I had a late afternoon set in the music tent at this rather large community festival. Craig Thatcher’s band and Sarah Ayers Band preceded me, but I was left with a fairly small handful of families and kids. So it goes.
The good thing about the gig was my friend John Christie sitting in on guitars (four of them!). I feel quite comfortable with John, especially since he and his family have been listening to my music for thirty years. He said there was one trip to Washington State and back, cranking up my Aw Shucks cassette tap. He is still my friend.
It was an hour and half set so I had to keep the tunes coming in front of small audience. It takes a bit of energy to maintain a positive attitude. I particularly like to engage the kids in conversations and they turn out to be pretty fun and entertaining for everyone. I’m amazed that I can encourage these exchanges, and that the kids feel comfortable with me enough to converse intelligently. I don’t think many other kids performers do this.
We finished up with the rest of the vendors packing up. It was a good gig and I was paid well. Again, having John’s backup made it quite enjoyable.