Local Variety Show Turns 20
Every month since 2006, musicians and spoken-word performers have gathered in an East Lansing church hall to share space, art and a passion for performing. And Steve Findley has kept it going through a pandemic, political upheaval and evolving tastes.
The Coffeehouse at All Saints will host its 20th anniversary concert from 6 to 10 p.m. Friday, Sept. 18, in the undercroft hall of All Saints Episcopal Church, 800 Abbot Road.
“The first times, we’re just playing guitar and bringing a meal and chatting,” Findley said of the evolution of the event, “and then we started being a little more formal. Like, here’s five sing-alongs, and I got all the lyrics, and here you go, which is really how the first year went. I mean, it was everybody’s kind of sitting around enjoying it. So what started with like three or four or five people in three months was already 15, and we averaged about 45 to 55 people every time.”
While the idea for The Coffeehouse was born out of a church service, Findley told East Lansing Info there has never been “proselytizing, whatsoever” at the event, just good performances and the sharing of food.
Musicians get 15 minutes to perform their sets, and spoken-word artists get 10. On a typical night, Findley said, there are about eight performers.
And there has never been a charge to attend.
He joked about the characterization of a 1950s coffeehouse as “a little beatnicky with the beret and smoking a cigarette,” but said The Coffeehouse performances vary from those some may consider counterculture to folk rock and everything in between.
Recalling some of the most memorable performances, he mentioned his children performing “Galileo” by the Indigo Girls, a recent spoken-word piece about Palestine and another from a non-digital native attempting to understand the technology in a new rental car.
What makes these performances different, Findley said, is the attention and respect afforded to the performers.
“Artists who come and perform say to me, I really like playing at the coffee house because people listen. Now [when] at a farmer’s market, in a bar, it’s loud and it’s distracting,” he said. “Of course, there they’re getting paid, but we get a lot of people who regularly are paid artists that come and do ours. And I think one of the main reasons is that people listen, and the second thing is that they can try out something new and they have a very gentle audience to listen.”
The Coffeehouse is, in many ways, a one-man show. Findley books and schedules the performers, promotes the event and does the advertising. But he gives much of the credit to the artists and audiences who provide supportive ears.
For the 20th anniversary celebration, Findley said there will be 18 performers — more than double the typical amount — and a pulled pork dinner will be provided. Attendees are asked to bring sides or desserts to pass and their own drinks.
It will also act as a reunion for Findley, whose children — spread out among East Lansing, New York and London — will perform together to honor their father and the show he has been bringing to the community for 20 years.