Robert Sarazin Blake

In March of 2020 Robert Sarazin Blake and David Pender Lofgren started a livestream series called From The Kitchen Table. After 25 years of touring and performing concerts to small groups of people in small rooms it was immediately and dramatically clear this wouldn't be possible in the near future.

The original vision was to play the last two Sundays in March and all the Sundays in April.  By the end of April it was clear the near future was longer than initially anticipated. From The Kitchen Table continued through the very strange summer of 2020 briefly switching to Thursdays in line with Blake's longstanding Thursday Happy Hour gig at Boundary Bay Brewery. In the fall of 2021 From The Kitchen Table returned to Sundays and built a semi-permanent home in David's woodshop with the garage door open for ventilation. In December they presented Blake's annual Holiday Show 'A Very Subdued Christmas' on Christmas Eve to the listeners celebrating the season separated.  In March of 2021 they performed what they imagined to be their last open air, bone chilling, visible breath concert and closed the season with a 2nd annual livestreamed St. Patrick's Day Special. From The Kitchen Table moved around to various backyards in the spring and summer of 2021 performing for small groups of friends and neighbors and then, in November, returned for another chilly season in the woodshop. All along the line Roberts songwriting pals from the US, Canada and Ireland sang at the table and local musicians joined at the summer backyard concerts. 

Over the years, David continued to improve the audio and video quality, Robert learned to sing to a camera and they both realized they enjoyed this new way of performing and entertaining.  Conner Helms joined the crew in the fall of 2020 editing video for the youtube channel and Jeremy Meehan joined in the spring of 2021 with the task of turning a two hour live concert into 60min podcast and radio show.

A stalwart group of regular listeners have become The Kitchen Table Irregulars maintaining connection during and after the show. Everyone is welcome. The bio reads A mid-week coffee klatch. An after-hours off-key club. A safe space to get your Monday morning quarters back and process a long series of memorable nights, forgotten. If the lights are off in the kitchen, you're always welcome here.

The Irregular bartender in Buffalo provides a drink of the week so we can all be on the same flight even if we can't be in the same room.  

The banter in the comments can take on a life of its own celebrating one of the Kitchen Table's early mottos Distancing is mandatory but suffering is optional. 

Somewhere along the line Robert started taking requests from callers and sometime after that David learned how to connect the 1's and '0s so that the listener, the guest and the caller could all hear each other.  Robert borrowed phrase from his father's performing days and Stump-The-Band was born. Each week a listeners calls in with 3 requests and Blake and the guest do their best to fulfill.  

 In the winter of 2022 David's parlayed his interview skills from his podcast Little City Big Sound and added more formal interview component to the chow called A Deeper Dive With The Drummer.

It started as a lockdown emergency measure, it continued as a weekly celebration of song and comradery and will keep on rolling on until we get to Vancouver. 

 Kitchen Table Guests include: Jolie Holland, Mara Kaye, Aoife O'Donovan, Matt Fockler, Jefferson Hamer, The Mammals, Bridget Kearney, Scott Cook, Tamar Korn, Corwin Bolt, Karen Kunkel, Caleb Klauder & Reeb Willms, Aaron Jonah Lewis, Louis Ledford, Meg Yates, Petunia, Jacob Jolliff, Chris Acker, Cumulus, John Elliott, Ann Ash,  Kristin Andreassen, Steve James, Fl!p Breskin & Zeke, Philip Hofmann, Sierra Ferrell, Yogoman, Jan Peters, Steve Webb, Bridget Kearny, Scott Cook, The Restless Age, J Wagner, The Best Intentions, Cedric Watson, Aaron Jonah Lewis, Skip Williams, Kevin Murphy, Jason Webley, Biddy On The Bench, Willie Carlise, Devin Champlin, & Peter Blake