Ken Lelen

Ken Lelen
Ken Lelen sings great American ragtime, jazz, swing and pop tunes in his concerts and plays vintage acoustic guitars for an authentic, back-in-the day sound.

Friday, December 31, 2010

Vintage Music Concerts — 10th Anniversary
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In the past decade I’ve performed about 925 Vintage Music Concerts at more than 700 venues that spanned scores of formats and musical styles. Besides the thrill of entertaining thousands of people, my concerts have pushed the cause of live acoustic music, the splendor of period guitars in full-figured performance, and the sublime beauty of ragtime, jazz and swing creations. These concerts have also generated some great media coverage for me.

                                                                         Photo: Peter Gallo
In February 2007 Ken Lelen showed several vintage
guitars to the Hasbrouck Heights, NJ Leisure Club.
     These all-acoustic concerts were held in the MidAtlantic, New England, Southeast and Midwest. My audiences ranged in size from 35 to 350 people, while ages ranged from pre-teens to oldsters with more than 100 years.
     One of the youngest concert-goers was a 10-year-old boy at Ft. Lee, NJ Public Library. He and his family attended my event because the youngster was trying to convince his parents to let him abandon violin lessons and take up the guitar.
     The oldest were female centenarians. One, a resident at a nursing home in Willoughby, OH, smiled and sighed throughout the program but said nothing. The other, a resident at a retirement facility in Nazareth, PA, rolled up to me in a geriatric chair to thank me for m concert. When I told her one of my 70-year-old Martin guitars cost $50, a princely sum in 1936, she admonished me for paying too much.
     Initially, my Vintage Music Concerts were delivered at retirement communities — the niche market I developed once I left publishing in 1999 to start an entertainment career. But in the past decade a growing portion of concerts were hosted by other kinds of venues, including:
     •  acoustic music clubs
     •  antique shops, art galleries & guitar shops
     •  churches & religious community centers
     •  community colleges
     •  cultural arts facilities
     •  house concerts & family gatherings
     •  municipal recreation departments
     •  museums & historic societies
     •  public libraries
     •  radio broadcasts
     •  senior centers
     •  social clubs, travel societies & fraternal organizations.
In March 2010 the Ken Lelen Combo played for
the Milford CT Fine Arts Council, which hosts a
coffeehouse series in this former train station.
     I’ve been fortunate to be the main act at acoustic-music clubs, museum concerts, live-broadcast radio shows and other venues. I’ve also opened for such big-name performers as singer-songwriter Lynn Miles of Ottawa, Canada, bluegrass singer Beth Coleman, and jazz guitarist Bucky Pizzarelli of Saddle River, NJ.
     In the latter case, I drew better media coverage than Pizzarelli. In essence, I served as the opener's tail that wagged the main act’s dog, filling the 225-seat auditorium until it overflowed with patrons who had to be seated on the stage.
     When elderly people are the core audience it’s no accident they prefer songs of their early adulthood. They like to bathe in the emotional warmth of memorable songs almost as much as I like to perform old-time tunes for their emotional depth. As a result, activity directors at senior villages have been keen about my program because it artfully combines vintage songs, period guitars and amusing anecdotes.
     “My residents are very vocal,” said the former activities director at a large retiree facility in Greenville, SC. “They tell you what they like and don’t like. They like Ken — he tells stories about all of the guitars. If he just played for an hour, it wouldn’t go over as well.”
     I’ve also learned to tailor my concert programs to audience tastes, or market segments, for ragtime, jazz and swing. For example, adults in their 80s and 90s appreciate melodic revivals, since they don’t hear such music on the radio and still like to sing or hum along.
     Younger and more mobile cohorts, folks in their 60s and 70s, want swing, pop standards and country music, but not electric guitars or rock-n-roll. To my surprise, younger audiences yearn for the exposure to my fresh, unadulterated period music because these songs bristle with alacrity, heart and soul.
     Lest you think I play old songs because it’s the only thing seniors want, oldsters in my audiences repeatedly say they want live concerts that don't speak down to them. “We like music for adults,” an 85-year-old woman at a Vintage Music Concert in Newport News, VA told me. “We don’t want moon-june-spoon sing-alongs, no Karaoke, no sweaty drum bangers, no recreational therapy.”
     Sadly, many oldsters are force-fed such lackluster entertainments. In my view such concerts include old-folks-at-home drivel by autoharp huggers or singer-songwriters-cum-folkies, practice sessions by classical-music students and zoot-suit yokum by Cab Calloway impersonators. Such events are more common these days because of curtailed budgets, near-sighted administrators and overwhelmed program managers at skilled-nursing facilities, assisted-living centers, Alzheimer facilities and continuing-care retirement communities.
     Nevertheless, younger audiences at specialty venues say they relish the clever lyrics, memorable melodies and period guitars of my concerts. Hearing music they can’t get from an iPod lures them to an event. But once there, they discover likeable songs and robust instrumental sounds they didn’t think possible from a wooden box.
New York City luthier
Antonio Grauso built
this auditorium-sized
guitar circa 1912
Art Deco emblem adorns
headstock of Grauso guitar
     My audiences often hear me play a 1912 Grauso, an auditorium-sized guitar that was built before pick-ups, amplifiers and microphones were common. It fills a room with sustained, sweet sound. And they hear me sing songs people once sang with and to each other, and marvel: "Why did they ever stop?"
     Finally, my audiences hear anecdotes that cut across age, gender and lifestyle. Tales of Tin Pan Alley tunesmiths, drugstore cowboys, stage-door Johnnies and Broadway's gold diggers nourish an audience in surprising ways. How? Such stories cast 20th Century celebrities as regular people in a way contemporary audiences can relate to.
     This, and the palpable glow that enveloped every Vintage Music Concert enables my audiences to savor every one they attend.
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                                       © 2010 Kenneth Lelen - All Rights Reserved































Wednesday, December 8, 2010

2010 - Concert Schedule - Final
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Jan 12     Lima Estates, Media PA
Jan 13     Meadowood, Lansdale PA
Jan 19     Willow Valley Manor North, Lancaster PA
Jan 26     Shannondell, Audubon PA
Feb 19     Leisure Village West, Manchester NJ
Feb 28     Library Concert, Greenwood Lake NY
Mar  2     Shipley Manor, Wilmington DE
Mar  3     Collington, Mitchellville MD
Mar  5     Edenwald, Towson MD
Mar  6     Bishop White Lodge, Philadelphia PA
Mar  8     Riddle Village, Media PA
Mar  9     JCC of Middlesex County, Edison NJ
Mar 21    Club Shalom, Somers NY
Mar 24     Delaware Cnty Community College, Media PA
Mar 26     Milford Fine Arts Center, Milford CT
Mar 27     Library Concert, Bound Brook NJ
Apr 10     Quadrangle, Haverford PA
Apr 12     Tower One/East, New Haven CT
Apr 12     Pomperaug Woods, Southbury CT
Apr 13     Avery Heights, Hartford CT
Apr 13     Arbors, Manchester CT
Apr 14     Retired Mens Club of Greendale, Worcester MA
Apr 14     Heatherwood, Yarmouth Port MA
Apr 15     Mayflower Place, West Yarmouth MA
Apr 16     Overlook, Charlton MA
Apr 17     Fox Hill Village, Westwood MA
Apr 27     Springmoor, Raleigh NC
Apr 28     Bermuda Village, Advance NC
Apr 29     Stewart Health Center, Charlotte NC
Apr 29     Southminster, Charlotte NC
May 19     Luther Towers, Wilmington DE
Jun  2       Shipley Manor, Wilmington DE
Jun  5       Bishop White Lodge, Philadelphia PA
Jun  9      Cedarfield, Richmond VA
Jun 10     Armed Forces Home, Washington DC
Jun 11     Lake Prince Woods, Suffolk VA
Jun 14     Lakewood Manor, Richmond VA
Jun 15     Stewart Health Center, Charlotte NC
Jun 16     Pennybyrn, High Point NC
Jly 21     JCC of Central NJ, Scotch Plains NJ
Jly 25     Whitney Center, Hamden CT
Sep  1     Heath Village, Hackettstown NJ
Sep  4     Bishop White Lodge, Philadelphia PA
Sep  7     JCC of Midddlesex County, Edison NJ
Sep  8     Luther Towers, Wilmington DE
Sep  9      Homewood, Frederick MD
Sep 10     Collington, Mitchellville MD
Sep 10     Edenwald, Towson MD
Sep 11     Cornwall Majnor, Cornwall PA
Sep 19     Oak Crest Village, Parkville MD
Sep 20     Shannondell, Audubon PA
Sep 23     Wellington, West Chester PA
Sep 24     55 Plus Club, Mtn Lakes NJ
Sep 25     Library Concert, Warren Twp NJ
Oct  5      Springmoor, Raleigh NC
Oct  6      Cypress, Raleigh NC
Oct  7      Stewart Health Center, Charlotte NC
Oct  7      Arbor Acres, Winston-Salem NC
Oct  8      Forest at Duke, Durham NC
Oct  9      Heritage, Raleigh NC
Oct 21     Willow Valley Lakes, Willow Street PA
Oct 22     Lake Prince Woods, Suffolk VA
Oct 23     Carroll Lutheran Village, Westminster MD
Nov  7      Southgate, Shrewsbury MA
Nov  8      Willows, Westborough MA
Nov  9      Avery Heights, Hartford CT
Nov  9      Arbors, Manchester CT
Nov 10     Tower One/East, New Haven CT
Nov 11     Overlook, Charlton MA
Nov 12     Edgewood, North Andover MA
Nov 16     Briarwood, Worcester MA
Nov 17     COA Senior Center, Holden MA
Nov 21     Library Concert, Roseland NJ
Dec  4      Bishop White Lodge, Philadelphia PA
Dec  8      Meadowood, Lansdale PA
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      © 2010 Kenneth Lelen - All Rights Reserved