Peter Aaron profiles club owner Phil Ciganer, who opened
the original Towne Crier Cafe in the Dutchess County hamlet of Beekman in 1972. A few moves later, the iconic club is now located in Beacon and still books great acts like those who have performed there over the years, including Randy Newman, Suzanne Vega, Gillian Welch, and David Byrne.
Aged 76, Tommy Makem's replacement in the Clancy Brothers, Louis Killen, began to live openly as a woman named Louisa Jo Killen. She died on this day, August 9, 2013, aged 79. I’ll fondly remember Louisa Jo, a person who could sing the dirtiest sea shanties in one life and had the courage to change sex in another.