues, jazz, rap, poetry, storytelling, theater & dance since 1979.

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Peoples Voice Cafe


Alcohol-free ~ Fully Wheelchair Accessible

Covid-19 policy (subject to change as conditions evolve):

Required: Mask (we will provide one if you don't have one)

Strongly Recommended: Everyone should be fully vaccinated, boosted, and recently tested.

Risk Statement:
While no one precaution is guaranteed to prevent covid infection, a combination of precautions will contribute greatly to everyone's safety at the PVC. Although we expect that people who have symptoms of covid will stay home, we recognize that there are still risks when entering any public space. The PVC is therefore taking the follow steps:

  • We offer KN95 or other high quality masks to everyone entering.
  • We use three HEPA air purifiers within the Assembly Hall.
  • We have suspended the sale of food or drink, and there should be no eating on the premises.
  • We limit total attendance to 70 persons.
  • We offer livestream shows whenever possible.


    Help Save the Peoples' Voice Cafe!
    A recent cybertheft has left PVC without resources.
    Can you help out?
    Clink on the link above.


  • Saturday, April 1, at 8pm:

    In Person Tickets        Livestream Tickets



    Pete & Woody: An Unlikely Friendship
    with Pat Lamanna, Steve Suffet, and Richard Mattocks
    A PVC Benefit

    Created by folksingers Pat Lamanna and Steve Suffet, Pete & Woody: an Unlikely Friendship is a multimedia presentation that explores the relationship between Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie. Comprising 14 songs performed live by Pat and Steve, 18 historic slides, and a 3,500 word narration read by Richard Mattocks, Pete & Woody starts with this premise: When they first met in 1940, Woody Guthrie became Pete Seeger's mentor, inspiration, and guide who set him on a journey that continued to the day Pete died in 2014. Over time, however, their relationship changed, and after about ten or twelve years Pete Seeger became Woody Guthrie's champion, helping to promote Woody's songs and story even as Woody's mental and physical health began to deteriorate. Pete continued to play the role of Woody's champion after Woody passed away in 1967 at the age of 55, and much of Woody's worldwide popularity today is a result of Pete's efforts. This presentation will be followed by a Q&A and discussion.
    patlamanna.com
    stevesuffet.com



    Tonight's show is co-sponsored by The Folk Music Society of New York.



    LOCATION:
    Judson Memorial Church
    Assembly Hall (not the main sanctuary on West 4th St.)
    239 Thompson Street, between West 3rd and West 4th Streets
    New York NY 10012

    TRANSPORTATION:

    to West 4th St./Washington Square
    Walk three blocks east to Thompson Street; turn left. (3 minutes)
    MAP

    SHOWTIMES:
    All shows start at 8 PM, Saturdays. Doors open at 7:15.
    No reservations, so come early to be assured a seat.

    ADMISSION:
    $20 suggested contribution -- more if you choose, less if you can't; no one turned away.
    For PVC subscribers, Judson members, Folk Music Society of NY members, students, and youth, the suggested contribution is $12.

    ACCESSIBILITY:
    Wheelchair accessible (including bathrooms). For info call 212-787-3903.



    Saturday, April 8, 2022:


    Closed for Holidays



    Saturday, April 15th, at 8pm:

    In Person Tickets        Livestream Tickets



    Ray Korona Song Night #5
    Written with passion, humor and love, Ray's songs help us confront life's challenges and come out on top! Ray told powerful personal stories, including "Joe Homeless," who "got sick for a while, lost his pay." On a global level, Ray's nuclear warning in "Free Harbors" is crucial now: "Beware of the ships that would melt down the sea, with bombs that can make all life cease." Ray also wrote songs about the environment, war and peace, Social Security, jobs, health care, water, prisons, women's rights, and much more. Perhaps Ray's greatest gift was his ability to inspire people to fight back. Tonight's program includes Ray's favorite, "The People Are In Charge!"

    Please join us for our fifth celebration of Ray Korona songs since he passed away, as we continue to keep his music alive. This year the Ray Korona Band - Ivice, Barry Kornhauser, Ellen Davidson, Gina Tlamsa and Sharon Abreu - will be augmented by Laura Liben and Chris "Oledude" Owens, with guest performances by Emma Graves, Jenny Amanda Hurwitz / Talbot Katz / SamiRose Katz, Joel Landy, Adele Rolider, Ben Silver, Lydia Adams Davis, Mercy Van Vlack and Lindsey Wilson.

    We are excited to present a special environmental guest set by Irthlingz (Sharon Abreu and Michael Hurwicz)!
    raykorona.com
    Flyer (with more info and photos)


    "Rotten to the Root"
    Donna Stein on Ray, Eco-Logic 12/31/22



    Saturday, April 22, at 8pm:

    In Person Tickets        Livestream Tickets

    Mario Cancel-Bigay


    Bev Grant and Carolann Solebello

    Save the Peoples' Voice Cafe
    Fundraising Concert

    Last September, online thieves stole $24,000 from the Peoples' Voice Cafe's bank account. We have launched a GoFundMe campaign which has raised over $8,000. We've also received more than $3,000 in gifts and grants outside the GoFundMe campaign. With this help, we are no longer in immediate danger of closing, but we are still out $13,000, which makes our long term survival uncertain. This special fundraising concert will feature five longtime friends of PVC:

    Mario Cancel-Bigay
    Bev Grant
    Charlie King
    Carolann Solebello

    Lindsey Wilson

    All of them are accomplished artists in their own right, and they are generously donating their time and their talent. Please join them in helping to save this precious venue that presents artists who have something important to say and the voice with which to say it.
    GoFundMe


    Charlie King


    Lindsey Wilson


    Saturday, April 29, at 8pm:

    In Person Tickets        Livestream Tickets



    Steff Reed
    Steff Reed is a a singer, songwriter, producer, multi-instrumentalist, educator, and activist. By sharing his story, Reed shows others that they are not alone. He inspires audiences with his spiritual, uplifting energy, blending folk rock, alternative, and pop to culminate in humanitarian messages of resilience, healing, and self-betterment. Reed has gained national acclaim as a producer and songwriter, working with Trey Songz, Jhene Aiko, Eric Roberson, Swizz Beatz, Kenny Lattimore and Gordon Chambers on songs that made it to the Billboard Charts. In 2013, he was nominated for the GRAMMY Music Educator Award. Reed is currently building a Brooklyn-based non-profit, Power of Love, in partnership with Judson Memorial Church.
    iamsteffreed.com
    soundcloud.com/IAmSteffReed




    Marie Mularczyk O'Connell & the Mountain Maidens
    Three dynamic voices blended in splendid ancient and modern harmonies that will lift your spirit, excite your senses and warm your heart. They sing ballads, folk songs, Medieval, Irish Traditional music, love songs, country and gospel songs including themes of social justice. Marie plays guitar, banjo, mandolin, dulcimer, Irish Bouzouki, dumbec, bones and spoons, and sings British and American folksongs and Jewish music. Candice (Candy) Baranello is a member of the Long Island group Wild Ginger. She plays dulcimer, washboard, and bodhran and sings traditional, Old Timey, classical and gospel. Lorraine Berger is a member of the Huntington Choral Society, plays guitar and flamenco castanets, and sings in a beautiful alto. Check out their CD Mountain Maidens.
    facebook.com/groups/738007577599212


    Tonight's concert is co-sponsored by The Folk Music Society of New York.



    Saturday, May 6, at 8pm:




    Ben Silver


    Whether in singer/songwriter mode or doing McFerrinesque vocal improvisations, Ben Silver's music slides through folk, R&B, funk, jazz, and back again. A passionate singer with buku chops and a wide vocal range, Ben is also an inspired vocal arranger, Vocal Improv teacher and performer. His songs have been published in Carry It On, Sing Out Magazine, The Washington Post, and the book Hearing Everyone's Voice.
    facebook.com/bensilver1




    Brie Kelly
    Brie Kelly is an enormously talented unaccompanied singer whose vast repertoire includes both traditional and contemporary folk songs. You might just find her at the Exceedingly Good Song Night, the Sunnyside Folk Club, or one of the other singers' sessions in and around New York City.


    Saturday, May 13, at 8pm:




    Sam Gleaves
    Sam Gleaves played for four years with the Berea College Bluegrass Ensemble. After graduating, Sam performed and taught in a variety of settings, including festivals, colleges, universities, and public schools. With five studio recordings to his credit, Sam has shared music in the U.S., Canada, Italy, Ireland, England, and Japan. Appalachian author Lee Smith called Sam, "courageous as hell and country to the bone--the best young songwriter around." Sam currently serves as Bluegrass Ensemble Director and Appalachian Instruments Instructor at Berea College in Berea, Kentucky.
    samgleaves.com
    samgleaves.bandcamp.com


    "Ain't We Brothers"




    Carrie & Michael Kline
    Michael and Carrie Kline perform country harmony duets from coal mining songs to gospel, family songs and front porch music. Listeners may find themselves dancing a waltz to "Fiddler Jones," the song that celebrates the role of music and old-time fiddlers in our lives and our communities, those who play for family and friends or local dances, or those who play for no one at all. Carrie and Michael's voices carry the songs with truth and authenticity, and their guitars and haunting harmonies get you where you live, evoking the times that really matter, time with family and friends, wrapped in a patchwork quilt of vivid imagery. Kitchen songs. You can smell the biscuits baking.
    folktalk.org


    Tonight's concert is co-sponsored by The Folk Music Society of New York.




    Saturday, May 20, at 8pm:




    Kent State & Jackson State Memorial
    Featuring Magpie

    Terry Leonino & Greg Artzner met and began singing together in Kent, Ohio in 1973. In the intervening 50 years Terry & Greg have entertained, uplifted and inspired audiences around the world with their amazing versatility, powerful voices in harmony, and provocative, captivating songs, many of their own composition, on guitars, harmonica, mandolin, and dulcimer.

    Terry was a witness and survivor of the May 4, 1970 shootings at Kent State University, and that tragic event had a major impact on her and her soon-to-be life partner. Motivated to resist any attempt at repression of dissent and free speech, Greg & Terry became even more committed to activism in numerous struggles including peace, liberation, freedom of speech, the environment, and worker's rights. In commemoration of the 53rd anniversary of May 4th, this special program will feature songs from the movement to end the war in Vietnam, setting the context for the many demonstrations that took place in the spring of 1970 including Kent State, weaving those songs together with essays by Kent State survivors and others closely associated with the Movement and KSU.
    magpiemusic.com
    facebook.com/MagpieGregArtznerTerryLeonino/


    "I Stand Before the Morning Sun"




    The Peoples' Voice Cafe is supported in part by the generosity of

    Judson Memorial Church

    Community Church of New York Unitarian Universalist

    The Puffin Foundation

    The Folk Music Society of New York





    PVC Solidarity Statement Against Racism

    Peoples' Voice Cafe, started in 1979 by members of Songs of Freedom and Struggle, carries forward the vision of using songs and performing arts to support the struggle for peace and justice.

    All are impacted by the history and ongoing practice of systemic racism in this country and the continuing brutal murders of Black Americans by police.

    We stand in solidarity with Black Lives Matter, outraged by the many faces of racism found in education, healthcare, housing, jobs, poverty, criminal justice, and voting. All must be free to move about in the "land of the free" without suspicion, harassment, or arrest.

    Peoples' Voice Cafe stands committed to speak out, sing out, and work against racism, white supremacy, and indifference.