After a long hiatus brought on by the global pandemic, The Flagpole Radio Café is scheduled to return to the stage next month for a full show.

The popular music and comedy event is planned for Saturday, September 23, at 7 pm, at Edmond Town Hall, 45 Main Street.

Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter Loudon Wainwright III will be the special guest.

Tickets are $45 and available through flagpoleproductions.org. Additional information is also available by sending an e-mail to info@flagpoleproductions.org.

The Flagpole Radio Café is an evening of engaging music and compelling comedy performed by an ensemble of local artists and changing guest artists. The ensemble comprises musicians Jim Allyn, Rick Brodsky, Howie Carlough, Cadence Carroll, Chris Durham, Dick Neal and Francine Wheeler, and actors Martin Blanco, Barbara Gaines, Kate Katcher, and David Wheeler.

According to Gaines, a producer of the series, The Café was “on the cusp of presenting an anniversary show with Peter Yarrow when the world shut down.

“In the wake of the pandemic there was uncertainty everywhere, but in our hearts, we had confidence that The Flagpole Radio Café would return. It may have taken longer than we expected, but we are so happy to be back,” she added.

While local music fans had an opportunity in March to enjoy a performance by The Flagpole Radio Café Orchestra — a special fundraiser at Newtown Meeting House for Ben’s Lighthouse — it was not a full Flagpole Radio Café. Next month’s will offer the first full orchestra and theater troupe event in over four years.

Fellow Producer Martin Blanco said, “Earlier this year, Barb Gaines and I saw Loudon Wainwright in a cabaret style show, ‘Kip and Sylvia Tonight on D Deck.’ The show was written by Tom Leopold, who was a Flagpole … guest artist in 2019. Loudon was so excellent and versatile, that we both thought when Flagpole … comes back, he would make an outstanding guest artist.

“The time is at hand, and we are thrilled to welcome Loudon — our second Wainwright as his sister Sloan performed several years earlier — to our show and the historic Edmond Town Hall. Going forward, we should endeavor to have a different Wainwright appear on the show every year,” Blanco added.

The September presentation will be part of the 11th Newtown Arts Festival, a weekend-long event celebrating all forms of art. Blanco was a member of Newtown Cultural Arts Commission, which presents the festival, when Flagpole Radio Café and The Newtown Arts Festival were created.

“The two projects were never linked, but they sprang from the same impulse to cultivate world class arts events in Newtown,” he noted. “I am happy to officially have Flagpole … participate in this dynamic and ever-growing festival.”

September’s Headliner

Loudon Wainwright III was born in Chapel Hill, N.C., in 1946. He wrote his first song in 1968, “Edgar,” about a lobsterman in Rhode Island.

He studied acting at Carnegie Mellon University but dropped out to partake in the Summer of Love in San Francisco. He rose to fame when “Dead Skunk” became a Top 20 hit in 1972.

His songs have since been recorded by Bonnie Raitt, Johnny Cash, Earl Scruggs, Kate & Anna McGarrigle, his son Rufus Wainwright, and Mose Allison, among others.

Wainwright has recorded 27 albums, including his 2009 Grammy Award-winning High Wide & Handsome. His latest, released in 2022, is Lifetime Achievement. The collection of 15 original songs that celebrate his singular talent as a foremost six-string tragicomedian, not only undiminished, but hitting new heights.

Wainwright has also published his memoir, Liner Notes (Blue Rider Press, 2017), which led to appearances on Terry Gross’s long running NPR program “Fresh Air” and “WTF with Marc Maron.” The New York Times said the book “makes your heart wobble on its axis.”

He also created a one-man theatrical show, Surviving Twin, which combines his songs and the writings of his late father. Initially developed as part of University of North Carolina’s Playmakers series, it focuses on fatherhood — both being a father and having one — along with the issues of birth, self-identity, loss, mortality, fashion, and pet ownership. Surviving Twin has been performed in limited theater engagements and is available as a Netflix special.

Additionally, Wainwright has co-written with songwriter/producer Joe Henry on the music for Judd Apatow’s hit movie Knocked Up, written music for the British theatrical adaptation of the Carl Hiaasen novel Lucky You, and composed topical songs for NPR’s “Morning Edition” and “All Things Considered” and ABC’s Nightline. An accomplished actor, he has appeared in films directed by Martin Scorsese, Hal Ashby, Christopher Guest, Tim Burton, Cameron Crowe, and Judd Apatow. Wainwright has also starred on television, Broadway, and film.