As part of a ‘three generations’ show at Godfrey’s, I did family show to start off, with only one family in the room. So I played to them, and it was good. As I was finishing up, the room started to fill with folks for the 8 pm start to the rest of the evening, and gave me a little more room to expand, and it turned out nicely. Great audience. and I shared the Bus joke that went over well at Symphony Hall in November. Brittany Ann followed with her wonderfully developed staging and her great voice, A big percentage of the crowd was her relatives and friends. And they were hip and responsive.
I followed with an ‘adult’ set with Ansel, and it was a killer set. We played really well, and had many sterling moments, including Ansel’s solo on harp. I followed that with John Prine’s ‘Far From Me’, which really encapsulates the last year for me, and it was quite effective in its description of the end of a relationship, especially in contrast with all the hilarity of the rest of the set. The crowd ate it up the whole deal and was a great pleasure, and very soul-soothing.
Dina Hall followed with her set, with some Brittany backup vocals and some mando backup by me. Again, Dina’s really come along way and she did a really strong set. We finished up before 11:30 and cleared out before the New Year. I headed up stairs to watch the fireworks at 12, which never happened. Now that Arts Quest ditched First Night, the little town of Bethlehem brought in 2012 with a whisper.
It was a year ago, upon returning to CT after GD’s First Night, I found out that my wife didn’t want to be married to me. The bottom fell out of 2011 for me, and I still haven’t recovered. …..Break up of the immediate family, kicked out of Kim’s family, loss of a home space and community in CT, and discovery of Kim’s relationship with a former friend of mine, Gene Mater, which has now taken hold, reverberating even here in Bethlehem.
Its the music that keeps me going nowadays, along with the good friends in the Godfrey’s community and my friends in CT. Pickin’ up the pieces in the New Year.