Caffe Lena – Week at a Glance

Greetings – Okay, this week’s edition is a little longer than usual. The Caffe occupies an interesting niche in the folk music world. Our roots run deeper than most, and our fans embrace the non-commercial, community-centered ethos of traditional folk culture. These values inform everything from keeping hospitality in the hands of volunteers, to how we bring children into the the circle, to our shared tables. Pretty much anyone who walks through the door feels the firmness of the foundation we stand on, and your goodwill makes it even stronger.

But for a folk organization, we’re downright polished. We’re blessed with a beautiful home in a rather nice neighborhood, with a top-notch sound system, live streaming, and a convenient online ticketing platform. About the ticketing. . .  Lately, small and large venues alike have been plagued by predatory companies that buy tickets and resell them–often at exhorbitant prices. If you Google “Caffe Lena tickets” the first hits will be these resellers who pay a lot to dominate the search results. Let’s look at one actual, true example:

Search: “Martin Sexton Caffe Lena Tickets”
GoTickets = $122
TicketSales= $139
Eventbrite (our actual ticket provider) = $65

There will be people at Martin’s shows who have unwittingly paid double or more what they should have paid. But it gets worse. A new sort of reseller has emerged that buys tickets, gets a PDF automatically emailed to them documenting the purchase, immediately cancels the tickets to get a refund, then sells the worthless PDF to an unsuspecting ticket-buyer. If you go directly to our website and buy through Eventbrite, this will never happen to you. We will do everything we can to maintain the welcoming, trusting, commercial-free atmosphere that Caffe Lena is known for, and you can help. How? Say hi to your tablemates. Leave your phone in your pocket during the show. Volunteer. Become a member. Bring friends, and let them know that www.caffelena.org is the only good place to buy tickets.

See you at the show,
Sarah