After a long hiatus brought on by the global pandemic, The Flagpole Radio Café returns to the stage for a full show, on September 23 at 7pm at the Edmond Town Hall, in Newtown, CT with guest artist Grammy Award-Winning singer-songwriter Loudon Wainwright III.
Tickets are now on sale at www.flagpoleproductions.org. All tickets are $45. If further information is needed, please contact Martin Blanco at info@flagpoleproductions.org.
The Flagpole Radio Café is an evening of engaging music and compelling comedy performed by an ensemble of local artists and changing guest artists. The ensemble comprises musicians Jim Allyn, Rick Brodsky, Howie Carlough, Cadence Carroll, Chris Durham, and Francine Wheeler, and actors Martin Blanco, Barbara Gaines, Kate Katcher, and David Wheeler
Producer Barbara Gaines remarked, “We were on the cusp of presenting an anniversary show with Peter Yarrow when the world shutdown. In the wake of the pandemic there was uncertainty everywhere, but in our hearts, we had confidence that The Flagpole Radio Café would return. It may have taken longer than we expected, but we are so happy to be back.”
Producer Martin Blanco added, “Earlier this year, Barb Gaines and I saw Loudon Wainwright in a cabaret style show Kip and Sylvia Tonight on D Deck. The show was written by Tom Leopold who was a Flagpole… guest artist in 2019. Loudon was so excellent and versatile, that we both thought when Flagpole… comes back, he would make an outstanding guest artist. The time is at hand, and we are thrilled to welcome Loudon (our second Wainwright as his sister Sloan performed several years earlier) to our show and the historic Edmond Town Hall. Going forward, we should endeavor to have a different Wainwright appear on the show every year.”
He continued, “This year, we are also participating in The Newtown Arts Festival. I was a member of the Newtown Cultural Arts Commission when both The Flagpole Radio Café and The Newtown Arts Festival were created. The two projects were never linked, but they sprang from the same impulse to cultivate world class arts events in Newtown. I am happy to officially have Flagpole… participate in this dynamic and ever-growing festival.”
Loudon Wainwright III was born in Chapel Hill, North Carolina in 1946. He wrote his first song in 1968, “Edgar,” about a lobsterman in Rhode Island. He studied acting at Carnegie-Mellon University but dropped out to partake in the Summer of Love in San Francisco He came to fame when “Dead Skunk” became a Top 20 hit in 1972.
His songs have since been recorded by Bonnie Raitt, Johnny Cash, Earl Scruggs, Kate & Anna McGarrigle, his son Rufus Wainwright, and Mose Allison, among others. Wainwright has recorded 27 albums, including his 2009 Grammy Award-winning High Wide & Handsome.
In 2022 Loudon released Lifetime Achievement, an album of 15 original songs, that established his singular talent as our foremost six-string tragicomedian, not only undiminished, but hitting new heights. The orchestration varies from solo performance to trio work with his longstanding musical cohorts, Chaim Tannenbaum and David Mansfield, to Nashville and Memphis-style little big bands, to a full-blown string arrangement by Rob Moose. Loudon puts his latest achievement in the context of a lifetime of music making this way: “When I made my first record for Atlantic in 1969, I wanted to make not only a recording, but a document that captures a moment. Now, fifty years later, I guess I still want to make a testament of songs, and I like to think they might last a while.”
In Fall 2018, Loudon released Years in the Making a 42-song treasury of rare and unreleased “Loudoniana.” This 2-disc, 60-page hardbound audio-biography of his 40-year career includes orphaned album cuts, lovingly-made lo-fi home recordings, radio appearances, demos, live performances and beyond. It features appearances by Kate McGarrigle, Suzzy Roche, Bill Frisell, Van Dyke Parks, Chaim Tannenbaum, David Mansfield, and the Wainwright children Rufus, Martha, Lucy, and Lexie.
In 2017, Wainwright published his memoir, Liner Notes (Blue Rider Press), which led to appearances on Fresh Air with Terry Gross and WTF with Marc Maron. The New York Times said the book “makes your heart wobble on its axis.”
Wainwright also created a one-man theatrical show, Surviving Twin, which combines his songs and the writings of his late father. Initially developed as part of University of North Carolina’s Playmakers series, it focuses on fatherhood—both being a father and having one—and also explores the issues of birth, self-identity, loss, mortality, fashion, and of course, pet ownership. Surviving Twin has been performed in limited theater engagements and is available as a Netflix special, produced by Judd Apatow and directed by Christopher Guest.
Additionally, Wainwright has co-written with songwriter/producer Joe Henry on the music for Judd Apatow’s hit movie Knocked Up, written music for the British theatrical adaptation of the Carl Hiaasen novel Lucky You and composed topical songs for NPR’s Morning Edition and All Things Considered and ABC’s Nightline. An accomplished actor, he has appeared in films directed by Martin Scorsese, Hal Ashby, Christopher Guest, Tim Burton, Cameron Crowe, and Judd Apatow. Wainwright has also starred on television in M.A.S.H. and Undeclared, and on Broadway in Pump Boys and Dinettes. More recently, he appeared in the film Pleased to Meet You (with fellow music legends John Doe, Aimee Mann, and Joe Henry), and the television series, Mosaic, directed by Steven Soderbergh.