APRIL
Egg hunt, hams & hot cross buns
Egg Hunt. We're hosting our favorite Feast of the year on Easter Sunday, April 20. The kid's Egg Hunt will begin promptly at 9:30 am and be followed by a ho-down and kids brunch. Coffee, green juice, a full bar, and Easter pick-ups for grown-ups. Tickets here.
Glazed Hams and Hot Cross Buns. Yes! We're taking pre-orders for Easter Hams. This year we're also selling Hot Cross Buns by the half dozen and baker’s dozen.
Our Tiny Plate of Treats offers a few sweet bites for those of you who don't have room for dessert, or those of you who are looking to hang out with us a little longer in the Wood Shed. Current confections include Chocolate Cherry Fudge, Candied Oro Blanco Peels (nature's gummy worms) and Pistachio Orange Blossom Meringues. All go well with a cup of tea.
Hopalong Andrew returns to entertain us on Easter Sunday, April 20th! And by us, we mean all of us, not just your kiddos. While Andrew’s audiences might look a little different than they did in the late 80s and early 90s when he was playing gigs at Cafe Sin-é, CB’s Gallery, the Living Room, Mercury Lounge and Bowery Ballroom, what he delivers is exactly the same–that deep, emotional response that great music gives us.
Andrew (Vladeck) grew up in New York City with early influences like 80s music, Bob Dylan (by way of his parents forcing him to listen to an album), and his parents’ collection of western memorabilia and two 1950s jukeboxes that played 50s and 60s pop, kitsch and novelty music. He was a history major at Columbia–frontier history, specifically–and he spent his first few years post-college working as a NYC Park Ranger, leading environmental tours for school groups and the general public, focused on indigenous peoples and geologic history.
Andrew picked up his first guitar in high school, after it hit him how honest and soulful that Bob Dylan album was. He started writing songs and never looked back. After 20+ years as a touring musician, he had a desire for expansion…which came in the form of Hopalong Andrew who gave him an incredible opportunity to create (even more) meaningful music that’s enjoyed by people of all ages and cultures. Below, Andrew shares more about the inspiration behind Hopalong Andrew, what he loves about this gig, and his new album coming early next year.
Was there a singular moment or experience when you knew you wanted to transition from a touring folk/rock musician to a children’s entertainer?
In 2016, I toured the US and Europe, for maybe the fifth time. It was wonderful, but I came back and was ready for something new—more an addition than a substitution. I didn’t realize Hopalong Andrew would take over my entire musical life. Haha.
How did you land on the name Hopalong Andrew?
In 2012, when randomly asked to sub for a friend’s family music series, I hatched the plan I would run with for the next 12 years in about 2 minutes: I love music and kids; I love old, kitschy, rootsy music; I have a lot of vintage cowboy shirts…I’ll play it as “Hopalong Andrew!” Why “Hopalong?” Hopalong Cassidy was the first major Western star of radio, and then the silver screen. He was HUGE. Your grandparents dreamed about him. He disappeared from the modern pop cultural record for various, curious reasons.
You often used the word ‘meaningful’ during our conversation; how has it been meaningful for you to create and play music for children? What emotions do you experience that might differ from the ones you had playing at CB’s Gallery or the Living Room?
The songwriting for me is meaningful—writing topical songs that communicate messages I want to share with people. Playing music for children AND adults is meaningful. I get to interact and communicate with humans of all ages and backgrounds on various levels, using all the tools in my shed—and learning many new tools! I think of this work as so much more multi-faceted than being a singer-songwriter playing clubs for a narrower demographic. There are SO many facets to the Hopalong Andrew life. It’s always interesting.
You must see some pretty sweet and funny things happen in the audience–is there one scene or encounter that stands out?
To be honest, I love when I play a hit SOCA song (SOCA is the popular music of the Caribbean) and an adult who might be from the islands gets excited and dances. I love that, and more importantly, the children (and other adults) love that. This is what music is supposed to do. Convey and share all our stories, cultures, and joys. Lately, I love when I play some of the upcoming songs on my new album, about the diverse heritage of the American West, or incorporate singing in different languages, and adults come up to me after and express how much they appreciated that for their family. These kinds of moments are the best moments for me—I feel like I’m really serving a need for people.
What have you learned through the experience of playing music for children?
Again, I never play music for just children, I play music for everyone in the room. Good music, good vibes, good ideas—energy and enthusiasm—translate. That’s why children love the Beatles, Bob Marley, Woody Guthrie, Aretha Franklin, etc. I never play down to children and rarely focus solely on them. They can stretch and families can process the experience together.
Describe a typical ‘day in the life’ of Hopalong Andrew, the person:
I typically get woken up around 6:30am by the sweet sounds of NYC, try to go back to bed several times, give up and have a couple of coffees. I love biking to all my gigs. I tow my gear in a trailer. I love my concerts, and I play a morning and noon show almost every day. Bike home. Have a brunch sort of thing. If I don’t have an afternoon special event, I can EASY spend 8 hours on my computer — making my new album, and everything that goes in to it, is very time consuming, and then there’s all the email and bookings and management stuff. If I’m social at night it more likely than not revolves around the Jalopy Theater in Brooklyn.
How similar, or not, are Andrew Vladeck and Hopalong Andrew?
Hopalong Andrew is the person I want to be all the time. Andrew Vladeck is the somewhat neurotic New Yorker born on 97th Street.
You have a new album coming out early next year, featuring songs you’ll start releasing this summer; who were some of your collaborators and why were you excited to work with them?
GET READY Y’ALL. Everybody’s Invited to the Party is coming. It has 15 Grammy winners and nominees contributing, and a bunch of artists from Smithsonian Folkways Records, my favorite label in the whole world. It celebrates the incredible-but-true multicultural heritage of the American West—our common heritage of the “can-do spirit.”
Special Guests include Bridget Kearney & Akie Bermiss (Lake Street Dive), Tony Garnier (Bob Dylan), Josh Kaufman (Bonny Light Horseman), Joe Russo (JRAD), CJ Chenier (The Crown Prince of Zydeco), David Amram, Sunny Jain (Red Baraat), Adrian Grenier and SO MANY MORE all stars. It’s been a dream to work with all of these artists whose music I’ve admired for so many years. I’m truly honored they were excited enough about my songs and this project to participate!
If you were stranded on an island with three albums (and a way to play them, of course), what would they be?
Street Legal (Bob Dylan), It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back (Public Enemy), and… going to cheat here…Harry Smith’s Anthology of American Folk Music.