Listening

Please see our Upcoming Events listed in the right sidebar and full calendar here.

The Carpe has a talk-free listening room separate from its main bar-dining area. The room, noted for its great acoustics and sound system, seats 60 people comfortably but can hold 70 people who are enthralled enough by a performance that they only almost forget that their quarters and style are seriously cramped.

Due to the dearth of good small performance spaces, the Carpe has attracted people on the singer-songwriter circuit, and gained a national reputation among songwriters as a decent venue with good sound and wonderful attentive audiences. To date, our lobbying efforts for a mandatory audience have failed– come and enjoy the solitude as you listen to amazing talent with 2 to 15 others, or enjoy the show with more people than can reasonably fit, or anything in between.

Tickets

Shows are primarily on weekend nights, and there is a cover charge for all performances except the periodic open stages. Reservations are recommended for all shows so that we can plan for an evening.

In cases when we are reaching capacity, reservations will be held until 15 minutes before showtime.  A bird who shows up and is willing to pay is worth two on paper.  Please contact us if you do not intend to come, or may be late, or can’t use all the tickets you have reserved or paid for in advance.

Advance tickets are sold for those shows which experience demonstrates are likely to sell out. Contact us by phone (920-563-9391) to reserve your seats and make arrangements to pay. Sending a check is the preferred option. Credit card prepayments will have a $1 service charge.

We do not have a box office or even an office, really. Someone answering the phone may be serving customers when you call.  Please forgive the inability to answer a lot of questions at busy times, and consider calling back later.

For weather and other reasons, shows are occasionally cancelled.  There is the occasional sellout.  Do not drive from Chicago (or any other location, in case you read literally) without calling first to see if the show you wish to attend is already sold out, or has been cancelled.

Weekly E-mail Updates

Please sign up for our e-mail list at the bottom of this page if you wish to receive weekly updates which may or may not contain more information than is listed in the calendar. Note also that Bill, the customary creator of these e-mails, does not seek editing advice prior to their distribution. You may note a few misspelled words, misplaced apostrophes, and typos. Find it in your hearts to forgive him such sins. His mother was not an English teacher, (though his brother and niece were).

Booking

Bill has written a treatise on this. After wading through it, if you still want to play here, contact Bill by phone (late mornings is best), or e-mail him at booking@cafecarpe.com.

The Carpe has a good sound system with quality microphones, speakers, and monitors.

Name Droppings

While the Carpe does not have a policy restricting any kind of music, most of the performances are by singer-songwriters, since they are the majority of those who seek to be booked. Occasionally there is a bluegrass band, or a jazz combo, a play, a poetry performance, a chamber music quartet, a reading by Ursula LeGuin, a stump appearance by Carole King, or an internationally acclaimed cellist…

Among those who have appeared here in the last 24 years are Jerry Alexander, Tricia Alexander, Muriel Anderson, the Austin Lounge Lizards, Baba Ganouj, Patrick Ball, Peter & Lou Berryman, Tony Bird, Rachel Bissex, Paul Black, Rory Block, Hugh Blumenfeld, Boo Bradley, Ray Bonneville, LJ Booth, Bryan Bowers, Ralston Bowles, Boulder Acoustic Society, Chuck Brodsky, the Soucie Brothers, Greg Brown, Pieta Brown, the Buzzards, Andrew Calhoun, Kate Campbell, Bill Camplin, Craig Cardiff, Paul Cebar, Phyllis Chapell, Chenille Sisters, the Chiara Quartet, Slaid Cleaves, Michael Cockram, Steve Cohen, Tracy Jane Comer, Don Conoscenti, Special Consensus, Ronny Cox, Walter Craft, Jim Craig, Joe Crookston, Paul Curreri, Catie Curtis, Rachael Davis, Kris Delmhorst, Krista Detor, Pat Donohue, Martin and Chris Dowling, Mike Dowling, Casey Driessen, Tom Dundee, Antje Duvekot, Bob Dylan, Fred Eaglesmith, Stacey Earle and Mark Stuart, Cliff Eberhardt, Mare Edstrom, Ana Egge, Kat Eggleston, Ramblin’ Jack Elliot, Mark Erelli, Stephen Fearing, Mike and Amy Finders, Ella Fitzgerald, BeJae Fleming, Marianne Flemming, Steve Forbert, Mel Ford, Stephen Foster, Jeffrey Foucault, Kenn Fox, David Francey, Denice Franke, Mrs. Fun, Mary Gaines, Annie Gallup, Vance Gilbert, Steve Gillette, Marti Gobel, David Goodrich, John Gorka, Meridian Green and Gene Parsons, Tim Grimm, Judd Grossman, Matt Haimovitz, Hamell on Trial, Reggie Harris, Rick Harris, Josh Harty, Liz Harvey, Heartsfield, Ernie Hendrickson, Margo Hennebach, Eric Heywood, Phil Heywood, Anne Hills, Malcolm Holcombe, David Huckfelt, Dakota Dave Hull, David Jacobs-Strain, Joe Jencks, Michael Johnson, Prudence Johnson, Scott Jones, Martyn Joseph, Christine Kane, Lucy Kaplansky, Betsy Kaske, James Keelaghan, Paddy Keenan, The Kennedys, Jason Klagstad, Dan Kleiman, Micky Korb, Jan Krist, Dayna Kurtz, Sleepy LaBeef, Phil Lee, Adrian Legg, Howard Levy, Bernice Lewis, Tina Lie, L’il Rev, Live Bait, Sam Llanas, Radoslav Lorkovic, Country Joe MacDonald, Karen Mal, Dave Mallett, Cindy Mangsen, Jan Marra, David Massengill, Peter Mayer, Laurie McClain, John McEuen, Pamela Means, Nicki Mehta, Lynn Miles, Bill Miller, Buddy Mondlock, Mother Banjo, Alastair Moock, Kristin Mooney, Jay Moran, Dave Moore, Bill Morrissey, Pete Morton, Mother Banjo, Geoff Muldaur, Peter Mulvey, Larry Murante, Lee Murdock, Roxanne Neat, JT Nero, New Pioneers, the Nields, Miles Nielsen and Dan McMahon, Colin O’Brien, Erin O’Brien, David Olney, Mark Olson, the Milwaukee Mandolin Orchestra, Carey Ott, Sam Pacetti, Paradise String Band, Ellis Paul, Patchouli, Larry Penn, Kelly Joe Phelps, Utah Phillips, The Pines, Piper Road Spring Band, Tom Pirozolli, Cris and Ann Plata, Robin Pluer, Willy Porter, Jim Post, Tom Prasado-Rao, Chris Proctor, Chris Powers, Benson Ramsey, Bo Ramsey, Dave Ramont, Joe Rathbone, Jerry Rau, Dave Ray, Preston Reed, Harvey Reid, John Renbourn and Jacquie McShee, Mustard’s Retreat, Stephen Lee Rich, TR Ritchie, Kim Robertson, Garnet Rogers, Peter Roller, Dave Van Ronk, Sparky & Rhonda Ruckers, Gary Rue, Allison Russell, Claudia Russell, Barb Ryman, Randy Sabien, Les Sampou, Maria Sangiolo, Santa Cruz River Band, Art Paul Schlosser, Claudia Schmidt, Danny Schmidt, Jim Schwall, Dan Sebranek, Cosy Sheridan, Richard Shindell, Susan Shore, Corky Siegel, John Sieger, Dev Singh, Small Potatoes, Dick Smith, John Smith, Michael Smith, Chris Smither, Paul Sprawl, Devon Sproule, Bill Staines, James Lee Stanley, Garrison Starr, Dean Stevens, Alpha Stewart, John Stewart, Kasim Sulton, Ember Swift, Eric Taylor, Louise Taylor, Art Thieme, The Tillers, Tony Trischka, Greg Trooper, Ross Volkmann, Chris Wagoner, Cam Waters, Sterling Waters, Kai Welch, Satchel Paige Welch, Bob Westfall, Cheryl Wheeler, Andy White, Jason Wilber, Brooks Williams, Dar Williams, Hayward Williams, Jack Williams, Robin & Linda Williams, Ted Williams, Uprooted Theater, Gabby Young, Natalia Zukerman–  there’s more I’ve probably forgotten but I’m getting tired. And I only stretched the truth 4 times…