A day of humility and pride.
I was looking forward to being part of Martin on Main, a wonderful celebration of Martin and Nazareth. I was asked to do the 5:30 set at one of the stages. As I tried to find my stage, I made a couple of mistakes in finding the right site. My good friend, Dave Eshbach happened upon the first one and helped me move my stuff to the correct stage.
The main stage was on the green, with a nice crowd of folks taking in the acts on stage. I found out that they didn’t know what I was talking about. Hmmm. I was directed down the street to some other stage blocks away. Damn. I wanted to play for this situation. Class.
Dave and I packed up my stuff and drove through a couple of alleys to a lower portion of Main Street. Here was a stage across from a hot dog stand with no seating, a very unlevel stage, at the bottom of the festival, iffy sound system. So? No problem.
I made friends with the hot dog guys first. Good move.
The sound was worked out and I launched into a set, somewhat different from what I had imagined. I brought three of my Martins for this gig and I was determined to play them all in my thirty minute set. I was glad I did because there were some Martin players in the audience.
My main hoss, my 0001R, started me out with Don’t Call Me Early, followed by July. Good stuff with my ace guitar. I introduced my C model arch top and played Vegetable Song, a swing tune that works well with it’s chunka chunka sound. It did very well. I am glad.
I brought out my GD Martin, a fine guitar that I haven’t played much recently (it is not as easy to play as the 0001R) and did Me and Martin and Lessons from Pete on it. It was nice to play these tunes on it, and it reminded me to play some more on it. A good friend rediscovered.
I finished up on the 0001R, my baby, with Pay Bo Diddley and an encore of Giants. A very nice group of people had gathered during my set and it was cool to see folk getting engaged with my music, enjoying the interactions. I wrapped up.
Several folks came up to say thanks, including several of the hot dog guys as well as a Lehigh alum from the distant past. I was very glad I could be part of this event, but still wish I could have a bigger profile. I’m still a shadow.