Music at the Emma Chase Cafe since 1999

MUSIC AT THE EMMA

"Welcome to the Emma Chase Cafe, in beautiful downtown Cottonwood Falls, Kansas, in the shadow of the historic Chase County CourtHouse." That is the customary greeting spoken at MUSIC AT THE EMMA every Friday night. We nominate MUSIC AT THE EMMA as one of the Eight Wonders of Kansas Customs.

There has been a music jam session nearly EVERY Friday night for the past 11 years at the Emma Chase Cafe (except for the first weekend in June, which is Rodeo Weekend - and then, we play TWICE the following weekend to make up for it!) And MAYBE if Christmas Eve or Christmas Day falls on Friday, we might not play, but New Year's Eve wouldn't slow us up at all!!!

In September of 1999, Sue Smith and friend Charley Klamm were once again, discussing the possibility of a music session at the Cafe. Charley said, "For two bits, I'd hang a paper at the barbershop to see if anybody was interested." Sue reached into her pocket, handed Charley the quarter, gave him a sheet of paper and said, "Go ahead." So, on the first Friday night in October, 1999, 12 musicians showed up at the Emma, instruments in hand, and 25 listeners followed close behind. And it's been that way ever since, except that now there are more musicians and larger audiences.

The Emma greets local musicians, musicians from all over the State, from all over the Nation, and an unbelievable number of foreign countries. Participation in a night of making music with a borrowed instrument on Broadway in Cottonwood Falls is frequently the fondest memory carried away by a foreign visitor. An evening musician-count might be anywhere from 4 to 30.

A typical audience of "Accomplished Listeners", can number from 25 inside the Emma, on a cold, miserable Winter night, to a street-full of 200 or more, all seated on lawn chairs on the brick main street of Cottonwood Falls on a beautiful Summer evening. And the audience is always asked for a show of hands, "How many folks are here from Chase County; how many from the State of Kansas (excluding Chase County); how many from out-of-State, and how many from elsewhere? And the visitor from the most distant address is always rewarded with a jar of Miss Emma's home-made AppleButter. It is not unusual for the audience to include a bus-load of guests from a Senior Center or a Church somewhere, or a gathering of campers or automobile enthusiasts attending a meeting locally, or a family reunion held in Chase County.

Several of our regular musicians have also become song-writers, and frequently perform their "Kansas Flint Hills" tunes fort the guests at the jam sessions. And several of the musicians who now write music, are now performing their tunes to audiences throughout the State. There is not a better vehicle for Flint Hills publicity than through the words and melody of a poignant, beautifully composed written song.

To the best of our knowledge, MUSIC AT THE EMMA was Kansas' first public weekly jam session, and is surely the longest-continuous jam session. It is a total grass-roots effort.

The jam sessions are free to the public, althrough "the JAR" is occasionally passed around for gratuities to raise funds for a special need, for additional sound equipment, or to help support an upcoming professional performance locally.

MUSIC AT THE EMMA has been featured in many of Kansas' largest newspapers. It has been pictured in Kansas Magazine and in the Kansas Visitor's Guide, and in many other publications state-wide. MUSIC AT THE EMMA is a prominent posting on the Emma Chase Cafe website: www.emmachasecafe.com, and Sue's weekly newspaper column always lists Friday night music, and any other special musical events held locally. The attached photograph was taken by Harland Schuster during a photo shoot for Kansas Magazine.

We hope that you'll plan to spend some time with us at a Friday night session of MUSIC AT THE EMMA. We'll see you soon!