Story & photos by Michael Kornfeld

Singer-songwriters Carla Ulbrich and Rupert Wates are the featured performers during the Folk Music Society of Huntington’s monthly Hard Luck Café series at the Cinema Arts Centre’s Sky Room on Thursday, Dec. 15. The 8:30 p.m. concert will be preceded by an open mic at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $7 for Cinema Arts Centre and Folk Music Society of Huntington members; $10 for non-members. The Cinema Arts Centre is at 423 Park Avenue in Huntington. (631) 423-7611.

Carla Ulbrich is a comic-singer-songwriter primarily known for her humorous songs about such topics as wedgies, Waffle House, Klingons, and how rich she would be if she had the copyright on the “F” word. She has taken her music and love of wordplay all over the U.S. and the UK. Ulbrich, who grew up in Clemson, South Carolina and now lives in New Jersey, used to call herself a “professional smart aleck,” but that only captured part of the picture. One of the wittiest and most sarcastic writers on the folk circuit, she also has a snappy voice and dabbles in fingerstyle guitar.  After being felled by a combination of lupus, kidney disease and two small strokes nearly a decade ago, she re-emerged as “The Singing Patient.” Her medical misadventures are chronicled in the CD, Sick Humor, as well as in a book of humorous essays entitled How Can You Not Laugh at a Time Like This that was released earlier this year. Her cutting humor leaves audiences in stitches. (www.carlau.com)

Rupert Wates is an award-winning singer-songwriter who plays between 120 and 150 live shows each year and has performed in every state in the U.S.  Born in London, England; he moved to the U.S. five years ago and currently resides in New York City.  Wates’ four full-length CDs feature his own brand of acoustic melodic art/folk, and music critics have praised his narrative storytelling. His latest release, Joe’s Café (2010), is a collection of 15 original songs based on true stories — each interpreted by a different vocalist – reflecting on the lives and experiences of ordinary American people and through whom the story of America itself is traced. The album’s warm sound evokes the welcoming atmosphere of an all-night café, where friends gather to share their stories.  Besides his own recordings, Wates has written songs in a variety of styles for other artists. (www.rupertwates.com).

Established in 1973, the Cinema Arts Centre in Huntington (www. cinemaartscentre.org) seeks to bring the best of cinematic artistry to Long Island and use the power of film to expand the awareness and consciousness of our community. LI’s only not-for-profit, viewer-supported, independent cinema presents a wide array of films that are often accompanied by discussions and guest speakers.

 

Now in its 43rd year, the Folk Music Society of Huntington (www.fmshny.org) presents two monthly concert series, a monthly folk jam and sing-along, and an annual folk festival in conjunction with the Huntington Arts Council. The next First Saturday Concert at the Congregational Church of Huntington on Washington Drive (off Route 25A) in Centerport features David Massengill (Jan. 7), while the next Hard Luck Café series show at the Cinema Arts Centre on Thursday, Jan. 19, features Long Island-based artists Robert Bruey and Miles to Dayton. Open mics precede each concert.

 

 

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