An earlier morning with a 7:30 am arrival and an 8:30 am start. This one along Lehigh’s Packard Ave., and fairly early in the race.  A few minutes early, I cranked up the generator and my PA didn’t work.  I had no choice but to move my chair up to the curb and play acoustically. And it actually worked, being amongst some buildings.  I was lucky.

 

I asked how many folks were in the race and the man said 3200 people.  Wow. 

So, as the few leaders passed, I started in on a string of race songs, Cut Across Shorty, Blue Mule, and other uptempo songs.  Again, many smiling faces, thumbs up, hey Dave’s (including one from the mayor), and great vibes from so many people.  And it lasted for about 29 minutes, and it was done.  Just me and the construction crew there, planting pipe 30 yards away.

 

An interesting moment.  As I was playing Blue Mule, one 20-ish fellow stopped running to listen, and even sang back to me the “hey, hey, hey’s”.  I was amazed that he wasn’t concerned with his race time; in fact, the pack passed him by.  He said he heard ‘Molly and the Ten Brooks’ in the song and he stopped. I remarked that was really, really obscure, and he said he was a fan of Sam Bush, who plays frequently with Peter Rowan, the author.  The power of folk music in the modern age. 

 

A beautiful performing experience, and the reason why I take the weird ones.