Singer-Songwriters Take the "Stage" at Sage

Three trail-blazing local musical artists took over the to perform in the Blue Point restaurant's all acoustic singer-songwriter night, featuring prominent members of Long Island's thriving grassroots music scene.

Multi-instrumentalist, singer and songwriter, Chris P. Cauley; singer-songwriter and traveler, Rorie Kelly, and singer-songwriter Jay Scott have been showcasing their talents at venues near and far for the last several years.

Cauley has been an all-pervading presence in the Patchogue music scene for a decade, promoting and producing original music. He's also served as the drummer and percussionist accompanying Jay Scott, another of the show's performers.

In 2010, the literal one-man-band that is Cauley released the CD Stirrings on Paradiddle Records, which is available for free download in its entirety on his website, as are all his past projects.

Stirrings, like several of his previous works, features the multitalented musician on everything including vocals, guitars, bass, drums, percussion, production and mastering.

"He's a very humble and cool guy. He makes music that makes those of us who aren't musicians very impressed," said Cauley's manager and Patchogue Theatre's Live in the Lobby curator, Christopher Capobianco.  He also manages both Kelly and Scott.

While in Cauley's sound, traces of nineties grunge can be discerned, his music's more avant-garde elements are evocative of his biggest musical influences, the groundbreaking bands Sonic Youth and The Velvet Underground.

He was joined during his set by Sean Virag, a well-known guitarist from Long Island and a member of Scott's band.

Kelly, who currently resides in Brooklyn, recently released her first album, Wish Upon a Bottlecap.

The 26-year-old is a crimson-haired indie siren that is as unabashed about championing political causes she believes in- vegetarianism and combating racism and sexism- as she is about getting on stage, with or without her band, More of the Mess, and offering up her confessional lyrics with fearlessness, ferociousness and vulnerability, while not being afraid to break a few guitar strings — or stereotypes — in the process.

When not performing, she also volunteers as a hotline counselor at Long Island Crisis Center. The passionate performer, who admits that most of her lyrics come from "personal drama" said, "It makes me feel good to do it.  I spend the night talking to people about their problems, and it makes me feel better."

The performer that has captured the attention of live music audiences throughout Long Island and the New York Metro area since she catapulted onto the music scene in 2004 was glad to be back at the Sage Cafe.

"I love it here; it's like home. I never lived here, but it's like home," said Kelly.

Jay Scott was equally enthused to be back performing again at the Blue Point hot spot.

"We get to play in a nice intimate room, and get down to the nitty gritty, so to speak," said Scott.  "The owner does such a nice thing with this place:  It's really welcoming and earthy.  It doesn't matter who you are, or what you do; you can come here and have a good time."

Scott, a Patchogue native, released his sophomore effort in 2010, a five song EP Life in a Hurry on Paraddidle Records .

His music is hard to categorize, steeped in traces of southern rock, it is an amalgam of folk, rock and jazz, alongside heartfelt vocals. 

Capobianco articulated what gave the night its air of magic, and the inkling of witnessing the start of something big that, for now, only belongs to a select few.

He said, "In an ocean of singer-songwriters that want to sound like someone else, these performers sound like themselves."

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