One of the venues that affects this weekly interview column is Slates Restaurant & Bakery. Its Monday Night Concert Series is one of the finest and longest-running such events in central Maine, if not the state. So when I learned that big changes were happening there, I called Katie Daggett, who books the shows for the series, to give me a heads-up about the happenings in Hallowell.

Q: Give me the low-down on what’s happening at Slates nowadays. I understand there are major changes coming.

Daggett: Well, sometime near the end of April, Wendy (Larson, owner and head chef of Slates) is relocating the restaurant to her bakery space, which she owns, which is right next door. There will be upstairs and downstairs dining. I don’t think the upstairs will be open all the time, though. It’s actually very exciting. This is one of the plans she’s had for many years, and the renovations have already started next door at the old bakery building. She’s excited about the move, but it’s also bittersweet because she’s been at that location, 167 Water St., for such a long time.

Q: Will the Monday Night Concert Series still be held at the new location?

Daggett: It’ll still be on Mondays and she’ll still have art on the walls — art shows — and it’ll just be business as usual.

Q: Well, thank God for that. There aren’t many venues for great music on a weeknight, and you’ve had some amazing national acts as well as local favorites over the years.

Daggett: Yeah, we’ve definitely have had them and we want to continue that tradition. I mean, we’ve had John Gorka, Dan Hicks and (His) Hot Licks — that was fun.

Q: And Cliff Eberhardt would come in on a regular basis, as well.

Daggett: We’ve had Ferron and David Wilcox; oh, and Maria Muldaur, too. Yeah, and we’ll be celebrating the Monday Night Concert Series as well this year.

Q: When did that start up?

Daggett: We started the series in ’95, and this August will be the 21st year of the Monday night shows. So even though we’re moving, we’ll keep a lot of the traditions going: the music during dinner, the art, the concerts, the great food.

Q: Whenever I talk to an artist who’s coming to perform and has never been to there before, I always tell them to come hungry.

Daggett: Definitely!

Q: Is there anything you’d like to pass on to the folks reading this article?

Daggett: Just that the special show on March 28 — the celebration of 36 years of Slates being at 167 Water St. — is sold out already, but there will be two shows at that location in April: The Last Last Waltz on the fourth and Cheryl Wheeler on the 11th. Wendy says she will start up the Monday Night Concert Series again at the new location in May, so I’ll let you know about that real soon.

Lucky Clark has spent more than 45 years writing about good music and the people who make it. He can be reached at luckyc@myfairpoint.net if you have any questions, comments or suggestions.

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