On the Funny Side of Life: Christine Lavin & Don White

CHRISTINE LAVIN PRESENTS…

On The Funny Side Of The Street:

A Night of Brighter Laughter with Don White

SAT. March 7th

The Linden Tree Coffeehouse invites you to leave your worries at the doorstep and join Christine Lavin and Don White as they present a night of comedy unlike any other, The Funny Side of the Street: A Night of Brighter Laughter.

Since 2008 these two veteran performers have brought their unique brand of clean and hilarious musical comedy to audiences across the US proving night after night that comedy can be smart, friendly, and breathtakingly funny without being vulgar or pejorative. This is a show for anyone who wants to laugh, whether it’s a group of friends or a family gathering, and feel good on their way out of the venue.

Since emerging from the NYC singer/songwriter scene in the late 1980s, (along with Suzanne Vega, Shawn Colvin, John Gorka, etc), Lavin quickly established herself as an entertaining tour de force. Quick on her feet, witty, insightful, engaging, she remains one of the most popular and respected performers in the genre.

Christine has also been at the forefront of finding and promoting extraordinary new talent. She founded a songwriter’s retreat on Martha’s Vineyard, the On a Winter’s (and Summer’s) Night tours), The Four Bitchin’ Babes, Laugh tracks among many other projects, in the process releasing more than 10 compilations CDs, as well as more than 20 of her own.

Her co-conspirator, Don White, is the latest artist that Christine has championed. “He’s such an original; I call him sometimes a ‘blue collar intellectual,’” Lavin says. “Don has extremely high standards when it comes to what he does onstage. And he hits a grand slam every time. The first time we worked together he opened for me and it’s the only time in my entire career that I opened with a ballad because he was so funny, the audience was so laughed out.”

A product of the rich Boston Arts Scene of the 90s Don developed his songwriter/performer chops in the same Club Passim/ Olde Vienna Kaffehaus scene that produced Dar Williams, Martin Sexton, Lori McKenna and Vance Gilbert. He was also a regular comedian at the legendary Catch a Rising Star in Harvard Square in Cambridge, Mass honing his comedic skills alongside Jimmy Tingle, David Cross, Wendy Leibman and a host of other cutting edge comics of the time. These experiences along with his immersion in the Boston spoken word scene that produced the National Poetry Slam Championship Team in 1992 all combined to make him one of the few performers who brings a comic’s wit, and a poet’s heart to his songs and stories.

“It doesn’t sound like a folk concert, it sounds like a comedy concert,” says White of his laughter-inducing co-bills with Lavin. “We rehearse and we rehearse and then inevitably, she’ll throw something at me that I have no idea about, with a mischievous grin that lets me know she’s been thinking about it all afternoon. Just to see what will happen. And she’s taught me to do the same.”

Audiences are looking for something fun, fresh, smart, and intriguing as well as thoughtful: On the Funny Side of the Street does just that.

The concert will begin at 8 pm, but knitters are invited to participate with Christine’s knitting circle at 7pm in the UU Church social hall.

Thanks to support in part by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, Wakefield Chapter, tickets will be $25, students under 13 $10. Doors will open at 7:00. Home made baked goods and beverages will be sold prior to the show and during intermission. Reservations suggested.

The Linden Tree Coffeehouse is located at the Unitarian-Universalist Church, 326 Main Street, Wakefield. For more information about the show or to reserve tickets, call 781-246-2836 or visit www.lindentreecoffeehouse.org.