Paul Bass Photo
Stacy Phillips.
Stacy Phillips won’t be at Cafe Nine Sunday — in person.
He’ll be there in spirit.
Phillips, the Grammy-winning Dobro player and fiddler, had a gig scheduled at the Crown Street club Sunday afternoon. Then he died this week at the age of 73 after suffering a heart attack.
There won’t be a funeral for Phillips, who donated his body to Yale Medical School.
There will be a brief memorial service — and then an afternoon of musicmaking by some of the many musicians fortunate enough to have played with him over the years.
The event begins at Cafe Nine Sunday at 1 p.m. Phillips’ bandmate and friend David Chevan, who is organizing the event, describes it thus in an email:
This Sunday, June 10, beginning at 1:00 p.m. three different parts of Stacy Phillips’ complex musical life will come together as we give the first of several memorials. This one will be at Café 9 in New Haven. There was never anything typical about Stacy Phillips and it turns out that is going to be true about him even after life. You see, Stacy isn’t having a funeral. Why? Because he donated his body to Yale Medical School. So, no funeral, we will do some of what Stacy would have wanted and probably not wanted to memorialize him.
Stacy had scheduled a performance of his ever-changing cast of players known as Stacy Phillips and his Bluegrass Characters for this Sunday at Café 9. The Bluegrass Characters and Café 9 have graciously offered their performance time and space to all as a place where we can honor Stacy’s memory and remember him as musicians so often do: through words and music.
Doors will open at 12 noon.
Café 9 is located at 250 State Street in New Haven, Connecticut.
Since Stacy won’t be having a funeral, we are planning to begin the day at 1:00 p.m. with a short memorial service to comfort his family and other mourners.
And then, from 1:30 we are celebrating his life and music
If you are interested in sharing a personal story or a song at this memorial, please see the information near the end of this email.
1:00 – 1:30 memorial service and family reminisces about Stacy led by Cantor Malachi Kanfer
1:30 Nu Haven Kapelye
2:30 Afro-Semitic Experience
3:30 (Stacy Phillips and) his Bluegrass Characters
4:30 – 6:00 Open mic: people or groups who wish to share a musical piece in Stacy’s memory are invited to participate. If you wish to be guaranteed a slot please sign up in advance by getting in touch with David Chevan at [email protected].
Zikhrono l’vrakha May his memory be a blessing.
I will unfortunately be unable to attend but hope there will be others ones I can get to later on. I wonder if Cafe Nine might need to have some kind of registration as they might be mobbed . It's a very small place. My thoughts will be with him , his music, friends and family.