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Music Haven's Annual Summer Social

Central Park, Schenectady NY
Schenectady, NY

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Music Haven's Annual Summer Social

This popular event includes: hors d'oeuvres, cocktails, and catered stations reflecting locales of the current summer's lineup of artists (NYC, Indonesia, Great Britain, Peru, India), under the Park's Pavilion from 5-7 pm, reserved seating for the concert - featuring Felicia Collins, longtime guitarist and vocalist on the Late Show with David Letterman at 7 pm, followed by a decadent dessert afterglow backstage.

Individual tickets cost $75 each; Honorary Committee tickets and Corporate Honorary Committee tickets cost $125 and $500, respectively, and include name listing in the invitation and program insert, if received by July 1. ALL proceeds benefit the presentation of free world-class concerts at the Agnes Macdonald Music Haven each summer.

The rain site for the event is also the series official rain site: Proctors, 432 State St., Schenectady.

The 2015 honoree is Joanne DeVoe, a tireless community cheerleader who has generously given her time and talent to Music Haven since serving on the task force to build the new stage back in 1997.

The Agnes S. Macdonald Music Haven is Schenectady, New York's premier outdoor summer concert venue, which has played host to hundreds of free concerts by world-class national and international touring artists since 1990, thanks to the efforts of volunteer producing artistic director, Mona Golub, the extreme generosity of sponsors, supporters, and community partners alike, and the enthusiasm of Music Haven audiences that come prepared to 'travel the world one concert at a time'.

Featured Artist: Felicia Collins & the Life

"Albany's where I got all my soul from," Felicia Collins told the Times Union's Paul Grondahl in January. At the time, Collins was finishing up an incredible 22-year stint as guitarist in the CBS Orchestra, the hand-picked house band for The Late Show with David Letterman.

Now, with that famous gig in the history books, Collins is exploring new musical options and the Music Haven Concert Series is so proud to bring the Albany native home for a special grand finale visit with Felicia Collins and the Life.

Born in Jackson, Tennessee and brought to the Bronx two months later, Collins spent her youth in downtown Albany's Arbor Hill neighborhood. She spied her first guitar in the window of a Broadway pawn shop and jumped off the bus to get a better look. According to Grondahl, she convinced the shopkeeper to call her mother, who authorized buying the electric, whammy-barred beast on an installment plan.

Self-taught, Collins learned speed, precision and tone by practicing for hours each day. The hard work paid off, and when the Bishop Maginn graduate moved to Manhattan for college (at the Fashion Institute of Technology), she immediately began to find work as a side musician and vocalist for serious stars.

Through connections with Chic mastermind Nile Rogers, Collins landed her first touring gig with 80s hitmakers The Thompson Twins. She played her first gig with the group at 1985's epic Live Aid concert. Soon, she was touring with jazz/pop vocalist Al Jarreau and, over the years, working and recording with high profile artists like Madonna, Vonda Shepard, George Clinton, Whitney Houston, Ashford & Simpson, Aretha Franklin, N'Dea Davenport and many more.

In 1993, Collins toured with Cyndi Lauper on her Hat Full of Stars tour. At the close of the trek, CBS Orchestra leader Paul Shaffer asked her to join his crew. The rest, as the saying goes, is history.

On the show, Collins, with her trademark dreadlocks, cool clothes and dead-on playing, became a star in her own right. Her "day job" consisted of working with a who's who of the world's great musicians, while still being able to ply her wares at night and on weekends. To say it was a dream job is an understatement.

As she told The Times Union, "I'd give an arm and both legs to keep this gig."

But with Letterman retired and the CBS Orchestra disbanded, Collins has the opportunity to focus on The Life, and she is ready to raise the roof at Music Haven.

Longtime band mate Anton Fig will join Collins in Schenectady, locking in the groove she's played to for so long. And fans from TV will finally get a chance to see just what Collins has to offer as bandleader and vocalist, in addition to her renowned six-string skills.

In his Times Union profile, Grondahl stepped back to that memory of Collins' first guitar (she owns hundreds now), noting that it was the first time the budding musician "held fire in her hands."

She still does, she still does.