In the depth of a very hard February, I decided to go and support a new friend, Earl Andrews, in his endeavor to create a musical community in his town, Whitehall, PA, not far from Bethlehem.

 

I played at this library back in the summer, and I recall meeting Earl then, with his wife who works at the library. I was glad to make it up when I finally had the chance.

 

It was a tough winter night, especially for a Monday, so the attendance was sub-sparse. But that’s okay. When I arrived, my good friend Mike Holliday was there with Earl, so we remarked about how desperate we all were to be here.

 

But I really enjoyed the opportunity to play some music with Mike, a major supporter and honcho of the Godfrey’s Open Mike scene. He’s a fine songwriter with a wonderful voice, and, most importantly, a good soul.

 

We tossed some songs back and forth with some folks stopping in to witness the fun. We opened some ears to the folk process and played some good tunes.

 

Later on, some curious kids were peeking into the room, so I invited them in. They reluctantly came on in, but I recognized some playfulness amongst them. So I launched into my hard sell, and we engaged. As I found out later that these were kids from one home-schooled family (hard-core Christian, I suppose) in the library for materials.

 

Anyway, they were primed and ready to interact, and we did, even the eldest son who surprised me with his willingness to connect. We proceeded to dance and sing, and I got to exercise my kids’ skills. We had a ball.

 

Mike was quite gracious to let me ‘do my thing’ with the kids, and when they left, we had an opportunity to pull back and play some quieter folk tunes together.

 

I play to live, and I live to play.