The last time Marita Brake played Springfield was in
1967, and the location was the Something Else Coffeehouse, located in an
old brownstone on the northeast corner of Fourth and Capitol.
That time was a golden age for a generation of
Beat-ish poets who trekked cross-country between Greenwich Village and
Haight-Ashbury. Bob Dylan and Joan Baez were royalty, and groups such as
Peter, Paul and Mary; the Kingston Trio; and the New Christy Minstrels
played to enthusiastic audiences.
At the Something Else, a hardy ensemble of regulars
— including Marita Brake, then a Sacred Heart senior — belted
out the tunes of the day and traded guitar licks in a backroom decorated
with a John Updike poem proclaiming, “The scum, once come/Has come
for good.”
After graduation, Brake pursued her music career
elsewhere and performed all over the country, including the recital
auditorium of Carnegie Hall, and opened for such performers as Alison
Krauss, John Hartford, Suzy Bogguss, and Béla Fleck. She eventually
settled in Bloomington. Her two CDs, Gypsy Moon and The Celtic Rose, and a book may be purchased at her Web site,
www.maritabrake.com.
Brake’s songs, ranging from Appalachian folk to
world-beat gypsy music, will transport you back to 1967. Beneath her patina
of practice and polish, she is still the smiling, effervescent fountain of
joy she was back then.
Martina Brake performs at 7 p.m. Wednesday, May 18, at
Imo’s, 751 S. Durkin Dr.
This article appears in May 12-18, 2005.
