Margo Hennebach and the Ultimate Form of Prayer Barbara Horowitz / Richard Cuccaro A woman's voice rises above the strum of a guitar. It floats there, riding a sound wave, gliding through air, reaching the ear of the transfixed listener. It's tone shape possesses a purity, something akin to a flute in the hands of Jean-Pierre Rampal. Margo Hennebach is telling her story. As any singer/songwriter will, her reactions to every element around her form that story. It comes on the wind before a storm, sighing through leaves, in the softness of melting snow, in the tender expressions of a child's first love. Her husband, Mark Saunders stands beside her, His back-up guitar work, an understatement in pristeen poetry. Using a variety of softly executed slides and sustains, he perfectly augments her sound. Margo Hennebach has played instruments and sung, in her words, "forever." She started piano at age 4 and later played ukelele, classical guitar, and steel-string guitar. By the age of 8, she had begun composing. In high school, she performed with a girlfriend starting at open mics and then getting their first gigs in New York City. Margo possesses both an undergraduate degree in piano performance and a graduate degree in music therapy. It's no wonder that she has strong feelings about the place of music in her life. Margo felt compelled to write me after our interview to elaborate on her philosophy of music. "For me," she writes, "it is the ultimate form of prayer or meditation because I have to be attentive to what is happening this instant." Music becomes a form of conversation that is happening between the artist and the audience. Essentially it is "both a private and public event requiring me to dig deep and extend myself all at the same time." Her sentiments explain why she enjoys doing music with nonmusicians, for instance, music therapy. S he may write songs with a group or engage in other interactive programs in which music is a jumping-off point for discussing feelings; again, the theme is that of music sparking "conversation." She has worked with authors to create music that complements workshops they give. But performing is her mainstay. She and her husband Mark Saunders frequently perform together. Prior to Mark, she hadn't played in a duo since that high school girlfriend, although she has played in several bands, including Idle Rumours with Adrienne Jones and Paul Kovit, and Madwoman in the Attic with Jones and Diane Chodkowski. In the 80's, she also backed up several artists in the Fast Folk scene including Rod MacDonald and Richard Shindell. Margo and Mark share a common vision for the music. They see their role as communicating the sacredness of music through songwriting and performing. Besides which, he is fun to work with, and he doesn't mind doing most of the driving. She had to think hard as to whether there were any cons to performing with Mark; she said that while she did have to give up some control, it was well worth it. And she supposed it would be harder to do something really different, like front a Celtic band. Margo often mentions that she was adopted. I asked if that was a theme in her composing. She replied that it was at certain times in her life, such as when she first met some of the members of her biological family, but that she's more interested in the theme of transformation generally and of a rich fantasy life, which adoptees often possess. Among the acoustic musicians she most enjoys, Margo lists Richard Thompson, Julie and Buddy Miller, and Cheryl Wheeler (whose "patter" she loves). As far as bands are concerned, she's got Whirligig's latest album, Spin, in her CD player now, and thinks Paul Kovit, Greg Anderson, Lisa Moscatiello, and Lisa Gutkin have done a great job To best appreciate Margo's talent, you really need to see and hear her live. If that opportunity isn't in your immediate future, check out her recordings on the Prime CD label. She now has four CDs: Big Love, Michaelean, Margo Hennebach, and Comfort and Joy. She tours frequently-- Gigs in November include: Nov 4 8pm House Concert Peapack, NJ 908-719-4757 Nov 12, PRIME CD's 7th anniversary, with Susan McKeown, Hugh Blumenfeld, others 7pm at the Uptown Coffeehouse in Riverdale, the Bronx. Nov 18 8pm at Sun Music Café, Manhattan. Nov 19 5pm Bodles Opera House 39 Main St Chester, NY 914-651-1510 with Adrienne Jones Nov 25 8pm Performing Arts Center Rt 308 Rhinebeck, NY 914-876-3080 To contact her or find out more about her, she can be e-mailed at firefries@aol.com, and her website is www.primecd.com/margo.htm.
Venue of the Month: The Postcrypt Coffeehouse
by Richard Cuccaro/Matt Winters Basement, St. Paul's Chapel Columbia University 116 St. & Broadway 212-854-1953 www.postcrypt.org At Broadway, and 116th Street, there is an arched wrought-iron gateway, leading to the campus proper of Columbia University. Approaching the vast quadrangle, we see the steps of the columned Low Memorial Library to the left,on the North side, where student demonstrations were held during the 60's. Walking up the steps past the library, going to its right, beyond the trees, we arrive at St. Paul's Chapel. A doorway to the right side of the main entrance leads directly to the stairs down to the Postcrypt Coffeehouse. We are fortunate to have been able to tap, as a source of history of this long-running venue, its current manager, Matt Winters who is also the American music director at WKCR-FM,a listener-supported radio station affilliated with Columbia University He is unusually well-prepared for both positions. He states: "I grew up around the music, as the son of Steve Winters, the host of the longest-running folk show in Connecticut: "Profiles in Folk" on WSHU-FM, Fairfield.…So I have an extensive awareness of folk and acoustic music and a lot of the different directions in it because I've been around it all my life. I was going to folk festivals when I was in utero " In response to some questions e-mailed to him he replied : Regarding its origins: "Reverend John Cannon was the Assistant University Chaplain in 1964 when he opened the Postcrypt with Dorothy Sutherland Janke. He wanted to bring students into St. Paul's Chapel. The name comes from the fact that the basement of a church is the crypt and that Rev. Cannon was a Kierkegaard fanatic. Kierkegaard's 'Concluding Unscientific Postcript,' which can be abbreviated C.U. Postcript, thus became the inspiration for Columbia University's Postcrypt Coffeehouse." In those early years, the Postcrypt was mostly a student hang-out, meaning that not too many performers were coming in from the outside world. Luckily Columbia had a fair amount of talent on-campus with the likes of David Bromberg, Pete Wernick and Bob Norman. In the 1970s, the coffeehouse ran on an erratic schedule because of a lack of interest on campus. But in the early 1980s, manager Ted Kesler began to expand the reach of the Postcrypt and revive interest in the coffeehouse. He brought people like Jack Hardy and David Massengill up to the Postcrypt from downtown and started promoting the coffeehouse series off campus. Since then, the Postcrypt has been going strong, drawing folks from all around the city and keeping students interested and involved." "One of the greatest things about the Postcrypt is how artists have continued to return and stay involved with the Postcrypt for years. Jeff Cannon is the ultimate example of that, being the son of the Rev. Cannon, so he's been coming back to the Postcrypt since he was six years old. (I've never realized it until I just checked my notes, but the first show that I ever attended at the Postcrypt, on 20 September 1997, featured Jeff Cannon.)" Matt's involvement: "I took over the coffeehouse in June of 1998. The fall 1998 season was the first series that I booked completely. Upon matriculating at Columbia, I jokingly had said, "I'll be booking the Postcrypt by the time I'm a sophomore." But that fall of 1998 was the fall of my sophomore year, so my humorous prediction had come true. When I was a freshman, I was dragging friends to the Postcrypt left and right. "Hey, you've got to check out these guys Y'ALL tonight! They're great!" "Jim Infantino is playing at the Postcrypt tonight; he'll be a lot more fun than that party." I remember bringing a date once, and she had gotten herself all fancied up--make-up, a really nice skirt--and there I was looking like a typical folkie-schlock. (Things didn't work out in the long run.) I was there listening to music almost every night (which was good because the bar seemed to be almost always understaffed). I ran my first night on November 7, 1997: Ina May Wool, David Hamburger and the 5 Chinese Brothers. I popped the popcorn without incident, gave the 5 Chinese Brothers multiple six-packs of beer and listened to a whole bunch of great music. I thought that I could probably get used to that. My favorite moments are when people return to the Postcrypt for the first time in years. Two years ago, a couple from Australia was in town for a Columbia Business School reunion, and they showed up at a Postcrypt show and told me how pleased they were that everything was still the same. Former manager Beverly Greenfield tells the story of someone admiring the wire sculpture of a face that hangs over the bar. She said to him, "Nice, isn't it?," and he replied, "I made it." It's moments like that when you realize how long the Postcrypt has been there and how many people have passed through it. You also realize how important it is to keep the tradition going." As manager, I've tried to accomplish several things. First I've tried to rotate the talent a lot. I've made an honest committment to listen to demos and to seek out artists at festivals and get them to come down to the Postcrypt for a set. And I've discovered some great people that way. (When I first booked Mary Gautier, few people had heard of her; now she's all over the place.) I've also tried to diversify the types of music at the Postcrypt, bringing in more traditional folk music. We had an evening with Simple Gifts back in February 1999; they played folk music from all over the world and put on a terrific show. This season, we have a group from Ecuador coming up and a Celtic folk-rock group, too. And finally I've worked hard to put together nights where seasoned veterans were paired with exciting up-and-coming performers so that people might find out about new artists. There's been such a great line of managers at the Postcrypt: people who really cared about the coffeehouse and the music. And some of them have stayed involved over the years or at least keep attending. Others just pop-up, like Dave Salisardzik, who stopped in to see Sam Shaber, Howard Emerson and Andrew Kerr on 7 February 1998; he had managed the place from 1976-79 and just wanted to see if it was still going. We rely on student volunteers to work the bar on shownights, put up posters around campus and take care of other little details. We have a couple of really dedicated people and then a massive mailing list of people who show up to volunteer once or twice per semester. And we're always welcoming to volunteers from outside of Columbia. What's a typical show like from your perspective? Typical show? Is there such a thing? The general Postcrypt vibe is a very relaxed one. Since there's no cover, there's no pressure to come at any particular time or to stay for the whole show. So people kind of float in and out of the room as is their fancy. (I always feel bad f those who show up at 11:30 and expect to hear a lot of music but only get to hear a number or two.) But the relaxation is one in which people are really listening to the music. The Postcrypt is above all else a listening room, unlike many other venues in New York. Since there's no amplification, people have to be quiet and have to listen. And people understand that. That's why performers love the place; they're not competing with the folks at the bar or in the back. There's also this intense aura of intimacy. Since there's no microphones or monitors between the performers and the audience, there's no place for either to hide. (Jim Infantino calls it the "best sound system in New York, since there is no sound system.") A performer sees everything going on in the audience, and the audience gets to see the performer plying his craft on stage without any hindrances. It's really exciting to be that connected with the entertainment on stage. It can also be really funny, since the performer can talk to anyone in the audience without alienating the rest of the crowd; performers have no trouble incorporating everyone into communal j okes. Artists also love the Postcrypt because of the acoustics. They are really amazing: everyone sounds good at the Postcrypt. Edie Carey, who first played the Postcrypt when she was a Barnard student and now plays it as one of the hottest talents in New York, says, "This place may be as big as your average public restroom, but it's got far better acoustics, and at least 321 times the ambience and history." There you go. Can you tell our readers more about your job at the radio station? I am the American music director at WKCR-FM in New York. WKCR is a listener-supported radio station affilliated with Columbia University. We broadcast off the top of the World Trade Center at 89.9 FM; our signal reaches throughout the tri-state area. As American music director, I'm responsible for overseeing two blues shows, two country shows, a bluegrass show, two soul and funk shows and a gospel program. I personally host " The Moonshine Show," a bluegrass and old-time program that airs on Sunday mornings from 10:00-Noon. (I also host Monday Morning Classical, where I play obscure avant garde composers. And this summer, I hosted the gospel program, both of the country programs and a most enjoyable blues program as well.) One of my favorite WKCR events was an all-day live music event that I did in May of 1999. I had a whole bunch of New York City singer-songwriters come down, and we just put them on the air, one after another. The day included a group of Postcrypt regulars, like Andrew Vladeck, Petronella, Ina May Wool, Paul Clements. Danny Weiss and Bob Green, who play on our opening Saturday, September 30, are part of a band that serves as the house band for the WKCR-FM Radio Jamboree, an event which takes place the third Tuesday of every month from 9:30 to 11:00 p.m.