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The Last Waltz: A loving celebration to fans, musicians and to our home in Great Barrington |
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After 15 remarkable years, Berkshire County saw the end of an era when the combined business of Helsinki Cafe & Tea Company and Club Helsinki closed its doors. We are heartbroken to say that the curtain went down for the last time on August 31st.
We would like to say thank you to all our friends and supporters, all the artists and musicians who ever walked through our doors, to everyone who appreciated something singular and homemade from our kitchens, to the all the children we raised and to anyone in the press who found the work we do to be an important voice in the Berkshires and beyond. | |
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Thank you Marc and Deb...on behalf of a community of loving souls whose lives you have immeasurably enriched. As we look forward to new and promising future, we will ALL hold dear the invaluable treasure of shared memories you have given us. And dear and gentle staff...remember well that you are alumni of the most special school you will ever be privileged to attend. This is not an end...it is truly a commencement. Yr Hmble Webbie David Minton | |
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To see our archive of performer videos, to read the growing list of loving tributes, memories, and comments left by the many friends of Helsinki (and to leave your own!) ,to keep up with the news about what is coming up for Club Helsinki in Hudson, (and (soon!) to browse through some great photos of Helsinki's Last Waltz, please visit and revisit...  Club Helsinki legacy will live on Letter to the Editor - Berkshire Eagle Friday, Sept. 04 The very first time I opened the door and entered the world of Club Helsinki over 10 years ago, I said to myself: "Wow. I am home." And from that moment until last night, Club Helsinki became a sanctuary for me; a sacred temple. A place that made magic and embodied spirit. A place where all could gather and celebrate music. A piece of heaven where I created my own "Helsinki Shuffle" where I danced like the world was coming to an end but stayed in the same spot so as not to step on anyone else's toes. A meeting place, a place of peace, of sound, of joy and restoration. A place of elegance and charm. A slice of bohemia. This is what Helsinki was for me. A place that does not exist anywhere else but here. And though the actual club itself will no longer hold its physical form in Great Barrington, the energy of it all pulses even deeper and wider than ever before. It is a story with a lesson that what we create really does matter, and really does change the world. Marc and Deb built us a house of dreams, a house to connect and share and experience the essence of life. A home where all are welcome and the artistry of life is supreme. Their legacy continues with the lives they touched and the souls they healed. I will truly mourn the loss of my home away from home, but I let go knowing that this will lead me to a greater understanding of my own existence. Club Helsinki survives with or without a physical space, and will always be one of the greatest Berkshire treasures. A truly precious gem made from the people and their beauty. I am deeply grateful for their revolution. And in turn, the revelations. KAREN LEE Lenox | |
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Club Helsinki: An Appreciation berkshireliving.com by Seth Rogovoy After over a decade of bringing the greatest music on the national, regional, and local scene to audiences in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, Club Helsinki winds down this weekend with a series of shows culminating in a final performance by Big Sandy and the Fly-Rite Boys on Monday night, when the club will have been emptied of its furniture and when, at the end of the night, the lights will dim, the doors will be shut and locked, never to be reopened again as Club Helsinki. It's a bittersweet development. On the one hand, it's an opportunity to celebrate the greatest such music venue the Berkshires have ever seen. It's not even possible to capture the impact that the club has had on the regional music scene merely by running down a list of the stars who have appeared on its tiny stage, although that list includes an impressive lineup, with names like Odetta, Shawn Colvin, Leo Kottke, Mike Gordon of Phish, Don Byron, Hamiet Bluiett, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Fred Eaglesmith, Greg Brown, Levon Helm, Tom-Tom Club, Burning Spear, Graham Parker, and Norah Jones. The club has nurtured up and coming regional talent including Meg Hutchinson and Sonya Kitchell, local performers now recording for national record labels. The club has also provided a stage for regional performers to assemble in a variety of circumstances, and for one last time on Sunday, there'll be a showcase of that talent in a six-hour extravaganza modeled along the lines of the Last Waltz, the Band's 1976 farewell concert. More than all this, however, is that, in the best power of art to transform lives, Club Helsinki was a community, a shared community of artists, music lovers, activists, poets, and just people who found a home among the club's fascinating array of its technical staff, waitstaff, regulars, management, and overseeing it all, its founder and owner, Deborah McDowell, who grew her fifteen-year-old teahouse into one of the region's most popular restaurants, Helsinki Café, and expanded it into a nightclub. Countless people who passed through the doors as concertgoers, staff members, musicians, or diners, have had their lives changed. And while this was a collective effort, it was one created and constantly curated and nurtured by Deborah, the visionary behind Helsinki. Deborah McDowell defied all odds in keeping the restaurant and club going for as long as they did, and although times have dictated that the doors must close on Monday, Deborah should be remembered for all that she accomplished in a brutal playing field where few venues accomplish what she has over the past decade and a half. Seth Rogovoy is Berkshire Living's editor-in-chief. In his position as a music critic, he has chronicled Club Helsinki's decade-plus existence. 8/28/2009 | |