SaratogaArtsFest to bring Don McLean to campus
SaratogaArtsFest has announced that this year's line-up will include singer-songwriter Don McLean, whose 1971 hit "American Pie" has become a popular music classic. McLean will perform at 8 p.m. on Friday, June 8, in the Arthur Zankel Music Center at Skidmore College, as part of the four-day ArtsFest, June 7-10.
Tickets to the McLean performance go on sale March 20. Admission is priced at $50, or only $10 with a SaratogaArtsFest ARTSPASS. The ARTSPASS admission package is available through March 31 at a discounted price of just $30
Visit SaratogaArtsFest.org to purchase an ARTSPASSand a discounted admission ticketto Don McLean. Tickets to the concert can be purchased for $50 directly through the box office at the Zankel Music Center at Skidmore College.
"SaratogaArtsFest participants have an opportunity to enjoy Don McLean's music in
an intimate setting at an affordable price, and to explore the many arts offerings
in and around Saratoga Springs, both during the festival and throughout the year ,"
said Mary Ellen O'Loughlin, executive director of SaratogaArtsFest.
Don McLean, an acclaimed artist with local ties
"American Pie" held the number-one slot on the U.S. Billboard magazine charts for four weeks and was also a number-one hit in England. The 8 -minute song about "the day the music died," with its complex lyrics and cryptic references, continues to inspire analysis and interpretation. The song has been voted number five in a poll of the 365 "Songs of the Century" compiled by the Recording Industry Association of America and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Though best known for "American Pie," McLean is a prolific songwriter whose hits include "Vincent" ("Starry, Starry Night"),"And I Love You So," "Castles in the Air," and "Crying" (written by Roy Orbison). He continues to tour widely in the U.S. and Europe, and to draw large audiences.
McLean started out in the folk scene in the mid-1960s, playing such venues as the Bitter End and Gaslight Caf in New York City, the Newport Folk Festival, the Cellar Door in Washington, D.C., and the Main Point in Philadelphia, as well as clubs in Los Angeles. He also performed at some 40 colleges throughout New York and New England.
McLean became a resident singer at Caffe Lena in Saratoga Springs in 1968. While at Caffe Lena, he was invited by the New York State Council for the Arts to become the organization's Hudson River Troubadour. He accepted the offer and spent the summer traveling from town to town in the Hudson Valley, giving talks about the environment and singing songs for whoever would turn up to listen.
A year later, he became a member of the first crew of the Sloop Clearwater, traveling the Atlantic seaboard with iconic folk musician Pete Seeger to perform concerts and raise awareness about environmental issues.
In 1969, McLean recorded his first album, Tapestry, in Berkeley, Cal. His transition to international stardom came in 1971 with the release of "American Pie." The song was recorded on May 26, 1971, and a month later received its first radio airplay on New York City's WNEW-FM and WPLJ-FM to mark the closing of the Fillmore East, the famed New York City concert hall.
About SaratogaArtsFest
SaratogaArtsFest is a four-day celebration of the arts in and around Saratoga Springs, N.Y. The festival programming includes dance, film, literary art, music, theatre, and visual arts. The ArtsFest kicks off the summer by presenting the talents of local, regional, and national artists during this citywide event held each June.
