Manhattan Landmark SideWalk Cafe Commemorates 20 Years of Live Music with Year-long Celebration

NEW YORK, Jan. 28, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- To mark 20 years of live music at Manhattan's SideWalk Cafe, the East Village landmark will present SideWalk LIVE, 20^th Anniversary, a year-long celebration of special initiatives.   Known worldwide as an incubator of dynamic new performers, the SideWalk will kick off the festivities with the Winter 2013 edition of the biannual Antifolk Festival, Feb. 19 to 28.  SideWalk LIVE, 20^th Anniversary will include a series of panel discussions by SideWalk artists, record releases, an online photographic retrospective, anniversary oriented food and beverage offerings, the introduction of new musical programming, performances by notable SideWalk alumni and the Summer Antifolk Festival.

"Presenting free quality live music almost nightly for 20 years is something we're very proud of; so we decided to celebrate the milestone throughout 2013, expanding on the popularity of the biannual Antifolk Festivals with new programs," states Amnon Kehati, the owner of SideWalk Cafe, which has anchored the corner of Avenue A and 6^th since 1985.

The ten-day Winter Antifolk Festival launch of SideWalk LIVE will feature some 80 artists (schedule follows) representing the entire span of SideWalk's remarkable music timeline, including those whose careers were launched there. This includes singer-songwriters such as Jeffrey Lewis (performing with legendary musician Peter Stampfel of the Holy Modal Rounders and the Fugs), Jason Trachtenburg, and Seth Faergolzia of Dufus (performing with John Ludington). The festival will also boast concerts by SideWalk's most popular core artists - Larkin Grimm, Debe Dalton, Barry Bliss, and Crazy and the Brains, as well as by newcomers like Trumpet Grrrl, Jesse Statman and Barry Reardon.

"From the beginning, Sidewalk's performance space was home to a supportive community of artists inspired by the sense of creative freedom they found there," notes Ben Krieger, who books SideWalk's live entertainment. "This nurturing environment has allowed generations of artists to find their voice and deepen their craft, launching them into the broader world of songwriting and performing."

The Antifolk Festival was started in the mid-1980s by a group of young songwriters, whose raucous style made them unwelcome in local folk clubs, as an underground alternative to the popular annual New York Folk Festival. The Antifolk movement's subsequent association with SideWalk Cafe began when the group's ringleader, Lach, formed a partnership with the restaurant, establishing a weekly open mic session in its back room.   Subsequently, SideWalk has nurtured the careers of successful artists like Regina Spektor, The Moldy Peaches (Kimya Dawson and Adam Green), Jeffrey Lewis, Langhorne Slim, Nellie McKay and numerous others who performed their earliest shows there.

The Winter Antifolk Festival will take place Feb. 19 – 28 with more than 80 free evening concerts over the ten-day period at SideWalk Cafe, 94 Avenue A (at 6^th).  For more information and schedule details of the Winter Antifolk Festival and SideWalk LIVE, 20^th Anniversary, visit www.sidewalkny.com/calendar or call (212) 473-7373.  

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SOURCE SideWalk Cafe