Coffeehouse

On a typical night, the audience in the concert room at the Ram's Head Tavern in Annapolis sips and chews to the sounds of jazz vocalist Dianne Schuur, a vintage pop artist like Richie Havens or Dr. Hochman's Dynamic Dixieland Band. At the Prism, a coffeehouse in Charlottesville, Va., Celtic, bluegrass and folk music from Islamic countries are the norm. Groups like Clumsy Lovers, the Lawnmowers and the Gourds ordinarily strut their stuff onstage for happy crowds at Seattle's Tractor Tavern, home to rockabilly, alternative country, "psychodelia" and zydeco.

Cedarhurst Unitarian Universalists Congregation continues its monthly coffeehouses with a concert featuring Doug Alan Wilcox at 8 p.m. Saturday. Admission is $5. Nonalcoholic drinks and desserts will be available. The church is at 2912 Clubhouse Road, Finksburg, and is accessible to the disabled. Information: 410-861-8820. Sun columnist Reimer to speak at women's club The Women's Club of Westminster will hold a lecture featuring Susan Reimer, author and columnist for The Sun, at 7 p.m. April 10 at Ascension Episcopal Church.

Throngs of teen-agers looking to have a good time Friday night crowded outside the Wilde Times Cafe in Wilde Lake Village Center, shivering in the cold, and unable to gain admission to the sold-out reopening of the teen-operated coffeehouse. Wilde Lake High School students have been working with their adult advisers since the cafe lost its lease in the spring, trying to put the pieces together to reopen. The long wait produced pent up demand. The first night's show, which included performances by five local teen-age bands, quickly sold out. A half-hour after the 7 p.m. opening, the building had reached its capacity of 75 people.

BROOKLYN PARK'S own Brooklyn Bridge Christian Coffeehouse recently celebrated its second anniversary as a place where everyone - black and white, young and old, city and county residents - can come together. In 1999, the Rev. Russ Tenhoff, a Brooklyn native, felt the need to return to his former neighborhood to start a coffeehouse ministry. After learning that Church on the Rock had bought a former nightclub located behind the church's property on Church Street, he spoke with the church's pastor, the Rev. John Krach, and received permission to use the building.

As you enter the Blue Cow Cafe, your arrival is announced by the clang of a cow bell hanging over the door. "That's the same bell my parents used to call me to dinner when I was a kid," said Mark Blue, who owns the cafe with his wife, Karen. A quick glance around the room reveals more than a dozen ceramic and stuffed cows of all sizes, lounging on countertops and pinned to the walls. For 12 years, Karen Blue milked cows at the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center. "I loved being outside and working with the animals.

Many people know Yooni Kim Yoon as the friendly seamstress at West Cleaners and Alterations in downtown Annapolis. What they might not know about Yoon is on display a few doors down at 49 West Coffee House. There, the monthly art exhibit features Yoon's work in paper cutting, an art form with origins in China. With a trim knife and tiny scissors, Yoon cuts a spider spinning a web, thread by thread, and cuts tangled tree branches and ballet dancers performing Swan Lake. Yoon's paper cuttings have been part of group shows before, but the 49 West exhibit is the first time her work has been shown in Annapolis, her home since she emigrated from South Korea with her family in 1988.

The business of Riverside Roastery & Espresso is analogous to the green coffee beans that are roasted to perfection on its stores' premises every day - ever-shifting, maturing and becoming more distinct. The coffeehouse chain, which began on Main Street in Ellicott City eight years ago, has expanded and cut back several times as owner Michael Lentz learned the types of locations and the formats that would make his business a success. Two months after opening his newest coffeehouse on Centre Park Drive in Columbia - the sixth in his experience - he is preparing to close the one in the Glenwood library in western Howard County in two days, winnowing his holdings to three shops - all in Howard.

A NEW GATHERING place is open in Taneytown. The Irish Moon, a coffeehouse at Frederick and Baltimore streets, has become a magnet for residents in this small, northwest Carroll County town. "It's bringing back the neighborhood," said Nancy McCormick, Taneytown's economic development director. "It's getting to be the place to go. It's giving visibility to downtown." During a recent visit, Taneytown resident Richard Stonsifer sat sipping a cup of java and chatting with other customers. "Taneytown needed it, obviously," he said.

The Savage branch library, 9525 Durness Lane, will sponsor a Summer Coffeehouse for those ages 11 and older from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday. Participants are invited to sing, share music or read their poetry. Refreshments will be provided. "Bug Juice & Chocolate-covered Spiders," a program of bug facts, stories, recipes and treats for children ages 6 and older, will be held from 1:30 p.m. to 2:15 p.m. July 27. "Be a Nature Detective," for ages 5-8, will be held from 1 p.m. to 1:45 p.m. July 30. Registration is required.

THE CALL is out for musicians and singers to perform at showcase coffeehouse nights sponsored by Jenkins Memorial Church in Riviera Beach. Coordinator Bill Williamson said the low-key evenings will give local amateurs and professional performers a venue to hone their acts. "We get performers from all over the area," Williamson said. "They don't necessarily have to play Christian music. We have musicians and singers that play a variety of music styles, including rock and country." Williamson said the majority of past performers at the coffeehouse evenings earned their daily bread from jobs that for the most part are not music-related.