Thu 2/27 @ 7PM
Most Cleveland music fans today only know of La Cave, which closed in 1969, as a myth, a legendary venue on Euclid Avenue just off East 105th that hosted shows by virtually every major folksinger of the era except for Bob Dylan. Josh White, Odetta, Tom Paxton, Tom Rush, Eric Anderson, Judy Collins and Buffy Sainte Marie all played there. Linda Ronstadt played an early gig there, and later on, rock bands such as the Velvet Underground, Blood Sweat and Tears and the Jeff Beck Groupalso performed in the tiny downstairs space. Local artists became regulars as openers or on slow nights, including Gusti (who also worked there), Jim and Jean, and the Mr. Stress Blues Band.
WRUW-FM folk show host Steve Traina was able to get possession of the archives of both managers of the room, Stan Kain and Larry Bruner, who he says were “packrats.” He used them as the basis for his book La Cave: Cleveland’s Legendary Music Club and the ’60’s Folk-to-Rock Revolution. They provided all the facts, figures and dates, outlining the club’s trajectory from its inauspicious 1962 opening to its always-precarious mid-60s success to its bowing to inevitable changes in July 1969. Traina himself was a patron as a youngster from 1967-69.
Traina will be at the Music Box Supper Club as part of its Cleveland Stories series to tell some of La Cave’s most interesting stories. Doors open at 5pm for dinner, program starts at 7. Admission is free. Table reservations are a must — go here.
musicboxcle.com/event/la-cave/