Richard Scher’s Second Act

If your radio’s on WCOM 103.5 FM on Saturday afternoons, you’ve probably heard Richard Scher already. Rich is one of the hosts of Licks & Lyrics, the NC Songwriters Co-op show, Saturdays from 3 to 4 PM. It’s an hour about songwriting and the local scene, and a lot of weeks somebody comes in to play live. WXOJ in Northampton, Massachusetts, carries it too.

He took the long way to the microphone. Rich grew up in Groveland, Massachusetts, on the Merrimack River, and spent his career as a head and neck cancer surgeon and professor at Duke University Medical Center. He’s lived in Durham more than 30 years. He’s been writing songs since college, but it took the pandemic to get him digging deeper and playing them for people.

The album is Mill Pond. Jon Shain produced it, FJ Ventre recorded and mixed it at Good Luck Studios in Chapel Hill, and it came out March 26, 2025. The songs are about home, “My Father’s Stories” and “Cuyahoga River Blues” among them. His site says it was a top album on the Folk Alliance International Folk Chart in April and May 2025. In October he played the festival: all originals, unplugged, in the back room at Lanza’s Cafe.

Lanza’s Cafe

Lanza’s Cafe calls itself a place “to work, socialize, chill and have fun,” which about covers it. Christina Vad and Catherine Coley own it. The name comes from Guy Chiarolanza, Christina’s late father, who ran the Walsh Hotel in Medina, New York, for 40 years. His recipes are still on the menu, like Guy’s Garlic Beets, along with ravioli and gnocchi made in house.

Coffee’s from Counter Culture, pastries from Ninth Street Bakery. At the bar you’ll find draft and canned beer, wine by the glass, local mead and a shelf of bourbon. It’s open 7 AM to 9 PM, every day.

There’s usually something going on. Jazz in the cafe’s “living room” every Sunday from 11 AM to 1 PM. Chime In Poetry Nights on the second and fourth Fridays from 7 to 9. Trivia and game nights too. At the festival, we had songwriters in both rooms.

The Majestic Diner

Maria Quiles

If you were at the festival on Friday night, you may have seen Maria Quiles open the new back room at Lanza’s Cafe. If not, here’s who you missed.

Maria writes and sings folk, Americana and roots music. She grew up in California, and her solo sets are just voice and acoustic guitar. Before going solo, she wrote and sang in the nationally touring duo Quiles & Cloud, which released music on Compass Records, won the FreshGrass Duo Competition, and shared stages with Jerry Douglas, Aoife O’Donovan, Peter Rowan and John Craigie.

Her solo album, Dance The Wind, came out of time off the road to write and heal. Three of its songs are for her late best friend, Bianca Brzezinski. Ruby Martini at WCOM Radio keeps it short: “Don’t miss an opportunity to experience her on-stage.”