Local produce today with the Farmers’ Market at Campus Square today, a mere block away from home. This was the first of the season for me here, so it felt good to be back. There were some familiar faces, but some new vendors for my music, so it was cool to see them bopping about as they tended their wares.
There was a fountain behind me, filling my space with white noise, so I cranked it up, too much so that I was asked to turn it down. But the market manager got the maintenance folks to turn it off. I was glad that she recognized it was part of the problem so I settled in for a nice friendly set of music. I was somewhat sloppy with the lyrics, but I gained my focus in the last half hour.
Towards the end, a mom with her son Renzo pulled up front of the stage. Renzo is confined to a wheelchair, and I had heard of his tragedy here in Bethlehem awhile ago. A promising soccer player at Moravian Academy, he suffered terrible spinal injury while playing.
He and his mom proved to be a wonderful audience as well as a performing challenge for me. I got out my ‘kids’ material – Cat Came Back, I Wanna Be a Dog, Jelly in the Dish, etc. and played it right to his eyes. He proceeded to react to all the funny stuff as best he could and I could see the love in his mom’s eyes when he did. It took all I could to play to him, and the time passed quickly.
I gave his mom Playground and asked that she forward me his favorites. It never fails to amaze me the importance of each of my gigs in somebody’s life, including my own. Never ever take any gig for granted.
Some of the new vendors as well as the new market manager got to hear me for the first time and I got some nice compliments afterwards. Two separate vendors suggested I learn a tune from the TV show Friends, Smelly Cat. Seems I hit a nerve with my selection of songs, and I said I will check it out and try to add it to my repertoire. Serendipity.